USEFUL PHRASES FOR YOUR TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS

1) STARTING THE PHONE CALL

How can I help you? / How may I help you? / What can I do for you? / Who's calling? / Who's on the phone? / Who shall I say is calling? / Anne Lavigne here / This is Anne Lavigne / Hans Gruber speaking / Hans Gruber calling

2) ASKING TO SPEAK TO THE CALLER ON THE PHONE

Can I speak to Hans Gruber, please? / Can you put Hans Gruber on the phone, please? / Can you put Anne Lavigne through, please? / Can Anne Lavigne come on the phone, please? / Can I talk to you for a bit? / Can I have a word with Hans Gruber?

3) EXPLANING THE REASON FOR THE PHONE CALL

What is it about ? / What is it in connection with? / It's about ... / It's in connection with ... / It was just to let you know that ... / I'd like to inquire about ... / I'm calling on behalf ... / I'm calling from ...

4) ASKING THE CALLER TO HOLD THE LINE

Hold the line, I'll check his extension / Thanks for returning my call at short notice / I'd like to speak to the manager / Who is the person in charge here? / I'd like to speak to the person in charge / Can you put me through to the sales department? / Which department is competent to examine my problem?

5) FINDING THE PARTY ON THE PHONE

Is Mr Gilling in, please?/ Can you put me through? / Mr. Gilling is away on business / Ms. Lavigne is on a business trip / When will he be back? / When will she be back in the office? / She will be back in a week or two / She will be back in about a week / Try calling back next week then / It's good for me / There's no one with that name here / You must have dialled the wrong number

6) INFORMING THE CALLER THAT HE WILL BE PUT THROUGH

Hold the line I'll connect you / We are trying to locate your party / I'll put you though to her PA who will know how to direct your call / I'll put you through to her department / I will connect you to her voice mail to leave a message / I've transferred your call to the person in charge / 

7) INFORMING THE CALLER THAT THE PARTY IS NOT IN OR NOT AVAILABLE

I'm afraid he's not in at the moment / I'm afraid he's not available right now / There's no answer I'll check his mobile / He is in a meeting right now, can he call you back? / He's visiting the company with some salespeople. I'll ask him to call you back as soon as he's finished / She can't answer the phone right now because she is in a budget meeting / She's on site to tour the new facilities, I'll tell her you called

8) INFORMING THE CALLER THAT THE PARTY IS ON ANOTHER LINE

She ends her call on another line before taking your call / She will be available in a few minutes / She has finished the previous call and is ready to take your call / He's on another line / We will put you on hold / Will you hold? / Can you call him back in a few minutes?

9) ASKING THE CALLER IF HE/SHE WANTS TO CALL BACK

I'll get her to phone you back / I'll ask her to call you back / I couldn't get in touch with her / I've been trying to reach her, to no avail! / I desperately want to contact her but I can't reach her

10) ASKING IF THE CALLER WANTS TO LEAVE A MESSAGE

Can I leave a message, please? / Can you ask him to call me back? Can I have your particulars, please? / May I have your e-mail address, please? / May I have your phone number again? / I left a message asking the person to call me back early next week

11) TALKING ABOUT THE INTERFERENCE ON THE TELEPHONE LINE

The line's very bad / I can barely hear you, I'll call you back / There is interference on the line / I'm sorry, we are breaking up at times / Sorry, I can't hear you / Could you speak up, please?

12) ASKING THE CALLER TO SPELL HIS/HER NAME

Sorry, I mispronounced your name / Your last name is Lavigne, right? Can you spell it for me, please? / Lavigne 'L' for Louis, 'A' for Agnès, 'V' for Viviane 'I' for Irene, 'G' for Georges, 'N' for Naomie and 'E' for Emma. Did you get that? / Yes, I got that, thanks!

13) ASKING THE CALLER FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Can you give further details? / Can you tell me more about ...? Could you tell me more about this? / Can you expand on this a little? / I would like to ask you for more details, if you allow me / Let's move on to concrete cases, shall we? / Can I help you with anything else? / You've been a big help / I am glad I was able to help you solve your problems

14) STATING THAT WE ARE RENEWING OUR CALL

I will reply to you as soon as my contact person is available / I'll call you back in a few minutes / I'll talk to you later today / We'll talk in a fortnight / I'll call you back to reschedule our appointment / I'm repeating my phone call regarding your last email requesting more information / I will contact you immediately to learn more about your new product / I'll keep you posted on the results / I'll keep you informed of the outcome

15) ASKING FOR THE PERSON TO REPEAT

Can you repeat that, please? / Can you say that again, please? / Can you be more specific? / Sorry, I didn't get that / Can you come again, please? / Can you repeat more slowly, please? / Can you rephrase that? / What exactly did you mean by that? / Can you say it one more time? / 

16) CLOSING THE TELEPHONE CONVERSATION

Thanks for calling me back / I look forward to your call / Have a gorgeous day / I'll give you a missed call when I get there / Feel free to call us back if necessary / Give me the heads-up asap / I'll get in touch / I look forward to hearing from you