Sales documentation

When you travel by train, you need a ticket as proof that you have paid. When you send a consignment of goods by rail or road you also need a receipt to prove the transport company has taken the goods. A consignment note is both a ticket and a receipt. A consignment note for goods sent by air is called an air consignment note or an air waybill. A consignment note for goods sent by sea is a Bill of Lading. A combined transport document is for goods sent by more than one means of transport.

When companies buy goods, they send an order to the suppliers. If the buyers are regular customers, the suppliers send the goods and then send an invoice. The buyers do not always pay the invoice immediately. Usually the suppliers send a statement at the end of the month which shows all the transactions between the suppliers and the buyers in that month. The buyers then pay the amount outstanding on the statement.

Sometimes when the suppliers receive an enquiry, they send a pro-forma invoice. This is a quotation which looks like the final invoice so the buyers know how much they have to pay. If the suppliers do not know the buyers, the buyers might pay in advance against the pro-forma when placing their order.

Answer the questions:

1.Which documents are requests for payment?

2.Which documents are receipts for goods?

3. What is a pro-forma invoice?

4.Household Designs in Manchester sent goods to a customer in Liverpool by trailer. This was the first time the customer had bought anything from Household Designs. Which documents were used?

5.Household Designs sent goods by air to a regular customer in France. Which documents were used?

Role plays.

Make up dialogues using the expressions from the dialogues in Unit 2:

1.Mr.Johnston is discussing the results of his first visit to Textafabrik with his colleagues in the U.S.A.

2.Mr.Johnston is speaking to his colleagues and they make a decision about the deal.

3.Mr Johnston is visiting a factory in Bulgaria. They are using some machines produced by Textafabrik. Mr. Johnston is interested in the machines and gets some information about them and their producers.

4.A: You are showing your potential customer round your factory. You don’t want him/her to see some machines. Try to talk him out of visiting the shop and speaking to the shop-floor workers.

B: You are visiting a factory which produces machines you are interested in. Try to find as much information about them as possible, and see the machines in operation.

Problem-solving:

On a business trip to a Third World country you see an interesting and unusual product which you are sure could be successfully marketed in your own country at a price which would be both attractive to the consumer and profitable to you. When you visit the factory which makes this product you find that the working conditions of the workforce are bad and the pay rates are low. Should you make a contract with them?

Answer the questions on the topic:

1.Prove that it is important to meet with a potential customer.

2.How can sellers attract their potential customers?

3.Why do companies produce sales literature and publicity material?

4.What sales techniques do you know?

5.Speak on the topic: Meeting with a potential customer.

Unit 3