Do you ever feel insecure about the best way to say no to a colleague's request?
A request for more money, more time, more budget, whatever it is.
Let me take you through 23 quick phrases to boost your confidence in this area.
Let's crack on then, shall we?
Hello and welcome back to Confident Business English.
You're here with me, Anna, your neuro language coach. If you love the podcast, you should definitely join as a free member.
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Right then let's get straight into the topic today and you can see that there's a bit of a theme in some previous episodes as well about saying no, defending your position.
And this is really inspired by a lot of my clients who are finding this difficult.
And what I noticed is there is a lack of confidence with just these short, quick phrases that you can use to just say a flat no, but in a diplomatic way, that's going to come off as professional.
So that is what we're going to practice today.
How is this going to work?
It's going to be a very interactive episode, so I'm going to ask the question, I'm going to give you the answer and I want you to try and practice repeating the answer.
None of this vocabulary is particularly revolutionary or difficult but the question is are you actually using it?
Do you feel confident saying it?
Because it's one thing to know it, but that doesn't mean that you're using it, right?
And I guess that's why you're listening here, because you want to improve the way that you speak, you want to sound better.
There's a range of different questions here, and they all touch on different topics, but the topic isn't really important.
The point is the answer, because you could use the answers in lots of different occasions.
Let's get to it then.
And I want to get through as many sentences as we can, because I want this to be a really useful training for you that you can come back to whenever you want.
Here we go. So the first request is about holidays.
Can I have two weeks off in April?
I'm really sorry, Anna, that's not going to be possible.
I would really like to move to another team.
I'm afraid we can't do that at the moment.
We need more time to do the project.
I'm afraid that's just not an option at this stage.
We need more resources for the project, Unfortunately, we can't consider that right now.
Can we extend the deadline?
I'm afraid not, we have to stick to the original timeline.
Can we change the project scope slightly?
I'm afraid that's just not feasible at this point but I'm more than happy to discuss some alternatives.
Can I work remotely full -time?
Unfortunately, that's not possible under our current policy.
Would we be able to hire more staff for the team?
Unfortunately, that's not something that we can accommodate right now.
Would it be possible to take me off this task?
I appreciate you have a lot of work but we really need your input on this one.
Let's take a quick time out there and don't worry if that seems very fast, you can go back and rewind it and do it as many times as you want.
High -level points to keep in mind you'll notice there's a pattern about some of vocabulary I'm using, I'm afraid and unfortunately.
Those are classics that you can come back to again and again, you don't need to make your life more complicated.
You may also have noticed that I use a lot of just. It's just not possible, it's just not feasible.
Just can be used in a couple of ways, it can be used to actually soften the sentence but it can also be used to intensify it and really the way that I'm using it there is to intensify and emphasise the impossibility.
It's just not possible.
It's just not feasible.
It's just not doable.
I love that little group of ABLE adjectives.
Fantastic for business English.
Feasible, workable, doable.
What's the other one?
I can't remember the top of my head.
There's another one, but I can't remember where it's gone right now.
I've gone completely blank.
I don't know, but you know what I mean.
In regard to the question, the last one I said was, can I be taken off this task?
That just means that somebody wants you to remove them from that task or project.
Imagine if, like some of my clients, you work with big software teams, for example, they might request to be moved to another team or another project because they feel their skills could be used better in another place or whatever.
So if you take somebody off a task, you remove them from it.
Okay, let's go for round two.
Would it be possible to review the budget?
I'm afraid we have to work within our current financial constraints.
Would it be possible to push back the launch?
Unfortunately that's just not an option at this stage.
Would it be possible to invest in some training for me?
I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment, but I'm more than happy to look at it later down the line.
Would it be possible to hand this task over to the other team?
I'm afraid not. The task really has to stay within this team.
Would it be possible to try out this different tool?
Unfortunately not, we need to stick to the current system.
Can we just delay this until the next quarter?
No, I'm afraid it needs to be addressed now.
Can I just send you the document tomorrow?
No, I'm afraid I really need it today.
Would it be possible just to move the deadline back by a week?
No, I'm afraid I really can't shift on this one.
Let's take a timeout and do a quick review.
You're going to notice the same patterns, right?
I'm afraid. I'm afraid.
Unfortunately, you don't need to reinvent the wheel.
I'd like to just highlight one piece of vocabulary here on this one.
For example, we really need your input on this one.
I can't shift on this one.
What does it mean? It's essentially just used to specify an issue, a decision or topic that's already been mentioned in the conversation.
You may have also noticed another common sentence.
I'm more than happy to, this is a beautiful little phrase.
I'm really sorry, but we're not able to review your salary conditions now, but I'm more than happy to look at different ways that we could improve your training, for example.
So it's a really nice way to show willingness when perhaps you're not able to do something else I'm thinking of a specific client right now who had a big team but they had to change the working schedule because people were requesting working from home and they were explaining it to me and they were like, you know, I'm more than happy to look at ways that we can give you more working from home days But it's gonna be a maximum of two or three.
We're not gonna move it more than that That's another way that you can see how that phrase would fit Let's do one more round then to finish off I give you the question you give me the answer Repeat practice out loud if you can that's really going to help you get used to the phrase as well.
Here we go Would it be possible to miss the meeting tomorrow?
I'm afraid not it's really important that you're there Could we put this work on hold until a later date Nope, I'm sorry, it's just not an option at this stage.
Could we consider bringing somebody else onto the team?
I'm afraid I really don't think that's necessary at this stage.
Would it be possible to review my working schedule?
maybe I could leave earlier on the Fridays?
I'm afraid not, we really need to stick to the regular schedule as much as possible.
Can I just pass this task on to Rebecca?
To be honest, I'd much rather you handled it.
Would it be possible to perhaps skip the conference this year?
I'm just absolutely up to my neck with all the work at the moment.
I appreciate that, but I think it's really important that you're there.
Can we review this process?
No, I'm afraid not.
We're gonna stick with what we have for now.
Could we make a few changes to the document?
No, I'd much prefer to keep it as it is, and we can review it later down the line.
All right, there you go.
There's your training session for today.
I want to highlight a couple of interesting pieces of vocabulary you will have heard me repeating, at this stage it's just not possible at this stage.
It can also start at the beginning, at this stage, I just don't think it's possible.
Later down the line is also a beautiful phrase.
I love it. We can also say further down the line.
It just means at some point in the future.
Don't want to make any more changes right now, but more than happy to review it later down the line or further down the line.
I don't think I've heard anybody use that phrase, even though it's a very natural one for native speakers.
That's a great one if you want to challenge yourself a little bit there.
You may have also picked up on those phrases, I'd much rather, I'd much prefer.
These are really polite and professional ways to get across your preferences in a meeting, negotiation, team discussion.
I'd much prefer to wait for now and see what happens.
I'd much rather deal with this face -to -face rather than on a video call.
Really, it's just a little elevation from saying, I would prefer, I would rather, we're just giving it a little bit of an added boost. I'd much prefer to do it like this.
I'd much rather do that.
Definitely want to try out if you fancy it.
Let's wrap it up then.
I hope you enjoyed that and really remember the objective of today is not necessarily lots of really advanced vocabulary it's about trying to help you practice it out loud which helps you boost your confidence.
I really hope you were able to take something away from that.
If you want to do a deep dive into the vocabulary, get the transcript in full, and you can kind of go through it line by line.
If you want to get your hands on that sign up for free as a Confident Business English member.
The link to join is in the show notes for this episode.
Finally, thanks as always for squeezing in this time to have a training session with me and I look forward to seeing you again next week.
Bye bye.
