Business English Listening Practice

1.

Mr. Barton: How did the meeting go this morning?

Susanna: Which meeting?

Mr. Barton: You know, about the new advertising.

Susanna: Oh, I wasn't there.

Mr. Barton: Yes, I know, but Barry was, wasn't he? What did he say about it?

Susanna: I'm really not sure to be honest. I haven't seen Barry since yesterday morning. But he had some real big problems with the new campaign and was going to tell the advertising people about it.

Mr. Barton: Yes, that's why I wanted to know how it went. Could you tell him to come up and see me as soon as he gets back from the Harper Industries conference?

Susanna: I'll leave him a message. I have to go now. I'm picking my daughter up from school.

__________________________

2.

Caroline: Henry, we've had some serious complaints about the windows that were installed yesterday at the home of Hannah Westwood. What do you know about it?

Henry: That was Phil and Mike over at the Westwood house, yesterday at around 3pm. Why, what was the problem? They told me everything went well.

Caroline: She called us this morning and she said, well it was her husband, Jim, actually. He said the guys who installed the windows left an awful mess around the back of the house, that the front was fine, but when they went around the back of the house, they found smashed pieces of their old windows and pieces of the old frame scattered around the place. They have two expensive pedigree dogs and one of them cut his paw on some glass.

Henry: Oh no, that doesn't sound too good.

Caroline: No, it doesn't. They want us to pay for the vet bills, otherwise they say they are going to take the company to court. I need to speak to, what were their names?

Henry: Phil Owen and Mike Gomez.

Caroline: Yes, them. I need to speak to them to get all the facts before I get in touch with the Westwoods again. They may have forgotten to clean up at the back of the house, but it seems we are going to have to pay out some money anyway.

Henry: I'll go and find them now.

__________________________

3.

Hank: Jane, have you seen the new design for our website?

Jane: Yes, I was just looking at it in fact. When is it going public?

Hank: Oh, it won't be ready for launch until at least the middle of next week. What did you like about it?

Jane: Well, I'm not a web expert or anything, but it just looked nice and clean. You know the site at the moment, well, it's a bit crowded, isn't it? And I had a look at the shopping cart page. That looks so much better organized. I can't really understand the present system.

Hank: I know, it's really confusing, isn't it? With this new design, we are hoping to increase sales and start making much more of a profit from the web side of business. You know, Ted Jackson wants us to be making a third of our profits online within two years.

Jane: That sounds like a lot. How much do we make now?

Hank: Oh, around 7%. But I think with this new site design plus the advertising we are putting out on local radio, that will double in a matter of months.

Jane: Let's hope so.

__________________________

4.

Janice: Excuse me. Can you just sign here, please?

Fred: What's this? We weren't expecting any deliveries.

Janice: Let's see. We have some toner for the photocopier, three boxes of A4 paper and some other odd things such as staples and post-it notes.

Fred: Oh yes, we ran out of paper this morning. It's lucky you came now. I was just closing the office. We're all going to a meeting so we close at four this afternoon. Do I need to pay you now?

Janice: Oh no, we will bill you at the end of the month as usual. I just need your signature here. Oh, and another one here.

Fred: Great. Thanks a lot.

Janice: Oh, can you tell the person in charge of supplies that we won't be open on Thursday and Friday next week? So if you need anything, you'll have to get your order in to us by close of business on the Wednesday. And we'll be open again on Saturday morning.

Fred: No problem. I'll tell Darren, he's the guy who does all of that. Bye now.

Janice: Bye, have a nice day.

__________________________

5.

Jessica: I can't believe how much they've charged us for that conference in Dusseldorf last month.

Bryan: Let me have a look. Wow, you're right. How come?

Jessica: I don't know, but I'm going to find out. They told us the inclusive price would be 2000. This is 20% more.

Bryan: You know, that conference was really useful. We made some good contacts and will probably sell three or four properties because of it.

Jessica: Yes, I know that Bryan, but it's the principle of the matter. They said we would be charged only $2000 and then a bill for $2350 arrives.

Bryan: Oh look at this, Jessica. This was the original e-mail they sent us two months ago.

Jessica: Right, let me see! OK, conference, real estate, Dusseldorf, 19th to the 21st, yes, look, right there, 2000 it says, oh wait, that's in Euros. I don't believe it. They give us the price in Euros and bill us in dollars. That's a bit sneaky, don't you think?