This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 536.
Get more bang for your buck when you make decisions at work.
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Hey there, Michelle.
What's shakin'?
Not too much.
How are you?
Doing good, doing good.
What are we talking about on the show today?
So Lindsay, have you ever had to make a change at All Ears English because you wanted the best bang for your buck?
Definitely.
I'm thinking about this kind of thing a lot, right?
What can we eliminate?
What can we add?
What would be a better value for our money?
Um, but sometimes we get into like a plateau and we just, if we have a subscription for a service, we just kind of keep paying for it.
You need to take another perspective on your business sometimes and say, what can I cut?
You know?
Yeah.
It's a different mindset for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
So today we're going to talk about this useful and expressive expression.
Expressive expression that you can use in or out of word work.
And that expression is what I used in the beginning.
I said the best bang for your buck.
Yes.
I love this.
This phrase has been around a long time and it's a steadfast phrase that's still around now.
Yep.
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It is our belief.
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All right.
So yeah, what does that mean?
If something is the best bang for your buck?
Yeah.
It just means something gives you the highest value for the lowest price, right?
Mm-hmm. but it's not always just about money, right?
Michelle, tell us more.
Yeah.
So I mean it can be the best value for how hard you work on something, the effort you put in, how much time is spent on something.
The expression is bang for your buck.
So the buck is right.
We're talking about buck as far as money, like a hundred bucks, right?
That's why you know um, but you know it can be used to talk about something that isn't you know about money um, Yeah.
But I mean, Lindsay, is it just about being low cost?
No, I think it's about value.
You know, I think it's about value.
It's about like how far something, like how long something might last, or how much power something has in it.
Do you agree?
Yeah.
I mean, it could be more efficient.
I mean like sometimes maybe something might be more expensive, but it is actually the best bang for your buck because it saves you in other areas.
It saves you from buying another product.
Another software program or something like that.
So there's, there's a lot, especially with business.
You know you have to, I mean, and in and in regular life, you know, outside of work.
OK, like sometimes, you actually choose the more expensive option because overall it's a better value.
It'll help you in some other way that makes it better.
So it's interesting.
Yeah.
I think jeans are a good example of this.
Let's go back to the everyday life, right?
Buying like spending more on a good pair of jeans rather than like buying cheap jeans for me is worth it because they always fit better.
They always look better.
They feel better.
They're softer and they last longer, you know, especially something that I know I'm going to wear all the time.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
I mean, so yeah, clothing is a, it was a big one.
Um, I mean it, I mean it.
I mean this is really good also just for talking through decisions.
So, like what you like, budget planning uh, choosing software at work.
But another one is furniture.
I mean that's interesting, like when um, you know, you think about the.
I mean, I think we could do the whole episode on this.
But the views on furniture have changed over time.
It used to be, you know, everybody has their grandma's fine, you know, like armoire and chests and all things like that.
And it used to be built so much better.
And now our value has gone more for the.
You know, just not spending as much money on that, but not having quality pieces.
So yeah, that's so true.
Things have changed.
The Ikea, you know, era, we're in the Ikea era.
My experience with Ikea.
Ikea items usually last me my personal experience two or three years, maybe four, and then tend to tend to break.
That's just my experience.
And this is but people, but also that kind of fits in a way with how people move so much in this country.
Right.
Right.
We move like we move across the country.
We move.
Maybe we move back to our hometowns.
Also, right now we're redoing our floors in our house and there's the age-old debate do you get real hardwood floor or do you get vinyl flooring or something like that that looks like wood but it's a lot more resilient for dogs and kids and water dropping on the floor, that kind of thing.
It's a personal choice, but design furniture, food for an event, that's an interesting one.
If you are in hr or something, you're in charge of catering and um setting up catering, like what would that look like best bang for your buck for a conference?
Well yeah, you're thinking about um how many like what?
What venue has the best value for the amount of food i mean?
Um, so maybe i mean maybe you're looking for more in terms of numbers.
Yeah, um the more that maybe you're looking for better quality and not as much.
Right.
So, or variety, like the value could be.
Oh, I know we have some employees that are vegan or vegetarian.
So this place offers like a variety of like meat vegan, vegetarian options, allergy free, all this stuff that's going on right now.
Right.
Um, that gives you options.
So bang for your buck.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And this is pretty informal, but it's still... It sounds informal, but it's used at work.
I just wouldn't necessarily put it into formal writing.
Yeah.
But it is common in business.
Yeah.
Yes, exactly.
I probably wouldn't write it in a business plan that I present to investors, but you could talk about it and explain that you've thought through this value concept right.
So for example...
I really think these chairs give us the best bang for our buck.
They're attractive, comfortable, and stylish without breaking the bank.
Which is another great expression.
Yep, which we can do another day.
Or this software provides our team with the best bang for our buck.
The AI is amazing and it can save us so much time.
Or I know you have your heart set on the newest iPad for the office, but I think we should take a look at some other options.
There are other ones that I think could give us the best bang for our buck.
Yeah.
And that's hard when you fall in love with a product.
Does that ever happen to you?
You like fall in love with something and then you can't get.
Even if it's maybe not the best choice, you just can't like get your head off that, that product.
That happens commonly with um babies, like the baby market, because you get this feeling in your head like i need the best for my baby and like then you're stuck with a very expensive stroller or you know or um, that can happen with wedding planning.
You know there's always things like that.
You maybe yes, the venue, the type of chairs, but you know all these things and, and you know, you get into this mindset of like You know this matters so much.
Yeah, it's really tough.
And the people who are selling these things to you, they want that to happen, right?
That's how they want you to feel.
Yeah, it's really interesting.
Yeah.
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Okay, Michelle.
So we've already kind of dropped in some similar ways to communicate this, like best value.
The word value is huge here.
Right.
I took a look at all of our options and I truly think the software we spoke about yesterday provides the best value.
Right.
That's really what we're talking about.
Yeah.
Or most cost effective.
So that one really is about like the actual money spent, I believe, you know.
I want to make sure we're looking into the most cost effective options.
Yeah, exactly.
Or best ROI.
Our listeners know this term ROI, return on investment.
So it's not just what you're, you're not just looking for cheap, right?
And again, the bang for your buck encapsulates all of this, but you're looking for how far or how much more money are you going to get from what you're investing right?
You put a dollar in, are you going to get $5 out or $2 out or $10 out, right?
So we really need to consider what will have the best ROI for our business.
Okay.
All right. should we do a role play?
Yes, let's do it.
Michelle, we are looking online and we're trying to buy a new data entry system for the office.
Oh boy.
All right.
Okay.
So which one do you like?
I know the H2 is more expensive but honestly I think it's actually the best value because it takes so much of the guesswork out of the picture.
That's true.
But I wonder if the most cost-effective option may be best.
We do need to save up in the budget.
That's true.
But I really think the H2 will give us the best bang for our buck.
I get what you're saying.
I guess it could have the best ROI overall.
Yeah.
I mean, sometimes companies also have to think about, like, Is this program customizable?
Can I put guardrails in here so that if mistakes are made like it, won't be devastating to the data in the company right?
So like there's lots of ways to define value, right?
Mm hmm.
Mm hmm.
Mm hmm.
Let's go through it.
So I said you said I know the H2 is more expensive, but honestly I think it is the best value because it takes so much of the guesswork out of the picture.
Exactly.
And then I said, you said, that's true, but I wonder if the most cost effective option may be best.
So now we're just talking about money, right?
And then you said, that's true, but I really think the H2 will give us the best bang for our buck.
So you're saying we should just spend more money because it is just going to be so much better?
And help us.
Yeah.
And just to point out, there's an underlying skill that's happening here that we're demonstrating.
We've done different episodes on this.
It's another topic for another day, but we're really identifying with each other.
Oh, that's true.
But I get what you're saying.
That's true.
I'm seeing a lot of this, which is a good way to communicate, validate what someone just said.
And if you disagree you pivot into your point, but you're not just saying nothing and saying oh, we should do this right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then what did I say at the end?
And then you said, I get what you're saying.
I guess it could have the best ROI overall.
So it seems like we've decided on something, right?
Yes.
You're starting to convince me.
Good.
Business decisions, not easy.
Not easy.
No.
Especially if you're in charge of making them on your own, right?
Yeah.
Yep, exactly.
Guys, check out episode 529.
Um, if you haven't heard it yet, of the business English podcast that was have you considered sharing your ideas at work?
Yes.
Michelle, what's our final takeaway for our listeners?
Yeah, this is all about decision making and value and how we.
You know one per it might not be the same for everyone.
It can be totally different depending on your company, your personality.
Um, And, you know, how you look at different products.
So yeah, this is just a really good way to be able to express these types of things and talk about these decisions.
It's kind of fun when you're in maybe a tense discussion at work and you know it's a high stakes decision and you know if you make the wrong decision you might be blamed for it.
To insert a phrase that is kind of, this phrase for me feels a little folksy, a little relaxed.
Like it might bring down the temperature a little bit.
Just little subtleties there of language use that could help build the connection at work.
So this is what that phrase could do.
Okay.
Yeah.
Good.
All right.
Well, I'm glad we talked about this today.
And guys, thank you so much for listening.
Nice.
Talk soon, Michelle.
Bye.
All right.
Bye.
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