BUSINESS ENGLISH I - GUIDE 2

ACTIVITY 1 : Reading Comprehension

Look for the meaning in English of the underlined words. (suggested dictionary:
www.wordreference.com)

What is Benchmarking?

Benchmarking is a process of measuring the performance of a company’s products, services, or

processes against those of another business considered to be the best in the industry, aka “best in
class.” The point of benchmarking is to identify internal opportunities for improvement. By studying
companies with superior performance, breaking down what makes such superior performance
possible, and then comparing those processes to how your business operates, you can implement
changes that will yield significant improvements.
That might mean tweaking a product’s features to more closely match a competitor’s offering, or
changing the scope of services you offer, or installing a new customer relationship management
(CRM) system to enable more personalized communications with customers.
There are two basic kinds of improvement opportunities: continuous and dramatic. Continuous
improvement is incremental, involving only small adjustments to reap sizeable advances. Dramatic
improvement can only come about through reengineering the whole internal work process.
Step-by-Step Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a simple, but detailed, five-step process:
Choose a product, service, or internal department to benchmark
Determine which best-in-class companies you should benchmark against – which organizations
you’ll compare your business to
Gather information on their internal performance, or metrics
Compare the data from both organizations to identify gaps in your company’s performance
Adopt the processes and policies in place within the best-in-class performers
Benchmarking will point out what changes will make the most difference, but it’s up to you to
actually put them in place.
First Steps
In order to benchmark anything, you need to have quantitative data available to study. That means
breaking down internal processes to calculate performance metrics. Quantify everything, because
only quantifiable information can be accurately compared.
Key Benefits
In addition to helping companies become more efficient and profitable, benchmarking has other
benefits, too, such as:
Improving employee understanding of cost structures and internal processes
Encouraging team-building and cooperation in the interests of becoming more competitive
Enhancing familiarity with key performance metrics and opportunities for improvement company-
wide
In essence, benchmarking helps employees understand how one small piece of a company’s
processes or products can be the key to major success, just as one employee’s contributions can
lead to a big win.

ACTIVITY 2: How to Write a Good CV

Introduction: please go to this link and look at the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTbyvLGqTR4
CURRICULUM VITAE example
Juan Cruz
112 Doctor Esquerdo Street
Madrid 28007
Telephone: (0034) 645 921 788
E-mail: [email protected]
Nationality: Spanish
Date of Birth: 21st July 1981
PROFILE
A highly motivated individual with over 15 years experience of working in business-to-business
sales. Experienced in selling a variety of different products to market leading business clients in
both English and Spanish. Able to both work under pressure and apply different sales techniques
and strategies when the situation demands. Have throughout my career constantly surpassed sales
targets and won several sales awards.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Jan 11 – Now
Senior International Sales Executive,
Telefonica SA, Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain
Senior member of the international sales team at Telefonica. The team is responsible for landing
large scale telecommunication networking contracts with businesses throughout the world.
Responsibilities & Achievements:
Performed full cycle sales process (from creating bids, through negotiations to closing) for multi-
million dollar projects with clients from across the world.
Building up & maintaining relationships with both existing & potential new clients.
Implemented a new lead generating process with contributed to a €240 million growth in revenue.
Fire warden for the floor of the office.
Member of the sales strategy committee at Telefonica. Responsible for devising and implementing
sales processes and procedures across the company.
Awarded 'Telefonica sales executive of the year' in 2017 for sales revenue generated.
Have been responsible for obtaining contracts for Telefonica worth over €61.3 million.
Sep 09 – Dec 10
Sales Executive,
Telefonica SA, Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain
Member of the small business sales team at Telefonica which is responsible for selling
telecommunication solutions for small businesses throughout Spain.
Responsibilities & Achievements:
Onsite sales visits to existing and potential new business clients in Madrid.
Creating tailored solutions and offers to both existing and potential new business clients.
Performed regular workshops to local business owners to promote the company and generate
leads.
Due to performance, promoted to a senior position in the international sales team.
Mar 08 – Jun 09
Australian & New Zealand Travel
Travelled through Australia and New Zealand for a over year to both improve my English level and
to see more of the world. During the year, I held various short-term jobs.
Feb 02 – Mar 08
Sales Executive,
Almagro Construction SA, Leganes, Madrid, Spain
Member of the sales team in the building materials division of Almagro Construction, one of
Europe's leading constructors and suppliers of building related materials.
Responsibilities & Achievements:
Performed full cycle sales process (from creating bids, through negotiations to closing) for multi-
million dollar projects with business clients from across the Europe.
Building up & maintaining relationships with both existing & potential new clients.
Co-created a sales team application to both document progress and aid in time management. Led
to a 9% growth in new contracts.
I was a member of the division's marketing strategy group.
Created a training programme for all new sales staff in the division.
Generated the highest volume of new accounts in the department in 2004 & 2006. Won the
company's 'sales executive of the year' award in both years.
Aug 01 – Jan 02
Customer Services Assistant,
Santander SA, Madrid, Spain
A temporary position in the customer services call centre of the bank Santander. Responsibilities
included dealing with inbound customer enquiries and promoting the bank's products.
Jul 97 - Sep 00
Life Guard,
Alcorcon Municipal Pool, Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain
A part-time and temporary position during the summer holidays.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
1998 - 2001
Universidad de Complutense, Madrid, Spain:
BA(Hons) Geography
1991 - 1998
St Michael's Secondary School, Madrid, Spain:
A-levels: Geography (B), English (B), Sociology (B) & Economics (C)
GCSEs: 9 Grade C or above
Vocational Courses & Qualifications
Advanced Microsoft Access Certificate
Microsoft NT4 Network Support Certificate
Presentation Skills Course
Technical Writing Course
Diploma in Advanced Sales Methodology
Diploma in Ethical Sales Strategies
Time Management & Prioritization Course
Online Sales & Marketing Course
Advanced Microsoft Excel Certificate
Languages:
Native language: Spanish
Fluent: English
INTERESTS
In my spare time I enjoy cycling, cooking, socializing and reading history and fiction.
ACTIVITY 3: Choose the correct answer.
1. Which is NOT Personal Information? 5. "Working as a team player" is usually seen
a. name as _____.
b. studies a. indifferent
c. address b. a negative trait
c. a positive trait
2. Education does NOT include _____. 6. Which verb tense should be used in a c.v.
a. the language you speak for previous jobs?
b. a university degree a. present simple (manage)
c. a school certificate b. past continuous (was managing)
c. past simple (managed)
3. Professional Experience is usually listed 7. Should the dates in which you worked in a
_____. job be included?
a. with your current job first a. Yes
b. starting with your first job b. No
c. in any order c. It's not necessary
4. Skills might include computer skills or 8. Is it a good idea to talk about your private
_____. life: relationships, children, etc. on your c.v.?
a. your telephone number a. Yes
b. your address b. No
c. languages you speak c. It doesn´t matter

ACTIVITY 4:
Below are a number of verbs and phrases that are commonly used in business English to make
sentences sound more professional.
From the context, try to guess what the meaning of the words/phrases in bold are.
1. Although I wasn"t directly involved. In order to make sure that nothing went wrong,
I oversaw the changes in the process.
2. For 3 years I ran the French sales team. I enjoyed the responsibility of being in charge of the
team.
3. Although I wasn"t the Project Manager, I was very important and I played a key role in the
project"s success.
4. Because of the size of the project, the English and Spanish offices had to collaborate in order
to finish on schedule.
5. For about 5 years both myself and Jeff Green co-managed the development department. But
it was frustrating having two people make the final decisions.
6. When you"re designing or creating something new, I believe it"s fundamental to have different
opinions. So, it was good on this project that both myself and Sally Jenkins co-developed it. She
had different skills and a different work background to myself.
7. It"s important to coordinate everything in a supermarket. You need to make sure that the
staff knowing what they are doing and that there is always bread and milk etc... available.
8. I came up with the idea of selling mobile phones on the internet when I was in the bath. I
always have my best ideas there.
9. Because it was a very complex business process, it took a long time to set up. If I remember,
nearly 3 years from start to finish.
10. The easiest part was the last part of the project. We implemented the business process in
less than 6 weeks.
Using the words in bold from the above 10 statements, match the "verb/phrase" with
its more common verb or phrase below. Remember, only use one verb/phrase once and
write it as it is in the text above. Here, all the verbs are in the Past Simple.

1.To start and establish something new, is ______________________________________

2. To manage/be responsible for a business/department,
is______________________________________
To manage something with someone else, is______________________________________
4.To have the original idea about a new business or process etc...,
is______________________________________
5.To actually introduce a new process or system to the working environment,
is______________________________________
6.To be important in a situation, but not necessarily to be in charge (the manager),
is______________________________________
7.To supervise a situation, is______________________________________
8.To work together with somebody from a different department/company/organisation on a
project, is______________________________________
9. To create something new with someone else, is______________________________________
10.To organise an activity or business, is______________________________________

Elaborated by Teacher:
ZILIA SOFIA RUBIANO MORALES.
Bibliography:
https://quizlet.com/20005591/business-small-talk-introductions-flash-cards/
http://www.voanews.com/
www.agendaweb.org