How to Make A Referral or New Contact Call
How to Make a Referral or “New Contact” Calll
You make this kind of call to either someone you have just met or someone you have not yet met who has been referred to you by someone you know.
With a referral or ” new contact” call, it’s important to indicate immediately who referred you. The purpose of this call is to gather information to see if and how you can provide mutual support. That means, how can you help the other person and how can that other person help you. It is a getting-to-know-you call.
Calling a person you recently met? Remind them of where you met.
Understanding human speech is most difficult on the telephone because the other person cannot see you and get cues from your articulators– tongue, lips, teeth, jaw movement. So consciously do clear speech– a little slower with good diction for cononants and vowels.
Build Your Career- Do This (Asking Questions–#1 Skill for English Communication)
Right away–Do This to Boost Your Career and Influence——Ask Questions-
Experts report that increasing skills in asking questions and voice inflection are the two skills which fastest boost the careers of native-born speakers of English. If that is true for native-born speakers, it is true for nonnative-born speakers.
Asking questions builds relationship and rapport. Asking questions enables you to get the information you need and to clarify information. Asking questions gets involvement in communication and makes dialogue.
Sometimes international people and native born English speakers feel uncomfortable with asking questions. It’s not complicated! Two goals of asking questions are to get facts and to get opinions.
To get facts:
- “When did you begin work on the plan?”
- “How many employees are available for this task?”
- “What are the dimensions of the house?”
- “Which car reached the intersection first?”
Easiest and most direct question to get opinions:
What do you think of that?
How to ask for a date
How to ask for a date?
Getting started is the hardest.
People who speak English as a second language often ask about colloquial or typical prases for asking a person out for a date. They want the general North American pattern of that conversation, In the United States, males can ask and females can ask.
Warmup Question
“How are you?”
“How’s it going?”
Rationale: The answer tells whether to proceed forward. Tone of voice and body language may indicate that the other person is going through a very hard time, say, an accident or death in the family. Such a circumstance is not a good time to ask for a date.
Ask about Schedule
“What are you doing tonight?”
“Do you have any plans on (day of the week)?”
Rationale: If the person has another commitment or is exhausted, then regroup on your plan for when to do this date.
Mention Activity
“There’s this cool (activity idea) coming up.”
“I’ve been meaning to check out (activity idea)”
Rationale: The appeal of the activity idea might be enough to persuade the other person that going out with you is a great idea!
Ask for agreement to date or activity
“Do you want to go out?”
“Do you want to (activity idea)?”
Rationale: Be direct and to the point even if feeling shy or uncertain about the other person’s answer. If you are not, then the other person may not even know that she/he has been asked out.
Compliment
“You’re just fun to hang out with.”
“You’re just so interesting.”
Rationale: Compliments help other persons know what is their appeal to you.
Advancing the idea or giving an encouraging description
“It’ll be a lot of fun.”
“The weather’s going to be great.”
“I’ve heard (activity idea) is awesome.”
Rationale: Focusing on the activity and the pleasure eases some of the uncertainty and pressure on the other person to say yes.
Retreat or allowing for space to decide
“Just thought I’d put it out there.”
“Only if it sounds like fun.”
“No pressure.”
“Figured it was worth asking.”
Rationale: Notice the body language to determine whether they are indecisive and not sure. Take the pressure off to make it easier for them to agree to go out with you, or not go out with you, on this occasion. Also taking the pressure off doesn’t lock them into never going out with you. For example, if you suggest ice skating, they could turn you down because they don’t know how to ice skate.
Once you have the basic phrases engrained in your mind (memorized), combine for what fits your circumstance.
To be redundant, observe body language to interpret the other’s response to doing a date or activity with you. With that, you could proceed with enthusiasm in the form of advancing the idea or giving an encouraging description. Or you could decide to go with a bit of humbleness in the form of a retreat. Both are follow-up phrases which give the other person time and space to decide if she or he wants to go out or do an activity with you.
If rejection comes because of the activity, ask the other person what activity she/he would feel comfortable or excited about.
Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercises.
English Communication Skill: Encourage Conversation- The Road to Rapport
English Communication Skill: Encourage Conversation- The Road to Rapport
Relationship is the heart of social and work life. Communication is the heart of relationship and rapport. What’s the cardinal characteristic that encourages others to feel comfortable and converse? Observation.
Look around and notice what surrounds another person– say a picture of an ocean setting– and start a conversation. When stumbling on a topic of importance to the other person, pursue it and reveal something about the self. Revelations. experiences, viewpoints, and desires give other persons something they can respond to. Conversation blossoms.
The best communicators listen and get to know others. In the work place, that is how to get to know how to meet colleagues needs which is part of the give-and-take of organizations.
Go out of the way to make people feel comfortable. The CEO of Child Readiness Foundation on holidays wears his tie with little children on it– eye-catching and fun. People know he’s approachable and gives them something to talk about.
Women can invite conversation with fun, unusual pins, earrings, or bright scarf. When we see someone with something unusual or fun, we know they are inviting conversation and it’s okay to comment.
Conversational T-shirts are ice-breakers We wear our opinions, ideas, and commitments across our chests. We get them as gifts or as “part of the event.” In either case, they give others something to talk about. Get these wearable ice=breakers from art museums, music venues, amusement and national parks.
Coming out of two years of Covid pandemic, all the sweeter is the encouraging and making of conversation, especially when the techniques are so easy.
Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercises.
