1. An advertisement.

A photo of a white sandy beach with palm trees and tall buildings along the coast.

Listen to an advertising sales talk. What is it advertising?

2. An advertisement.

A photo of a white sandy beach with palm trees and tall buildings along the coast.

Listen again and decide if these sentences are true or false.

3. An advertisement.

Listen again and type the missing words into the advertisement.

4. Sales talk.

A photo of telephone salesman.

Listen to a woman speaking to a salesman at Dreams Can Come True Apartments. Select the correct answer.

5. Sales talk.

A photo of telephone salesman.

Listen again. Put the stages of the conversation into the correct order.

6. Sales talk.

Listen again and fill in the missing information about the caller.

7. Sales talk: Can you remember?

Choose the correct option to complete the conversation.

Now listen again to check your answers.

8. Speaking on the phone.

Match the statements and questions to the responses.

9. Speaking on the phone.

A photo of telephone salesman.

Choose the correct option to complete the salesperson's sentences from the previous exercise.

10. Speaking Tutorial 1.

Before you speak to your tutor, listen to the dialogue in exercise 7 again. During the tutorial you will practise this dialogue with your tutor; you'll be the salesperson and your tutor will be the customer. You can read the dialogue transcript again.

Your tutor will also ask you the following questions. Make notes about your answers before the speaking tutorial.

  • Are you working at the moment? What do you do?
  • Do you receive any publicity or telemarketing calls? If so, how often and what type of products or services are they advertising?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of marketing?
  • Do you think this is an effective way to advertise something?
  • What are other ways of advertising a service or product?
  • What kind of promotion does your organisation or company do?
  • Do you have any questions about the course?

Useful phrases for the speaking tutorial:
Hello, this is ....
Can I speak to ..., please?
Hello ..., this is .... I'm calling to do Speaking Tutorial 1 of the Sales and Advertising module.

Salesman: Good morning. Dreams Can Come True Apartments, Larry speaking. How can I help you?
Customer: Yes, good morning. I'm ringing about the advertisement I heard on the radio.
Salesman: Certainly, madam. Could I just take some details, please? Could I have your name?
Customer: Yes. It's Jane Havisham.
Salesman: Could you spell your surname, please?
Customer: H-A-V-I-S-H-A-M.
Salesman: Thank you. And your address?
Customer: It’s 53 Miles Road, London.
Salesman: That’s M-I-L-E-S?
Customer: That’s correct.
Salesman: And your telephone number?
Customer: 522 3567
Salesman: OK, Ms Havisham. We have beautiful time-share apartments all over the world. Could you tell me what type of holiday you'd like? A holiday in paradise on a deserted island by the beach, an activity holiday in the mountains, a cultural holiday in a fascinating city – you name it, we can do it.
Customer: Well, I like the idea of a holiday by the beach, like in the advertisement.
Salesman: Of course, a very good choice. Now, we can offer you apartments all over the world.
Customer: Is it possible to change apartments if we want to visit a different country?
Salesman: Of course. This is why Dreams Can Come True Apartments are so wonderful. You can stay in a different apartment every year at no additional cost if you choose the same type of apartment.
Customer: Oh, that’s good. And they cost $1,400?
Salesman: Well, of course that depends on the size of the apartment. How many people is it for?
Customer: Two adults and two children.
Salesman: We have a range of very competitive prices for that type of apartment. In fact, I would like to invite you and your husband to our exclusive presentation on Sunday the 4th at the Ritz Hotel in London. There you can see examples of our apartments, the different beautiful locations and our range of very competitive prices. The invitation includes drinks and a buffet, and you can receive your free beach bag and enter into our prize draw for a free, yes free, Dreams Can Come True apartment.
Customer: Thank you very much.
Salesman: You're very welcome. I'll put the invitations in the post to you today. I can assure you that when you've tried a Dreams Can Come True apartment, you won't want another type of holiday.