19 Business Communication Skills courses in Belfast

Emotional Intelligence Training

Effective report writing, the exchange of information, ideas, opinions and decisions between people at all levels, internally and externally, makes a vital contribution to organisational success.

Miss Date Doctor’s Communication Skills coaching is designed to help you improve your ability to communicate effectively with your partner or potential partner. Whether you struggle to express yourself clearly, have difficulty understanding your partner’s needs, or frequently find yourselves in arguments or misunderstandings, our coaching can provide you with the tools and skills needed to build stronger, more fulfilling relationships and communication skills are essential in creating solid relationships. Our Communication Skills coaching includes a range of techniques and strategies, such as active listening, non-verbal communication, conflict resolution, and empathy building. We can help you develop the ability to communicate clearly and assertively, express your emotions in a healthy way, and build deeper levels of trust and understanding in your relationships.Have 3 1 hour sessions with your coach. The Miss Date Doctor Communication Skills Package includes the following: Relationship Communication, Effective Communication, Communication Techniques, Active Listening, Conflict Resolution, Empathy Building, Communication Skills Coaching, Communication Strategies, Non-Verbal Communication, Relationship Communication Skills, Communication Training. https://relationshipsmdd.com/product/communication-skills-package/ [https://relationshipsmdd.com/product/communication-skills-package/]

Any successful business manager will tell you that you never get the deal you deserve - you always get the deal you negotiate! This two-day workshop includes recent research and practical techniques from the Harvard Business School Negotiation Project and provides a unique opportunity to learn and practice these skills in a safe environment using up to date materials and life-like practice negotiation case studies. This course will help participants to: * Understand the basics of negotiation * Develop negotiating skills * Increase their business acumen * Develop their communication skills * Learn the models, techniques and tools for an effective negotiation * Identify the barriers to agreements * Close the deal 1 WHAT IS NEGOTIATION? * Key skills for negotiation * Types of negotiation * Win-lose negotiations versus Win-win negotiations * Wise agreements and Principled Negotiation 2 FOUR KEY NEGOTIATING CONCEPTS * BATNA - Best alternative to negotiated agreement * Setting your reservation price * ZOPA - Zone of possible agreement * Creating and trading value 3 BUSINESS ACUMEN * Understanding pricing, gross margins and profit * Knowing the key points on which to negotiate 4 A FOUR PHASE MODEL FOR NEGOTIATION * Nine steps to successful planning * Discussing a deal - creating and claiming value * Making and framing proposals * Bargaining for the winning deal 5 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION * Effective questioning * Active listening skills * Understanding and interpreting body language * Barriers to effective communication 6 UNDERSTANDING INFLUENCE AND PERSUASION * Influencing strategies * Ten proven ways to influence people * Six universal methods of persuasion * Understanding why people do business with other people 7 NEGOTIATING TACTICS * Tactics for win-lose negotiations * Tactics for win-win negotiations * Effective team negotiating * Understanding and using powerv * What do you do when the other side has more power? 8 BARRIERS TO AGREEMENT * Common barriers to agreement * The Negotiators Dilemma * Dealing with die-hard negotiators * Dealing with lack of trust 9 POTENTIAL BARRIERS TO CROSS-BORDER AGREEMENTS * Understanding business methods and practice in other cultures * Figuring out who has the power and who makes decisions * Recognising and dealing with cultural differences * What's OK here might not be OK there 10 CLOSING THE DEAL * Four steps to closing the winning deal

The 'golden rule' of negotiation is simple - don't! But life's rarely that simple and very often we do have to negotiate, particularly if we want to win the business and especially if we want to win it on our terms. Such negotiations are crucial. We need to prepare for them. We need a strategy, and the skills to execute it. Does your team have a structured approach? Is it flawlessly executed, every time? Or is there room for improvement? This programme will help them master the six fundamentals of closing better business: Manage all these elements well and you will win more business, more profitably. This course will help participants: * Negotiate from a position of partnership, not competition * Deal more effectively and profitably with price objections * Identify and practise successful sales negotiating skills * Identify strengths and weaknesses as a sales negotiator * Understand different types of buyer behaviour * Learn to recognise negotiating tactics and stances * Apply a new and proven structure to their business negotiations * Identify and adapt for different behavioural styles * Be alert to unconscious (non-verbal) communication * Prepare and present a proposal at a final business negotiation stage * Project confidence and exercise assertiveness in all sales negotiations 1 PLANNING FOR SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS NEGOTIATIONS This session introduces the concept of business negotiation and looks at its importance in the context of the participants' roles and activities. It briefly examines why we negotiate and the dynamics involved. Session highlights: * What kind of a negotiator are you? * Negotiation skills self-assessment and best practice * How to establish roles and responsibilities for both parties * How to identify and set objectives for both buyer and seller * How to research and establish the other person's position (business negotiation stance) 2 HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR NEGOTIATIONS This module presents an eight-step framework or structure for use in negotiations and considers how best to prepare and plan your negotiations within the context of a supplier/customer relationship or business cycle. It also includes a brief review of legal responsibilities and what constitutes a 'deal'. Session highlights: * Learn and apply a formal structure to use when negotiating * How to establish short- and longer-term objectives and opportunities * How best to plan, prepare and co-ordinate a major business negotiation meeting, or on-going negotiations * Understanding of basic legal and organisational requirements 3 VERBAL NEGOTIATION SKILLS This session examines the human and communication dynamics inherent in any negotiation situation. It emphasises the importance of professional skills in preparing for a negotiation by identifying needs, wants and requirements accurately and by qualifying the competitive and organisational influences present. Session highlights: * How to fully 'qualify' the other party's needs, requirements and constraints during the negotiation process by using advanced questioning and listening skills * How to pre-empt negotiation objections by promoting and gaining commitment to options, benefits, value and solutions * How best to propose and suggest ideas, using drawing-out skills 4 NON-VERBAL NEGOTIATION SKILLS This module highlights how different personal styles, corporate cultures and organisation positions can influence events, and demonstrates practical methods for dealing with and controlling these factors. It also examines key principles of body language and non-verbal communication in a practical way. Session highlights: * Gaining rapport and influencing unconsciously * Understanding the importance of non-verbal communication; reading other people's meaning and communicating effectively as a result * Ensure that non-verbal behaviour is fully utilised and observed to create maximum impact and monitor progress (eg, buying signals) * Recognising that business negotiations are precisely structured and agreements gained incrementally 5 PROPOSING AND 'PACKAGING' This session highlights how best to present and package your proposal. It looks at how to pre-empt the need for negotiating by creating minor-options and 'bargaining' points, as well as how to manage the expectations and perceptions of the customer or buyer. Session highlights: * How to identify the key variables that can be negotiated * The power and use of 'authority' within your negotiations * How to structure and present your proposal, ideas or quotation to best effect * The importance of when and how to identify and influence buyer's objections 6 DEALING WITH PRICE This module highlights how to best present and package price within your proposal or negotiation. In most cases, price has more to do with psychology than affordability and preparation and careful handling are essential. Session highlights: * The three reasons that people will pay your asking price * How to set price in a competitive market * The key differences between selling and negotiating * Ten ways to present price more effectively and persuasively 7 GETTING TO 'YES': TACTICS AND STRATEGIES There are many different tactics and strategies common to successful negotiators. This session looks at those that are most appropriate to the participants' own personal styles and situations. The importance of 'follow-through' is also explained and how to deal with protracted or 'stale-mate' business negotiations. Session highlights: * How to negotiate price and reduce discounting early in the process * How to recognise negotiating tactics and strategies in your customer or supplier * Key strategies, techniques and tactics to use in negotiation * The importance of follow-through and watching the details * How to deal with stalled business negotiations or competitor 'lock-out' 8 CASE STUDIES AND REVIEW This session examines a number of different situations and participants discuss ways to approach each. This will allow learning to be consolidated and applied in a very practical way. There will also be a chance to have individual points raised in a question and answer session. Session highlights: * Case studies * Question and answer * Planning worksheet * Negotiation 'toolkit' and check-list 9 PERSONAL ACTION PLANS Session highlights: * Identify the most important personal learning points from the programme * Highlight specific actions and goals * Flag topics for future personal development and improvement

The need for key staff to have commercial skills is paramount, as the public sector is increasingly opened up as a commercial market, in which organisations compete against each other and the private sector for contracts. Generating additional income and being commercially aware is vital for this to be a success, and is what many public sector organisations are looking to do. This programme will help you: * See commercial awareness as not just another skill-set, but as a different mind-set * Use a variety of tried-and-tested commercial, analytical decision-making techniques and tools * Define your commercial objectives * Develop a strategic focus * Start looking at service clients as market segments * Analyse, in a competitive context, your service offering * Plan a commercial strategy, prepare for its implementation and see it through to execution 1 WHAT IS COMMERCIAL THINKING? * Understand what it means to be a commercial thinker * Identifying commercial opportunities often involves not only a different skill set but also a different mindset; looking at the services that you provide 2 DEFINING STRATEGIC COMMERCIAL OBJECTIVES * Defining your key commercial objectives * Prioritising your strategic objectives * Two key strategic planning tools: * Resource and Competency Matrix * PESTLE * How to apply these tools to your particular situation 3 DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC FOCUS * Decision-making on how to compete in the markets identified by your strategic objectives requires a strategic focus * Developing strategic focus * A tool for helping you to make those decisions: using the Ansoff Matrix 4 DEFINING CUSTOMER TARGETS * How to think more commercially by understanding who all your customers are and how they differ from each other * how to apply the principles to your areas to identify the type of customers you have and their key characteristics - Customer segmentation * Who are your customers? How do their needs vary? - Scenarios 5 THE COMPETITIVE MARKET PLACE * Understanding the competitive forces at play * Different types of competition * Analysing your competitive environment using Porter's 5 Forces model 6 MEETING STAKEHOLDER EXPECTATIONS * Two simple models to help you identify the key stakeholders who could influence your commercial environment * How to use your stakeholders to help you achieve your commercial objectives 7 IMPLEMENTATION - SYSTEMS, STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES * Effective commercial activity involves working with others to implement ideas and strategies * What do you need to have in place before you implement your commercial strategy? * How to health-check your organisation prior to implementation using the McKinsey 7S framework 8 IMPLEMENTATION - PEOPLE AND CULTURE * A good commercial strategy only works if the people involved buy in to the ideas and if the culture of the organisation is conducive to the effective implementation * How the latest thinking in behavioural economics can help you develop your culture and people to work commercially 9 TOOLS AND CHECKLISTS * Be more commercial within your sphere of influence using a commercial checklist to help you * Using the checklist as a benchmark against the most commercially aware organisations * Using the checklist as a health check - both corporately and individually

This workshop will provide participants with the insight and skills to be more effective business networkers, face-to-face and online. The approach taken is to build on the strengths people already have and their successes. It is easier to develop what you already have than to try and develop skills that do not come easily. Being yourself is the most effective tool for business networking and building relationships. This course will help those attending: * Appreciate the importance of networking, and different forms of networking * Understand the dynamics of communication that are specific to networking * Become more confident and assured when 'working' a room * Improve their influencing skills, especially with people who are experts and in positions of authority * 'Sell' themselves and promote their company * Identify and manage their profiles using online social networking sites * Use effective follow-up to maintain active contacts and connections * Select the correct networking groups, clubs and events * Create their own personal network 1 THE IMPORTANCE, AND DIFFERENT TYPES, OF NETWORKING * Personal objectives and introductions * Test networking session * Examples of the importance, purpose and format of various types of networking, and benefits you can expect 2 HOW TO WORK A ROOM - PREPARATION AND STRATEGY * Three things to know before you attend any event * Non-verbal communication and art of rapport * Breaking the ice - worked examples with practical demonstration 3 COMMUNICATION DYNAMICS IN NETWORKING - THE POWER OF THE LISTENING NETWORKER * Why it is better to listen than talk * Effective questioning and active listening * Creating a natural and engaging conversation, 1-2-1 and in a larger group 4 ASSUMPTIONS WHEN NETWORKING * How to use the 'instant judgement' of others to your advantage * What assumptions are you making? * How to keep an open mind 5 BUSINESS NETWORKING ETIQUETTE * Meeting and greeting at a business networking event - approaching complete strangers and introducing yourself * Socialising: joining and leaving groups easily * Making a good first impression in 30 seconds * The use of status when networking 6 MAKING CONNECTIONS * Asking for cards, contact details and referrals * Gaining a follow-up commitment * Some tips and tricks 7 BUSINESS NETWORKING REHEARSALS * Practice sessions 8 PERSONAL BUSINESS NETWORKING ONLINE * Overview of different types of networking sites - there is a lot more out there than just Facebook! * Examples of creating an effective profile * Using social networking effectively - case studies and application * 'Advanced' applications - blogs, articles, twitter, feeds, etc. * Online demonstration and examples 9 BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS - FOLLOW-UP AND FOLLOW-THROUGH * Maintaining a good database * Developing a contact strategy with different types and levels of contact * How to analyse your contact base

Effective communication is a skill. This half-day workshop is very interactive - participants can practise their communication skills in a positive, supportive environment. 1 WELCOME, INTRODUCTIONS AND OBJECTIVES * The definition of effective communication * Exercise: sending a message 2 VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS * Effective communicators - who are they? What skills or attributes do they have? * Listening skills, clear use of words, presence, eye contact, body language 3 HOW GOOD A LISTENER ARE YOU? * Exercise: listening skills questionnaire and evaluation 4 IMPACT VERSUS INTENT - WHAT DID YOU REALLY MEAN TO SAY? * Attitudes influence behaviour and behaviour breeds behaviour * Exercise: 'I never said she stole money' * The need to avoid misunderstanding or misinterpretation 5 THE 5 KEY PRINCIPLES TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION * Exercise: 'What would you say?' 6 WRITTEN COMMUNICATION * What makes an effective written communication? * Kipling's 6 Honest Men: who, what, where, when, why and how * Planning to write an email 7 FUZZY MEANINGS * Probabilities for misunderstandings and misinterpretations 8 PRACTICAL EXERCISE * Hone written communication skills and put into practice hints and tips from the session 9 REVIEW OF KEY LEARNING POINTS AND OBJECTIVES

Many people have a misconception about networking events, and lose out on new business opportunities as a result. They either don't appreciate the real benefits and techniques of networking and don't attend events, or they attempt to 'sell on the first date', causing resentment. You can either attempt to make a sale for a quick buck (which is particularly likely to backfire at a networking event), or you can try to open a long-term relationship, creating new opportunities and a high lifetime value customer (which is how it's meant to be done). Networking, when done properly, is an excellent tool for referrals. But you have to appreciate that it's done on the basis of giving rather than receiving and this doesn't always come naturally to sales professionals. The old saying that it's about getting to 'know, like and trust' is still true. This workshop is about having your prospects and customers getting to know, like and trust you, and building that lifetime value as a result. By the end of this programme, participants will be able to: * Understand what networking is - networking etiquette * Know how and where to network * Clarify their objectives - why network * Use the 4 basic questions to start a conversation * Build rapport quickly and easily * Answer the question 'What do you do?' effectively in a few seconds * Deliver a 60-second pitch * Break into a group * Prepare for a network meeting * Identify opportunities * Use tools to assist in networking 1 INTRODUCTION * Aims and objectives 2 WHAT IS NETWORKING? * Why network - objectives and goal setting * Networking etiquette * Preparation - online and offline tools to use * Identify networking opportunities - where to network * Know what you have to offer * 'Know, like and trust' - the process 3 WHAT DO YOU DO? * Answer in 5-10 seconds * Create and deliver a 60-second pitch * Who is your target market? 4 STARTING A CONVERSATION * Breaking into a group * Building rapport * The 4 questions to start a conversation * Moving on 5 COMMUNICATE AND ENGAGE * LISTEN - 4 types of listening skill * Ask powerful questions * Influence - don't sell * What can you do to help others - give to get 6 POWER OF REFERRALS * Who can give you referrals? * When to give or ask for referrals * Have a referral system * Showing appreciation 7 SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER ONLINE TOOLS * Using LinkedIn and other social media * Online directories 8 NEXT STEPS * Following up * Arranging one-to-one meetings * Developing relationships

This very practical workshop is designed to enable participants to improve the impact, clarity and accuracy of their business documents - both internal and external.: This workshop will help participants: * Identify the purpose of writing their documents - to themselves and to their readers * Recognise and meet the needs of their readers * Plan documents systematically and improve the layout, flow and structure * Express the content more clearly, concisely and correctly * Adapt the tone and style of writing to the circumstances * Proof-read and edit work effectively, using formal marks and techniques * Improve visual layout, format and appearance 1 COURSE OBJECTIVES * Welcome and Introductions * The problems now - group discussion 2 WRITING BETTER BUSINESS DOCUMENTS * What points to highlight / exclude * Starting off * Introductions * Conclusions * Executive summaries 3 RULES AND STANDARDS * George Orwell's famous maxim * Why write? - clarifying your aims and objectives * A seven-step method for better preparation * The three-stage process for writing well * Grouping information for your reader 4 PROOF-READING AND EDITING * The difference between proof-reading and editing * Proof-reading methods and strategies * Proof-reading marks and techniques * Training your eye for detail * Knowing what to look for 5 EFFECTIVE EDITING * Grammar and English standards * Words - usage and spelling * Sentences - units of thought * Paragraphs - themes * Punctuation - spotting and correcting common errors * Say what you mean - active v passive language 6 HOW'S YOUR ENGLISH? * Grammar quizzes and punctuation test * Spotting spelling errors * Rephrasing jargons and clichés * Common error's and mistakes 7 DOCUMENT LAYOUT * House style * Use of white space * Fonts and effects 8 ONE-TO-ONE WORKSHOPS * These are practical sessions with one-to-one consultation with colleagues and the trainer * They are held at key points to consolidate the learning from different sessions 9 COURSE SUMMARY * Summary of key points * Action plans