BE 595: Big Business Decision? How to Talk About the Trade-Offs

This is the Business English Podcast, episode 595, Big Business Decision, How to Talk About the Trade-Offs. 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.

Do you know a lot of English vocabulary but still struggle to find the right words when it's time to speak? This can make you feel isolated and disconnected from other people. That's exactly what our brand new course, Active Vocabulary, is designed to fix. In just 20 minutes a day, you'll follow our step-by-step Active Vocabulary system, which helps move your vocabulary from passive recognition to active use.

you'll learn from real all ears, English conversations, practice with speaking activities and build the confidence to use better words in real time. Plus you'll be invited to our popular open conversation club and fluency practice every week. But don't wait too long. This offer expires on Sunday.

Save up to $100 before Sunday at midnight. Go to allearsenglish.com slash vocabulary to get into the course today. allearsenglish.com slash vocabulary.

Hey, Lindsay, how are you? I'm doing really well, Michelle. How's everything going with you today? Yeah, everything's good. I mean, so, but I have a question, Lindsay.

Okay. When it comes to work, have you had to make any trade-offs to get what you want? Yeah, for sure. I mean, there was a period of time when we first started Allers English that I feel like I was working a lot on the weekend.

That was a tradeoff, right? The tradeoff was do the work and kind of do a little less like personal life stuff for later, hopefully have more time and have an abundance of time later. And it has paid off, I would say.

What about you? Tradeoffs in life, Michelle? Yeah. Anything? Yeah, definitely. You know, as a as a mom, I, you know, I have to, you know, balance work and life and what my goals and what I also want for my family.

And so yeah, I have to pick and choose and figure out priorities and things like that. So there are definitely trade-offs. But today we're going to be talking about trade-offs because we're answering a listener question about this phrase. This is a really good one.

Lindsay, would you like to read this question? It's from YouTube. Yeah, it comes from our YouTube channel, by the way, guys. If you don't know our YouTube channel, the All Ears English podcast has its own YouTube channel.

So go to YouTube, type in All Ears English. And this question comes from Azra Esgardanzadeh. They said, I love the podcast. Can you please do an episode on trade-off?

I always struggle. I've always struggled with this and I don't know how to use it. Great question. Great question. Thank you for listening and enjoying the podcast.

Yes. Let's go through it. Good question. So, Lindsay, what is a tradeoff? Essentially, it means where it's a situation where gaining something means losing something else.

But you know that it's worth it. You decide, you make that calculation, right? Yeah. So you get one benefit, but you lose another because you can't have both.

So it's a trade-off. You're trading... yeah do you remember uh when when you were a kid did you used to trade items at lunch yeah i used to trade because i used to always get carrots and my friend bethany used to get twinkies and i would trade i'd get her twinkies and give her she wanted my carrots i was like great she wanted your carrots she wanted healthy food i was like i want junk food you know i'm like 10 years old junk food

Yeah. Yeah. So we are going to talk more about trade-offs today. So before we get into it, we want to ask you guys to leave us a review. Yes, guys, leave us a review.

It matters. We want to know what you think about the podcast. You could even ask your question inside your review. So if you're listening in Apple Podcasts or CastBox or even Spotify, there's a place where you can rate and review the show.

Go ahead and do that and And let us know what you think. We'll do our best to announce your name out loud on the show as well. Okay? Yes, that'd be great.

Thank you in advance. So trade-offs are huge in business conversations and they come up when you're talking about priorities or business decisions. A lot of the time, a business decision comes with pros and cons. Right, Lindsay?

Yeah. For example, if your small company is bought out by a larger company, you will gain financial security, but... as the original founder of that company, you might lose independence and you might lose the power you had. You will become an employee of your own company, which must feel really weird, but it does happen.

Right. Right. It's a trade off. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and that is one example is like probably becoming a business owner, right? So you, you are trading, you know, like,

as you might have, I mean, you're responsible for everything, right? So you have, if you're an employee, you are, you know, of course, you have responsibilities, but it's kind of different. But if you own the business, then you get to make the decisions at the final say, hopefully, at least to that freedom. But it's a trade off, because it might be more headaches, certainly at first.

Sure. Absolutely. So we have to be willing to make that tradeoff. But I think, you know, like most people in life get that. We get that. Life is an equation, right?

We know that there are going to be tradeoffs either in our work lives or in our personal lives. So what are some common business tradeoffs, Michelle? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, what do you think? Cost versus quality. So like this deals with manufacturing choices. So maybe you're purchasing cheaper. I mean, it might deal with manufacturing choices.

Like if you're purchasing cheaper materials, but losing quality. So you have to figure out what's the most important thing. Yeah, or speed versus accuracy. Rushing to finish a report means you might make more mistakes.

And now with AI, people are faced with this decision. Like, do I actually have AI do this task? It'll be faster, but it won't be 100% accurate. We know that, right?

Or I can have a human do it. And it'll be more expensive, take longer, but will be accurate, right? Yeah, these are tough decisions sometimes. Then there's flexibility versus stability.

So freelancing versus being a steady employee of a company. So if you freelance, you can jump from job to job. If you don't like something, it's not that serious, but you are missing the opportunity to maybe get done. benefits and to have some stability in your life.

Yeah. You can also usually charge more as a freelancer because your company's not paying for any kind of insurance or any of that stuff. So there are trade-offs each way. Short-term versus long-term growth.

Constant questions companies have to ask themselves. The company could spend a lot of money developing a new product now, which will hurt profit this quarter, but then it could lead to growth next quarter or next year. Yeah.

Gosh, that's a lot to think about. So let's now talk about how we can actually use the word trade-off in business discussions. Okay. Here's one. So we could say there's a tradeoff between X and Y.

So like there's a tradeoff between cost and quality. Or you might just say in context, there's a tradeoff here. There's a tradeoff here. If we lower the price, we might attract more customers, but our margins will shrink.

Yeah. Or you might hear the tradeoff is, so for example, we could commit to this merger, but the tradeoff is that we will have less power in the decision making.

Or you might say it's a tradeoff. We could launch earlier, but the product might not be super polished. It's a tradeoff. Uh-huh. Or that's the tradeoff.

Yeah. Working remotely gives you flexibility, but communication is often slower. That's the tradeoff. Yeah. You're never going to get a perfect scenario, right?

There are some drawbacks to work from home. And yeah, I mean, as a remote team, we kind of face those tradeoffs for sure. Communication, we have to wait for an email back and forth.

Sometimes we call, but it's more frequent to email. Yeah. But yeah, or it comes with trade-offs. Hiring contractors instead of employees gives us flexibility, but it comes with trade-offs.

Yeah. Like you have to retrain contractors from the start. They don't have any knowledge coming into the company of anything, right? That's a major trade-off that we've seen when hiring curriculum developers.

We have to get them up to speed on all the tools to build courses with us, right? Yep. Starting over. Exactly. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Start your gratis proof period on shopify.com.

Um, so anything else? I mean, sometimes we might say pros and cons, Michelle, right? These are, this is common to advantages and disadvantages. Yep. Yep.

So these are often considered before any major business decision. So for example, we need to look at the pros and cons before we move forward with this merger.

Or let's weigh the pros and cons of hiring someone full-time versus part-time, right? Something like that. And a lot of times people will say like, they'll suggest, oh, should we make a list of the pros and cons, right? Do you ever do that, Lindsay?

I do sometimes. It doesn't help me though. I find that it does not help me make a decision. Now I just have a big list in front of me and I still don't know what to do after that.

Do you? I know you have a hard time making decisions. No. No, I don't really I don't really like it because I know it's listen, like I've had decisions in my life where if I make a list of the pros and cons, one will weigh out the other, but it still might not necessarily be the right choice.

Right. There's more than what you write down on the paper, the little bullet points. Right. I mean, yeah, there are like five over here and one over here doesn't mean.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, like, in some scenarios, I'm sure it does actually work. And for some people who are super illogical, it might work for them, and they might be able to say, well, I don't, you know.

But for me, unless it's something where, yeah, I've definitely tried the pro-con thing, and it's just not... There's always some sort of like quality or a thing that you can't put it on paper, you know? Yes, of course. Of course.

So it's kind of a matter of knowing yourself, your decision-making style. Yeah. And if you feel that style is working, then what's the better activity to get to the decision? Right.

To tie into the emotions, for example. Yeah. Yeah. Hard. We're both, I think, maybe more emotional decision makers. So yes, exactly. Exactly. So then there's give and take.

So give and take. This is a compromise where both sides have to adjust. And this is used when talking about negotiations or collaborating with other teams. Yeah, good partnerships always require some give and take, for example, or there was a lot of give and take during the contract negotiation.

And that that is a sign of a good negotiation that it's not like one person wins. There's no winning a negotiation that doesn't exist. It's everyone gives a little and everyone takes a little until you find a place that's comfortable for both sides. Right.

Right. Right. And then another one is weigh the options. So this is to look at your choices carefully before making a decision. So, yeah, this includes considering things like the pros and cons or trade offs.

Right. So this kind of is a little more all encompassing. Yeah. So let's weigh our options before picking a service provider. So you don't know the technique that we're using, but, you know, to weigh the options.

But we might be doing a list. We might be doing a Venn diagram. Who knows? Yeah. Or we're still weighing our options about who to appoint as leader. Perfect.

Perfect. All right, Michelle, let's put these into a conversation here. We are colleagues at a clothing manufacturing company. Yeah, I always thought it'd be interesting to work in a manufacturing company of some sort and just get a glimpse into that world of manufacturing.

We're discussing a product sourcing and whether to switch to cheaper materials. Yeah, and I know a lot of people this year, especially with clothing, have had to have discussions with tariffs and everything, being put on clothes. Yeah.

Where do you manufacture your products right in the world? It's not easy to figure these things out. Oh my gosh. No. Yep. So, all right. The supplier sent over the new pricing.

If we switch to the cheaper materials, we could lower the retail price. Right. But there's a trade-off between cost and quality. Well, exactly. The product might not feel as premium, which could disappoint some of our long-term consumers.

Right. Yeah. On the other hand, lowering the price could actually attract more customers, particularly those with a lower price point. True. We should probably weigh the options before making a final decision.

Agreed. Let's list out the pros and cons and talk to the product team. Good idea. I'm sure they'll have their own set of concerns to factor in. Yeah. These things always involve some give and take.

Okay. All right. Yeah. So back and forth, trying to decide how to, yeah, again, another trade-off, another decision. So you said the supplier sent over the pricing.

If we switch to cheaper materials, we could lower the retail price. And you said, right, but there's a trade-off. And the trade-off in this case is cost versus quality.

And then I said, true. You said, true. We should probably weigh the options before making a final decision. And then I said, agreed. Let's list out the pros and cons to the talk to the product team.

And then you said at the end... Yep. Yeah. These things always involve some give and take. Yeah. And I feel like with clothing, with apparel, it's especially hard because people feel it on their skin.

Like, you know, if you're wearing a quality T-shirt or a low quality T-shirt, right? It feels different. So that's really hard to hide if you're processing something low quality to save money.

right? Yeah. Yep. That's true. Um, guys check out, uh, speaking of quality and getting quality kind of, uh, guys go to episode 536. That was get more bang for your buck when you, when you, when you make decisions at work.

Yeah, that's a good one. Bang for your buck. I love that expression. So we'll show you all about how to use that and use it at work because it's kind of a slangy expression, but you can use it at work.

So, I mean, I think this is just like a fact of life, Michelle, pros and cons, trade-offs, whether it's in your career, in your decision-making at work or in your life, you're going to come up against this at some point, right? Yeah. Oh, for sure. This is life.

This is a tricky part of life, but yeah, I think you get better at it as you go along. I think so too. Well, that's good news. Yeah. So we get smarter as we get older.

That's good. All right, Michelle, you have a good day. I'll talk to you soon. All right. Bye, Lindsay. Bye, guys. All right. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.

Want more from All Ears English? Don't miss our biggest and best podcast with 8 million monthly downloads. Just search for the All Ears English podcast and hit follow to get four new episodes per week on fluency, American culture, grammar, and so much more. Or tap the link in the show notes.

Remember, we believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English. Follow the All Ears English podcast now.