Interviewing Katherine
Star-up steps to international business
Listen to the podcast interview and do the activities that hereby follow.
Click to this address to start
http://www.elanguages.ac.uk/activities/2EAP/01/du1s30402.htm
Part I
Practicing your listening skills regularly is important. In the first part of this interview with Katherine, a businesswoman, you will hear her talking about some of the challenges of ...
a) finding a market for a product or service
b) finding prospects for the intended market
c) setting up a business
d) getting a loan
Part II
Listen to Katherine’s interview again. Then, look at the following list and use the symbol “x” to choose the sentences that she only mentioned during the interview.
a) You need to start by identifying a service or product that your business can offer
b) You should have previous experience in sales and marketing
c) If you want to sell a product you need to market it effectively
d) If you want to sell a service it's advisable to have already worked in that sector
e) You need to have a profile of the market you are aiming at
f) You need to identify your typical customer and market specifically for him/her
g) It's important to know whether your intended market is likely to increase or not
h) You need to develop a competitive advantage
Part III
Listen and complete the interview.
Interviewer: OK, Katherine, um, we’re going to talk about _______________ _____ a business today. Can you tell me what you think are the first steps involved in setting up a business?
Katherine: Well, obviously, the first thing you have to do is you have to have an idea - you
have to have a concept. You have to see a _______________ in the market somewhere. You have to have an idea of a product or a service which you can offer either locally or nationally, or even
____________________. And normally this would be related to your own experience. Um, if you’re
going to go into the services market, then it needs to be probably something that you have
worked in the sector that you have worked in before. Not necessarily, but it’s a good idea.
Interviewer: Mm mm. OK. Um, and how do you go about defining the _______________ that you’re aiming at?
Katherine: Well, again, um, if it’s a service or a product, you have to have an idea of who
your _______________ customers or clients are going to be: you need a _______________ of them. You need to know what age group they belong to. You need to know if it’s aimed at men or women or both. Um, the kind of _______________ group that these people belong to. And perhaps nationality. Maybe it’s a national market, maybe it’s international. You also need to know, um, if your market is static or if it’s likely to _______________ and, if it’s going to grow, in which direction it will grow. You need also to have an idea of your principal competitors in the field and see what they’re doing and, once you’ve looked at what they’re doing, you have to define what is your ____________________ advantage. What makes your product or your service special? It may be cheaper price. It may be some kind of some ________________ _______________ on the product or the service. It may be a personalization of a product or a service.
Interviewer: Mm. OK. It sounds like a very complex process.
