商務禮節美語第195期:Raising Prices 漲價(上)

MicroMax公司銷售部主管Fred 給客戶Tom打電話，討論漲價的事情。

Susan (secretary): Hello, Tom Grossman's office. How may I help you?

Fred Lim: Hi, Susan. This is Fred Lim from MicroMax. Is Tom available for a second?

Susan: One moment, please. I'm connecting you now.

Tom: Hey, Fred. What's up?

F: Well, I was going to send you an email, but I thought it might be better for me to call.

T: Uh, oh. Sounds serious.

祕書Susan幫Fred接通Tom的電話。Tom拿起電話來問，Hey, Fred, what's up?這是熟人之間見面，或是打電話一上來很常見的說法。直截了當，又很親切。Fred說，本想發個電子郵件，後來覺得還是電話裏說好，是什麼重要的事呢？

F: It's about the last order your company placed with us.

T: Let's mean the order for six containers of chipboards?

F: Yep, that's the one. Now I know we originally agreed on the price, but there's a little problem. Yesterday one of our major suppliers notified us that they are raising prices.

T: That's never good.

訂貨要用動詞place, to place an order. 供貨商昨天電話通知Fred的公司，要漲價they are raising prices. 這可不是好消息。

F: Also, due to recent jumps in energy prices, our shipping agent is also upping fees. I guess what I'm getting at is that we just can't offer our product at the original price anymore.

T: But Fred, this order is already in! I made it two weeks ago! You can't change prices on me like this.

F: I understand your position, Tom. But if we fill your order as is, we lose money. If we can't find some kind of compromise, I'm afraid our company might have to cancel the order all together.

Fred抱怨說，油價貴了，運費也水漲船高，What I'm getting at is that....歸根結底要漲價。Tom不同意，因爲the order is already in. 貨已經定好了，怎麼還能漲價呢？Fred表示，if we fill your order as is, 如果按原樣供貨，就會賠錢。如果談不攏，就只好cancel the order, 取消定單。

T: Well, how much more are you asking for?

F: We need to ask for another - are you sitting down? - 25%.

T: 25%! That's a huge increase, Fred!

F: Tom, you are one of our most valued customers. Your business is important to us, but this situation is out of our hands.

T: I understand that your company needs to make a profit. But it's going to be very hard for me to pass on these increases to our customers.

Tom聽說要取消定單，口氣軟了下來，但覺得漲25%還是太多。Fred和Tom接下來如何討價還價，我們下次再聽。