A day in the life of every businessperson is made up of a series of meetings and greetings. Whether you are making the initial contact with a client or a colleague, you want to get off on the right foot. Doing so will make the first encounter and subsequent ones go smoothly and easily.

Your goal of meeting other people is to make them feel comfortable and to put them ease so they will want to do business with you and you will have a solid start for long-term profitable relationships.

Strategies for a successful start

• Stand up when you meet someone. allows you to engage the person on an equal level - eye to eye. By remaining seated, you send a message that you don't think the other person is important enough to warrant the effort it takes to stand.


• Smile.Your facial expression says more than your words.


• Make eye contact. Looking at the people you meet says you are focused and interested in them.


• Introduce yourself immediately. Include a statement about who you are when necessary. It is not always enough to say, "Hello, I'm Mary Jones." Give more information. "Hello, I'm Mary Jones. I work for XYZ Corporation."Offer a firm handshake.


• Extend your hand as you give your greeting. The person who puts a hand out first comes across as confident and at ease.


• Pay attention to names when you meet people. If you concentrate and repeat the name as soon as you hear it, you stand a better chance of remembering it later.


• Use first names of people whom you have just met only after they give you permission. Not everyone wants to be addressed informally on the initial encounter. It is better to err on the side of formality than to offend the other person right off the bat.

WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
polite – has good manners and behavior, not rude to other people
Ex) My nephew is a polite student

DISCUSSION
1. Are you comfortable at greeting people?
2. In Korea, do you shake the hand of the person you’re being introduced to?
3. When do you greet a person informally and when do you greet a person in a formal way?
4. How do you introduce a person? What do you need to say?
5. How will you introduce me to your wife or your family?
6. What should we remember when introducing someone?
7. Have you tried introducing someone in English? If so, how did you do it? If not, why?

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FOR ADVANCE STUDENTS

§ Party Poopers When you receive an invitation to a dinner or party, voicemail, or casual email--RESPOND. Everyone knows it, yet it’s amazing how many don’t respond. Even for weddings! Planning a party or event requires a lot of work, so do the host a simple favor and let them know if you're coming or not.

§ Nickel & Dimin’ How annoying is it when you go to dinner with four or more people, the bill finally arrives, and one of your meal companions begins to divvy up the check down to the last penny. The point is, if you go out to dinner with a group, be prepared to split the bill more or less evenly. The person who spends twenty minutes dividing the bill to the dime comes off as a cheapskate –- and kills the festive mood.

§ The Line-Up Lines are a fact of life. At the post office, the supermarket, just about everywhere these days. For starters, moaners who huff and gripe about standing in a line of three people for all of five minutes are tops on our list. Get over yourself -- if you don’t have a few minutes to wait to buy that loaf of bread, then pick it up another time. Finally, cutting in line or trying to ignore the fact that there IS a line –- stop it! Everyone’s time is valuable.

§ The ME Show It’s great to hear all the crazy, wacky, wonderful things happening in the lives of others. Jobs, engagements, breakups, boyfriends, puppies, pregnancies, vacations — very good stuff, all of it. But once you’ve listened to a friend, family member, or colleague spout about their own fabulous life for an hour (or two), it’s normal to expect them to ask, “So, what’s going on with you?” Those who blab on about themselves while you listen intently, then don’t ask a thing about you in return are just plain rude.

§ Baby Biz Changing a poopy baby diaper around others is nasty -- and we're moms. Changing the other kind of baby diaper in public is one thing, but still should only be done when absolutely necessary!

§ Mobile Madness As much as we love the modern age, there are days when we long to go to a coffee shop, movie theatre, bookstore, or post office and not hear some teen queen dishing to her friend about last night's hot date with Todd or eavesdrop (unwillingly) on a screaming family feud. Mobile phones are essential, but please, people, pleeeeeeease, use a little restraint on the when's, what's, and where's.

§ Smokes Everyone has a right to smoke in public, but be conscious of whose face your smoke is blowing into. Are there kids nearby? And we just might kick the butt of the next person we see throwing their burning butt on the ground without putting it out. Really, find an ashtray or trashcan where you can extinguish and dispose of it properly -- that thing is garbage, not decoration for our streets and sidewalks.

§ The Pee & Flee Public bathrooms get used by everyone -- yup, they're public! So, making a mess of the toilet seat, and then prancing out without bothering to wipe it up -- not cool. Leaving a mess for the next visitor is completely unacceptable (and disgustingly unsanitary, of course). Take 10 seconds to rip off a piece of toilet paper, toilet seat cover, or a paper towel, and do your due diligence!

§ Stealing...a parking spot, that is. Yeah, you know who you are. If someone has their blinker on and is patiently waiting for a spot, it's theirs. And if you've already passed a spot up, it's gone. Treat others as you expect to be treated, and the parking goddesses will smile down upon you... eventually.

§ Belly Baring Men, women -- anyone who's passed puberty, everyone who isn't lounging poolside or oceanside -- resist the urge to bare those bellies. They may be beautiful, Buddha-like, jolly, but sometimes they can be flabby, hairy, and not ripe for public consumption. If you're jogging, fellas, t-shirts or tanks won't hurt your workout, so throw one on. Gals, midriff fashions are never really on our "Do" list, and that goes double if your age doesn't contain the word "teen." There are plenty of ways for all of us to flaunt what we got without sharing our tum-tums with the world.

§ Spitting This gets especially yucky when it's one of those enormous globs that look like it could be alive. Some people (males, in particular) think it's kind of a cool-guy thing to do. We're here to tell ya that no one wants to see you hock a big sticky one out of your car, onto the sidewalk, or anywhere else for that matter. Try a tissue.

§ Honking Problem People who honk too often, too unnecessarily, or just to express their emotions are on our list of Most Etiquette Challenged. If you're trying to warn someone about a accident or problem, fine, otherwise it's not that serious. Give it a rest!

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