This course will move a manager’s focus away from simply reviewing last year’s financial performance, toward the development of an interactive approach, designed to really understand financial performance and the consequence of inaction. PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN HOW TO: • The confidence to use budgeting tools and techniques • An understanding of the demands of financial management • The ability to analyse and challenge financial and accounting • Information • An understanding of fixed and variable costs and how these affect the sales price and profitability • Understanding the challenges of overhead allocation • Understanding the P&L • Developing awareness of fundamental investment appraisal techniques COURSE TOPICS INCLUDE: • Budget Definitions & Planning • Designing and developing a budget • Performance reporting systems & cost control • Zero-based budgeting systems • Understanding business costs (FC & VC) • Understanding variance analysis • Profit and Loss & Balance Sheet
Any team member with Customer interaction (including internal) are the 'Ambassadors' of the company/organisation. If they project positive professionalism - they win others' confidence. If they appear or sound like they are in any way indifferent or unprofessional - they will cost sales and lose clients/customers. With this 2 day Training course, that will be tailored to your company/organisation, each person attending will upgrade their professional standards in people skills, telephone manner and email etiquette. No training in this area may well be a false economy as there is a much greater risk of disenfranchised customers and team members - and probably increases your competitors to win business at your expense. Professional customer care is all too frequently regarded as a token issue in most induction sessions for employees. Surprisingly it is very rarely considered as a key priority, despite being essential for ensuring customer commitment is secure and supplier/partnerships are robust. Excellent customer care is paramount in our ever increasingly competitive market and making customers feel valued and looked after is often a differentiator. This 2-day course will help you understand your customers and the vital importance of customer care in any organisation. You will gain the tools and techniques to apply your learning directly back into the workplace and deliver excellent customer care. Course Syllabus The syllabus of the Professional Customer Care course is comprised of four modules, covering the following: Module One What is Excellent Customer Care? Internal versus external customers Why customer care is important Meeting customer expectations Module Two Making a Personal Difference How do you measure customer care? Making a difference Taking ownership Positive mental attitude Displaying professionalism both face-to-face and over the telephone Using positive language Module Three Gathering Information and Offering Solutions Asking the right questions Active listening skills Summarising and clarifying skills Module Four Dealing with Difficult Situations How to give a 'service' no Demonstrating empathy Assertiveness techniques Handling a complaint Problem solving Saying 'sorry' Making realistic promises and keeping them Real Play Scenarios with a Professional Actor (Optional Extra) This programme benefits significantly from our innovative training feature: Real Play. Using a professional actor who performs role plays as different customer characters in carefully devised situations, the delegates have the opportunity to 'pause' the role play to coach and control their character to improve their skill sets and practice the theory delivered. These scenarios can deal with difficult situations and enacting options to ensure good customer relations are intact. The outcome of the scenario is the responsibility of the delegates, not the trainer and actor. The actor will remain in character throughout the de-brief in order to bring to life the impact and possible next steps. Objectives By the end of the course participants will be able to Adopt a professional telephone manner Communicate assertively by taking control and directing the conversation Deliver information positively by offering options and alternatives Develop a range of versatile behaviours to use when dealing with difficult situations by: Listening actively Using empathy Gathering relevant information through effective questioning Finding solutions to concerns/problems quickly and efficiently Speaking positively and assertively What Is The Benefit? For individuals this course will increase confidence and ability to deal with customers in all situations, which will in turn create customer loyalty and raise their profile. For an employer, ensuring that all customer facing employees are demonstrating excellent customer care instils confidence in the customers and promotes a positive image of the company. In-House Courses Every single team member or employee that has a role which involves engaging with a customer, client and/or a key partner/supplier has a responsibility for projecting a positive image of the organisation which they represent. That may sound obvious, but how many hundreds of experiences have you had as a customer where you were treated with indifference and a distinct lack of professionalism by the receptionist, the retail assistant, the tele-agent, the delivery person, the credit controller or the departmental manager of the operation that you were dealing with? Far too many to count? This is because professional customer care is regarded as a token issue in most induction sessions for employees - and it is very rarely considered as a key priority to ensure customer commitment is secure and supplier/partnerships are robust. Yet the hugely expensive churn in customer/client commitments and staff is enormously expensive and immensely disruptive to any organisation. The Importance of Customers and Clients Every client/customer engaging person needs to recognise that it is ultimately the client or customer that pays their wages. If they gain a basic understanding of the clients' motivations and behaviours, coupled with some core skills in how to care for them, they will attain the status of 'professional'. This will very quickly translate into increased revenues, retained loyalty, high commitment and far greater security for all parties. The foundation has to be based on the authentic commitment to both the customer and also to the organisation they work for. Disenfranchisement readily curdles into sloppy behaviours cloaked in unprofessional attitudes and demeanours; plenty there to repel the most loyal of customers. If your company or organisation relies on repeat business and retaining the confidence and commitment of your clients, then all of your team members - perhaps including managers who set the example and have the biggest influence on the where the needle points to in relation to professionalism - need to be trained on the core basics of professional customer care. Customer Care Programmes from Dickson Training Ltd We are delighted to boast about the many successes we have had in providing effective and long lasting improvements for many clients, where awards have been won and, more importantly, talent has been retained because their clients and customers keep on coming back. Professional customer care extends to suppliers and partners that you value and need to get the best service and rates from, as well as any 'internal clients' such as other departments where you need to rely on their support and collaboration in order to achieve your goals. It is amazing what effective professional customer care training can do for any organisation. Without it your organisation may be vulnerable, with it you are much more likely to see increased performances and much greater security and growth. Scheduled Courses Unfortunately this course is not one that is currently scheduled as an open course, and is only available on an in-house basis. Please contact us for more information.
Overview This 3-day course focuses on covering the foundations of equity markets, including practical experience with equity swaps and options. During this course you will learn: How to use equity swaps, dividend swaps, equity index options and single name options. Applications of these products are shown across a variety of strategies across volatility trading, corporate finance and investment management. Key issues in pricing and risk management. Who the course is for Equity and Derivative sales, traders, structurers, quants and relevant IT personnel Asset allocation managers and equity portfolio managers Company finance executives, corporate treasurers and investment bankers Risk managers, finance, IPV professionals, auditors and accountants Course Content To learn more about the day by day course content please request a brochure To learn more about schedule, pricing & delivery options, book a meeting with a course specialist now
Overview Understand the role of corporate structure, dividends and equity indices in equity markets. Become familiar with the building blocks of repos / stock lending, futures and forwards – and how to use these products. Understand how to price, and risk manage equity swaps and dividend swaps. Gain experience in their uses in trading, corporate finance and portfolio management. Learn how to price equity options and the features that make them different from other asset classes, explore how to use these products for taking equity risk, yield enhancement and portfolio protection. Understand strategies designed to trade / hedge volatility using options. Who the course is for Risk management Finance Sales and trading Treasury Technology Financial Engineering Course Content To learn more about the day by day course content please request a brochure To learn more about schedule, pricing & delivery options, book a meeting with a course specialist now
Overview This 2-day programme covers the latest techniques used for fixed income attribution. This hands-on course enables participants to get a practical working experience of fixed income attribution, from planning to implementation and analysis. After completing the course you will have developed the skills to: Understand how attribution works and the value it adds to the investment process Interpret attribution reports from commercial systems Assess the strengths and weaknesses of commercially available attribution software Make informed decisions about the build vs. buy decision Present results in terms accessible to all parts of the business Who the course is for Performance analysts Fund and portfolio managers Investment officers Fixed Income professionals (marketing/sales) Auditors and compliance Quants and IT developers Course Content To learn more about the day by day course content please request a brochure To learn more about schedule, pricing & delivery options, book a meeting with a course specialist now
Overview A review of the most enduringly popular structured equity-linked products. This 1 day hands-on programme will help you gain familiarity with 1st generation & 2nd generation structured products convexity – and their applications. Discover techniques for maximising the participation rate to enhance returns for investors. Explore the trade-offs between coupon payments and gearing, and how they affect the risk-return profile of the notes. Explore ladder structures, their relationship to lookbacks, and the benefits they offer to investors. Learn about accumulators, their structuring, and the reasons behind their controversy in the market. Who the course is for Structured Products Desks, Financial Engineers, Product Controllers Traders, Dealing Room Staff and Sales People Risk Managers, Quantitative Analysts and Middle Office Managers Fund Managers, Investors, Senior Managers Researchers and Systems Developers Course Content To learn more about the day by day course content please request a brochure To learn more about schedule, pricing & delivery options, book a meeting with a course specialist now
Overview A 1-day course on inflation-linked bonds and derivatives, focusing on the UK market in particular. We examine how inflation is defined and quantified, the choice of index (RPI vs. CPI), and the most common cash flow structures for index-linked securities. We look in detail at Index-linked Gilts, distinguishing between the old-style and new-style quotation conventions, and how to calculate the implied breakeven rate. Corporate bond market in the UK, and in particular the role of LPI in driving pension fund activity. Inflation swaps and other derivatives, looking at the mechanics, applications and pricing of inflation swaps and caps/floors. The convexity adjustment for Y-o-Y swaps is derived intuitively. Who the course is for Front-office sales product control research Traders Risk managers Fund managers Project finance and structured finance practitioners Accountants, auditors, consultants Course Content To learn more about the day by day course content please request a brochure To learn more about schedule, pricing & delivery options, book a meeting with a course specialist now
Overview The first half of the course will cover all the essential tools of the currency markets – spot FX, forwards, FX swaps and NDFs. We look both at the pricing of these products and also how customers use them. The afternoon session will cover a range of important topics beyond the scope of an elementary course on currency options. We start with a quick review of the key concepts and terminology, and then we look at the key exotics (barriers and digitals) and how they are used to create the most popular customer combinations. We move on to look at the currently most-popular 2nd generation exotics, such as Accumulators, Faders and Target Redemption structures. Who the course is for FX Sales, traders, structurers, quants Financial engineers Risk Managers IT Bank Treasury ALM Central Bank and Government Treasury Funding managers Insurance Investment managers Fixed Income portfolio managers Regulators Course Content To learn more about the day by day course content please request a brochure To learn more about schedule, pricing & delivery options, book a meeting with a course specialist now
Overview A comprehensive and practical 3 days workshop on pricing, using and managing structured interest rate derivatives. What used to be called exotic interest rate derivatives are now commonplace and an essential part of the financial marketplace either as legacy transactions or embedded in new structures. This intensive course is for anyone who wishes to be able to use, price, manage, market or evaluate standard interest rate derivatives such as Constant Maturity Swaps, Range Accruals and Quantos. We also look in detail at such important products as CMS spread-linked structures and volatility/variance swaps, always from a pragmatic practitioner’s perspective. Who the course is for This course is designed for anyone who wishes to be able to price, use, market, manage or evaluate interest rate derivatives. Interest-rate sales / traders / structurers / quants IT Bank Treasury ALM Central Bank and Government Treasury Funding managers Insurance Investment managers Fixed Income portfolio managers IPV professionals Course Content To learn more about the day by day course content please request a brochure To learn more about schedule, pricing & delivery options, book a meeting with a course specialist now
Overview Interest Rate Options are an essential part of the derivatives marketplace. This 3-Day programme will equip you to use, price, manage and evaluate interest rate options and related instruments. The course starts with a detailed review of option theory, from a practitioner’s viewpoint. Then we cover the key products in the rates world (caps/floors, swaptions, Bermudans) and their applications, plus the related products (such as CMS) that contain significant ’hidden’ optionality. We finish with a detailed look at the volatility surface in rates, and how we model vol dynamics (including a detailed examination of SABR). The programme includes extensive practical exercises using Excel spreadsheets for valuation and risk-management, which participants can take away for immediate implementation Who the course is for This course is designed for anyone who wishes to be able to price, use, market, manage or evaluate interest rate derivatives. Interest-rate sales / traders / structurers / quants IT Bank Treasury ALM Central Bank and Government Treasury Funding managers Insurance Investment managers Fixed Income portfolio managers Course Content To learn more about the day by day course content please request a brochure To learn more about schedule, pricing & delivery options, book a meeting with a course specialist now