Bookkeeping Basics: Financial Records Organization

Instructors: Judy Lloyd and MJ Turton - 1/2 day session - 9:00 am - 12 noon

Bookkeeping is critical to business success. To manage the business effectively, you need timely and accurate information. How can you get the information you need to make decisions? Do you have the information to answer the questions the tax auditor is asking? Do you have the information you need to convince the banker to support you? Do you get all of this information from your present bookkeeping system?

In this workshop, you will learn how about:

• The bookkeeping big picture - journals, ledgers, balance sheet, income statement, sales forecasts, cashflow forecasts, analysis and how they involve or affect bookkeeping.
• Mapping out your process - paper management, systems, control accounts, reconciliation, understanding transactions, setting up a system, assessing your needs, and how you will do your bookkeeping.

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Contract Writing

Instructor: Cheryl Fast - 1/2 day session - 9:00 am to 12 noon 

Keeping it Clear – Contracts, Service Agreements, Proposals and Quotes

Your reputation in business depends on meeting your customer’s expectations. Success starts with a clear understanding of what will be delivered and the responsibilities for everyone involved. What questions do you need to ask and how do you turn your meeting into a written agreement that will help you meet and exceed your service goals?

A clear contract does not necessarily mean a profitable one. How do you proceed with the contract negotiation and ensure that it is a WIN-WIN outcome for you and your customer. What do you need to consider in determining the exchange of service for money? This workshop will look at managing the contracts that will give you long term, mutually beneficial customer relationships.

• The benefits of the written agreement
• Considerations
• Deposits, Retainers and Invoices
• Responding to formal bids and requests for proposals
• Creating templates for contracts

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Barrier Busters

Instructor: Cheryl Fast - 1/2 day session - 9 am to 12 noon

Networking – Making Connections that Matter

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Bookkeeping Basics: Reading Your Financial Statements

Instructor: Judy Lloyd - 1/2 day session - 9:00 am to 12 noon 

Using your financial information to make better operational decisions.

Program Objective: Give the participant an easy guide for checking the validity of monthly financial reports and basic tools to analyze the information.

• Preparing your monthly reports
• Using your monthly financial statements
• Tools for Analysis of Operations

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Supersize Your Sales

Instructor: Robbie Westgard - 1/2 day session - 9:00 am to 12 noon

Supersizing Your Sales Includes:

• Increase your client database and work more effectively with existing customers
• Understanding the sales process - opportunities to up sell and refer for future sales
• Asking for the sale – effective closing techniques
• After sales client care and strategic customer management tips
• Create a powerful referral system and strengthen and expand your network
• Develop and fully utilize your strategic alliances
• Realistic sales plan creation to hit your goals and exceed them

Social Media

Instructor: Todd Avison - 1/2 day session - 9:00 am to 12 noon

The world of Social Media is ever growing and always evolving. This 1/2 day session will give you an understanding of the most relevant social media platforms to your business and how to put them to work for you. Session will cover concepts and examples and practical exercises putting your new social media skills to work. We want you to be able to end the session with some direction on how your social media strategy fits into your marketing strategy as a whole.

Topics covered:

• Overview of the main social media platforms
• Social media concepts
• Which platform is right for you?
• Social media user psychographics
• Social Media vs traditional advertising
• How to gain a following
• How to promote and increase engagement among your followers
• Using a social media dashboard
• Developing a social media philosophy and strategy

Customer Experience and Service Design

Instructor: Sean Shepherd - 1/2 day session - 9 am - 1pm

Workshop Overview
Customer expectations are higher than ever before, and business success is becoming more and more dependent on a company's ability to meet or exceed those expectations with nearly every interaction. Customer experience—or CX—is the summary of all the interactions a company has with a customer over time.

While understanding how to consider and choreograph those interactions is undeniably complex, Service Design is the methodology that organizations all over the world are using to design and deliver exceptional experiences for their customers.

At the end of the workshop, participants will have the foundational tools needed to take a holistic view of an organization's customer experience, identify opportunities that can deepen relationships and drive loyalty, and design and deliver improved experiences to turn transactions into relationships.

The 4-hour workshop will be composed of 3 distinct modules:

Module 1 (30 mins) - Introduction to Customer Experience and Service Design
Learning Objectives:
• What is customer experience (CX)?
• Why is customer experience important?
• The business value of customer experience
• The core components of customer experience

Module 2 (90 mins) - Customer Journey Mapping
Learning Objectives:
• What is a Customer Journey Map (CJM)?
• Why are they important?
• Defining who your customer is – Empathy Mapping
• Building your journey map

Module 3 (60 mins) - The Design Process
Learning Objectives:
• Ideation/Brainstorming
• Prioritization
• Prototyping
• Creating a roadmap towards implementation