原汁原味商務英語播客 第48課:問問題的技巧(上)

Questions are an important part of almost every conversation. So being able to ask good questions is critical to communication. How can we make our questioning more effective and efficient? In this two-part Business English Podcast series we’ll be looking at some answers.
問題是幾乎所有談話的一個重要部分。所有能夠問好的問題對於交流十分重要。如何讓提問有力且有效果？在2節課中，我們會看一些答案。

padding-bottom: 56.25%;">

The communication skills we’ll be learning can be used in any situation, but we’ll be focusing in on an area where questioning techniques are particularly important: needs analysis. This refers to analyzing the needs of a customer as part of the sales process. We’ll study a series of questioning techniques that can be used to “drill down to” – that is, get to or uncover – the information you want.
我們學習到的交流技巧如何場合下都能用到，但是我們會着重學習提問題特別重要的地方：需要分析。這涉及到分析客戶的需求來作爲銷售過程的一部分。我們將學習一系列的提問技巧來得到你想要的信息。

In today’s Business English listening Brad is a sales manager for Forrest and Brown, a producer of innovative industrial coatings and glues. Coating refers to a chemical that is applied to the outside of something to protect it. For example, paint is a type of coating. Forrest and Brown produces “conformal coatings”; this type of coating is used to protect printed circuit boards, or PCBs. PCBs are small flat boards covered with wiring and electronic parts. Almost all electronic devices – TVs, CD players, phones – have them.
在今天的商務英語聽力是有關Forrest and Brown的銷售部經理Brad，那是生產新塗層和新膠水的公司。塗層是用來塗在物體外部保護物體的化學物質。比如：塗料就是一種塗層，Forrest and Brown生產的“保形塗層”，這種塗層來用保護印刷電路板（簡稱PCB）。PCB是佈滿線路和電子元件的平板。幾乎所有的電子設備——電視，CD機，電話上都有PCB。

Today Brad is visiting Andy, who is a production manager for Stratos, an assembler of PCBs that are used in household items. We can say that Andy is Brad’s “prospect” – the person he wants to sell to.
今天Brad要拜訪Andy，他是一家生產家用產品的PCB裝配公共Stratos的生產部經理。我們可以說Andy是Brad的潛在客戶——他想將商品賣給的人。

Let’s listen to how Brad asks Andy questions to analyze Stratos’ needs.
來聽下Brad是如何向Andy提問問題從而來分析Stratos公司的需求。

Listening Questions:
1) What does Brad think of the Stratos facility?
2) How long has Stratos been located in its current location?
3) What kind of devices does Stratos produce circuit boards for?