Small talk and beyond! Expressions for your next business lunch in English.

- Ah, the business lunch.

You probably enjoy these in your native language,

but are you...

I'm gonna put this down before I hurt someone.

But are you doing and saying the right things

in your business lunches, in English?

Are you feeling like your usual confident self?

Well today, you'll learn some expressions to make sure

that your next business lunch in English is a success.

Hi, I'm your English coach, Christina.

And welcome to Business English with Christina,

where you become better at English and better at business.

In today's lesson,

we'll talk about a business English essential,

the business lunch.

These days, you might be meeting your business contacts

for coffee, for lunch, for dinner, whatever,

but in any meal, there are three important parts

that you need to know how to manage

to make sure that that meal goes well.

So today you'll learn expressions and a few soft skills,

so that you can easily build rapport with small talk,

and transition to business topics,

and close your business lunch on a positive note.

But first, why are business lunches so important?

You know, I'm originally from the US,

and for Americans at least,

business lunches are pretty important.

The way we see it, a business lunch is a chance

to meet someone in a different setting from,

not just the office, so that you have

your business contact's undivided attention.

And you get to do them a favor too, buying them lunch.

And a good business lunch can build a rapport,

create a good business relationship

and move your work forward.

Now, yes, a business lunch has a purpose

and you probably know why you are there

and what you want to discuss with your business contact.

But as you probably already know,

small talk is very important

in many English speaking cultures,

and it's expected at business lunches.

First, what not to talk about during small talk.

My clients often ask me what are topics

that should be avoided, and that's a good question,

because there are definitely some topics

that you don't want to discuss in a business lunch.

The big topics not to discuss clearly are politics,

religion, and romantic relationships

because those can be divisive topics of conversation.

And the idea of small talk is to build a connection

with the person, to find common ground,

to show that you're interested in your business contact

as a person, as a human being.

And because of that, you want small talk

to be comfortable for everyone.

You want a lively conversation, but that's not too personal.

So how do you do that?

Before we find out, go ahead and hit that thumbs up

and subscribe to my channel

to let me know that you're enjoying

improving your business English with me.

Now, here are some questions that you can ask

to start up a small talk conversation

at your business lunch.

You can learn a few of these

and you'll be ready for any situation.

Of course, (thunder cracking)

the weather is a popular topic,

and we do talk about the weather all the time,

it's not just a cliche.

A good way to start a conversation like that

is just, "Can you believe the weather we're having?"

Especially if the weather is exceptionally hot, cold,

rainy, beautiful, sunny, whatever.

So it's a pretty versatile conversation starter there.

It's also common to ask if someone

saw a recent sporting event, especially if it's a big event,

like in the US, the Super Bowl.

And you can simply say, "Did you catch the game lately?"

And if it's a big event,

they'll know which game you're talking about usually.

And if not, they'll ask.

But there are other things you can ask about too.

And having more ideas will help you make sure

that you have more lively conversations.

For example, you can show interest

in your conversation partner

by talking about their career path.

But try asking about maybe the companies

that they've worked for in the past.

For example, "Have you always worked at Supercorp?"

Or you could ask if they've always been in the same field,

like, "Have you always been in project management?"

You never know, you may discover you've got something

in common in your professional backgrounds.

But small talk can also be about cultural interests,

especially again, if there's something big going on.

For example, you could ask,

"Have you seen the new James Bond movie?

I heard it's really good."

- The name's Bond, James Bond.

- [Christina] Or, "I saw that there's this big exhibit

at the Louvre, have you seen it by any chance?"

And of course,

hobbies can be a great personal topic as well,

but you can avoid sounding too intrusive or personal

by offering some information about yourself first.

So instead of saying, "What are your hobbies?"

Or, "What do you like to do in your free time?"

You could say something like, "Last week the weather

was so great, I just had to go out for a hike.

What about you, do you do any outdoor sports?"

And again, during those conversations,

you may discover that you and your business contact

share some kind of interest.

And if that's the case, you can ask follow-up questions

to show that you're interested in them and their life.

For example, maybe in that past example,

maybe your business contact doesn't go hiking,

but they say, "I don't do a lot of outdoor sports,

but I do a lot of CrossFit."

There you go.

So you can ask them questions

like when they usually workout, where they workout,

if it's really difficult, whatever.

Small talk is just about asking questions

and showing interest in the other person.

As important as it is to make small talk,

you also need to get down to business.

Now in a normal meeting, you might simply say,

"All right, shall we get down to business?"

But in a business lunch, that might feel a little direct.

It depends on the situation.

But you can use more business-related questions

to move the conversation towards business.

For example, you could ask how their business is going.

For example, "How have things been at Supercorp

for the last quarter?"

Or ask them what's new with their company,

like, "So what's your team working on these days?"

Or if you know that their company

is working on some new developments,

you could ask about that,

for example, "How's your new project going?"

Or,

"So how have you enjoyed working

with the new team since the merger?"

And if your business contact is starting

to ask business-related questions to you,

that can be the cue that it's time

to move the conversation to business.

Now, eventually, all good things come to an end.

Your business lunch will come to an end as well.

And this will usually happen

when someone brings you the check or when you ask for it.

Now remember, when you invite someone out

for a business lunch, it's polite to pay the bill yourself.

And this is a great moment to thank your business contact.

And you can say something like,

"Thanks for meeting me for lunch today.

It was a real pleasure."

You could also suggest staying in contact.

Depending on the situation, you can say something like,

"I'll be in touch by email with the details we discussed."

Or, "Would you like to send me that proposal later on?"

Or, "Feel free to get in touch with me

if you have any questions."

And of course, if you don't use it, you lose it.

So here's how you can use what you learned today.

First, tell us in the comments

if you often have business lunches,

or maybe if you often had them

maybe more in the past, before COVID.

And share one small talk question

that you could ask at your next business lunch.

It'll happen one day, I'm sure.

And this is the perfect opportunity to practice,

to make sure you have a good question

and add that to your active vocabulary.

Now, if this lesson was helpful for you,

I would love to know.

And there are three ways that you can tell me.

Give this lesson a thumbs up on YouTube

and subscribe to my channel

so that you never miss any more Business English lessons.

You can go over to my website

and get the free English habits kit.

The link is down below, and it's gonna help you

to build some solid learning habits

for lifelong enjoyable learning.

And of course, you can watch this next lesson,

all about some of my favorite foods from the US.

Thank you so much for improving your English

with Business English with Christina.

I'll see you next time.

And as they say in my adopted home country, France,

"Bon appetit."