商務禮節美語第229期:Boosting Sales 激勵銷售(上)
Lisa: Frank, we just got our sales figures in and the numbers are very disappointing. What's going on here?
Frank: I haven't actually seen the new figures. How far have we fallen?
L: We were in sixth place at the beginning of the year and we've now slipped to the eleventh! That's a considerable drop.
F: Wow, that's really bad news. Maybe we should brainstorm some ideas for a radical reinvention of our sales and marketing plan.
L: Yeah, let's do that right now. What do you think the problem is?
公司副總裁Lisa找到銷售部經理Frank, 因爲最新銷售數字很令人失望，年初的時候還排名第六，we've now slipped to the eleventh. 如今已經滑落到了第11位，下跌幅度很大，That's a considerable drop. Frank聽了這個壞消息，覺得應該 brainstorm some ideas，to brainstorm 是頭腦風暴，集思廣益的意思，看看怎樣徹底調整一下公司的銷售和市場規劃。Lisa建議，擇日不如撞日，說談就談，問Frank覺得問題出在哪裏。
F: Well, it seems our competitors have managed to carve a niche in the market. They are now perceived as more "cool" or trendy than we are. Perhaps we should consider getting some celebrity endorsements.
L: You mean like a rock star or a famous sports figure?
F: Yeah, that might help. The person has to be seen as kind of a rebel so we can associate our brand with individuality.
L: That's not a bad idea. I'll talk to the Board of Directors about that.
F: I'd also suggest we reevaluate our packaging. Right now the box we sell our product in seems a little drab and colorless.
Frank說，公司的競爭對手 carved a niche in the market 在市場中找到了屬於自己的一塊地方，niche is spelled n-i-c-h-e, niche 是縫隙的意思，動詞 carve 是雕刻，劃出的意思。Frank說，現在消費者都覺得公司競爭對手的產品更時尚，因此不妨找兩個名人，給公司做產品代言，get some celebrity endorsements, 但選擇的名人一定要帶有反叛色彩，讓用戶覺得我們的產品有個性化，individuality. Frank 還建議，眼下的產品包裝有些呆板，a little drab, 可以考慮變化一下。Lisa說：
L: Yes, we could redesign our packaging. But on the other hand, there is a recent trend to move away from excessive packaging. You help save the environment.
F: That's another way we could go. We could reduce our packaging, and then advertise our environmentally-friendly business policies. Being "green" is definitely cool these days. Perhaps environmentally-friendly packaging would appeal to a younger customer demographic.
Lisa說，如今的趨勢是放棄過度包裝，實現包裝簡單化，因爲這樣做有利環保 environmentally-friendly. Frank覺得Lisa說得有道理，公司在包裝上可以走環保路線，用環保的新思維來吸引年輕客戶羣，appeal to 是吸引的意思，demographic is spelled d-e-m-o-g-r-a-p-h-i-c, demographic 在這裏指的是消費人羣中的一部分。
