The most common greeting is the handshake; maintain eye contact while you’re shaking hands. Once you have shook hands, maintain an arm’s length distance between you to show that you are respecting your colleague’s personal space. Do not begin using someone’s first name until invited to do so. Canadians can be somewhat reserved initially, but a warm and friendly relationship can develop after a few meetings.
Tact and diplomacy are important when conducting business in Canada. You will not need to spend a long time on small talk and relationship building because Canadians prefer to get down to business promptly. Make sure you have supporting statistics and evidence as business decisions will be made on a rational basis rather than using emotions.
If conducting business in French always use the polite ‘vous’ form of the verbs until invited to use ‘tu’. Titles (including academic titles) are especially important when doing business in Quebec. Have your business cards and documents translated into French for meetings in French-speaking areas.
