Business Etiquette

A few weeks ago, I asked YOU, my loyal readers, to share your image, etiquette, and communication questions with me. So let's begin with a question I receive quite often. Jill wrote, "I would like to know more about where to sit at a table with my boss and a prospective client during a business meal, as well as at a conference table or in a private office for a meeting." Two items are at play here. First, we have a prospective client for whom we would like to create a comfortable environment. Secondly, we have a boss whose seniority should be acknowledged and respected. So how do we do that? Let's tackle the seniority portion of this question first. Traditionally, the head of the table at the end farthest from the door is the "power perch." At business meetings, it is reserved for the most senior person present. The two other important positions would be the seat to the right of the power perch followed by the seat to the left of the power perch. If it ...

Because of the many layoffs that are occurring throughout the business world, many people are having to polish up on their interview etiquette. Although it sounds quite simple to be on your best behavior, many people mess up their interview because of poor etiquette. The reasons could be anything. Some people just get too nervous that they forget what they are supposed to do. Other people are simply oblivious to how they are acting and do not see anything wrong with it. Many people offend their interviewer without even realizing it. To prevent all this from happening so you can land your next job, you have to follow a few tips. The first way to have good interview etiquette begins with your timing. You want to make sure you show up early for your interview. If you arrive earlier than 15 minutes, you should wait in your car or wait outside until at least 10 minutes before. The reason for this is because you have to be aware that the company set aside time in their busy schedule for...

There is nothing more personal than a card-in-hand! A business card is unique way of exchanging contact information and is usually used during sales calls and offer contact information to a potential customer. They are swapped during formal introductions and act as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card usually has the name of the person, company along with the logo, contact information, address and URL of the website. Business cards have traveled a long way from simple black text on white stock to a professionally designed one that features captivating visual design. For businessmen across the world they have become a sign of prestige and stand as a symbol of good business etiquette. In the age of globalization they have almost become a necessity. Imagine yourself sitting with 10-15 people. It's not easy to remember the names of all the persons present at the gathering, you need a card to serve the purpose. A recent trade research reveals that the business card print...

With the economy going down and down all over the world, more and more bold people are taking the initiative in starting their own business but unfortunately, only a minority are leveraging etiquette in their businesses. It looks as if when people step out of the corporate world to start their own business they forget about all the etiquette they learned for their jobs that kept them rising in the ranks. As a business owner, an entrepreneur or an individual looking to start your own business, never has it been very necessary for you to leverage the etiquette lessons you learned for your last job. The principles are practically the same. It is just a matter of making a conscious effort to tailor it now to suit you as a new business owner or entrepreneur. The best part about applying etiquette in your business is that it just keeps building your reputation and image and helps you to set yourself apart from the competition while building a respected brand that people trust and never ...

Competitors don't stand a chance when the goal is to put the word "service" back into customer service. Here's a guide on how to get there: HIRE SMILING FACES Good help may be hard to find but it shouldn't be at the expense of projecting a positive business image. Anyone that represents a company should communicate an upbeat attitude. The tone of the initial customer contact, either in person or by telephone, can make or break an impression. Psychologists agree that a smile can be "heard", even over the telephone. When a customer experiences a sour face or a curt tone, they may be reluctant to do business with a company. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS Excellent customer service providers know how to turn regular customers into loyal ones. It starts simply with extending basic courtesies to everyone. Unsolicited personal woes or long-winded anecdotes are off limits. Maintaining a pleasant business demeanor without appearing aloof is a sign of professionalism. S...

Professional etiquette has helped savvy business people to attain many great successes on their business including becoming the foremost authority in their field. The way you present yourself to your target market is how they will perceive you. Do you look the part you play in your business? Do you exhibit confidence, trust, the appropriate image and authority? How do you deal with difficult people who test your pulse? Are you accountable? Do you show a sense of commitment to both your business and your clients? There happens to be so much clutter in the business environment today in a way that potential clients just want to seek out those solution providers who stand out and proof to be the foremost authority in the industry. It is not enough to call yourself a leader, or to lash out all your credentials and experiences in your industry anymore. What you need as an entrepreneur is to have the personality and image of "The Foremost" person who exhibits the authority and ...

Well, you might ask yourself what is the relevance of understanding the silent service code? Did you know that most business deals are made while sharing a meal? How often do you have a business encounter with a potential employer or a prospective client? Not only do you have to be dressed appropriately for the occasion, which entails an entirely different set of guidelines, but it is best that you brush up on the ins and outs of proper table manners or otherwise known as dining etiquette skills. We all like a tool to help us remember the tricky things in life (like, i before e except after c). Here are 10 tips to help you make sure your lasting impression is one you can feel confident in for years to come. First: Think of the letters "BMW" when sitting down to a formal place setting. The great thing about this tool is that you can do it silently in your head and no one, but you know your valuable tool. B stands for bread, which is to the left of your plate; M represent...

How to write an Invitation: Dr. Joyce Knudsen (If both people in a relationship are Doctors, you would address them as Drs. Knudsen. (Host Name.) Requests the pleasure of your company (invitation phrase) at a dinner (type of party) in honor of Sharon Williams (who the party is for.) on Saturday, the second of July (day two thousand six (year) at eight o'clock (time) 2711 Sumnar Road. (location) RSVP Rpondez s'il vous plat ("reply, please") Formal Attire (special -000-0000 (where to reply) instructions) In a perfect world, your invitation should arrive three to four weeks prior to a lunch, dinner, or party. If the invitation is for an event lasting longer than a day, you should allow six months, especially if hotel and travel reservations need to be made. When replying to an invitation, you should respond as requested within a week (in our example, by calling the number listed) Sometimes, the invitation will include a response card which you will ...

Your success is directly related to your contacts, relationships and ability to communicate effectively. The measure of your achievements, and disappointments are directly related to your relationships. o Are you the kind of person you would want to work for? o How do your relationships affect your business? o How does your business affect your relationships? As an experienced family business coach I can attest to the fact that business 'and relationships are strongly connected. Without healthy boundaries in a family business, your relationships will suffer. I suggest to clients that there must be a time to work and a time to be a family. A family business coach can help you develop a plan that will be custom tailored for your unique situation. Good communication, comfortable working conditions and respect for one another is a winning threesome for any business. Mixing family and business can lead to disaster without boundaries. 1. Communication, Communication, Communication ...

If you have applied for a position recently, don't be surprised if you are asked to meet for a meal and interview. Why would employers take potential employees out to lunch or dinner? Many times it is because the workplace setting can get really hectic, so employers choose to find a more comfortable setting. And, much like the behavioral interview conducted in an office, it provides the perfect setting for an employer to assess a job candidate's social skills and how well they handle themselves in pressure situations. The breakfast, lunch, or dinner interview provides the interviewer with a chance to view, first hand, your interpersonal abilities, as well as your dining etiquette, all within a more informal environment. What You Should Wear Don't let the fact that you may be going to a less formal setting fool you. You should dress just as you would for an interview within an office. Black, gray, and blue are the preferred colors. Make sure your hands are well manicure...

How is Professional Etiquette in the Workplace different than in Graduate School? If you've just landed your first position after graduate school, you might be unsure of how exactly to behave in the professional world. However, you've probably already mastered most of these behaviors while you were in graduate school. In general, it's a good idea to act as you did in your interview until you get a feel for your coworkers and your office environment. After a few months, you will fit right in and know what is allowed by your superiors. Emulate a coworker who has found favor with your management, and avoid reflecting any behaviors that offend you or your boss. The most important things to consider in regards to professional etiquette are courtesy to others, confidence in yourself, and general politeness. Tips on Professional Etiquette in the Workplace: Conversation Intently listen to others when you are speaking to someone at work. Look them in the eye, and don't cons...

This is intended only as a primer on the very basics of etiquette in China, and it's decidedly slanted to a Western Male's point of view. With a little luck, when you arrive in China this will help you avoid severely embarrassing yourself, but trust me - you'll make many faux pas, and most of the time you'll be completely unaware that you've done so because it is not like the Chinese to point out to you any errors you've made. To do so would cause you to lose face, and the Chinese are very concerned neither to lose face themselves, nor to cause loss of face to others. Chinese Women will be particularly forgiving of your rude Western ways. Before moving on to specific areas of etiquette, here are some generalizations: 1. There are many different "cultures" in China (55 or 56 depending on what book you read) and many variations on specific areas of etiquette, but if your behaviour on any matter is acceptable to most of the Chinese cultures the other...

Social networking websites introduce people to new friends thus expanding their circles of online pals and even business acquaintances. But they are also introducing people to a number of important etiquette issues. Some people haven't figured out out how to be polite in this situation, though truthfully, some people still don't have a clue about telephone, email or cell phone etiquette. In any case, if you want to elevate your Internet social graces on social networking websites, here are a few tips. 1. No Insults: If you're ever in the mood to badmouth someone, zip it, instead! Humiliating someone on open forums such as social networking websites is not very cool; it's actually pretty immature and will only serve to make you look silly. If someone tries to bully you into engaging in an online spitting match, your best bet is to just ignore them. 2. Moderate Communications: Don't over do it when it comes to communicating with your network. People who constantl...

In many businesses, the first customer interaction comes through the phone. So what kind of first impression are you making? Train Employees . It seems simple enough, but you should make sure that every employee is answering the phone in an appropriate manner. This includes having a positive tone, being polite and helpful, and identifying the business properly. It might also include answering before a designated number of rings or stating something about a current promotion. Something as simple as, "Thank you for calling ACME, this is Jim speaking. How may I help you?" would help to avoid possible problems. Write down the proper greeting and post it by every phone. Have a direct conversation with each employee to make them aware of this greeting and its importance. Make sure that proper phone etiquette is understood as a job responsibility shared by anyone who uses the phone. In time it should become a force of habit-but this is one habit the business owner must carefu...

One of the most important, if not the most important factor in determining the chances of success in any business or professional activities is the ability to behave properly with people. Even in the early 1930s Dale Carnegie observed that the success of a man in his financial affairs, even in the technical field or engineering are fifteen percent dependent on his professional knowledge and eighty-five percent on his ability to communicate with people. In this context it is easy to explain the attempts of many researchers to formulate and justify the basic principles of ethical business communication or, as they are often called, the commandments of personal public relation or "business etiquette". Business etiquette or the process of survival and succeeding in the business world could be explained in the following six basic principles: Punctuality (do everything on time). Delays affect the work and are a sign that a person cannot be relied upon. The principle to do e...

Here are my three easy to follow email etiquette rules, I just love it, etiquette for email - well relax, it is not all that bad. Rule #1 Be yourself and have a little fun as well as being direct Friendly, funny or light hearted emails that offer valuable information or enjoyable entertainment without taking ages to get around to the business at hand can jump off the screen, sales pitch or not. Lets face it, from an internet marketing point of view, your subscribers are expecting to receive emails from you and your job is to deliver, so why not correspond in a natural, fun loving and in the end straight to the point style. Rule #2 Limit your word count and avoid your subscribers leaving in droves As a rule of thumb any email that takes longer than 60 seconds to read is getting into dangerous territory. Focus is fleeting but can be maximised with a great subject line, brief introduction, short aside or bridge builder and a pointed call to action. When positioning an email I always ...

The days of dining by plucking fruit from trees and roasting small animals over the fire, eating with fingers, and perhaps fighting with others over the scraps are long gone. Or are they? More and more we swing our car through the drive-in, grab our food from the window, and proceed to eat with our fingers, so perhaps you need a brush-up on the basics of formal - shall we say "civilized" dining - before the great Thanksgiving feast. Rules of civilized dining evolved because, according to Margaret Visser ("Rituals of Dinner"), "animals are slaughtered and consumed, the guest-host relationship is ... a complicated interweaving of the imposition of obligation and the suspension of hostility, and the ordinary table knife is related to actual weapons of war." Utensils were to be handled delicately, so as not to alarm. For instance, the knife was not to be held in the fist, like a weapon, nor pointed threateningly at anyone, and conversation was to be gen...

Employers like smart employees in all senses of the word, not only do you need to be on top of your work, have great inter-personal skills but you need to be smart in appearance. This has never been truer than in the current economic situation were many employers have to review their staff numbers. Now is a good time to assess yourself and see how far you fulfil the criteria of 'employee of choice'. A good place to start this review of yourself is to consider your role in the organization. Imagine a job description for your role. It has been found that the following three factors are important when a new appointment is made: Verbal and written communication skills Personal image Qualifications Next very honestly match yourself against these and then consider just why you consider that you are better than anyone else at doing this. Think especially about how your body language communicates how you feel about your job. Work on having a positive attitude as this will be picke...

I enjoy meeting new people, but I don't necessarily want to exchange bodily fluids with them before we've been formally introduced! I was speaking at a conference recently and during the lunch break someone came over to chat. I had no sooner swallowed a mouthful when they sprayed spittle all over my lips. I managed to stifle the urge to squeal and discretely wiped it away with my napkin. They then promptly coughed over my plate. My grandmother would turn in her grave: "Coughs and sneezes spread diseases!" We were always taught to turn away and cover our mouths. A few minutes later they commented that I hadn't eaten my lunch. I did the polite thing and rather than tell them that I wasn't eating it because the dirty swine had just coughed all over it, I simply told a white lie and said I was vegan. At that point the event organiser wandered over, to be met with indignance from my germ ridden luncheon partner. She berated her for not having provided me wit...

With the advent of modern communications, it is becoming increasingly more possible to reach anyone, any time, anywhere. Like any other advancement, cell phones have provided much more flexibility and convenience in communication between people, but there are often instances where this goes more than a bit too far. The rules for communicating via a cell phone often violate long-established taboos for face-to-face conversations. In fact, cell phones are used to communicate in situations where even close proximity dictates any normal person should give the conversation a rest. Aside from the dangers associated with using a cell phone while driving instead of concentrating on the road, there are many other instances where people just cannot seem to resist answering calls that could easily wait for a better moment. Perhaps there should be some rules of engagement associated with using the instant gratification of holding hours of conversations that otherwise should not take place. ...