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100

 “We won’t won’t bore you with all the details, as you can read the brochure later.”

won’t bore you: won’t speak too much about something.

100

 “We like working with them because they do everything with a personal touch that makes us feel welcome.”

personal touch: friendly way of doing business.

100

“We have to to scale up the advertising campaign, as too few people are aware of our presence.”

to scale up: to make bigger or stronger.

100

 “Although media servers are a niche market, we see it as a good way to develop a strong client base before expanding.”

niche market: a small, specialized section of a market. For example, hand-made chocolates are a niche market in the bigger confectionary market.

100

 “Staffing has always been our Achilles heel, as the work is extremely repetitive and stressful.”

Achilles heel: weak point.

200

“Now that they have an online portal, their client base is worldwide, rather than national.”

client base: potential customers for businesses that provide services rather than retail products.

200

“The bedrock of this operation is our quick turnaround time, which is 25% faster than our competitors.”

bedrock: foundation.

200

 “If we want to take it to the next level in this industry, we’ll have to take on more researchers.”

next level: the next important step or increase in size.

200

“Expanding the clothing line to include menswear would create economies of scale and reduce overall costs per unit.”

economies of scale: cost advantages gained through expansion.

200

“We spend a significant amount on training and then our competitors poached the new trainees with the promise of higher salaries.”

to poach (staff/someone): to lure an employee to another company.

300

 “SMEs provide 60 to 80% of employment in countries with developed economies.”

SME: small to medium size enterprise.

300

“Our CEO is a prominent figure in the business community and many people ask him for advice.”

prominent: important or noticeable.

300

 “Customers don’t trust TV advertising as much as word of mouth.”  “Customers don’t trust TV advertising as much as word of mouth.”

word of mouth: a form of promotion in which happy customers tell other people about a product or service.

300

 “Our bottom line has improved greatly over last quarter’s losses.”

bottom line: final figure showing profits or losses.

300

 “I can’t come to get to grips with with why we went over budget.”

To get to grips with sth: to deal with a problem. Also “to come to grips with sth”.

400

 “We couldn’t decide where to hold the Christmas party, so we took a straw poll and most people wanted to go to a restaurant.”

straw poll: a small unofficial survey to find out what people think about an issue.

400

 “They’re a formidable competitor because their marketing is top-notch.”  “They’re a formidable competitor because their marketing is top-notch.”

formidable: powerful.

400

“If we can develop our competitive advantage, we’ll be able to gain market share rapidly.”

competitive advantage: an advantage over competitors gained by offering customers better value.

400

 “She’s a top-notch  project manager and always meets deadlines.”

top-notch: first-rate or high quality.

400

 “Being rude to your staff can come back to come back to bite you someday.”

To come back to bite sb: to cause problems at a later time.

500

 “hands down he’s the best designer in the company.”

hands down: clearly or easily.

500

 “Their ability to attract the best applicants was the deciding factor when we were choosing an HR consultant.”

deciding factor: most important issue.

500

“We’ve increased our market presence through advertising and 50% of people shopping for furniture recognize our brand.”

market presence: how noticeable a company is to customers in a market.

500

“As marketing director, all of our competitors’ new product launches need to be on somebody’s radar, so we know exactly where we stand.”

on somebody’s radar: aware of something.

500

“It may take a long time to find the root cause/underlying cause of the failure to meet our targets.

Root cause/underlying cause: the hidden reason for something.

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