UKAct Website

About ACT

Founded by Val Down whose educational management background ensures sound experience in managing sizeable teams of people and large budgets; ACT has delivered training and assessment in a lively, relevant and incisive way since the late 1990’s.

Well known for highly motivational input coupled with clear feedback and guidance, ACT’s particular areas of expertise centre around:

Helping you to gain attention through:

Working on a one to one basis with owners of small businesses to improve their marketing skills in communication, presentation and networking.

Ensuring the highest quality of team selection and performance through:

Recruiting and developing management and staff through psychometric, attribute and personality testing.
Organising and running assessment centres and interviews for recruitment and development purposes.
Assessing and training staff within small businesses with a focus on team improvement and effectiveness through performance management, appraisals and personal development

Supporting the educational sector through: Fast Track Assessment and Centre Management. Governor Training in Performance Management. Training of School Staff in development and responsibility.

actnow: For further information contact Val at ACT

Attention Seekers

It has become increasingly important for companies to stand out from the crowd. To make customers think of them before their competitors. To deliver their message clearly and succinctly at every possible opportunity.

This is exactly what we help you do WITHOUT going to extremes!

People buy people – there is no doubt about that, so how do you promote your company when you are reluctant to put yourself forward, when you are nervous about giving presentations and when networking puts you way out of your comfort zone? AttentionSeekers helps individuals find the confidence to present themselves effectively in order to progress their business. Delivered on a one to one or workshop basis our toolkit includes:

Giving presentations	Customer relations
Understanding body language	Clearly describing your business
Making the best of yourself	Chairing or participating in meetings

actnow: For further information contact Val at ACT

Time Management

Good Time Management has always been an important skill to possess but for a business, it has become increasingly essential. Avoiding overload and managing your time effectively helps to improve that all-important Work / Life Balance.

We can help you gain more control over your activities, help you be more efficient in your job and reduce those pressures that rob you of even more time.

Time Management is different for each one of us – we all have different challenges and priorities. Our training can cover the general principles that will help everyone become more effective and can also be designed to encompass the needs of specific individuals and groups.

Training includes:

Planning & Organising	Setting Goals
Prioritising	Eliminating the Time Wasters
Manageable Chunks	Delegation
Getting Ruthless With Paperwork	What Is Your Time Worth?
Procrastination	Motivation

actnow: For further information contact Val at ACT

Snakes and Ladders

It's a knotty problem, how do you get to the top of the board in gaining clients when there are so many pitfalls along the way? Oh and, just to make it interesting, you have one chance to get it right...

Your first sales letter must be engaging and memorable.

Your follow up call must be succinct and persuasive.

Your presentation must be convincing.

Your leave behind material must be outstanding and

Your website must be briefly informative.

Presentation skills trainer Val Down of ACT and Marketing Mentor Jane Buswell of Business Fulcrum have joined forces to keep you ahead of the competition whilst dealing with the likely presentation and marketing obstacles you will meet along the way.

actnow: For further information contact Val at ACT

Dealing with “Business PMT”
Procrastination, Motivation and Time Management

You’ve got the brilliant sales letter, you know how to follow up and …you’ve done nothing at all about approaching new companies. A familiar tale? Worry not, Jane and Val to the rescue…

Are you putting off tasks so that you end up working to tight deadlines? Are you staring with horror at the empty pages of your diary but not doing anything about it? Have you lost that all essential “business whizz”? Then this is for you. We cut to the chase of procrastination, motivation and time management and give you hints and tips such as:

• Doubling your productivity in less than a month
• 8 rules to success
• 12 reasons to get motivated and stay motivated
• Nailing those personal strengths, weaknesses, habits and behaviours
• Motivational quotations!
• How to say “NO”
• 28 day bite size targets
• Identification of time wasters
• 10 Top Tips for effective time management
• Keeping a time log

We already have bookings from Snakes and Ladders attendees who realise this advanced workshop could just be the making of their business in 2007, so don’t miss out!

Any queries? Call Val Down on 01489 781758 or Jane Buswell on 07970 632077
*sorry, no refunds for cancellations made less than 5 working days before the workshop date

actnow: For further information contact Val at ACT

Class Teams

It takes all sorts…so how exactly do you make the most of your staff and harness their skills to best effect when your team exhibits a mix of dominance, dependence and downright disillusion?

No wonder managing people has been likened to herding cats!

We help business organisations get the best out of their staff. From assistance with initial recruitment to the assessment of individual strengths and weaknesses. From the identification of areas that need improvement to the provision of appropriate solutions. We are also skilled at raising the effectiveness of teams operating in newly challenging circumstances. Our toolkit includes

Team leadership effectiveness	Self review & evaluation
Reviewing performance	Effective management
Class team recruitment	Successful interviewing

actnow: For further information contact Val at ACT

Understanding People
(and how this can increase your sales!)

Why is it that some clients you meet, you get on with famously and fill out an order form and others you could strangle? (or secretly they want to strangle you?) and no order is ever signed?

Everyone in business has to interact with potential clients from time to time. We are all Sales People and to make our lives more interesting, all prospective clients have very different behavioural traits and motivations.

Just imagine if you could sell to your clients in the way they want to be sold to, how many more orders could you win?

Being self-aware allows you to become far more effective in any sales environment.

This 3 hour workshop will give you all those extra ‘tools’ and will give you that all important competitive advantage.

The workshop can be delivered within your own workplace and tailored to your particular company needs OR you can send individual delegates to one of our open workshops held at various venues throughout The South.

Plus, if you have 5 or more employees, ask us about the government scheme that could mean they fully fund this course for you!

We asked participants in two recent Understanding People workshops "what did you find most useful about the workshop?" Here's what some of them said:

"How to ‘read’ other people’s behaviour and then ‘modify’ my own to help us communicate... a really useful, insightful and fun workshop."

"Understanding ME first and foremost. After all, that’s where it begins, knowing my profile will enable me to look objectively at others."

"All of it! Brilliant, Very informative, fun and useful."

actnow: For further information contact Val at ACT