公司副總裁Lisa找到銷售部經(jīng)理Frank.
Lisa: Frank, we just got our sales figures in and the numbers are very disappointing. What's going on here?
Frank: I haven't actually seen the new figures. How far have we fallen?
L: We were in sixth place at the beginning of the year and we've now slipped to the eleventh! That's a considerable drop.
F: Wow, that's really bad news. Maybe we should brainstorm some ideas for a radical reinvention of our sales and marketing plan.
L: Yeah, let's do that right now. What do you think the problem is?
公司副總裁Lisa找到銷售部經(jīng)理Frank, 因?yàn)樽钚落N售數(shù)字很令人失望,年初的時(shí)候還排名第六,we've now slipped to the eleventh. 如今已經(jīng)滑落到了第11位,下跌幅度很大,That's a considerable drop. Frank聽(tīng)了這個(gè)壞消息,覺(jué)得應(yīng)該 brainstorm some ideas,to brainstorm 是頭腦風(fēng)暴,集思廣益的意思,看看怎樣徹底調(diào)整一下公司的銷售和市場(chǎng)規(guī)劃。Lisa建議,擇日不如撞日,說(shuō)談就談,問(wèn)Frank覺(jué)得問(wèn)題出在哪里。
F: Well, it seems our competitors have managed to carve a niche in the market. They are now perceived as more "cool" or trendy than we are. Perhaps we should consider getting some celebrity endorsements.
L: You mean like a rock star or a famous sports figure?
F: Yeah, that might help. The person has to be seen as kind of a rebel so we can associate our brand with individuality.
L: That's not a bad idea. I'll talk to the Board of Directors about that.
F: I'd also suggest we reevaluate our packaging. Right now the box we sell our product in seems a little drab and colorless.
Frank 說(shuō),公司的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手 carved a niche in the market 在市場(chǎng)中找到了屬于自己的一塊地方,niche is spelled n-i-c-h-e, niche 是縫隙的意思,動(dòng)詞 carve 是雕刻,劃出的意思。Frank說(shuō),現(xiàn)在消費(fèi)者都覺(jué)得公司競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的產(chǎn)品更時(shí)尚,因此不妨找兩個(gè)名人,給公司做產(chǎn)品代言,get some celebrity endorsements, 但選擇的名人一定要帶有反叛色彩,讓用戶覺(jué)得我們的產(chǎn)品有個(gè)性化,individuality. Frank 還建議,眼下的產(chǎn)品包裝有些呆板,a little drab, 可以考慮變化一下。Lisa說(shuō):
L: Yes, we could redesign our packaging. But on the other hand, there is a recent trend to move away from excessive packaging. You know...to help save the environment.
F: That's another way we could go. We could reduce our packaging, and then advertise our environmentally-friendly business policies. Being "green" is definitely cool these days. Perhaps environmentally-friendly packaging would appeal to a younger customer demographic.
Lisa說(shuō),如今的趨勢(shì)是放棄過(guò)度包裝,實(shí)現(xiàn)包裝簡(jiǎn)單化,因?yàn)檫@樣做有利環(huán)保 environmentally-friendly. Frank覺(jué)得Lisa說(shuō)得有道理,公司在包裝上可以走環(huán)保路線,用環(huán)保的新思維來(lái)吸引年輕客戶群,appeal to 是吸引的意思,demographic is spelled d-e-m-o-g-r-a-p-h-i-c, demographic 在這里指的是消費(fèi)人群中的一部分。