Case Study: A Programme developed for Vantis by Rapporta

Networking and business generation skills are a must for accountancy professionals in the world of work today. Yet many accountants are concerned that they are ill equipped to perform the roles that are being expected of them as business referrers and business generators. Ray Priestman, Location Director for Middlesbrough, Darlington and Hartlepool recognised this issue when he set about a new marketing initiative for the North East. To support his initiative, 14 of his partners participated in the Vantis "Communicating Confidently with Clients" Programme, a two day workshop with coaching and internal follow up sessions designed to improve networking skills and business generation capabilities. Whilst the workshops are now over, Ray has integrated the agreed actions from these into his regular partners meetings. This will ensure that energy for the initiative is maintained as well as providing a forum for mutual support, development and follow up. Ray is delighted that the initiative is has already started to bear fruit.

Participants on the Programme were enthusiastic in their comments:

"The course was confidence-building and showed that simple techniques, with proper training etc. will provide positive results"

"The course showed great detail of how to develop my role as a client partner"

"My role involves significant communicating with clients and the course has helped me reappraise and refresh how I go about this role"