How do you end a conversation you no longer want to have?
If I’m talking to a friend, I say “I have to go now” and that always works. However, there always comes a point in a business call where both sides realize that all the business has been conducted and its time to end the conversation.
If the conversation involves scheduling an appointment, I have a natural ending - “See you on Tuesday”. But if there is no appointment the best I can do is “alright then…” and segue into an awkward good bye. Even worse is sometimes I try to summarize the business that was conducted during the conversation and end up almost repeating the whole conversation and still ending up with silence before trying to end the call.
If there’s a time frame that one of you expects to be contacting the other, that’s a good ending track. “I’ll call you middle of next week with an update, if you need anything before then call me back,” or “If I don’t hear anything from you by next Friday, I’ll give you a call to see how things stand,” both of which are followed up with a cheery “You have a good day now, bye!”
If there’s not further contact expected, “Is there anything else I can help you with? Okay, you have a good rest of the day!”
For repeat-customer business calls I usually say “Well, sounds good! I’ll be in touch, alright?” then they say bye and I say bye.
Also, since I am the one they are buying from I will alternatively use my customer-service speak of “Alright, looks like we have everything. You have a good day!” and then they say bye and I say bye.
If they’re sending me an email (or informing me that someone else will be) with any information after the call has ended I’ll say “Alright, got it. I’ll keep an eye out for that email.” and depending on their response I’ll get to say bye or use the “Have a good day!” line before the bye.
My setup basically consists of something that states we’ve discussed everything, and then a segue into what will be done in the future or a nice wish-you-well. “We’ll be in touch” is my best catch-all - works on everything but a final call. I usually use the “have a nice day” on the tougher customers (and always if I’m ordering from someone else). Seems to make them happy.
It’s only awkward when there is silence. Take control of the situation and just end the discussion by saying “thank you - have a good day, Bye.”
I facilitate a lot of conference calls in any given week. At the end of these calls, my habit is to review the decisions and next steps, then ask around if anyone has anything else, then I say “OK, thanks for your time today. Have a good afternoon”, or something along those lines. People do not want the awkward silence, so take charge and don’t let it appear.
Bored now.
Actually, this is something I have trouble with too, especially over IM or Skype. “I’m not really going anywhere; I just want to do something else now,” is difficult to make sound polite, and I’m a terrible at making up excuses.
Of course, the TV/Movie face-to-face conversation is slightly different.
1- Saying nothing, with a slightly hostile look on your face, maintain direct eye contact for five-ten seconds longer than anyone ever would in real life; then
Most of my goodbyes are over the phone (and there are damn few of those), and I usually initiate them by saying, “Well, I’d better go [do something like feed the chickens] now.” Maybe because I don’t have a job, people seem reluctant to let me off the phone unless they know I’m doing something useful.
If I do get cornered into a face-to-face conversation, it’s fairly effective to say, after a little small talk, “Well, it was wonderful to see you! Goodbye.”
I used to sit next to a guy in my old call center who ended every call with “Have a good rest of your day!” Say that out loud. That is not natural phrasing. “Enjoy the rest of your day!” is a much less awkward way to express the same sentiment. Please use it, because that guy drives everyone nuts.
