hey lindsay how's it going hey aubry it's awesome i'm excited to be recording with you today
how's everything on your end yes really great it's actually a little rainy here today which
in arizona we get very excited about any weather because it's just always sunny so a little rain
and like oh something different i could see how that would make sense it rained in a way it's
kind of an excuse to stay in read a book cuddle up you know it's kind of nice sort of sometimes
right it is nice i love it i love hearing the rain on a rooftop i love being able to just be warm and
inside it's that's lovely and then outside it smells so good after the rain i love the smell
of the rain the smell of the spring i love that i love that smell yeah totally all right what are we
getting into today are we getting into the phone call situation an awkward phone call situation
yes you guys i everyone out there including me has been on a conversation where it ended kind
of awkwardly and this happens all the time even to natives because sometimes like you'll think the
other person on the end of the line is trying to get off and hang up and so you'll end the
call and then you'll realize oh no they weren't there was still something to say this happens
and awkwardly but we can avoid that and especially with business english phone calls we do want to
avoid that we need to be very clear when we're ending a phone call to help avoid that awkwardness
with ending it we got a great listener question about this yeah because we know that our listeners
do spend a lot of time on the phone at work and these are high-stakes situations aren't they aubry
yes exactly often you just have that one chance and you might not be able to get a hold of someone
again they might avoid your phone calls if it ends awkwardly so you do it's high stakes like you said
you want to make sure to leave end the call on a positive note you got it before we get into it we
just want to let our listeners know that we have a whole other podcast if they don't know some of
them may not be aware what is that other podcast all about aubry yes ielts energy jessica and i are
over there two episodes every week so if you are planning to take ielts or not right now or in the
future this is the best podcast you guys can be listening to because jessica was an examiner for
14 years she has all this great insider info she's passed it to me so our team you can trust
the content that we're giving you so check it out ielts energy podcast
all right we'll see you guys over there all right so should i go ahead and read the question
well it's a long one again we're getting some great listener questions here aubrey
yes i know right i love these questions because like a chunk of it is usually just letting us
know they love the podcast and that just makes me feel good we love that we love that all right here
goes the question so the student says dear lindsay michelle and aubrey and jessica of course all four
of us are over here sometimes on the podcast hello i'm moeko from japan thank you for a lot of the
episodes until now i enjoy listening every morning today i'm on holiday so i listen repeatedly that's
great that's right that's fantastic at this time i'm sending an email to ask about how to answer
the phone i communicate with my customers by phone at work i'm so confused when the call
ends for example at the end of the call in english i say thank you for your time
and in some time sometime later the customer will say that's all i don't know how to comp it convey
the appreciation in the last moment and how to finish the call any good phrases i also want to
know uh about this in the business world or in other situations like daily life i'm sure she
wants to know definitely i'm looking forward to listening to this episode sincerely moeko what
about such a good question right because what is a good thing to say toward the end of a conversation
to say thank you for your time on a phone call but that's not going to signal to the other person
that the phone call is over because after thank you for your time there are several other things
you could say you might say something else right there are specific phrases that you would need to
follow that up with to let the other person know that the call is over right they're a specific
phrase that signal a phone call is ending and you have to use one of those at the end
yeah and this also could be cultural too at the same time because i think in different languages
more words are said at the end of a conversation whether it's on a call or whether it's in person
um i'm thinking about in japan the japanese bow i've seen it happen multiple times right like
continuous bowing so that means like there's a concerted response like there's a concerted
effort to make sure the relationship is solid before we're ending this exchange
um and so we have to do a little something more so thinking about your culture how do you say goodbye
how do you end an exchange that could influence what you're thinking should be done in english so
that's really interesting yes it is interesting and i first i want to talk about there are
multiple options for um that last phrase to say thank you for your time is a great one
but there are several so let's first just highlight a few because i like what she was
saying that she's saying i want to express that appreciation for them for having taken the time
to talk to me and yes you should do that you should have a few ways to do that so first
that one thank you for your time you can also say thanks for taking the time to talk today yes
exactly or thanks for this information this really helps so adding a little something more right
to let them know like okay i've i've gotten clarification today i've gotten a little more
information about a call that would be a little more of a specific usage where you've been able to
speak to a colleague or maybe a client and get a little info more information about maybe a project
you're working on something that you're doing for them so to say okay thanks for this information
this really helps i love it and what else great i think we're on the same page let's circle back
soon circle back's a great one which we can talk about in another episode aubrey what's that what
does that mean by the way as a bonus today this means like let's talk again soon about this topic
right so you're saying whatever it is we've been talking about this is not the last conversation
right we're going to talk again soon give each other an update that's to circle back to come
back to that same conversation yeah you know this really does matter because they say that the mind
remembers the last interaction you've had with the person it doesn't remember all of them or the
first one it's the most recent interaction you've had that's what really matters so we want to
always take care of that person when we're in that exchange right take care of their relationship
yes for sure it reminds me of um with sports like volleyball will play maybe 10 games in a
morning and for the last one i'll always say like this is the only one we're gonna remember guys
last days of things this is what we remember yes exactly so true okay so let's get into
those phrases we're going to share four phrases that you need to close with after you express
your appreciation for their time that's not enough it can't just end with thanks for your time
because the other person on the other end won't know if you're finished talking you need something
that very clearly and directly signals that so the first one is just to say have a great day
this is often how i end a call i'll say perfect thanks for your time have a great day and the
other person is going to say yep youtube bye right they understand that means this phone call is over
all right i love it very standard very good but we're zooming out into life in general right
we've just talked about hey you've helped me a lot i really appreciate it let's circle back to
this topic now we're zooming out to life their day right right um i end the podcast a lot with have
a good one when we have our conversations right so our listeners know that one for sure that's
our number two right yes it's very native and natural means the same thing as have a good day
we just say have a good one that means this is a good day very native and natural yeah
exactly what would be the third aubrey just to say talk to you later or talk to you soon
and you do want to choose one or the other depending on how soon you're going to talk
to them right if you if there isn't a plan to talk very soon you'll say okay talk to you later
talk to you soon means okay we're going to circle back we're going to talk soon about this
yeah like maybe we have a meeting later that day or the next day or maybe there's some kind of
gathering company why i don't know something like that so it's a little bit different i
agree that's important to point out and then guys number four hope to hear from you soon
um for this one i would tend to write that more when i reach out in an email what about you
aubrey what's your style more formal and it is for a little more of a specific situation right
if you have um maybe a sales call or you know if you're making a first contact with someone
and it's going to now be the ball is in their court as we say yeah you are hoping that they
will call you back about something this will be good you're right we write this a lot in an email
you can also say it on a phone call if you're wanting them to call you back after they consider
something you say great hope to hear from you soon exactly where the ball is in their court or
the other instance that i would use that i just used it this week is leaving a voicemail
when you want them to get back to you right and we're not talking about voicemails today but
that might be another episode yeah leaving a voicemail i'm going to wait to hear from you
and it is less direct than just like call me back yeah call me back you notice it's not it's
not here right call me back now it's too that's that is too direct i agree yeah we're a little
more indirect about this it's a very polite kind way to say that we're hoping they'll call us back
hope to hear from you soon i love it so good so now that we have the tools let's do a role play
in this situation you are a client of mine and we're just finishing up a conversation
about the status of the project that i'm working on for you okay yes exactly
okay i think i have a really good idea of our next steps here great yes this all sounds really good
perfect thanks for your time have a great day you too bye nice very quick right because we're
just showing the very end of a phone call but you can see how if you just said perfect thanks
for your time i wouldn't realize the conversation is ending necessarily right you have to have that
have a great day okay so the signal the phone call is over signals we have to have those signals it's
so important and like we said obviously guys uh there's more before the role play right we're
talking about the project and the status and all this stuff but this is how we're ending it here i
love it so good so good do we have a takeaway for our listeners today what should we leave them with
yes i think the most important thing to realize is you have to be very clear and direct on phone
calls we talk about this a lot some of our um the interviews we did for our business course these
native professionals brought this up especially on phone calls and in emails it's so important to
be very direct and clear you don't want to waste anyone's time but even more than that we want to
eliminate that awkwardness that can happen at the end of a conversation by again being very clear
and direct making sure the other person knows when the phone call is ending yeah that is huge
and you're right aubry we did we do have a whole business english course with an entire module
just on telephone english where we have templates you did a couple of interviews in that course did
you interview anyone for the telephone module i'm trying to remember who did you interview in that
course i did i did one about um video calls a couple of different ones about video calls
and it is simple skills but no i didn't i didn't do one of the ones for the actual phone calls
because it is interesting we separated those modules because when you can't see someone it
really is different skills right you can't read their face you can't read their body language
you have to be so clear and direct to make sure that everything is understood on the phone it's a
whole different set of skills it's a whole other set guys it is really challenging but again the
thing that's unique about our courses the way we approach our courses is that we interview native
speakers for our courses we bring them in and then we take what they're teaching us and you
get to learn that vocabulary those templates those structures directly from those successful native
speakers i love it guys to go check out that course go over to aldersenglish.com business
all right good awesome this is a really fun one eliminate the awkwardness that is a good goal yeah
let's eliminate that and thank you to our listener for this great question send more questions guys
especially business english questions we love them all right thanks aubrey talking to you later