B2 Unit 2: Business & Negotiations — English Easylife Conversation

1

Negotiating a Business Contract

Emma Thank you for coming in today. I've reviewed your proposal, and while the quality of your services is clearly excellent, I have some concerns about the pricing structure.

David I appreciate your candour. We're certainly open to discussion. Which aspects of the pricing are most concerning for you?

Emma The upfront payment requirement is the main issue. We'd prefer a milestone-based payment schedule tied to deliverables.

David That's a reasonable request. We can structure payments around three milestones — project initiation, midpoint review, and final delivery. Would that work?

Emma That would work much better. I'd also like to discuss the intellectual property clauses. We need to ensure that all work product becomes our property upon final payment.

David Standard in our contracts. We retain no rights to client-specific work. I can have our legal team clarify the exact language if that would help.

Emma Yes, please. And finally, the timeline — six months seems optimistic given the scope. We'd want a realistic schedule with buffer time built in.

David We can extend to eight months and include a formal change management process for any scope additions. I think we can reach an agreement that works for both parties.

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2

Presenting a Business Proposal

Laura Good morning, everyone. I'm here to present our proposal for expanding into the Southeast Asian market. I'll cover market analysis, entry strategy, and projected returns.

Mark Thank you, Laura. Before you begin, could you clarify the scope? Are we looking at all of Southeast Asia or specific markets?

Laura We're proposing a phased approach — Singapore and Malaysia in year one, followed by Thailand and Vietnam in year two, based on performance.

Mark That's a sensible sequencing. Singapore as a gateway market makes strategic sense. What's your assessment of the competitive landscape?

Laura The market is competitive but fragmented. No single player has more than fifteen percent market share. Our differentiation on quality and service gives us a credible entry point.

Mark What's the capital requirement for year one, and what return are you projecting?

Laura Initial investment of three million dollars, with break-even projected at month eighteen and a five-year IRR of twenty-two percent.

Mark Those projections are compelling. I'd like to see the sensitivity analysis — how do the numbers change if market penetration is slower than expected?

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3

Handling a Difficult Client

Rachel Mr Johnson, I understand you're frustrated with the delays. I want to assure you that resolving this is our absolute priority.

James Frustrated doesn't begin to cover it. We were promised delivery by the fifteenth. It's now the twenty-eighth. This has cost us a significant client.

Rachel I sincerely apologise for the impact this has had on your business. The delay was caused by a supplier failure that was outside our direct control, but that doesn't diminish our responsibility to you.

James I need more than an apology. What are you going to do to make this right?

Rachel We're proposing a fifteen percent discount on this order, priority scheduling for your next three orders, and a dedicated account manager going forward.

James The discount is appreciated, but the priority scheduling is what matters most to us. Can you put that in writing?

Rachel Absolutely. I'll have a formal letter of commitment to you by end of day, signed by our operations director.

James That's acceptable. I want to continue our relationship, but I need to be confident that this won't happen again.

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4

Job Interview at a Senior Level

Nina Thank you for coming in, Alex. Your CV is impressive. Could you start by telling us about your most significant leadership challenge and how you handled it?

Alex Certainly. In my previous role, I inherited a team with very low morale following a difficult restructuring. My first priority was rebuilding trust through transparency and consistent follow-through.

Nina How did you approach that practically?

Alex I held individual conversations with every team member to understand their concerns. I then set clear, achievable goals and made sure to celebrate progress publicly.

Nina What was the outcome?

Alex Within six months, voluntary turnover dropped from twenty-two percent to eight percent, and the team exceeded its annual targets for the first time in three years.

Nina Impressive results. How do you approach strategic decision-making when the data is ambiguous or incomplete?

Alex I combine whatever quantitative data is available with structured qualitative input from people closest to the problem. Then I make a decision, communicate the reasoning clearly, and build in explicit review points.

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5

Discussing a Merger

Sophie The due diligence process has revealed some concerns I'd like to discuss before we proceed. The target company's customer concentration is higher than we anticipated.

Chris You're referring to the fact that their top three clients represent sixty percent of revenue. That is a risk, but it's also an opportunity — those are blue-chip clients we'd love to have.

Sophie The risk is that if even one of those clients doesn't renew post-merger, the financial model breaks. We need contractual protections.

Chris We could negotiate client retention clauses into the merger agreement — earn-out provisions tied to client retention over a two-year period.

Sophie That would align incentives appropriately. What about the cultural fit question? Their management style is quite different from ours.

Chris Cultural integration is always the hardest part of any merger. We'd need a dedicated integration team and a clear communication strategy from day one.

Sophie I'd recommend bringing in an external change management consultant. We've seen what happens when cultural integration is underestimated.

Chris Agreed. The financial case for this merger is strong, but only if we get the integration right. Let's build that into the deal structure.

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6

Launching a New Product

Kate The product is ready for launch, but I want to make sure we're aligned on the go-to-market strategy before we commit to a date.

Ben The marketing team has been working on a phased launch — soft launch to existing customers first, then a broader campaign in Q3.

Kate I like the soft launch approach. It gives us real-world feedback before the full rollout. What's the feedback mechanism?

Ben We're setting up a dedicated feedback portal and a customer success team to handle onboarding. We'll track NPS scores weekly.

Kate Good. What's the pricing strategy? We need to be competitive without undermining our premium positioning.

Ben We're going with value-based pricing — slightly above market average, justified by the superior feature set and our service reputation.

Kate That makes sense. Have we stress-tested the pricing with potential customers? I want to make sure we're not making assumptions about willingness to pay.

Ben We've done conjoint analysis with two hundred potential customers. The price point tested well — strong purchase intent at the proposed level.

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