Survey Shows Business Etiquette Skills Dramatically Reduce Day-to-Day Faux Pas

“We know this because enrollment is up 25%-50%. On the employee side, our recent survey found that over 87% of graduates report
making fewer mistakes after training, so we know the process works,” says Eyring.

Attribute the trend to a competitive work environment because of the economy. Or, a backlash to the informal
work environment over the past decade. Either way, the need for business etiquette training among all
industries is on the rise. “Clearly, employers are reinforcing the importance that 85% of mastering a job is
learning the “soft skills” like dining etiquette , remembering names, appropriate work attire, appropriate
behavior and e-etiquette,” notes Eyring.

Good Etiquette is Good for Business – Avoid the Pitfalls

According to PSOW, The Most Common Employer Complaints Are:
-- Lack of dining skills. The biggest faux pas is snagging your neighbor’s dinner roll. TIP: The correct place
setting is B-M-W: left to right Bread – Meal – Water.
-- Inappropriate attire. The biggest complaint is ‘showing too much skin.’
-- Lack of e-etiquette. Using PDAs in meetings is overwhelmingly the #1 complaint.
-- Forgetting someone’s name. TIP: Remember a name by repeating it three times (when introduced, once in
conversation and when saying goodbye).
-- Insensitivity to religions of other cultures and a lack of understanding other cultures. TIP: Research other
cultures by visiting: (www.state.gov/countries)

National Business Etiquette Week Tips

-- E-mail is never private (you don’t know who has been Blind Carbon Copied) and lives forever in cyberspace.
Never sound angry, condescending or illiterate
-- During business encounters (including social ones) don’t discuss ‘hot’ topics like religion, diets, health, or
money
-- A dirty or tattered business card is a ‘deal breaker’
-- Make eye contact 40%- 60% of the time, looking directly in-between the eye brows
-- Dress the part by dressing two levels above your position
-- Keep cellphones on vibrate or turn off

Global Biz Etiquette

Major deals are lost every day because of a lack of cultural understanding. PSOW recalls one client, a huge
U.S. aerospace company, was in Saudi Arabia inking a billion dollar business deal. They didn’t do their
homework and sent the wrong level executive to sign the contract. They had to get a VP on a plane, fly to
Saudi Arabia, sign the contract and turn around and fly back to the States. Conversely, as more internationals
become Americanized, knowing how business is conducted and how one comports oneself is key. “For the first
time in the school’s 20-year history, we’re booking classes with not one or two but 11 or 12 internationals who
need help learning the specifics of business etiquette.”
PSOW, whose students come from around the globe and work for the Fortune 100, universities, the military and
are entrepreneurs who start their own etiquette consulting business, is sponsoring National Business
Etiquette Week 2008 to spotlight and reverse the decline in business etiquette and help professionals at all
levels behave with more civility and professionalism. This year the school is celebrating 20 years of training
and certification with a three-day Leading the Change in 2008 Conference ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). The
conference features such high-profile speakers as Alice Hecht, Chief of Protocol for the United Nations.
Since 1988, PSOW has been the global leader in business etiquette with over 2,100 graduates from 42 countries
including employees from Motorola, Boeing, NASA, The FBI, The House of Representatives, Duke University,
Dell, NORAD, Bank of America, Bank of Ghana, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Visit www.psow.com to take the Business Etiquette IQ test, and request the How to Dine Like a
Diplomat flyer, complete with a dining place-setting map.

The Protocol School of Washington
Post Office Box 676
Columbia, South Carolina 29202
Toll-Free 1-877-766-3757