Santucci & Brown training courses

Santucci & Brown are organising a number of training courses this month - Time management (on Tuesday and Thursday); Cost reduction (June 13, 15); Debt collection (June 14, 16); Health and safety (June 19, 21, 23); Soft secretarial skills (June 20-22); Customer care (June 26-28); and Writing skills (July 3 and 4).

Time management: this training is targeted at people who have control over their time at work and wish or need to make more effective use of their time.

The course, held between 2 and 5 p.m., will cover analysing your workload, getting organised, delegating successfully, tackling paperwork, handling meetings, controlling time-wasting activities, handling people and relationships, and making the most of free time. Cost is Lm40.

Cost reduction: this course explores all aspects of cost management - from cost awareness, through approaches to cost reduction and management of costs, whether of a day-to-day nature or for specific projects.

The course contains something for anyone who has to report and manage costs, and there is always scope for cost reduction. The course, held between 2 and 5 p.m., will cover what the issues with cost are, what costs mean to a business, budgeting and real budgeting challenges costs, risk management costs, project cost control, cost awareness and cost management techniques. Cost is Lm60.

Debt collection: Debt collection is becoming a major issue on the island and companies are reuesting longer terms of credit, with others not paying up and even worse having payments that are not honoured due to bounced cheques.

This training programme, held between 2.30 and 5.30 p.m., is intended to give participants a clearer perspective of the issues related to debt collection from a finance management point of view and a legal one. A few tips on how one can be more effective in collecting one's money will also be given. Cost is Lm65.

Soft secretarial skills: This course, aimed at those secretaries/clerks who wish to improve in their day-to-day work, will cover the principles of communication - active listening, appropriate questioning and speaking/signalling skills, such as pitch and tonality; being the rapport builder - basic manners and behaviour that ought to be used over the phone both with new and regular callers; how to take more responsibility for complete customer satisfaction; enhance the reputation of the company; create and maintain a professional customer-led image; and effective writing and forwarding of messages. It will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. Cost is Lm40.

Customer care: Handling customers and retaining them is key to business success. This course is aimed at people with direct contact with customers, whether it is face to face, on the phone or via the Internet.

Topics, such as understanding the impact of good and bad service, taking more responsibility for complete customer satisfaction, handling customer objections and complaints positively, enhancing the reputation of the company, creating and maintaining a professional, customer-led image, learning to develop customer empathy and remaining calm even when under pressure, will be covered.

The course will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Cost is Lm70.

Effective writing: This training helps participants to produce well-drafted written work with particular emphasis on applying the conventions of grammer appropriately.

This enhances an organisation's ability to achieve its objectives through effective and efficient communication.

The course will outline choosing suitable style and tone, order and organisation in writing, grammar, common punctuation errors and summarising information.

The course will be held between 2 and 6 p.m. Cost is Lm45.

Health and safety: this course covers the basic skills of health and safety in a simple and interesting manner. It is designed to reduce the number of accidents in the workplace and comply with legislation.

Targeted at all managers, H&S officers and supervisors, the course should make all delegates aware of their responsibility for safety towards themselves, colleagues and others affected by work activities; use appropriate workplace precautions; follow their organisation's health and safety policy; co-operate and communicate on safety matters; carry out work activities without risk to themselves or others; and understanding better the emphasis of health and safety.

The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health (UK), in conjunction with Santucci and Brown, delivers health and safety courses. RSPH (UK) gives accreditation to all participants who attend this three-day course, held between 1 and 4 p.m. Cost is Lm75.

All courses will be held at Santucci & Brown International, 111, Apt 2, Manuel De Vilhena Street, Gzira. For more information, contact Nadine Darmanin on 2131-3915 or 7945-7160 or e-mail nadine.darmanin@santuccibrown.com