Free Business Workshops

Free Winter Business Support Training Programme

Back for the winter, don’t miss out on our package of FREE business training courses designed to help your business thrive and grow.

All courses are free of charge and available to Rochdale borough businesses employing less than 250 staff. For businesses outside of the borough or employing more than 250 staff, a small fee of £25 is applied. Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment.

To book any of the courses please use the contact details on the right hand side of this page.

Sales – delivered by the University of Bolton

Monday 20 February, 9.30am – 1pm, Denehurst Suite, Rochdale AFC

A highly recommended course aimed at business owners / managers wanting to improve sales performance. You will learn a new concept in sales performance and how to guarantee selling success!

Social Media Marketing for Beginners – delivered by Why Not Change? (NEW)

Wednesday 22 February, 9.30am – 4.30pm, Unique Enterprise Centre
Thursday 15 March, 9.30am – 4.30pm, Unique Enterprise Centre

A practical full day workshop which enables businesses with little or no experience of social media to understand what social media is and how it can be used to grow their own business. Aimed at beginners, participants will leave with three main social media profiles set up, be able to post relevant engaging content, and be able to deal with feedback.

Please note: Due to the limited spaces available on this course we recommend you book early to avoid disappointment. Participants are required to have a good understanding of using the PC / internet.

e-Marketing – delivered by Great Marketing Works

Tuesday 28 February, 10am – 4pm, Unique Enterprise Centre
Thursday 29 March, 10am – 4pm, Unique Enterprise Centre

This full day course will give you an insight on how to improve your presence on the world wide web, offer you lots of ideas for digital marketing, learn about search engine optimisation, analytics and everything you need to know about e-marketing!

Get Social Media Savvy – delivered by SO Business Solutions

Wednesday 29 February, 9.30am – 12.30pm, Denehurst Suite, Rochdale AFC
Wednesday 28 March, 9.30am – 12.30pm, Keytech Lounge, Rochdale AFC

This advanced course is for regular social media users who want to see more results from successful social media campaigns. This 3-hour module will teach you how to use social media for your business, how to engage with your audience effectively, promote best practice, top tips and lead to bottom line results.

The Chest Training Sessions

Thursday 01 March, 10am - 11am & 11.30am - 12.30pm

If you would like to find out more about how to apply for public sector contracts, this one hour seminar gives an overview on the North West public sector procurement portal - The Chest, and also offers the opportunity to meet members of Rochdale Council's Procurement Team.

To book on The Chest training sessions please contact Simon Ross on 01706 925480 or email: simon.ross@rochdale.gov.uk

For more information about The Chest visit the website.

Business Planning – delivered by Prosper Associates (NEW)

Monday 05 March, 9.30am – 4.30pm, Keytech Lounge, Rochdale AFC

Every successful business has to regularly review its business plan to ensure it continues to meet its needs and responds to variations in the market such as the economy, its customer base and competition. Reviewing your business plan on a regular basis will aid the process for identifying the most likely strategies for growing your business.

Enhancing Customer Care – delivered by Training Works

Tuesday 06 March, 9am – 1pm, Keytech Lounge, Rochdale AFC

Suitable for any member of staff within your organisation dealing with customers. This highly interactive training module will give you an insight into the importance of every single interaction with a customer and give delegates the skills to be able to deal with customers confidently in a warm and professional way, conduct excellent telephone behaviour, and build effective relationships with your customers.

Guerrilla Marketing – delivered by Great Marketing Works

Wednesday 07 March, 10am – 1pm, Keytech Lounge, Rochdale AFC

If you are looking for a completely new learning style and want to see results fast within your business at low cost, this course is for you!

A highly interactive session ideal to follow on from our Marketing course, this workshop will provide you with inspiration and guerrilla marketing tactics you can deploy that won’t cost you a fortune and will produce results.

Time Management – delivered by Prosper Associates (NEW)

Monday 12 March, 9.30am – 4.30pm, Keytech Lounge, Rochdale AFC

Take control of your time, be more efficient in your work and happier in your life!  This workshop will focus on managing time, managing your workload, delegation, achieving results and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of tasks.

Telesales – delivered by Charter Solutions

Tuesday 13 March, 9am – 1pm, Keytech Lounge, Rochdale AFC

This training module is designed for anybody in business who wants to sell successfully over the phone. You will learn how to prepare for a call, develop your elevator pitch, learn how to handle the ‘blockers’, persistence techniques, questioning skills, presenting your product or service, objection handling and closing that sale!

Databases & Direct Marketing – delivered by Charter Solutions (NEW)

Monday 19 March, 9am – 1pm, Unique Enterprise Centre

Databases and direct marketing activities are cost effective and proven effective marketing tools that will help grow your business. This half-day, hands-on workshop using a PC will give information and practical advice on building a database, how to manage it to ensure it is kept up-to-date, how to design and write eye catching direct mail literature and how to combine these two elements through the use of mail merge.

Sell, Pitch & Present – delivered by So Business Solutions

Tuesday 20 March, 9am – 12pm, Denehurst Suite, Rochdale AFC

A highly recommended course for business owners / managers wanting to improve presentation skills and techniques.

You will learn how to overcome your fears of selling, how to communicate effectively, the do’s and don’ts of Powerpoint,  fine tune your presenting skills and, if you are brave enough, deliver your own presentation pitch!

Finance for Non Financial Managers – delivered by 5TM

Wednesday 21 March, 9am – 1pm, Keytech Lounge, Rochdale AFC

Need help understanding your business accounts? This course will enable you to produce your own cashflow statements and forecasts, understand what your Profit & Loss Account and Balance Sheet actually means and help you budget better and keep cash in your business for longer!

Credit Control – delivered by So Business Solutions (NEW)

Thursday 22 March, 9am – 12pm, Keytech Lounge, Rochdale AFC

A 3-hour workshop to improve the cash position of a growing business by addressing the cost of credit and looking at effective recovery solutions.

 

DISCLAIMER

These training courses are aimed at established Rochdale borough based businesses (employing less than 250 employees) and are designed to support and facilitate their growth and contribution to the local economy. (Please note: they are not intended for individuals proposing to start up in business).

Although there is no charge for attending these training courses, attendees will be required to provide some basic business and financial data relating to their business upon registration, and to commit to providing feedback to Rochdale MBC relating to any improvements / developments in the company's economic and financial perfomance in the subsequent 6-12 months.

This information collected may contribute to justify further investment in additional training courses at a later date and could also be beneficial in generating publicity and promotional activity of business achievements where appropriate.

Many of the training courses may involve attendees developing actions that they propose to undertake as a result of attending the workshops to improve their individual and business performance.

Non attendance at courses without 48 hours notice will result in a £25 charge.