Situation
Our client has recently opened their own business in Riga Centre, and while their customers and support staff spoke English, this business owner’s own abilities language were less proficient.
Solution
We made a special program for this student. They didn’t require much need for writing or small talk. They had the urgent need to have the ability to respond to questions quickly and accurately in English. They needed to discuss prices, product origins, and offer items suitable for each customer. Taking this person out of their shop would not work, we instead needed to bring the school to the student.
3 days a week our instructors visited the shop and pretended to be customers. We asked questions, we made requests, and discussed prices and quality. Each time we came in we “bought” an item. At the end of the week our student arrived at for lessons to discuss each of those items (which we returned), and reviewed all of the language we had used with each item during the week.
Some language is specific in this area, as “cheap” can also mean low quality, whereas “inexpensive” only means low price. These differences are essential.
For example, “high priced” can mean, depending on the situation:
Expensive
Original
Valuable
One-of-a-kind
Special
Important
Benefit
Our client got real world experience in the environment in which they needed it most. They now not only have the ability to help a customer and make a sale, they look forward to the opportunity and challenge.
