Unit 205 Making Suggestions - Meeting Essentials

Today’s show is part of a two-part series on making, rejecting and accepting suggestions. Reject means to say no. And accept means to say yes.

Making, rejecting and accepting suggestions appropriately is an important part of meetings and discussions of all types.

In this episode, we’re focusing on making suggestions. Next time, we’ll look at accepting and rejecting suggestions. This dialog takes place at a sports shoe company called Stratos. You’ll be listening to Karen, a marketing manager, meet with three members of her team, Charles, Sven and Miguel. They are choosing a celebrity spokesperson for a new product. Celebrity means a famous person. Here, spokesperson is someone who gets paid to be in an advertisement for a product.

In the dialog, “target market” is the place where you want to sell your product. And “target consumer” is the type of customer you want to sell your product to. In this case, the product is a special kind of new sports shoe made especially for overweight people. Overweight is a nice way of saying too heavy or not fit. Okay, let’s listen. As you listen, pay attention to the language the speakers use to make suggestions to each other.

Vocabulary

Spokesperson: Someone hired to represent a company. A famous spokesperson

– usually an athlete or movie star – is someone who advertises a product. “Nike usually gets famous spokespersons to sponsor their products.”

To go around the table: To hear everybody’s opinion one at a time. “Let’s go

around the table to see if we all agree.”

Overweight: Adjective. A polite way to say someone is not slim. “Overweight can

have a range of meanings from slightly fat to very fat.”

Fit: Adjective. 1) To be slim and healthy. “I really want to get fit in the new year, so I went on a diet and I’m exercising every day.” 2) To be suitable for something. “He’s not fit to manage the company.”

If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it: Idiom. Also, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (American

slang). It criticizes the approach of always trying to improve things that are okay. “Look, let’s stop looking for things to change and just release the product on time – If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

Target market: The market one is trying to sell something to. “The target

market for this new kind of sports car is urban professionals with an income over 80,000 euros per year.”

Target customer: Similar to target market, but target customer refers to a

specific group of customers you are trying to sell something to. “Our target customers are women in their early 30s with children.”

Agile: Adjective. Able to move flexibly and quickly. “What makes her such a

great sports star is her amazing agility.” “In this business environment, only agile companies with the ability to make quick decisions will succeed.”

To kill two birds with one stone: Idiom. To get two things done at once. “We can

kill two birds with one stone by improving our training system - the number of staff who leave the company will decrease and our sales will improve.”

Dialog

Karen: Okay. Now, let’s talk about who we want to use as a spokesperson for this product. Let’s go around the table. Shall we use a sports star? Or someone else? Sven—what do you think?

Sven: Well, one possibility would be to use a famous overweight business executive or CEO—someone who is really successful.

Miguel: Sorry, can I come in here? Karen: Yes, go ahead, Miguel.

Miguel: That’s a good idea, but I’m not sure it would work.

Karen: Why not?

Miguel: Well, for one thing, our customers want to be fit, not fat.

Karen: Well, then what do you suggest?

Miguel: Perhaps we should just use a famous sports star like we usually do. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, you know what I mean? We could try getting Rooney, or Nadal.

Karen: Good suggestion. But I can see one or two problems with that, to be honest.

Miguel: Oh?

Karen: First off, our target markets are the UK and the U.S. We need someone who both Americans and Britons really like. Secondly, our target customer is kind of special...

Charles: I’ve got a suggestion. Karen: Go ahead, Charles.

Charles: It’s just an idea, but how about choosing someone from a sport where it’s normal to be heavy. American football, for example. Heavy, but agile; overweight, but strong and fast. You know what I mean?

Karen: Right, I can see what you mean. What do others think? Miguel: Yes, that might be worth trying.

Sven: Okay, but what about the UK? Who are we going to use on this side of the Atlantic?

Karen: Hmmm... let me think about this. Shall we try to find someone in golf? That’s popular in the U.S. and in the UK. That way, we can kill two birds with one stone.

Everybody (chorus): That’s not a bad idea! Good idea! Yes, I think that’s worth trying.

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Debrief

Karen’s team has a lot of ideas. What language do they use to make their suggestions? First, listen to Sven.

Sven: Well, one possibility would be to use a famous overweight business executive or CEO—someone who is really successful.

How does Sven make his suggestion? He says, “One possibility would be to...” Instead of “will,” he uses “would.” The use of “would” here means it is just a suggestion. Past modal verbs (should, could, might would) are often used like this in suggestions.

Now, listen to Miguel make a suggestion.

Miguel: Perhaps we should just use a famous sports star like we usually do. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, you know what I mean?

“Perhaps we should...” is another polite way of making a suggestion. Notice the use of “just”: “Perhaps we should just use a famous sports star....” This shows that what he is suggesting is no change from the normal way of doing things. That’s why he says, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” This is an idiom. It means, don’t change something if it is already working fine. In informal American oral English, you can say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

So, so far we have two ways of making suggestions:

One possibility would be to...

And:

Perhaps we should...

Now, let’s look at a couple more ways to make suggestions. Listen to Charles.

Charles: I’ve got a suggestion. Karen: Go ahead, Charles.

Charles: It’s just an idea, but how about choosing someone from a sport where it’s normal to be heavy.

First Charles shows that he has a suggestion: I’ve got a suggestion. Then, since he is talking to his boss (and perhaps since he is not sure everyone will agree with him), he uses a careful, polite way to introduce the suggestion: “It’s just an idea, but how about...” “How about” is a normal way of making a suggestion. “It’s just an idea, but...” makes it extra polite.

Instead of “how about,” you can also say “what about.” “How about” and “what about” are followed by a verb +ing

36 How about washing the dishes?

 It’s just an idea, but what about eating lunch together?

These are sometimes followed by a phrase (or sentence.) This is more common with “how about”:

How about you wash the dishes and I dry? How about we have lunch together?

Finally, let’s look at a couple more way of making a suggestion. Listen to how Karen makes her suggestion: Shall we try to find someone in golf? You can also say “What if....” For example:

What if we...cut costs by finding a new office?

Now, with Karen’s team, practice the ways of making suggestions that we have learned so far:

 Well, one possibility would be to...hire more staff.  Perhaps we should...have more vacation?

 It’s just an idea, but...how about leaving a little bit early today?  Shall we try to look at this from another point of view?

 Well, what if we try to open a new store in Germany?

Now, it’s your turn to talk. In a moment, you’ll hear a series of cues followed by a beep. After each beep, use the information supplied in the cue to make a suggestion. For example, if you hear, “Get Beckham to sponsor the product,” you can say “Well, one possibility would be to get Beckham to sponsor the product.” Are you ready? Let’s give it a try.

Cue 1: Launch the new product in Q1 next year. Learner:

Cue 2: Open a Branch in Slovenia. Learner:

Cue 3: Give employees larger bonuses Learner:

Cue 4: Hold English trainings Learner:

Cue 5: Schedule weekly meetings to check on progress. Learner:

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How did you do? Listen to the examples to check your answers. Remember, there are many possible ways to respond to each question.

Cue 1: Launch the new product in Q1 next year.

Answer: Perhaps we should launch the new product in Q1 next year? Cue 2: Open a Branch in Slovenia.

Answer: It’s just an idea, but what if we open a branch in Slovenia. Cue 3: Give employees larger bonuses

Answer: Well, what if we try to give employees larger bonuses? Cue 4: Hold English trainings

Answer: Well, one possibility would be to hold English trainings. Cue 5: Schedule weekly meetings to check on progress.

Answer: Let’s schedule weekly meetings to check on progress.

Now that you’ve heard examples, go back and practice again. Substitute different phrases to build fluency.

That’s all for this chapter. We’ve covered many useful expressions for making suggestions. In the next chapter, we’ll use the same dialog to cover rejecting and accepting suggestions. We’ll also look closely at some idioms that were used in the dialog.

Language Review

A. Making Suggestions

Revise key language by filling in the blanks with words from the box.

idea try but should possibility

what if about would another

1) How _________ washing the dishes?

2) It’s just an _________, but what about eating lunch together? 3) What _________ we...cut costs by finding a new office?

4) Well, one _________ _________ be to...hire more staff. 5) Perhaps we _________...have more vacation?

6) It’s just an idea, _________...how about leaving a little bit early today? 7) Shall we _________ to look at this from _________ point of view? 8) Well, _________ if we try to open a new store in Germany?

B. Jumbled Sentences

To review the language for making suggestions, put the following jumbled sentences in order:

1) we launch year should perhaps product new Q1 in next the 2) it idea just an but if we what open branch in a Slovenia ’s 3) if what try we give to employees bonuses larger well 4) to one possibility well be trainings English hold would 5) progress schedule meetings weekly check to on ’s let

In document Meeting Essentials (Page 33-38)