Forecast
Just as a weather forecast predicts what the weather’s going to be, so a business forecast predicts various aspects of a business’s future movement based on its current situation, external factors, new products, plans for marketing and such like.
Marketing
Marketing refers to the promotion of a product or service. It can take numerous forms, including advertising, emailing customers, sending out leaflets or brochures, engaging with potential customers via social media, and so on.
HR
The abbreviation “HR” stands for “Human Resources”, and it’s the part of a company that deals with matters relating to its employees. The goal of someone who specialises in HR is to ensure that employees are happy and productive, reducing turnover of employees (that is, reducing the frequency with which employees leave and new ones are hired) and maximising the cost-effectiveness of the company’s investment in its workforce.
Brand
“Brand” is the term given to a company’s name and the recognisable attributes that go with that company, which define its unique identity. The company’s tone of voice and design of official communications are part of what gives it this “brand identity”.
Public Relations
Public Relations, or PR, is the role within a business devoted to communicating with the press, and ensuring favourable media coverage of a company, product or service.
Cold call
This is a phone call, usually from a sales representative of a company, to a potential customer or client who is not expecting the call and with whom there has been no previous contact, with the aim of trying to sell them something.
Stakeholders
This word is used to refer to anyone who’s involved in a particular project. If someone has a say in the outcome of a piece of work, they are a “stakeholder”.
Leverage
Though “leverage” is another word that’s meant to be a noun – meaning the use of a lever to apply force – it’s often heard in a business context being used as a verb, meaning to utilise something to the business’s advantage – “leverage our contacts to spread the word”, for example.
Feedback
Yet another example of a noun becoming a verb for the purposes of awful office jargon is the word “feedback”, which should be used as a noun to describe constructive comments on something (as in essay feedback). However, in an office environment it’s not unusual to hear it used as a verb – “We’re waiting for him to feed back on the ideas” – or even, horrifically, in the past tense: “He’s fed back to us that he doesn’t like it”.
Scalable
If something is “scalable”, this means that it’s an idea that will work easily on a larger scale to the one it currently works on. For example, a “scalable” business model is one that’s easy to replicate in order to expand the business.
Referral:
Someone recommended by someone else.
Start-up:
Company designed to search for a scalable business model. (A company that grows up fast).
Lead:
Is a potential contact, maybe if you go to a conference and if you are lucky enough, and you interact with the manager or the person who has to manage the organization in the event, you can get the Data Base of that conference, and you get numbers, names, emails. They can be potential contacts.
Outsourcing:
When a company hires another company to do something specific. (e.g. if you have your own business, and you hired another company to be in charge of marketing strategies because I’m not an expert and I need help).
Spiel:
Speech or story, used to persuade. More useful vocabulary
Elevator speech
Some minutes when you have the opportunity to share a message. How you connect your ideas with a purpose, and you explain them and a very short amount of time.
Remote work
When you work in a different place, it isn’t necessary to go to an office.
Etiquette
It is understanding when it is okay to do things, your manners, how to interact with others, what to say, what to not say, how to behave in a particular context.
Professionalism
Am I showing a professional image? If a watched a video about myself, I would be ok with that video, with that image? The image that you want to show as a professional, as a serious person, maybe an approachable person?
Achievement
Great things that you accomplish, those great things that you accomplish, and that you are very proud of.
Background
Your studies, your previous work experience, all those things in the back.