The Holiday Professional

Being the Polished Professional throughout the Holidays – The Complete Guide to Etiquette and Protocol During the Holiday Season is an eBook addressing the challenges and opportunities that business people face at this time of year. From sending greeting cards to minding your manners at the holiday party, this easy-to-read downloadable publication provides answers to many tricky questions.

Here are a few tips to guide you:

1. Plan to sign each business greeting card personally and add a short hand-written note.
2. Attending the holiday office party is not a choice. It is a business requirement.
3. Know how to make proper introductions at business events, in and out of the office.
4. When entertaining business guests, give your client the seat with the best view.
5. When toasting, the person being toasted remains seated and does not raise a glass.

Success Tweets for Creating Positive Personal Impact is a book that I co-authored with Bud Bilanich. This is a career advice book that will show you how to create positive personal impact, an important skill for branding yourself as a polished professional.  Exhibiting polish in every aspect of life and career is simple common sense.  It’s not hard, but you need to do it right.

A few of the 140 success tweets include:

1. Never leave your office without business cards and plenty of them.
2. Keep your email brief.  Email is intended to be fast and efficient.  If your message is lengthy, it will not be read.
3. Whether you are placing or answering a call, always identify yourself. The person on the other end of the line should not have to ask your name.
4. For online profiles, use your real information and pictures. Your cat may be adorable, but that isn’t the face of your business.
5. When addressing customers, use their title (Mr., Mrs., or Ms) and last name until they give your permission to call them by their first name.