A phone call from a customer

A phone call from a customer

Listen to the phone call from a customer to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Junko: Hello, Junko Mori speaking. How can I help you?

Andrea: Hi, Junko, it's Andrea here from Red Band. I'm calling about our latest order.

Junko: Everything arrived OK, right? We got the delivery confirmation at our end.

Andrea: Yes, everything's fine with the order. I'm calling about the invoice and the payment terms. I need a favour.

Junko: A favour? What do you need?

Andrea: This is a little, er ... difficult, but I need an extension on the payment terms. I know they're usually 30 days, but we're having some cash flow problems. You'd really be helping us out if you could extend it to 60 days.

Junko: I'm not sure if I can do that, Andrea. We've got regulations at our end, and also have to manage our own cash flow.

Andrea: I promise this won't become the norm, Junko. Actually, I also want to place another new order. The same size order as last time. It's for an important customer and they pay on delivery.

Junko: I see. So your cash flow problem will be solved after this new order is delivered.

Andrea: Exactly.

Junko: That sounds good. Hold on, Andrea. Let me see what I can do. Yes, I think we can make an exception this time.

Andrea: That's great, Junko. I appreciate your help.

Junko: And we appreciate your business, Andrea. It works both ways.

Andrea: Thanks again, Junko. Can you send me a quick email confirmation of the payment terms extension?

Junko: Sure, no problem. We're happy to help you.

Andrea: Great. And I'll email you the new order.

Junko: Thanks. I'll keep an eye out for it. Talk to you soon.

Andrea: You too. Goodbye.

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

Download
Worksheet81.85 KB

Language level

Average: 4.4 (631 votes)

Hello Sharif Tayyebi,

The phrase ti works both ways in this context means that a situation or action has a similar effect on both parties.

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/work-both-ways

 

In this case, Junko is telling Andrea that the fact that Andrea is a loyal and valued customer means that Junko is able to help her when she has problems.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Sharif Tayyebi on Mon, 08/06/2020 - 18:47

Permalink
I am an assistant professor, so I haven't had any business which needs doing a favour. In my opinion, business needs to deal with customers these days, if there is an important reason to do. Companies and customers usually have the same benefits, so they should help each other when one side needs helping. According to the case, even I sometimes make an exception to my students which have properly and rationally reasons. For instance, if a student cannot come to the class or miss some lectures, I usually help him/her, provided he/she has a problem. Our students have to pay their tuition fees by the time which identifys in the payment terms of a university, but sometimes, they have problems and the administration of university should make an exception for them. I think, regulations are good and they usually ensure the discipline. But it should be part of rules that we can help others with their problems. Best wishes,

Submitted by Vusale on Mon, 08/06/2020 - 13:15

Permalink
i just wonder why Andrea is a man? As far as I know Andrea is a female name.

Hello Vusale

While it may be true that 'Andrea' is more often the name of a woman among native speakers of English, around the world, it is a name given to both men and women. The Andrea in this phone call is not a native speaker of English, so it's not unusual for him to have this name.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by MedScience on Sun, 07/06/2020 - 12:58

Permalink
Hi. Is there any other listening audios apart from these

Hello MedScience

These are all the pages at the B1 level in our Listening skills, but there are many other pages in General English. I would recommend you have a look at a few pages in Big City Small World, Audio zone, Podcasts, Video zone and Word on the Street (though please note these last two have video, not just audio). Each of those sections has many more pages and you can continue with whichever one you like the most.

Hope this helps.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Yes, I agree with that but sometimes I don´t think it is a problem to open a small exception to a client if it is something important and obviously not to let it become a routine or abuse.

Submitted by tramngoctran on Thu, 04/06/2020 - 00:35

Permalink
Until now, I don't have a chance to work directly with customers. I work with my team, and my leader with contact with them. But I hope that I will have a chance to do it and get many experiences, or something like this