Mark Canart owns and runs a livestock company. He says communication
skills are fairly important, especially verbal communication skills. "This
whole business is based on word of mouth," he says. "You are talking to your
customers over the phone pretty much every day."
Livestock buyers also
rely on charts and graphs to show sales forecasts. Livestock buyers also use
hand signals to bid for livestock at auctions. But there is not a single set
of hand signals all buyers use, Canart says.
You are a livestock buyer.
You are walking around your feedlot when you get a call on your cellphone
from Marvin, a client. He wants to buy some large steers from you. You have
some, but you are not sure if you want to sell.
Here are the facts
you must tell Marvin.
- The current price is $0.81 per pound
- You have 50 steers
- Their average weight is 850 pounds -- some animals weigh more, others
less
- Livestock users use the term hundred-weight when they quote prices --
a hundred-weight is 100 pounds
- Total price would be $34,425
- Delivery costs are included
You would be interested in selling some animals, but not all of them.
On the other hand, you wouldn't mind selling all of them if you can get a
better price than $0.81 cents per pound.
You have to explain all this
to Marvin. What do you say?