Business English- Starting and Ending Negotiations
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Students memorise and practise the most useful phrases for beginning and ending negotiations, starting with a fun quick responses listening game, then using key words to remember each phrase.
Lesson Plan Content:
Starting and ending negotiations simplest responses game and key words
Without looking below for now, listen to your teacher and raise the “Starting” card or “Ending” card depending on when you think each thing is said in a negotiation.
Label the sections below with “S” for Starting or “E” for Ending. They are arranged by sections, so if you don’t know one phrase you can look at the ones above and/ or below.
According to our previous discussion,…
Can I begin by explaining our position?
I have considered the proposal in your email and…
The reason why we invited you here today is…
Although I’ll have to check with my boss,…
I’ll put that in writing and email you by the middle of next week.
This is just a formality, but I’ll need to talk to my boss first.
Are we (all) agreed?
Do we have a deal?
Can I just go over what we’ve discussed again?
Can I just summarize what we have talked about so far?
To sum up, what we’ve discussed so far,…
Can we start by hearing your initial offer?
Can you clarify the situation for us?
Can you outline the issues for us?
Can I suggest we start by clarifying the situation?
Did you get up to anything at the weekend?
Did you have a good summer?
Did you have a good journey?
Did you have any problems finding us?
How was your flight?
Is it your first time here in…?
Do we need to discuss anything else?
Do you have anything to add?
Have I missed anything out?
Have we covered everything?
I think we’ve covered everything.
Is there anything we still need to discuss?
Do you think we could have that in writing by the end of the week?
I look forward to doing business with you again soon.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
We can follow this up by email.
Does everyone have a copy of the agenda?
There are four points on the agenda.
We can hopefully be finished by…
Due to unforeseen circumstances,…
I know this is not ideal, but…
I know this is rather short notice, but…
I know we agreed… but…
Have you been busy?
How have you been?
How’s business?
Long time no see.
How long has it been?
Hopefully our next meeting will be more productive.
I hope we can still do business in the future.
We can continue this conversation when…
I guess it’s time to begin, don’t you think?
It’s about time to discuss the point at hand, if that’s okay.
We’ve got a lot to get through, so…
I can shake on that.
I think we have a deal.
It’s a deal.
Where should I sign?
You have a deal.
I can’t see any way round this.
There doesn’t seem to be much point in discussing this further.
We seem to have come to some kind of a stalemate.
I feel we are making some progress.
I think we’ve found some common ground.
I hope you can reconsider.
Let me know if you change your mind.
You have my email if the situation changes.
I will confirm that later.
I’d need to see all that written down.
Let’s draw up a draft contract with those terms and then…
It was lovely to meet you.
It was really nice to see you again.
It’s been great to chat, but…
It’s been nice to catch up, but…
We must carry on talking after the meeting, but…
You must tell me more about that later, but…
It’s a pleasure to meet you (name).
Pleased to meet you (name).
It’s a shame we couldn’t…
Sorry that we weren’t able to…
It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.
Thank you for your understanding.
Thanks, that was very productive.
We really appreciate your help with this.
Let’s get down to business, shall we?
Perhaps we should get started, if that’s okay with you.
Shall we make a start?
Let’s go over what we agreed.
Shall we go through the agreement one more time?
To recap what we have agreed,…
To summarise our agreement,…
Our goal is…
Our main aim today is...
Our main concern is…
Our main objective is…
Thank you for coming all this way on such a cold morning.
Welcome to...
Would anyone like a drink before we begin?
That brings me onto why we are here today.
That’s connected to what I wanted to talk about today, which is…
This might be a good time to have a look at the agenda.
To get down to the point at hand,…
We really should make a start, if you don’t mind.
... sends his apologies.
On our side we have…
… will take minutes.
Check your answers as a class, then test each other in small groups in the same way.
Without looking above for now, try to think of or remember phrases with these functions.
Brainstorming stage
Starting
Small talk/ Social language
Getting down to business
The practicalities of the meeting
Setting out the situation/ initial positions
Ending
Summarising
Coming to an agreement
Ending with no (clear) agreement
Checking that you’ve finished
Social language at the end
Talking about the next contact
Key words
Use the key words below to help with the brainstorming task above.
Starting
Small talk/ Social language
weekend
summer
journey
finding
flight
here
busy
been
long
business
no
pleasure
pleased
coming
welcome
drink
Getting down to business
time
point
through
chat
catch
after
later
down
started
start
why
connected
agenda
down
make
The practicalities of the meeting
copy
points
finished
apologies
side
minutes
Setting out the situation/ initial positions
according
position
considered
reason
initial
clarify
outline
situation
circumstances
ideal
short
agreed
goal
aim
concern
objective
Ending
Summarising
over
summarize
sum
over
through
recap
agreement
Coming to an agreement
check
writing
boss
agreed
have
shake
think
deal
sign
you
Ending with no (clear) agreement
can’t
further
stalemate
progress
common
confirm
written
draft
Checking that you’ve finished
else
add
missed
covered
everything
still
Social language at the end
lovely
nice
shame
sorry
pleasure
understanding
productive
appreciate
Talking about the next contact
writing
business
hearing
follow
hopefully
hope
continue
reconsider
change
changes
Suggested answers
Other phrases are possible, including with the same key words, so please check if you wrote something different.
Small talk/ Social language
Did you get up to anything at the weekend?
Did you have a good summer?
Did you have a good journey?
Did you have any problems finding us?
How was your flight?
Is it your first time here in…?
Have you been busy?
How have you been?
How’s business?
Long time no see.
How long has it been?
It’s a pleasure to meet you (name).
Pleased to meet you (name).
Thank you for coming all this way on such a cold morning.
Welcome to...
Would anyone like a drink before we begin?
Getting down to business
I guess it’s time to begin, don’t you think?
It’s about time to discuss the point at hand, if that’s okay.
We’ve got a lot to get through, so…
It’s been great to chat, but…
It’s been nice to catch up, but…
We must carry on talking after the meeting, but…
You must tell me more about that later, but…
Let’s get down to business, shall we?
Perhaps we should get started, if that’s okay with you.
Shall we make a start?
That brings me onto why we are here today.
That’s connected to what I wanted to talk about today, which is…
This might be a good time to have a look at the agenda.
To get down to the point at hand,…
We really should make a start, if you don’t mind.
The practicalities of the meeting
Does everyone have a copy of the agenda?
There are four points on the agenda.
We can hopefully be finished by…
... sends his apologies.
On our side we have…
… will take minutes.
Setting out the situation/ initial positions
According to our previous discussion,…
Can I begin by explaining our position?
I have considered the proposal in your email and…
The reason why we invited you here today is…
Can we start by hearing your initial offer?
Can you clarify the situation for us?
Can you outline the issues for us?
Can I suggest we start by clarifying the situation?
Due to unforeseen circumstances,…
I know this is not ideal, but…
I know this is rather short notice, but…
I know we agreed…, but…
Our goal is…
Our main aim today is...
Our main concern is…
Our main objective is…
Ending
Summarising
Can I just go over what we’ve discussed again?
Can I just summarize what we have talked about so far?
To sum up what we’ve discussed so far,…
Let’s go over what we agreed.
Shall we go through the agreement one more time?
To recap what we have agreed,…
To summarise our agreement,…
Coming to an agreement
Although I’ll have to check with my boss,…
I’ll put that in writing and email you by the middle of next week.
This is just a formality, but I’ll need to talk to my boss first.
Are we (all) agreed?
Do we have a deal?
I can shake on that.
I think we have a deal.
It’s a deal.
Where should I sign?
You have a deal.
Ending with no (clear) agreement
I can’t see any way round this.
There doesn’t seem to be much point in discussing this further.
We seem to have come to some kind of a stalemate.
I feel we are making some progress.
I think we’ve found some common ground.
I will confirm that later.
I’d need to see all that written down.
Let’s draw up a draft contract with those terms and then…
Checking that you’ve finished
Do we need to discuss anything else?
Do you have anything to add?
Have I missed anything out?
Have we covered everything?
I think we’ve covered everything.
Is there anything we still need to discuss?
Social language at the end
It was lovely to meet you.
It was really nice to see you again.
It’s a shame we couldn’t…
Sorry that we weren’t able to…
It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.
Thank you for your understanding.
Thanks, that was very productive.
We really appreciate your help with this.
Talking about the next contact
Do you think we could have that in writing by the end of the week?
I look forward to doing business with you again soon.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
We can follow this up by email.
Hopefully our next meeting will be more productive.
I hope we can still do business in the future.
We can continue this conversation when…
I hope you can reconsider.
Let me know if you change your mind.
You have my email if the situation changes.
Test each other in pairs:
- Play the same holding up cards game
- Say phrases from one category above until your partner can categorise them
- Say the name of one category and say phrases with gaps for your partner to complete
- Say the name of one category and help your partner make example phrases with key words, gapped phrases, etc
Use that kind of language in roleplay negotiations, first with the lists of phrases to help, then with only the key words to help, and finally with no help.
Write phrases you used or could use in the body of the negotiation in these categories:
Making proposals/ suggestions
Rejecting proposals
Accepting proposals
Reacting to acceptance
Reacting to rejection
Moving the meeting on/ Not getting stuck on a point
Trading/ linking offers and conditions
Giving reasons
Cards to hold up
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