TOEIC IDOM: UNIT 4 - SALES AND MARKETING

Person A: Did you attend Sally’s presentation? 

Person B: No, I missed it, but I read her e-mail, 

Person A: It was great. No one expected her to be so plugged in to the customers’ needs. She really blew them away. I think the new product released will jumpstart our sales this quarter. It’s a long short, but I think we may reach the 5 million dollar mark. 

Person B: The new program is very user-friendly, which should increase sales. 

Person A: I agree. I think that the new management has a good game plan. First of  all, they have an excellent team. The new vice president has hired really good salespeople who interface well with the customers. She knows that good customer relationships are critical to our success. She’s also spending a lot on this new marketing campaign. She wants to go for broke.

Person B: She certainly works hard. She put in about 90 hours last week. Even if she does strike out and the campaign fails, I think she’ll go down swinging. I love her positive attitude. I hope she hits a home run. If she does, we’ll all benefit when the stock goes up. 

Person A: It’s possible. I think she is really dialed in to the customers. She seems to be able to anticipate the market, which helps her to stay ahead of the game. 

Person B: I agree. This could add up to a win-win situation for all of us.

1. Be plugged in/be dialed in: be connected or be knowledgeable about in a situation.

 If you want to know what’s really going on, ask Jim. He is really plugged in.

 If you want to be dialed in, you have to communicate with lots of people.

2. Blow someone away: greatly impress someone; exceed expectations.

 He set impossible goals, and then he achieved them. It blew his boss away.

 She blew them away when she made her presentation. They had no idea she would be so effective.

3. Jumpstart: so something to get an activity or institution working better or faster.

 Let’s jumpstart this project. It is our first priority.

 The economy was lagging, so the government tried to jumpstart it by lowering the interest rates.

4. A long shot: a very difficult goal or a goal that one does not expect to achieve

 Getting into that university is a long shot for him because he doesn’t have great grades.

 Reaching our sales goals in this quarter is a long shot because of the economy.

5. Be user-friendly: be easy to use

 This program is very user-friendly. It seems very logical.

 When a program is user-friendly, I don’t need to read the manual.

6. A game plan: a strategy or an organized approach to achieve a goal

 To get this done, we’ll need a really good game plan.

 We need to come up with a game plan to meet our goals.

7. Interface with someone/something: communicate or interact with someone or something.

 Her new job requires her to interface with the customers every day.

 The network here no longer interfaces well with the one overseas.

8. Go for broke: attempt to reach a very high goal; gamble everything

 He risked everything on the new venture. He went for broke.

 If we go for broke on this one, and it doesn’t work, we’ll be back to square one.

9. Strike out: fail or make a big mistake

 He struck out with the big account. They decided not to purchase the product.

 I don’t want to strike out on this project. I want it to be a success.

10. Go down swinging: keep trying until the end; never give it up

 He didn’t win the account, but he went down swinging. I like that guy.

 I’d rather go down swinging than not try at all.

11. Hit a home run: to be very successful

 That company really hit a home run with their new technology. Everyone is using it now.

 She has started three companies, and they’ve all been very successful. She always hits home run.

12. Ahead of the game: prepared for what’s coming; ahead of schedule

 Next month is the end of the quarter. I have to get my work finished early so I can get ahead of the game.

 Our new product should help our company get ahead of the game.

13. Add up: make sense; result in something

 It doesn’t add up. He’s losing money, but he’s still hiring new people.

 It all adds up to trouble. Changing the design and rushing the products to market  will create more problems.

Posted in: Learning English