Business Etiquette

Chinese business etiquette is closely linked with country's culture and its history. In this article we will try to explain the philosophical base of Chinese business etiquette. It is necessary for better understanding your Chinese partners and for evaluation of their behaviour. Confucianism and Taoism are the two main philosophical sects in China, which have had an impact on the Chinese way of doing business for centuries, and nowadays still have been influencing and remain important. Interpersonal relationships are the main core in Confucianism. And nowadays it has a great influence on Chinese mentality and social behaviour. One of the most important aspect of Confucianism is mutual respect and interpersonal trust in society. There are two main doctrines that have an impact on business negotiations: hierarchical social relations and the concept of saving face. Confucianism defines the hierarchical relationships in society as follows: Managers and followers, father and son,...

Two of my passions in life are sales and golf, so why not mix business with pleasure? Those of you who are golf fanatics and business men (and women), and you know who you are, probably already know and understand the subtle nuances that the game of golf has in common with the sales process. The first obvious advantage of taking business associates, customers and prospects on a golf outing is that you can have a captive audience for the 4-5 hours, not including downing a few cold ones in the club house after the round. There is no more acceptable excuse in the business world for spending that amount of time together with your customers than a round of golf. More and more business people are taking up the game and as the average age of this generation of baby boomers continues to age, golf is becoming more and more popular. If you haven't taken up the game yet, you might consider investing in a few lessons just in case. One of the worse things you can do is invite a big cu...

Etiquettes make a person richer than anyone else. The previous statement is applicable in the bingo halls. What bingo etiquettes mean is the conduct you might always want to hold in any bingo hall no matter if it's in a live mode or online mode. This gives you an advantage over you fellow players as it shows you differently. The following bingo tips help you maintain a more appropriate etiquette while playing the game. Pipe Down Silence has its own virtue and hence you should always pipe down at the very moment the caller is about to start the game. Watch out for lucky seats Always make sure that you don't grab someone's luck seat and if you ever do so and you are requested to move you must make sure that you get along with the request. Don't be a parrot Some players have a habit of repeating the numbers as soon as the caller calls them. As they think they might be able to concentrate more with this practice but at the same time it might be very disturbing for the ...

Accessible Businesses and Why It Doesn't Make Sense Not to Be One Did you know, according to the US census figures, that one in 5 people America has a disability? And that the number is expected to increase as the current population develops age-related disabilities? Did you know that in America alone people with disabilities have $175 billion in discretionary income, according to the US Department of Labour? Accessible businesses will be the ones getting those dollars. You need to start thinking about your business and accessibility, because you can't afford not to get a piece of that pie! Disabilities? Accessibility? When business owners hear "disabilities" and "accessibility", they automatically start thinking about wheelchairs and costly renovations like ramps and elevators. You might want to consider making these things a part of your business space as you can afford them, as a space that's accessible for customers in wheelchairs is also access...

Your generation has grown up knowing how to use computers. Email and text messages are the most common form of communication for you and likely most of your peers. Written electronic correspondence is convenient, unobtrusive, and so frequently used that the overarching tone of most messages is quite informal and conversational. This is fine if you are communicating with friends, but as you enter the professional world, there will be different expectations of formality that you would do well to apply to your email correspondence. Read on for more advice on email etiquette for young professionals. - Be punctual. The best way to show a person that you respect their time is to answer their messages promptly. All of your friends deserve the courtesy of having their messages answered quickly, and business contacts, by nature, demand it. - Address all of the questions asked in your reply. Be sure that your response is thorough and relevant. - Check your spelling and grammar. Most email p...

One of the hardest obstacles we encounter when we perform our home base business is making it seem that we are not working in the business from home. Specifically, when customers call and in same room your kids are screaming aloud in the background, pets barking or timers going off for cooking and laundry, it does not look really professional in business. So how can we perform our home base business in a professional way? Tip # 1 : Arrange etiquette rules in your family about your home based businesses. It is important to separate time between your business and your family as well as to allocate time for both wisely. They are important and cannot be mixed up. When you are in your office doing home based businesses, then your kids should not be there especially during meeting with clients. Limit some spaces or areas for which can be entered during office hours and, which cannot. Tip # 2: Setup a professional website with a purchased domain name. It is a bad idea to have a free webs...

Twitter Now Worth $4 Billion Twitter's market value has reached 4 billion, according to SharesPost, a secondary market for buying and selling stock in privately held companies. Many business owners are wondering if they should tweet or not tweet. That is the question on a lot of small business owners minds. Some entrepreneurs using Twitter for business have discovered that it is a powerful way to engage customers and build a community. For others, tweeting sucks up a lot of time and has not increased revenues. The fact is, most small business owners do not know how to utilize Twitter to grow revenues, engage clients, and grow their brand. Many entrepreneurs simply produce and promote spam, while others are online and engage too much. How do you find the balance? Twitter Is a Social Tool Think of Twitter as a place to 'chat' about business - It is a social tool. Twitter is a powerful tool to market and really engage with fans and customers. You can respond in real-time ...

It would be very nice if eating out were free. In reality, someone must pay for the dinner as well as the tip to the servers. Paying the bill and leaving the right tip are very often an area of concern or confusion. This should never turn what was a delightful dinner into a quagmire or uncomfortable scene. In general, if you are invited by someone out to dinner, that person intends to pay the bill. The tides begin to turn, though, when groups of people decide to dine out together. In this case, the rule is that each person, or couple, is responsible for their portion of the bill and tip. The expression traditionally used is "Going Dutch". It sometimes gets a little tricky- especially when each person's math skills may be a little shaky. Sometimes a person will add up what they had using the prices on the menu- but fail to consider the sales tax. Without a calculator, it is difficult to figure your portion of the sales tax. You most definitely do not want to come acro...

Twitter is a website which offers social media networking and microblogging. Twitter users send out "tweets" which is basically a 140 character response to "what are you doing?" Tweeters can also attach pictures and videos to their tweets, making them much more personal. According to Computerworld, as of July 2010, there were 75 million twitter users with a growth rate of 7.8 million new users per month. Twitter Etiquette There is some etiquette associated with the twitter microblogging platform. Whenever you acquire a new follower, it is customary to follow them back. It is also customary to send them a direct message thanking them for following you. One of the biggest "twitter taboos" is to send your new follower a direct message with an affiliate link or a link to your website. If they are interested in you, trust me, they with click on your website in your profile to find out more about you. Adding a link to your thank you DM is like shoving you...

People need to communicate in business to succeed. The better communication, the more likely it is that the contact will be signed, the account secured, or the partnership sealed. Through increased technology, we have become a global business society, and we know that we need language intelligence to move forward, and one language that is growing rapidly in the business community is Spanish. More people are doing business in Spanish than ever before, and more business people are learning Spanish because of it. There are several excellent online sites that will help you to learn business Spanish. Often, the online programs have business language sections available, but it is increasingly common to find entire websites devoted only to this topic. One of the best sites is simply called Business Spanish. It is filled with every category of Spanish that is used in business, and you can access all sort of online resources for learning quickly. Some of the pages include topics such as bu...

Today, with text messaging, email, social networks, and IM, most of us could go days or weeks without ever picking up and phone and still be in constant contact with friends and family. Some people are even actually scared of making phone calls or picking up the phone as a result. If the phone makes you nervous, then I'm sorry to say you probably need to learn to get over it. The music business is one of relationships, and that means a lot of emails, a lot of meetings, and a lot of phone calls. Here are some tips on how to make it easier. Make Sure You Know How to Use It Try to learn how to use the phones at your office as quickly as possible and get comfortable with it. You don't want to accidentally hang up on someone when you're trying to answer a call or, even worse, accidentally transfer an obnoxious guy calling to tell you that he's the next big thing, when you're trying to put him on hold. Actually knowing how to use the phone system will make you feel ...

There are literally hundreds of online forums these days and they can be extremely useful for anybody who runs an Internet business, providing you with the opportunity to make your name in your particular field and to attract visitors to your website. However, there are a few rules which are common to all forums and which you must follow if your are to succeed. 1. Do keep to the topic of the forum. Forums are designed as a meeting ground for like minded people and will normally cover a single topic or perhaps a small group of related topics. There is nothing which will upset members faster than posting content which is off topic. 2. Do include all of the necessary information in your posts. Whether you are asking or answering a question make things easy for forum members but including all of the necessary information in your posts. There is nothing worse that incomplete posts which then get dragged out by members having to ask for further details or for clarification. 3. Do be n...

Etiquette rules regarding seating in a car on social occasions are different from seating in business situation. The social rules for car travel are especially important when a man is opening the door for a woman and when couples are seated in a car. Savvy individuals who wish to climb the ladder of success know the rules and carefully adhere to them. In social situations, good manners require a well-bred man to assist a lady into the car from the curb side before walking around the car to let himself in. Ladies, everyone knows you can open your own doors, but some of you are missing the point. Before 5:00 p.m., you can be a lioness in the office. After 5:00 p.m., however, you might do well to lighten up, turn yourself into a kitty cat, and stop robbing your man of his manhood. Men, don't be clueless! Being attentive is a subtlety not lost on a classy woman. Even a simple gesture such as opening the car door for her sends a message that you believe she is worth being treated l...

1) You're hot, want to party? Please don't go there! It's a place of business, not a meat market. 2) Any sentence starting with "You should have..." This is usually the start of a long monologue in which the customer service representative explains why the customer is the cause of the problem at hand. For example, let's say that Joe ordered an item from your catalog. He entered the item number correctly and did not enter a description for the item. The pickers misread the item number (Joe doesn't have the best handwriting!) and shipped the wrong product. It's not helpful to tell Joe that he should have entered a description or written more neatly. Joe doesn't really want an explanation of what happened, he wants to have the product he ordered. What's a better way to handle this? Be cheerful and friendly about exchanging the product and making sure Joe is satisfied. Once Joe is happy, you can easily suggest that it would help you avoid thes...

When you have a conference call rather it is from business to business, or business to an employee at home or abroad conducting business, it is important that the conference calling experience is productive and smooth sailing. No matter what role you play in the conference call, it is necessary that you maintain the proper etiquette for conference calls. Before we get into the conference call etiquette, let us look at some of the things that could go wrong as a result of a bad conference call. You might not believe it, but there are many. Here are some repercussions of a conference call gone bad: Morale - If the proper etiquette is not followed, it might create some bad feelings between workers. You might find that it is harder to work with these employees as a result. Many people expect that their conference call will run with complete smoothness, no interruptions, and productivity, otherwise it is a complete waste of their time and yours. Missed Deadlines - If there are constant...

Italy is a place of alpine forests and magnificent mountains. It is a beautiful country in Southern Europe and boasts a variety of enchanting environment and culture. If you are about to travel and engage business in Italy, you need to learn few Italian business etiquettes that will make you belong in their community and help you become a trustworthy person to work with. To have a successful business visit in Italy, there are things that you need to keep in mind: People in Italy are generally warm and friendly. They speak Italian although most business people can speak English. Most of them love to hear foreigners speaking their own language so better learn a few Italian words before your visit. Italians are fond of greeting each other through handshake and smile. For a formal introduction, you can give them your calling card so they can call you by name. They usually call you by your first name. Always establish a good business rapport and do not rush into negotiations or disc...

Business etiquette never goes out of fashion. It is not a strategy but a fundamental rule on which your business should be based. Good manners reflect your upbringing and character. As in the other walks of life good manners are essential for any business. Your rudeness could prevent you from clinching that order you desperately want. Good manners include your grooming, politeness and the way you conduct yourself. Your cultivation of good manners will make you to approach people with greater confidence.   As you would never know when you would meet a potential client, be prepared always. Neatly combed hair, good tidy dress and a good pair of shoes are a must. Unkempt hair and dirty shoes signify carelessness. Good manners, civility and politeness are an integral part of any business. Most people are prepared to take their business elsewhere if they are treated badly.   You should always create a good first impression on the person you are meeting. As it is said first...

Going to gym has become party of modern lifestyle. It is a way to get much-needed exercise after a whole day of sitting at work. So if you've been going to gym for some time now, you probably have a routine and some useful techniques. But your gym subscription carries more responsibility than just paying your dues every month. That's right; there are etiquette you need to observe to make the experience pleasant for everyone at the gym. Let's examine the important gym etiquette you should follow below: Handling the Equipment While you can exercise at home, most people prefer to go to gym. They want to take advantage of sophisticated equipment that will tone different parts of their body. Are you making use of these equipments properly? • Don't hog the equipment - sharing is mandatory in a gym. Don't sit on certain machines for extended lengths of time if there are people waiting to take their turn. Just do your set, rest, repeat, and move on. • Wipe the machine ...

Every time that your business telephone rings, there is an opportunity to build or damage a customer relationship. When an existing or prospective customer calls your company, the way that you address him or her plays a major role in whether or not the outcome of the conversation will be positive or negative. No matter who answers the telephone in your business, that person's words and actions form the basis of your company's image among people who call your company. Regardless of the type of business you have, it's important that you and every member of your team observe these basic telephone etiquette tips for professionals at all times. 1. Use The Equipment Properly Don't let new employees work the phones without first training with you or other experienced employees. Even if you've hired someone with years of multi-line telephone experience, you need to spend some time making sure that your new hire knows the ins and outs of how your system works. If not, ...

Building and maintaining strong business relationships is the key to success. While keys are designed to unlock doors, in the modern workplace, doors are about as scarce as good manners. It is estimated that over 40 million North Americans work in open environments. That is, of course, a nice way of saying cubicles. And while, cubicles may not have doors, they can act as barriers to strong working relationships. Corporations have embraced cubicles because saving space saves money. And in these times of constant restructuring, it is also useful to have workspaces that are easy, fast and relatively inexpensive to reconfigure. This also comes in handy when projects and teams are fluid. Another touted benefit of cubicles is the ease of collaboration between colleagues, but where there is ease of collaboration it is also easy to have confrontation and complaints. This anger and grumbling is primarily a result of the more frequent interruptions and lack of privacy that go with the open ...

A good handshake can make or break your first impression. A proper handshake is inevitable for having a great personality. In order to grow into a successful individual, one needs to focus on manners and etiquette. Here are a list of things that will ensure that will help your personality development and help you make a great impression with your handshake. 1. Stand when you shake your hands: This may seem simple and obvious, but there are people who mess this up by offering a hand while sitting down or while walking. Always make sure you stand still when you shake hands. 2. Make eye-contact and smile before you shake hands: It is always advisable to make good eye-contact and offer a pleasant smile before you shake hands. These convey that you really are pleased to meet the person you are shaking hands with. 3. Don't have sweaty palms when you shake hands: Always ensure that you have clean, dry palms before you shake hands. If you anticipate meeting new people, it is always ad...

We all witnessed the fiasco that was United Airlines vs. Dave Carroll - and we all saw just how social media can impact business. It really put the whole array of social networking tools squarely in the mainstream discussions of business owners and entrepreneurs. In the months following that, a whole lot has been written from self-proclaimed business gurus to internationally known media critics. My take here is a basic, nuts and bolts, plain English breakdown from a nerd/business owner. Before we get to the plan, we need to define "Social Media". At its core, social media is a category or range of tools (including websites and widgets) that allow their users to connect with each other to share information or files. Just like connecting with people face to face, there are rules (etiquette) that differ from community to community and from social group to social group. If you go to a business networking event to eat the food and race through the room handing out your busine...

Giving out business gifts is a great way to build goodwill towards the company. A good choice of business gift reflects a professional image for the company and leaves a positive and long-lasting impression of the company. Such gifts are an ideal way to show appreciation to employees, partners, clients and customers who have been loyal to you. A good choice business gift is memorable. Appropriateness of the gift should be according to the purpose, the budge, and the benefits supplied by the recipient. Inappropriate gifts will do more harm than good. Be sure to follow protocol whenever engaging in this activity. Do not give away gifts without a proper reason behind it. When selecting, focus more on the quality rather than quantity. Choose items that your receiver will find useful. The more useful the gift is, the more likely it is that they will use them.You should also consider the etiquette and policies of the company during the selection process. Remember, there are some compani...

Companies today insist on certain technological standards for their workforce because companies are legally and ethically responsible for all of the information that comes from their computers, fax machines, Blackberries, cell phones, etc. But beyond legal compliance issues, to create true credibility in business your techno-etiquette skills must match or exceed your personal etiquette skills when dealing with people. People judge your character by the levels of civility and basic manners you demonstrate during any face-to face interactions as well as the technological interactions they have with you. For example, you may have impeccable etiquette skills when you are with people and you may treat all people with dignity and respect when they are in your presence. However, if you fail to return phone calls or emails or if you forward someone a barrage of inappropriate jokes with uninvited attachments via email, your character will be in question, and you will risk being deemed a su...

Giving gifts has been a customary practice when thanking a boss or colleague for providing a good professional assistance, or want to show gratitude towards employees for a job well done. However, it is not just picking anything that is available on the shelf, for it is always best to follow etiquette when giving thank you gifts to a business associate. Below are the courtesies that will help you come up with appropriate thank you gifts. These ways will let your recipient know that you are sincere and appreciative, and you want to strengthen the positive reputation in the workplace. Budget Limit If your company has rules and regulations on giving gifts within the workplace, particularly on the price limit, make sure you know it and follow it. That way, you will avoid awkwardness of sending too expensive present that may create questionable impression to your recipient, as well as to colleagues who seen the token. Make sure to confirm it with the Human Resource of your company befo...

As technology continues to wrap us in her motherly arms, the growing use of the text message or SMS brings with it an etiquette similar to common table manners. While text messaging offers the freedom of delayed response time and fast communication, text messaging women can often push the wrong buttons. Here are some guidelines when texting or receiving SMS in a relationship. 1. Night time is for sleeping. You wouldn't call her home phone in the middle of the night and neither should you text. Given that most text message alerts are loud enough to wake a person, respect her lifestyle. A text on random Tuesday morning at 2 am is not cool. The late night SMS will make you look desperate and needy. 2. Don't say anything that you wouldn't say in person. Similar to emails, the intonation and emotion in a text can be read incorrectly. Be careful using capitals and symbols- they can easily be keyed in the the wrong way and misunderstood. A smile and frown are only one button ...

Back in 2006, a young woman named Karolyn wrote to me and said, "I am new to writing and am thinking about joining a writers group, forum, or message board. I don't want to step on toes, what's the etiquette for such groups?" It's been nearly six years since she asked that question, but the answer I gave her back then still applies today. Each writing group has its own set of rules so be sure to check the membership guidelines. Most memberships guidelines are posted somewhere in the forum itself. If you can't locate a set of guidelines, don't be afraid to ask the moderator. A few rules of thumb: 1. Always post private replies or simple praises and thank yous off list. 2. Always sign your name at the end of an email or post. 3. Keep your taglines short. Your tagline is the two to three sentence blurb under your name. It tells others about your product, service, or website. 4. Always change the heading of each post to match the topic of your discussion....