Attract and hire competent workers. "In this high-tech business, recruiting may be more important than sales."Refund Giving money back to the customer. "Many upscale stores now give refunds with no questions asked."Regulations Government or industry-side rules for the manufacture, license, or sale of certain products. “We spend half our days trying to comply with all the different regulations on our products.”Reinvestment Using current profits to buy items or fund activities which will be of value to the company in the future, instead of dividing the money to stockholders or as bonuses to employees.”Reinvestment of earnings was what made the company grow so quickly and free of debt.”Resign Quit a job, usually suddenly. "Our profits were so low, our CEO resigned before the annual meeting."Retail Selling to the open market to consumers. "The retail price is 150 euros, but I know a wholesale distributor who might make a better deal for you."Retire Complete a career and stop working. "I've saved enough money for my retirement, but if I want to retire to the Riviera, I have to save even more!"Revaluation Reassessing the worth of certain assets, operations, or the whole company. “We’re going through a revaluation of the buildings so that we can get a larger loan against them.”Rip-Off A useful slang word that originally referred to stealing, but in business now refers to shady business practices, especially misrepresentation.“That new payment plan turns out to be a rip-off.”ROI -Return On Investment The goal of investment, measurable in money. “Buying that wireless stock three years ago gave us a great ROI.”Risk Management Buying certain types of business insurance and setting funds aside in other ways in case of unforeseen difficulties. “Our business insurance allowed us to keep employees on the payroll when the warehouse had to be rebuilt after the storm.”
S | Top | T-ZSales The business activity of offering a product to customers and recording the money received for it.“We’ve got to really push to make sales on this product.”Sales Tax Money paid to the government by a business or by the customer, based on sales made. "The government requires an extra sales tax on pleasure boats."Salary A fixed amount of yearly pay, disregarding the number of hours worked, often paid to managers and other selected staff. "My salary increase for this year is only 5%, so I’d be much better off working by the hour."Saturated When a market has many companies offering the same products. "In this saturated market, the consumer can almost always find a lower price."Scenario Envisionment of future happenings. Worst Case Senario is the worst that may happen, and a Best Case Scenario is the best that may happen. “ Well, we’re maybe OK, in a scenario somewhere between WCS and BCS.”Scalable A system or process that can require a few people to serve a small market, and then be increased quantitatively with little or no change in quality. “The nice thing about printing books is that it is scalable. Once you have one book that people want, just print more copies and sell them in more places.”Shelf Life The length of time a product can still be sold. “The shelf life of milk is very short, but a can of motor oil can sit there in the same supermarket for years.”Skill Set The mental and physical requirements for employees in a department to make, administer, or sell a product. “The skill set of our engineers may improve with recruitment, but it also improves with the shared experience they all get working together.”Sluggish A slowing environment for your business (opposite of "booming") "The market is really sluggish for electric heaters in the summertime."Staples Items that are mandatory for the sustenance of human life, or as an analogy, for the absolute minimum subsistence of a business. “Food, water, and shelter are staples, and it’s beginning to look like oil and electricity are as well.”Stock The documented ownership of a portion of the company. “I have only ten companies in my stock portfolio.”Stock Options A type of deferred and variable bonus offered to key employees for coming to a company, for staying a number of years, and for certain other contributions and leadership as determined by the company’s top management. “You don’t get paid much actually money at this company, but the stock options are great and we’ll all be rich if the company sells stock on the public market.”Supply The total amount of a product available to a market. "Our farmers’ supply of corn from the harvest was huge, so now the price of corn is falling fast."
T-Z | Top | STarget The amount of product that you plan to sell in a given period (sometimes called "quota") "If we reach our target this month, we’ll all get a bonus."Tariff A tax on products or materials brought in from another country. "The tariff on raw materials is so high that we can’t afford to manufacture that product."Terms The details of an agreement or contract. Also, words or groups of words. "The terms of this contract are spelled out in very clear terms."Training The education of an employee in specific skills and behavior necessary to the company’s operations.“We’re all going to get training today on the new computer network.”Trend The observed tendency for measurable event to move in one direction. "The trend toward smaller families means we’d better rethink our baby carriage market."Unit Cost The total amount needed to produce a product at a given volume. "If we can order 10,000 wheels at a time, we can lower our unit cost on baby carriages by 14%."Value Worth, in money or as defined by the customer. “Our product offers great value for the price because the customer would have to travel a great distance to get it otherwise.”Valuation A more or less structured manner of determining the value of an asset, an operation, or a company, usually for the purposes of a sale, of issuance of stock, or of a loan.“Because they only count capital assets, the bank’s valuation is far below what we think we’re worth.”Vendor An outside company that provides services, materials, or other components needed by a company which chooses not to build that kind of operation for occasional needs.”That vendor has not been paid for 3 monthsVolume An amount of a product or activity. “The amount of gravel you’ve bought qualifies you for a 10% discount.”Upside The best results that can be possibly be expected for profits or the results of other activities. “The upside of all these worker layoffs is that we have more office space.”Warranty A documented guarantee that your products will perform as advertised."Our warranty says you can get a complete replacement during the first year if your water heater stops working."Wholesale Usually, selling in bulk to a middle company that then distributes to retail stores to sell to the final customers. "It is true, the wholesale price is generally 50% of the retail price, but the wholesale dealer must risk buying and storing large inventories in the hope that customers in retail stores will want that product."Word-of-Mouth Comments by customers, satisfied or dissatisfied, concerning their opinion of a product.“Good word-of-mouth by happy customers is the best kind of advertising.”
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