PART I : THE KEYS TO SUCCESS

i Why Etiquette Matters

ii Dress and Grooming

PART II : AT THE WORKPLACE

i Grasping Company Culture

ii Respecting Rank

PART III : COMMUNICATION

i On the Telephone
ii Answering Calls
iii Returning Calls
iv Transferring Calls
v Putting Caller On Hold
Etiquette is about building
relationships.

Etiquette gives us clues as to how

we should act and what we
should do in any given situation.
POWERFUL
ETIQUETTE = MANNERS + PRINCIPLES
FORMULA
Manners can help
us determine
the right thing
to do Principles are the
guiding
concepts on
which all
manners are
based.
 Some things about grooming never change

First:
People judge you by your clothes; how you
attire yourself is a vital ingredient in
making a good first impression and is a
signifier forever after.

Second:
Dressing as your peers do but with a bit more
style gives you an advantage no matter
where you work.
 1 Keep it Understated
2 Dress for the Job You Want,
not the Job You Have
EIGHT KEY 3 Represent Your Company
POINTS IN 4 Keep It Neat
DRESSING 5 Keep It Clean

6 Don’t Reveal Too Much

7 Dress for the Time of Day
8 Don’t be a Fashion Victim
 STAYING WELL-GROOMED

Here’s an everyday grooming checklist, including some of the

items to keep on hand:
 HAIR
Wash your hair often enough to keep it from looking greasy. Avoid both
the super-blow-dried look and the gelled-to-the-skull look.

 FINGERNAILS
Keep a nail clipper with a cleaning tool in your desk drawer.

 BODY ODOR
A daily shower is the best defense against body odor, and a deodorant or
antiperspirant is the second best.
Deodorants only mask odor ; while antiperspirants block sweat.
 STAYING WELL-GROOMED

 NOSE AND EAR HAIR

Check to see if your nose hairs need to be clipped or your ears tweezed.

 BREATH
To keep your breath fresh, bring your toothbrush to work and brush
after lunch. A breath mint or two during the day should keep you
from offending .

 WELL-HEELED, SHINY SHOES

Shoes with the heels worn down should be worn only at home.
As for shoe polish, your shoes needn’t be mirror-like,
but they shouldn’t be noticeably scuffed or dirty either.
 STAYING WELL-GROOMED

 IRONED CLOTHES
The wrinkled look at the office makes you look like you’re not tending to
business.
A touch-up with an iron before work will take a coat-hanger
crease out of slacks and make any less-than-smooth
shirts more presentable.

 CLEAN CLOTHES
Don’t be tempted to wear shirt, a pair of jeans with the grease spot.
Wearing clean clothes is as essential as combing your hair.
 STAYING WELL-GROOMED

 COLOGNE/PERFUME
Like it or not, the perfume you wear to the office may be offending
someone’s nose. Just make sure the scent is light and clean.

Use it sparingly: If your scent still lingers in the room when you
leave someone’s office, you’re wearing too much.
Applied to businesses, culture
refers to the common
characteristics that
set one workplace apart from
another.
In Business, Rank is Power.

Maintain a respectful conversational distance.

Don’t assume that the casual nature of the

conversation allows you to dispense
with the common courtesies.

On the other hand, when talking with workers

In subordinate positions, you don’t want
to abuse your rank.

Use of courtesy titles is often dictated by

company culture.
 ON THE TELEPHONE

Following are telephone errors made by even the best-behaved

businesspeople:
Don’t do other things at your desk while talking on the phone. Typing or
shuffling papers suggests that your attention is elsewhere.

Eating while on the phone is not only distracting but also subjects the other
person to unnerving smacks and crunches.

Don’t leave a radio playing or office equipment running in the background.

Never chew gum while talking on the phone. While gum chewing may not be
offensive to some people, you have no way of knowing whether your phone
mate considers it unprofessional and crass.
 ON THE TELEPHONE

Don’t sneeze, blow your nose, or cough directly into the receiver. Either excuse
yourself for a moment or turn your head away.

If you have to put the receiver down during the conversation, set it gently on the
desk to avoid startling your phone mate with a sudden bang.

Don’t address a business associate by his or her first name in sentence after
sentence. It sounds insincere and patronizing.
 Never underestimate the importance
of how you answer the phone.

You never know when it may be the

first call from a potential client or
ANSWERING customer.
CALLS
Your attitude and demeanor, in turn,
will form her initial impression of
your company, and you want it to
be positive, not poor.
  Forget your personal problems. Your
voice should sound pleasant and calm
whenever you answer the phone, no
matter how overworked or rattled you
feel.

ANSWERING  Whenever possible, answer the phone

promptly --- that is, by the third ring.
CALLS
 Answering with your full name is an
absolute necessity. Then follow with
something on the order of “Can i help
you?
  If you work in a company with several
departments, state your department after
your name: “This is Maria Fuentes, New
Accounts Section.”

This saves time for both you and the

ANSWERING caller. Eliminating the need to ask.
CALLS

REMEMBER:
You’re speaking for the company, not
yourself.
 If whoever you’re talking with needs to be
transferred to someone else in the
company, first give the caller the correct
extension in case she gets disconnected.

Then tell the person to whom the call’s being

transferred who is on the line and why TRANSFERRING
she is phoning; this spares callers from CALLS
having to repeat themselves.
If someone leaves a message asking you to
call back, do so as soon as possible
--- or at least on the same day the call was
received.

If it’s an especially busy day and you suspect

the call will take more time than you can RETURNING
spare, call the person back, explain the CALLS
situation, and ask if you can set a time to
talk later.
 If not handled properly, the words “Hold
please” can be two of the cruelest in the
English language.
THE ART OF
THE HOLD
Receptionists, assistants, secretaries and all
others who field incoming calls need to be
sympathetic to the holder’s dilemma.
 Doing the following will help keep frustration and
annoyance to a minimum:

• Never tell someone to hold; ask them instead.

More important still, wait for the answer.

• Give the reason for the hold. “Ms. Reyes is on

another line,” for example. Or “She’s somewhere THE ART OF
nearby; I’ll have to page her” or “I’ll have to check
to see who can handle that.”
THE HOLD

• When someone is holding, deliver a progress

update every 60 seconds: “I thought she was
almost done with her call, but she’s still on the
line.” At the second or third check, ask whether
the person would like to keep waiting or would
rather leave a message.
1. Why is Etiquette important?
2. What are the grooming
failures you want to improve
and change?
3. What are some of the DON’TS
in answering telephone calls? EVALUATION
4. How are you going to transfer
telephone calls to other
department?
5. Who am I? – no deadline