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Print Etiquette for Business: Most Admired and Respected Behaviors
by Ann C. Humphries1. Knowledgeable and Gets Results - Help your staff perfect their skills and knowledge to be helpful to others. We all know nice people who look good and smile, but never get anything done. Let people do the work you hired them to do without hovering. Respect their knowledge.
2. Exceptional, Insightful Listener - Concentrate when people tell you something you need to know. Eliminate distractions. Stop the phones. Close the door. Sit silent and still. This doesn't mean you should be interrupted by any concern expressed at anytime. If you are unable to listen attentively, reschedule.
3. Consistent Demeanor - Treat everyone with a basic amount of respect. Don't be caught doing back flips for VIP's, then throwing temper tantrums with counter clerks. Be as strong when you begin a project as when you end one, as service-oriented when you sell as when you service, as professional on Monday as Friday.
4. Approachable and Accessible - Be easy to meet. Introduce yourself; don't wait for people to approach you. Learn, remember, and use people's names in conversation. Act friendly. Perfect a good handshake. Return phone calls promptly. Speak to people in hallways. Make sure people can reach you fairly easily, but don't mention if they are hard to reach.
5. Honors Commitments - Do what you say you will do. If you can't keep your commitments or remain undecided, alert people so they can make other plans. Don't be a consistent "no show." If you've accepted a position as a committee member, but have trouble making the meetings, resign. Of course remember the adage, "Neither break promises you should keep, nor keep promises you should break."
6. Honest - Be known for being honest. Do not cultivate a reputation for dishonesty. Be scrupulously honest when dealing with time and money. Be tactful when dealing with people. Let people know when they are doing a good job and where they can improve.
7. Can Function in Public - Practice social graces for business places. Some folks are exceptionally skilled at their work in the privacy of their office or industry, but they don't know how to operate socially where they need to network to broaden their influence and gain support from others. For table manners, the F-O-R-K goes on the L-E-F-T. The S-P-O-O-N and K-N-I-F-E go on the R-I-G-H-T. F-O-O-D items go on the left, so your bread plate is on your left. D-R-I-N-K is on the right, so your coffee cup and glasses are on the right. When sitting at a banquet table, begin eating when two people to your left and right are served. If you haven't been served, but most of your table has, encourage others to start. Reach for items in front of you. Offer to the left; pass to the right, although once things start being passed, go with the flow. Rehearse whom you might see at receptions, so that names pop more easily into your head. Don't forget business cards. Learn how to converse and visit with people. They'll trust you.
Ann C. Humphries, CPCM, is President of ETICON, Inc. - etiquette consultants for your business - and creator of the Proud To Be Polite education program, PO Box 69530, Columbia, SC 29229 USA. Phone: 803-736-1934/fax: 803-736-0673 http://www.eticon.com/
