Task sheet 12

A: What's important when motivating staff?

I think financial benefits play a very important role in staff motivation. As managers we should treat our employees as valuable members of our team and pay them a salary that reflects their worth. To some extend, money can be the main motivator for staff to do an excellent job. A poor salary will ensure that you lose good staff, and that leads to higher staff turnover.

Therefore we must ensure that financial benefits are available to our staff members in relation to their expected contributions. Furthermore we should consider our staff's real performance expectations and work processes and then use pay to reinforce what is important, without harming the rest of performance.

B:What's important when dealing with competition?

Pricing policies

Advertising strategies

Customer service

A wide range of goods or services

C:What's important when planning health and safety training?

Task Sheet 13

A:What's important when choosing new office equipment?

There are three important points you should consider when you choose new office equipment.

First, discounts.Aggressive discounting is rampant in the office equipment dealer channel. Even if you are buying only one piece of furniture, you can still expect to receive about a 30 percent discount off the suggested retail price. As the volume of your purchase increases, the discount should continue to increase to nearly half the original list price

Second, be careful where you shop.If you've never heard of the vendor before and if they offer prices that sound too good to be true, be on your guard. Take steps to verify that the company is legitimate, that the quality of the goods they sell meets your requirements, and that they are indeed authorized to sell the products they offer.

Third, industry standards. The products you are going to buy have tomeet or exceed certain industry standards. They must have been subjected to a series of tests for durability.

B:What's important when entertaining foreign business clients?

Venue for entertainment

Cultural differences

Information about the client

Cost of entertaining them

C:What's important when aiming to reach new markets?

Market research is our top priority when we aim to reach new markets.

First, Market research enables us to better understand how consumers use a product or service and how they regard the product or service. Market research also determines the types of people most likely to buy our new products-namely our target market.