The Essentials of Business Etiquette: How to Greet, Eat, and Tweet Your Way to Success

by Barbara Pachter

The trifecta of business success! An expert in the field explains how to master three basic but commonly difficult situations requiring proper business etiquette

"The Essentials of Business Etiquette" offers 101 crucial etiquette tips for improving behavior when greeting, eating, and managing social media with customers, partners, coworkers, supervisors, and in other business relationships. Pachter covers such topics as distributing business cards, using the right profile photos on social media, email and smartphone etiquette, Skype interviewing, and using Twitter appropriately.

Barbara Pachter, president of Pachter & Associates, is an internationally renowned business etiquette and communications speaker, coach, and author. She has delivered more than 2,100 seminars throughout the world including the first-ever seminar for businesswomen in Kuwait.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Relationships, Self Help, Reference

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2010

About the author

Barbara Pachter is president of Pachter & Associates. She is an internationally renowned business etiquette and communications speaker and coach who has delivered more than 2,100 seminars throughout the world.

Pachter’s client list boasts many notable organizations, including Bayer, Campbell Soup, Cleveland Clinic, Moody’s, Novartis, Pfizer, and Wawa.

“The Essentials of Business Etiquette: How to Greet, Eat, and Tweet your Way to Success” (McGraw-Hill, 2013) is her 10th book.

She is also the author of "The Power of Positive Confrontation," second edition to be released June 2014, "New Rules@Work," and "When the Little Count...And They Always Count."

Reviews

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

This compilation of good manners and business etiquette in the workplace is extremely helpful. Organized by topics (greet, eat and tweet), this book provides the reader effective guides and suggestions that maintain order and decorum.The first section focuses on establishign rapport, focusing on skills and practices. The second section was on maintaining a professional image. The last two sections dealt with eating and following traditional methods. The last section was on social media which is a vital social area now. Overall, the ook was an easy read because it was practical in its approach. .

[Eugenio Fouz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite of being written for businesswomen mainly, anyone can get practical ideas on etiquette, netiquette and good manners. I read this handbook to learn about Business English, namely, how to answer the phone appropriately, what not to do in a presentation and so on. My basic interests were two: etiquette and English language.

I must confess some pretty good pieces of advice. One of the nicest ones is related to dress code. The author shares a secret acronym with the reader: FACS where F stands for Fit, A stands for Accessories, C stands for Colour and S stands for Style.

Easy to read, big font size, plenty of anecdotes all through the 101 chapters written by Barbara Pachter.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book that has some relevant ideas for working with staff or, as I do, helping youth with some key ideas for the career world. While a lot might seem obvious, there are some definite gems including writing without putting yourself down instead asking the question, being direct, avoiding self-discounting words, etc. Quick and easy read! I just read a few sections ever so often.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would be helpful for a college intern or recent college graduate, or maybe someone transitioning from the military to the civilian workforce; but as a mid-career individual I found it too basic. If you've been in the corporate workforce any length of time, chances are you've probably already overcome the learning curve of concerns that are detailed in this book.

[Elettra Arazatah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very basic, can be useful as a refresher and a confirmation, even to detect some habits one may have, but it's nothing life changing. Which could be good news.
The format is bloggish, divided into easily readable points. Very corporate, more useful if you work in an office rather as a free lance.
Good if you need a basic overview on etiquette to refine and pinpoint what could be refined down.

[Erin Samolinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for Class

I would recommend this for anyone wanting to improve their business etiquette. There are so many tips, even for someone who has worked in the business world all their life.

[Stevan Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a part of the recommended reading for my college. It covers pretty much every scenario. In my permanent list.

[Cristian M. Castro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodness

[Ana-Maria Darie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd like to see more details for certain cases. Too many topics gathered in 200 pages.

[Cj 888 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty common sense, which I guess isn't common. Don't know who I could recommend this too. Nothing wrong with the advice or format. Easy read, nicely indexed.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 4 out of 5]

With my job, in addition to conducting seminars, I'm in a lot of client and prospective client meetings, work functions, lunches, etc. I enjoyed this book because it was a good reminder of what to do and what not to do in business settings but also in life in general. For example, I knew that when I'm finished a meal to put my silverware on my plate to signal to the server that I'm finished ... but I didn't know that my knife should be up and down on my plate and my fork should lay across under it (otherwise he/she might think I'm just taking a break).

There are 101 tips included in four sections:

Greet
Part 1 - Establishing rapport
Part 2 - Maintaining a professional image
Eat
Tweet
Career

Here are some examples of the tips:

What's in Your Name? A Lot!
Kissing Colleagues: Is It Ever Okay?
The Thumb Joint Connects to the ... Thumb Joint
Business Cards in a Social-Media World
Refined Regifting Rules . . . Really
Body Language: What Your Posture Projects
Speak Up! We Can't Hear You
The Do-Not-Say List
Be Direct! You're More Likely to Get What You Want
What to Do If You Are Interrupted
Are You Really Going to Wear That?
How to Dress for a Promotion
Chipped Green Nail Polish and Other Grooming Mistakes
Place Settings: The Secret Language of Dining
Treat the Wait Staff with Respect
Man, That's Rude! Five Don'ts for All Phones
Man, That's Really Rude: Tips for Cell Phone Users Only
Don't Ruin Ur Career: Texting Guidelines
Are Facebook ... Twitter ... Any Social Media Necessary?
Email Etiquette 1: Avoid Saying or Doing the Wrong Thing
Don't Put Yourself Down: Accept Compliments
Moving On? The Etiquette for Leaving a Job


I liked the writing style ... the tips were short and snappy and had real-life examples and questions/answers. This book is a fairly quick read but should be kept nearby if you never need to refer to it.

Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2013/07...

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....

Having been in the workforce and business world for almost twenty years I thought I was pretty up to date on all of the proper business etiquette, but it was nice to brush up on my skills and learn some of the new etiquette surrounding social media and technology in the workforce. The author did a great job of including pop culture references and real life scenarios to demonstrate what is and is not appropriate in the work place. It really added life to what could be considered to be a dull topic. Those scenarios really helped the book flow along nicely and enjoyable to read.

Bottom line, I know that many of us view etiquette, even business etiquette, as "common sense" to many others it is not inherently known and a book like this is definitely needed. The Essentials of Business Etiquette is a must read for every college graduate about to enter the workforce or even someone who is switching professions mid-career. Implementing the rules of proper etiquette in the business world is sure to make one stand out to a potential employer. Definitely worth the read.

[Sharon Schweitzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Essentials of Business Etiquette offers common-sense, appropriate solutions to real life business scenarios. Barbara Patcher gives practical advice for common situations that are experienced every day in the business world. She shares her thoughts on general business etiquette, dining etiquette, tweeting, telephone and cell phone etiquette, social media, texting and many other essentials of doing business that are critical in today's world. She understands what it takes to be viewed as a professional. In this day and age of casual living, Ms. Patcher's resource is a refreshing reminder of the importance of business etiquette.

[Alissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well I sure did read this one (at the behest of a manager). There are actually a few things that are super valuable (as someone who came from a social service background to a corporate environment), although a lot of the advice seems somewhat antiquated or maybe just not relevant to the environment where I work. So much of this is pretty common sense, but some is stuff that I might not have thought of on my own.

[Hess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly good read. Aside from her jarring use of the term business world (really?) Pachter manages to distil basic business etiquette into 4 easy steps:

1) GREET
2) EAT
3) TWEET
4) CAREER

The tips themselves are short and snappy. A useful book if you are transitioning to a more senior role and want to brush up on your client-facing skills or have a new hire who needs coaching. I'll definitely get one for the office.

[Rache · Rating 4 out of 5]

At this age of social media where formality and etiquette is not often heard, this book is perfect. It's an easy reference that gives practical tips to those questions we think but we don't ask. Like how do we decline friend requests? Or what should we order when we're invited to dinner? It's a must read corporate survival guide for all.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

-1 for aggregation of blog content.
Might be good to give to the young person in your life, but nothing I didn't know. (Except "BMW" for remembering the order of where stuff sits at a dinner table: your bread roll is to your left, your meal is right in front of you, and your wine/water is on your right. That one's a keeper!)

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I posted my review of this book over on my personal blog, The Itinerant Librarian. Click on the link to read the review:

Link: http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.co...

[Beth McMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is well-written. Highly recommend for those starting out in business or anyone who needs a refresher course. The book uses real-word examples and the tips can be applied to any business or personal situation.

[Maximo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is just amazing and goes right to the point. In this book it gives a few good pointers on how to work your etiquette in the work place. If you really want to work on in this area you need to read this book. It's short and has very good information. Goes right to the point.

[Aparna Gautam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The no-nonsense etiquette book!!

[Rena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Def need to read when/if I have a business.

[Katharine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful for college-age students who are just entering the workforce. I'd recommend it to friends who haven't had much office experience.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful guide for anyone unsure of what to do in potentially awkward work related situations.

[Saidjalol]

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[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came in timely for a recent graduate.