299 Power courses in Manchester

Learn from two decades of specialist equality & inclusion expertise and the pitfalls to avoid, plus adventures in self-discovery. Participants enjoy the engaging and motivational style, building up the confidence to apply deepened insights and practical tools.

Create great presentations and persuasive narratives. This session covers the principles of engaging an audience, from narrative structure to thinking about slides. Put an end to Death by PowerPoint!

In today's competitive business world firms are under unprecedented pressure to deliver value to their shareholders and other key stakeholders. Senior executives are finding that they need some financial know-how to cope with the responsibility placed on them as decision-makers. Key financial skills are not as difficult to learn as many people believe and in the hands of an experienced senior executive can provide a formidable competitive advantage.   This one-day workshop is not intended to take you from a managerial position to that of a Chief Financial Officer. However, these topics will familiarise you with the most common terms and practices in terms of working with finance.   This course is suitable for managers and others in finance related roles: with some or no financial knowledge who need to understand the financial implications of every day decision making? who need to increase profitability and performance of their business? This one-day workshop will help you teach participants how to: • Understand fundamental business finance concepts • Understand the vital difference between profit and cash flow • Evaluate pricing decisions • Use powerful analytical tools to measure performance of their own company and competitors • Understand the role of business finance in formulating and implementing competitive strategy   Course Overview You will spend the first part of the day getting to know participants and discussing what will take place during the workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to identify their personal learning objectives.   Business and finance fundamentals The objectives of the firm: delivering value to shareholders and key stakeholders, leading to a better understanding the drivers of shareholder return and who uses financial statements and why.   Basic principles Understanding business funds flow, using the balance sheet the profit statement. This would help to recognise the vital difference between profit and cashflow and what financial statements can and cannot tell us.   Managing and improving Budgets and Forecasting We will look at why you need to set budgets and what is known as ‘the bottom line’. We will also explore the purpose of forecasting over a period of monthly, quarterly and also annually.   Managing and improving profit Understanding how profits generate cashflow. The fundamental nature of costs: fixed and variable business costs and realising gross margin and break-even   Managing business performance We will explore the business planning cycle, by using budgets to support business strategy and monitoring and managing financial performance. We will look at a ‘Pyramid of Ratios’ to manage business performance that will help us understand and use key performance indicators   Measuring and managing business performance We will understand Return on investment (ROI): the ultimate measure of business performance and how profit margin and net asset turnover drive return on net assets. We shall do a case study on why some companies are more profitable than others.   Workshop Wrap-Up At the end of the course, students will have an opportunity to ask questions and fill out an action 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)

Resilience is the ability to take the challenges and changes of life in your stride and say yes to the opportunities that excite you.

'Selling' doesn't work. You've got to help customers buy. And that means engaging with the customer in a positive way, showing that you understand their requirement and giving them confidence that your product or service is the best possible way of meeting that requirement. This may sound painless but there's more to it than meets the eye and it's all too easy to get it wrong. You need to follow a process. This programme will help participants: Understand 'how buyers buy' and align their selling activities accordingly Recognise the difference between 'latent pain' and 'active vision' opportunities Conduct effective pre-call planning and research Stimulate interest and establish credibility with your prospects Get prospects to share / admit high priority pain Engage in consultative dialogue that promotes the differentiating strengths of your offerings Gain access to 'power' people within an opportunity Effectively qualify and disqualify opportunities based on objective decision criteria Better control and manage sell cycles Improve their chances of winning competitive opportunities Shorten sales cycles and avoid 'no decision' Negotiate the steps leading to a successful sale 1 An introduction to selling Understanding the key points that encourage a customer to purchase from us The difference between consultative selling and a transactional sale Understanding the roles that trust and empathy play in a sale Understanding how tricks and manipulation can sink a sale Vital pre-meeting research that must take place before a conversation Understanding how the customer sees us and why positioning is important 2 Structuring the sales conversation process Defining a set process for structuring a sales call with a chance to demonstrate understanding How the first minute of a conversation can destroy a sale Understanding BPO objectives for a sale How a step-by-step sales conversation process helps win more sales Understanding the mis-match between the customers buying process How our sales processes can lead to mistakes 3 How and why people buy An insight into the emotional factors behind how people arrive at purchasing decisions Using research from neuroscience that shows how sales people can really make mistakes Understanding how people make decisions about larger purchases Understanding the stakeholders in companies and their buying motives How to analyse the stakeholders and determine a win-plan 4 Understanding the funnel Studying the sales and buying process to understand the ratios of sales to prospects and better forecasting Understanding the role of forecasting in sales analysis Why many forecasts are nearly always wrong Understanding the stages of a sales process How 'verifiable outcomes' can really change forecasting 5 Questioning techniques Understanding the different questioning techniques and when they should be used Using the 'knowledge tree' as a framework for questioning Understanding the use of real empathy to help customers uncover their needs How effective research can really empower your questions How to ask 'high gain' questions How to ask difficult questions without feeling intrusive 6 Features and benefits How to practically apply them in a sales scenario How to align the benefits to customers' business goals Really understanding the difference and how to demonstrate true economic benefits to a customer How to discover business goals, and align value propositions to these How to craft an effective value proposition for a customer Using the SAR storytelling method to really engage customers to align their thinking patterns Using the latest neuroscience research that explains what customers are really thinking 7 Overcoming objections How 'confirmation bias' can hinder any sales conversation How the CLARA method of responding to customer concerns can dramatically improve the chances of customers responding to us in a positive way Practising the method to become comfortable and congruent with it 8 Closing the sale A deep dive into what closing is How different sales have different closes How too many closing methods can destroy a sale How to lead up to a close with a logical sequence of questions Using the ACSAT trust method of closing A clear methodology with a chance to practise the skills in a fun way

High quality specifications are of paramount importance in achieving the right technical performance and value for money. This long-established training programme has been developed to help those involved in producing specifications to create high quality documents in an organised and effective way. It provides a sound foundation for those new to the topic whilst at the same time offering new insights to those with more experience. The programme emphasises the need for a clear definition of requirements combined with the ability to communicate those requirements effectively to third parties. A structured method of preparing specifications is provided, and a range of practical techniques is presented, to enable participants to put the principles into practice. The commercial and contractual role of specifications is also addressed. The objectives of the workshop are to: Provide a clear understanding of the role and purpose of specifications Present a framework for organising and producing specifications Define the key steps involved in creating effective specifications Demonstrate methods for assisting in defining requirements Provide tools and techniques for scoping and structuring specifications Show the role of specifications in managing variations and changes to scope Present methods to assist the writing and editing of specifications Review how specifications should be issued and controlled DAY ONE 1 Introduction Review of course objectives Review of participants' needs and objectives 2 Creating effective specifications The role of specifications in communicating requirements The costs, benefits and qualities of effective specifications Understanding the differences between verbal and written communication The five key steps of 'POWER' writing: prepare-organise-write-edit-release Exercise: qualities of an effective specification 3 Step 1: Preparing to write - defining readership and purpose; the specification and the contract Designing the specifications required; applying BS 7373 Defining the purpose, readership and title of each document Effective procedures for writing, issuing and controlling specifications The roles and responsibilities of the key players Understanding contracts; the contractual role of the specification Integrating and balancing the technical and commercial requirements Writing specifications to achieve the appropriate contract risk strategy Deciding how to specify: when to use functional and technical specifications The role of specifications in managing variations and changes to scope 4 Case study 1 Teams review a typical project scenario and identify the implications for the specification Feedback and discussion 5 Step 2: Organising the specification content Defining the need and establishing user requirements Deciding what issues the specification should cover Scoping techniques: scope maps, check lists, structured brainstorming Clarifying priorities: separating needs and desires Dealing with requirements that are difficult to quantify Useful techniques: cost benefit analysis, QFD, Pareto analysis 6 Case study 2 Teams apply the scoping techniques to develop the outline contents for a specification Feedback and discussion DAY TWO 7 Step 2: Organising the specification content (cont) Deciding what goes where; typical contents and layout for a specification The three main segments: introductory, key and supporting Creating and using model forms: the sections and sub-sections Detailed contents of each sub-section Tools and techniques for outlining and structuring specifications 8 Case study 3 Teams develop the detailed specification contents using a model form Feedback and discussion 9 Step 3: Writing the specification The challenges of written communication Identifying and understanding the readers needs Choosing and using the right words; dealing with jargon Problem words; will, shall, must, etc; building a glossary Using sentence structure and punctuation to best effect Understanding the impact of style, format and appearance Avoiding common causes of ambiguity Being concise and ensuring clarity Choosing and using graphics to best effect Exercises and examples 10 Step 4: Editing the specification Why editing is difficult; how to develop a personal editing strategy Key areas to review: structure, content, accuracy, clarity, style and grammar Editing tools and techniques 11 Step 5: Releasing and controlling the specification Key requirements for document issue and control Final formatting and publication issues; document approval Requirements management: managing revisions and changes 12 Course review and action planning What actions should be implemented to improve specifications? Conclusion

If you want your employees to improve their customer service skills and deliver an amazing experience to your customers, feel free to check out my Training course focusing on generating long-standing customer loyalty.

If you want your employees to improve their customer service skills and deliver an amazing experience to your customers, feel free to check out my Training course focusing on managing complaints and complaining clients successfully.