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BEP 69 B – Telephoning: Taking a Message

A2, Business English, Customer Service, Intermediate English, Telephone English /

Welcome back to Business English Pod. This is the second part of our look at answering the phone and taking a message. In this lesson, we’ll focus on taking a message.

Today’s lesson is also featured in our new eBook: Business English for Telephoning. This eBook covers essential language for many different types of business calls, including dealing with customers and complaints, making arrangements and checking on orders.

In our last lesson (BEP 69 A – Answering a Call), we looked at answering a call effectively. We heard an example of poor telephone skills and started in on a dialog that demonstrated good telephone skills. Today, we’re going to continue with that dialog and look at how to take a message. Have you ever missed a telephone message? Or have you received a message that didn’t contain the necessary information? If so, then you understand how important it is not just to take a message, but to do it right.

We’ll look at ways to ask someone to leave a message, information that should be included in a message, and how to offer help. You will also learn how to acknowledge, check back and confirm information that a caller gives you.

Now, let’s rejoin Mark, who works for a company called Trivesco. He is calling a shipping company, Daneline, hoping to speak with someone named Sylvie Petersen. Sylvie is not there, so Mark has to leave a message with Amy, the receptionist.

Listening Questions

1. How does the tone of Amy’s voice sound?
2. What information does Mark include in his message?
3. How does Amy make sure she has Mark’s phone number correct?

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BEP 69 A – Telephoning: Answering a Call

A2, Business English, Customer Service, Intermediate English, Telephone English /

In this Business English Pod episode, we’re going to take another look at one of our most popular and important podcasts. Today we’re talking about using the telephone in English. This is something we all do, but we don’t all do well.

Today’s lesson is also featured in our new eBook: Business English for Telephoning. This eBook covers essential language for many different types of business calls, including dealing with customers and complaints, making arrangements and checking on orders.

Talking on the telephone has become an extremely important part of business. You need to be able to answer a call professionally and create a good image of yourself and your company with only your voice. Having effective telephone skills leaves a good impression on your customers, clients, and colleagues. People are busy, so you want to be very clear, polite and organized.

In this lesson, we’ll begin by looking at a bad example of answering a call and taking message. We’ll discuss why it’s a bad example, and then we’ll go into a good example of answering a call. I’m sure you’ll see a clear difference.

For our bad example, we’ll listen as Justin, an employee with Trivesco, calls a shipping company called Daneline. Justin is hoping to speak with Sylvie Petersen, but it is a receptionist named Amy who answers the phone.

Listening Questions – Bad Example
1. How would you describe Amy’s attitude?
2. Does Justin seem prepared?

Listening Questions – Good Example
1. What information does Amy include in her first sentence?
2. How does Mark Rand introduce himself?

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BEP 166 – English for Administrative Assistants (2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English /

This is the second in a two-part Business English Pod series on administrative assistants, their jobs, and related vocabulary and collocations.

Collocations are a challenge for anyone learning English. There aren’t any specific rules to follow. You just have to listen for what sounds right. Still, they’re essential for English communication and important to keep in mind when you learn new vocabulary – don’t just think about the new word, think about what other words it might be used with. We’ll point out some useful collocations related to daily office work as we go through this lesson.

Administrative assistants are important to any business organization. For example, they make sure data is handled responsibly and records are maintained properly. It might seem like they work in the background, but their jobs are critical to the smooth running of a company.

In the last episode we met Christina, the Head Administrative Assistant in the Human Resources department at LaFarge Automotive. In an interview, Christina told us about some of her usual job duties. Today, she’ll talk about why her work is so important to the company.

Listening Questions

1. What is one way Christina manages information for her company?
2. What is one way she mobilizes resources?
3. Does Christina like her job? Why or why not?

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BEP 165 – English for Administrative Assistants (1)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English /

This is the first in a two-part Business English Pod series on the work of administrative assistants. We’ll be looking at vocabulary and collocations related to office duties and daily routines.

Before we start, let’s talk a bit about English collocations. Collocations are groups of words that are commonly used together. Native speakers are so used to using them, they know what sounds “right” and what sounds “wrong.” For example, in English the phrase “go online” is a natural way to refer to using the internet. But it wouldn’t be natural to say something like “proceed online” or “travel online”, even though “proceed” and “travel” are other ways to express “go.” You’ll hear lots of collocations related to office life in today’s dialog. Listen out for them and we’ll explain what they mean and how to use them in the debrief.

Now, on to the role of an administrative assistant. The job title of “administrative assistant”, or “admin assistant” for short, can cover quite a broad range of responsibilities. Admin assistants typically spend a lot of time handling data – whether it’s timesheets recording the working hours of other employees, or rosters used for scheduling meeting rooms. Much of what they do involves making sure that other employees are working as efficiently as possible.

In this episode we’ll talk with Christina, who works as an admin assistant in the human resources department of an auto parts manufacturer. Christina’s going to tell us about some of the responsibilities of her position.

Listening Questions

1. What is Christina’s first task every day?
2. How many employees are on the sales team?
3. When is the deadline for personal leave day requests?

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BEP 162 – Dealing with Customers on the Phone 2

Business English, Customer Service, Intermediate English, Telephone English /

This Business English Pod lesson is the second of a two-part series on telephone skills and dealing with customers on the phone.

When you’re helping a caller on the phone, unexpected things can happen. You might need to get some additional information from another source or have the caller to speak to someone else. Or, there may be some interference with the telephone connection that makes it hard to hear someone. It’s good to be prepared so that you can handle the call efficiently, without irritating the customer.

In this lesson, we’ll look at some of these unexpected situations. We’ll discuss ways to tell a caller what’s happening during the call and how to politely question and clarify if you don’t hear or understand something. We’ll cover language for signaling that a call is about to end, and how to politely finish the call.

In the last episode, we met Leroy and Paul. Leroy is a customer care agent for a credit card company. Paul is a customer whose card is about to expire. He hasn’t received a replacement card yet and Leroy is helping him.

Listening Questions

1. Why does Leroy need a minute to pull up Paul’s records?
2. What is Paul’s correct street address?
3. Why didn’t Paul receive his replacement card?

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