内容简介

“Sales assistant” 和 “salesperson” 有什么区别？商店里的售货员能说自己 “I work in sales” 吗？本期《你问我答》回答一位听众关于 “sales” 和 “retail” 这两种职业的疑问，并学习 “sales assistant”、“shop assistant”、“sales clerk” 等与销售和零售行业相关的职位名称及其用法。

文字稿

（关于台词的备注: 请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。）

Buli
Hi Phil. You used to work in a shop around central London, didn't you?

Phil
I did! It was one of my first jobs.

Buli
So, if someone asked you what you did back then, would you say, 'I worked in sales'?

Phil
Hmm, no, probably not. I'd be more likely to say, 'I worked in retail'.

Buli
Interesting! Sales or retail? That's actually related to this week's question.

Phil
Let's hear it.

Question
我们说 “sales assistant”， “sales clerk”，这个和 “salesperson” 不一样对吧？那商店的售货员可以说自己 “I work in sales” 吗？还是只是指公司的销售？

Buli
欢迎收听 “你问我答” 节目。本期节目将要回答的听众来信提到了 “sales” 和 “retail” 这两个和 “卖东西” 有关的单词。不过，它们之间究竟有什么区别呢？

Phil
This is an interesting question, and not just because I used to work in a shop. It's partly related to how job titles don't always tell us what people actually do.

Buli
Can you answer that question though? Do they work in sales?

Phil
Well, maybe they do, or maybe there's a better word for it. If you work in a shop, you can say that you work in retail. And a retail business sells things to individual customers, rather than to other businesses. So, a shop is usually a retail business and so is an online store.

Buli
So, retail businesses sell to customers rather than other businesses.

如果你在商店工作，那么通常可以说 “I work in retail”，也就是说 “我从事零售工作”。这里的 “retail” 指的是 “零售、零售业”，也就是直接向个人消费者出售商品或者服务的商业行为和行业。我们平时在线下逛的实体店以及在网上逛的网店通常都属于 “retail businesses（零售企业，零售行业）”。

那么，“work in sales” 和 “work in retail” 有什么区别呢？

Phil
Well, this is where it gets a bit more complicated, or a bit more interesting if you're like us. There's a big overlap between retail and sales, but we don't always think of them in the same way.

When we say that someone works in sales, we usually mean that they are totally focused on making sure that their business sells more goods and services. They might only be paid commission, and they might have to meet targets every month.

Buli
So, they might actively try to generate 'sales'. 名词 “sale” 的复数形式 “sales” 有 “销售，销售行业” 的意思。如果我们说一个人 “works in sales”，意思通常是这个人的主要工作是促成销售、提高销售业绩。同时，“sales” 也有 “销售额” 的含义，比如，“generate sales” 的意思就是 “增加销量，促进销售”。

其它和 “sales（销售行业）” 有关的单词或表达还有 “commission（销售提成）”，也就是根据销售业绩获得相应的额外报酬。销售人员通常还需要 “meet targets（完成销售目标）”，比如达到公司规定的月销售额或销售量。同时，还可能还需要 “generate sales leads（寻找潜在客户）”，主动寻找可能购买产品或服务的人。

Phil
Someone with that kind of job could work in a shop, and their job title might be 'salesperson'. For example, phone shops or car showrooms often have very sales-focused staff. Other job titles that are common in the sales industry are 'sales executive', 'sales representative' (or 'sales rep' for short) and 'sales consultant'.

Buli
所以说，从事 “sales（销售）” 工作的人也可能在商店里工作。比如，手机店或者汽车展厅里的工作人员。在英国，常见的销售行业的职位名称包括 “sales executive（销售主管、销售专员）”、“sales representative（销售代表）”，以及 “sales consultant（销售顾问）”。

Phil
Many people with these job titles might not work in shops – they might travel to meet customers or sell to other businesses.

Buli
是的，并不是所有从事销售工作的人都在店里上班。有些销售人员可能需要外出拜访客户，也可能专门向企业或机构推销产品或服务。

你正在收听的是 BBC 英语教学制作的 “你问我答” 节目。在本期节目中，我们正在辨析两个和销售行业有关的单词 “sales” 和 “retail”，并学习相关的词汇和表达。

Phil
Now, getting back to a salesperson in a shop. A salesperson in a shop might be more focused on customer service, helping customers, as well as things like making sure the shelves are well-stocked. We might see these more as retail jobs, rather than sales jobs. And some common retail job titles are 'sales assistant', 'shop assistant' or 'sales clerk'. I used to be a shop assistant in a supermarket.

Buli
也就是说，如果一个人虽然在一家店里工作，但工作的内容主要是 “customer service（顾客服务）”，比如，帮助顾客解决售后问题以及确保货架上的商品充足，那么这类工作在英语中也会被称为 “retail jobs（零售行业的工作）”，而并不一定是狭义上的 “sales job（销售工作）”。

就比如，“sales assistant”、“shop assistant” 和 “sales clerk” 在中文里都可以被称为 “店员、售货员”，但它们在英语里，特别是在英国，通常属于 “retail jobs”。其中需要注意的是，“shop assistant” 在英式英语中更常见，而 “sales clerk” 则更常见于美式英语。

Phil
So, it's a bit complicated. A 'salesperson' might have a very sales-focused job, or they might have more of a general retail job. Or it could be both, the difference isn't always that clear.

Buli
让我们回到这位听众最开始的问题：商店里的售货员到底能不能说 “I work in sales” 呢？其实，这要取决于具体的工作内容。如果工作的重点是完成销售目标、开发客户或者想方设法提高销售额，那么说 “I work in sales（我在销售行业工作）” 就很自然。但如果工作内容主要是帮助顾客处理售后问题、理货等运营相关的店内工作，那么说 “I work in retail（我在零售业工作）” 往往更贴切。

至于 “salesperson”，其实这个说法本身并不能完全告诉我们这个人的具体工作内容。一个 “salesperson” 有可能是负责提高销售业绩的人，也有可能是承担更事务性工作的人。当然，也可能两者都有。

We hope that's answered your question.

Phil
Remember, if you have a question that you'd like us to answer, you can email us too at: questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

Buli
你还可以通过微博向我们提问。我们的微博账号是 “BBC英语教学”。Bye!

Phil
Bye!