ESL Podcast 856 – Training Salespeople

 　　Our company brought in a consultant¹ to do sales training for our store. For some reason, we’d been getting some complaints from customers.

 

　　Consultant: My job in this training is to help your store improve its customer satisfaction, so that it can attract and retain more customers. When you interact with customers, you represent this store. It is very important that, from the get-go, customers are greeted in a friendly and positive way.

 

　　Employee: Sometimes, people are really rude. They don’t even say “hello” back.

 

　　Consultant: That may be true, but it’s still your job to make them feel welcomed. Each customer should feel that a salesperson² is attentive³ and trying to meet their needs.

 

　　Employee: Some of them don’t even know what they want. They wander around and waste our time.

 

　　Consultant: Part of your job is to help them define their needs, offer them options, and lead them to a decision. I know that you’re not working on commission, but this is a very important part of your job.

 

　　Employee: You mean I have to hold their hand the whole time they’re in the store? Who am I, their mother?

 

　　Consultant: I can see that we have a lot of work to do. Let’s get started.

 

　　Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

2 salesperson   

n.售货员，营业员，店员

参考例句：

• A salesperson works in a shop.售货员在商店工作。
• Vanessa is a salesperson in a woman's wear department.凡妮莎是女装部的售货员。

3 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。