Professional Services Advisor – Workshop 1 (Services Trust)
The Appleton Greene Corporate Training Program (CTP) for Professional Services Advisor is provided by Dr. Cherry Certified Learning Provider (CLP). Program Specifications: Monthly cost USD$2,500.00; Monthly Workshops 6 hours; Monthly Support 4 hours; Program Duration 12 months; Program orders subject to ongoing availability.
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Learning Provider Profile
Prior to his advisory, academic and training career, Dr. Cherry had significant senior management experience, at general manager and managing director level, across manufacturing and service industries. His strong commercial acumen and strategic thinking, coupled with formal business and technical tertiary qualifications, have allowed him to achieve significant revenue and profitability growth through his senior career. Dr Cherry has worked in senior management, executive director, and non-executive director roles across multinationals, listed and private companies as well as not-for-profits. A strong strategic mind-set, coupled with an ability to lead senior and middle management teams have been the keys to Dr Cherry’s commercial success in business, across a range of industries. Throughout his career, Dr Cherry has demonstrated his capability to affect change, turnaround, re-engineer and grow businesses both organically and via acquisition. He has leveraged this corporate experience and success into his professional services career and provides strategic advisory and training services at senior management and board level to clients globally. Outside his professional career, Dr Cherry was a founding director of the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, established to fund advances in brain tumour treatment and research. He also lectures and supervises at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across several Australian and Irish universities and business schools.
Dr Cherry holds an honours degree in Chemical Engineering, a Master of Commerce degree with a marketing major and a Doctor of Business Administration degree where he researched trust in the professional services context.
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MOST Analysis
Mission Statement
Welcome to Workshop 1 on Services Trust, a foundational program designed to equip professional service providers with the essential knowledge and skills to cultivate and sustain trust in client relationships. Our mission is to foster a deep understanding of trust as the cornerstone of professional services, enabling participants to achieve and maintain the status of trusted advisers.
Trust is the bedrock of successful client relationships in professional services, encompassing reliability, integrity, and competence. This workshop aims to demystify trust, exploring its various dimensions and its paramount importance in the professional context. Participants will gain insights into how trust impacts client satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately benefiting both clients and service providers.
Establishing rapport and credibility is crucial for fostering strong client relationships. Through interactive sessions, participants will learn techniques for building genuine connections and effective communication strategies to enhance credibility. Upholding ethics and integrity are essential for maintaining client trust. This workshop delves into ethical considerations and strategies for handling ethical dilemmas, equipping participants to navigate these challenges effectively.
In an era of prevalent data breaches and privacy concerns, confidentiality and data protection are paramount. This workshop will cover safeguarding client information and implementing best practices for data security. Effective communication and managing client expectations are also crucial for building trust and ensuring satisfaction. Participants will acquire skills to communicate effectively, listen actively, and set realistic expectations through role-playing scenarios and discussions.
Finally, feedback and continuous improvement are essential for maintaining high standards and fostering trust. Participants will learn techniques for soliciting and providing feedback and strategies for empowering clients with knowledge and information. Our commitment is to provide a comprehensive, interactive, and practical learning experience, equipping professionals to build, maintain, and enhance trust in their client relationships, achieving trusted adviser status and fostering long-lasting, successful client relationships.
Objectives
01. Understanding Trust in Professional Services: Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of trust, recognising its crucial role in client relationships within professional services. The module will cover various dimensions of trust, such as reliability, competence, and integrity, helping professionals to enhance client satisfaction and loyalty by navigating complex interactions confidently.
02. Building Rapport and Credibility: This module equips participants with skills to establish and maintain rapport and credibility with clients, essential for fostering long-term relationships. Through learning genuine connection techniques and effective communication, professionals will be able to build trust and ensure lasting client satisfaction.
03. Communication Skills: Participants will develop vital communication skills necessary for building and maintaining strong client relationships. By focusing on active listening, clear expression, and empathetic communication, this module aims to enhance transparency and understanding in client interactions, fostering trust and competence.
04. Ethics and Integrity: This module explores the importance of ethics and integrity in professional services, providing strategies to handle ethical dilemmas and maintain client trust. Participants will learn to uphold high ethical standards, ensuring credibility and reliable service delivery.
05. Confidentiality and Data Protection: Participants will understand the critical aspects of confidentiality and data protection, crucial for maintaining client trust. This module covers data protection regulations and best practices, helping professionals safeguard client information and comply with regulatory standards.
06. Managing Expectations: This module focuses on setting and managing client expectations to enhance satisfaction and build trust. Participants will learn to align expectations with deliverables, reducing misunderstandings and fostering clear communication and realistic goal setting.
07. Conflict Resolution: Participants will acquire skills to identify, address, and resolve conflicts effectively, crucial for maintaining trust and client satisfaction. This module provides techniques to turn disputes into opportunities for trust-building and preserving professional relationships.
08. Risk Management: This module teaches participants to identify and mitigate risks, crucial for maintaining trust in professional services. By developing effective risk management strategies and implementing risk assessments, professionals can safeguard their services and client relationships.
09. Quality Assurance: Participants will learn to ensure quality in service delivery through effective quality control measures and continuous improvement strategies. This module highlights the significance of maintaining high standards to foster client trust and satisfaction.
10. Client Empowerment: This module focuses on empowering clients with knowledge and information to build trust and confidence. Participants will learn strategies to educate clients about services, enhancing relationships and ensuring sustained success through empowerment.
11. Transparency in Processes: Participants will explore the importance of transparency in service delivery, learning techniques for clear communication and openness. This module aims to build trust through transparent processes, ultimately fostering long-term client loyalty.
12. Feedback and Continuous Improvement: This module emphasises the role of feedback in fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Participants will learn effective feedback strategies and how to implement them for ongoing service enhancement, strengthening client trust and satisfaction.
Strategies
01. Enhance trust by consistently demonstrating competence, reliability, integrity, and clear communication, supported by digital platforms and data-driven assessments.
02. Build trust by consistently demonstrating expertise, reliability, empathy, and effective communication, fostering strong, credible, and lasting client relationships.
03. Foster effective communication by practising active listening, clear articulation, and empathy to build trust and strong client relationships.
04. Uphold ethics and integrity by demonstrating honesty, transparency, and consistent ethical behaviour, fostering trust and credibility in all professional interactions.
05. Ensure confidentiality and data protection by implementing robust security measures, maintaining strict access controls, and adhering to legal regulations to foster client trust.
06. Maintain clear, transparent communication, set realistic goals, and regularly update clients to effectively manage expectations, fostering trust and long-term relationships.
07. Adopt a transformative conflict resolution strategy, focusing on understanding underlying interests, fostering mutual respect, and employing empathetic communication for proactive, sustainable solutions.
08. Integrate risk management into strategic planning, using comprehensive assessment frameworks and fostering open communication for proactive risk mitigation.
09. Implementing client-centric quality assurance through continuous feedback, employee training, and standardised processes to meet and exceed client expectations consistently.
10. Integrate client feedback, involve them in decision-making, and educate them on relevant information to foster ownership, satisfaction, and stronger service relationships.
11. Promote transparency by setting clear expectations, maintaining consistent communication, documenting processes, and involving clients in decision-making to foster trust and improve service outcomes.
12. Implement structured feedback mechanisms to gather client insights regularly, fostering continuous improvement and enhancing service quality.
Tasks
01. Role-playing trust-building scenarios, active listening and transparent communication drills, ethical dilemma resolution, confidentiality management simulations, and continuous feedback implementation exercises.
02. Participants will engage in role-playing client meetings, practicing active listening, empathy, transparent communication, and receiving feedback to build rapport and credibility.
03. Participants will conduct mock client meetings, practice active listening and empathy, refine clear and concise communication, and receive feedback on presentations and nonverbal communication skills.
04. Participants will engage in ethical dilemma discussions, role-playing scenarios for decision-making, reviewing case studies, and developing strategies for maintaining integrity and transparency in client relationships.
05. Participants will review and enhance data protection policies, conduct risk assessments, implement encryption and access controls, engage in role-playing for handling breaches, and participate in discussions on best practices for confidentiality and data protection.
06. Participants will engage in role-playing to negotiate project expectations, create expectation alignment maps, and participate in a simulation exercise managing dynamic client expectations and challenges to achieve project objectives.
07. Participants engage in role reversal to build empathy, interest-based problem-solving to find mutually beneficial solutions, and joint goal setting to enhance cooperation and accountability, strengthening their conflict resolution skills.
08. Participants will conduct risk identification workshops, develop mitigation plans, practise continuous risk monitoring, and engage in role-play for managing expectations and conflict resolution.
09. Participants will engage in process standardisation workshops, quality assurance simulations, and client feedback analysis to develop standardised service delivery processes, practice quality assurance techniques, and use client feedback to enhance service quality.
10. Participants will brainstorm client empowerment strategies, develop and present action plans, gather and incorporate client feedback, and engage in role-playing scenarios to practice effective communication and decision-making with clients.
11. Participants will identify transparency gaps, develop transparency plans including real-time dashboards and regular updates, present these plans, and receive feedback to enhance transparency, efficiency, and client trust in professional services.
12. Participants will design a comprehensive client feedback survey, role-play feedback review meetings to discuss and create action plans and analyse feedback data to develop an actionable improvement plan with specific steps, responsible team members, and timelines.
Introduction
The first workshop of the Professional Services Advisor program, Services Trust, has been designed to equip professional service providers with the skills and knowledge needed to build, maintain, and enhance trust in their client relationships. Participants will achieve a comprehensive understanding of trust and its critical role in professional services, which will translate into practical benefits, including enhanced client relationships, improved professional competence, greater client satisfaction and loyalty, reduced risk of ethical breaches, enhanced reputation and credibility, increased confidence in managing client interactions, better data protection practices, and a commitment to continuous improvement. By mastering these skills, professionals can achieve trusted adviser status and build long-lasting, successful client relationships, ensuring their long-term success in the industry.
The following paragraphs provide an important grounding on trust, firstly in the general business context, and then the specific area of professional services. They also provide a clear overview of the workshop objectives, what is to be achieved by participants and the benefits of same. A useful assessment of trust from historical, current, and future perspectives is als