Making a Sales Call

Last week, I was at a business luncheon and I met a woman named Dana Okri who was heading a new start up. I have been a sales repfor Eureka Corp. for three years now and our bread and butter is data management software . I told her briefly about our products over lunch and she had given me her card.

I decided to follow up with a call. I dialed her direct line and fortunately, I got a hold of her on the first try.

Dana: Hello, Dana Okri.

Kevin: Hello, Dana, this is Kevin Abrahams from Eureka Corp. I don't know if you'll remember me but we met last week at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Dana: Oh, yes. Hi, how are you?

Kevin: Great. Do you have a few minutes right now for me to tell you a little bit more about the data management tools our company has to offer? It won't take long .

Dana: Actually, I'm really swamped right now and I'll be going into a meeting in a few minutes. Is there any literature you can send me?

Kevin: Oh, sure, I understand. I'd be happy to send you a promotional packet about the programs that I think might best suit a company your size. Would it be okay if I called again to see if you have any questions?

Dana: Let's do this . Since I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to read the material, why don't I give you a call if I have any questions. Now, I'm really sorry, but I have to get going to this meeting.

Kevin: No problem at all. I won't keep you any longer. I'll put a package to you in the mail and we'll go from there .

Dana: Sounds good.

Kevin: Thanks for your time.

Dana: No problem. Bye, bye.

(From ESL Podcast 103.)

5. Listen to the dialogue “Corporate Spying”. Find synonyms to words and phrases in the dialogue (1-16) from words and expressions given below (a-p). Listen to the commentaries coming after the dialogue and check your answers.

Corporate Spying

Joachim: I'm really having second thoughts¹ about hiring a firm to do corporate spying² for us. I don't want to do anything that's ethically questionable³.

Dawn: We have no choice but to do it. All of our competitors conduct corporate espionage.

Joachim: I can understand spying on our competitors, but I draw the line at⁴ having us snoop on⁵ our own employees.

Dawn: We wouldn't unless our backs were against the wall⁶. I know you're thinking about Hewer Placket hiring investigators to find a leak⁷ in their company. I'm sure it was a hard decision for them, but they couldn't allow anyone in their own company to leak trade secrets⁸.

Joachim: True, it was necessary, but I don't like being deceptive⁹ with our own employees. I won't allow wiretaps¹⁰ or any invasion of privacy¹¹.

Dawn: Our first priority¹² would be damage control¹³, not privacy. In any case, we're not making a decision to spy within the company right now. We're only after our rival's¹⁴ information. The investigators we're hiring know the difference between legal and illegal spying. They'll schmooze¹⁵ at trade shows, scour¹⁶legal records, and do other things like that. They'll know where to draw the line.

Joachim: I hope you're right. I don't want to end up on the front page of the Times!

(From ESL Podcast 412.)

Synonyms:

a. a competitor, a person or a company;

b.desire to reconsider a decision already taken;

c. first and most important thing we need to do;

d. listening secretly to your telephone conversations and recording them;

f. secret information about how you conduct business;

g. someone who is giving secret information to an outsider;

h. to be desperate, to have no other choice;

i. to have a casual informal conversation with other people in order to find information;

j. to lie;

k. to look through many things trying to find a very specific piece of information;

l. to regard smth as the last and extreme thing you are willing to do;

m. to spy on someone informally and not very seriously;

n. trying to find out as much as you can about another company including information that may not be publicly available;

o.violating your right to keep your personal information secret;

p. when you try to make a bad situation look better than it is.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 850