Toning Your Business English

Language, like most things, needs to be maintained. We have spent a lot of time and effort in learning a secondary language, however if we don’t exercise our linguistic prowess on a regular basis, then our eloquence, coherency and overall ability start to suffer. As a result, it is that much harder to maintain our fluency and our confidence to effectively communicate, especially in a work environment. Here is a list of ten business English to tone-up your language skills. If the word is one you already know, try calling to mind the definition before you read it. If the word is new, then it’s a good opportunity to enhance your vocabulary.

Cold call (verb): To cold call someone is when you phone or visit a customer to sell them something that they haven’t asked for. Very often it’s an unsolicited offer to someone you don’t yet know. For example, many telemarketers use the cold call approach and directly call potential customers from a phone list.

Perk (noun): A perk is an extra benefit that you get from working for a company aside from your salary. For example, employees of electronic companies often get discounted products as a perk. They may pay the wholesale price instead of the retail price. Other perks that companies may offer with a job is a company car, added vacation, an expense account and other similar extras.

Tender (noun): A tender is a process where a government or large organization invites relevant companies to bid for a project. Companies send a tender document which outlines the company’s fees, goals and timelines, as well as their particular expertise. For example, governments often use the tender process to hire private companies for work.

Core business (noun): A core business is the set of functions, processes and capabilities that produce most of the value created by a firm. It basically refers to the main activity of the company. For instance, a computer manufacturer may mainly produce and sell computers, that is the “core” business, however the company may also diversify in producing the accessories for computers as a secondary source of revenue, yet not be known for it.

Minutes (noun): What is meant here is not about time. The “minutes” of a meeting are notes taken during the meeting to record what was said, what was agreed, and to assign actions to individuals whose responsibility it will be to complete them. Once written, the minutes are then distributed among the attendees so that they have a copy of the information needed to implement any directed action or to simply have it on file.

Action (verb): You’ll know the word “action” from its normal contexts, such as action movies, or simply describing something being done (“taking action”). However, in the business environment this is one of many examples of a noun being turned into a verb. “Can you action that?” might be a request you’d hear in an office, meaning simply “Can you do that?” or “Can you implement that plan?”

Leverage (verb): Though “leverage” is another word that’s meant to be a noun – meaning the use of a lever to apply force – it’s often heard in a business context being used as a verb, meaning to utilize something to the business’s advantage. For example you can say: “Let’s leverage our contacts to spread the word about the company’s new marketing campaign.”

Vertical (noun): You’d have thought that the word “vertical” is simply the opposite to “horizontal”, but not in a business context. In the world of business jargon, it refers to an area of expertise. Rather than saying “we cater for the logistics industry”, some business types might say “we cater for the logistics vertical”.

Best practice (noun): You might hear colleagues referring to industry “best practice”, which describes a generally acknowledged ‘best way of doing things’ in order to achieve optimum results. When a company identifies the “best practice” in a particular industry, it will often lead to more successful business development.

Low-hanging fruit (noun): Imagine picking fruit from a tree: you’d go for the ones hanging low first, as they’re easiest to get. In business, the phrase “low-hanging fruit” is used to describe the tasks or opportunities that are easiest to tackle. For example, when cutting costs, many companies start with the low-hanging fruit in their budget, which can be their advertising budget because it’s one of the largest expenses.

Well, there you have it. A few business terms to tone your professional English vocabulary. Now that you have gone through the list, review it at your convenience. Choose a word or two that you think may be useful in your work and make it a point to include them in your upcoming communication, whether it may be verbal or written. And of course, if you would like regular language training and practice, join a class!