‘Oh my god. I had no idea.’

‘Oh my god. I had no idea.’
This is something I heard several times a day in my English Confidence Boo(s)tcamp last week.

The day was full of awesome people who were willing to take a deep dive with me into the wonderful world of grammar, pronunciation, writing skills and vocabulary development.

This is what I read in the evaluations afterwards:

“I know now how to soften my language to sound more polite. I had no idea how my message was ok for Dutch people but was so direct for my British clients.”

“Now I know how to use the grammar to add to my message. I was mixing up all the structures and now it’s so much clearer!’

“This is the confidence boost I needed, I had so many questions about how to say things and now I know just what to do!”

“There was never a dull moment- it was the Fast and the Furious, Buffi-style! Your jokes made everything so much fun!”

“I liked that we could learn something and then activate it right away. We had to practise what we learned and it now is more natural for me.”

If you’d like to work on your Business English, I have an advanced program coming up in April. This is what we are going to work on in my Taking Care of Business Masterclass on April 11 and 12:

1. Expanding your vocabulary so that you don’t use the same words and phrases over and over again. It’s boring for you and boring for your contacts. Believe me, you can do better. I’ll show you how to triple your vocabulary and develop strategies for remembering all those new words.
2. Using high-impact and high-energy language to not only GET people’s attention, but KEEP their attention. Functional language is not going to get you through sales, marketing, promotion, client relations, or social media. We expect something more interesting, but if you don’t have the vocabulary to do that, your message will fall flat every time.
3. Focussing on the different degrees of formality so that you can strike the right tone at the right time. I’ll walk you through 10 different levels of formality. Chances are, you’re only using 3 of them now. And guess what? This is why English people say that the Dutch are ‘arrogant’, ‘aggressive’ and ‘direct’. What works in a Dutch communication style will NOT be parallel in English.We expect a different style and you have to deliver.
4. Developing your writing style so that you can ALWAYS keep the door of communication open in order to keep your clients and colleagues connecting with you. The Dutch style does not always take this into account. You’ll see how if you change your writing style, you’ll get different responses and this will lead to better communication, a deeper connection, and and much better business!
5. Learning how to activate all the words in your head. You understand a LOT. But you cannot use all those words that you UNDERSTAND in a spontaneous, accurate, or natural way. You need to think too much about which word you need which slows down communication and leads to frustration. My coaching approach breaks this wide open and forces you to activate your passive knowledge.
6. We will also work on the phrases you NEED to know in order to have a successful negotiation session, chair a meeting, disagree or ask others for consensus, and so much more. English people expect you to be able to play the game according to their rules. The problem is, if you don’t know the rules, you’ll break them every time without realising it. I’ll explain the cultural aspect and expectations behind the language, so that you can speak and write with flair and confidence.

Oh, and this is just day 1.  🙂 You can imagine how much fun day 2 is going to be!

I’d love it if you joined me on April 11 and 12. It’s the last event I’ll be doing like this for the rest of the year. We’ve already sold quite a lot of tickets, and space is very limited. You can grab your spot here. You (and your colleagues and clients) can thank me later! 😉

See you soon!
X buffi

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