How To Increase Your Competitive Advantage By Leveraging Business Etiquette And Professionalism

The importance of business etiquette and professionalism has never been so evident in the business world than these times of economic turbulence.

Although some savvy business people have been smart enough to be leveraging the powers of business etiquette and professionalism and reaping its benefits, a majority of entrepreneurs, sadly, have been blindly pushing their businesses on clients and customers who over and over again come and go making it impossible for them to establish a well grounded business with a loyal customer base.

What these business owners and entrepreneurs fail to realize is that as individual human beings we are always resistant to force in any kind, shape or form especially when it comes to us having to part with our hard earned money.

Also, human beings will forever remain human beings, it does not matter how many stages of evolution we go through, how advanced technology gets or even how great your product or service may be, we shall always seek a sense of belonging, feel the need to be valued, respected and recognized before we trust anybody to enter a transaction with.

All the same, no matter how hard the world economy gets, human beings will do all within their means and power to meet their need in order to survive in this world.

However, this time, with more scrutiny, reflection, care and attention in order not to make costly decisions and purchases hence the need for business owners and entrepreneurs to leverage the power of business etiquette and professionalism more than ever before.

It is therefore very necessary now for the business owner and entrepreneur to think first of how to build an impeccable reputation and image because no matter what great systems or strategies you may have for your business, if you do not have a good reputation and image you will be losing out in the game of business.

Also, regardless of how great your product or service may be that you feel the need to share with the world, the first thought that must come to your mind as a business owner or entrepreneur is “quality relationships!”

This is because, human beings by nature would rather buy from somebody they know or has been strongly recommended to and that is even intense now with this economic situation.

Luckily, business etiquette and professionalism enables you to gain that competitive edge over your competition by helping you be the winner and preferred choice in your industry.

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Tags: and, business, etiquette, professionalism

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Comment by Richard K. Nevels on July 1, 2009 at 9:11pm: Yes, Being Professinal does make a difference in my business. Not only do I try to look like a Pro,I must act professional with exsisting and perspective clients. Word of mouth is the Best advertising!

Comment by Kelly Robertson on July 1, 2009 at 9:10pm: I love this topic and I teach YES YES YES YES YES, you CAN be personable AND professional too. I had a plan to refer a potential client to a rep much closer to her in Florida; as soon as I called this rep's cell phone and a man (her spouse) answered, "YELLO!", I hung up. Gimme a break. I called back thinking I MUST have dialed the wrong number but yet again, got a, "Yello!". I introduced myself and asked who I was speaking to and it went downhill from there: This gal was actually having her husband take her calls while she was out. BIG MISTAKE. Of course, when I finally got to speak to her and being the big mouth that I am, I made mention of how he answered that phone and well... once again, it went downhill from there. Needless to say, there was no way that I was going to refer a client to this gal - I would have been extremely embarassed forever and the contact would have refleced back on me, no thanks. Thanks for the vent - off my box. ox Hugs, kelly

Comment by Bill A. Medley on July 1, 2009 at 8:55pm: There are no guesses if you are a professional. I learned from marketing globally that you must dress like a professional in many other countries or nor be respected enough to listen to.

Comment by Donna on July 1, 2009 at 8:48pm: I think you make some great points.
I see a trend in customers who want the human to human touch with email and phone calls. There is so much technology being used today in business, we're beginning to miss the eye to eye and voice to voice contact.
Being willing to establish relationships also shows we are not here today gone tomorrow.

Thank you,
Donna DeVane

Comment by David J. Weiner on July 1, 2009 at 8:47pm: How one dresses is how one is perceived by others....would you go to a heart surgeon who looked liked he just chaned the oil in his car?? get the point...

Comment by Tim Smith on July 1, 2009 at 8:42pm: I am certainly more inclined to take a person's business more seriously if they present themselves in a professional manner. The law of attraction applies here as well. I strive to present myself in a professional manner to attract like minded people.

Comment by Johanna Munoz on July 1, 2009 at 8:41pm: Absolutely...Business Etiquette and Professionalism are always in vogue!

Comment by Robert Sloan on July 1, 2009 at 8:31pm: To me that depends a lot on what you mean by professionalism. From your entry, I think you mean "don't be rude and pushy, don't be an aggravating jerk." That's behaving like a decent human being.

I think of "professionalism" as meaning impersonal, businesslike and often associated it with a type of ugly behavior common in bureaucracies and office politics, the art of being able to backstab while pretending it was nothing personal and not get involved with anyone, least of all a customer, in any way -- and also it's been thrown around in relation to conservative dress codes and wearing ties and suits. So as soon as I see "professionalism" the thing I think of first is guys in suits slamming doors on me for being too weird, having special needs and not being conventional in my outlook.

But when you mean showing some integrity and not wasting your time annoying people, then yes, it's darn important. This goes for beard 'n jeans hippies as much as it does for suit 'n tie businessmen. I'm getting used to it as a different variation of slang.

I don't like impersonal business. I don't like being treated as if I don't matter and should just buy things blindly because "lots of people do." Never been average or one of the masses, and I've been burned every time I got into any impersonal situation -- it can never handle what happens when someone isn't like everyone else, has a question that wasn't in the FAQ or a need that isn't the same as The Alleged Majority.

Be reliable, keep deadlines, if you can't, then keep the obligation to inform your clients and rearrange your schedule as promptly as you can so they don't wind up waiting for you. Don't shove spam down people's throats. Get off the spam kick and get into decent interactions online. Find the topical sites and forums where people actually interested in your product or service hang out and post intelligently in general, you can do a lot more by showing than telling.

Being a spammer means that if you did luck into something that was a genuine bargain, half the peolpe who would sign up for it won't look twice because you bugged them so much about the other thing. No one trusts a spammer.

Comment by RJ Medak on July 1, 2009 at 8:30pm: If you are not going to be a professional and do what it takes, why are you in business?

Comment by Dr. Ellie Izzo on July 1, 2009 at 8:25pm: Looking and being professional builds self-confidence and and attracts great clients. Being professional includes enjoying a journey of continuing education and growth. The consummate professional finds self-actualization and humility at the end of the trip.