期限傭金好商量Buy and Sell

Botany Bay已許諾負擔四成的行銷費用，也同意每年給付維修費用。接下來，Robert 打算提出傭金與和約期限等關鍵性問題與Mark 進行磋商。請看：

英文正文

Mark: We're interested in an agreement with Pacer, if we can agree on the major issues.
Robert: That's great! How about hashing them out now? We feel the trial periods should be for a minimum of two years.

Mark: If total sales are good after the first year, we can talk about a long term agreement.

Robert: We'd like to agree, but one year would be too early to judge. We'd need two years to develop the market. Anything less doesn't interest us.

Mark: OK. But any new agreement will depend on yearly sales. We'll use a 45% increase as a base.

Robert: As I said, we project we can increase sales by 30% to 40% the first year. 45% over two years is possible, but we'd want a 15% commission rate.

Mark: 15% on this product is a little high. If we agree to a 35% sales increase, could you come down to 12%?

Robert: I can't give you a thumbs up right now, but I think it will be alright.

Mark: Good. As a final point, we must get a guarantee that you will not sell for our competitors while you are our agent.

Robert:I see that would create a conflict of interest. We're not interested in doing business with anyone but Botany Bay.

句型總結

●　最短期限
1. We feel the trial period should be for a minimum of two years.
2. We propose that the trial period should not be less than two years.
3. We cannot accept a trial period less than two years.
4. We feel a trial period of less than two years is not feasible.

　　Robert已在某些地方做了大幅度的讓步，所以他特別堅持試賣期限的長度，以保障公司的利益；他說："We feel the trial period should be for a minimum of two years."。
　　"trial period"為‘試賣期’；而"minimum"意思是‘最低限度；最小額’。此句型以平實的口氣告訴對方試賣期應該（"should be"）是至少兩年。

●　預估未來
1. We project we can increase sales by 30% to 40% the first year.
2. We believe we'll be able to increase sales by 30% to 40% the first year.
3. We are confident that we'll be able to increase sales by 30% to 40% the first year.
4. Our projections show we can increase sales by 30% to 40% the first year.

　　Robert向Mark預估頭一年的成長率有三到四成左右時，他用了一個動詞"project"，意思是‘預定；設想’。
　　介詞"by"在這里有‘到…’的意思。"We project （"that）..."這個句型雖然只是預計未來，卻等于向對方做了口頭上的承諾。

●　利益沖突
1. That would create a conflict of interest.
2. That would constitute a conflict of interest.
3. That would put us in a position of conflict of interest.
4. That would establish a conflict of interest.

　　在做生意上，當一方的行為可能會抵觸另一方的利益時，就可如此聲明："That would create a conflict of interest."。
　　"interest"在這里不是‘興趣’而是另一個解釋－－‘利害關系；權益’的意思；"conflict of interest"則指‘利益沖突’。這是個口氣嚴肅的句型，暗示將有訴諸法律的可能；但由于使用"would"，語氣則被軟化了一些，比較不具威脅、指責的意味。