“I will email you this information today.” but don’t.
“You know, we should really  go out and have a drink sometime.” But never follow through.
“Gee isn’t it interesting we have been trying to go out dinner for three years!” Have we really?

Credibility is so important in the workplace that I have devoted a large portion of this blog to exactly that.

Read the rest of this entry

For those of you….. lucky enough to have a job,  keeping it will not become a challenge once you observe these several business etiquette must do’s at your place of employment.  In the competitive environment of today’s business world, it is the tiny differentiators that add up to larger gains, acknowledgements, promotions and at the very least; aid in keeping your job.  Here are some professional standards for you to consider.

Professional Behavior has several parts: 

Image, Nonverbal Communication Skills, Ethical Behavior (honesty) just to name a few.

Image-  A desired trait that is sometimes ignored or overlooked.  Part of your Professional behavior deals with your image or presentation package; including grooming and clothing. Some people can’t get past the soup stain on your tie or spinach in your teeth. If you miss the little things what else are you missing? Think of the Tide’s talking stain commercial. The stain was on the interviewee’s shirt at a job interview. The stain was talking so loudly, the job interviewee’s voice could not be heard over the loud mumblings of that pesky stain.

You can avoid this by simply after lunch but before a meeting go to the restroom and do a 30 second  detail check on your personal appearance. After all, would a pilot fly a plane without seeing if the plane had gas or the tires had air?

Nonverbal Communication Skills- Be sure you ‘re body language does not give away you’re true intentions! No eye contact? Well you must not be trustworthy.  Arms crossed?  Well… you must not be approachable. Hands in you’re pocket? Are you shy or insecure?

Honesty-  Own Up! After all we all make mistakes!  Professional behavior is so important when owning up to a mistake. A co worker, boss or client will accept an honest mistake but will not forgive a liar.  White lies are still lies and partial truths.  Somehow we forget the impact of a lie on our professional image.

By incorporating these vital  professional business behaviors you are on your way to helping your career grow. Stay tuned for more business etiquette rules never to break in part 2.

THERE I SAID IT… BLANKITY….. BLANK….. BLANK….

If you want to be known for all of the wrong reasons…go right ahead swear or use a few symbols known as a grawlix.  Which are just a few of the many symbols that can be used to swear while writing or using social media.

Swearing is thought by some to MAKE A PROFOUND impact when writing a consumer complaint. Especially when frustrations are high, no one listens, and you have been routed to India several times.
Perceived nice guys even resort to settling a customer complaint in a strong armed manner and feel that is the mechanism to gain upper management’s attention.

My experiences with people who swear are not happy ones.  One of my vendors has a mouth that Ivory Soap would love to wash out.  Spewing nasty threatening words for someone whom she thought treated her poorly.  And yes, women also swear,  which is unfortunate because women are held to a higher standard than their male counterparts anyway.

It became an embarrassment to be near this woman!  You never knew when or what was going to come out of her mouth.
Just know you are really selling yourself short by choosing to resort to swearing as a means to solve a customer service problem or any other problem even if you are the customer!

Let me tell you what *$#%! Profanity does: It makes you look inferior, uneducated and as someone who can’t handle a situation properly. Yet others use profanity for impact:  “Why should I be nice when I am really madder then He_ _.”
As a business etiquette professional, I know full well that we are measured by what we present to the world. We are measured not only by how we look, but by our actions and our words that include what we say or write. Coarse words; written or spoken only reflects negatively on us. It takes our power away!

I my opinion, there is no suitable place for swearing period! This is especially true when you want to reach a favorable customer service outcome.

Here are 5 effective ways to use social media to resolve your customer service problems without*$#% and obtain a higher level representative to assist you:

1. Stay calm cool and collected. Express yourself in a clear manner while describing the situation.

2. Start a virtual paper trail. Which means you have to yes, make a conventional customer service contact first. This establishes credibility and also a way to have a record of the problem you are having.

3. When using social media use your real name and whatever information you can comfortable share so the company can do some research and have a better ability to assist you.

4. Check with social media to see how the company handled customer service complaints in the past. If it is a local company, check with the Better Business Bureau and see how the business dealt with customer service issues in the past.

5. You can always create an YouTube video of your grievance if you feel the need. That will certainly grab someone’s attention. Just remember no swearing stay away from bad humor and keep it professional.

Remember, most organizations want to maintain a professional image, resolve the issue with you and keep you as a customer!

Profanity has no place in business communication. Keep in mind, it’s not so much what we say but how we say it……that really counts.

Sincerely,

Diane Abadi

Happy New Year! The ushering in of the New Year is certainly a time for past reflection and new resolutions. It is also a time to usher in the new while trying to erase some of the old habits that interfered with positive meaningful communication.

One of the resolutions, really a goal, to make this year is to be more grateful in 2012.  Not only to family and friends but to staff and clients!

The more research I do and clients I consult lead me to one of the most important factors in maintaining a successful business. One of the secrets of keeping good employees and creating loyal customers is really simple yet overlooked by most in leadership positions.

The simple fact is that if you have happy and contented workers, they feel appreciated and valued. Sadly, on any given day only 10% of managers complement or show appreciation to co workers and staff! This is a significant oversight!  When most employees feel valued they make significantly more contributions to the business with just a simple acknowledgement.

Recently, I trained a professional practice office staff. The boss was upset that only 3 out of 20 employees ever wrote a thank you note or personally thanked him when they were given bonuses during the year or an early Christmas gift.  Morale was low and it was determined that the boss never complimented them for their work efforts!

Showing gratitude to someone is the highest form of respect and courtesy we can offer and is largely disregarded.  It is the surest way to create happy employees, who like their job, are loyal to the company and in turn treat “their” customers with the same respect and courtesy you impart to them. It is a self fulfilling proposition!

This is a wonderful goal, in this New Year, to show gratitude, give thanks and show appreciation when you see one of you staff members doing something well.

For my staff, I routinely recognize my staff’s hard work and mention the effort at staff meetings so other staff members learn from this positive exchange.

For my clients, I always send personalized hand written thank you notes and a memento of their training.
This is the first in a series of blogs concerning employee and customer care

Business Etiquette GURU is Born!

My name is Diane Abadi, Director and founder of the Etiquette and Protocol School of Lexington, your Business Etiquette Guru.

Why did I start this blog? Because I love the idea of sharing my expertise with you!  I have been teaching, facilitating and consulting in the area of business etiquette, image, soft skills and personal presentation skills for the last 5 years. The goal of beginning this blog is to bring current, useful business etiquette insights, comments, and suggestions to help you the reader gain a greater level of confidence and insight into the many professional business etiquette dilemmas we face every day.  And continue to experience as our need of technology grows and overshadows our other human need for quality interactions to create and sustain our business and social relationships.

Hopefully, you will gain the awareness that the true life blood of good business is in developing and maintaining good relationships with your clients, co-workers and friends. This is true in your social life as well as in the business arena.