BEC精聽(十一)
第四輯? TEST 3
PART ONE
Good afternoon. My short talk today is about trade fairs: not how to exhibit at them,
but how to take best advantage of being a customer, a visitor to the fair. How can you make your visit really cost and time-efficient??
Firstly, an issue which is often overlooked is pre-exhibition preparation. It may be that the fair won't be helpful, so find out as much as you can before you consider booking. As soon as you know it's taking place, send off for 索要 the publicity folder 宣傳文件夾, for which there is no charge. It contains information which can save you time and money. One particular thing I always advise clients to do is to look over 快速瀏覽,翻閱 the exhibitor list with great care and talk to line managers and colleagues about it. This will give you the best insight into whether this particular fair is right for your company. If it is, sign up for it. Then, if you think the fair is for you, do take time to look into hotel arrangements. My advice is that you should try to choose a hotel yourself from the internet rather than selecting one from the trade fair's recommended list. Trade fairs and exhibitions tend to use large chains because they're easier to deal with, rather than ones with the most suitable facilities.
In due course 合適的時機, you will receive an enormous amount of tradefair information. A lot of it you can throw away immediately, but not everything. The handouts 宣傳冊 to hang onto 保留 are the finalised list of visitors, and it's also worth keeping the floor plan. 建筑平面圖 Organisers seldom remember to supply extra copies, and you'll be stuck if you don't have one. Then take a little care with your packing, don't forget to take a large notepad
Now, obviously, you'll be aiming to make plenty of contacts, and you should keep an eye on how long it takes the different companies to get back to you, sending the requested literature(印刷品、宣傳品), quotations and so forth. With today's communication techniques, you should hear from them within two or three days or even 24 hours. Any company that takes longer than a week is not worth pursuing, in my opinion. So, next, I'd like...
PART TWO
1. I worked for a tool manufacturer, which had always targeted the domestic market,

2. My boss gave me responsibility for this big project once, where I had to plan a strategy for improving the amount of flexibility in our production section. You see, there were people who could operate a specific machine, or do a particular part of the process, but if someone was off sick or on holiday, nobody else could take over. It also meant that when people got bored with their job, they tended to leave. So I was supposed to work out how to get everyone familiar with several machines.
Well, I didn't know the department very well, so I wanted to discuss my ideas with the shop floor workers, but morale had got so bad, most of them couldn't be bothered, and in the end, I can't claim I had much success.

3. We make luxury bags, and we're never short of customers. We don't have our own stores: the bags are sold by retailers, and we work closely with them. They generally have pretty limited storage space, so they can't carry much stock, which means we have to make lots of small deliveries. So I had to do a comparative study of the alternatives.
The thing was, though, that I was told just to look at getting our finished products from the factory to the outlets 經(jīng)銷商, which was straightforward enough, but I soon realised that it would make more sense to look at the whole of the supply chain. Anyway, I managed to solve the immediate problem.

4. The company I worked for merged with another one, and I was given the task of evaluating all the senior positions and redefining their roles to fit into the structure of the new company. It was pretty hard, because people were afraid they'd lose their jobs. so the atmosphere was awful. But it also proved very difficult to find out exactly how the other company had been operating. It was small, and the directors were basically a group of friends who'd set up the business together.
Everything was done verbally, and they hadn't bothered to draw up organograms or job descriptions. I had to spend ages talking to all of them, so it took me a long time to reach the point where I felt confident enough to present my report.

5. We're a small manufacturer of fashion clothing, targeted at people in their twenties with high disposable incomes 可支配收入. We compete with imported clothing, and only use outlets close by, which keeps distribution costs down. And then management decided we were too dependent on these customers, and we should aim at a broader age range, and as soon as possible.They considered designing new ranges for other age groups, but we just didn't have the production capacity 生產(chǎn)能力, so they decided to change the product image, to broaden its appeal. The task of making this happen fell to me.
Well, I wish I'd refused, because they simply didn't realise that it's a very complicated process, and that lots of companies have tried and failed. Instead they blamed me for not being bold enough.

PART THREE
Woman: Well, Duncan, I think we can often get a lot out of these informal talks.
Man: I couldn't agree more, Kathy... the agendas in standard meetings are usually too rigid to allow for real discussion.
Woman: OK, now, you'd like to appoint a new assistant...
Man: Yes, I think it's important.
Woman: ... because you're wanting to look at agents and consultants...
Man: Yeah - they're all stored on computer, but not in a useful way.
I want the whole thing revised, so that we can access information in a wide range of clear categories.
Woman: And that's a separate job.
Man: Quite - and a big one. We need a set-up like the Marketing Department has for clients - user- friendly.
Woman: I can certainly see your case. My only thought is that this person's role is likely to become more complex.
Man: Oh, sure - these are just my initial thoughts...
Woman: So, you'll have to make sure you get someone who's got the right qualifications...
Man: Mm - the right diplomas.
Woman: And will they be going to many meetings ?
Man: Yeah, but not having to travel there... I mean, they'll be in-house...
Woman: I see it as a cross-departmental role.
Man: I guess that depends on the Directors. I'd rather keep it within HR.
Woman: Hm, it's always an issue, isn't it, how the first idea of the job gets transformed, often neglecting the original need.
I've sat on plenty of interview panels here, where we're all doing our utmost to let the candidate give it their best shot...
Man: Oh sure.
Woman: ... and found myself thinking, hang on, too many people have got their hands on this and changed the requirements or desirable qualities since the time we put out the advertisement... I just don't think all the details should be passed around as they currently are.
Man: I suppose everyone's a bit desperate and looking for any opportunity to delegate, so if someone new's coming in, they think, oh, that might help me...
Woman: Only natural.
Man: The new salary scales, welcome though the increases are, don't address the real problem.
And the flexible holiday system hasn't done anything to reduce the day-to-day pressure.
Woman: I know what you mean, but I do have faith in things getting better, if the current initiatives go ahead.
Man: Hm, I'll believe them when I see them, especially these glamorous new systems IT are proposing.
Woman: Well, I...
Man: I just wish everything could be as straightforward as the production team manage to make it - what they're proposing is so practical that it's bound to go through 被通過/批準, while the rest of us are sitting around, considering every possible aspect and application, and drawing up endless finance projections.
Woman: Time will tell... I must say, I'm not entirely happy about the way things are going.
Man: No?
Woman: Well, I just don't think information is being handled very well - it's a skill that's neglected here. We have, in theory at least, a good team system, but we still end up running late at crucial stages on many projects simply due to our own over-elaborate processes
- which, in terms of quality and efficiency, is clearly far from ideal.
Man: Yeah, well... I think a lot of it is to do with capturing and disseminating information, and whether we do that effectively or not. We're not alone in encouraging employees to come up with ideas for improvements in procedures, etce, particularly those aimed at enhancing customer service levels...
Woman:No...
Man: ... but I'd like to see the outcomes of that publicised internally.., we could have a kind of magazine to supplement the annual report, and it could come out several times a year.
Woman: I guess that could help.
Man: It all ties up with where the company thinks it might be going.
Woman: Yeah, that's the big issue. I'd say that boils down to identity...
Man: ... which we need to work on developing over the internet.





