Making Introductions

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Making Introductions

Written by Lydia Ramsey

Meeting, greeting and introducing people in business occurs on a daily basis, and there are few areas where the rules of behavior are more clearly defined. Know what they are. You will be impressive when you handle introductions with ease, and you can do damage to your reputation and to your career when you mismanage them.

The most important rule to follow is always to make the introduction. It is a major breach of etiquette to ignore someone. And ignored is exactly how you make people feel when you fail to introduce them.

If you forget someone's name, confess to your lapse of memory and move on. Everyone has forgotten a name, and most people are willing to forgive others when it happens.

It helps to soothe the situation if you can add some information that you do remember such as, "I know that we met at the trade show last week, but I have forgotten your name." This tells the other person that you didn't forget everything.

Introduce a junior or less important person to a senior or more important person. The way to do this is to say the name of the more important or senior person first, followed by the words, "I'd like to introduce..." or "I'd like to introduce to you..."

Avoid using the phrase, "I'd like you to meet." If you say, "Ms. Senior Person, I'd like you to meet Ms. Junior Person", you have actually reversed the order and you have introduced the more important person to the less important person.

If you get stuck and can't remember the correct order or the words, don't let that stop you from introducing everyone. Your effort will be appreciated. You can always ask' "Do you two know each other?" and pray that gets you off the hook.

Make a point to say something about the people whom you are introducing. It is not enough to state their names. You need to mention that Ms. Brown is the vice president of the company, and that Mr. Jones is your client from Brazil.

The people you are introducing need to have some information about each other in order to start a conversation and a business relationship. Your role is to facilitate that process. You will make yourself look good and put other people at ease when you take charge of introductions.

Lydia Ramsey
		About the author:
		Lydia Ramsey is a business etiquette expert, professional speaker, corporate trainer and author of Manners That Sell - Adding The Polish That Builds Profits. She has been quoted or featured in The New York Times, Investors' Business Daily, Entrepreneur, Inc., Real Simple and Woman's Day. For more information about her featured presentations and products visit www.mannersthatsell.com. .