Polished. Polite. & Your Full Attention.
Etiquette gives you the skills of proper behavior and you have the power to make them into an art. Here are three places to start: your professional appearance, vocabulary, and giving your full attention.
Polished: examine your appearance and how you are presenting yourself to the world. Business professional workwear isn’t my favorite and if you wear it every day, at some point there will be days when you absolutely hate your outfit. Polishing your professional appearance isn’t about fashion – it's about appropriateness. Etiquette always equals appropriateness.
TIP: Here’s the best tip of style advice I can give you – learn to iron! This is more and more a lost art, but it makes a show stopping difference in your appearance. Plus, it gives credibility to your attention to detail. It’s difficult for potential clients to trust your word of “attention to detail” when your clothes are a wrinkled mess. It sends a strong message of how you might handle their business.
Clothes should fit well and not be faded or torn. Shoes should be polished and appropriate. Ladies, this isn’t the time to wear your new dinner heels. Work heels are a thing – buy a pair. Your sensibility will greatly outshine, especially if you are offered a tour of a campus or building.
Consider the condition of your business accessories. What are you carrying? Is your briefcase, ipad cover, or notebooks old and torn or stained. Your professional belongings also send a message about you – make it a good one. You may still love your college freshman backpack but keep it for camping trips. It’s time to have sleek accessories.
Use Your Childhood Vocabulary: words have power, and we must become intentional of what we say and how we say it. Begin using the polite words we learned as children. Please, Thank You, and You’re Welcome are free though golden coins of a rich company culture.
Yes. Use the word yes – not yea, yep, ok, K. Slang terms should be reserved for friends and family time. Using the correct language immediately polishes your appearance and presentation.
I’m a fierce defender of the souther accent. If you can’t hear me – but take my word. My southern accent is thick, and I’ve never worked to change it. Even when I’ve traveled nationally to present. Though I realized quickly that my accent couldn’t afford to use slang. The focus should never be diluting your accent rather developing your vocabulary and articulation.
TIP: keep your Gs. Instead of goin’, doin’, walkin’, talkin’….are you gettin’ the point? Also, the days of the week end in day, not dee. Sunday instead of Sundee, Mondee, Tuesdee…
Watch your mouth. Foul language is consistently a top reason that executives terminate employees. Challenge yourself to keep your conversations rated G.
Give Your Full Attention
Give your full attention in meetings. It may be very tempting to email or text during a meeting but it sends a strong message to your team and the client. Pay attention to keeping eye contact instead of reading every notification that comes to your phone or watch.
Build credibility in your ability to give your full attention and remembering the details. A person can quickly evaluate your listening ability based on the quality of questions you ask during the follow-up.
Bye Now.
