Training Topics Include:

Powerful Presentation Skills: Overcoming your fears and shining every time

Do you know what the leading fear is among adults in the U.S.? Public speaking ranks # 1, while death ranks # 6. Are you among those who would rather die than face an audience with your message?

We help you conquer those fears; we help you learn to speak with confidence and finesse. Our training covers many issues including the following:

--Dealing with Fear
--Choosing your Topic
--Organizing your Content
--Platform Skills and Delivery With impact
--Nonverbal Communication Fundamentals
--Assertive Delivery
--Effective Use of Visual Aids
--Engaging the Audience
--Responding to Audience Questions

Your audience expects you to be clear, organized, positive, interesting and informative. We can help you meet these expectations with more confidence.

In the past twenty years, the instructor has conducted hundreds of presentations, on many subjects to audiences of varying sizes including Miami-Dade county manager and staff, Fortune 500 CEOs, field sales groups, rotary clubs, entrepreneurs, expatriates, at-risk youth, Miami elections workers, international caterers, advertising agency personnel, receptionists, librarians, engineers, bus drivers, university students, and hundreds of Miami-Dade county employees across 50 departments.

Effective Business Writing

Do you feel overwhelmed because, when faced with the thought of completing another major report or proposal, you don’t know where to begin? Do you often wonder why your emails don’t produce the results you expect? Do you simply avoid projects that require lots of business writing because writers’ block paralyzes you? You are not alone! We can help!

American businesses report losses of $1 billion annually due to poor writing that confuses the reader, damages relationships, violates company policy, and/or simply wastes time. You can avoid these pitfalls by becoming a better writer whose writing is precise, concise, and clear.

Different types of writing, such as letters, reports, memos, proposals, performance appraisals, newsletters, e-mail replies, or other documents, require different approaches. Nevertheless, sharpening your writing skills can enhance your job performance and improve your effectiveness in dealing with other people. We can help you write more professionally and effectively covering the following topics:

--Identifying your Audience and Writing to Meet their Needs
--Setting Communication Objectives
--Writing Clearly, Directly, and Simply
--Avoiding Common Business Writing Mistakes
--Editing for Polish & Style
--Proofreading for Success

We include a special section on effective electronic communication including a discussion of appropriate uses of email.

Listen to Effective E-Mail Writing Lesson

Intercultural Communication Competence

According to recent statistics, more than half of all international joint ventures fail within two or three years. The reasons most often given are cultural myopia and lack of cultural competency. If you are planning to conduct business overseas, let us help you learn to effectively navigate the new culture while avoiding the common pitfalls that can impede success.

We begin with a discussion of American values and culture; then we cover such topics as the following:

--Ten Dimensions of Culture
--Making the Transition
--Business Etiquette
--Non Verbal Communication
--Avoiding Taboos
--Culture Shock and Cure
--Gender Roles
--Culture Specific Area Studies

Our training workshops employ a variety of techniques and methodologies. We use case studies, role plays, videos, lectures, simulations, metaphors, stories and demonstrations.

The instructor has lived, studied, and conducted business throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan. She has traveled to more than 30 countries and has written business and leisure travel articles. Her undergraduate majors were Business and French and she earned an MBA from the University of Michigan. She has spent three summers at the Institute for Intercultural Communication and she is a certified adult literacy tutor.

Valuing Diversity and Inclusion

An organization that values the contributions of all people will derive the contributions from its entire workforce.
Do your employees believe diversity has something to do with quotas? Is there a common perception that workplace discrimination is a thing of the past? Are there patterns where certain groups achieve career advancement while other groups seem to remain static or simply leave?

Although much progress has been made in equal employment opportunity reflecting legal and demographic changes in the past 30 years, companies continue to face the day-to-day challenge of actually living “valuing diversity and inclusion”.

When the strengths of a diverse workforce are utilized to their full capacity, companies can gain a more effective competitive edge in today’s global marketplace. In fact, the most successful companies have created an environment that values diversity by building an infrastructure that addresses diversity in hiring, promotion, compensation, benefits, performance management, communication, inclusion and power allocation.

We offer customized programs aligned with your organizations diversity initiatives, linked to your company’s business objectives, and reflecting your organization’s core values. This training is designed to raise awareness, dispel myths, clarify the dimensions of diversity, encourage open dialogue, teach practical communication skills, and reduce barriers to effectiveness.

The instructor earned an MBA from the University of Michigan and is a former board member and past chapter president of the National Black MBA Association. She has conducted diversity training for hundreds of Miami-Dade county employees and for several Simmons Associates’ clients. She is bi-racial, has lived and worked overseas, and has spent three summers at the Institute for Intercultural Communication.

Customer Service Excellence

Customer service leaders that focus on delivering superior customer service every time can charge more, realize greater profits, and increase their market share by more than ten percent per year. They also enjoy lower turnover because they empower front-line employees to effectively handle today’s demanding, knowledgeable, busy customer, 24/7. Service leaders such as Amazon, Midwest Express, Harrah’s, and Harley Davidson create a company climate that is committed to consistently delivering distinctive, positive, customer-friendly service. We can help your company deliver customer service excellence on par with the “Best-in-Show.”

Best practices research indicates that satisfied customers communicate their experiences to an average of 3-5 people; while dissatisfied customers spread the news to 10 people; satisfied customers are more likely to return (82% of the time) and remain loyal if their problems/complaints are handled quickly and with a smile; and the lifespan of a satisfied customer averages 10 years. In addition, it costs (generally) five to six times more to attract and acquire new customers than it does to hold onto existing customers. With all this knowledge, we must strive to satisfy every customer at every point of contact.

In this interactive, fast-paced program, we offer several tips, techniques and suggestions:

--Benefits of Positive First Impressions
--Active Listening to Uncover Implicit Needs
--Assertive Speaking
--Positive and Inclusive Language
--Telephone Etiquette
--Dealing with Irate Customers
--Practical Uses of Empathy with Customers
--Harnessing the Power of Nonverbal Communication
--Creative Problem Solving
--Good Manners in Cyberspace

Dealing with Difficult People

They don’t do what you want them to do; they do what you don’t want them to do; you don’t know what to do about them. While we cannot change difficult people, we can learn how to deal with them effectively. Register for this interactive, practical, high-impact workshop on how to handle difficult people you encounter at work, at home, and in your community. It will change your life.

Structured Interviewing and Selection Techniques

Do you dread having to conduct interviews because you have never received formal training on how to practice this skill effectively? You are not alone!

The decisions you make in the interviewing process can effect your organization for a lifetime. Learn about the structured interview, the assessment tool designed to measure the competencies of people applying for jobs in your organization leading to selection of the best person for the job. It is the most crucial step in the selection process, yet, often the most mismanaged. Structured interviews are reliable, measurable, time-effective, fair, legally defensible, practical, and well-documented. Research demonstrates they are the best predictor of future job performance. This interactive program will help your line and HR managers to recruit higher quality employees by teaching them the skills of structured, competency-based interviewing.

The instructor for this class earned an MBA from the University of Michigan, conducted dozens of Human Resources workshops to hundreds Miami-Dade county employees, and recently taught an Employment Planning and Placement class at the University of Miami.

Effective and Affordable Marketing for Entrepreneurs

One of the main reasons for record numbers of small business failures is a failure to understand marketing.
Guerrilla marketing has been proven in action to work for small businesses around the world. It works because it's simple to understand, easy to implement and surprisingly affordable.

Would you like to learn how to effectively attract and retain customers, profitably, on a smaller budget? Don’t be intimidated by the unfamiliar jargon and seemingly unattainable media such as TV, newspapers, and magazines used in the big leagues. You don’t have to be Nike, Mc Donald’s, or Verizon to win the battle for customer loyalty. You too can afford effective marketing tools including media and non-media forms of implementation; you have advantages as a smaller organization. We will show you how to implement marketing tools that will work for your organization.

We will take you through the 4 “Ps” of marketing and beyond in the following ways:
--Sizing the market
--Identifying the competition
--Researching the customer
--Segmenting the market for target marketing
--Developing a marketing plan (including media and non-media tools)
--Creating a budget

The instructor will draw upon her experiences managing leading consumer brands (Jell-O, American Airlines, Ryder Consumer Truck Rental) inside several Fortune 500 companies after receiving her MBA in Marketing from the University of Michigan. As part of your training program, we will customize content to meet your business objectives. We deliver to audiences of all sizes, all areas of business, to the public and private sector, management and non-management, non-profit and Fortune 500 companies.