Better Business Series workshops

 

The Better Business Series of low-cost, business workshops is delivered by the Department of Trade and Economic Development (DTED) to help existing small businesses achieve successful growth and profitability.

Incorporating three hour workshops on a range of topics, this series is a valuable source of information and insight provided by experienced business operators.

Workshops are held regularly at the Education Development Centre, Milner Street, Hindmarsh. Please note that there is a limit of two attendees per business, per workshop.

Click on the following for topics, a schedule of upcoming workshops and to register for our Better Business Series.

The Venture Capital Board also runs a range of workshops and seminars to help companies become investor ready and to access capital for growth and development.

 To Enrol in the following workshops near you, Search the events page here... 

Better Business Series workshops Topics

Accounting and Finance More Information	Introduction to Financial Reporting - Know Your Business Cash Flow Management Accurate Costing for Profitable Pricing (Services or Manufacturing) Accessing Finance to Grow Your Business
Business Analysis More Information	A Business Case for Responding to Climate Change - Now! How to Use Performance Measures to Maximise Your Profit Risk Management for Growing Businesses Business Continuity Management
Business Planning More Information	Developing Business Plans Implementing the Plan and Putting Things into Action On Time, On Budget: Project Management Concepts and Practices
Customer, Media and Stakeholder Relations More Information	Distributor Establishment and Management Customer Relationship Management Developing Selling Skills Networking For a Reason Building Instant Rapport Team Power for Business Success Creating a Buying Environment – How to Increase Sales
Goal Setting and Achievement More Information	Making You More Effective to Achieve Your Business Goals Life and Business - How to Have it All Systemising Your Business for a Less Stressed Life Your Trade - Your Business
Legal More Information	A Guide to Effective Debt Recovery Commercial Leases Tips and Traps
Marketing More Information	Introduction to Marketing Basics Developing a Marketing Strategy Marketing is More Than Just a Fancy Word for Selling 8 Simple Rules for Creating a Promo Brochure In-House  Developing Your Brand - Getting Your Name Out There Profit from Your Advertising – Explore Your Media Options Winning Tenders eBay and Online Auction Marketing – The Basics Exporting for Beginners
Getting the People Right More Information	How to Attract and Keep Good Staff Interviewing Skills for Employers Coaching and Mentoring Your People to Success
E-Business More Information	Marketing Your Business on the Internet and Promoting Your Website Selling Products Over the Internet Effective Marketing Over the Internet Setting-up and Managing Your Website
Family Business More Information	Succession Planning for Family Businesses Prevention & Management of Family Conflict Successful Exit Strategies for Family Businesses

 

Accounting and Finance

Cash Flow Management

Lack of cash flow is a major cause of business failure. This workshop looks at systems to monitor cash flow and targets areas where financial resources are invested.

The workshop focuses on two basic cash flow management ideas:

1.    Getting your cash in from debtors sooner, and

2.    Extending the time required to pay creditors.

The workshop is best suited for people already in business who understand debtors and creditors, but who have not had significant financial training.

Delivered by Michael Corner of Wicked Performance Consulting.

 Workshop Registration

Accurate Costing for Profitable Pricing

Unless you have an accurate handle on the cost of production of your product or the delivery of your service, you will not be in a position to price with precision. Too often pricing is based on beating the competition, without any confidence that the sale or service will deliver a profit.

This workshop provides insight into all elements of costing and practical tools to ensure all costs are correctly incorporated. How do you assess your most profitable products? What reports do you need to monitor changes in costs?

There are two workshops offered for this semester. The first is directed to businesses that manufacture a product and the second is directed to those that offer a service.

Chris Whelan is a chartered accountant and the principal of CL Whelan and Associates who consult exclusively in the area of product costing and pricing.

Workshop Registration

 Introduction to Financial Reporting

 Many small businesses utilise accounting software packages such as MYOB and Quicken to help manage their GST record keeping and to provide reports to the Accountant at year end. Typically, very few small business owners review the reports generated as a means of analysing performance of the business.

 This workshop provides an introduction to financial reporting:
• Why financial reports are important;
• How to read and understand both a Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss statement;
• What is cash flow, why is it so important and how does it 'fit-in' with the above?;
• Using ratios (from the financial reports) to diagnose the results. 

 This workshop is best suited to business owners who have financial reports prepared (both internally and / or externally) but who don't know how to read them.

Delivered by Brett Thompson a Director with BDO Kendalls, Chartered Accountants.    

Workshop Registration

Accessing Finance to Grow Your Business

The objective of the workshop is to provide participants with the skill that will assist them in determining the future funding requirements for their business. It also gives an understanding of the skills required to prepare a case for funding for prospective partners or traditional lending institutions.

It looks at the three main things an organisation needs to do to attract extra funding and what people, who provide funding, normally look for when assessing a company. Also we look at who provides these types of services.

To get the most out of this workshop, participants need to have an understanding of their own business and to able to articulate this. We concentrate on more than the financials and look at the company as whole from an internal and external perspective.

Delivered by Michael Corner of Wicked Performance Consulting.

Workshop Registration

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Business Analysis

A Business Case for Responding to Climate Change – Now! 

 Can you and your business avoid or delay responding to climate change?

Not if you want to develop a Sustainable Competitive Advantage! Some companies are already carving a new niche for themselves – and those that do not act soon, will find they are playing catch-up as changes in consumer sentiment drives major change in the business community.

Part of this session will inform your strategic planning by providing an environmental scan of where we are now in terms of Climate Change (What Al Gore may tell you if he was speaking just to businesses!). You will leave with arresting statistics – and you will learn from DVD material of leaders such as Paul Hawken and Ray Anderson. We ask and answer the question – “how did we get here?”. We will examine “what is emerging?” and discover what are some businesses doing to make changes that ensure a sustainable future not just for their businesses – but for their grandchildren. Finally we will have time to discuss some actions you can take to start to make changes you want to make in your business.

This session is facilitated by Josie McLean, a former strategic and business planner in major public companies – and an Executive Coach working with leaders in many different industries. 

Workshop Registration 

How to Use Performance Measures to Maximise Your Profit

Imagine having one piece of paper to drive your business decision-making. This workshop teaches you how to identify the required information to develop such a tool, helping to piece together the essential drivers for your business. You can know where your business stands against budget and forecasts, with this key information all presented on one piece of paper.

Each business has different goals, operating environments, markets and suppliers. This means each business must have its own drivers or important numbers to monitor or chase. We will try to help you work out where to find this information for your business, and how to compare it to benchmarks.

Delivered by Michael Corner of Wicked Performance Consulting.

Workshop Registration 

Risk Management for Growing Businesses

What is the right mix of growth and risk? Is there a “right” amount a business should aim to grow each year? What are the ways to grow a business whilst avoiding unnecessary risks? Is growth a choice or can you be forced into growth?

Risk is something we hear about every day in business, but what does it really mean? Growing your business involves risk – successful businesses and entrepreneurs calculate risk and return every day. To manage, mitigate and reduce risk first requires an understanding of what it means and where it is.

This workshop covers the critical areas of risk as it relates to growth in your business and discusses some of the ways to manage it. Participants in this workshop will learn:

• Strategies to identify opportunities and to plan for growth;

• Ways to identify and assess risk in the business;

• Ways to monitor and manage risks to the business;

• The different elements of risk: financial, marketing, skill requirements, theft, legal, OH&S, competition, culture clash, other stakeholders, government regulations, surprises (unknown unknowns), poor decision-making, bad luck;

• To prioritise activity, resource application and expenditure;

• To develop clear management tasks and resource requirements;

• A decision making process during a growth phase;

• To protect the existing fundamental business during a growth phase;

• To avoid ‘analysis paralysis’ while avoiding unnecessary risk

Delivered by Paul Edginton of Structured Innovation Pty Ltd.

Workshop Registration  

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Business Continuity Management

Business Continuity Management is about being prepared to handle major disruptions from adverse events, a clearly documented business continuity plan assists in ensuring continuation of services to customers during these times. Businesses need to be able to maintain services to customers under any circumstances, even when others are experiencing difficulties. Disruptions to business can occur in many ways, often from unexpected sources e.g. flood, fire, power black out, loss of a major supplier or loss of key staff. By identifying potential major disruptions to business and the impact they might have, clearly documented business continuity plans can be written and will assist in mitigation, response and recovery from adverse events. Businesses that have invested time in business continuity planning will in most cases continue to trade following adverse events, while lesser prepared competitors suffer the consequences of failing to plan.

A Business Continuity Management plan can protect your businesses future.

This three hour workshop steps participants through basics of the business continuity planning process and provides an outline of how to assess business risks and their likely impacts.

The workshop addresses the following key issues:

- Understanding and identifying risks
- Conducting a Business Impact Study
- Developing business continuity strategies
- Communicating with stakeholders
- Training staff and testing the plan
- Reviewing and maintaining the plan

This workshop aims to raise awareness of the value and methodology of planning for the mitigation, response and recovery of adverse events that have potentially damaging effects on business continuity.

Draft planning templates will be provided during the workshop to enable participants to easily and quickly implement the concepts discussed during the workshop into their businesses.

Presented by Kerrie Akkermans of Akkermans Corporate Development.

Workshop Registration 

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Business Planning

 Developing Business Plans

Got a plan in your head? How do your staff know what is in your head? You need to put together a business plan but don’t know where to start? This workshop takes you step-by-step through the essential elements of a plan and highlights the work you can do yourself.

You won’t come away from this workshop with a ready to go business plan, because it takes longer than 3 hours to develop a good business plan, but you will get a good understanding of how to develop one.

The first part of the workshops looks at the reasons behind business plans and the benefits of having one. Then you get into the structure of the plan. You conclude by learning some handy tricks and systems for building the plan.

A successor workshop – Implementing the Plan & Putting Things into Action – is offered for those who have already developed a plan. (See under Goal Setting and Achievement)

Presented by Brenton Leitch of Learning & Productivity.

Workshop Registration 

Implementing the Plan and Putting Things into Action

Once you have put your business plan on paper it must become an action tool – not something to rest in the bottom drawer of your desk. How do you sequence the actions, allocate staff responsibilities, put in place performance measures and then monitor achievement of the goals? How do you update the plan and incorporate new actions so that your plan maintains its dynamic?

This workshop shows how to break a business plan into ‘bite size’ chunks, put the chunks in order, ensure staff are capable and understand their role in achievement of set goals and identifies ways of keeping the score.

You should attend this workshop if you have previously attended the workshop on Developing Business Plans or if you already have a business plan and are looking to improve your implementation of it.

Presented by Brenton Leitch of Learning and Productivity.

Workshop Registration 

On Time, On Budget: Project Management Concepts and Practices

This workshop focuses on areas where many organisations experience difficulties, and provides strategies for improving project performance. It introduces you to some simple project management techniques for initiating and organising projects and managing risk.

The objective of the workshop is to introduce participants to the fundamental concepts of project management, and to equip them with the basic skills, knowledge and understanding required to:

• Identify and initiate projects effectively

• Improve delivery capability and confidence

At the end of the workshop the participant will be able to organise and initiate projects, understand & use strategies for monitoring project performance and use simple techniques to assess and manage project risks.

The workshop process will be presentation, class discussion and exercises. Case studies will be used for class exercises. Participants will be expected to apply the exercises to their own business where this is feasible.

Presented by Henrietta Child of Kneedeep in Project Management.

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Customer, Media and Stakeholder Relations

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

This CRM workshop will show you how to strategically manage your customer relationships to ensure customers remain loyal, are more profitable and refer you new business.

This workshop is about Customer Relationship Management, not Customer Service. It talks about categorising your customers according to their level of business and managing each category differently to build your business.

It deals with principles like: 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. Hadn’t you better look after that 20% in a strategic manner? Your existing customers could be your potential new sales force. Make sure they know you and understand you and refer you new business.

Presented by the very dynamic Kerrie Akkermans from Akkermans Corporate Development, Kerrie has made this workshop one of our most popular.

Workshop Registration 

Developing Selling Skills

If there is one simple truth about buying and selling it is surely that all people have needs and to satisfy those needs, they buy things! Therefore the tactic of the salesperson is to discover people’s needs and then show how the products or services being offered will fill those needs.

And the better we are as communicators, the more successful we are likely to be. But, there is more to communications than simply delivering a well-rehearsed sales pitch.

Getting the mix right can add thousands of dollars a year to your bottom line.

Presented by Trevor Ford, a highly experienced trainer in the fields of communications and sales.

Workshop Registration     

Distributor Establishment and Management

How do I find a Distributor? The answer to this question is provided by this workshop. In addition we show you how to keep, manage and motivate a distributor once you have found one.

The first part of this workshop provides an easy to implement step by step approach and useful checklists for recruiting and establishing effective distributors in major markets. Other topics include understanding distributor margin structures and information collection. 

The second part of this workshop focuses on building revenue by showing you how to motivate distributors to focus on promoting and selling your products on a long term basis. 

Patrick Baker from Patrick Baker & Associates has assisted many companies to establish distributors interstate and in major export markets. 

Workshop Registration

Networking for a Reason

'Networking' is a buzz word in business. What does it really mean and how can networking help you open new business opportunities and win new customers? 

There is more to networking than just meeting people. How do you make sure they are the 'right' people for you? When you meet new people what are the proven protocols? And after the meeting, what next? 

Barbara Doherty is a networking coach and trainer with over 20 years of experience in helping business achieve their goals through focussed networking with nous!. This hands on workshop gives you a systematic, practical and innovative approach to improving your networking skills and increasing your profits.

Workshop Registration 

Making the Connection – Building Instant Rapport

Have you ever noticed how some people just seem to connect with their clients and staff immediately, enabling them to get exactly what they want out of the interaction? Have you ever watched in awe as someone engages an audience straight away and leads them to a sale or some other win-win situation?

This workshop will give you the skills to build instant rapport with anyone, through body language and verbal language, and through understanding what makes other people tick. These skills will be transferable into any area of your life, and will absolutely give you greater confidence when negotiating or dealing with other people in general.

Presented by Samantha McDonald of Dare Coaching & Seminars.

Workshop Registration 

Team Power for Business Success

Growing businesses rely on a small group of people working together to produce products and provide services. Unfortunately the power of teams is rarely harnessed because too little time and effort is invested in building the group into a “genuine team”. This interactive and practical workshop will introduce participants to the stages and processes they can follow to knit a group of people into a sound unit that achieves the same or better output than a much larger group. Importantly this workshop will show that once connected to “the cause” staff are happy to work with you to share the load of running and developing the business. Topics to be covered in this workshop include:

• Understanding the stages of teambuilding
• Managing the structural and interpersonal issues of team development
• Harnessing the qualities of staff
• Generating results focussed behaviour
• Team and individual leadership
• Shaping and maintaining the team

Presented by Scott Way of PKF Consulting.

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Creating a Buying Environment – How to Increase Sales

Stand out from the crowd.

This workshop addresses the chronic issue of sameness in sales. It is difficult to tell the difference between one business and another which often leaves price as the determining factor in deciding whom to buy from. Businesses struggle to stand out from the crowd. Creating a buying environment using theming and experiential based selling can achieve this for you.

The workshop covers how to research customers, how to use theming to set the scene and how to use experiential selling to convert lookers into buyers. The workshop provides a step by step process to creating a buying environment.

Presented by the very dynamic Kerrie Akkermans from Akkermans Corporate Development.

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Goal Setting and Achievement

 Making You More Effective to Achieve Your Business Goals

Research shows that people who write their plans down are 80% more likely to achieve their desires. So step one to being more successful, has to be to write your goals down. But what type of goals? What makes them powerful?

The second part of this session looks at what happens after we have written our goals. How can you make yourself more effective at doing what needs to be done to achieve your goals? We look at what neuroscience is now telling us about how our brain functions and how we can change our habits. You will leave with at least one major insight into why you may be stuck in any given area in your business - and the beginnings of your own action plan to become unstuck.

This session is facilitated by Josie McLean, a former strategic and business planner in major public companies - and an Executive Coach working with leaders in many different industries.

Workshop Registration 

Life and Business – How to Have it All

Finding a way to balance the demands of work in your own business with the demands of a healthy personal and family life is a major challenge that confronts all business people today. By understanding more about your own business and life goals and expectations, you will be in a better position to make the decisions that will satisfy the many demands on you.

At the completion of this workshop participants will have:

• A good understanding of the importance of understanding their business and life goals in achieving work and life balance

• A clear understanding of useful ways to think about work and life balance for business and life

• Practical strategies to make more time to build stronger relationships with family and friends while continuing to build their business

Presented by Shelley Rogers, from Individual & Organisational Development, a Psychologist specialising in organisational issues.

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Systemising Your Business for a Less Stressed Life

We all know we should have documented systems in our business but there never seems the time or necessity, until things go wrong or a customer asks if you have quality assurance.

This workshop will show you how to put systems into your business that are easy for staff to follow, will allow you to measure performance more easily and take time off without the stress. If you want to gain quality accreditation the workshop also encompasses how to go about it.

Presented by Kerrie Akkermans of Akkermans Corporate Development.

Workshop Registration 

Your Trade – Your Business

Knowing your trade has what got you started in your own business. The problem is you now have a too hard basket, a van full of iced coffee cartons with phone numbers on it, invoices to do and money to chase, bills to pay and phone calls to make, licenses to keep, bas statements to do.
All of this plus order parts for jobs, collect or organise delivery to sites, and actually do the job and chase more work, all in a days work!

This workshop is specifically designed to help Tradespeople organise their small contracting business so they can work more effectively and efficiently.
Practical hints and tips as well as group work and individual analysis. The workshop is not only designed to meet the needs of the tradespeople but for the partners of tradespeople or for the people who help them out with the books. There is more to running a business than doing the job and doing the books.

Delivered by Emma Neumann of Trade Maids 

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Legal

 A Guide to Effective Debt Recovery

Cash flow is important to the survival and growth of a business. There are simple collection measures involving legal forms and processes that business owners can adopt as part of their collection process.

An understanding of these legal instruments or collection tools may significantly improve the viability of your business.

The topics covered in this workshop include:

• Pre-litigation collection procedures
• Magistrates Court forms and processes
• When a company owes you money; the “statutory demand”
• Bankruptcy Act procedures

The presenter will also run through a sample commercial lease, pointing out and explaining the major attributes, rights and obligations created – this will be done in an interactive manner with the participants.

 Presented by Julia Adlem of Pace Lawyers.

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Commercial Leases Tips and Traps

A lease is a contract; usually one involving payment of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars by a business owner over is term. It is one of the most important contracts or relationships a business owner will enter into.

It follows that an understanding of your rights and obligations is important when negotiating a lease and also throughout the term of occupancy of the premises. The topics covered in this workshop include:

• Agreements to lease
• Disclosure statements
• Usual lease terms; traps and pitfalls
• Additional shopping centre lease terms
• Your right and obligations
• Breach and termination

The presenter will show a sample commercial lease, pointing out and explaining significant terms and where to find them in the lease documentation.

Presented by Serina Pace of Pace Lawyers.

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Marketing

 Introduction to the Marketing Basics

A program developed to challenge your thinking about marketing your business. The most significant marketing challenge faced by most small - medium sized businesses is not HOW to market your business, but, more importantly, establishing WHO is your market, WHAT is your point of difference; WHAT is it that you are trying to communicate.

By searching for the answers to these questions, you will be in a vastly improved position to determine how to market your business.

The first workshop in our set of three core marketing workshops. It has lots of case studies and practical examples.

Presented by Wayne Lyons of Marc Makrid & Associates.

Workshop Registration 

Developing a Marketing Strategy

This workshop will focus your attention on the steps required to develop a strategy for your business that will ask you to search for the marketable advantages that exist within your business. You will address the identification of your target market and learn working tools to help you consider those things that influence your business and how best to deal with them. The workshop also provides a method of ensuring the plans are implemented into the business.

This workshop is our second workshop in our set of three core marketing workshops.

Presented by Wayne Lyons of Marc Makrid & Associates.

Workshop Registration 

Developing Your Brand – Getting Your Name Out There

One of the most valuable assets your business can ever have is your Brand – Yet surprisingly many businesses do not take a planned approach to developing their brand.

This workshop provides an easy to implement step by step process for identifying the most effective approach to branding for the customers that you are targeting.

This workshop will show you how to work towards developing a strong and valuable brand image.

In addition, this workshop will provide suggestions to help you develop your most effective communication message and define the most appropriate method of communicating with your customers.

Patrick Baker from Patrick Baker & Associates has assisted many companies to develop and build their brands and create effecti