Dialogue 对话
A. Hi Gary – thanks for inviting me over. How goes it in customer service?
嗨，Gary—谢谢你邀请我来这儿。客服部运作得如何？
B. Good, but to be perfectly frank, the new HR guidelines on KPIs seem like
overkill. Don’t we already have a good system in place for employee
performance review and goals?
还好，但是说实话，新的人力资源方针在KPI这块儿有点过头啊。我们不是已经有
一个完善的系统来考核员工业绩并制定目标了吗？
A. We do – but KPIs are a different animal than individual performance goals.
Most importantly, KPIs help us track the main organizational goals, and then
make sure that individual goals feed into them.
是的-但是KPI跟个人业绩目标是完全不同的。KPI最主要的目的是帮助我们追踪公
司的总体目标，然后确保每位员工的业绩都对此有所贡献。
B. Ok – but here in the customer service department, it’s seems like a lot of
work to reinvent the wheel. Our job is to reduce the number of customer
complaints we get, pure and simple – and last year, we cut complaints by over
25%!
好—但是在客服部门，这个做法似乎是不必要的。我们的工作就是减少客户投诉率
。非常简单单纯，去年我们减少了25%的客户投诉率！
A. And that’s great – but also a perfect example! The most important thing with
KPIs is that they measure our company’s goals. If our customer service KPI is to
reduce customer complaints, that doesn’t really measure our goals.
那很棒，但也正好可以拿来举例子！关于KPI最重要的是，它们衡量的是公司目标
。如果我们的客服部KPI是减少客户投诉率的话，那它衡量的就不是公司目标了。
B. How is that? Aren’t fewer customer complaints the goal?
为什么？难道更低的客户投诉率不是公司的目标吗？
A. Not necessarily. While it’s true that there may be less complaints because
customers are happier, what if we get less complaints just because we have a
downturn in sales, and as a result, less customers who can complain in the first
place? Or what if they’re unhappy, but having more trouble accessing support
services?
并不一定是。但是当然要承认，用户开心了投诉率就低。但如果我们的投诉率低了
是因为销售量低导致用户群小了，那怎么办？或者如果客户不开心，但是没法得到
用户支持服务，这种情况你想过没？
B. I never thought of it that way.
我从没那么想过。
A. A good KPI here would be to target the number of customer service requests
that remain unsatisfied at the end of the week. Then we know customer service
response is improving.
一个好的KPI应该是在一周结束时弄清有多少未得到满意答复的客户要求，然后我
们就知道客服是否进步了。
B. That makes sense. So, KPI is like a dashboard for tracking bigger goals – but
making sure it measures something meaningful. So we could improve progress
towards the KPI by setting individual goals to reduce the average unresolved
complaints every week by 15%.
说的很有道理。所以KPI就像是仪表盘，来为更大的目标作指导，要确保它所衡量
的是有意义的数据。所以如果我们能制定个人目标，使每周的未解决投诉量减少1
5%，那么我们就能逐步提高KPI了。
A. You’ve got it! And that also meets our criteria of personal goals following the
“SMART” principle: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.
你说对了！而且那将符合我们对个人目标的标准—“SMART”原则：具体，可衡量，
可实现，相关性强，及时。
B. This is making a lot more sense now. Let me work up a draft, but I may still
need to pick your brain later on KPIs for customer service.
现在我完全明白了。让我起草一下，但是我可能还要就客服部的工作问你一些建议。
关键词汇
criteria kraɪtiriə 标准
relevant ˈrɛl ə vənt 相关性强
measurable mɛʒ ər ə bəl 可衡量
overkill oʊ vərˌkɪl 过头
downturn ˈdæʊntərn 下滑
how goes it haw goz ɪt 怎么样？
different animal dɪfərənt ænəməl 完全不同
feed into fid ɪntu 贡献
reinvent the wheel riɪnvɛnt ðə wil 不必要
pure and simple pjʊr ænd sɪmpəl 简单单纯
KPI keɪ pi aɪ 关键业绩指标
dashboard dæʃˌbɔrd 仪表盘
unresolved ənrəzɑlvd 未解决的
“SMART” smɑrt SMART原则
pick your brain ˈpɪk jər ˈbreɪn 询问建议
补充词汇
benchmark bɛntʃmɑrk 基准
quantifiable kwɑntəfajəbɛl 可量化的
performance metrics pərfɔrməns mɛtrɪks 业绩指标
compliance kəmˈplaɪəns 服从
proxy indicator prɑksi ɪndəketər 代理指标
Expansion
criteria (criterion)
The only criteria for this position are hard work, long hours, and little pay!
这个职位的标准就是辛勤工作，长时间工作，薪酬不高。
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We should reevaluate the criterion of a having an MBA in the job description; if someonehas a lot of experience in sales, then an MBA really isn’t needed.
我们应该在职位简介里重新考虑要求MBA学历的标准；如果某人在销售方面很有经验，那么不必非要MBA。
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What are the criteria you use for defining success?
你定义成功的标准是什么？
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relevant (relevant)
I don’t think that question is relevant to what we need to know.
我不认为那个问题跟我们要知道的事是相关的。
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We need to rebrand our company’s image to be more relevant to younger customers.
我们需要重新定义公司形象以迎合年轻顾客。
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Customer satisfaction is highly relevant to sales growth – and right now we seem to think itis unimportant.
客户满意度对销售量增长非常重要—现在我们好像觉得它不重要似的。
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measurable (measurable)
What are the measurable benefits of cutting back costs in marketing if we also see areduction in sales as a result?
如果我们减少市场投入同时导致销售量降低，那我们有什么可衡量的好处吗？
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We need a measurable strategy for success; otherwise we don’t know how we are reallyperforming.
我们需要一个机制来衡量我们的业绩；不然我们不知道我们的表现如何。
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Not all things are measurable in concrete terms, especially when it comes to love.
并不是任何事情都能被具体地衡量，特别是谈到爱情时。
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overkill (overkill)
I think these meetings are overkill; we don’t need to talk about this for two hours every day!
我觉得这些会议太过头了；我们不需要每天花两小时讨论这！
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I know we need to cut expenses, but saying that every employee is not allowed to use morethan 10 sheets of paper a day is overkill.
我知道我们要节省开支，但是让每个员工一天不能使用10张以上的纸就太过头了。
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It’s important to support your employees, but constantly asking them if they need help isoverkill, and may make them feel like you don’t trust them.
支持我们的员工很重要，但是一直问他们是否需要帮助就有点过头了，这可能会让他们觉得你不信任他们。
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downturn (downturn)
The downturn in sales was a direct result of the economy.
销售量的下滑是经济因素直接导致的。
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Following the terrorist attacks in 2001, the US economy took a major downturn.
2001年的恐怖袭击后，美国经济发生了很大的下滑。
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The recent downturn in employment has really crippled our sales this year; people arespending less than ever.
最近的就业率下滑让我们今年的销售量很不济；人们消费的比以前少了。
Grammar
The use of a “dash” vs. a “comma” for emphasis（使用破折号和逗号的对比）
破折号（长破折号）和逗号都能用来提示解释性说明、同位语等。两者最大的区别是他们的强调性不同。通常来说，用破折号时比用逗号更加有强调的意味。以下例句用破折号比用逗号更好。
Sample sentences:
Use em dash (“ – “) to give stronger emphasis:
使用破折号以强调：
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If I get that new raise, I’m going to get a car!
我如果升职了，就买车！
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If I get that new raise – I'm going to get a car! (better)
我如果升职了—我就买辆车！（更好）
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Use em dash (“ – “) to set off parenthetical phrases:
使用破折号做解释性说明：
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When you come in, or go out, don’t forget to shut that door.
当你进来，或者出去时，别忘了关门。
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When you come in – or go out – don’t forget to shut that door. (better)
当你进来—或者出去时—别忘了关门。（更好）
Exercises
Culture
KPI对于大型企业非常重要，特别是当他们开始公开交易时，制定可行有效的方案来评测公司的业绩对提升公司整体发展愈发重要。小公司制定KPI也会有很大帮助，但是因为鉴定起来比较麻烦，许多小公司仅对员工进行业绩考核。不论是大公司或是小公司，KPI都有助于实现公司的长期目标。
Practice