44 Spotlight 14/2019 BUSINESS ENGLISH
Abbreviating
At a later meeting, Jane, William, Cath-
erine, and Chris discuss some details.
Look at the abbreviations they use in their
conversation and find out if you know
what they mean.Jane: I’m confused. What is our
ECD? I thought it was the
end of the year.
Catherine: If we follow our SOP without
any delays, we should meet
our deadline. Let’s just work
the way we always do.
William: Well, if there are delays, they
should be dealt with by the
DRI, not by anyone else. If
you break it, you fix it!
Chris: I thought this meeting was
about our website. We’re get-
ting off the subject. How are
we going to present our USP
online so that people will feel
they need our product?
Catherine: Yes. That’s is the most impor-
tant thing. We’re a business.
We will need to show the
CFO our ROI after the first
six months of being online.
Otherwise, he might cancel
the project completely. Our
investors want to make a prof-
it.
Jane: OK, one thing we should
definitely have are PPC ads.
Every time a user clicks on
one, we make money.
William: Yes, and we should have
green CTA buttons. Users
click mostly on green but-
tons. Once they click, we’ll be
a step closer to gaining a pay-
ing customer. “Click here for
more information!”
Jane: Yes, but that’s just an RFI. We
need users to want more than
information.
Chris: Exactly! We have to do some
CRO, so that users will actu-
ally buy the product — con-
verting clicks into cash. We’ll
be in the money, and then we
can all take really long vaca-
tions.
Jane: Ha! Don’t be so sure! They’ll
probably all turn into bleisure
trips.A. “ECD” means...- expected completion date.
- expert corporate deal.
B. “SOP” means...- sale of product.
- standard operating proce-
dure.
C. “DRI” means...- director of risk initiatives.
- directly responsible individ-
ual.
D. “USP” means...- unique selling point/
proposition. - universal sales product.
E. “CFO” means...- corporate finance official.
- chief financial officer.
F. “ROI” means...- response of internet.
- return on investment.
G. “PPC” means...- promotional public content.
- pay-per-click.
H. “CTA” means...- call to action.
- company target ads.
I. “RFI” means...- request for information.
- risk-free inquiry.
J. “CRO” means...- conversion-rate optimiza-
tion. - client response options.
Bonus question:
K. A “bleisure trip” is...- a trip you have to blog about
for business purposes. - a trip that combines busi-
ness and leisure.
Here is a list of phrases that are use-
ful in business situations. You might
want to cut it out and take it with you
to your next meeting.Contacting people- get back to someone
- give someone a heads-up
- reach out to someone
- touch base with someone
Understanding and agreeing - be aligned on something
- be on the same page
- be out of the loop
Planning and strategizing - avoid boiling the ocean
- do some back-of-the-envelope calculations
- end up with a win-win situation
- get down to business
- have a kick-off meeting
- identify low-hanging fruit
Brainstorming - do some blue-sky thinking
- it’s a no-brainer
- it’s not rocket science
- think outside the box
Moving ahead - do a deep dive
- expedite something
- going forward,...
- maximize a process
- optimize a process
- rely on the gig economy
- streamline a process
- take something to the next level
Abbreviating - CFO – chief financial officer
- CRO – conversion-rate optimization
- CTA – call to action
- DRI – directly responsible individual
- ECD – expected completion date
- SOP – standard operating procedure
- PPC – pay-per-click
- RFI – request for information
- ROI – return on investment
- USP – unique selling point / proposition
abbreviation
[E)bri:vi(eIS&n]
, Abkürzung
ad (advertisement) [Äd]
, Werbung, Anzeige
convert [kEn(v§:t]
, verwandeln, um
wandeln
get off [get (O:f]
, hier: abweichen voninquiry [(InkwEri]
, Anfrage
return [ri(t§:n]
, hier: Rendite
unique selling point /
proposition
[ju)ni:k (selIN pOInt /
prQpE)zIS&n]
, Alleinstellungsmerk
mal
A–1B–2C–2D–1E–2F–2G–2H–1I–1J–1K–2AnswersIllustration: Top Vectors/iStock.com