5536 Courses in Liverpool delivered Live Online

The aim of this course is to provide an overview of the principles and practice for leading and managing a portfolio of smaller projects in a multi-project / multi-task environment. It presents a range of practical methods and techniques relevant to the smaller project scenario, using exercises and case studies to show how these can be applied. The scope of the programme includes: The course also emphasises the importance of the leadership and team-working skills needed by project managers and team members in carrying out their roles. The principal training objectives for this programme are to: * Explain and demonstrate the key principles of successful project management * Demonstrate a range of useful project management tools and techniques * Define the role, and help participants understand the skills required by, the project leader * Provide a structured framework to help participants manage multiple projects * Identify opportunities to improve project management within the organisation DAY ONE 1 INTRODUCTION (COURSE SPONSOR) * Why this programme has been developed * Review of participants' needs and objectives 2 MANAGING SMALLER PROJECTS * Projects and project management * Lessons from past projects; the essential requirements for success * Differences between projects; characteristic project life cycles * Key issues and challenges of smaller projects * The multi-project world; project portfolio management 3 PROJECT EXERCISE * Syndicate teams plan and manage a small project * Review of the project exercise: What are the keys to successful management of small projects? 4 SETTING UP THE PROJECT * Getting organised * Managing the definition process * Identifying and managing project stakeholders * Working with the customer to define the scope and agree deliverables 5 CASE STUDY 1 * Defining the project scope and deliverables * Syndicate teams define the scope and deliverables for a typical project 6 PROJECT PLANNING * The importance and cost benefit of effective planning * Planning the plan; deciding how detailed a plan to create * Packaging the work and estimating timescales and costs * Developing project / resource schedules; setting milestones for control v * Identifying and managing critical path activities 7 CASE STUDY 2 * Creating the project plan * Syndicate teams develop and analyse the project plan DAY TWO 8 MANAGING PROJECT RISKS * Identifying risks to the project outcome, timescale and cost * Evaluating risks and adopting an appropriate risk strategy * Defining risk ownership; keeping a simple risk log * Keeping risk management up to date; staying pro-active * Integrating planning and risk management 9 PROJECT CONTROL * Managing change, minimising scope creep * Selecting the data needed to provide early warning of problems * Monitoring performance easily with 'S' curves and slip charts * Using trend forecasting to assess true project status * Running project review meetings 10 MANAGING A MULTI-PROJECT PORTFOLIO * Understanding the world of multiple projects * Establishing ownership of project / programme management * Classifying projects and creating the 'master schedule' * Defining and applying project lifecycle management * Resource management: essential pre-requisites and mechanisms * Project prioritisation criteria and techniques; pain / gain analysis 11 MANAGING THE MULTI-PROJECT TEAM * Characteristics of small project teams / part-time team membership * Clarifying line and project management responsibilities * Implementing effective manpower planning * Establishing professional working practices in the team * Developing project management competences in the team * Establishing team roles and integrating team members 12 COURSE REVIEW AND TRANSFER PLANNING (COURSE SPONSOR PRESENT) * Identify actions to be implemented individually * Identify corporate opportunities for improving project management * Sponsor-led review and discussion of proposals * Conclusion

Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) is commonly used to help establish safe minimum levels of maintenance, determine changes to operating procedures and help establish maintenance regimes and plans. Successful implementation can result in cost savings, machine uptime and improved risk management. But the devil's in the detail - how can you achieve these benefits and successfully implement RCM in your organisation? This programme will help you do just that. Note: this is a purely indicative outline. The content, duration, objectives and material used can all be adapted to match your specific requirements. To provide a better understanding of RCM, particularly: * What, why, how and who? * Opportunities and benefits * Risks * Cost effectiveness Note: this is a purely indicative outline. The content, duration, objectives and material used can all be adapted to match your specific requirements. 1 WHAT IS MAINTENANCE? * Why maintain? * Traditional maintenance methods * Common current practices and trends 2 WHAT IS RELIABILITY CENTRED MAINTENANCE? * Its history * Its development * Current usage * Where can it be cost-effective? 3 HOW DOES IT WORK? * Basic features * Key criteria * Maintenance options * Key outcomes 4 MAKING THE BUSINESS CASE AND PREPARING THE STRATEGY * Identifying and quantifying current risks * Identifying and quantifying current costs * Motivating decision-makers * Identifying and empowering those who have to deliver the results * Educating / gaining buy-in from interested parties 5 IMPLEMENTATION * Identify business functions * Prioritise functions * Verify correct usage * Identify failure modes * Identify the consequences of failure * Understand the failure process * Specify the appropriate maintenance action(s) 6 ONGOING REQUIREMENTS * Monitoring * Recording * Analysis * Continuous re-evaluation 7 OPEN DISCUSSION * Sharing experience and addressing specific issues of interest to participants * Course review * Close

In today's fast-moving competitive environment, sales are often made or lost on the strength of a telephone conversation or a brief email. This means that not only is customer service everyone's responsibility - so is sales. Customer service staff are failing the customer if they don't think about sales. And sales staff are failing customers if they don't think about service. And anyone failing a customer is failing both themselves and their employer. Too often, customer service staff feel neither capable nor empowered to recognise or capitalise upon a sales opportunity. Too often, sales people pursue the short-term opportunity at the expense of the bigger picture. The good news is - it doesn't have to be this way! Sales and customer service skills can be acquired, developed and polished just like any other skill. This tried-and-tested programme shows you how to do it. As a result of this course, participants will be able to: * Take control of a customer conversation, with confidence * Refresh and polish their customer service and sales performance * Recognise and develop a sales opportunity * Engage the customer and build rapport * Identify a customer's needs * Match the customer's needs to the organisation's products or services * Handle objections confidently * Ask for the order At the end of the workshop each participant will have developed their own action plan for developing and using their skills in the workplace. 1 INTRODUCTION * Course overview, objectives and introductions 2 SERVING OR SELLING? * Feelings and attitudes - How we can affect the outcome by our feelings and behaviour * What is selling? - Selling is helping people to buy, identifying the opportunities that exist within the conversation to develop the customer's interest in our products or services 3 DEVELOPING THE RIGHT SKILLS * Communication- The impact of body language, voice tone and words- How to make the best impression on the customer and create a 'buying environment' * Rapport-building- What makes a good working relationship?- What do customers look for when they call us?- How can we match their expectations in terms of our own interpersonal skills? * Relating to different types of people by identifying and matching their communication style on the telephone 4 MAKING IT EASY FOR THE CUSTOMER * Starting it right- Opening the conversation positively- Building rapport- How to develop interest in our products or services * Gaining and clarifying information- Questioning skills and questioning style- What do we need to know from the customer?- How can we use that information in the conversation? * Active listening- The most under-rated skill of all- Picking up on the 'Golden Moments' when a customer shows they may be interested * Presenting information confidently- Knowing the benefits of our products or services- How to tell the customer what they need to know in order to enable them to buy * Closing on a positive note- When and how to ask for commitment * Dealing with the customer's objections and concerns in a positive manner * 5 COURSE SUMMARY AND ACTION PLANS * Review of main learning points * Presentation of personal action plans

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

This workshop is very practical in its nature and aims to give delegates an opportunity to not only learn about the key aspects of successful bid writing, but to also put them into practice. The workshop helps delegates understand what is most important to buyers and how to successfully convey they proposition to them. 1 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS 2 THE MINDSET OF SUCCESSFUL BID WRITING * The mindset needed for successful bid writing * Thinking from the buyer's perspective and not your own 3 DECISION MAKING * The way buyers make decisions - rational and emotional * Understanding buying motives * Looking at how to present ideas against those motives * The idea of cognitive fluency * How to pitch an idea in a way that leads to a positive decision 4 TO BID OR NOT TO BID? * Writing a bid is a big commitment; a clear understanding of the chances of winning is required * Understanding of the implications of winning and the impact it will have on the organisation 5 UNDERSTANDING YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION * Framework to help identify unique proposition and how that fits in with the requirements of the bid 6 THE TENDER PROCESS * Understanding the process to enable a successful chance of winning the bid * Different types of tender processes * Evaluation of criteria and the impact on bid writing 7 WRITING SKILLS * Different ways of writing and structuring bids to ensure their messages gets across well in a way that will be looked on favourably by the buyer 8 SUMMARISE 9 CLOSE

The aim of this course is to expose the commercial context within which technical work is carried out. It is to allow technical staff to understand how they fit into a larger picture, why they may be asked to undertake tasks that may not appear to be technical and the impact their interactions have within the commercial context. The scope of the programme includes: The course emphasises the collaborative nature of delivery and the need to offer value to customers. The principal training objectives for this programme are to help participants: * Understand why technical roles are broader than we might assume * Appreciate the importance of, and the need to support, sales * Value the idea of 'Good Enough' * Recognise what can affect profitability * Realise the future needs protecting 1 INTRODUCTION * (Course sponsor) * Why this programme has been developed * Review of participants' needs and objectives 2 THAT'S NOT MY JOB! * How we see our own role in work * How other people see our role * Stakeholders: who are they and why do they matter? * The organisational backdrop * What is my role really? 3 SALES AND MARKETING * Where does the money come from? * Where do we find customers? * The sales process * One-off sales versus repeat business * Customer/supplier relationships * What something costs versus what the customer will pay * The value chain 4 ESTIMATING * Purpose of estimates * The problem with precision * Five estimating techniques 5 CHANGE CONTROL * Can you just do this for me? * When being helpful leads to bankruptcy * How to deal with change requests 6 RISK MANAGEMENT * Risk in projects * Risk in operations * Categories of risk 7 THE VALUE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY * Issues with sharing information * Commercial in confidence * Non-disclosure agreements 8 COURSE REVIEW AND ACTION PLANNING * (Course sponsor present) * Identify actions to be implemented individually * What actions should be implemented to improve working with non-technical people? * Conclusion

This one-day workshop is designed to give participants an understanding of the fundamentals of Microsoft Word and its commands, with quick ways to enter text, control formatting and edit paragraphs. This course will help participants: * Create, manage and save documents, files and folders * Create paragraph lists, bulleted and numbered paragraphs * Edit, modify and format paragraphs * Create and format tables * Use shortcuts to navigate documents * Format the layout of documents * Manage page headers and footers * Insert and managing pictures and diagrams within a document * Learn time saving tips and tricks to obtain a professional finish to documents * Use printing options 1 CREATING DOCUMENTS * Getting help * Creating and saving documents * Accessing recently used documents * Managing files and folders 2 ENTERING AND EDITING TEXT * Inserting and editing paragraph text * Cutting, copying and pasting text * Using tool tips to manage content * Applying and removing text formatting * Correcting spelling and grammar 3 CREATING PARAGRAPH LISTS * Creating bulleted paragraphs * Creating numbered paragraphs * Managing bulleted and numbered lists 4 MODIFYING PARAGRAPHS * Changing paragraph alignment * Indenting a paragraph * Adding borders and shading to paragraphs * Formatting paragraphs using styles 5 NAVIGATING DOCUMENTS * Using shortcuts for navigating documents * Using 'Go To' to navigate documents * Finding and replacing text * Changing to read view 6 DOCUMENT LAYOUT * Inserting page breaks * Changing page orientation * Adjusting page margins * Adding borders to pages 7 PAGE HEADERS AND FOOTERS * Inserting page headers and footers * Using header and footer commands * Inserting page numbers * Using different first page 8 INSERTING PICTURES AND DIAGRAMS * Inserting pictures from your computer * Inserting online pictures * Flowing text around a picture * Changing a picture * Inserting SmartArt diagrams * Entering text into SmartArt 9 INSERTING TABLES * Using tabs to create tables * Resizing and repositioning tables * Inserting and deleting rows and columns * Using a table's commands * Changing a tables text direction * Formatting tables 10 PRINTING DOCUMENTS * Previewing and printing documents * Using the printing tools * Printing parts of a document

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

If you're looking for a short, sharp high-impact intervention that will help motivate and inspire your sales team then a 'bite-sized' session could be just what you're looking for. We have a range of sessions that can be delivered on an 'off-the-shelf' basis, or they can be tailored to your specific requirements or, of course, we can develop something specifically for you on an entirely bespoke basis. And the length of the session is entirely up to you - 45-minutes, an hour, a half-day - whatever you prefer. Sessions can be run for small groups as part of your regular team meetings or they can be delivered for larger audiences, conference-style - the choice is yours. The session outlines below are just to give you an idea of the possibilities. If one of them whets your appetite please just give us a call on 01582 463463 to talk through what we can do for you - we're here to help!

As technology continues to develop and increasingly interact with our daily lives, so must our sales techniques to ensure we're leveraging advances in how people do business to our advantage. It is essential for all salespeople to understand how to navigate the various tools at our disposal and grow their skills and confidence to put them into action in order to build a solid business pipeline. We have developed this programme to be practical, fun and interactive, whilst ensuring that participants will learn how to utilise new technology to their advantage, self-generate new business leads and opportunities, gain additional business and referrals from existing contacts, and save time and effort using proven business development skills. This course will help participants: * Understand the 'organized persistence' model of sales prospecting * Develop skills in using video, online and social media to generate interest * Understand how to write effective sales and outreach emails and using online tools * Develop techniques for effectively managing telephone appointments * Learn ways to use LinkedIn for connecting with customers and prospects * Develop networking skills and learn how to source and develop referrals and professional introductions 1 KEY PRINCIPLES OF SMART SALES PROSPECTING * Set your sales prospecting goals and objectives * Elevator pitch, core messages and your value proposition * Targeting and segmenting your market * 'Organised persistence' using your CRM effectively 2 SETTING APPOINTMENTS BY TELEPHONE - PLANNING AND PREPARATION * Why calling still works and the best times to call * Creating a call prompt sheet: * Opening a call and taking control * Giving a reason to meet * Key questions to ask * Overcoming the cold calling blues 3 SETTING APPOINTMENTS BY TELEPHONE - ADVANCED SKILLS * Giving a reason to meet and 'selling the appointment' * Key questions to ask that will create interest and motivation to meet * Voice tone, power words, phrasing, pausing, responding * Getting past gatekeepers and getting through 4 USING LINKEDIN FOR RESEARCH AND FOLLOW-UP * Why LinkedIn matters and how to use it * Finding new contacts, connecting and Inmailing * Short-cuts and advanced skills 5 EMAIL STRATEGIES THAT WORK * Using AIDA and other templates for sales emails * Using personalized video emails to create interest * Vertical targeting emails, with examples * Building awareness with an email chain