by Harold Almon baesoe.com
Avoid attempting to master business-social etiquette alone. Get a public partner. Share social information with this person. Share the process. Get, and provide, feedback.
In business, it is not a matter of being good enough or knowing your stuff. It is a matter of how well you play, and how you will play at the next level.
Attend social events with your partner. Where possible, this person is to be of the opposite sex. After five o'clock, the public partner for a married person is to be his or her spouse. Your public partner need not be a romantic interest. He or she may be retained long after any romance is over.
Share games. If you are lucky, your partner will know how to play golf, tennis, racket ball, and cards. He or she will have been to a museum, theater, opera, on a cruise, or on an away trip, at least once.
Share parties. If luckier still, your partner will know how to dine: attend a business social party, share social dining etiquette polished table manners lessons for college and university students. Attend dinners sponsored by organizations, practice dining skills and rehearse business dining etiquette. A prerequisite to this know how to engage in table talk, not drink or talk too much, and know how to dance.
Learn, and agree on, the rules of social behavior. Be trustworthy.
Give back, volunteer. Join a committee. Accept an appointment to a board. Join an association. Take an academic class. It is in one of these environments a partner of choice will be most evident doing social polishing: making mistakes where it counts the least, practicing social graces, and being firm and considerate.
Your social partner will be aware that there is another level to life, and another side to moving forward. Say thank you often. Practice presentations on each other. Share heroes and spotlights.
A Promotional Partner
Get a promotional partner: someone with whom you seek the same target market but with whom you are not in direct competition.
Share precious resources with this person.
Pool advertising budgets.
Share advertising spots.
Swap mailing lists.
Share display space.
Sell the experience.
Insert promotional advertising items.
Bundle products and services.
Co-sponsor events.
Share public exposure.
Share literature in racks in waiting areas.
Each can be an ideal solution to maximizing advertising dollars.
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