bbcenglish at work episode 29: put the feelers out
bbc白领工作英语 第 29 集：试探市场 给潜在客人打冷电话时用的语言
narrator: 再见了 mr socrates! 他回美国了！让伦敦的团队来处理怎样扩展 tip top 贸易公 司的欧洲市场。
paul: sorry to keep you waiting. i had to go to the airport with mr socrates to see him off. we had a good chat in the taxi and he said some very positive things.
denise: oh yes. like what?
paul: err, well… well, how nice english beer is.
tom: yeah but what about the european marketing strategy – what are we going to do about that?
paul: well, anna is supposed to lead on that, i’m taking a more biscuitorial control over it.
anna: a what?
tom: it means you do all the work while he eats all the biscuits.
paul: do you mind tom. now, what i’m thinking is we put the feelers out – do some cold calling, see what people are buying at the moment.
anna: cold calling? but i like to be warm when i’m on the phone.
denise: no anna. cold calling is when you call prospective clients when they’re not expecting you to, to ask them something or to sell them something. i’m very good at calling people.
tom: yeah, usually the hair dresser! so paul, where do we begin, who do we call?
paul: track down some potential clients in europe, see what they’re buying now, see what they want in the future. make them think it’s our laser-curved fruit they want!
denise: but keep your calls brief, international calls are very expensive.
narrator: ok anna, 现在轮到你打冷电话了。你要说些什么呢？
anna: i don’t know.
narrator: 先要知道跟谁打电话，有亲和力，有礼貌。问清楚谁是负责采购的，然后问这个负责人 能跟你聊两句吗？
anna: ok. here goes. (looking through a telephone directory) let’s have a look… fruit growers, fruit pickers, fruit traders… fruit traders international… (dials number) 0-0-4-3-9-8-4-5-5-4-4.
trader: bonjour?
anna: (surprised) ah, erm, oh….
narrator: 别觉得奇怪！你打电话给一个法国公司，他们当然是说法语。你可以问问他们能不能说 英语。
anna: oh hello. is it possible to speak to you in english?
trader: oui… yes.
anna: great. are you the person who purchases plastic fruit for your company?
trader: i am. how can i help you?
anna: yes, can you spare a few minutes of your time? i want to sell you some laser-curved fruit.
trader: what?
narrator: 你太直接了。你得先告诉别人你的名字和打电话的目的。问问他们公司的情况是什么。 你可以说 i’d like to tell you about our great new laser-curved fruit. 问问他们 how much plastic fruit do you buy? 电话结束时别忘了谢谢别人 thank you for your time. we hope to hear from you soon. 好了，你来试试吧， anna.
anna: ok. erm, hello my name is anna. how are you today?
trader: good thank you.
anna: that’s good. i’d like to tell you about our great new laser-curved fruit.
trader: oh yes.
anna: our company is called tip top trading and we are the uk’s number 1 plastic fruit manufacturer – and well, we’re so proud of our fruit that we’ve decided to let the rest of europe enjoy it too.
narrator: 非常棒！anna.
anna: we make our fruit using laser-curved technology. in fact we’ve just launched our best product ever, the imperial lemon – it looks so real you want to squeeze it.
trader: hmm, lemons, interesting.
narrator: anna 好像已经很上手了。she’s on fire, 不，我是说她做得很好。她的冷电话已经不 是冷的了。她产品介绍差不多了，现在要促销才行。
anna: …so thank you for your time. i hope you may consider us when you next purchase some plastic fruit.
trader: we will certainly consider your company.
anna: well, we hope to hear from you soon. goodbye. (puts phone down) tom, tom, how are you getting on?
tom: (on phone/angry) …well if that’s what you think then you can shove your kumquats… hello? hello? (slams phone down)
anna: what’s wrong?
tom: they’ve hung up on me. really! he said the plastic fruit industry is in meltdown. but anna, if i don’t get any contracts soon i’ll be fired.
anna: well, this calls for teamwork tom – tomorrow, tuesday, we’re going to tackle this task – together!
narrator: hooray for anna. 她有领导风范了。她还掌握了打冷电话的一些技巧和短语，比如: my name is anna. can you spare a few minutes of your time? i’d like to tell you about our great new laser-curved fruit. how much plastic fruit do you buy? thank you for your time. we hope to hear from you soon. phone rings
denise: anna. there’s a call for you – from someone in france – they want to talk to you about lemons.
narrator: 好像有希望。 我们下期节目再看发生些什么事情。再见。
listening challenge 听力挑战
denise 说她的强项是什么？
答案：给潜在客户打冷电话。