Looking back on my life six months ago, it’s funny to think how different it was. I remember arriving on my first day at Phoenix, after very little sleep due to nerves, excitement and the apprehension of starting my first “proper job”. Meeting all the guys here at Phoenix, I was shown to my desk where I remember looking at the phone & thinking how on earth am I going to ring people and talk about “training”, a subject which, up to this point in time, I had no understanding of whatsoever.

My first two weeks consisted mostly of learning all about Phoenix and their ethos. From the programmes we had done for clients, the different trainers in the company and most importantly, the three open courses I would soon be responsible for… I don’t think I had ever taken in so much information in such a short space of time. Consequently I was in bed by half nine every night!  Slowly but surely, I began to use the information I had learnt during the many practice role-plays I did with Ollie and my brain began to retain it all.  My confidence was growing and I began to see progress. During this time, I also attended the Sales Essentials open course (one of the courses I would be selling), which helped me in two ways. Firstly, getting first hand experience of the course I would be selling and secondly giving me great insight into what the course actually had to offer and what my clients may be looking to gain from the experience.  The learning consultant Nickola Cooper really helped me understand how to structure the information I had learnt with Ollie and helped me realise the importance of effective questioning. Even more importantly, when (for a blabber mouth like myself) to shut up and listen to the clients requirements! I finished the course and couldn’t wait to make my first live call.

The first call went so well I thought it was a set up & was half expecting my colleague Ruth to come round the corner on the phone to me laughing. Unfortunately I didn’t make the booking following this call, as the client couldn’t make the dates being offered but I was feeling pumped & I couldn’t wait to get back on the phone. The difference that two weeks of practice and learning makes was amazing.

I have now been at Phoenix for 6 months and I am constantly looking to improve my techniques and skills through spending time with the Learning and Development team (one of the bonuses of working for a training company). I now have the monthly challenge of finding participants for our Inspirational Leadership, Essential Management Skills and Sales Essentials open courses and I am very much looking forward to my next 6 months.

My short term goals are to continue to understand more about the subject of learning and development in order to be able to work with my colleagues in designing bespoke and tailored training programmes. I also want to make the leap into face to face meetings, networking and presenting – a scary prospect but one that I’m sure I’ll achieve with the right levels of training and support.

At the end of 2010, we conducted our first ever Client Survey.  Around 150 existing clients were contacted and we were delighted to receive such positive and valuable feedback.  To keep things simple, we’ve highlighted the key findings below:

• 91% of our clients have seen immediate and sustained (behavioural) changes from all their participants or some clear changes from most of the participants

• 93% of our clients will definitely or will be likely to use us again

• 76% of our clients have found our post course support service to be effective

• 69% of our clients felt that pre-course meetings were critical to the success of the event

• 67% of our clients think that our people are our biggest asset

• 92% of our clients chose to work with us due to the expected quality and style of our training

• 30% of our clients met with 4-6 training providers before choosing to work with us

Additional client comments from the survey

“The fact that you were prepared to tailor specifically to our need which was quite unusual, other companies just tried to fob us off with their standard training and little attempt was made to develop a bespoke product”

“For us, the fact that you were willing to be different from the others and offer us something really bespoke.  You helped us work out what was needed and the trainer Lawrence White was just great.  He did his research carefully and this really paid off, you provided a quality product on the day which everyone enjoyed.”

I would like to share something inspiring I read in a book “Selling to Win by Richard Denny” because I do find poems like this can keep a person going at difficult times and keep motivated when things aren’t going too well.

Enjoy!

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will

When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill

When the funds are low and the debts are high

And you want to smile but you have to sigh

When care is pressing you down a bit

Rest if you must, but don’t you quit

Life is queer with its twists and turns

As everyone of us sometimes learns

And many a fellow turns about

When he might have won if he’d stuck it out

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow

You may succeed with another blow

Often the goal is nearer than it seems

To a faint and a faltering man

Often the struggle has given up

When he might have captured the victor’s cup

And he learned too late when the night came down

How close he was to the golden crown

Success is failure turned inside out

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt

And you never can tell how close you are

It may be near when it seems afar

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit

It’s when things seem worse that you mustn’t quit

I recently went with our Head of Learning, Martin le Comte, to see one of our clients who we were developing a train the trainer event for. They had just re-decorated their offices, including a brand new training room. Martin and I got a tour of the building and as we saw their training room, Martin’s eye’s certainly lit up. Obviously, the training room can have a big impact on how successful an event is, and we were delighted that they had invested so much in getting exactly the right kind of environment for learning.  Needless to say, the event itself was a massive success, helped in part by the excellent surroundings.

I’m equally delighted to say that Phoenix Training has also recently invested in a second training room, which we are determined will reflect the quality of our overall training delivery and service. As a training provider, we firmly believe that it is so important to maintain the right facilities, creating an environment where our clients will feel comfortable, relaxed and focused.

We always recommend that, where possible, participants get away from their day to day working environment so that they fully open up and express themselves, as well as avoiding the potential distractions that office based learning can suffer from.

In addition, we believe that being able to use our facilities will make the purchase and organisation of the training very straightforward for the client.  What’s more it provides them with real value for money as I’m sure you all know just how much it costs to hire training facilities at a hotel or conference centre.

Our training rooms benefit from the following:

• Loads of natural light that helps keep the concentration levels high

• Fruit, water, soft drinks and coffee are “on tap” to maintain the high energy levels
• Smart boards that capture the ideas and thoughts of the participants and trainer, and then provide a quick reference document of everything that has been discussed at the end of the course.
• “Chill out” areas which allow participants to relax during the breaks.
• Video and telephone recording equipment which can be used to highlight individual strengths and development areas where appropriate.
• Central Location – our facilities are 10 minutes walk from London Bridge which is well connected tube, rail and buses.  Nearby landmarks include Borough Market, Bermondsey St and Tate Modern.
• Wendell’s Café and The Leather Exchange Pub can be found on the same Leathermarket site, providing fantastic food and drink options for our participants.

We hope that you get the chance to experience our facilities soon and we’d also be very happy to show you around anytime.  Give me a call anytime.