384 Courses in Cardiff

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.

CHAIRING OR FACILITATING A PANEL DISCUSSION IS A PARTICULAR SKILL. When many experts and specialists in their field are asked to do this, they discover that it is not as easy as they imagined. Pitching and introducing the session, involving everyone, promoting audience engagement, dealing with difficult panellists and ending the discussion can all be a challenge for inexperienced facilitators. Our panel facilitation training workshop focuses on providing delegates with the techniques and confidence they need to chair panel debates effectively. It is delivered by BBC presenter Martine Croxall and is highly interactive, blending theory with practical exercises. During the course, you will learn: 1. the best way to prepare, including audience analysis and research 2. how to pitch a panel 3. how to introduce a panel 4. how to involve everyone in the discussion 5. the best way to promote audience engagement 6. how to deal with difficult panellists 7. how to end a discussion Each delegate will have the chance to chair a panel discussion, with the other delegates and Martine playing different roles as panellists.

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 intended for participants who have a basic understanding of Outlook but who want to know how to use its advanced features to manage their email communications, calendar events, contact information and other communication tasks. This course will help participants: * Gain confidence using Outlook and its advanced features * Organise and prioritise email messages * Archive messages for safe-keeping * Use rules to process received or sent messages automatically * Manage scheduled meetings with others * Give others permission to view and manage their folders and items * Use contacts and commands to find out more about a person or company * Prioritise work-flow using tasks and assigning tasks to others 1 EMAIL MESSAGES * Combining multiple clicks with quick steps * Following up flag options * Saving multiple attachments * Attaching a folder of files * Recalling and replacing a message * Categorising messages with conditional formatting 2 MESSAGE OPTIONS * Adding options to messages * Marking a message as private * Receiving quick responses with voting buttons * Directing replies to specific users * Delaying sent messages * Inserting links in messages 3 STAY ORGANISED WITH RULES * Using rules to automate message flow * Moving messages with rules * Using the rules wizard * Setting up rules with conditions * Using rules that work whilst you are away 4 MESSAGE CLEAN-UP * Using conversation clean-up * Using mailbox clean-up * Moving messages to the archive folder * Archiving folder properties * Auto-archiving properties 5 MANAGING CALENDARS * Creating calendar groups * Sharing calendars with permissions * Setting up working days and times * Managing time zones * Categorise appointments with conditional formatting * Publishing a calendar 6 SCHEDULE MEETINGS * Scheduling a meeting * Managing meeting responses * Proposing new meeting times * Adding attendees to a meeting * Viewing multiple appointments 7 USING CONTACTS * Merging contacts to letters * Merging contacts to labels * Mail merging contacts in Word * Exporting contacts to Excel 8 MANAGING TASKS * Organising your workload with tasks * Categorising tasks * Assigning tasks to others * Sending a task status report * Allocating time for tasks * Regenerating a new task * Viewing your tasks in the calendar 9 ADDING MESSAGE ITEMS * Adding calendars to messages * Adding business cards to messages 10 EMAIL ACCOUNTS * Adding multiple user accounts * Adding account permissions

If you're looking to move to the next level in your career in sales, then understanding how to maximise your sales results, using a consultative and structured approach, will be key to your success. In order to develop the competitive advantage that enables you to stand out from the crowd, it is important to understand the tools and techniques to take your selling to new heights and build the confidence to apply them in work-based scenarios. We have developed this programme to be practical, fun and interactive. Learners will gain a range of practical skills that they can take back and apply to the workplace straight away, that will have a positive impact on sales and customer satisfaction. This course will help participants: * Develop a structured and client-focused approach to creating high quality sales opportunities and account growth * Learn persuasion and influencing skills to better define needs and develop opportunities * Understand how to have better sales conversations, presentations, and proposals - leading to higher order value and increased sales * Develop advanced sales questioning skills and techniques; understand the importance of listening * Understand how to add value at all stages; plus gaining competitive advantage * Develop proven ways to overcome and reduce price pressure * Know when to use options and upselling when presenting products and solutions * Develop techniques and skills for improved negotiation and closing 1 ADVANCED SELLING - HOW TO INCREASE YOUR SALES RESULTS * Review of pre-course data and questionnaire * The AVC model of increasing your sales results * Creating a sales growth plan to achieve higher sales targets * Mapping the accounts and products for targeted growth 2 THE FOUR CS TO STRUCTURE A SALES CALL * Research before the meeting or call; setting objectives, planning and preparation * How to gain instant rapport and taking control - including online meetings * Qualifying and initial questioning skills * Creating an agenda and first-meeting structure: Four Cs * Planning and practice sessions 3 BUILDING BIGGER AND BETTER SALES OPPORTUNITIES * How to use questions to 'build' more opportunities * Learning and using high-impact and third-level questions * Advanced sales questioning techniques: five questioning techniques * Qualifying and gaining commitment to the next stage * Planning and practice sessions - advanced questioning skills 4 PRESENTATION AND PERSUADING SKILLS BEST PRACTICE * Compelling benefits and reducing perceived risk - key messages to deliver * Helping the customer choose your proposition by using options * Professional and effective presentation skills * Writing compelling sales proposals that improve your conversion rate * Planning and practice session - presenting your solution 5 OVERCOMING CONCERNS AND CLIENT QUESTIONS * Proven techniques for answering client objections and concerns * How to isolate, prioritise and answer objections, including price * Overcoming delay and procrastination * Planning and practice session - answering client concerns 6 GAINING COMMITMENT AND CLOSING THE SALE * Knowing when to close for commitment * How to ask for commitment professionally and effectively * Key negotiation skills around the closing process - getting to 'yes' * Checklist of closing and negotiation skills * Practice session

When staff are new to sales it can seem daunting, especially when they have targets to meet. If the staff you need to promote your products and services get it wrong then it can knock their confidence and negatively impact how your customers see you as an organisation. This programme provides staff with the basic skills they need to sell. This course will help participants: * Profile customers * Research and identify potential new customers * Use the consultative sales process * Build effective rapport with customers * Identify customer needs through effective questioning and listening * Position products and services effectively * Close the sale or gain commitment to further action * Manage their customer portfolio to maximise sales 1 INTRODUCTION * Aims and objectives of the training * Personal introductions and objectives * Self-assessment of existing sales skills * Overview of content 2 KNOWING YOUR CUSTOMERS * Who are your customers, and what do they want from you? * What are your strengths, compared to your competitors? * Who are your new potential customers? * How do you communicate with new customers? * What do you need to know about your customers before you start to sell? * Making the initial approach * Planning your pipeline - keeping the customers coming 3 THE FOUR-STEP SALES PROCESS * Overview of the consultative sales process * Key benefits of using the consultative sales process * Focusing on behaviours not targets * The behaviours of a good salesperson * Common pitfalls and mistakes * Personal strengths and weaknesses 4 BUILDING RAPPORT * First impressions - Mehrabian theory of communication * Short cuts to building rapport * Looking out for clues as to how the customer is thinking * Looping back to keep the conversation flowing * Acknowledging past communication * Dealing with emotions such as anger * Setting the agenda to keep control * Getting past gatekeepers 5 QUESTIONING AND LISTENING * How to ask open questions to uncover information * Left brain questions * When closed question can be useful * What stops us listening? * The four levels of listening * How to develop your listening skills 6 PRESENTING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO CUSTOMERS * When to present * Using benefits not features * Making it personal * Using reciprocity * The tendency towards the middle * Using consistency 7 GAINING COMMITMENT * Testing the water * Dealing with objections using ACLEO * Asking for the business * Getting referrals * Ending with a personalised close * Following-up 8 MANAGING YOUR CUSTOMER PIPELINE * Spotting opportunities for cross-sales * Managing your portfolio * Maximising sales proactively * Review meetings * Customer satisfaction measures and surveys * Mystery shopping 9 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER * Skills practice * Personal learning summary and action plans

No-one in business will succeed if they are not financially literate - and no business will succeed without financially-literate people. This is the ideal programme for managers and others who don't have a financial qualification or background but who nonetheless need a greater understanding of the financial management disciplines essential to your organisation. This course will give the participants a sound understanding of financial reports, measures and techniques to make them even more effective in their roles. It will enable participants to: * Overcome the barrier of the accountants' strange language * Deal confidently with financial colleagues * Improve their understanding of your organisation's finance function * Radically improve their planning and budgeting skills * Be much more aware of the impact of their decisions on the profitability of your organisation * Enhance their role in the organisation * Boost their confidence and career development 1 REVIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS * What each statement contains * Outline * Detail * Not just what the statements contain but what they mean * Balance sheets and P&L accounts (income statements) * Cash flow statements * Detailed terminology and interpretation * Types of fixed asset - tangible, etc. * Working capital, equity, gearing 2 THE 'RULES' - ACCOUNTING STANDARDS, CONCEPTS AND CONVENTIONS * Fundamental or 'bedrock' accounting concepts * Detailed accounting concepts and conventions * What depreciation means * The importance of stock, inventory and work in progress values * Accounting policies that most affect reporting and results * The importance of accounting standards and IFRS 3 WHERE THE FIGURES COME FROM * Accounting records * Assets / liabilities, Income / expenditure * General / nominal ledgers * Need for internal controls * 'Sarbox' and related issues 4 MANAGING THE BUDGET PROCESS * Have clear objectives, remit, responsibilities and time schedule * The business plan * Links with corporate strategy * The budget cycle * Links with company culture * Budgeting methods * 'New' budgeting * Zero-based budgets * Reviewing budgets * Responding to the figures * The need for appropriate accounting and reporting systems 5 WHAT ARE COSTS? HOW TO ACCOUNT FOR THEM * Cost definitions * Full / absorption costing * Overheads - overhead allocation or absorption * Activity based costing * Marginal costing / break-even - use in planning 6 WHO DOES WHAT? A REVIEW OF WHAT DIFFERENT TYPES OF ACCOUNTANT DO * Financial accounting * Management accounting * Treasury function * Activities and terms 7 HOW THE STATEMENTS CAN BE INTERPRETED * What published accounts contain * Analytical review (ratio analysis) * Return on capital employed, margins and profitability * Making assets work - asset turnover * Fixed assets, debtor, stock turnover * Responding to figures * EBIT, EBITEDIA, eps and other analysts' measure 8 OTHER KEY ISSUES * Creative accounting * Accounting for groups * Intangible assets - brand names * Company valuations * Fixed assets / leased assets / off-balance sheet finance

Increasing sales is the core of objective for all salespeople and it is vital they are given the tools and techniques to thrive in this highly competitive environment. The landscape within which salespeople operate is ever shifting, and now more than ever it is recognised that the key to successful selling is understanding the customer's needs and working collaboratively with them to achieve their objectives. This highly practical programme has been developed to support salespeople to develop their all-round sales skills using a customer-focused approach. The course will be fun and informal, using practical exercises to help new and experienced salespeople ensure they are equipped to deal with the challenges of selling. This course will help participants: * Develop core sales skills such as building rapport, questioning and presenting benefits * Identify the roles and goals of key contacts and recognize the importance of consultative selling * Understand how to achieve sales by uncovering needs, matching benefits and promoting value * Understand how to structure and control a customer interaction and set clear objectives for each account * Develop techniques for handling objections, questions and staying positive * Master the art of closing a sale and gaining agreement * Understand tactical selling and how to build multiple contacts and relationships * Develop skill and confidence in selling to both new prospects and existing customers 1 CONSULTATIVE SELLING - KEY PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESS * Recognise the importance of consultative selling and being client-focused * Build the right processes to achieving sales targets - questions before features * Assess your core sales skills; building rapport, asking questions, presenting features and benefits, closing 2 CONSULTATIVE SALES CALL SKILLS * How best to structure and control a customer meeting or call to be client-centric: Four Cs * The importance of setting clear objectives for each call and account * Setting the agenda and pre-call preparation * Planning sessions 3 YOUR MISSION, MESSAGE AND MEANING - COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE * Defining sales messages and USPs; positioning value and quality not price * Knowing your target product and services and their value to the customer * Understanding your customers buying role and qualifying the opportunity 4 AN EFFECTIVE SALES MEETING - PART 1 * Opening the sales interview - and building rapport * Gaining and retaining the full attention of the customer * Probing and identifying real needs using effective sales questions * Planning and practice sessions for consultative selling 5 AN EFFECTIVE SALES MEETING - PART 2 * Matching customer needs and wants to products and services available * Presenting your product or service using features, advantages, and benefits * Recognising and responding to buying signals and other sales opportunities * Planning and practice sessions 6 CLOSING THE SALE SUCCESSFULLY * Anticipating objections and seeing them as positives, including price objections * Handling objections using proven methods and models * How and when to ask for the sale professionally * Follow up and follow-through * Planning and practice sessions

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

We've all sat through far more bad presentations than good ones, but knowing what 'good' looks like is easier than successfully replicating it. Sales presentations are a performance and, as salespeople, fluffing our lines can cost us a lot more than hurt pride. Having discovered and understood the specific needs and burning issues our prospect has, then this course will help any salesperson avoid dropping the ball and instead wowing their prospects with a high-impact, tailored and compelling case for purchase. This course will help participants: * Prepare mentally and physically for stand-up presentations * Use voice modulation and bullet-pointing to demand attention * Avoid boring their prospects * Master the do's and don'ts of PowerPoint * Deal more effectively with technical hitches and prospect's interruptions * Use eye contact and engagement to avoid prospects 'tuning out' * Deploy best practice essentials for presenting with colleagues * Steer through the toughest Q&A 1 PREPARING YOUR PRESENTATION * Mindset * Knowing your objective(s) * Vocal warm-up techniques * Assembling pre-agreed benefits * Time management * Room set-up * Technical preparation 2 HOW TO OPEN YOUR PRESENTATION * Vocal energy * Summary and agreement of prospect's needs * How to have posture and confidence * Use of humour * What to do with those dreaded hands * Confident v non-confident body language 3 HOW TO GET AND KEEP PEOPLE'S ATTENTION * Bullet pointing * Linking benefits to specific, stated needs * Practical exercise - formulating and delivering tailored benefits * Being selective with features * Third party reinforcement and case studies * 'Watering the garden' eye contact technique * Practical exercise - participants practise 'sharing out' eye contact to audience * How to handle a prospect's negative body language * Handling interruptions 4 PRESENTING IN GROUPS * Credentialing all participants * Role delineation for group presentations * Edifying other participants' messages - do's and don'ts * How to maintain energy when not speaking * Practical exercise - good and bad practice when not speaking * Teamwork in Q&A sessions * How to hand over professionally 5 POWERPOINT DO'S AND DON'TS * Use of visual aids * Good and bad PowerPoint slides * How to make PowerPoint work for you * Classic PowerPoint errors * Avoiding and handling technical problems * Good and bad flipchart practice 6 CLOSING AND / OR ACHIEVING NEXT ACTION STEPS * Power of summary * Good Q&A practice * Handling objections * Practical exercise - handling objections on one's feet * Creating consensus among prospect panel * What to do when prospects disagree with each other * When to trial close * How to close on next action steps 7 WRAP-UP * Key learning points from each participant * Action steps to be implemented on next presentations