It's much harder to get business than it is to lose it.

That's why Tero's Outclass Your Competition workshop is so crucial. The roles of traditional service and salespeople have shifted with the trends toward online banking and increased browsing for financial services. From mortgages to insurance, web users are constantly bombarded with attractive offers to switch providers.

Consumers have never had more choices for researching and purchasing products.

Tero's Outclass Your Competition workshop will train your staff to take advantage of your most precious competitive assets - your relationships. Participants in the program learn the skills to interact with others such that healthy relationships take center stage. After all, it's less expensive to get business from existing customers than it is to find new ones.

U.S. businesses are now losing half their customers in five years, half their employees in four and half their investors in less than one, according to Frederick F. Reichheld, author of The Loyalty Effect.

Customer retention is the cornerstone of healthy business. Customer churn costs companies millions each year.

The ability to Outclass Your Competition has never been more critical. Skillfully handling interpersonal interactions leads to retention of existing customers and to an improved perception of your organization by future customers.

According to research conducted by Harvard University, Carnegie Foundation, and Stanford Research Institute, 85 percent of job success is based on people skills.

Tero International, Inc. offers a great, three-part training program to help professionals master the critical but often overlooked skills needed to Outclass Your Competition:

At Tero, we call Etiquette and Protocol a Business Intelligence, or B.Q., and we believe it is an intelligence you cannot afford to be without.

Have you ever thought about the difference between the person whose career seems to be taking off, and someone equally skilled that can't seem to get the same breaks?

More often than not, that star employee has a good grasp of something called Business Etiquette, a knowledge of the proper form, rules, manners, or customs required in specific situations, as well as how to carry out those requirements.

Outclass Your Competition will increase your business intelligence by informing and instructing you in the vital skills needed to thrive, not just survive, in any business environment.

Topics covered include:

• how to work a room and effectively network
• the art of introductions
• the power of the handshake
• eye contact and body language
• how to remember names
• conversation skills and small talk
• business card protocol
• telephone, cell phone and NETiquette
• pre-meeting strategies
• corporate image

Astute professionals equate good manners at the table with competence in business.

Whether a new hire, or a seasoned executive, dining skills play a major role in business today. The business breakfast, lunch and dinner have become the venue for important meetings, networking opportunities and interviews.

Whether you are a host, or a guest at a business function, Outclass Your Competition will prepare you to dine and entertain with skill and confidence.

Topics covered include:

• guest/host/hostess duties
• seating guidelines
• American/Continental style
• silverware and stemware briefing
• place setting maps
• handling of flatware
• napkin etiquette
• wine tasting
• world class dining
• toasting
• arranging the business meal
• tipping

Success in today's global market relies on an understanding of cultural differences and International Protocol.

Outclass Your Competition can be customized to include protocol to consider when conducting business internationally. This add-on to the basic workshop provides instruction in the skills that will increase your cultural awareness and develop a positive international presence and image.

Topics covered include:

• understanding culture, rank and status
• introductions and forms of address
• kiss, bow, or shake hands
• eye contact
• business card savvy
• conversation tips
• strategic do's and don'ts
• gestures offensive to certain cultures
• appropriate gift giving

For further in-depth knowledge of cultural difference and international competency, Tero offers World Class Diverse Business Communications training.

Click on the above link or click here for more information about Tero's intercultural training.

Have you ever thought about how business etiquette skills contribute to your bottom line? Consider these tales from the trenches . . .

A Vice-President of Sales took an important prospect out to lunch. The customer was seriously considering doing business with the VP's company until the soup course arrived. Maybe it can be blamed on the soup that activated his sinuses and "blew" the contract, but when the VP blew his nose into his napkin, the appalled customer withdrew any notion of doing business with him.

In another incident, an eager new hire hurried into his first board meeting and sat down quickly. Unfortunately, he chose the seat reserved for the Chairman of the Board, and was asked to move. Regrettably, he gave the perception that he was unobservant and unaware. Attributes that may or may not be true, but certainly leave a negative impression.

Ready for one more faux pas? This one is a reflection of global concerns. On being presented a business card by a visiting Japanese client, an American executive proceeded to make notes on the card, and then slide it into his back pocket. The executive failed to understand why he did not get the client's business. He did not understand that to the Japanese, a business card is a reflection of a person's identity, and is handled with the utmost respect.

The experiences of the vice-president, the new hire, and the unknowing executive affirm a recent quote from a Fortune 500 CEO: "Manners may not be considered an executive skill, but it is especially hard to imagine why anyone negotiating a rise to the top would consider it possible to skip learning the requirements. It makes one wonder, what else did they skip?"

Scenarios such as the ones cited above (and sadly there are too many of them) have prompted executives to ask :

For more than a decade, Tero International has enjoyed a reputation for translating the most recent, relevant research and knowledge on personal and interpersonal skills into fun, interactive, educational workshops. Skills and knowledge that are guaranteed to make a difference.

Outclass Your Competition is no exception. The curriculum for this program is drawn from the extensive research from the Protocol School of Washington, D.C.