Telephone English

A.

Reacting to what the caller says

I’m listening.

I’m following.

I see/know what you mean.

Quite so.

Right.

Okay.

Exactly.

Sure.

How interesting!

Really?

Is that right?

Me too.

Neither would I

And So?

And what happened?

And then?

Does he?

Are they?

I’m surprised!

Really?

No! Never!

No Way!

Get out!

It can’t be!

Gosh! Wow!

I don’t it!

I can’t believe you!

What a surprise!

That is a surprise!

That’s incredible!

That’s amazing!

Can you believe it?

He didn’t!

Are they?

Are you?

You must be kidding!

Are you pulling my leg?

B.

As you finish your telephone conversation, there are some appropriate and courteous statements that should always be made. You should:

Thank the customer for calling.

Let the customer know you appreciate his or her business.

Provide assurance that any promises will be fulfilled.

Leave the customer with a positive feeling.

Courteous closing statements

“Thanks for calling. We appreciate your business.”

“Thanks for your order.”

“Please call us anytime.”

“I enjoyed talking to you.”

“Thank you for your patience. I am glad we could resolve your concern.”

“It was a pleasure talking with you.”

“If you have additional questions, please call again.”

“I know you had to wait a long time. Thank you for being so patient.”

“My apology about the mix up. We do appreciate your business.”

“Thanks for placing your order with us.”

“Goodbye, and thanks for calling.

C.

Closing phrases for telephone conversations:

Listen, I can’t talk now.

Someone’s just come in.

Someone wants to speak to me.

There’s someone on the other line.

I’ve got some people here right now.

There are dinner guests here.

Hang on, I can hear something boiling over.

I can hear the doorbell.

I’ll have to go.

Well, I’d better let you go.

Well, I don’t want to use/run up your phone bill.

Well, thanks for calling /returning my call.

I’m really glad you called.

I appreciate your calling.

It was nice of you to call.

I’ll get back to you on that.

I’ll talk to you later.

Well, it’s been good talking to you.

I’ve really got to run.

D.

Problems

I’m sorry, I don’t understand.

I cannot hear you very well.

You must have dialed the wrong number.

I’ve tried to get through several times, but it’s always engaged.

Sorry, wrong number.

Wrong number / you’ve got the wrong number. This is (6453), you should dial again.

Can I leave a message?

I’ll ring back later. When’s the right time?

Can you ask (him) to call me?

Can I take a message?

Could you ring back in half an hour?

Shall I get him to ring you back?

I’ve been trying to get (12345678).

It rings engaged all the time.

I was cut off.