Marketing - Sales

Word	Meaning
after sales service	Service that continues after the sale of a product (maintenance, etc.)
agent	Person or company that acts for another and provides a specified service.
B2B e-commerce	Business to business e-commerce : use of commercial networks, online product catalogues and other online resources to obtain better prices and reach new customers.
B2C e-commerce	Business to consumer e-commerce : online sale of goods and services directly to consumers.
benchmarking	Comparing one's products to those of  competitors in order to improve quality and performance.
buyer	1) Any person who makes a purchase. 2) A person employed to choose and buy stock for a company.
cash refund offer	Offer to pay back part of the purchase price of a product to customers who send a "proof of purchase" to the manufacturer.
chain store	Two or more shops or outlets that have the same owner and sell similar lines of merchandise.
client	A person who buys services or advice from a lawyer, an accountant or other professional.
close	Finalize a sale or deal.
convenience store	Small shop located near a residential area that opens long hours, seven days a week.
coupon	Certificate that gives customers a saving when they purchase a specific product.
deal	A business transaction.
department store	A large shop or store that carries a wide variety of product lines.
direct investment	Entering a foreign market by setting up assembly or manufacturing facilities in that country.
discount	A reduction in price.
e-commerce	Buying and selling by electronic means, primarily on the internet.
e-marketing	Promotion of products and services over the internet.
extranet	Network that connects a company with its suppliers and distributors
follow-up	Maintain contact after the sale to ensure customer satisfaction.
franchise	Association between a manufacturer or wholesaler (franchiser) and an independent business person (franchisee) who buys the right to own and operate a unit in the franchise system.
guarantee	A promise that product will be repaired or replaced if faulty.
intranet	A network that connects people to each other within a company.
joint venture	A way of entering a foreign market by joining with a foreign company to manufacture or market a product or service.
market leader	The company with the largest market share in an industry.
mark up	Percentage of the price added to the cost to reach a selling price.
opinion leader	Person with a reference, who, because of competence, knowledge, or other characteristics, exerts influence on others.
packaging	Designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product.
product line	A group of products that are closely related.
prospect	A potential customer.
representative	A person who represents and sells for a company.
retail	To sell in small quantities, as in a shop, directly to customers.
shopping centre	Group of shops developed and managed as a unit.
telephone marketing	Using the telephone to sell directly to customers.
trade fair	An exhibition at which companies in a specific industry can show or demonstrate their products.
viral marketing	The internet version of word-of-mouth marketing - email messages that customers pass on to friends.
wholesale	To sell goods and services to those buying for resale (e.g. a shop) or for business use.

Investments - Stock Market

Bid	The price a buyer is willing to offer for shares in a company.
Blue Chip Stocks	Stocks of leading companies with a reputation for stable growth and earnings.
Bond	Certificate issued by companies and governments to their lenders.
Capital	Money and other property of companies used in transacting the business.
Capital stock	All shares representing ownership of a company.
Commodities	Products such as agricultural products and natural resources (wood, oil and metals) that are traded on a separate, authorized commodities exchange.
Dividend	A portion of a  company's earnings which is paid to the shareholders/stockholders on a quarterly or annual basis.
Equity	The value of stocks and shares;  the net value of mortgaged property.
Equities	Stocks and shares which represent a portion of the capital of a company.
Futures	Contracts to buy or sell securities at a future date.
Insider	All those who have access to inside information concerning the company.
Insider dealing / trading	Buying or selling with the help of information known only to those connected with the business.
IPO	Initial Public Offering - selling part of a company on the stock market.
Issue	Put into circulation a number of a company's shares for sale.
Liabilities	The debts and obligations of a company or an individual.
Mortgage	Agreement by which a bank or building society lends money for the purchase of property, such as a  house or apartment.  The property is the security for the loan.
Mutual fund	Savings fund that uses cash from a pool of savers to buy securities such as stock, bonds or real estate.
Option	The right to buy and sell certain securities at a specified price and period of time.
Par value	Nominal face value.
Penny stock	Shares selling at less than $1 a share.
Portfolio	Various types of securities held by an individual or institution.
Securities	Transferable certificates showing ownership of stocks, bonds, shares, options, etc.
Share	The capital of a company is divided into shares which entitle the owner, or shareholder, to a proportion of the profits.
Share certificate	Certificate representing the number of shares owned by an investor.
Shareholder	Owner of shares.
Speculator	Someone who buys and sells stocks and shares in the hope of making a profit through changes in their value.
Stock	Shares (portion of the capital of a business company) held by an investor.
Stockbroker	A licensed professional who buys and sells stocks and shares for clients in exchange for a fee called a 'commission'.
Stockholder	Person who owns stocks and shares.
Trader	Investor who holds stocks and securities for a short time (minutes, hours or days) with the objective of making profit from short-term gains in the market.  Investment is generally based on stock price rather than on an evaluation of the company.
Trading session	Period during which the Stock Exchange is open for trading.
Venture capital	Money raised by companies to finance new ventures in exchange for percentage ownership.
Yield	Return on investment shown as a percentage.

Interview Questions

Before the interview :

• Prepare and practise giving responses to the questions without trying to memorise them.
• Find out as much as possible about the company as well as the position you are interested in.
• Remember to take an extra copy of your CV/résumé with you so that the employer can refer to it.

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1	Tell me about yourself.
2	How would you describe yourself? (character / personality)
3	Are you married?  Single?  Do you have partner?
4	What are your strengths / weaknesses?
5	What do you do in your free time? What are your hobbies?  /  Do you have any hobbies?
6	Why are you interested in working for our company? Why do you want to work for this company?
7	What type of position do you think you are suited for / would suit you?
8	How would you describe the position we have to offer?
9	What aspects of the position are you most / least interested in?
10	What would you like to find in this job that you didn't have in your previous job?
11	How do you think you could develop the position? What would be your strategy to develop the position?
12	What have you got to offer us? What could you contribute to our company?
13	What do you think you gained by working in your last job?
14	What were you responsible for? What did your job involve?
15	What do you think of your (last) boss?
16	Why do you want to leave your present job? Why do you want to change jobs?
17	What are your salary requirements? How much would you hope to earn in this position? How much do you think you should be offered for this position? What salary would you expect (to be offered) for this position?
18	Have you received any offers of a job?
19	Why have you had to look for a job for so long? Why have you been looking for a job for so long? Why did it take you so long to find a new job?
20	How do your feel about your future in the profession?
21	Have you had any failures?  What failures have you had? Have you had any negative experiences?
22	What sort of obstacles have you come across / encountered in your work?
23	If you had to recruit colleagues, what qualities would you look for?
24	Would you be willing to relocate/to move to another part of the country/to work abroad?
25	Don't you think you have too much experience / you are over-qualified for this job?
26	How long do you think you would stay with us? If we offered you this job, how long would you expect to stay with us?
27	Which do you prefer : to work alone or in a team? Do you prefer working alone or with other people as part of a team?
28	Do you know how to manage a team? Are you capable of leading a team? Do you think you have the ability to be a team leader?
29	Why should I recruit you? How could you persuade me to recruit me?
30	Do you have any comments to make, or any questions to ask?

Conclusions - useful phrases

• We must focus our attention on ...
• What I suggest is ...
• There is a necessity for ...
• We need more ...
• We have no choice but to ...
• Appropriate measures must be taken
• The only option we have is to ...
• These changes are inevitable.
• We will have to revise our estimation.
• The result / outcome will be ...
• I strongly recommend ...
• To conclude, I am happy / I regret to announce that ...

Commenting trends - useful phrases

• Increases :
  • a slight/constant/marked/substantial/increase in sales
  • an increase of about/roughly/approximately/in the region of ... %
  • a little over/above what we predicted
  • the recovery/upturn began in (month)
  • an overall increase in ...
  • an upward trend in the demand for ...
  • sales reached record levels / reached a peak in (month)
  • a strong surge in the sales of ...
  • by (month), the figure had risen to ...
  • we predict that sales will soar in the coming year / over the next ... months
• Decreases :
  • just under our target
  • way below our expectations
  • a slight / notable / significant decrease in ...
  • the downturn began in (month)
  • the situation began to deteriorate in (month)
  • the number has continued to fall
• Fluctuations :
  • a slow start developed into steady progress in sales
  • an initial upward trend was followed by ...
  • we note slight fluctuations through the year
  • normal seasonal variations are the cause of occasional downward trends
  • sales have been (rather) irregular
  • the level / the rate has been unstable since ...
  • you will note a certain instability in the rate of ...

Graphs - Charts

Presenting Visuals -  useful phrases & vocabulary :

• As you will see from this graph ...
• I'd like to show you this chart on which you will see ...
• Let me draw your attention to this part of the graph.
• Let's look more closely at this month's figures.
• This figure refers to the sales in China only.
• This pie chart shows our share of the European market today.
• As you can see, our main competitor has an even bigger share.
• The bar chart represents sales in our Asian outlets.
• Here you can see a comparison between ...
• On the line graph you will note :
  
  
  • a strong upward trend in the sales of product A ...
    • despite occasional fluctuations ...
    • with a slight drop during the holiday season ...
    • with occasional variations due to ...
    
    
  • the overall performance of product B is good. 
    • The initial surge in sales was followed by a period
      of slower growth in the second half of the year.
    • The instant success of the product was followed by a 
      period of stability in the level of sales.

Employment - Jobs

Word	Meaning
assessment	Evaluation of one's abilities
background	Education - qualifications - experience
bonus	Additional payment to an employee as an incentive or reward
curriculum vitae	Summary of one's education and experience to date;  resume
dismiss	Discharge from employment (to fire, to sack, to let go)
employee	Person who works for a firm or company.
employer	Person or firm who employs people.
fire	To dismiss from a job.
fringe benefits	Advantages offered in addition to salary (life insurance, retirement scheme, company car, etc.). Also called 'perks', abbreviation for 'perquisites'.
hire	Employ or take on personnel in a company.
interview	Oral examination of a candidate for employment.
make redundant	Dismiss for economic reasons.
maternity leave	Period of absence for a female employee when having a baby.
notice	Advance warning of intention to leave one's job - to give or hand in one's resignation.
personnel	People who work for a firm or company (employees).
personnel officer	Manager responsible for recruitment, training and welfare of personnel (employees).
promotion	Advancement in rank or position in a company.
prospects	Opportunities for success or promotion in a career.
recruit	Look for and hire personnel.
resign	Leave a job voluntariily.
retire	Leave employment because of age.
sick leave	Absence because of illness - to be on sick leave.
staff	People who work for a firm or department;  employees.
strength	Strong characteristic or particular ability.
strike	To go on strike : to stop working in protest against something.
take on	Employ or hire.
trainee	Person being trained for a job e.g. a trainee salesman.
training course	A course of study to prepare for a job e.g. a computer course.
unemployment benefits	Payments made by the state to an unemployed person.
vacancy	A position to be filled.
weakness	A lack of ability or a shortcoming in character.

Computers & Information Technology

Word	Meaning
modem	A device that enables a computer to send and receive information over a telephone line (internet, email,  fax).
netiquette	Network etiquette : a set of informal rules defining proper behaviour on the internet.
portal	A website that acts as a gateway or entry point to the internet (for example, Yahoo). Typically, a portal offers a search engine and links to other sites grouped into categories, as well as news or other services.
program	A sequence of instructions that a computer can interpret and execute in order to do a particular job.  Programs are collectively referred to as 'software'.
provider	Company that provides access to the internet.
scanner	A piece of hardware, or peripheral device, used to scan a document and create a digital copy.
spam	Unwanted, irrelevant or inappropriate e-mail messages, especially commercial advertising.  Also referred to as 'junkmail'.
spyware	Software that collects information, without your knowledge, about your web-surfing habits and uses it for marketing purposes.  Very often contained in free downloads or shareware programs.
trojan	A computer program that is hidden in a useful softwareapplication and actually used to gain access to your computer.  It then performs malicious actions such as displaying messages or erasing files. Trojans may be found in a hacked legitimate program or in free software.
videoconference	Interactive, audiovisual meeting between two or more people in different geographic locations using two-way video technology.
virus	A malicious self-replicating program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents, and whose sole intent is to cause problems on a computer. It acts in a similar way to a biological virus, and the infected file is called a host.
worm	A self-replicating computer program, similar to a computer virus.  It infects additional computers (typically by making use of network connections), often clogging networks and information systems as it spreads.
wysiwyg	What you see is what you get (pronounced ' wizzy-wig'). A WYSIWYG application enables you to see on the screen exactly what will appear when the document is printed.
www	World Wide Web : a hypertext information system consisting of a network of web pages which runs on the internet and can be accessed with a browser.
zip	To zip a file is to compress it so that it occupies less storage space and can be transferred quickly over the internet.