Let's keep it really simple.
You want to feel less nervous and more confident when you speak, but you don't feel very comfortable with a lot of the business phrases.
Therefore, a really good idea is to train yourself on some of the most common phrases so that they're on autopilot and you don't have to stress about them anymore.
This was the entire premise behind developing my Confidence Booster Toolkit, which I'm going to tell you how you can get in the episode today.
What I'm going to do in this episode is I'm going to walk you through the last special preview of a module taken from this toolkit, and this one focuses especially on advanced verbs.
I'm going to go through one in particular that would be absolutely brilliant if you could add it into your vocabulary.
Let's crack on then and get started.
Welcome to Confident Business English.
My name is Anna. I am your host and neuro language coach.
On this podcast, I bring you to the point practical communication tips to help you as a senior manager build your confidence.
If you love the podcast, I really recommend that you join the Confident Business English Club as a free member.
What you're going to get is the free newsletter every week with even more tips and examples of the stuff that you hear on the podcast.
You'll also get the transcripts for each episode as well as access to bonus clips, worksheets, materials, the lot, and all of it's for free, so absolutely worth it if you love the podcast episodes.
Right then, just to really recap, the main objective of this toolkit is three things.
Reduce your stress.
You've got enough on your plate as it is.
You're busy, and if you can learn some of these phrases on autopilot, you just don't have to worry anymore or stress on the spot.
The second thing is it boosts your confidence.
You don't have to be afraid of using of the word.
I don't know if you've ever had that feeling where maybe you want to use a word, but you're a little bit afraid that you're not saying it in the right way or it doesn't sound right.
You're going to get the confidence from learning these types of phrases because you just know that what you're saying is right.
Thirdly, you haven't got a lot of free time.
Time is your biggest problem.
You're motivated. You want to learn.
That's not the issue.
But you have a lot of stuff going on.
That's why all the lessons in the toolkit are short, practical audio lessons.
The reason I made them audio is because you can do them anywhere.
You don't have to sit and watch a video.
They are also five minutes in under.
So you can squeeze in around your schedule.
Maybe it's a coffee break, maybe it's in the morning or whatever it is.
Make the most of some of that time that you have rather than feeling unproductive.
Put it to good use, spend 15 minutes learning something, and you feel like you're making progress, which just feels good, right, rather than going backwards.
It's also really the perfect step up from the podcast.
If you love the stuff that we do on the episodes, then this is absolutely your cup of tea.
If you want to get the toolkit then and start practicing some of this business vocabulary on autopilot, all you have to do is go to the show notes of this episode.
By show notes, I mean the text in the description box.
People always call it.
Go there and click the link to buy the toolkit now.
It's available from today, the 30th of October, 2024, until this Sunday, the 3rd of November at midnight.
You're also going to get a very special offer if you get it now.
You're going to get 40 % off.
It's normally 99 .99, and you'll be able to get it for just 59 .99.
Honestly, there's enough content in there that you could literally have a whole plan of learning for six months, one year.
There's so much in there, so it's absolutely worth it.
If you love the podcast, you really enjoy the learning on here.
This is the perfect next step.
Let's move on then and have a look at what we're going to focus on today, which is going from more basic verbs and adding in something that sounds more advanced and I would argue more natural as well.
This is the third part of the toolkit, which is called advanced verb swaps.
The inspiration really came from my clients, and probably you've had the same thought in your head as well, which is, I want to use better words.
I don't want to use the same verbs all the time.
I feel like I sound a little bit basic.
So I was thinking, okay, what list of really essential advanced verbs could I give to you?
And that is this advanced verb swap section.
I'm going to take you through module number 18.
And the reason I chose this one today is because I think this is really just one of those verbs that I just don't hear people use enough.
And it's a beautiful one for business English.
So we're going to focus on this one today.
And that is the verb to manage to do something.
What does it mean? Well, it's about achieving things, talking about things we've done.
Imagine you report to your executive or you're bored about your activities or any team, maybe it's internal or external.
You have to tell them what you've done, right?
What you've achieved.
Here are some examples.
Imagine you're talking about your objectives, and you say, fortunately, we've managed to meet all our objectives this year, which is really great news.
We managed to finalize the report.
Even though there were initially some concerns, we managed to finalize it with the team.
We managed to convince the customer to agree to the price that we had set out at the beginning.
But we didn't manage to get any direct feedback from them, so we'll need to speak to them again.
Unfortunately, we haven't managed to confirm a date yet for the event.
However, I think that within the next couple of weeks, we'll have something that we can put in the diary.
On the other hand, we managed to come to an agreement with the team, which is fantastic news because that's something that's been outstanding for a while.
And so on and so on.
You catch my drift.
But see how useful this is?
Because we're always talking about this at work.
Always. What do we try to move away from?
The more basic way of saying this, as you can probably already imagine, is to be able to do something.
We were able to meet the objectives.
We were able to finalize the report.
We were able to convince the customer.
It's absolutely fine.
I just want to make that clear.
There's nothing wrong with it.
But this is another option that sounds more advanced and I would argue more natural in some cases.
Another basic way would just be to say couldn't.
We couldn't come to an agreement, unfortunately.
We couldn't figure out what was going on.
We couldn't decide what the best way forward was.
All of those sentences that I've just said, you could swap it and use manage to.
We didn't manage to come to an agreement.
We didn't manage to figure out what was going on.
But we managed to meet the objectives.
Let me just take a time out here because here's an interesting point.
You might be thinking, Anna, why can't we say could?
For example, we could convince the customer.
We could meet our objectives last month.
We could finalize the report.
Why doesn't that work?
It's actually not correct.
Could in the affirmative is used for general things rather than specific things you were able to do in the past.
Let me give you a really clear example.
When I was younger, I could play the guitar.
General, not specific.
Not very well, okay?
All right, a very basic, basic, basic level.
But I could play the guitar when I was younger.
In my previous role in the UK, I could learn a lot about the healthcare system, which was great.
General, not specific.
Last month, we could reach the target.
Well, hold on a second because that's not general.
That's specific. If it's a specific thing you were able to do in the past, you either need to use to be able to or manage to, not could.
It's a very small thing.
And I would understand you perfectly if you said we could reach our objectives.
I know exactly what you mean, but it doesn't sound natural.
That's what we're aiming for.
We want to sound more natural.
We want to sound more advanced.
And actually it's funny because I wanted to tell you that because a lot of people don't know that.
It's not something that comes up very often.
But could is for general things in the past and to be able to and manage to for specific events in the past, which is basically business.
Also, let me just add to that.
Don't confuse to manage to do something with to manage something.
You manage your team.
You manage your department.
You manage your job, but you manage to close the quarter.
It's different. I hope that makes sense.
Let me throw some questions at you then to think about and then we're going to do an interactive exercise.
What did you and your team manage to do last quarter?
What haven't you managed to complete yet?
But it's on your to do list.
Next, let me take an exercise from the module.
And these are 10 concrete phrases that you're going to hear with this advanced verb.
You can either just listen, take it in.
You can try and repeat the sentences after I've said them.
Or you can do a little bit of a combination.
First, you can just listen and then you can do it a couple of times.
And then you can try and repeat the phrases afterwards.
That's really the goal.
Once you started listening to them a bit more, become more familiar with them.
Then you can start saying them on autopilot.
Here's the audio. You're going to have a little gap between each of them.
Have a listen, repeat it as much as you want.
Don't forget that if you want to get a free copy of this exercise so you can do it whenever you want, sign up and become a free member of the podcast.
All the details are in the show notes.
Here we go. We managed to achieve all the objectives.
We've managed to hit the target.
We didn't manage to meet the deadline, unfortunately.
In the end, we managed to figure out what was going on.
We didn't manage to meet all the KPIs this month.
Fortunately, we've managed to finish everything off in time.
I managed to sort out the issue with the client yesterday.
Did you manage to get in touch with John?
Have you managed to speak to the team yet?
I didn't manage to catch up with Sarah yesterday, unfortunately.
How do you manage to make sure you're not in touch with me?
All right. That is your practice for today.
And I really recommend you to try out in your next meeting or your next conversation.
The sooner you can actually start saying it and implementing it, the better, because then you're going to be way more likely to actually say it.
Learning something on autopilot takes time.
You have to really familiarize yourself with it to build your confidence with it, and then you can start saying it without thinking.
As I always say, it's a process.
But this toolkit is really going to help you get there.
As I said before, it really is the perfect step up from the podcast.
And if you love the stuff that we do on here, I think you're going to find the toolkit really valuable.
If you want to get your hands on it, remember that it's only going to be available until this Sunday, November the 3rd, 2024 at midnight.
Go to the link in the show notes of this episode.
It says, Buy the Confidence Booster Toolkit.
Click on that and it will take you there.
I really hope you've enjoyed having a bit of a preview of the Confidence Booster Toolkit and to go through some of that content as well.
It's been really fun to share that with you.
And next week, I have a really interesting episode.
It's nothing I've done before in the podcast.
And the objective with this one is about seeing how native speakers interact in different business situations.
So stay tuned for that.
I think you're going to really enjoy it.
And as always, thank you so much for squeezing me into your very busy week.
And if you do get the Confidence Booster Toolkit, I shall see you there.
All right. Bye -bye.
