offer & counter-offer

Offer & Counter-offer

大连理工大学出版社

Unit 3世纪商务英语听说教程 3 （第四版）

Learning Outcomes

• 1. To understand the main idea and select specific

information while listening.

• 2. To get familiar with important points about offer and

counter-offer.

• 3. To learn about main expressions for making an offer and

a counter-offer.

Contents

Part I Active Listening

Part II Fun Break

Part III Additional Listening

Part IV Viewing & Speaking

Active Listening

Active Listening

Exercise 1

Directions: At the beginning of the dialogue, Mr. Chris Brown is reading the FOB price

lists offered by Ms. Li Yan. Now listen to the dialogue between Mr. Brown

and Ms. Li about offer and counter-offer and then fill in the table below

with the specific information you hear.

Active Listening

Exercise 1

Tapescript

MQ224 each CIF New York MU202 each CIF New York

Li Yan

Chris Brown

Li Yan

USD 20.99_______________

USD 19.40_______________

USD 19.88_______________

USD 22.45_______________

USD 20.50_______________

USD 20.66_______________

Active Listening

Exercise 2Directions: Listen to the dialogue again and choose the best answer to each question.

What favorable price does Mr. Brown ask Ms. Li to quote for the toy cars?

A. CFR prices. B. FOB prices.

C. CIF New York. D. Not mentioned.

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the dialogue?

A. Mr. Brown has got an idea about the FOB prices for the racing cars.

B. Mr. Brown thinks the price offered by Ms. Li is high.

C. Ms. Li thinks Mr. Brown’s counter-offer leaves them with almost no profit.

D. Ms. Li thinks the telecontrol racing cars will sell well in the US.

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Active Listening

Exercise 2Directions: Listen to the dialogue again and choose the best answer to each question.

Why does Ms. Li try her best to give Mr. Brown their final offer?

A. Because they are friends.

B. Because Mr. Brown’s company has a good reputation.

C. Because this is the first business between them.

D. All of the above.

Whom will Mr. Brown discuss the matter with?

A. The sales manager. B. The product manager.

C. The marketing manager. D. His colleagues.

How long does Ms. Li’s offer remain open?

A. Seventeen days. B. One week. C. Three days. D. Seven weeks.

3

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4

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Active Listening

Active Listening

Exercise 1Directions: Mr. Green is negotiating the price of green tea with Ms. Tang. Listen to the

dialogue between them and choose the best answer to each question you hear.

Tapescript

A. 20 pounds per gram. B. 20 dollars per gram.

C. 20 pounds per kilogram. D. 20 dollars per kilogram.

A. Last week. B. Last month.

C. Last autumn. D. Last year.

A. Indonesia. B. India.

C. Japan. D. China.

1

√2

√3 √

Active Listening

Exercise 1

A. Because they offer them a competitive price.

B. Because they have been keeping good cooperation.

C. Because their tea is of good quality.

D. Because their price is comparatively low.

A. The idea of expanding the market.

B. The idea of keeping good relations in business.

C. Personal friendship.

D. The price of green tea will soon come down.

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5

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Active Listening

Exercise 2Directions: Listen to the dialogue again and decide whether the following statements are

true (T) or false (F).1. The price Ms. Tang offered will be difficult for Mr. Green to make any

sales.

2. Shipment of green tea will be in June.

3. Everybody in the tea trade knows that China’s green tea is of top

quality.

4. There is no keen competition in the tea market.

5. Few other teas can compare with Ms. Tang’s either for flavor or color.

T( )

F( )

T( )

F( )

T( )

Active Listening

Active Listening

Exercise 1Directions: Listen to a passage and complete the statements with the words you hear.

Tapescript

1. Offer will be provided by either the seller with a offer or the buyer with a

offer.

2. A firm offer refers to a of selling or buying the goods in a certain time

according to the price.

3. When the offer cannot meet the satisfaction of the offeree, he may and add

some new and requirements.

4. The offeree cannot the original offer again unless the original offerer

agrees.

5. Seller then can choose to accept at $140,000, again at a compromise price,

the counter-offer, or let it expire.

sales__________

promise____________

agreed___________

amend__________

purchase___________

terms__________

agreed__________

counter__________

reject_________

Active Listening

Exercise 2Directions: Listen to the passage again and decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

1. Offers include non-firm offers and firm offers.

2. A firm offer can be cancelled or changed.

3. A non-firm offer is an expression for accepting the transaction terms with

a legal promise.

4. A counter-offer is a new offer issued by the offeree to the offerer.

5. The offer from one party will be of no effect after the other party’s

counter-offer.

T( )

F( )

F( )

T( )

T( )

Fun Break

Directions: Listen to a joke and answer the following questions.1. When did the woman purchase her dining set from the fine-furniture store?

2. Why did she call the fine-furniture store?

3. What did the office manager say?

In the 1930s._____________________________________________________________

Because she wanted to replace some chairs from a dining set she purchased._____________________________________________________________

Tapescript

Don’t tell me she hasn’t received them yet!_____________________________________________________________

Additional Listening


Exercise 1Directions: Listen to the two letters and choose the best answer to each question.

Why do Mr. Taylor’s customers show a great interest in Mr. Smith’s products?

A. Because the price is competitive.

B. Because there is a growing demand for the products.

C. Because the product is of good quality.

D. All of the above.

FNO Company is one of the leading _________ in the country.

A. shopping malls B. department stores

C. franchised stores D. supermarkets

Tapescript

1

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2

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Exercise 1Directions: Listen to the two letters and choose the best answer to each question.

Of what kind of shoes will FNO Company take up the entire stock if Mr. Taylor can

reduce the price by 10%?

A. Men’s shoes. B. Women’s shoes.

C. Children’s shoes. D. Work boots.

What percentage of the price does Mr. Smith agree to reduce if Mr. Taylor will buy

shoes for US $50,000 or more?

A. 6%. B. 7%.

C. 8%. D. 10%.

3

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4

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Directions: Listen to the second letter again and write down the missing words.Dear Mr. Taylor,

We have carefully studied your letter of April 6th. As our two (1) have

done business with each other for so (2) years, we should like to grant your

request to (3) the prices of our shoes. But there are difficulties. The cost of

(4) has risen sharply in the past four months and to (5) prices

by 10% you mentioned could not be done without considerably lowering our (6)

of quality. This is something we are not (7) to do.

firms_________

lower__________

many_________

standards__________

raw material______________

Exercise 2

reduce__________

prepared___________


Instead of 10% reduction on our shoes, we suggest a reduction of 6% for US $50,000

(8) . On orders of this size we could (9) make the reduction

without lowering our standards.

We hope you will agree to our counter-suggestion and look forward to receiving

(10) from you as in the past.

Yours faithfully,

John Smith

or more____________ manage to_____________

regular orders______________

Directions: Listen to the second letter again and write down the missing words.

Exercise 2

Viewing & Speaking

Useful Expressions for Offer and Count-offer

Offer

We can offer you a quotation based upon the international market.

We’re willing to make you a firm offer at this price.

I think the price we offered you last week is the best one.

I appreciate your counter-offer but find it too low.

Our prices are highly competitive when you consider quality.

The price we offer compares favorably with the quotations you can get elsewhere.

Well, to get the business done, we can consider making some concessions in our

price.

Viewing & Speaking


I’ll respond to your counter-offer by reducing our price by three dollars.

I’m awfully sorry. This is our floor price. If you find it unworkable, we may as well

call the deal off.

Counter-offer

I’d like to have your lowest quotations, CIF Vancouver.

I’m afraid your offer is unacceptable.

We think your offer is too high, which is difficult for us to accept.

We can’t accept your offer unless the price is reduced by 5%.

Viewing & Speaking


If you can reduce the price by 6%, we shall be able to order 180 tons.

We regret we have to decline your offer.

If you insist on your price and refuse to make any concession, there will be not much

point in further discussion.

We make a counter-offer to you of $150 per metric ton FOB London.

If the price is higher than that, we’d rather call the whole deal off.

Viewing & Speaking

Viewing & Speaking

Directions: Watch the video and get familiar with the characters in the dialogue. Then

role play the characters in pairs. The following sentences are for your reference.

Videoscript

I’m thinking of ordering...

I don’t think the price on that tent is workable for us.

I’m afraid we can’t go any lower.

We do have a similar tent which uses...

That sounds like...

Viewing & Speaking

Directions: Make a dialogue with your partner. Suppose you are the distributor. After inspecting the tent, you make a decision to purchase the tent which uses

high-impact plastic poles instead of aluminum, but the price the exporter

offered is not workable. After a long-time negotiation, you persuade the exporter to lower the price.

Viewing & Speaking

Some hints:

We appreciate the quality of...

...glad to have the opportunity to do business with...

...make some allowance on your price

No doubt yours is of high quality, but...

...prices are highly competitive when you consider...

If you can reduce the price by... we shall order...

...meet each other half way

If it weren’t for..., we wouldn’t...

大连理工大学出版社

Thank you!

offer & counter-offer

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