BEP 346 - Sales Collocations (Part 1)

Hello and welcome back to Business English Pod. My name’s Edwin, and I’ll be your
host for today’s lesson on English collocations related to sales.

Sales is at the heart of any business. Without the hard work of salespeople who
move prospects down the funnel, turning interest into sales, no business would
even exist. But the game of sales is constantly changing. Good salespeople, and
good companies, learn to adapt to changes in the marketplace, in consumer
preferences, and in the competition.

In this lesson, we’ll listen in on a sales team meeting in a pharmaceutical company.

The team is discussing past performance and future strategy. During their
discussion, they use many expressions that we call “collocations.” A collocation is
just a natural combination of words that native speakers learn as one expression.
For example, the first collocation you’ll hear is “sales volume,” which refers to the
number of units sold in a given period of time.

Native English speakers use collocations like this automatically. And people in a
certain field of work share an understanding of these special expressions specific to
their area. By studying these collocations in different fields, you’ll improve your
vocabulary and sound more fluent. As you listen to the dialog, try to pick out some
of these collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Fran, Gus, and Nick. Fran is the sales manager, and she’s
just finished talking about the past year’s sales results. Now she wants to talk
about reasons for their disappointing results and strategies for improving them. The
three colleagues use many sales-related English collocations and vocabulary specific
to the pharmaceutical industry.

As you listen to the dialog, try to answer the following questions:

1. What is the group hoping to increase or improve by discussing sales

performance and strategy?
2. What does Fran believe is the reason for a reasonably good third quarter?
3. What have better sales analytics helped the company understand?

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Vocabulary

To wrap something up: to finish something, such as a meeting; “I know you all
have another meeting to go to, so I’ll be wrapping up my presentation in the next
10 minutes.”

Sales volume: the amount of a product sold in a certain period; “Our sales volume typically
goes up in December, when people are Christmas shopping, and down in January.”

Key accounts: a company’s biggest or most important customers; “If you spend all
your time looking for new customers, your key accounts are going to feel they’re
not important.”

To go over: to review; “So, let’s just go over this business plan together and see if
everything looks realistic.”

Grow sales: to increase sales over time; “I think you have a great business idea,
but until you grow your sales, I’m not ready to invest.”

Account portfolios: a salesperson’s “account portfolio” includes all the customers –

or accounts – that he or she regularly deals with; “I don’t know how Kevin does it…
he has the biggest account portfolio on the team but he doesn’t seem too busy.”

Optimistic: confident and hopeful about the future; “There’s been a steady increase in
home sales, so I’m feeling pretty optimistic about the real estate industry right now.”

Sales analytics: computer software that analyzes a company’s sales data; “Our new sales
analytics has shown us that our best strategy is to sell more to existing customers.”

Boon: great benefit; “The tariff on imports has been a real boon to local manufacturers.”

To translate into: to result in; “I like using our new scheduling software, but has it
really translated into greater efficiency?”

To meet a quota: to reach a required quantity or amount; “I met my sales quota in

the first two weeks of the month, so now everything I do is just bonus.”

To beat targets: to exceed or go beyond a goal; “We wanted to sign up 1,000 more
people for our mailing list, and we’ve beat that target already!”

To fare: if something “fares” well or poorly, then it performs or does well or poorly;
“Val was really excited about her move to Spain, but I hear she’s not faring very
well over there.”

To chalk something up to: to explain something by stating its cause; “I know Lori
seems kind of awkward or uncomfortable around the others, but I think we can
chalk it up to her youth.”

Seasonal fluctuation: changes in the amount of something that happen regularly at

different times of the year; “With such big seasonal fluctuations, we’re having cash
flow problems for half the year.”

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On the whole: in general or overall; “Yeah, Tom is never on time, but on the whole
he’s a pretty good employee.”

To identify roadblocks: to recognize and understand possible problems; “Of all the
roadblocks we’ve identified, I think a lack of funding is the biggest issue we are facing.”

Customer buying habits: customer behavior, including when, where, and why they
buy certain products; “It’s not enough to know how much people will pay for your
product, you need a better overall sense of customer buying habits.”

Competitive intelligence: data, information, or knowledge that helps a business

compete; “Our sales were okay at first, but since we hired a researcher and got
better competitive intelligence, we’ve seen a huge increase.”

To get beaten to the punch: to do or say something before someone else has the
chance to; “We developed the new tracking system before Ryco Inc., but they beat
us to the punch by bringing it to market first.”

Lead: a potential sales contact or customer; “Our marketing team went to the big
event and generated several hundred good new leads.”

Landscape: the main features or context of a situation or activity; “The automotive

landscape is set to change drastically with the coming of autonomous vehicles.”

Obamacare: another name for the Affordable Care Act in the United States,
introduced by President Obama; “Although many people criticize Obamacare, it has
meant that millions of people now have health insurance who didn’t before.”

Old news: someone or something that is not new and therefore not exciting or
interesting any more; “Come on Dave, SEO is old news. You’ve got to invest more
in social media if you really want to generate interest in your products.”

Restricted physician access: a movement in health care to limit salespeople’s

access to and influence over doctors; “Before restricted physician access, it seemed
like I could walk into any hospital and talk to any doctor I wanted to!”

Total office call: an approach to sales in which tactics are adapted depending on the
potential customer’s environment (or office) and which include everyone on staff;
“An important part of the total office call is finding a time to visit that works not
just for doctors, but for nurses and staff as well.”

To only go so far: to be limited in impact; “A good website will only goes so far for you
as a new consultant. What you really need is a good network and personal referrals.”

To satisfy customer needs: to give customers the solution, product, or service that
they want or need; “Conducting surveys of the people who buy our products has
really helped us make changes and better satisfy customer needs.”

Chill: a feeling of fear or uncertainty; “All the recent scandals at the major banks
have caused a big chill throughout the financial industry.”

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Dialog

Fran: So that wraps up our look at sales volume on key accounts this year….
Unless there’s any questions?

Gus: No, seems pretty clear.

Fran: Good, because I know we’ve gone over a lot of info. And it’s not really the
greatest news overall, I realize… So now for the important question: what are we
going to do about it?

Nick: You mean strategies for growing sales, yeah? Well, we’ve made a lot of
strategic changes already.

Gus: True enough, but… even though marketing has been doing some really great work,
when we look at most of our account portfolios, we don’t see a ton of improvement.

Nick: Not yet. But I’m optimistic. We’ve got better sales analytics, and that’s
been a huge boon on several fronts.

Gus: Yeah, great data. But it hasn’t really translated into anything yet. Did we
have even one quarter when all of us actually met our quota?

Fran: No we didn’t.

Nick: What about Q3? I beat my targets, and I thought everyone else fared
pretty well…

Fran: Still, not exactly much to celebrate there. I guess we could chalk it up to
seasonal fluctuations. But on the whole, we’re really not where we want to be.
If these strategies you mentioned aren’t working Nick, then why not? Let’s see if we
can identify some of the roadblocks.

Gus: All right, well, we’ve got better sales analytics, as you said Nick, and that has
helped us develop a better understanding of customer buying habits…

Nick: And that’s certainly a good thing.

Gus: Right, but I’m not sure we have up to date competitive intelligence. We’re
getting beaten to the punch on new leads. The landscape has changed…
drastically. And I don’t just mean Obamacare. That’s old news.

Fran: You mean restricted physician access?

Gus: Yes. And the total office call only goes so far in overcoming that… we can’t
just throw a few free samples around anymore.

Nick: True. Things have changed. Trust is harder to build. And I think you’re right
Gus… it seems like some of the other guys have dealt with that, and they’re
satisfying customer needs despite the chill in the industry.

Fran: Okay, so is this really about what the other guys are doing, or what we could
be doing better?

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Debrief

Now let’s go through the dialog again and look at the language and collocations
used during the meeting.

Fran: So that wraps up our look at sales volume on key accounts this year….
Unless there’s any questions?

Fran is talking about “sales volume,” which as we learned in the introduction refers to
the number of units sold in a given period of time. Volume is expressed in numbers,
and therefore we often talk about it increasing, decreasing, or staying the same.

Let’s practice some more examples of this collocation “sales volume.”

§ With so much competition, it’s not surprising our sales volume is down.
§ Our approach is to offer low prices to build sales volume quickly.

Now, their discussion hasn’t been about sales volume overall, but rather sales
volume on their “key accounts.” In sales, an “account” is a customer, often a repeat
customer. A “key account” is one of several of a company’s most important
customers. Key accounts are often treated differently or separately from other
customers, since they bring in a lot of revenue. Managing a key account isn’t just
about making product sales, but about collaborating strategically.

What are some other ways we can use “key account?” Let’s try a couple more
examples.

§ Despite a drop in new customers, our key accounts have performed well.
§ I look after our key accounts in the automotive sector.

Now back to the dialog, as Fran introduces the important question she wants to
answer in the meeting.

Gus: No, seems pretty clear.

Fran: Good, because I know we’ve gone over a lot of info. And it’s not really the
greatest news overall, I realize… So now for the important question: what are we
going to do about it?

Nick: You mean strategies for growing sales, yeah? Well, we’ve made a lot of
strategic changes already.

We’ve learned that the news about sales volume on their key accounts is “not the
greatest.” In other words, they haven’t been selling as much as they want to. So
Fran wants to know what they’re going to do differently.

As Nick says, they need strategies for “growing sales.” As you can probably guess,
“growing sales” means “increasing sales.” We often use this expression when we

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are talking about strategies, or deliberate attempts to increase sales. Think about
growing plants or vegetables. It takes a lot of care and planning.

Let’s run through some more ways of using the collocation “to grow sales.”

§ I’m sure that increasing our advertising budget will help grow sales.
§ Since we started our online store, we’ve been able to grow sales by 30% a year.

Nick mentioned that they have already made some strategic changes. Let’s hear
what Gus thinks about the situation.

Gus: True enough, but… even though marketing has been doing some really great
work, when we look at most of our account portfolios, we don’t see a ton of
improvement.

Gus is concerned that the strategic changes they’ve made haven’t improved their
“account portfolios.” We’ve learned what a sales “account” is. Well, all of a
salesperson’s accounts together are called the “portfolio.” It’s just a group of
related pieces of work. A salesperson’s “account portfolio” includes all the
customers or accounts they deal with. Your portfolio can grow, shrink, or change as
you develop new customers and lose old ones.

Let’s practice some other ways of using “account portfolio” with a couple of
examples.

§ Let’s start Juan out with a small account portfolio and see how he does.
§ Just this month, I’ve added two new customers to my account portfolio.

Nick feels a bit more positive than Gus does. Let’s listen.

Nick: Not yet. But I’m optimistic. We’ve got better sales analytics, and that’s
been a huge boon on several fronts.

Nick says that he’s “optimistic,” or feeling confident about the future. The reason he
gives is that they have benefited a lot from better “sales analytics.” The word
“analytics” comes from the verb “to analyze,” which means to examine something in
great detail to understand it better. “Analytics” is software that analyzes complex data.

In the digital age, many companies rely on sophisticated “sales analytics” to

understand their performance, make predictions, and develop strategies. Let’s try
some more examples of “sales analytics.”

§ To understand our customers we need to take a good look at the sales analytics.
§ With improved sales analytics, we can forecast revenue more accurately.

Does Gus agree with Nick about the benefits of their improved sales analytics?

Gus: Yeah, great data. But it hasn’t really translated into anything yet. Did we
have even one quarter when all of us actually met our quota?

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Gus agrees they have good data, but this hasn’t resulted in improved sales. As he
explains it, the data hasn’t “translated into” any changes in sales. In fact, Gus
questions whether they even had one quarter when everyone “met their quota.”

A “quota” is the amount that a salesperson is required to sell in a given time period,
often a month or a quarter. It’s like an expected target. If you reach that target, we
say that you “meet your quota.” How else can we use the collocation “to meet a
quota?” Let’s run through some more examples.

§ I just need to sell another $10,000 and I’ll meet this month’s quota.
§ I’m confident we can meet our quota if we push hard this week.

So, was there a quarter when everyone met their quotas?

Fran: No we didn’t.

Nick: What about Q3? I beat my targets, and I thought everyone else fared
pretty well…

Nick believes that the third quarter, or “Q3” as he calls it, was a good one,
explaining that he “beat his targets.” While “meeting a quota” means reaching the
target, if you “beat a target” then you go beyond the goal.

Now here’s the interesting thing about collocations: not all words combine
naturally, even when the meanings are related. For example, although we say “beat
a target,” we don’t normally say “beat a quota.” But we can say that you “meet a
target.” This is just a reminder that you can’t just create new collocations. Rather,
they are established by what native speakers say or don’t say.

So, what other ways can we use the expression “to beat targets?” Let’s practice
with some more examples.

§ No wonder Tony won the sales award; he’s beat his targets for 18 straight
months.
§ I like a challenge, but it’s going to be tough to beat these targets.

Nick was pretty upbeat about the third quarter. What does Fran think?

Fran: Still, not exactly much to celebrate there. I guess we could chalk it up to
seasonal fluctuations.

Fran doesn’t share Nick’s excitement about the third quarter. In fact, she thinks
they could “chalk it up to” - or blame it on- “seasonal fluctuations,” which affects a
lot of companies sales. If something “fluctuates,” it goes up and down, often
naturally or according to a pattern. If it fluctuates “seasonally,” then it goes up and
down depending on the season, or time of year. For example, many retail
companies see an increase in sales in the holiday season at the end of the year.
That’s a “seasonal fluctuation.”

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Let’s try some more ways of talking about “seasonal fluctuations” in sales.

§ Busy summers are just part of the seasonal fluctuation in the real estate
market.
§ It looks like a bad month, but that’s because of seasonal fluctuation. Overall, it’s
been a good year.

Now let’s hear Fran continue in her assessment of the situation.

Fran: But on the whole, we’re really not where we want to be. If these strategies
you mentioned aren’t working Nick, then why not? Let’s see if we can identify
some of the roadblocks.

It’s not enough just to realize that they’re not reaching their targets or their
strategies aren’t working. They need to know why. And an important part of that is
“identifying roadblocks.”

A “roadblock” is any obstacle or challenge that stops you from reaching something,
just like when the police block the vehicles on a road for some reason. But for
businesses, a roadblock might be something like a bad economy or tough
competition. When you figure out what these roadblocks are, we say you “identify
the roadblocks,” which is what Fran wants the group to do.

What are some other ways of using the collocation “to identify roadblocks?” Let’s
practice a few more examples.

§ A good manager works with her staff to identify roadblocks and overcome them.
§ We’ve identified high leasing costs as a roadblock to relocating downtown.

Now let’s hear Gus introduce what he thinks are the roadblocks they face.

Gus: All right, well, we’ve got better sales analytics, as you said Nick, and that has
helped us develop a better understanding of customer buying habits…

Before discussing the roadblocks, Gus wants to acknowledge the benefits of the
sales analytics that Nick mentioned. What that data has done for the company is
given them good information on “customer buying habits.”

“Buying habits” are the behaviors of consumers. It’s not just about what they buy,
but also about where, when, why, and how. For example, some people like to shop
online for discount goods, and others like to buy high-end products from retail
outlets. Those are different buying habits.

Let’s practice a few more ways of talking about “customer buying habits.”

§ We see some huge generational differences in customer buying habits.

§ People shop around a lot more for a car these days. You know customer buying
habits have changed.

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Next, Gus identifies some of the roadblocks that Fran wanted to discuss.

Nick: And that’s certainly a good thing.

Gus: Right, but I’m not sure we have up to date competitive intelligence. We’re
getting beaten to the punch on new leads. The landscape has changed…
drastically. And I don’t just mean Obamacare. That’s old news.

Gus is talking about how the “landscape,” or the overall industry, has changed. And
one important roadblock in this changing landscape is a lack of “competitive
intelligence.” In this case, “intelligence” isn’t exactly about brains and smarts, but
about detailed information and knowledge. “Competitive intelligence” is information
about the industry, market forces, competing companies, and their products. This
kind of information helps a company make strategic sales decisions.

As Gus points out, if you don’t have good competitive intelligence, then other
companies might “beat you to the punch.” That just means they will get potential
customers, or leads, before your company does, because they know more. Let’s run
through some more examples of “competitive intelligence.”

§ If our competitive intelligence is right, then we are about to break into the top
three suppliers for Europe.
§ Other companies are seeing a decrease in sales according to our competitive
intelligence.

What other ways has the landscape changed? Let’s listen.

Fran: You mean restricted physician access?

Gus: Yes. And the total office call only goes so far in overcoming that… we can’t
just throw a few free samples around anymore.

The group is talking about some issues that are specific to the pharmaceutical
industry. “Restricted physician access” refers to hospitals that restrict, or severely
limit, the ability of salespeople to pitch products to their doctors. And the “total
office call” is an approach to drug sales that involves engaging everyone in a
workplace, including nurses and office managers. All in all, Fran and Gus are
pointing out how sales in their industry have become more difficult because of
these roadblocks.

Nick has something to add as well.

Nick: True. Things have changed. Trust is harder to build. And I think you’re right
Gus… it seems like some of the other guys have dealt with that, and they’re
satisfying customer needs despite the chill in the industry.

Fran: Okay, so is this really about what the other guys are doing, or what we could
be doing better?

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Nick is agreeing with Gus’s assessment, particularly that other companies are
finding ways to continue “satisfying customer needs” despite these new roadblocks.
The whole point of sales is to convince a customer that your product will “satisfy
their needs,” or solve a problem. For pharmaceutical companies, they want to
convince doctors that their drugs are a great solution to specific medical problems.

Let’s try some more ways of using this collocation “to satisfy customer needs.”

§ If you want to satisfy customer needs, you need to know what motivates them.
§ Getting daily feedback from social media has helped us satisfy our customers’
needs more accurately.

As you heard at the end, Fran doesn’t just want to talk about what other companies
are doing. She wants to focus the conversation on what they can do to improve.
Now that they’ve identified some of the roadblocks, they can begin to strategize.

Now it’s your turn to practice some of the collocations we’ve looked at in this
lesson. In a moment, you’ll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a
beep. Repeat the whole sentence, including the missing word. Remember, a
collocation is two or more words that we commonly use together, so pay close
attention to the words before the beep.

For example, if you hear:

Example cue: We need to do more research on customer buying <beep>.

You can say:

Example answer: We need to do more research on customer buying habits.

After each response, we’ll provide the correct answer. Ready? Let’s give it a go.

Cue 1: Check the latest sales <beep> and tell me how last month looked.
Answer:

Cue 2: Looks like you’ve got some great customers in your account <beep>.
Answer:

Cue 3: Being busy at Christmas is just part of the seasonal <beep> in retail.
Answer:

Cue 4: If you’re having difficulties, then maybe I can help identify some <beep>.
Answer:

Cue 5: It’s only the 22nd of the month and I’ve already met my monthly <beep>.
Answer:

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Answer 1: Check the latest sales analytics and tell me how last month looked.
Answer 2: Looks like you’ve got some great customers in your account portfolio.
Answer 3: Being busy at Christmas is just part of the seasonal fluctuation in retail.
Answer 4: If you’re having difficulties, then maybe I can help identify some
roadblocks.
Answer 5: It’s only the 22nd of the month and I’ve already met my monthly quota.

That’s all for this lesson on collocations for talking about sales. We’ve covered lots
of vocabulary and collocations for talking about sales results, research, and
strategy. In our next lesson, we’ll hear the group use more useful collocations as
they discuss ways of improving sales.

Thanks for listening and see you again soon!

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Language Review

A. Collocations

Match the collocations in the box and then use them to complete the sentences
below. (If necessary change the tense of verbs to fit the context, i.e., to past or
future tense.)

Account sales

To identify buying habits

Competitive a quota
To grow fluctuation

To satisfy portfolio
To meet intelligence
Customer customer needs

Seasonal roadblocks

1. I’d like to take on this customer, but my ________________

________________ is already too big to manage well.

2. If we can get our market research team to give us some better

________________ ________________, we can adapt to the market.

3. You need to keep in constant touch in order to know how to

________________ your ________________.

4. I think the whole team needs to meet and ________________ some of the
________________ to improving our sales numbers.

5. We’ve managed to ________________ our ________________ in Europe by

20% over the past two years.

6. Not surprisingly, outdoor recreation companies experience a lot of

________________ ________________.

7. I need to sell just $20,000 more to ________________ my

________________ this month.

8. I feel we have a much better understanding of ________________

________________ since we improved our data collection.

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Answers

Listening

1) The group is hoping to grow their company’s sales.

2) Fran believes the third quarter was reasonably good because of seasonal
fluctuation.
3) Better sales analytics have helped the team understand customer buying habits
better.

Language Review

A. Collocations

1. I’d like to take on this customer, but my account portfolio is already too big
to manage well.

2. If we can get our market research team to give us some better competitive
intelligence, we can adapt to the market.

3. You need to keep in constant touch in order to know how to satisfy your
customers’ needs.

4. I think the whole team needs to meet and identify some of the roadblocks to
improving our sales numbers.

5. We’ve managed to grow our sales in Europe by 20% over the past two years.

6. Not surprisingly, outdoor recreation companies experience a lot of seasonal

fluctuation

7. I need to sell just $20,000 more to meet my quota this month.

8. I feel we have a much better understanding of customer buying habits since

we improved our data collection.

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