BE 624: Hear Me Out! Phrases for Grabbing Attention and Asking for Respect

This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 624. Hear me out. Phrases for grabbing attention and asking for respect. 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 Aubrey, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.

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Start now at allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e. Hello, Lindsay. How are you doing today?

Good, Aubrey. I have a question for you. You ready? Yes. All right. So do you ever have any trouble getting someone's attention? Absolutely. My children.

When we were at the beach and they would be out in the ocean in the waves and I'd be like yelling and they could not hear me over like the surf, you know? Sure. And then I have a son who has ADHD and he it's really he'll be like focus. He just won't.

I'll be right next to him, like saying his name over and over. I've learned that I just need to like put my hand on his shoulder and then he'll like his attention will be pulled. So instead of like yelling his name over and over, I'm just going to walk over to him and put his my hand on your shoulder.

Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. Oh, okay. So you've developed skills and coping skills and how to work around these challenges, right? Yeah.

When I'm at the beach, I just have to swim. I'm like, I eventually just have to swim out to them. You have to go into the ocean. Take a tube out. I'm like, I need to talk to you.

Can you not hear me yelling? They're like, no, I didn't hear that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, this is a good episode today. This will be fun.

Phrases for grabbing someone's attention, right? And it comes from YouTube. Guys, don't forget our All Ears English podcast is over on YouTube. So if you want to listen or watch All Ears English, go type that into YouTube and hit subscribe.

Who asked this question? Yeah, this was from Ra'a27. And this does happen that sometimes the comments you leave on all your English YouTube videos will answer here on the Business English podcast when it's phrases that we use a lot at work. So be sure you're following both podcasts.

So you never know where we're going to answer your question, right? Yeah. You don't want to miss a single one. So I'll go ahead and read the question.

So, and the full name is Rama from Saudi Arabia. So I really love your podcast and I appreciate all of your work. I have a question for you. I've been hearing the phrase, hear me out in a lot of, in the series, the rookie.

Oh, I watched that show too. I love that one. Could you do an episode about it and how it's used in everyday life? Thanks in advance. Yeah. Right. Yes.

I love that Rama's watching The Rookie. That's a great show. Do you know that one too? Yeah. Yes. I've seen a couple episodes and I liked it. It's one of those where I'm like, okay, this is on my list to finish one day.

It's a good one. Police drama, right? It's a good one. It's a good one. Exactly. And that they're recognizing these great phrases from the show, right?

Like, hear me out. I say that a lot. Hear me out. Yeah, I could see that phrase coming up in the show. It's good. It's a good way to, again, get someone's attention, make them listen to you.

So again, what does it mean, Aubrey? Let's get right into it. When you say, hear me out. We're going to share this one and a few other phrases that we use often at work.

to get someone's attention or hold their attention or let them know how much longer we're going to be speaking. We preface what we're saying a lot at work with these phrases.

Yeah. I mean, the reality is a lot of people, especially at work, while you're speaking, they might be thinking about what they're going to say next. And you might know that they're doing that. So you're asking them to really listen to your entire idea is what this means.

Yeah. Exactly. Or we've all been in that experience. We've been there too, where we're trying to share something quickly while someone's working. So they might be typing or they're kind of giving you half their attention.

You might need to share, use one of these phrases to let them know like, okay, I need you to give me... Your full undivided attention for a moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it does perk someone up and it makes them say, okay, I'm going to listen to this person hopefully, right?

Right. So this one's interesting. The first one we're talking about is hear me out. And you're sort of saying, listen to my entire idea or explanation before you make a decision or a judgment or interrupt and

Often we'll use it to prep someone that we're maybe sharing like a bigger idea or something controversial or something they might make a quick judgment about. And we're like, I want you to listen to all my reasoning before you decide.

Right, right. They might have a kind of prejudgment, right? Right. Some preconceived idea. They've already decided about this. And you're like, but I have new evidence or new information that I want you to listen to.

Yes, exactly. So here we go. Here's an example. Hear me out. We could save money by partnering with a local supplier instead of switching vendors completely.

So maybe the person is on track to make the change. They're not questioning anything. They're just full steam ahead. And you say, stop, hear me out. Let's try this idea.

Right. Right. Exactly. Or I know the proposal sounds risky, but hear me out before you decide against it. So, yeah, you're sort of coming in recognizing that someone's defenses might be up or they may have already decided to go a certain route.

So you use this phrase to ask them to give you the respect of hearing you out, of hearing your full idea. Right. And bear with me. This is a good one too.

You're asking someone to be patient with you for a short time while you explain something or resolve an issue, or it's just that you're asking for a quick pause for them to wait. Exactly. You're kind of asking for patience because in this day and age where we are on social media, right? Videos are quick.

Our attention span is shorter. We are using this more and more, right? Bear with me. This might not be the quickest explanation, but you need all of this information.

Yeah, it's true. So you might say, bear with me while I pull up the latest sales figures. So you might be hosting a meeting and you're speaking and then you need people to wait for you to pull up that data.

Maybe you're on the phone and the person has to wait, right? Exactly. This is a great phrase for that. We're filling that potentially awkward silence while we pull up information or while it's something, right?

Just be like, okay, bear with me. We're acknowledging that this might take a moment. And it sounds good. It sounds polite. I think it sounds professional.

I think it works for work. It works for work. Yeah. Another example is the presentation isn't loading properly. So bear with me for a moment, right? It's a very polished professional way to ask for patience.

And this is often when we use it when something's not quite going correctly. We've all been there. The technology is not working. Someone's connection is slow.

Bear with me. It's always going to happen, right? You plan a PowerPoint presentation or whatever it is and then boom, the electricity goes out or something. It happens.

We've all been there. We've all been there. A phrase that means really the exact same thing is just a little more casual is stay with me. Yes, exactly.

Bear with me. Stay with me. You're just asking someone to either keep listening, follow an explanation, be a little patient, right? Especially we'll say these also if an idea is maybe complex or not immediately clear.

It's like, don't give up. Stay with me. It's going to make sense. Don't tune out. So it's slightly different. It could be similar to bear with me in meaning, but it also could mean, again, don't let your mind go on to something else.

Right. Because again, you said we have a low attention span now. Maybe you're having to dig into the details of something, but please follow me, like stay with me. Right.

Exactly. Right. So here's an example. Stay with me here. If we reduce costs in production, we can reinvest that money into marketing. Yeah. So maybe you've already been explaining at length and you know, you've got a little more.

So you're like, you know, stay with me here. You're just asking them to listen a little bit longer. I just thought of a good example of bear with me. Yesterday, we were on the phone with a mortgage lender because we're looking to maybe buy a new house hopefully one day in the coming year or two.

And he called, but he didn't have the paperwork prepared. He didn't have it on his screen. So he said, bear with me while I pull up. what I sent you, the chart that I sent you.

So that's a good example there going back. Yeah, perfect. Exactly. We hear this all the time, right? Anytime it's like, I don't have this prepped and ready right now, but I know it will be quick.

So instead of just having the silence, we'll say something like this, bear with me, stay with me a second while I do this. Right. And in American culture, we're all, yeah, you have to say something. You can't just leave silence.

Exactly. It will be very awkward if you do. All right. So coming back to stay with me. I know this sounds complicated, but stay with me while I explain how the new system will improve efficiency.

Yes. Okay. Yes. It does take work, right, Aubrey, to want to follow someone as they do the math and explain it to you. And it takes work to dedicate your mind to following that person.

Yeah. Exactly. If it's a very technical explanation, sometimes we'll say this to let them know, like, I have to give these details, but like, stay with me and I'll break it down. Right.

You're just kind of giving someone that roadmap so they know that it's going to make sense eventually. Exactly. What's number four? All right. This last one is a little different.

It's used to introduce an idea. You'd say like, I'm just going to throw something out there or I'm just going to throw this out there. Maybe it's a suggestion or a possibility and you're not insisting it's the best solution, right? This signals that maybe you're brainstorming, you're being collaborative, you're inviting others to consider your perspective.

I hear this a lot. I use this a lot. What about you, Lindsay? Yeah, for sure. Because it makes it kind of low stakes, right? Right. If maybe your idea is not received so well that it was casual, right?

You just threw it out there. It's not some big introduction. So these are all ways of like, yeah, just kind of making things smoother socially at work. Okay.

Yes, exactly. So here's an example. I'm just going to throw something out there. What if we moved the product launch to September? So it'd have more time for testing.

So yeah, this is a great phrase. If you haven't really thought something through, you're not married to the idea. Often you sort of come up with it on the fly. And so you're letting them know like, I've got this idea.

I'm not offended if you disagree, right? That's a great phrase to use for that. Exactly. Love it. Do you ever start speaking English and suddenly the words disappear?

You pause too much, you hesitate, you know what you want to say, but only later, not in the moment when it matters. This is where your fluency is breaking down and it's fixable. That's why we created our two-minute fluency quiz. It shows you your exact English level right now so you know what to work on next.

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Okay, Aubrey, let's go through a conversation here. Here we are co-workers, excuse me, in a new product strategy discussion. Do you want to go first? Yeah, sure.

Here we go. Okay. Okay. So hear me out. I think I have an idea that will have a huge impact without overhauling the product line. That sounds great. What have you got?

I've been looking at some customer feedback data. Bear with me while I pull up the report. No problem. Okay, here it is. As you can see from this chart, customers are willing to pay more, but they want better packaging and faster delivery.

That tracks with the feedback we've been getting about delivery times. Exactly. Now stay with me here. I'm going to outline some small changes we can make to our process that won't require a major overhaul.

Okay. This sounds like a very typical work meeting, doesn't it? Yes, exactly. And I love all of these phrases. They're such tiny phrases, but they're doing a lot of work, right?

They have really important functions. They're doing a lot of work. Important functions. So you started by, okay, so hear me out. I think I have an idea, right?

So you are kind of giving yourself the floor a bit, asking them to listen to you, even if maybe you think they might disagree. Yeah. Exactly. Right. A great phrase for that.

It's going to really prep someone to give you that respect, to give you the attention you need to share this idea. Even if it's small like this, you're not going to be speaking about it for 10 minutes. We can still say this, like, hear me out. I'm just, I'm going to share an idea that might be, you might disagree, but give me, consider it.

You're asking for their consideration. Exactly. And then what? What did you say after that? And then I said, bear with me while I pull up the report. Right.

So this I need just a second to pull up some kind of slide or a presentation. And so I say this to fill the silence while I do that. Yeah. And then you go into the details.

You say exactly. Now stay with me here. I'm going to outline some small changes. So you're saying I'm going to explain some things that might be boring, hard to follow.

Maybe you don't have time. Any of those. Exactly. You're prepping them to continue to give you attention for a little bit, right? These are all interesting phrases where really what you are doing is asking for respect from your coworkers, which even if, you know, you're not, you know, it's not accusatory.

It's not like you're accusing them of usually disrespecting you. It's just politeness, like acknowledging that they're busy. You know, you're taking from their time and you're telling them it's important. It's worth their time.

Yes, I love that. I mean, and that's really such a key piece that you just said, Aubrey. These are ways of asking for respect because that's really what you're doing. It's not just that you're asking them to listen to you.

You're asking them to respect what you're about to say because maybe you're taking a chance at work, right? Maybe you're sticking your neck out. Right. And so if you don't use any of these phrases and you just throw it out there, they might not really give you full attention or they might not consider your ideas.

They might close it down before you ever. So this kind of gives you that chance to ask them to, you know, give your ideas the weight they deserve. Yeah. And I think that's the key takeaway today, right?

What are the words we can use? I mean, these are some of them that ask for respect. This will get you far at work because again, you may have put a lot of thought into this idea you have, but you need to set yourself up. It's like you need to step on stage a little bit, metaphorically speaking.

Exactly. You now have all these different ways depending on how much you want to back the idea. Because that last one, if you haven't thought about it a lot, you're just throwing something out there. That's a great phrase to be like, this isn't as serious.

I'm just throwing this out there. Let's talk about it. Yes. Aubrey, where else can our listeners go right now to keep learning with business English? Yes.

Check out episode 616, Are You Betting on It? How to Make Confident Predictions in English. Scroll up if you missed that one. That was a great episode.

All right. Good stuff today, Aubrey. And I'll see you back here very soon. You have a good rest of your day. All right. You too. See you next time. All right.

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