BE 583: What’s the Bottom Line? How to Get to the Point in Business

This is the Business English Podcast, episode 583. What's the bottom line? How to get to the point in business. Welcome to the Business English Podcast from All Ears English.

Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business. For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.

If your English sounds correct, but not quite right, you're not alone. Sometimes it's not grammar. It's word choice, tone, timing. You might rely on safe phrases, not because you want to, but because nuance feels risky.

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Get your level at allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. One more time, go to allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e. Hello, Michelle. Good morning.

How's it going? How are you doing? Everything is good here, Lindsay. I'm doing well. How are you? I'm doing good. Michelle, I have a question for you.

You ready? Okay. Yes. So the U.S., our country, is known for large corporations, multinational corporations. But when it really comes down to it, what do you think these corporations care about most?

Okay. I think they care most about the bottom line. I think you're right. Even though there's always campaigns about employee resource groups and supporting employees, I think in the end, businesses are there to make money, right?

Yep. And so it's the bottom line. Bottom line. Yes. So we're talking about this today because we have a listener question about this phrase, the bottom line.

Lindsay, would you like me to read it? Yeah, please do. Go for it, Michelle. All right. So this is from Saud Al-Arifi from Saudi Arabia. Okay. And so he says, Dear Lindsay and Michelle, my name is Saud Al-Arifi from Saudi Arabia.

I've been listening to All There's English since 2022. And I just want to say thank you. That's so great. Thank you so much. Thank you for listening. Your podcast has really helped me improve my English.

I moved from A2 to B2. Wow. And your episodes played a big part in that. I truly appreciate the way you explain things and make learning feel natural and fun.

Wow. This is really nice. This is great. We love this part of the question. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Well, I guess that's it for today. No, I'm just kidding.

That just made my day and now I'm ready to go. Oh, no. So then he continues. Recently, while watching The Office, I heard the expression bottom line. I understand that it means the main point or the final result.

But I feel like there are other expressions that native speakers use in a similar way, maybe depending on the situation. I'd love to hear you talk about this phrase and share some natural alternatives. Thank you again for your amazing and inspiring work. Best regards, Saoud.

What a good question, Michelle. Yeah. Yeah. Important question too. Bottom line appears in a lot of places when we talk about business and life in general.

So I'm excited to dive in today. Yeah. And congrats for moving from A2 to B2. That's incredible. That's incredible. That is a life change. I mean, what you can do at the A2 level versus the B2 level, you can be working in English at B2, but not at A2, right?

Yeah. So that could change your life entirely. So glad to hear about that success, Saud. Yeah. And we hope that you're along for the ride for Allers English for the next three years as well.

All right. Yes, that's right. Thank you. All right, guys, make sure you hit follow wherever you're listening to the Business English Podcast so you never miss any of our episodes.

All right. So let's just go and confirm the meaning, right? So our listener was right. Saud was right when he said about the meaning. What does it mean, Michelle?

Yeah. It can mean the most important takeaway from a conversation or a discussion. Yes. Right? So, for example, what's the bottom line here? The bottom line is we need more customers.

Yes. And we wanted to note also that people sometimes cut out the the... when using this term to mean the main point. So this is done when the bottom line is at the beginning of a sentence or on its own.

So for example, bottom line is we need to raise profits or what else, Lindsay? Or you might ask a question. You might say, bottom line, we're not reaching our targets. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. That's a creative way. That's actually a creative way to start a statement by asking a question a little bit. Definitely. Yeah. But what else could this mean, Lindsay?

We're talking about like our P&L, our profit and loss statement. It is literally that bottom line, the very end, what you end up with in terms of profit after, like, as we say, expenses, money in, money out, what's left over, right? Yeah. Yeah.

So how did the costs affect their bottom line this year? Well, they're definitely hurting the bottom line this year. Or how do these changes impact the bottom line? Well, we're seeing improvement, but we still need to increase our revenue.

Yeah. So what is the tone, Michelle, of the term bottom line, would you say? Well, I I think most of the time it isn't necessarily negative or positive.

So it's kind of neutral sounding, but it depends on your context because it actually could be critical, like in this example. So, for example, did you hear about the layoffs?

Yes, it seems the company will do anything to protect the bottom line. Yeah, because sometimes when we're talking about corporations, it is kind of not a very flattering perspective on corporations sometimes, right? It can be very ruthless.

And you're dealing with real people, real lives, you know, supporting families. This is where this might come out, this negative side of it, right? Yes, yes. Mm-hmm.

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I mean, this is what we say after every episode. We could start saying, Michelle, what's the bottom line today? What's the bottom line? Yeah, that's funny.

Yeah. So that's the most important point to remember. So the key takeaway from this meeting is that costs are rising. Or what's the key takeaway for the sales team?

And by the way, this is really important to make sure you're highlighting this in business. Otherwise, people might get lost in the details. I know we interviewed some people who are in data analytics in our professional English level two course, and they talked about the importance of

presenting the data to the executive team in a way that allows for these easy key takeaways. You just let them know what the story is from the numbers, not just the numbers. So that's a really high level skill in English, which we teach you in professional level two. Okay.

Yeah. So go back to our website, go to alwaysenglish.com slash professional and jump into that course. Okay. Awesome. Love it. So there's also what it comes down to.

So this is basically the real issue. So nevermind the smaller details. We're talking about the most important thing. So for example, what it comes down to is time and budget.

Yes. And this doesn't just have to be in the workspace. This one would work at home or at work in your community. When you look at the data, what it comes down to is customer trust.

Okay. yes okay um and then one more is profit margin so this is just really about the money yeah yeah here um yeah so what a profit margin yeah how much money a company keeps after expenses right so it's just that percentage of money that is kept after everything is paid out so we need to improve our profit margin

It just makes me think of Shark Tank. They're always talking about the margins, right? Oh, for sure. They want to know what kind of margin is this industry and this business, right?

Yeah. Or sourcing issues are lowering the profit margin. Yes. Yeah. So this is a pretty diverse concept. It can apply to what's the point, right? Or all the way down to what's the bottom line?

Literally, what is the bottom line in your spreadsheet? Yeah. of your final month's results, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So should we do a role play? Sure, Michelle.

What's our scenario? All right. So here we are in the middle of a business meeting. You are the manager and I am in charge of the financial reporting.

Okay. Let's go for it. All right. So how did the numbers look this quarter? Well, the bottom line is better than last quarter, but not by much. Well, what it comes down to is pricing and costs.

Exactly. Our profit margin is still too low. So do you think we should raise prices or cut expenses? honestly, I think we need to do both to protect the bottom line.

Okay. Good conversation here. And a very realistic conversation that you would have in a business, right? Yeah. So I asked, how did the numbers look this quarter?

And you said, the bottom line is better than last quarter, but not by much. And I said, well, what it comes down to is pricing and costs. And then I said, exactly. Our profit margin is still too low.

Yeah. And then you said, honestly, I think we need to do both to protect the bottom line. So in this case, you're talking about that spreadsheet results.

Yeah. Right. At the end of the month. Exactly. So we need to raise prices and cut expenses. Yeah. Lots of changes. Yeah. Companies that are publicly traded have a lot of pressure here, right?

Yeah. Because their investors or shareholders will be really ripping apart all these results. It's a lot. Yeah. Yep. Yep. So check out episode 526. That was can't understand your dictated emails.

Three suggestions. Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah, very cool. Oh, Michelle, what's the bottom line today? I was waiting for you. So bottom line, the bottom line is that this is very useful, not only for talking about just like concepts and ideas, but also actual finances.

And we've given you many ways to talk about it. So this can really be used in meetings, in so many different contexts at work, but really useful for the workplace. Yep. You said it.

That's the bottom line right there. That's the bottom line. We've said all we need to say for today. You have a good rest of your day. All right. You too.

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