Business Etiquette

Introduction In today's global business environment with your business it is important to have some understanding of the people and the culture that you have intentions of doing business. The better prepared you are, the more successful your business negotiations are likely to be, "to be forewarned, is to be forearmed", it's your choice. I have included some basic strategies and options that if properly used will enhance and improve your level of success. These suggestions are based on a number of years of personal business experience, in the real world with real people. Taking this approach works and I can assure you, it works well. Topics 1. Family Culture 2. Reputation - "Saving face" 3. Name Structure 4. Greetings 5. Bribery and Corruption 6. Gift Giving 7. Standard Working Practices 8. Business Meetings - preparation 9. Business Meetings - what to expect 10. Business Culture - communication 11. Asking Questions 12. Festivals/Holidays 13. Compliment...

Advertising your own home based business with success does not come by chance. You will have to make every resources at your disposal. Home based business advertising has gone beyond the use of conventional traditional means of magazines and other print media to the use of wider and more beneficial internet technology. Advertising your own home based business on internet is very cheap and easy. It is profitable because most people head to the internet in search of information and products they want to buy, the internet can even offer more pages, hence more resources and more pages at a cheap rate through which more people can see what you want to offer them. Having your own website is the cheapest possible way of advertising your own home based business with success. Get a uniquely designed and professional looking website. Design your product lists on your home pages, vital and pleasant otherwise people will not even spend a minute viewing your website. Your pricing, delivery are...

When you host business guests around town in a taxi, you want to show sophistication during your ride and as you pay the fare. There are several ways to take the hassle out of taxi travel. For starters, call ahead to inquire about the approximate length of time, distance, and cost before you engage a driver. An unscrupulous driver can take you on a "fool's ride" before you arrive at your destination. Determine your route ahead of time. Once seated, convey that route to the driver. If your instructions should be ignored, thus causing your ride to take longer and cost more, you have the right to pay less than the displayed fare. When you are sharing the cost of the ride with a business associate, calling ahead to book a taxi gives you and your associate an advantage, and shows initiative on your part. Knowing the fare in advance will make sure that you are not overcharged or surprised with a high fee. Both you and your associate will be well prepared to pay the fare an...

In today's competitive business environment, it is more difficult than ever to find creative ways to differentiate ourselves. Because our clients and prospects are barraged on a daily basis with highly commercialized messages, this is no easy challenge. Let's face it; most of us are in various states of sensory overload already. As a result, we have highly developed built in filtering processes that automatically screen the content we permit ourselves to read and focus on. Content that does not survive this filtering process becomes "noise" and is quickly dismissed. Unfortunately, many of us have forgotten a few of the golden rules of good business practice. People still prefer to do business with people they like and trust. If you only interact with your clients and prospects on a pure business level, then your approach is pretty much like everyone else's. If you are pushing a pure business agenda, that becomes your client's perception of you. They don...

Email has become the standard communication tool in today's business world. Those able to write effectively have shown to be more likely to be promoted or advance their careers more quickly than those who lack writing skills. You don't have to have a degree in writing to be an effective email writer. Following some simple "email etiquette guidelines" will go a long way in become an effective communicator via email. Following email etiquette guidelines will help portray professionalism, improve efficiency in communication, and help your reputation among peers and supervisors. I've condensed the guidelines into a top 10 list: 1. Get to the point! Ever get one of those voice mails that just goes on and on and you just don't want to hear it anymore? Well, email is the same way. If you don't get to the point quickly you may lose your audience and your ability to communicate the original message. Emails should not exceed more than 2-3 paragraphs. I...

They measure about 2" x 3 1/2." They weigh less than 1/4 of an ounce. They cost about a nickel or a dime. And, they pack a powerful punch! They are business cards, and they are your most effective, least expensive form of advertising. You can (and should!) carry them with you day and night, on the ground and in the air. They are always in a presentable format. Because business cards frequently create your first impression and because they also have permanence, design them with as much detail as you give to your personal image. After all, they represent your corporate image. The initial image people consciously and unconsciously conjure up about your business card is based on design, colors and stock type and weight. Use the following guidelines in designing your business card: 1. Make it attractive and pleasing to the eye. While computers and software packages can make desktop publishers out of almost anybody, there's real merit in hiring an experienced graphi...

It is a challenge to us English teachers to manage with our own widely differing linguistic competence the large classes of mixed ability students. Non-availability or high cost of books and instructional material are the challenges just as tests and exams seem to have become the only goal in themselves. In addition, lack of students'(and even teachers') motivation, administrative apathy, inaccessibility to electronic media, journals and books, balance between the use of mother tongue and English to ensure acquisition of communication skills, or perhaps, a better teaching-learning situation in the mother tongue and other languages, and dissemination of best English Language Teaching (ELT) practices internationally, with an e-culture interface are the new problems teachers have to cope with. As teachers we need to work on our own affirmative action programmes, despite constraints of our situation. In order to do something new, we may have to give up the old. As John Swales ...