Business Collocations You Must Know

Introduction to Business Collocations

If you need to write emails, present to clients/customers, or speak confidently in meetings, the fastest win is mastering business collocations that English speakers actually use.

Collocations are words that naturally go together (for example, meet a deadline, hold a meeting, gain market share). Using them makes your language sound accurate, fluent, and professional.

I've prepared this guide to give you a practical English collocations list for the workplace, grouped by function and supported with short, realistic sentences.

A printable PDF list is available at the end so you can revise quickly before interviews or presentations.

‍

How to use this guide

• Learn by theme. Each section focuses on everyday business tasks (meetings, projects, finance, strategy, HR, risk).
• Copy the pattern. Memorise the whole phrase (reach a target, raise capital) and substitute the nouns or numbers.
• Say it out loud. Read the model sentence and change the tense or subject for quick speaking practice.
• Build a personal list. Save 10–15 high-value collocations you will use this week.

Meetings & Communication

Essential meeting collocations

• hold a meeting — We’ll hold a meeting on Tuesday to review Q4.
• chair a meeting — Sara will chair the meeting and share the agenda.
• set the agenda — Please set the agenda by this afternoon.
• circulate minutes — I’ll circulate the minutes after the call.
• reach a consensus — The team reached a consensus on timelines.
• raise a point / concern — Feel free to raise a concern during Q&A.
• postpone / reschedule a meeting — We need to reschedule the meeting for Friday.
• take questions — We’ll take questions at the end.

Professional email & call collocations

• attach a document — I’ve attached the document for your approval.
• follow up on — I’m following up on the proposal we discussed.
• cc / copy someone in — Could you cc the legal team?
• schedule a call — Let’s schedule a call for tomorrow morning.

‍

Projects & Delivery

Planning and progress

• draft a plan — We’ll draft a plan for the pilot phase.
• set milestones — Let’s set clear milestones for each sprint.
• allocate resources — Finance will allocate resources next week.
• manage stakeholders — We need to manage stakeholders from day one.
• meet a deadline — We must meet the deadline for the launch.
• miss a deadline — We risk missing the deadline without support.
• track progress — Use the dashboard to track progress daily.
• mitigate risk — We can mitigate the risk with backups.
• deliver results — The team delivered strong results in Q3.

Improvement & optimisation

• streamline a process — We’ll streamline the process to reduce costs.
• implement changes — IT will implement the changes overnight.
• conduct a review — Let’s conduct a review after the sprint.
• address an issue — We should address this issue before go-live.

‍

Finance, Sales & Marketing

Finance collocations

• raise capital — The start-up aims to raise capital this quarter.
• control costs — We must control costs across all teams.
• increase revenue — The campaign helped increase revenue by 15%.
• improve cash flow — Renegotiated terms improved cash flow.
• forecast earnings — We’ll forecast earnings for FY25 next week.
• report a profit / loss — They reported a profit in Q2.

Sales & marketing collocations

• launch a product — We launched a new product in May.
• gain market share — The brand gained market share in Asia.
• build brand awareness — We aim to build brand awareness on social media.
• generate leads — The webinar generated high-quality leads.
• close a deal — The team closed a major deal with a retailer.
• hit sales targets — We hit our sales targets ahead of schedule.

‍

Strategy & Leadership

Planning and decisions

• set a vision — Leadership set a clear vision for the next year.
• define a strategy — We must define a strategy for international growth.
• align objectives — Let’s align objectives across departments.
• allocate budget — We allocated budget to the innovation team.
• evaluate options — We’ll evaluate options before investing.
• make an informed decision — Data helps us make informed decisions.

Culture and performance

• provide feedback — Managers provide regular feedback to staff.
• recognise achievement — We’ll recognise achievements at the all-hands.
• foster collaboration — The office design fosters collaboration.
• drive innovation — The lab is designed to drive innovation.
• ensure compliance — We must ensure compliance with policy.

‍

HR, Hiring & Training

Recruitment & onboarding

• post a vacancy — We’ll post a vacancy for a data analyst.
• shortlist candidates — HR will shortlist candidates by Friday.
• conduct an interview — We’ll conduct interviews next week.
• extend an offer — They extended an offer after the final round.
• negotiate a package — She negotiated the package successfully.
• onboard new staff — We onboard new staff every Monday.

Learning & development

• deliver training — We’ll deliver training on the new system.
• build skills — The course helps build leadership skills.
• set objectives — Managers set objectives in Q1.
• review performance — We review performance twice a year.

‍

Risk, Legal & Operations

Risk and compliance

• assess risk — Audit will assess the risk of delays.
• adhere to regulations — We must adhere to regulations at all times.
• issue a warning — The regulator issued a warning last month.
• file a claim — Legal will file a claim if required.

Operational collocations

• run an operation — The centre runs 24/7 operations.
• handle enquiries — Support handles customer enquiries quickly.
• process refunds / orders — Finance processes refunds within 5 days.
• meet safety standards — All sites meet safety standards.

‍

Quick Reference

High-value verb + noun

• make progress, a decision, an offer, a profit
• take action, responsibility, minutes, a position
• give feedback, notice, approval, evidence
• reach an agreement, a target, a milestone, consensus
• raise capital, awareness, prices, an issue
• cut costs, waste, lead times, paperwork

Adjective + noun for formal writing

• robust process | strategic priority | sustainable growth | measurable impact
• competitive advantage | fair price | annual report | confidential information

‍

Conclusion

‍

Strong, natural phrases make professional English easier to produce under pressure. Start by selecting 15 collocations you’ll use this week, then recycle them in emails and meetings. Keep building your English collocations list and revisit this page before important presentations.

Download the printable Business Collocations PDF to revise on the go 👇

Glossary Section

• collocation (n.) — words that commonly appear together (e.g., meet a deadline).
• stakeholder (n.) — a person or group affected by a company’s decisions.
• milestone (n.) — a key point or achievement in a project.
• KPI (n.) — Key Performance Indicator; a number used to measure success.
• compliance (n.) — following rules and regulations.
• cash flow (n.) — money moving in and out of a business.
• market share (n.) — a company’s percentage of sales in a market.
• consensus (n.) — general agreement among a group.
• streamline (v.) — make a process simpler and more efficient.
• allocate (v.) — give resources or money to a specific purpose.

‍

Practice What You Learned

Questions

1. Multiple choice: Which collocation is most natural?
   A) do a decision  B) make a decision  C) create a decision  D) take a decision on the desk
2. True/False: Gain market share means losing customers to the competition.
3. Short answer: Write a sentence with reach a consensus (team topic: budget).
   (Model answer varies.)
4. Multiple choice: Which is the best collocation for “reduce expenses”?
   A) cut costs  B) drop finances  C) kill spend  D) remove budget
5. Gap fill:
   “We should ______ the process to reduce delays.” (streamline / underline / headline)

‍

‍

Answers

1. B — make a decision
2. False — it means you win a bigger percentage of the market.
3. Example: The team reached a consensus to increase the training budget.
4. A — cut costs
5. streamline