Talking to accounts

ACCOUNTANT: Good morning. Accounts.

STOCK: I was wondering if you had already paid my invoice 9805.

ACCOUNTANT: In whose name, please?

STOCK: Stock International Enterprises.

ACCOUNTANT: And when was the invoice dated?

STOCK: February 27th.

ACCOUNTANT: Just hold on a second, please. No, it hasn't been paid yet.

STOCK: Well, do you normally pay by bank transfer or by cheque?

ACCOUNTANT: It depends.

STOCK: Would it be too much trouble to ask you to pay by cheque? We're in the process of changing banks, you see.

ACCOUNTANT: Fine. I'll just make a note of it; in case someone else deals with your invoice.

STOCK: Thank you. And when can I expect to receive the payment?

ACCOUNTANT: The Chief Accountant signs the next cheques on the 15th.

STOCK: That will do fine. Thanks once again.

ACCOUNTANT: Don't worry, I'll see to it myself. Your cheque will be in the post by the 16th.

STOCK: Thank you, goodbye.

Dialogue 2

Jack Evans is Sales Manager of Textafabrik, a firm which manufactures textile machinery. He is talking to an American businessman, Mr. Johnston. Who is visiting the factory?

JOHNSTON: It was kind of you to show me your factory, Mr. Evans. I enjoyed talking to your Production Manager, and to the shop-floor workers.

EVANS: Good. It was useful. I hope you foud the demonstrations interesting. We wanted to give you an idea of our product range, and to show you the models in operation.

JOHNSTON: I’m pleased you did that, I must say. I was impressed by the speed and quietness of your machines.

EVANS: Speed^'s very important these days. If you^'re going to sell in overseas markets, you’ve got to offer a product with high performance. No one can match us on that on quality and price for the matter.

JOHNSTON: Yes, It’s true, fast machines are important in our business. They give you an edge over the Competition. Now, could you give me some information about your models? Those spool-winding and stitching machines interest me a lot.

EVANS: Certainly.

JOHNSTON: By the way, how fast was that high-speed stitcher - the last machine we saw?

EVANS: That's our PX5 model. It’s our latest product. We put it on the market about six month ago. It can stitch sixty meters’ of fabric per minute.

JOHNSTON: No kidding!

EVANS: Mm, that’s all right. You know, the PX5 took a long time to
develop. We ran up against a lot of technical problems, so there were several design modifications. We got it right in the end, though.

JOHNSTON: I’ll say! Can you give me details of these machines? As soon as possible.

EVANS: Right. I'll give you our brochures for the stitching and winding machines, if you like. They give the specifications of the models. You'll also need our price lists. They^'ve been revised recently.

JOHNSTON: Tell me, are the prices quoted firm to the end of the year?

EVANS: Yes, I guarantee that.

JOHNSTON: OK, let me have all the sales literature, and any other publicity material. I like to keep that sort of thing on file in my office. You never know when it'll come in useful.

EVANS: I'll do that. I'd also like to see some of yoursales catalogues, if I may. When we have a potential customer, we’d like to know a hit about his company, if possible.

JOHNSTON: Right then, I'll supply you with our sales documentation. And anything else you require. I hope we'll do a lot of business together in the future.

EVANS: So do I. Maybe this could be the start of a long association between our firms.

Ответьте на вопросы:

1. What are the duties of a shop-floor worker, a sales manager, a production manager?

2. Why were the machines shown in operation?

3. What was the potential client impressed by?

4. Characterize the PX5 model.

5. Why were there several design modifications^?

6. What is a price list? Sales documentation? Sales literature? Publicity material?

Дата добавления: 2015-07-11