How to start & end a business call: 3 easy steps

In this lesson, I'm going to show you how to start and end a business call.

Now, this is part of my "Speak Like a Manager" series; it's one of the lessons

in that series. And those lessons basically all help you to either speak

and communicate more effectively in a business context, whether you're already

a manager, or you're aspiring to become a manager. Okay? So, let's get started,

and learn how you can start and end a business call in a professional way.

So, as you can see, I've divided the board into two parts. In... first, we'll

look at a formal way to start a business call, and then we'll look at a slightly

more informal way. Now, even the informal way, it's still in the business

situation; you're not calling your buddies and your friends. Right? So,

it's still going to be a call, perhaps to a colleague or to your manager, but

somebody that you know; and in the first situation, in the formal one, it's more

when you're calling someone that you do not know, or you've met and you don't

know very well. All right? So, in all cases, what we're going to do in

starting a call is have an introduction where you say who you are; then we're

going to have the purpose, which is why you're calling; and then a reference to

the time, which is how long — whether that person has time to talk to you.

Okay? So, who, what, and whether the person has time. All right? So, first,

you introduce yourself. Sorry. First, you say: "Hello". Right? "Hello, Mr.

Smith", because again, he's not your buddy or she... Right? So, you're not

going to say: "John" or "Bob"; you're going to say: "Mr. Smith", then you

introduce yourself. "This is Sandra Bell from the HR department." Okay? Let's

suppose they're... this is a huge organization; everybody does not know

each other. So, Sandra Bell has to introduce herself nevertheless. So, she

could start off with something like this: "Hello, Mr. Smith. This is Sandra

Bell from the HR department."

Next: Why is she calling? "I'm calling to confirm that you received my email."

Okay? So, that's one way, or: "I'm calling to confirm that you will be

attending the marketing conference in London. We would like to make some

travel arrangements." Okay? Or just that much even. And then, before going on

about anything more, checking whether the person actually has time right now

to talk to you. So, this is a polite, formal way to ask that: "Would you have

a few minutes to speak?" Okay? Let's run through the whole thing. "Hello, Mr.

Smith. This is Sandra Bell from the HR department. I'm calling to confirm if

you're attending the marketing conference in London next week. Would

you have a few minutes to speak?" Okay? That's the whole script. And then Mr.

Smith is going to answer, and based on whatever his answer is, the conversation

will continue, or Sandra will make a plan to call him back.

But let's suppose there are other situations in which you're calling

someone. All right? So, you could say, for example: "This is Sandra Bell. I was

referred to you by Bob Johnson." Okay? You're giving the person some kind of

context, so they know who you are, or why you're calling. And you could say,

again: "I'm calling to talk to you about the... to discuss the marketing

conference in London. Would you have a few minutes to speak?" Or: "Hello, Mr.

Smith. This is Sandra Bell. We met at the marketing conference in London. I'm

calling to confirm that you received my email. Would you have a few minutes to

speak?" Okay? Or the same way, depending on the context, perhaps even when

we're... This is called "Speak Like a Manager" and we're talking about

business, but in any kind of formal situation; even in a university, perhaps

you have to contact your professor. You could say: "Hello, Professor Smith. I'm

a student in your economics class. I'm calling to confirm the date of our

examination" — or something like that — "Would you have a few minutes to speak?"

Okay? So, that's the formal situation.

Now let's look at the informal situation. Again, the same three steps:

You're going to say who you are, why you're calling, and check if the person

has time to talk. But now, you know the other person. All right? Perhaps you go

to lunch together, you know each other, you work with each other often. So, then

you're on a first-name basis, so you just call and you say: "Hi, John" or

"Hi, Mary. This is Susan." Or it's Bill: "Hi, John. It's Bill. I'm calling to

check if you got my email." Now, you see how the language also changes? It's a

little more informal. Instead of saying: "I'm calling to confirm that you

received my email", "I'm calling to check if you got my email." Okay?

Instead of saying: "I'm calling to confirm if you will be attending the

marketing conference in London", you could just say: "I'm calling to... to

check if you're going to the marketing conference." Okay? So, you say the same

information, but just expressed a little more informally. "Is this a good time?"

instead of saying: "Would you have a few minutes to speak?" Okay? They know each

other, so: "Is this a good time to talk?" Or: "Am I catching you at a bad

time?" This is a very popular expression. Both of these are popular

expressions. Okay? But that's more when you know each other in an informal

business context. So, let's run through that one again. "Hi, Mary. This is

Susan. I'm calling to check if you got my email. Is this a good time to talk?"

Okay? That's it.

One, two, three — who you are, why you're calling, and if the person has

time to talk. And that's very important, and a lot of people miss this step.

Okay? They just do the first part, and sometimes they do the second part, and

then they just continue with the second part without checking whether the other

person has any time to talk to them. And that's not very polite, and it's not

very professional. So, make sure that you do this so that you don't start

talking, and then the person will tell you: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't have

time to talk to you." And suddenly the whole conversation has become negative.

And you don't want to do that; you want to keep all possibilities open in a

business situation. All right? So, this was how to start the call. Now let's

look at how to end the call.

Okay. So, now you've had your conversation, you've finished your

discussion with the person on the phone, and now it's time to end the call. So,

there's usually one or two parts to that. So, let's look at the formal call

first. All right? So, that's going to include: "Thanks", as well as possibly

talking about the future. Let's see how to do that. So, the thanking part can go

like this: "Thank you very much for your time", "Thank you very much for your

advice", "Thank you very much for your help" — whatever the context. Okay?

Whatever the person did for you. "Thank you for your... very much for your

recommendations", "for your suggestions", "for your input". All

right? Depending on the context, you can adapt this sentence. But you want to

thank them, and you're... and by thanking them, you're also saying: "This

call is now coming to an end." All right? So: "Thank you very much for your

advice." If you're not saying anything more after that, if there's no future

contact, then you could, if you wish, add another line: "I really appreciate

it." Okay? And then that's the end of the call, and he will... that person

will hang up and you'll hang up.

But if you have something more planned in the future, then you could say just

this line: "Thank you very much for your advice. I look forward to meeting you in

person", or "I look forward to meeting you at the conference". Or, if that's

not the situation: "Thank you very much for your advice. I will keep you

informed." Okay? Whatever the situation was that... you know, this sentence will

depend on your particular conversation and you can adapt it accordingly. But,

basically, thanking and making some reference to the future, if you have

something to talk about in the future. All right? So, that's the formal

situation. And in the informal context, again, with a colleague or a manager or

something, you could just say: "Thanks", instead of "Thank you". "Thanks, John",

"Thanks for your help, Mary." Very kind of informal, but still polite way to

speak. And then, again, if there is something to talk about in the future,

you could just say: "Well, see you on Wednesday", "See you later", "Talk to

you later", "Bye for now". Okay? So, that's in the informal context. So,

again, really just two parts — thanking and possibly referring to the future in

some way.

So, now, what's happened? We have covered how to start a call and how to

end a call, but how are you going to remember this? Well, here are some

suggestions. First, of course, you can go to our website at www.engvid.com.

There, you can do a quiz on this and really master these expressions, and

know which is formal, which is informal. "What do I say first? What are the

steps?" There are not that many steps. Okay? They're really just three steps in

the intro, one or two steps in the... in the ending and that's it, but you still

need to practice it. You need to say it out loud. It's not enough for me to say

it and for you to hear it; it's for you to hear it yourself and to say it, and

to practice saying these words. Okay? So, you might want to go back, watch the

video again, pause it, say them aloud. The more you get comfortable with saying

it, the easier it will be when you actually have to make those kind of

phone calls in a business situation. Okay? You can also record yourself. All

right? Record yourself on your phone, saying it; listen to yourself. Listen to

your accent, listen to your... your pronunciation. See if there's something

that you can correct. Compare it to my way of pronouncing something, and see if

that will help you to speak more clearly. Okay? And another thing you can

do is to try it with a friend. Okay? You can roleplay, you can... One person is

calling, one person is the one who's receiving the call, and you can practice

this together. The main thing is to use it yourself. Don't just listen to this

lesson or watch the lesson, but actually participate in it by speaking yourself.

All right? So, that's it for now. Thanks very much for watching. Don't forget to

subscribe to continue to get lots more lessons in the "Speak Like a Manager"

series. Thanks very much for watching. Bye for now.