Listening1 (CD 20)

1 Vantage Travel specialises in business travel arrangements. Listen to part of a meeting to decide what free gift to give to clients to promote the company's 10th anniversary. How many ideas are suggested?

Listen again and match the sentence halves.

1 (I think) we should	A giving them a pen with our company name on?
2 (Perhaps) we could...	B arrange a celebration party?
3 We need to...	C do something really special.
4 Why not...	D a travel alarm clock?
5 How about...	E get the holders printed with the company logo.
6 What about...	F give customers a little holder to put their business cards in.

2 Listen to the meeting again. Tick the responses you hear.

1 Brilliant!

2 That'sa good idea.

3 That's a possibility.

4 I'm not sure about that.

5 I like that.

6 That's an interesting idea.

7 No, I don't think that would work.

Good business practice

In some cultures, people show their reactions by the expression on their face or through body language. In other cultures, people do not show obvious reactions and have a more neutral style of body language. Which style is more like the way that you show reactions in your culture?

Visible response	Neutral response
If the person is happy, angry or surprised,	If the person is happy, angry or
it often shows in their expression.	surprised, their expression may
People use hands to emphasise what they	remain neutral.
are saying.	People keep hands and body still
People do not feel comfortable with	when speaking.
silence and will usually respond to a	People feel comfortable with silence
suggestion quickly to avoid breaks in the	and like to take time to consider the
conversation.	suggestion before responding.