Business proposals - 42 - English at Work helps you make the perfect pro...

source: BBC Learning English     2017年4月19日
Anna and Tom are at a pizza restaurant for their dinner date, but Anna has work on her mind. She needs to put together a proposal for her new business idea!
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TRANSCRIPT

Waiter
Would you like to see the menu?

Tom
Oh yes please.

Waiter
I was asking the lady actually.

Tom
Oh, right.

Narrator
Hello again. Anna and Tom are finally on their dinner date at a pizza restaurant. Eating could be difficult for Tom because he's sprained his arm after that accident in the office. He might still have romance on his mind but Anna is thinking about something else. Are you feeling nervous Anna?

Anna
Nervous? Why?

Narrator
Being out on your own with Tom. What are you going to talk about?

Anna
Don't worry. I can handle this, besides I want Tom's ideas about developing a new plastic vegetable.

Narrator
A plastic vegetable! Oh right. Well, good luck.

Tom
So this is nice. Finally, us together, on our own, me and you, pizza, red wine… expensive red wine, actually.

Anna
Lovely Tom. You know Tom, Paul wants me to develop a new idea – plastic vegetables – I thought, maybe, you might like to help me?

Tom
Come on Anna, we're not here to talk business. Tell me about you – the real Anna. Have you had many… err, many boyfriends before?

Anna
That's a bit personal. What do you think about plastic peas?

Tom
Err? Can you not switch off from work for one minute?

Anna
Tom. I think you and me are very similar – we're a good team. If we could come up with a great idea for Paul then who knows… we may get to travel the world selling it together?

Tom
Oh, I see. I hadn't thought of it like that. Right well…

Waiter
Your pizzas… madam… sir.

Anna
Thanks. Tom, I think you'll need some help cutting that.

Tom
Thanks. Mmm, you smell nice… or is that the pizza?

Anna
I've got it!

Tom
What?

Anna
Plastic aubergines!

Tom
Plastic aubergines?

Anna
Yes. Plastic aubergines. They would look great on this table – a sort of decoration.

Tom
Yeah! And you could put sauces inside… or salt and pepper. You could be on to something here.

Anna
We need to put a proposal together, to give it to Paul. But what should we say?

Narrator
Anna, your proposal needs to be brief but clear. Use positive language to propose your idea to Paul. Use words like 'exceptional', 'fantastic', 'quality', and talk about how it would benefit the business by using words like 'profit', 'efficiency', and 'value for money'. Good luck!

Tom
Are you OK Anna?

Anna
Yes. Just writing some things down.

Tom
OK, well write down how we could target restaurants and cafes. They'll be begging for our vegetables. Oh this is so exciting… let's drink to our… succ… Oh!

Anna
Tom! What have you done? You've knocked red wine all over me… and my notebook.

Tom
Ermm, sorry. We had better get you out of that dress.

Narrator
Hmm, what a mess and what a date! But what may be lacking in romance is made up for in a potentially successful business deal. Let's find out how it's going much much later at Tom's flat…

Anna
…this exceptional product has fantastic potential…

Tom
Say 'demand for this plastic aubergine will reach melting point!' My little joke.

Anna
…by making the production more efficient, our customers will get value for money and our profits will increase. There, done.

Tom
Great. We can pitch this to Paul first thing on Monday morning. So now, maybe we can get back to our date? Look I saved some of that pizza.

Anna
It's all cold! Anyway, I had better go. It's late and I want to tidy up this proposal. But it's been great. I can't wait till next time.

Tom
Bbbut…

Tom
Next time?

Narrator
Well, that went well! The pizza may be cold but Anna and Tom have developed a red hot proposal. Here's a reminder of some of the words you might want to use to make your business proposal stand out…

Exceptional!

Fantastic!

Quality.

Profit.

Efficiency.

Value for money.

Narrator
So with the proposal written, Tom and Anna just need to convince Paul – and that means pitching their idea. Find out how they get on next time. Bye for now.