Speak First Blog
We're not your average training and coaching consultancy. Speak First has been helping organisations like yours to become more successful and more profitable for more than 30 years. We’re one of a handful companies specialising in communication and management training that’s able to deliver consistently around the world – using expert local trainers to adapt the content to the local culture.
How L&D actually helps employee retention
Classic wisdom suggests that hiring a new employee to a company and spending time training them up will end with them leaving you and finding a better job with all of their new skills – which you ...
Read moreA conversation with… Amanda Vickers, Speak First CEO
Amanda Vickers has been Speak First’s CEO since 2003, using her experience in training, coaching and management development to transform it from a very small company into a global business. Before ...
5 steps for handling customer complaints
No matter how hard-working and conscientious you are, at some point you’re probably going to be on the receiving end of a complaint from a customer or a client. Maybe you work in retail and customers ...
7 secrets of making a positive first impression
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” This might be a bit of a cliché, but it’s repeated so often because it’s true. People make a lot of assumptions and judgements about a ...
What L&D Professionals need to know about data analysis
These days, almost all areas of modern businesses are results and data driven. A sales team needs to know exactly how much they’ve sold and whether or not they’re making the company a profit; the ...
6 Steps to raising your internal profile
Imagine that you are a senior partner and you have been asked to decide who in the office deserves a promotion. Who do you choose? Do you pick someone who is already on your radar, or are you going ...
Principles of Cold Calling
In many sales jobs, you will need to cold call a potential customer. This means identifying someone that may want to buy your product or service, phoning them and trying to sell it to them without ...
8 steps for effective listening
Humanity has evolved from Neanderthals, who communicated with grunts and points, into having complex systems of language and words that we use to impart information and share ideas with each other. ...
5 types of difficult questions and how to answer them
When you’re giving a presentation, or when giving a report at a meeting, you might be asked questions that you don’t have answers to. Or maybe you do have the answers, but you don’t know how to ...
Handling email overload
Your inbox rarely takes a break. In our increasingly connected world, where you’re always expected to be contactable, how can you stay on top of your emails without it feeling like climbing Everest ...