73 Driver courses in Stalybridge

Our self-leadership and executive development programme can be fully ITA SDS funded supporting leaders and business owners and creating a growth plan. SDS INDIVIDUAL TRAINING ACCOUNTS (ITA) Rely On Our Team for Your Executive Development The Power Within Training offers unrivalled executive development training for go-getters and self-starters throughout England and Scotland. Did you know that approximately 55% of people making their living in sales don’t have the right skills to be successful? Good sales skills are some of the rarest and most sought-after skills in the workforce. Whether you’re running a business, looking to progress further in your career or want to sharpen your skills before returning to work, our self-leadership training will help you develop the skills you need to succeed. After completing our executive development training, you’ll have a sales mindset and the skills to secure your ideal role, perform better, and utilise high-payoff action-planning techniques. Don’t hesitate to contact us to learn more information. OUR TRAINING SOLUTIONS What is Self-Leadership Executive Training? Self-Leadership Development Our self-leadership development course was designed to give you total control of your career, business, and professional life. Most professionals will spend more than 80% of their time at work or in business. We’ve structured our executive training to help those looking to enhance their career prospects or business success by taking advantage of our unique Motivational Intelligence seven steps to success framework. The seven-step success system will take you through a journey of self-discovery, self-awareness, and self-development, which enables you to understand the barriers and self-limiting obstacles that have been holding you back. The Power Within’s self-leadership training will guide you through overcoming these barriers and eliminating them from your life. If you are looking to stand out from the crowd and build a career or business you can be proud of, then this live classroom-based programme is definitely for you. Benefits of Self-Leadership Development The self-leadership training has been designed from the ground up to inspire, guide, and develop you into not only achieving your goals but being able to measure success in your career, help you find your dream job, and help make an immediate impact in everything you do. Completing our executive leadership development course will allow you to utilise emotional intelligence to get the best of your team while focusing on clear values and principles that increase your overall success and profitability. Working on your self-leadership skills will grant you greater insight into the factors hindering or impacting your success while giving you the tools to make decisions and get into action. Here are some additional benefits of our self-leadership training: Build Awareness – When you’re a leader, you must inspire and motivate people to achieve and go after the bigger picture for your organisation. You’ll need an effective and flexible leadership style to ensure your team succeeds. We’ll help you discover your leadership style and how you can use it effectively to the advantage of your business. Increase Team Engagement, Motivation, and Accountability – How can you expect your team to behave if you’re no longer motivated to succeed? The Power Within will give you the tools to keep striving toward success while ensuring your business is focused and motivated. Cultivating a High-Performance Culture – The right high-performance culture installs peak performance into every team member. Through our executive development, you’ll be able to help each reach their targets while they look for ways to improve constantly. Develop Strategic Skills – We’ll help you develop leadership skills and self-improvement goals, allowing you to introduce changes to your business based on your guiding visions while encouraging others to share the same vision. If you are looking to stand out from the crowd and build a career or business you can be proud of, then this live classroom-based programme is definitely for you. What Are the Key Skills Learned from Executive Development Training One of the first sets of vital skills for self-leadership you’ll learn is the ability to stop, step back, and reflect on the things that trigger us to react. When we react, we’re being controlled by the trigger. Another skill we’ll help instill is to consider intention. Intention is important to us, such as our values and what we’re trying to achieve. When you become intentional, you start to live a life of choice. Self-leadership and executive development are a journey. The more self-leadership we attain, the more successful we’ll become. The more successful we become, the more self-leadership we need. Here are some additional critical skills you’ll learn from our self-leadership training: Self-Awareness – It’s vital to hone your ability to see yourself as clearly as you are. This skill takes dedication, introspection, and mindfulness. Also, a dose of self-awareness helps with self-control, self-confidence, and feelings of validation. Overall, you should be open to critique and accountability. Goal Setting – A good self-leader must be proactive in not only identifying their goals but how to reach those goals in a manageable manner. Our executive development training will teach you how to break down a larger goal into more attainable steps to avoid burnout while helping you celebrate smaller milestones. Self-Motivation – A classic way to handle self-motivation is to divide long-term goals into smaller, more attainable ones. This optimization means recognising what about the goal that appeals to you, then forming a strategy that aligns with your strengths and values toward that goal. Constructive Thought Patterns – Through our leadership skills and self-improvement course, you’ll be able to review your performance and assess your intentions and effectiveness while providing an opportunity to ensure your strategies are geared towards success. This is done by focusing on improving strengths and the mental imagery of yourself that recognizes your capacity to grow, develop, and change. Self-leadership training teaches you to see yourself as having the ability to create, improvise, innovate, and adapt. OUR LIVE WORKSHOPS ARE BACK What’s Covered in Our Executive Development? Self-Leadership "It's a mindset thing" When you undergo our self-leadership training, you’ll experience several modules designed to allow your conscious and subconscious belief systems to work together for a predetermined goal or set of outcomes. Self-leadership is one skill that will significantly impact your career, team, and even your life’s happiness. Our executive leadership development course promotes bold and powerful decisions to get you back into the driver’s seat of your life and make the best of each day by setting goals, shifting your mindset, and finding your purpose. During each module, we’ll work with you and help you design and deliver your team leadership programmes catered to your team and your business dynamic. Our goal is to allow you to evolve into a bigger and better leader. Here are some of the modules in our self-leadership training: Unleash Your True Potential Create Your Personalised 7-Step Success Framework Peak Performance and Self-Mastery Growth Mindset and Mindset Performance The Power of Feedback Taking Back Control of Your Personal & Professional Journey Goal Setting & Defining If you are looking to stand out from the crowd and build a career or business you can be proud of, then this live classroom-based programme is definitely for you. Discover Who’s Leading Our Self-Leadership Training James Fleming, the co-creator of The Power Within, will lead your self-leadership training. James founded The Power Within with his wife, Enas Fleming. They wanted to inspire people around the world to think better, be better and achieve more. James believes that everyone can be whatever they set their minds to. Founding The Power Within allowed James to turn that deep knowledge into a business that helps others think bigger, better, and achieve more daily. He strives to give leaders the tools and knowledge to achieve their full potential while increasing their self-confidence and self-belief through Motivational Intelligence Revolution. James wants to support today’s businesses to become tomorrow’s leaders. Course Overview Our self-leadership development course is a quick-paced training that is between eight and twelve hours in length. After you attend the face-to-face workshops, you’ll be given access to our online self-leadership training portal. This allows you to continue your journey of self-development by ensuring you’ll always have a system and process to fall back on when you need it. One of the best parts of our executive development course is that you receive this information fully funded. Even if you aren’t eligible for funding, you can still invest in this course and begin a new chapter of professional development for yourself. Elevate yourself if any of our eligibility requirements apply and you early less than 22,000 a year.

In our constantly changing environment, if you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always got - and that's not enough! Building a strategic marketing plan is a powerful way to take a step back from day-to-day activities, review the opportunities available to your business and your products, and build a roadmap of tactics that will set you apart from the competition. In this workshop, we look at how to build a customer-focused strategic marketing plan to pin-point your milestones to success over a 12-month period. This programme will help participants to: Understand the key questions that a strategic marketing plan should answer Understand the value of customer and competitor insight and how to develop actionable insights to guide your plan Conduct a market analysis and identify the barriers and drivers to success Learn how to build a customer buying journey and how to identify the most valuable customers Develop a customer-focused strategy and customer engagement plans Develop core messages and winning tactics to engage with your key customers Identify the key metrics to review and measure to keep your plans on track 1 Situational analysis Introduction to marketing strategy Market and competitor analysis and insight generation Understanding the customer buying journey How to segment customers to identify your most valuable customer opportunities Identifying the barriers and drivers to your success 2 Strategy Introduction to strategy How to build strategic imperatives and SMART objectives How brand vision and positioning drive customer focus A guide to building key message themes 3 Tactics, messaging and measurement Introduction to building customer-focused tactics How to build a customer-engagement plan How to build key messages and a customer-focused tactical plan A practical guide to developing key metrics to review success and keep your plans on track Actionable outcomes Throughout the programme we will use your own product examples to build your plan, participants will: Learn best practice examples of strategic planning Discover market and customer opportunities to strengthen your competitive edge Create a strategic plan that can be implemented immediately within your business Start planning compelling marketing messages to reach the right customer at the right time Receive immediate feedback on your strategic marketing plan Have the opportunity to share common issues and solutions with colleagues in the group

Fraud should not happen, but it does. It can happen at the highest to lowest levels in an organisation. Recent surveys show that incidents of fraud are not decreasing. Fraud costs companies money and, perhaps even more importantly, reputational damage. The losers are not just the shareholders, suppliers, customers, etc, but society as a whole. This programme shows why frauds happen, how organisations put themselves at risk and what they can do to prevent it. This programme will help directors and others understand: The motives for committing fraud Directors' responsibilities for identifying and reporting fraud What types of frauds there are How frauds are perpetrated How they can be prevented How regulators deal with fraud Above all, the principal objective of this programme is to help make your organisation as secure as possible from the threat of fraud. 1 Motives for committing fraud - drivers of fraud Session objective: to understand why people might commit fraud Drivers of fraudulent behaviourAmbitionGreedTheftConceit? And more! 2 Accounting mechanisms that allow fraud Session objective: to review the elements of the accounting, internal control and management processes that allow creative accounting Income or liability? Asset or expense? Coding errors and misclassification Netting off and grossing up Off-balance sheet items 3 Structures that allow fraud Session objective: to consider company and trading structures that allow frauds to be perpetrated Group structures Trading structures Tax havens Importing and exporting 4 Interpretations and other non-compliance that allow fraud Session objective: to look at how creative interpretations of law and accounting practice may permit fraud The place of accounting standards Accounting policies Trading methods The place of auditing standards 5 Money laundering Session objective: to review what constitutes money laundering Types of money laundering Identifying laundering Preventing laundering 6 Preventing fraud - proper management structures Session objective: to review the place of proper corporate governance Corporate governance Company management structure Audit committees The place of internal audit 7 Preventing fraud - proper accounting Session objective: to review best accounting and auditing practice Accounting standards Internal accounting policies Adequacy of internal controls Internal audit 8 Preventing fraud - regulation Session objective: to look at how regulators aim to prevent fraud The regulatory environment Financial services regulation 9 Conclusion Course review Open forum Close 10 Course summary - developing your own cost action plan Group and individual action plans will be prepared with a view to participants identifying their cost risks areas and the techniques which can be immediately applied to improve costing and reduce costs

It is important for Officers to understand the roles and responsibilities, processes and procedures involved when working with Elected Members. They also need to appreciate the significance of Elected Members as the decision-makers in local government. Officers have a responsibility to work and communicate with Elected Members effectively. This very successful course is designed to help Officers with this. Note: this is very much an indicative outline. The programme is tailored to the needs of each particular organisation. To provide managers with the knowledge and understanding they need to have productive working relationships with Elected Members and provide appropriate support. By the end of the course participants will: Understand the roles, responsibilities, processes and procedures in place for working with Elected Members Be able to identify the best way to approach potentially sensitive issues Understand the skills and behaviours required for working effectively with Members Be able to deploy their influencing skills more successfully Review their learning and have an action plan to take back and implement at work Note: this is very much an indicative outline. The programme is tailored to the needs of each particular organisation. 1 Introduction Welcome and introductions Objectives and programme overview 2 Working in a political environment What is political awareness? Contact and experience with Members Importance of the role of Members 3 Why be an Elected Member? Perceptions of what Elected Members are and do Values of Members and their motivations for doing what they do 4 Political decision-making in local government Current challenges and drivers affecting the organisation / the council Roles and responsibilities of Officers and Members Centrality of Members' strategic role 5 (Option) A day in the life of an Elected Member An Elected Member gives a talk about what they do 6 Having a beneficial relationship between Officers and Members 7 Member / Officer communication Discussion of the formal processes, service procedures, etc (whether enshrined in a protocol, Memorandum of Understanding, etc) Response times and requirements Procedures required by Heads of Service [if appropriate] 8 Influencing styles and strategies Different forms of power and how they impact Developing an appropriate 'influencing style' Exploring strategies for improving communication and influencing at work 9 Review and evaluation Review and evaluation of learning Personal action plans

In today's competitive business world firms are under unprecedented pressure to deliver value to their shareholders and other key stakeholders. Senior executives in all parts of the organisation are finding that they need some degree of financial know how to cope with the responsibility placed on them as business managers and key decision-makers; monitoring and improving business performance, investing in capital projects, mergers and acquisitions: all require some degree of financial knowledge. The key financial skills are not as difficult to learn as many people believe and in the hands of an experienced senior executive they can provide a formidable competitive advantage. After completing this course delegates will be able to: Understand fundamental business finance concepts; understand, analyse and interpret financial statements: Profit Statement, Balance Sheet and Cashflow Statement Understand the vital difference between profit and cashflow; identify the key components of working capital and how they can be managed to generate strong cashflow Evaluate pricing decisions based on an understanding of the nature of business costs and their impact on gross margin and break-even sales; managing pricing, discounts and costs to generate strong business profits; understand how lean manufacturing methods improve profit Use powerful analytical tools to measure and improve the performance of their own company and assess the effectiveness of their competitors Apply and interpret techniques for assessing and comparing investment opportunities in capital projects, business acquisitions and other ventures; understand and apply common methods of business valuation Understand the role of business finance in formulating and implementing competitive business strategy; the role of budgeting as part of the planning process and the various approaches to budgeting and performance measurement 1 Basic principles Delivering value to key stakeholders Accounting concepts, GAAP, IFRS and common terms Understanding and using the balance sheet Understanding and using the profit statement Recognising the vital difference between profit and cashflow Understanding and using the cashflow statement What financial statements can and cannot tell us 2 Managing and improving cashflow Sources of finance and their advantages and disadvantages What is working capital and why is it so important? Managing stocks, debtors and creditors Understanding how working capital drives business growth Understanding and avoiding the over-trading trap Unlocking the funds tied up in fixed assets: asset backed loans and leasing 3 Managing and improving profit Understanding how profits generate cashflow The fundamental nature of costs: fixed and variable business costs Understanding gross margin and break-even How common pricing methods affect gross margin and profit Effective strategies to improve gross margin Using value chain analysis to reduce costs Lean manufacturing methodsUnderstanding Just-in-time, 6 Sigma and Kaizen methods Improving profitEffective and defective strategies 4 Measuring and managing business performance Measures of financial performance and strength Investor behaviour: the risk and reward relationship Return on investment (ROI): the ultimate measure of business performance How profit margin and net asset turnover drive return on net assets Why some companies are more profitable that others Understanding competitive advantage: cost and differentiation advantage Why great companies failWhat happened to Kodak? Using a 'Pyramid of Ratios' to improve business performance Using Critical Success Factors to develop Key Performance Indicators 5 Budgeting and forecasting methods Using budgets to support strategy Objectives and methods for effective budgets Using budgets to monitor and manage business performance Alternative approaches to budgeting Developing and implementing Balanced Scorecards Beyond Budgeting Forecasting methods and techniques Identifying key business drivers Using rolling forecasts and 'what-if' models to aid decision-making

An insightful, enjoyable and experiential programme to help you analyse data and information and make a balanced decision based upon sound commercial reasoning. It will enable you to identify options, make decisions and take actions based on a thorough analysis combined with instinct and intuition to make a positive effect on profitability. This programme will help you: Identify ways to analyse data and sort relevant from irrelevant information Develop analytical and numerate thinking, and consider the financial implications of a decision Make decisions based on sound commercial reasoning - a mix of intuition and analysis Select from a range of tools to analyse a situation and apply these effectively Understand how costs and profits are calculated Use tried-and-tested techniques to manage and control your budgets Appreciate the fundamentals of financial analysis Focus on the bottom line Identify the basics of capital investment appraisal for your business Evaluate results and seek opportunities for improvement to your business 1 The commercial environment What do shareholders and investors want? What do managers want? Profit v non-profit organisations Investor expectations 2 Financial and non-financial information Risk and reward considerations Drivers of commercial decisions 3 Running a business A practical exercise to bring financial statements to life Different stakeholder interests in a business The impact and consequences of decisions on financial statements 4 Where do I make a difference to the organisation? How can I contribute to an improved business performance? Key performance indicators - measuring the right things A 'balanced scorecard' approach - it's not all about money! 5 A 'balanced scorecard' approach Analysing and reviewing my contribution to the business direction What is the current focus of my commercial decisions? Developing the business in the right way - getting the balance right! Where should/could it be in the future? Do my decisions support the overall vision and strategy? 6 Making commercial decisions Left-brain and right-brain thinking Convergent and divergent thinking Analysis and instinct Interactive case study exercise - emotional and rational decisions Reflection - what is my style of making decisions 7 Let's consider the customer! Identifying target markets Differentiating propositions and products Customer service considerations Marketing considerations and initiatives Pricing strategies and considerations 8 Strategic analysis The external environment The internal environment LEPEST analysis SWOT analysis Forecasting Group activity - analysing markets and the competition How do these improve your decisions? 9 Comparing performance Analysing key financial ratios Ways to compare performance and results Break-even analysis 10 Profit and loss accounts and budgeting Managing income and expenditure The budgeting process How does this link to the profit and loss account? Managing and controlling a cost centre/budget The role of the finance department Different ways of budgeting Incremental budgeting Zero-based budgeting 11 Understanding the balance sheet Purpose of balance sheets Understanding and navigating the content What does a balance sheet tell you? How do you affect your balance sheet? Links to the profit and loss account A practical team exercise that brings financial statements to life 12 Business decisions exercise How does this improve your decisions? A practical exercise to apply new knowledge and bring commercial thinking to to life The impact and consequences of decisions on financial statements 13 Working capital Why is this important? The importance of keeping cash flowing Business decisions that affect cash Calculating profit 14 Capital investment appraisal Capex v Opex Payback Return on investment The future value of money The concept of hurdle rate 15 Lessons learned and action planning So what? Recap and consolidation of learning The decisions that I need to consider Actions to achieve my plan

Wouldn't sales be a 'walk in the park' without challenging customers? Why is it that some customers are so difficult to please, so quick to call 'foul' at the slightest blip and so mean with their gratitude after we've bent over backwards to accommodate them? Whether we are looking at prospective or existing customers, there is a toolkit for dealing with the most challenging of them. This course will help participants: Use broad open questions to give the customer a platform for their opinions or issues Improve listening skills to really understand what's behind the customer's challenging style Probe specific phrases to show listening and earn deeper disclosure Use silence to let challenging customers 'blow off steam' Understand the negative impact of certain phrases on a challenging customer Summarise effectively and reassure the customer of our understanding of their needs Recognise the 'behaviour cycle' and avoid emotional escalation Understand 'transactional analysis' and how to bring people from 'child' to 'adult' state Create loyalty in customers who are slow to give trust 1 What makes a customer 'challenging'? Why customers challenge us - understanding their drivers 'Wearing their shoes' - seeing things from their perspective Understanding our own personality style How to flex with a style that is different from our own Ways to quickly recognise a customer's style The benefits of flexing with a challenging customer's style 2 Practical exercise - forum theatre Participants take it in turns to deal with the trainer (who plays the role of the challenging customer) Observers stop the action when they hear or see something they deem wrong The participant in the seat gets a chance to use a suggested alternative line The participant who makes the suggestion has the chance to occupy the seat and deliver it themselves Frequent feedback from the trainer as to how the participant's words are making him feel Opportunities to rewind the action if an ill-advised line is suggested and delivered Flipchart for capturing what worked, what didn't work and why Mehrabian principle - the importance of body language and tone over words used 3 Questioning and listening skills How to use open questions to get the customer talking What questions to avoid and why The use of pauses and silence to reduce tension and build trust What listening is and what it isn't Question funnelling - how to earn deeper disclosure through probing The power of summary 4 Transactional analysis explained What is transactional analysis (TA)? Exploring the TA states and why people behave in that way under pressure How to bring challenging customers to 'adult' state to reduce tension How 'parent' or 'child' behaviours can be inadvertently triggered Understanding the 'behavioural cycle' and how to break it Mini-role play 'vignettes' to demonstrate real time impact of ill-chosen words 5 How to build trust with challenging customers Techniques for placating current challenging customers Methods that the participants have already used effectively - understanding why those methods worked and how other participants can model them Participants' experiences of trust having been lost - understanding why those experiences had that negative outcome How to 'go the extra mile' with challenging customers 6 Bringing a 'real' challenging customer to life Participants give the trainer a brief profile of a specific challenging customer of theirs 5-10 minute roleplay in which the trainer brings that individual to life Observing participants - without interrupting - make notes on what is and isn't working Trainer stops the action half-way through to give feedback on how he is feeling Participant goes back into the roleplay having recalibrated their approach based on feedback Observers give feedback on what did and didn't work Trainer comes out of character to explain the impact of the participant's words and behaviours 7 Wrap-up Key learnings from each participant Individual action planning - steps that can and will be implemented in the workplace

What do engineers and project managers need to know of finance? 'Nothing - leave it to the accountants!' No, no, no! Engineers must be conversant with the terminology and statements that accountants use. Technical expertise in projects, service delivery, production or other areas can only really be harnessed if the managers understand the accounting and reporting that drives businesses. This course gives the necessary understanding to project, production and technical managers. It develops their skills in understanding financial and management accounting. Accountants may not always like it but a major part of their work is to be the 'servants of business' and to gather, compile and present your figures. So you must understand the figures - they belong to you, your processes or projects. There are many reasons for maintaining accurate accounts. This course focuses on the strategic issues (those over-used words) - what figures reveal about the drivers of business and what they reveal about the day-to-day issues that accountants bother you with. The course will enhance your understanding of finance and of the accounting issues which affect your projects, production and technical areas of business. This course will help you: Understand the business world in figures - make sense of what the accountants are telling you Appreciate what drives business - and how this affects your role in your part of the business Relate your activities to the success of the business - through figures Gain the skills to advance in management - financial awareness is a 'must have' if you are to progress in your career 1 What do accountants do? The finance function, types of accountant, financial v management accounting and the treasury function Understanding the role of the finance function and how the information you provide may be used 2 The basic financial statements Balance sheets and income statements (P&L accounts) What they are, what they contain and above all what they can reveal - how to read them The accounting process - from transactions to financial statements What underpins the statements - accounting systems and internal controls 3 Why be in business - from a financial perspective The driving forces behind financial information Performance measures - profitability, asset utilisation, sales and throughput, managing capital expenditure 4 Accounting rules - accounting standards Accounting concepts and the accounting rules: accruals, 'going concern' - substance over form and other 'desirable qualities' Accruals - why the timing of a transaction is so important to the finance function Depreciation and amortisation - the concepts and practice Accounting standards - the role of International Financial Reporting Standards 5 Cash The importance of cash flow - working capital management Cash flow statements - monitoring overall cash flows Raising cash - levels of borrowing, gearing Spending cash - an outline of capital expenditure appraisal 6 Budgeting Why budget? - good and bad practice Determining why budgets play a key role and should not be simply an annual ritual Justifying your budgets - the link between the strategic plan and day-to-day budgeting - alignment of company culture Budgets as motivators - the importance of the right culture Techniques to improve budgeting - whether day-to-day or capital budgeting 7 Costing The type and detail of costing very much depends on your business - eg, manufacturing piston rings is quite different from the construction of a power plant Issues with overhead allocation Accounting for R&D 8 Reading financial statements Annual financial statements - why they are produced, what's in them and what you should look for Learning what a set of accounts reveals about a company's current situation, profitability and future prospects 9 Performance measurement - analytical reviews and ratio analysis ROI/ROCE Profitability, margins and cost control Sales - asset turnover Efficiency (asset / stock turnover, debtor / creditor days) 'City' measures Investment (interest / dividend cover, earnings per share, dividend yield)

Key Objectives for the Training provision Effective listening to a client's needs and requirements during various stages of the sales process. Engage in meaningful communication with clients, learn to identify challenges and opportunities that relate to the prospects. Overcome the identified challenge. Build long term rapport and establish trust with the prospect throughout the sales process, Ensure continued customer satisfaction that can turn into repeat business. Be able to build rapport with customers or clients. Know the right questions to ask to fully understand the customer or client’s needs without putting on any pressure. Be able to check you have the right information from the customer or client. Be able to match products and services to the customer or client using the information you have gathered. Be able to influence effectively. Know how to stand out from your competitors. Stage 1 – Research the Company’s ‘Value Propositions’ and USP Analysis  Conducting 30 min confidential interviews with a cross-section of the eligible Attendees & the Stakeholders, in order to gain an objective understanding of the various scenarios and clients that the Participants work with. the Company’s ‘Value Propositions’ Unique Selling Points The Customers’ journey(s) The Competition’s offers for analysis and comparisons. From these findings, a carefully calibrated bespoke Programme will be designed and delivered.  Stage 2 - Design the Bespoke 2 x day Course  nd Stage 3 - Delivery of the Course Programme This Programme can be delivered in 2 x consecutive days, or split between 2 – 3 weeks, to make it more ‘work-friendly’ – if required. It is very practical and commercially focussed in approach, with lots of interactive exercises designed to draw out the learning applications via the debriefings. The ‘Real Play’ scenarios on day 2 will be based on specific case studies drawn from the Research findings so that they are authentic to optimise the learning. Individual Action Plans will be captured at the end of each day to be debriefed by the Participants’ respective Line Managers.  Template Programme Day One – Foundation – Strategic Approach Section One – The Principles of Consultative Selling Defining ‘Consultative Selling’ The Company’s ‘Unique Selling Points’ & Value Proposition The Consultative Selling model – the five stages Avoiding appearing ‘pushy’, ‘pressurising’ or ‘talking through the sale’ Section Two –Strategy & Preparation  ‘Buy-Class’ Matrix Strategic plan Template – matching services/products to identified needs & opportunities. Preparing a range of objectives Constants and variables – USP’s Researching key Client/Decision Makers’ priorities, profile & background (LinkedIn etc.) Preparing for potential & likely Objections Section Three – Email etiquette & ‘influencing’ email correspondence.  Email etiquette A.B.S.U.R.D model Clarity and tone – discovery of clients’ needs & motivational factors. Techniques to influence and ‘nudge’. Ensuring the data and content have a ‘gentle’ motivational & appealing message. Top Tips Day Two – Practical Application Section Four – Rapport Building & Effective Communication skills ‘Behaviour Labelling’ techniques – setting a positive tone. Asking Open Questions – gaining a full understanding of the clients’ priorities & expectations. EQ - Inviting opinions; perspectives; experiences – winning confidence. Active Listening – focus and commitment to understand. ‘Reading the room’ – adapting to responses and reactions. Maintaining focus on relevant topics that the Client cares about; carefully consider the opportunities to influence. But NO PRESSURE! Building a ‘bond of trust’ with commitments and authentic, shared values. Section Five – Explaining the Benefits – aligned to the Customers’ Priorities Understanding ‘Why do People Buy?’ Research data analysis. Open questions that lead to understanding the key issues and Clients’ priorities. Avoiding the danger of ‘pressurising’ the Client. Responding to objections effectively, with confidence and sensitivity. Explaining the benefits that are aligned to the Clients’ stated requirements. Making the Data ‘sing’ – memorable takeaways for the Client. Augmented benefits – Brand confidence; Case studies; Warranty; Service; Range; Flexibility etc. in alignment with their stated preferences/requirements Differentials compared to Competitors Section Six – Winning Commitment Inviting commitment – with confidence Consultative Selling Closing techniques (e.g. Alternative Close/Assumptive Close et al) Avoiding ‘talking through the sale’ – knowing when to ‘Shut UP!’ Confirming agreement – ensuring Clients’ motivation for repeat business Section Seven – Practical Application ‘Real Play’ From the Research findings, carefully devised scenarios can be generated to provide the most valuable learning opportunities to underpin all the skills & techniques covered in the Programme.  Potential Real Play scenarios: A well-established customer has indicated that they are soon to be opening up additional new offices – this presents an opportunity to arrange for the Company to support them with their upcoming needs. After some very positive feedback and with the upcoming contract renewal imminent – how can the Company give the Customer more high-quality support in other areas of their business? A Competitor has been to see the client and they have prompted some concerns about ‘value for money’ & ‘quality of service’. How Real Play works… The group is split the group into 2 sub-groups, one with our Professional Actor (option available); the other with the Trainer or a willing Participant. Each group has a brief and has to instruct their Trainer/Actor/Participant on how to approach the scenario supplied. The Actor and Trainer (or willing Participant) perform the role play(s) as instructed by their respective teams; however, during the action they can be paused for further recommendations or direction. The outcome is the responsibility of the team(s) – not the performers. Debrief the full Programme Individual Action Plans - to be followed through. ‘Best Practices’ for application into the business Options for Exercises within the Programme  Sample Exercise – Red & White  There is a specific time managed agenda and itinerary, which puts the group under pressure.  The key challenge is for the sub-groups to maximise the commercial value from the task, however there is always a great danger that the individuals attempt to gain financial progress at the expense of the other group! Debriefing points: Persuasive communication and influence across barriers Gaining buy-in when others are sceptical Strategic planning accounting for others’ behaviours Sample Exercise – Communication Challenge Each Participant has different pieces of information, but are not allowed to share it visually. They are only allowed to communicate to work out the solution hidden among the large amount of data. Debrief: Structured approach Maintaining focus through distractions/interference Active Listening Controlled communication Sample Exercise – Persuasive emails Sample emails are shared to be critiqued and improved upon to be debriefed: Tone & impact Making the Data ‘sing’ Influential & motivational language Customer centric message. Sample Exercise –Juggling   Each Participant has to pass the ‘Customers’ (Juggling balls) carefully through the system with all the other Participants to reach a profitable conclusion  Debrief: EQ to read the room and effectively communicate, when the pressure is on Customer focus and adapting to challenges Devising a plan that wins buy-in Overcoming competing ideas to get to ‘best practice’ Consistent commitment, communication and motivational drivers that influenced performance. Sample Exercise –Critical Path  The group are provided with 30 x discs and some ‘post-it’ notes. (no pens or pencils are allowed) Their brief is to create a grid shape with the 30 x discs, which will act as ‘stepping stones’ for the ‘Critical Path’ But they have to follow the correct order through the grid from the start to finish, which they will have to work out through ‘trial & error’ All of the team must pass through the ‘Critical Path’ worked out on the grid, observing the constraints, within the time limit. No talking is permitted once they start using the materials Debrief: - Clear communication focussing on the ‘client’s journey’ Planning for challenges Identifying risks and mitigating them Role allocations & support Quality control and disciplines  Sample Exercise –Back to Back  Each Participant is positioned back-to-back with a partner. They have to work out precisely what the ‘statement’ given to the other person is without looking around. Each person has a different brief. Debrief: - Asking Open Questions Active Listening Accuracy in identifying the objective.

Pushy boardroom bullies... battling agendas... conflicts of interest. Here are the most common drivers of trouble in the boardroom, and tools for making things right.