Using English on the phone - BUSINESS ENGLISH vocabulary and communication tips

Using English at work as a second language can be challenging. If you spend a lot of time on the phone this is even more true! Today we're talking about Business English vocabulary and communication skills that you can apply to your phone calls to sound more natural, native, and professional when you make or answer phone calls. We might call it telephone English! We talk about how to clarify information, how to ask someone to wait, how to transfer a call, and more. At the end of the podcast we'll have a quiz to check your understanding and find out how much of the new vocabulary and ideas you can remember. 

Don't forget, if you want to work with me in one on one, private sessions then I am a full time Business English coach and tutor. I spend my whole professional life helping international professionals to improve the way that they communicate at work. You can book some of my time at www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Transcript

Welcome back to the Breakout Business English podcast. My name is Chris and I’m a business English coach and tutor, and my full time job is helping people to communicate better at work. Today our topic is going to be phone calls. I know a lot of people who listen to this podcast spend many hours every week on the phone so today I want to look at some tips for having better phone calls and some native and natural vocabulary that we can use to do this.

After we've been through all of the vocabulary that I've got for you today we'll finish with a quiz to see how much you remember. So, with that said, let's get started.

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Our first topic today is clarifying information. If speaking on the phone is a big part of your job then there's a good chance that you need to either give or receive information. Names, times, dates, addresses, etc can all be challenging to give over the phone. So let's go through some phrases that you can use to make sure that you've heard the person you're speaking to correctly.

Would you mind going over that one more time for me please,

Would you mind going over that one more time for me please,

Could you go through that once more please,

Could you go through that once more please,

Just run through that again for me please,

Just run through that again for me please,

Let me just read that back to you,

Let me just read that back to you,

Let's start with that last vocabulary idea. To read something to someone is almost the same as the phrasal verb "to read back" the difference is that here we're suggesting that someone has just told us something and we've written it down. So if you read something back to someone you tell them the same information that they just told you so that they can confirm that you heard them correctly. 

We also had the phrasal verbs to "go over" and to "go through" there. Both of these mean very similar things. To "go through" or "go over" a list or plan for instance, means that you check it from beginning to the end to make sure that it's correct. This can be a really useful phrasal verb for when you've told the person on the other end of the phone something and you want to ensure that they have understood you. For instance, "I need to go through the terms and conditions of the agreement with you" or "Let's go through the details of the contract one more time before we finish off".

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OK, let's move on to some phrases that you can use to ask someone to wait. Sometimes we just need a little extra time, without the other person talking, to check something with a colleague, to make a note, or to send a message for instance. Having a natural and native phrase ready to tell your caller that they should wait for you to come back is a really important tool to have available. Let's hear some examples.

Bear with me for a moment please

Bear with me for a moment please

Sit tight for a few minutes please

Sit tight for a few minutes please

Hang on a second please

Hang on a second please

I'm going to put you on hold for a short time

I'm going to put you on hold for a short time

One thing you'll likely have noticed by now is that on the phone we use lots of phrasal verbs and idioms. So let's take a closer look at a couple that you've just heard. 

Bear with me is one of my favorite phrases in English. In this context we're not talking about the noun form of an actual bear. Instead, we're talking about the verb which means to be patient or endure something. And yes, this is spelled B E A R, not B A R E. Bare spelled in that second way is a word, but it has a very different meaning. So If you ask someone to bear with you then you are asking them to patiently wait for something to happen. We can also use this if you need to explain something to someone that might get boring or long. For instance, "please bear with me while I read the terms of the contract to you".

Since there are so many phrasal verbs today, let's take a look at the word "hold". Maybe you've heard the phrase "hold music". That slightly annoying music that plays while we're waiting for someone to pick up the phone when we call a company. You often need to listen to hold-music when you are on hold. And, if someone has spent a long time holding and you finally come back to the call you might politely tell them. "Thank you for holding". 

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Let's move on now to transferring a call. If you work in customer service or any kind of large company, eventually you'll get a call from someone who really needs to speak to someone else. You need to connect that caller to the correct person and, ideally, use some natural and native English to tell them that this is what you're doing. Let's hear some great phrases that we can use when transferring a call. 

I'm going to put you through to the right department

I'm going to put you through to the right department

I'm going to transfer you to the people you need to talk to.

I'm going to transfer you to the people you need to talk to.

Let me connect you to the team you need to speak with.

Let me connect you to the team you need to speak with.

You might notice that I used "talk" and "speak" in very similar situations. These words almost always mean the same thing. The only difference is that "speak" is a little more formal. Now, there are certain situations where we prefer one over the other, we use "speak" with languages for instance. We say "I speak English" never, "I talk English". However, in most situations you can choose either. 

The first example there had a really important phrasal verb in it and that was "put through". If you put someone through then you transfer their call to another person or department. Importantly we usually split this phrasal verb into two parts and put the person you are transferring, your customer for instance, in the middle. Maybe your caller has been on hold for a couple of minutes, before you transfer them you might like to just let them know, "thanks for bearing with me, I'm putting you through now".

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Our fourth vocabulary group today is phrases for thanking people. Whether you called them, or they called you, finding something to thank the person on the other side of the phone call can be a really nice way to conclude your conversation. Let's take a look at some nice ways to do this.

Thanks for your time today, I really appreciate it

Thanks for your time today, I really appreciate it

Thank you for reaching out to us today

Thank you for reaching out to us today

Thanks for calling, it was nice speaking with you

Thanks for calling, it was nice speaking with you

That first example is one of my favorites, and it's a really great one to remember. This is because whether you're speaking to the CEO of a fortune 500 company, or someone at the exact opposite end of the corporate hierarchy, you can always thank people for their time. Try it next time you want to thank someone. Don't just thank them for what they've done, thank them for their time. It's the only thing that everyone gets an equal amount of!

You also heard there the phrasal verb to "reach out". To reach out means to contact somebody in order to get help or to work with them. Especially someone who you don't normally work with. So you probably wouldn't say that you reached out to your colleague sitting at the desk next to yours. However, you could definitely say that you reached out to someone on another team in another department. 

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I want to talk now about the power of making small changes to the vocabulary choices that you make. So often it can be one word or phrase that really makes the difference to a call. When I was a sales person, and then a sales manager, I realized the incredible way that making someone feel like you’re on their team can make interactions so much easier. I discovered how giving your customer or your colleague that feeling that you’re both working together to solve a common problem can make challenging situations just a little easier. For this tip, I want to encourage you to use the words “us” and “we” more than you perhaps do now. In fact, I might even go as far as to say that every time you use “I”, you might be able to use “we”. Instead of talking what your colleague wants you to do, try asking them what you’re going to do together. As opposed to saying to your customer “I’m going to fix your problem”, how about telling them “we’re going to fix our problem”. Let’s listen to a couple of examples for how this can work.

I’m glad we were able to get to the bottom of that for you today. Thanks for working with me on that.

I’m glad we were able to get to the bottom of that for you today. Thanks for working with me on that.

So, how are we doing today? Are we ready for the meeting?

So, how are we doing today? Are we ready for the meeting?

If you’d like we can save your details in our system so that next time we need to talk again we can pull them up really quickly.

If you’d like we can save your details in our system so that next time we need to talk again we can pull them up really quickly.

Let’s start with the idiom in the first example. We heard there, “I’m glad we were able to get to the bottom of that for you today.” If you “get to the bottom” of a problem or issue then you find out the root cause. You discover the explanation for the issue or the truth about a situation. For instance, “we finally got to the bottom of your problem”.

We also had there the phrasal verb to “pull up”. If you pull something up on a computer then you retrieve it from a database. We often use this when talking about customer details or maybe sales records. We could also use this in a sentence like, “just a moment, I’ll pull up my notes from our last meeting”, or “would you mind pulling up the email that you sent please?” Of course, this is a phrasal verb so it’s a little less formal, but also really natural and native.

I’d love to hear your opinion on this. What do you think? Is this a good idea? Would it work for you, or not?

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OK, now that we've discussed some great vocabulary that we can use when speaking on the phone, let's see how much of it you can remember. 

Let's start with this one. Can you think of a phrase that you could use to ask someone to be patient and wait for you. This phrase sounds like it might have the name of an animal in it, and that animal is a bear, so this phrase is bear with me. "Could you bear with me just a moment while I find your details".

Let's move on. If I'm going to transfer your call to another department, to connect your call to someone else, which phrasal verb can I use to tell you this? This phrasal verb starts with the word "put" and this is "put through". For instance, thanks for bearing with me, I'm going to put your call through to the right department now".

And finally, we can thank people for a lot of things. We can thank people for giving us information, for reaching out and contacting us, or for confirming information. However, the most powerful thing that we can thank people for is what? This noun begins with the letter T and it's the only thing that we all have exactly the same amount of. This is, of course, time. For instance, "thanks for taking the time to reach out today".

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That is it for today, thank you so much for spending this time with me and I’ll see you again soon on the Breakout Business English podcast.