Eliminate awkwardness when ending phone calls.
Whether you’re making a business English phone call or calls in your daily life, it is vital to end the call on a good note.
Listen in on today’s episode as Lindsay and Aubrey share key phrases and signals on how to properly finish a phone call conversation.
Awkward Phone Calls
Lindsay starts the conversation by asking Aubrey about her experience on awkward phone calls.
Aubrey mentions that this can happen to anybody.
There are a lot of us that have a conversation over the phone and it may not end as well as you would expect.
It can be awkward at times and hard to know what to say when you’re about to end the discussion over the phone.
You don’t want to cause someone to hesitate to talk with you.
You also don’t want to abruptly end the phone call without any warning leaving the person you’re talking to puzzled on why it ended all of a sudden.
There are also moments when you don’t know what to say to properly end the conversation and both of you listen to each other in awkward silence before putting the phone down.
In today’s episode, the All Ears English team received a question from one of the listeners asking for some help on how to smoothly finish a phone call.
Here is the question:
Dear Lindsay and Michelle (and Aubrey and Jessica of course) I am 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. 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 am so confused when the call ends. For example, at the end of the call in English, I say: “Thank you for your time” and sometime later the customer will say “That’s all?” I don’t know how to convey appreciation in the last moment and how to finish the call. Any good phrases? I also want to know about this in the business world or in other situations like daily life. I’m looking forward to listening to this episode.
With this question, Lindsay and Aubrey share with you ways you can avoid awkwardness when ending a phone call.
Phrases to Use to End a Phone Call
There are a lot of options to use for ending a phone call smoothly.
Aubrey shares that when you are talking to someone over the phone and you are about to end the call, you have to show your appreciation to the other person.
Before you actually end it, let them know that you value their time and you appreciate the effort they put in to talk to you.
Here are some expressions from Lindsay and Aubrey that you can use before ending a call:
1. “Thanks for taking the time to talk today“
Acknowledging the effort of the person you’re talking to is a good way to end the call with a positive tone. This is also a good signal that the following phrase you are about to say is meant to end the call.
2. “Thanks for the information, this really helps”
This is also a good way to show appreciation for the information they shared with you. The person you are talking to will be happy to know that they have helped you.
3. “Great! I think we are on the same page. Let’s circle back soon”
Using the term “circle back” means to talk about the same topic again soon. This can also mean you will need to talk again soon and share updates on the progress of any action points you discussed on the phone call.
Once you have shown your appreciation over the phone, you can then signal the end of the conversation with the following phrases.
All these can be paired with the expressions above to smoothly close the conversation over the phone.
- Have a great day! – Wish them well as you end the call.
- Have a good one. – This means the same as “have a good day.”
- Talk to your later or Talk to you soon – When using this you should choose something that best suits your relationship with the person you are talking to. If they are your close colleague and you frequently talk to them, “talk to you later” would fit well rather than “talk to you soon.”
- Hope to hear from you soon – Lindsay tends to use this in writing more than in conversations. Aubrey agrees since this is much more formal. You can use this when you are doing a sales call or in a business meeting where you are working on a project and you would expect a call back for updates.
Be direct and clear when talking on the telephone because it is challenging.
You don’t see the body language or facial expressions.
Ensuring you have a clear conversation avoids the chances of misunderstanding and awkwardness.
Roleplay
Here is a quick roleplay using the phrases and expressions shared in today’s episode.
Aubrey is Lindsay’s client and they are talking about the status of a project they are working on.
Lindsay: I think I have a really good idea of our next steps here.
Aubrey: Great! Sound really good
Lindsay: Perfect! Thanks for your time. Have a great day!
Aubrey: You too. Bye.
You can see how easy it is to end the conversation.
You must make sure you leave the proper signals and combine the right phrases.
Takeaway
Aubrey reiterates that you have to be very clear and direct in phone calls.
This is even more important in a business setting wherein you don’t want to waste any time.
You want to get your idea across well and avoid the awkwardness of not knowing how to end the phone call smoothly.
Hopefully, today’s episode has been helpful in equipping you with the key phrases to eliminate the awkwardness of ending a phone call conversation.
Improve your English communication skills and build that confidence to express yourself in any aspect of life, both in casual or business situations.
What other struggles do you experience when making phone calls?
Let us know in the comments down below and we may discuss it on the next episode.
