公司副总裁Lisa找到销售部经理Frank，商量如何提高产品销量。
Lisa: What about our pricing? Are we competitive?
Frank: Actually, we are roughly 15% more expensive than our closest competitors. But it’s going to be hard to cut costs any further, seeing as we are already operating on a very slim margin.
L: There’re always ways to cut costs, we just have to think outside the box. Perhaps we should consider re-locating one of our factories to a more cost-efficient country.
F: We can also talk to our vendors about where they place our products. Perhaps if they’re placed in a more prominent location in stores, they’ll catch the eye of more customers.
在价格方面，Frank说，他们的产品比竞争对手高出大约15%, 但要想进一步削减成本，恐怕很难，因为他们本来就没有多少利润，we’re already operating on a very slim margin. Lisa说，要降低成本，一定有办法，必须 think outside the box 用创造性思维，比如考虑把工厂迁到成本更低廉的地方去。Frank说，也可以看看，销售商能否把产品放在商店里更显眼的地方，catch the eye of more customers.吸引更多顾客的注意。
L: Would it help if we offered a mega sale to clear out some of our inventory? We might not make a lot of money, but we might gain some brand awareness.
F: That’s a great idea. Getting people talking about our brand would be a big boost.
L: Are we harnessing the power of social network websites?
F: What do you mean?
L: I mean like setting up a Facebook page or using Twitter. It’s free to get online and set up an account. We might as well take advantage of these opportunities.
Lisa 建议清仓甩卖，增加 brand awareness 品牌知名度。此外也不能忽视社交网站的力量。We should harness the power of social network websites. harness is spelled h-a-r-n-e-s-s, harness 是驾驭的意思。Lisa说，公司可以在Facebook脸谱网和Twitter推特网上开帐户，免费利用这些网站做宣传。Lisa继续说，
L: Another idea is for us to reevaluate where we are spending our advertising dollar.
F: Right now, we break it down between all the major media outlets. Television advertising gets 45% of our budget, 30% goes to print media, 20% goes to radio and 5% goes towards advertising online.
L: I think we should boost our online advertising. Online ads are cheap and they can reach a much wider audience.
F: All right, I’ll ask the ad department to make the changes.
L: If we can implement these new ideas by the end of this quarter, we might be able to reverse our sales slide and put ourselves in position for a major rebound to come next year.
F: That would be great.
Lisa还主张在advertising dollar广告开支的分配上进行调整，增加互联网广告投入，因为在网上做广告不仅便宜，而且能 reach a much wider audience 能让更多的人看到。她说，如果能在这个季度结束前把这些措施落实的话，公司就可能reverse our sales slide扭转销售量下滑的趋势，为明年销量翻身做准备。