Return to Virginia Business - May 2001

Minding Your Business
Mr. Nice Guy

Paul Siddle’s a nice guy. So nice, in fact, that businesses pay him for it.

His Richmond-based company, The Executive Protocol Group, gives corporate seminars on business etiquette. While one may think etiquette is common sense, Siddle says there’s a real need for his services. "Everyone sells something. With banks, investment firms … what they offer is no different from what their competitors offer," Siddle says. "There’s got to be a point of differentiation. It’s important that a company maximizes its most important aspect, which ... are its employees."

Siddle, who formerly worked as a corporate account manager at a beer company, spent his time traveling around the nation meeting with retailers’ decision-makers. Often, local reps from his own company would also attend the meetings, Siddle says. "These people didn’t really seem to have the inter-personal skills or business etiquette that was needed at that level." As the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. A positive first impression is achieved in the first four to seven seconds, Siddle says, with a solid, firm handshake.

When the brewery closed, the seed had already been planted for Siddle’s next business venture — etiquette consulting. He started the company in 1999, at a time when the booming economy was causing a lot of businesses to hire newly graduated employees who were still wet behind the ears. While these new hires had the smarts, they didn’t necessarily have the social graces of seasoned pros. Unlike social etiquette, business etiquette is gender-neutral, Siddle says. Men and women should always stand when introduced to someone. They should also refer to someone as "Mr." or "Ms." until specifically asked to call that person by his or her first name.

This all sounds fairly straightforward, right? "Etiquette is common sense," Siddle concedes. "It’s common sense combined with the old, corny Golden Rule." Yet businesses such as Anheuser-Busch, Bank of America and Media General recognize the need for good, old-fashioned courtesy and have hired Siddle.

Siddle won’t give revenue figures, but he says he’s pleasantly surprised by the response he’s gotten from the business world. "[I’m] teaching rather dry subject matter to people who may not be interested." Some of his clients have been Fortune 500 companies that rehired him for more seminars. "That’s the ultimate compliment."

— Leila Marija Ugincius

Return to Virginia Business - May 2001