How do you answer these questions about business etiquette?
- Your boss enters the room while you are meeting with an important client. Whom do you introduce first, the client, or your boss?
- You are at a business luncheon and need to leave the table briefly. Where do you put your napkin?
- You’ve forgotten a lunch appointment with a business associate? What should you do to apologize?
Etiquette is not just about eating daintily at the dinner table. Etiquette is really about respect and taking the time to put those around you at ease. It’s about learning to consider the intentions of others before you respond. It’s about making good impressions because it is so hard to change someone’s opinion of you. And good etiquette can make or break a business deal. In our culture of casualness, it’s more important than ever for professionals from every walk of life to study and learn how to behave appropriately.
If you can’t answer all three of the questions above with confidence, now would be a good time to invest in a good book on business etiquette and begin to study it. If you are a manager or supervisor, you will probably find that your employees, especially the young ones, will benefit from (and appreciate) some etiquette mentoring. Send out a daily e-mail with the “business etiquette tip of the day.” Here are some of the topics you can address:
- Business meeting etiquette
- Cell phone etiquette
- E-mail etiquette
- Table manners for casual and formal business meetings
- Proper introductions
- Appropriate dress and appearance in business settings
- Tipping
- How to write a thank-you note
Answers to the etiquette quiz:
- Introduce the more “important” person first. If your boss is an executive of the company, for example, he would be introduced first.
- Set your napkin on your chair—never on the table until you are finished eating.
- Contact your associate immediately. Apologize, and set up another appointment.
Source: “Test Your Business Etiquette.” Hobson’s Collegeview. 23 July 2005. http://www.collegeview.com/career/career_basics/impress_boss/etiquette.html
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