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Lydia Ramsey          

International business etiquette expert and professional speaker

Lydia Ramsey is an international business etiquette expert and professional speaker. She is the president and founder of Lydia Ramsey, Inc., a firm based in Savannah, Georgia, offering seminars, keynote speeches and executive coaching to corporations, associations, colleges and universities. She began her career as an etiquette consultant over thirty years ago.

In 1997 Lydia decided to found her own business and pursue her passion for business etiquette. Since that time she has served hundreds of clients and thousands of individuals. While the majority of her work is spent in group training, she is often asked either by individuals who attend her sessions or the executives who hire her to follow up one on one. She assures all her clients that she comes with a life-time guarantee so that at any point in time, they can call on her to help them personally with their business etiquette issues.

Lydia is the author of several books including MANNERS THAT SELL – ADDING THE POLISH THAT BUILDS PROFITS (Pelican Publishing 2008) and LYDIA RAMSEY’S LITTLE BOOK OF TABLE MANNERS (Longfellow Press 2008). She has produced four training videos, including “Dining for Profit” which was featured in the Wall Street Journal as one of the top four training videos on business dining. Her course “Business Etiquette Essentials: Adding The Polish That Builds Profit” is available on Udemy.com. She is the business etiquette columnist for The Savannah Morning News and a contributor to business journals and trade publications in print and online. She was hired by The Voice of America China Department to write scripts on business etiquette which are broadcast to China, Thailand and other Far Eastern countries.

Lydia travels throughout the US and abroad to offer her programs on business etiquette, customer service and sales skills. Her work takes her to India, the Middle East, the UK and Europe, presenting seminars and providing executive etiquette coaching to their teams.

Lydia is a popular media figure and regularly called to be interviewed or featured on national television and radio. She has appeared on FOX TV, NPR, PBS, TLC and The Paul Harvey Show. She has been featured or quoted in newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, Entrepreneur, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Real Simple Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Woman’s Day, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness and Golf Digest.

Among her clients are Turner Construction International, Colas International, Gulfstream Aerospace, Georgia Ports Authority, PSS World Medical, TSYS, SunTrust Bank, The PGA Tour, The American Hospital Association, The US Federal District Courts and The US Bankruptcy Court and The Insurance Underwriters of Georgia.

Lydia firmly believes that etiquette in business is not about the rules; it’s about the relationships.

Speech Topics

University Programs: From the Classroom to the Boardroom

From colleges in San Diego to universities in the Ivy League, give your students what they need most right now – Manners That Sell! We reveal the skills and polish each of your students needs to graduate from the classroom to the boardroom. From shaking hands to buttering bread and everything in between, we cover it all.

Our most popular presentation for college and university students “Dining for Success” includes a four-course “hands-on” dinner demonstration. During this program students will learn how to navigate place settings; manage the napkin, flatware and glassware; differentiate between the American and European styles of eating; handle difficult foods; and more – all while getting down to business!

Working with You is Killing Me: Resolving Conflict in the Office

People don’t leave work; they leave people. Every day, your employees deal with issues facing any close-knit family: personal space, sharing supplies, kitchen privileges, cleaning up after themselves, and more. Leaving the copy machine without any paper is much the same as leaving the cap off the toothpaste tube. It’s not the big issues, but little courtesies that keep your team running smoothly…or it’s the lack of them that send your people over the edge into resentments, conflicts, and all-out feuds. When there is conflict in the office, teamwork suffers and productivity plummets. Help keep your team running smoothly and take morale to an all-time high by learning how to deal with difficult people and situations. Valuing etiquette in the office is the key to workplace respect. This is manners with a whole new twist.

Topics include how to:

  • Be at your best from nine to five
  • Treat your co-workers with courtesy and respect
  • Get along with people you don’t particularly like
  • Build relationships for the good of the business
  • Deal with gossip and rumors
  • React to office romance
  • Avoid the frig wars—manners of the office kitchen
  • Live in a cubicle world
  • Work with a bossy boss
  • Deal with difficult people and situations without losing your cool
  • Become a master of conflict resolution

Building Relationships Online

In this world of technology, more and more business communication takes place over the Internet. While meeting with your clients and your co-workers face to face is the most effective means of establishing and building relationships, it is not always possible. When you can’t be there “in person,” use these cutting-edge courtesies to make a great first impression and grow healthy, profitable relationships with your e-mail etiquette.

Includes:

  • How to use e-mail to enhance your professional image.
  • Why the subject line of your e-mail is so important.
  • How to address the recipient.
  • Steering clear of flame wars and when you should reply by phone or in person.
  • Why you should complete the “To” field last.
  • How to create a professional signature.

Mind Your Medical Manners

Declining reimbursements, increased overhead, implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the rush to litigation are but a few of the reasons to “sweat the small stuff” in the medical arena. If you don’t think you need to pay attention to the details when it comes to making your patients happy as well as healthy, think again. If ever there was a time to mind your medical manners, it’s now.

Healthcare systems, hospitals, clinics, physicians and medical and dental practice employees all need to revisit the rules of etiquette and implement them on a daily basis in order to increase patient satisfaction scores and positively affect the bottom line. Lydia Ramsey, business etiquette expert with nearly a decade of experience in hospital management, is just the person to train you and staff in medical manners.

Lydia will tailor her training based on information gathered from your organization and its special needs.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Interpersonal skills face to face, online and over the phone
  • Meeting and greeting
  • The art of listening
  • Professional dress
  • Honoring privacy without being distant
  • Timeliness issues
  • Inner office behaviors

Who should take this course:

  • Physicians
  • Dentists
  • Dental hygienists
  • Nurses
  • Medical and dental practice managers
  • Medical and dental employees
  • Anyone in the medical or dental arena

How To Create Customer Loyalty and Business Growth in a Competitive World

Are you and your employees smoothing the way to happier customers and greater profits…or are you making it easy for someone else to win over your best clients and biggest accounts?

In the customer’s mind, there is little difference between products and services from one company to the next. What makes you stand out are your professional and personal touches. Interpersonal skills are the secret to increased sales, customer loyalty and business growth.

The devil is in the details–the often overlooked business etiquette details. Who would have thought when Harvard conducted its study on business success that interpersonal skills would prove to be 85% of what it takes to get ahead? An investment in modern manners and etiquette will result in better customer service, increased customer loyalty and certain business growth.

This is the business etiquette course you need to outclass and outlast your competition!

Participants will learn to:

  • Present themselves as polished professionals
  • Stand out as the top choice with potential and current clients
  • Strike the right blend of professional and personal courtesies in every networking situation
  • Build strong relationships in person, over the phone and by e-mail
  • Create customer loyalty and increase business growth
  • Make the workplace environment productive and profitable

This presentation will cover how to:

  • Make positive first impressions
  • Meet and greet with charm and savvy
  • Handle business introductions with ease
  • Dress appropriately for every business occasion
  • Present a professional image
  • Mix and mingle like a pro
  • Master the art of conversation and communication
  • Use technology to build relationships instead of putting up barriers
  • Build a productive and profitable workplace environment
  • Make simple courtesies a part of every business encounter and every business day

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