Business, Services & Management – B2 English Listening Exercise

9 accountant 10 attention to detail 11 market research 12 apartment size

13 sharp curves 14 young adults 15 social media

16 station announcements 17 profit margins 18 high-speed trains

Sarah Jenkins: Hello, everyone. My name is Sarah Jenkins, and I am the Business Development Director for a well-known model railway manufacturer. Today, I’m going to talk to you about how we transformed our business by looking beyond our traditional markets and expanding into Asia.

When I left university, I didn’t go straight into the toy or hobby industry. Many of my peers went on to become lawyers or engineers, but I actually trained as an accountant. I spent three years doing that, which gave me a very solid understanding of business finance, before I finally decided to look for a more creative industry.

When I initially joined the model railway company, I had some preconceived notions. I fully expected to be amazed by the internal electronics and the technology. However, what really struck me was the attention to detail in every single model. The designers spent hours perfecting tiny features like door handles and window frames, which was truly fascinating to see.

Despite the brilliant products, our sales in Europe were flat. We desperately needed to expand. While the sales team strongly suggested looking at North America as our next logical step, our market research clearly indicated that Asia was the most promising region for growth. There was a rising middle class with disposable income and a growing interest in hobbies.

However, entering the Asian market wasn’t exactly straightforward. We initially worried about international shipping costs being prohibitive, but actually, apartment size was the biggest obstacle, as homes in major Asian cities are typically much smaller than those in Europe. A traditional model railway layout simply takes up too much room.

We knew we had to adapt. We didn’t want to compromise our brand by just making the trains themselves smaller, as that would ruin the realism. So instead, we developed a new system of tracks with sharp curves so that a complete, functional layout could easily fit on a standard small coffee table. It was a massive engineering challenge, but it worked perfectly.

We also had to rethink who we were selling to. In Europe, our typical customers are retired men who have the time and space for a large hobby. In contrast, in our new Asian markets, it’s primarily young adults who are buying our products. They see model railways as a trendy, relaxing escape from their busy corporate lives.

Because our demographic was completely different, our promotional tactics had to change as well. To reach these modern buyers, traditional television advertising was far too expensive, and magazine features were just seen as outdated. So, we focused our entire budget on social media to build an interactive community. We encouraged buyers to post videos of their compact train layouts, which went viral.

To appeal to the local markets, we localized the models. We fully expected the authentic paint colours of local Asian commuter trains to be the main selling point. Surprisingly, though, it was the recorded station announcements that customers loved the most. We had embedded tiny microchips that played real audio from famous stations in Tokyo and Seoul, and it was a massive hit.

The results of this strategic pivot have been fantastic. While our overall sales volume has grown steadily over the last two years, the most significant improvement has been in our profit margins, which have exceeded all our initial expectations. Selling premium, compact sets directly to consumers online proved to be highly lucrative.

Looking ahead, we are continuing to innovate. We are not going to focus on historical steam engines like we do back in Europe, as the nostalgic appeal isn’t the same there. Instead, we are currently designing a new range of high-speed trains specifically for our Asian customers, replicating the modern bullet trains they ride every day. It’s an exciting time, and I’m very proud of what our team has achieved.

9 baking 10 childcare 11 nanny 12 local market

13 seafood 14 actor 15 spices

16 food festival 17 customer service 18 recipe book

Maya Lin: Hi everyone, my name is Maya Lin, and I run my own vegetarian catering business. I’m here today to talk to you about my somewhat unusual career path into the professional kitchen.

When I was young, I didn’t immediately know I wanted to be a professional chef, though I always felt at home around food. I loved helping my grandmother out in the kitchen. Interestingly, while my older sister was completely obsessed with making soups, my own passion was strictly baking. That’s where I first learned about the magic of mixing basic ingredients to create something entirely new.

When it came time to choose a college course, my parents naturally assumed I’d pick hospitality or catering. However, I wasn’t ready to commit to a commercial kitchen environment. I wanted something that offered a different kind of human connection, so I actually enrolled in a diploma for childcare. I figured I could always keep my love for cooking as a personal hobby.

As it happened, that qualification turned out to be my ticket to travel. I desperately wanted to live in France, but getting a job in a traditional French kitchen with absolutely no professional experience was impossible. Instead, I used my diploma to secure a position as a nanny for a wonderful family living in the heart of Paris.

Living in Paris was an absolute awakening for me. My employers knew how much I loved cooking, so they generously paid for me to take an intensive culinary evening course. I also spent a huge amount of my free time exploring the city’s food scene. I deliberately avoided the large supermarkets and instead visited the local market every morning to study the fresh produce and talk to the farmers.

After eighteen months, I returned home, determined to finally work in a proper restaurant. My first job was at a large, bustling hotel. Because of my early interests, I was really hoping to be put on the dessert section, but the head chef had other ideas and assigned me to prepare the seafood day in and day out. It was a tough, messy job, but it provided excellent training in precision and speed.

Over the next few years, I moved on to a few other restaurants, gradually building my reputation. Eventually, I was offered a very lucrative role as a private, personal chef. I initially thought I’d be cooking for a politician based on the confidentiality agreements, but my new boss actually turned out to be a famous actor who was filming a movie in the area.

This employer happened to be a strict vegetarian. Up until then, I had cooked a lot of meat. I had to completely rethink my approach to flavour. I started experimenting wildly. While I noticed that some chefs rely on heavy sauces to add flavour, I found that mastering the use of spices was the real secret to making vegetarian food exciting and satisfying. This revelation changed my whole culinary philosophy.

Shortly after that contract ended, I became a vegetarian myself. I decided to strike out on my own, but I couldn’t afford to buy a restaurant. Instead of setting up a street food van, which was my initial plan, I rented a stall at a major food festival. The response from the public was overwhelming, and it gave me the confidence to start my own full-time catering company.

Today, my catering company focuses strictly on plant-based menus for weddings and corporate events. We’ve been very successful. In fact, last month, we were nominated for a prestigious local business prize. I thought we might win the ‘Innovation’ category because of our unique menus, but we actually took home the award for customer service, which I am incredibly proud of.

So, what’s next for the business? Well, many people have asked me to open a cookery school, but I simply don’t have the time to commit to teaching. Instead, I’ve spent the last six months compiling my most popular dishes, and my very first recipe book will be published in the autumn. I’m terrified but very excited to share it with the world!