Business Etiquette Being Recognized as a Strategic Advantage

Pollster Paul Goodwin has worked closely with top elected officials and business leaders on numerous projects and is executive vice president of his firm, GLS Research, which by most measures would be considered a successful business.

But he recently paid $75 to a consulting firm for a half-day lesson on etiquette and business protocol.

“It’s a tough, competitive world when you’re a consultant. If etiquette gives me the slightest edge, it’s worthwhile,” said Goodwin, who is based in Los Angeles.

Indeed, those looking for an advantage are helping drive a cottage industry of specialists dedicated to smoothing executives’ rough edges. In a world in which style sometimes counts as much as substance, knowing and using proper etiquette can help distinguish you in a sea of not very polished professionals.

Following protocol is operating in a structured environment that eliminates surprises, said Bee Canterbury Lavery, chief executive of Santa Monica-based Executive Protocol International and one of Goodwin’s instructors.

Lavery and her business partner, Eleanor Schader Schapa, maintain that getting ahead in the business world is as much a function of how you present yourself as what you know. “Good manners make others feel comfortable around you, so you can conduct business,” Schapa said.

Members of the Los Angeles sales team of Northern Trust Bank recently asked their managers to provide etiquette training. The Chicago-based private bank caters to wealthy individuals and hosts many social functions, and the employees wanted to polish their social acumen to help their business skills shine, said bank President Sherry Barrat.

“We do a lot of hosting of clients and prospective clients and the staff wants to feel very comfortable,” she said. “When you’re dealing with others, you’re trying to make them feel comfortable too.”

A major part of Schapa and Lavery’s etiquette class is devoted to learning proper table manners, because employers often equate good manners with competence when sizing up prospective employees, however unfair that may seem. Good manners may not mean much to the millionaire tech geek who eats pizza with his hands and sleeps on the floor next to his computer. But for others, a bit of style and grace can help secure a promotion or a new job.

“I conduct interviews over lunch on purpose just to see how they manage,” said Stasia Cato, a Northern Trust Bank vice president who attended the protocol session with Goodwin and four others. “Some people are really uncomfortable.”

During a session at the City Club in Los Angeles earlier this month, Schapa and Lavery served their students a four-course lunch, featuring a soup course, an appetizer of sushi, a fish course that included a side of hard-to-corral couscous, and a dessert of fresh berries nestled in a delicate pastry basket that posed a challenge to cut.

In addition, the students had to maneuver around a formal place setting of 11 pieces of silverware, two plates, four drinking glasses and a set of chopsticks. Fortunately, the instructors provided a diagram depicting the purpose of each item.

Lavery, a former State Department official who has traveled extensively, discussed the importance of toasts, particularly when doing business overseas. In China, for example, toasting is a formal procedure that helps build a solid business relationship.

It’s proper to wait for the host or hostess to propose a toast to the guest of honor, then the guest of honor may reciprocate. It’s also important to make eye contact, keeping your eyes focused on the “triangle” area of your counterpart’s eyes and nose.

Proper protocol when conducting business overseas can mean the difference between sealing the deal and watching contracts go to competitors, said Escondido-based consultant Peter Antoniou. You and your competitors may be compatible on product and pricing. What can put you over the top, however, is how well you understand your potential partner’s culture.

“What you say is one thing, but how you say it is perhaps the most important component,” said Antoniou, who works with U.S. and foreign firms.

International protocol varies by country, and Lavery, who has amassed a significant library on cross-cultural relations, recommends studying the peculiarities of a locale before making a trip.

But wherever one travels, a handshake is usually the first contact. Doing it correctly can be the beginning of a beautiful business relationship.

The proper way to shake hands? The State Department’s Protocol School advises that you extend your hand with the thumb up and out so you can connect with the other person’s hand on the fleshy area between thumb and index finger. Then give two quick pumps.

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Be Advised

Businesspeople traveling overseas during the coming month should be aware of the following:

El Salvador

* March 12: Municipal and legislative elections scheduled; political rallies best avoided though violence not expected.

India

* March 12: Anniversary of series of bomb attacks in Bombay that killed at least 317 people (1993); communal clashes possible.

Israel and Gaza/West Bank

* Feb. 25: Anniversary of the massacre of 29 Muslims at Isaac’s Tomb in Hebron by an Israeli terrorist (1994); unrest in the occupied territories and East Jerusalem possible.

Russia

* Feb. 23: Former Soviet Forces holiday; pro-communist demonstrations possible, particularly in Moscow.

Slovakia

* March 4: Anniversary of the declaration of “independent” (German-controlled) state in Slovakia (1939); demonstrations possible in Bratislava.

Taiwan

* Feb. 28: Anniversary of “2-28” incident in which ruling Kuomintang troops killed at least 18,000 Taiwanese (1947); large pro-independence protests possible outside government buildings in Taipei.

Be Advised appears monthly.

Sources: Control Risks Group, Kroll Intelligence Services, Pinkerton Global Intelligence Services