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.

Do you have any etiquette question you need answers to? Join me on my monthly FREE calls and I will make sure I answer your question on the call.

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Tags: and, business, etiquette, professionalism

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Comment by Lisa Stadtmueller on July 1, 2009 at 8:14pm: I think dressing and acting professional makes a huge difference in how your customers and potential customers perceive you....

I used to work in an office and had to dress up every day....Definitely saw a huge difference on how people treated me, in and out of the office, when I was wearing a suit, versus jeans.

And now that I work from home I enjoy doing business in my pajamas. But they don't call it a "power suit" for nothing.

Comment by Lou De Frog on July 1, 2009 at 7:57pm: There was a time when a Better Business logo on your truck was all you needed. A bad experience for the customer eventually would get lost in the files or memories of the victims. BBBs have always had difficulty saying nasty things about the professionals that pay their salaries.

Now however, a community bulletin board social network records the names and activities of all professionals - and customers. Some customers will establish a record of being difficult and their quotations for future work will escalate. The social network works both ways. The personal connection between customer and professional is becoming much closer.

Comment by Nick Simpson on July 1, 2009 at 7:39pm: Excellent article! This is obviously not your first barbecue, when it comes to effective online marketing. People, if you want to know how to grow your business the right way, take every word from Marjorie as a little speck of gold!

Nick

Comment by Paul anthony Rivers on July 1, 2009 at 7:11pm: Yes. You are right! How you dress will determine how you'll be addressed.

Comment by Janene Satterfield on July 1, 2009 at 6:48pm: Mary Kay always said everyone has a sign around their neck saying, Make me feel important. Successful business, the kind that lasts, is all about relationships.

Comment by Power of PINK Breast Cancer Fou. on July 1, 2009 at 6:42pm: Professionalism and proper etiquette is very important for any person trying to survive in the business world. Everything about the business, including the way people dress, talk, and write. It would also include the looks of your store (or website).

Comment by Laila on July 1, 2009 at 6:42pm: Once again, Marjorie, you have hit the nail right on the head...and wouldn't it be nice to apply the same tool to some of those who ram things down our throats?

Thanks, and maybe I'll check out your call, if only because you're so logical and articulate in your writing, it must be a pleasure to listen to you speak.
Laila
www.greenMOMteam.com

Comment by Abd Hamid Mat Sain MD on July 1, 2009 at 6:37pm: 1. Etiquette is really the personal individual behaviour that one has based on one's inner conscience. The manifestation of behaviour with etiquette must be the ethical behaviour when its implication is beyond oneself-it affects other people,society at large

2. people always say that people don't like to be sold to but they like to buy. I guess this psychological paradox is "exploited"/leveraged fully by the corporate media for brainwashing through advertisement.

cheers

hamid
http://twitter.com/drabdhamid

Comment by Pangaia Metaphysical Store on July 1, 2009 at 6:35pm: Maintaining a professional appearance is very important to any company, large, small, nacent or well-known. Professionalism shows that you respect yourself, your company, your job, your product/service, and most importantly your customer. This respect is what keeps people from saying "I don't have to put up with this... your product/service isn't worth it." Dressing appropriately (ie, BUSINESS casual, not beach casual) and appropriately to your business (ie, beach casual, if you sell boogieboards), and maintaining a level of interaction that is also appropriate to your business, keeps people from dismissing you as a business relationship. As many a parent has received in advice: "kids have friends, be a parent". In business it would be "customer's have friends, be a business solution".

Comment by KaliSara on July 1, 2009 at 6:28pm: A problem that we have recently run in to is this: We joined a site for non-business reasons. We met many people on the site who became suppliers or customers, or both. We eventually had to tell people on the site that we would only do business through email or private messages, not on the site's chat. Now, we have people commenting that our behavior in chat is not professional to our business. We have had to discuss several times now what we expect from each other in terms of this site and its chat, due to the fact that it is frequently the best/only way we get to socialize with like-minded people. It is a hard choice to make - do we sacrifice a social connection to maintain professionalism 24-7, or do we reiterate to our friends that we are not on the clock while we are on this site and risk losing customers who can't differentiate?