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

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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

Exercise

Task 2

Exercise

Discussion

Do you ever do favours or make exceptions for important clients?

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Language level

B1 Intermediate

Hello tunguyenprnt

'to keep an eye out for something' means to watch carefully for something. Junko says this to show that she expects to see Andrea's new order soon.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

I think making exceptions is very important for important customers but also benefits on both sides should also be highly considered.

For me, this is due to the regulations where I work.

Yes, when it comes to important customers I do exceptions and favours because I always deal with them

Hello, everyone! I'm Japanese and I'll introduce tradition of Japan to everyone today. It is warabimochi. Have you ever eaten it? It is a kind of Japanese confectionery and tastes so soft and cool. Usually, we eat warabimochi with soybean flour, powdered tea, or dark molasses. Personally, I like to eat warabimochi with soybean flour and dark molasses best. Warabimochi has a long history. It was eaten by the Emperor Heian. Furthermore, it was also emergency provisions for the people on a farm. It is easy to make Warabimochi. It made from powdered warabi, water, and sugar. This is just three ingredients. Warabimochi is famous in Nara and Kyoto so there are many famous shops of Warabimochi. In my opinion, it is not famous for among foreigners than such a like sushi and tempura. However, like a warabimochi, many people in Japan eat Japanese confectionery now and these are low sugar and a calorie. If you want to eat something to sweet, I recommend you eat Japanese confectionery because these are so as sweet as cakes and snacks, but these are more health. For example, Japan has Dango, Daihuku, Monaka, Senbei and so on. It is difficult for everyone to travel to Japan now but if you come to Japan, you try to eat various Japanese confectionery.

I work as a clerk at a super market in japan. Customers often says to me, "I forgot my point card. what should I do?" So I always make exception for the customer, and I give 1 week to the customer to bring the point card. I think this is very good to keep good connection between clerk and customer. Thank you.

In my opinion, do favors or make exceptions for customers needs to be considered carefully to ensure benefit for both sides.

I think to do favour or makes an exception is important for success of any business that controlled by rules (an invoice, payment terms,....etc).