Business English Podcasts

Situation 1

Anna is a sales executive at a showroom which sells cameras. Let’s listen to how she handles a telephone call from Daniel, a caller who has an enquiry and a request.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

“Results depend on relationships. That’s what Don Petersen says. He is the ex-CEO of America’s Ford Motor Company. You will find that being able to make small talk—especially before a business meeting—will help build good relationships. And, good business relationships will help you get the results you want. Think of small talk as an engraved business card: small but impressive. Impressive, that is, if you do it well.

SITUATION 1

Listen now to small talk used by Dan, who is about to make a presentation featuring his leadership training firm. He especially wants to win approval from Susan Lynch, head of employee relations for a multinational firm. Pay attention to Dan’s manner and manners as well.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

SITUATION 1 (PLACING AN ORDER)

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

Although it’s not the same in all business cultures, standing up for yourself, or being assertive, is an important communication skill in Western business culture. You’re more likely to get respect from your colleagues and superiors if you stand up for what you believe in, especially if you can back up your argument or request with real facts and figures.

Being overly assertive or inflexible can cause problems, however, so learning how to achieve a balance is important. Each situation you encounter needs careful thought and planning. Don’t rush into situations where you could weaken your relationship with others or weaken your position within the company.

The following two dialogues demonstrate how standing your ground can work—and how it can sometimes backfire.

SITUATION 1

Conflicts at work can occur for many different reasons. Sometimes, more senior members of staff expect newer members of staff to treat them with respect, even when the newer members may be more talented or skilled than they are. This is the basic theme of the first dialogue.

Let’s now listen in as Nancy, a senior stock trader, talks to Jason, a recently-employed junior trader. It seems that Nancy and her colleagues are not very happy with Jason’s attitude towards them.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

There is a time and a place to talk about employee attitude and performance. Often this is done in an informal situation, sometimes when a manager is new or is taking over a team of new employees. There are many ways of discussing employees and how they are performing.

Let’s listen in as Darlene, the department manager, and her assistant, Richard, discuss a number of employees.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

We all deal with angry customers, and it's enough to drive people crazy. Angry and difficult customers are a major cause of workplace stress, and they take up huge amounts of your time and the resources of your organization. There are a lot of tricks and techniques you can use to deal with an angry customer. For now, let's focus on the most common mistake employees make when dealing with the difficult or angry customer. By avoiding this particular error, you can save yourself a lot of stress and time.

The #1 Mistake

When you are faced with an angry customer, you probably assume that the customer wants his or her "problem" fixed. That's a logical approach and it's at least partly true. Angry customers expect that you will be able to help them in some concrete way, by meeting their want or need. However, there's more to the story.

Ever notice that with a really angry person, even if you can "fix" the problem, the person still acts in angry or nasty ways? Why is that? Well, actually angry customers want several things. Yes, they want the problem fixed, but they also want to BE HEARD, TO BE LISTENED TO, and to have their upset and emotional state recognized and acknowledged.

What most employees do with angry customers is move immediately to solve the problem without giving that acknowledgment. Do you know what happens? The customer is so angry that he or she isn't prepared to work to solve the problem, doesn't listen, and gets in the way of solving the problem. So the number one error is moving to solve the problem before the customer is "ready", or calm enough to work with the employee. The result is the employee has to repeat things over and over (since the customer didn't hear), and has to ask the same questions over and over. And that's what drives people nuts.

The Solution

The solution is to follow this general rule: When faced with an angry customer, FIRST focus on acknowledging the feelings and upset of the customer. Once the customer starts to calm down as a result of having his or her feelings recognized, THEN move to solving the problem. You'll find that this will save you a lot of time and energy.

Situation 1

Here’s an example of a type of customer that is really feared. Now you’ll recognise Mr Tiger all right. In our example he’s turned up to the bank where Cathy works. As always, he’s angry. He’s been waiting about for nearly ten minutes. He may also have had a particularly bad day so far and wants any excuse to turn his anger on someone else. Let’s see how Cathy deals with him.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

When a company moves to a new site it is known as ‘relocation’. This is a big decision, involving everyone connected with the company – staff, customers, suppliers and shareholders. It also affects the families, friends and communities of the people involved with the company.

Once the research into possible locations has been completed, an organisation must decide which relocation option is the most suitable, inform staff and plan the next stages of the operation.

After consulting staff about the options for relocation a final decision has to be taken and everyone informed. A number of things then have to be done to organise the relocation and for this an action plan has to be drawn up.

In this podcast lesson you will practise expressing action points, summarising information and informing colleagues of plans.

First listen to an extract from a business meeting about what has been decided about relocating the company to Bilton Oaks. Diana Riggs is chairing the meeting and the extract begins with her speaking. An action plan is also discussed, which involves assigning specific tasks to people.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

The introduction to a presentation is a very important - perhaps the most important part of the presentation. This is the first impression that your audience have of you. You should concentrate on getting your introduction right. You should use the introduction to:

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

SITUATION 1

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

Empathy is the ability to understand how someone else feels by imagining yourself in their position.

The ability to show empathy is a very important social skill in making and maintaining friendships. In business, too, it’s important to be able to show empathy with customers, clients and even co-workers, particularly when dealing with disputes, complaints and other negative situations.

You're much more likely to be able to resolve a problem with someone if you show them that you understand their position or how they feel.

Some people are naturally empathetic; others have to actively work on developing the skill. There are a number of useful techniques for showing empathy which we’ll look at in this podcast lesson.

Situation 1

In the following situation, Mary discusses a problem with her colleague, John.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

Discussing someone’s performance refers to analysing their strengths and weaknesses. Managers often have to discuss the performance of those in their team. This is usually because a manager’s appraisal goes on an employee’s record and also helps to identify if an employee is ready for a promotion. When discussing someone’s performance, remember to keep the conversation professional. Focus on the person’s work-related skills, and not on his or her personal details or habits. Give reasons and examples to support your opinions, so that others know that you are not biased.

You may also have to discuss someone’s performance face-to-face with that person. In such a situation, you need to be a little more tactful and polite when talking about their skills, especially their weaknesses and the areas in which they need to improve. Even if you have something negative to say, you can put it across in positive terms. The second dialogue in today’s lesson will show you how you can do that.

Situation 1

You will now listen to a conversation between two managers, Jennifer and Andrew, who are discussing the performance of their team members Carolyn and Ling. They need to make a decision on which one to promote.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

We’ve become creatures of telephone habits. Having made and received thousands of telephone calls in our lifetimes, it is easy to assume that we have reasonable telephone skills. Most people do not even think there are any special challenges of telephone communication.

When all parts of the communications process work effectively together, telephone communication is clear and useful. Sometimes, however, even a well-practiced communication process can go wrong. Problems can occur in any of the following four parts of sending a message:

• Trouble sending: The sender doesn't speak clearly, speaks in a heavy accent or speaks too quickly. What happens to the message? Will it be received?
• Trouble with the message content: The message is confusing, disorganized or irrational. Is it likely that the receiver will understand what is being communicated?
• Trouble with the channel: There is background noise or a bad line. Will the message be transmitted effectively? Will it be received?
• Trouble with the receiver: The receiver is not listening closely, has fallen asleep or is distracted. Will the message be understood?

In this podcast lesson, we’re going to focus on trouble with the message content, that is, the message is unclear and needs clarifying.

Situation

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

Introduction

We’ve become creatures of telephone habits. Having made and received thousands of telephone calls in our lifetimes, it is easy to assume that we have reasonable telephone skills. Most people do not even think there are any special challenges of telephone communication.

When all parts of the communications process work effectively together, telephone communication is clear and useful. Sometimes, however, even a well-practiced communication process can go wrong. Problems can occur in any of the following four parts of sending a message:

• Trouble sending: The sender doesn't speak clearly, speaks in a heavy accent or speaks too quickly. What happens to the message? Will it be received?
• Trouble with the message content: The message is confusing, disorganized or irrational. Is it likely that the receiver will understand what is being communicated?
• Trouble with the channel: There is background noise or a bad line. Will the message be transmitted effectively? Will it be received?
• Trouble with the receiver: The receiver is not listening closely, has fallen asleep or is distracted. Will the message be understood?

In this podcast lesson, we’re going to focus on trouble with the channel, where because of background noise or a temporary loss of signal, the message is sometimes lost or cannot be heard clearly.

Situation 

You’re now going to listen to Beatrice, from Sterling Associates, take a call from a client, Dan Tomkins. Dan wants Beatrice to reschedule a meeting for him.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

Introduction

Accepting an invitation is easy. Refusing an invitation is more difficult. In business situations, it’s particularly important to know how to refuse an invitation politely so you don’t cause offence to the person who is inviting you.

In this podcast lesson you’re going to learn how to make, accept and refuse invitations in a business setting.

Situation

You’re now going to listen to a short dialogue. Mary and David have just met each other at a business conference. During the conversation, Mary invites David to dinner.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes

Introduction

In this month's podcast lesson we're looking at a typical conversation you might have with someone you've only just met in a business situation – at a conference for example. What sort of things can you talk about – and what topics should be avoided?

Situation

In the following situation, David and Jenny are attending a business conference in Sydney, Australia. David is an Australian, while Jenny is from England. Let's look at how David and Jenny get acquainted.

Premium Content:

Interactive Review Exercises

Study Notes