English Listening Practice: How to Describe and Introduce Services in English

Now, let's listen to Emily Hamilton describe the services she provides as an events planner for Northwest Events. Hi, I'm Emily Hamilton. I work with a company in Seattle called Northwest Events. We provide event planning services for all kinds of events, but we specialize in corporate events. Basically, we offer full service events planning. Some smaller companies want to do most of the work themselves, but they need some ideas, so we provide consulting. We make recommendations and offer advice for a fee, of course. But most people want us to do everything. We do the setup and the cleanup ourselves. We also work with several partners so we coordinate all of those suppliers, the flowers, the food, the band, the sound equipment, the tech support. We also offer special programs like icebreakers or team building. Our services don't include transportation, though. We handle any problem that comes up. If the microphone isn't working, we have someone fix it right away. If there aren't enough handouts, we get someone to take care of it. It happens. We handle things like that all the time. So what we really provide is peace of mind.

Now, listen to Emily describe her services again. Read the items on the screen. Which ones does Emily's company do? Hi, I'm Emily Hamilton. I work with a company in Seattle called Northwest Events. We provide event planning services for all kinds of events, but we specialize in corporate events. Basically, we offer full service events planning. Some smaller companies want to do most of the work themselves, but they need some ideas. So we provide consulting. We make recommendations and offer advice for a fee, of course. But most people want us to do everything. We do the setup and the cleanup ourselves. We also work with several partners so we coordinate all of those suppliers. The flowers, the food, the band, the sound equipment, the tech support. We also offer special programs like icebreakers or team building. Our services don't include transportation, though. We handle any problem that comes up. If the microphone isn't working, we have someone fix it right away. If they're on to that handout, we get someone to take care of it. It happens. We handle things like that all the time. So what we really provide is peace of mind.

These are the things that Emily talked about. Now let's look more closely at the language she uses to describe her service. You'll see that there are some common words and phrases that you can use when you describe a service. When you describe a service, you are telling the customer what you do. So the verbs you choose are important. The words in this lesson are useful to describe all kinds of services from hair salons to construction projects. A good description starts with a general overview of the service. We often use the verb provide or offer. Someone might ask about your company. What does your company do? We provide full service events planning. We offer tech support at conferences. Think back to the beginning of the lesson. You thought about the services you use every day. What general service do they provide or offer? Can you think of a sentence to describe one of the services you often use? A company might offer many different things, but they may do one thing very well. That means they specialize. Let's imagine a travel agency. This travel agency sells tours and cruises all over the world, but the place they know really well is the Caribbean. That means that they specialize in that area. The company specializes in one thing. They do or know that thing well. It should be part of the service description. If you specialize, mention that. We specialize in Caribbean travel. We specialize in corporate events.

You also want to include details about your service. To describe details about what you do, use action verbs like do or make. We do the setup and cleanup. We make deliveries within the city. When you are responsible for something, especially something difficult, you can use manage or handle. We manage all the travel details. We handle the registration for the event. When you are responsible for making several different things work together, you can use the word coordinate. We coordinate with all of the suppliers. If you have free items, you should say that in your description. You can use the word free, but complementary is a more professional word. You can also use this with the words offer and provide. Edgewater Hotel offers complementary shuttle service to nearby shopping areas. We provide free airport pickup. In this situation, we don't usually use the word give. Provide and offer sounds professional, but give does not.

You should include a statement of what is included or not included in a service. You can use the word include or you can use the word cover, which is similar. It means include as part of something bigger. The fee does not include tips to servers. The registration includes lunch. The service contract does not cover service on weekends. Your insurance covers any damage to the equipment. Sometimes you may work with an outside company to provide a service for you. A customer may want to know if you do the work or if another company does the work for you. If you do the work yourself, you can use the word ourselves at the end of the sentence. We do the setup and cleanup ourselves. If someone else does the work for you, you should mention that. You can use phrases like this. We have someone fix it right away. We get someone to take care of it. These two phrases mean the same thing, but they are different in two ways. The structures are a little different. With have, we use just the verb. With get, we use two plus the verb. And get is more informal than have.