What Others Say About ECC...

"ECC has significantly increased my ability to plan, prepare and deliver powerful and effective business communications. I am better equipped to give simple yet strong and focused communications which communicate exactly what my audience need to know and the action they need to take.
ECC's professional yet informal style made the course an excellent personal and professional development experience."
Brett Barclay - IBM Australia

Having engaged John Rayner of EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION CONSULTING (ECC) to support the construction and delivery of ‘24’ critical presentations to approximately 1,500 Woolworths Ltd. Managers, the results speak for themselves.

23 out of 24 presentations 'hit the mark' by achieving all pre-planned outcomes.

Based on the calculation of commitments gained during all presentations, I believe these results will lead to a 60% increase in sales of our presented product through Woolworths Ltd.

ECC’s approach was highly flexible - tailoring the message to the audience very quickly. The message was developed and delivered to be highly convincing, yet not overbearing on the audience.

Personally, I learned a great deal about how to tailor a message and present in a highly convincing, yet non-confrontational style. More importantly, my confidence to speak in public has grown by applying the simple tools that ECC offer.

The real benefit of ECC’s approach is FLEXIBILITY. John Rayner was able to instantly recognise areas during the construction and delivery of this presentation that required immediate change and therefore, reacted quickly.

ECC’s approach is highly audience and commercial outcome centered vs. a traditional company approach which can be far more rigid and focused on ensuring OUR companies message gets across, rather than a message which actually leads to a "yes", then commitment from the client or customer.

A very successful event! I believe our organisation gained these standout results because of ECC’s input.

Korry Hoogesteger, National Sales Manager, International Telecoms Company

Our organisation gained immediate commitment

For some time now I’ve had my eyes on a particular organisation in the hope of gaining their trust to convert them from a prospect to Client.

Based on an existing contact who now works within this organisation, I was able to convince him to book time with a number of his senior managers to present my business. I must admit, two weeks before the agreed presentation date, I was lacking in confidence predominantly based on the fact that our business needs to ‘raise the bar’ in the business development area.

I had been referred to ECC who I contacted only days before I was to present. Having met with John Rayner of ECC, he asked the right questions to gain a clear commercial understanding of where my business was at plus, what needed to be achieved to ensure the upcoming presentation was successful.

In very little time John was able to construct my entire presentation, which greatly helped overcome my lacking confidence.

I really liked the way John tailored his approach to suit my individuality. ‘Hand Carved’ is the term SILCAR (my business) uses.

In addition, John cut out a large number of PowerPoint Slides I had considered based on our organisations ‘standard’ approach’. And the visual aids he designed were brief, specific and drove the key Points and Message home.

Ultimately, during the presentation our organisation gained immediate commitment with this prospect to review 2 of their sites. This was what John and I set out to achieve when we first met because by gaining this commitment means we have a really good chance of selling the fullness of our services to this prospect. Great result!

In addition, I’ve already used ECC’s approach again at our recent ‘Safety Conference’, which had a great affect! Thanks John and I hope we can work together again. Regards

Bob Watling General Manager - Power & Industry - SILCAR

"John Rayner's approach was fantastic - he is very tolerant, informative, inspiring, non-boring and well mannered... Thanks for all your help".

Following the learning ECC offered I was able to immediately put some things into play with a customer who had shied away from a troubled brand label and so, had refused in the past to make any purchases.

I started with a little warm up based on commercial conversation, and then started asking her questions to qualify what she needed. As a result I was able to give her my reassurance that everything was back on track and the positive vision we had for the label.

She ordered 6 styles - which is pretty good for someone who was anti this label.

During ECC's training, I became aware of how much I babble on and instead to ask the 'right' commercial questions. I also learnt that we are all human and most people have the same fears as I do during business communication!"

Jorja Windus, Sales Representative, Oroton

"ECC's Approach...

ECC's approach is designed to target those areas of communication that are common problems for professionals, in an interactive and supportive environment. The use of structured exercises and open dialogue combined to create a powerful tool for recognising problem areas in written and verbal presentations, and addressing them in a systematic and effective fashion.

Even after years of communicating in verbal and written formats, I found that the skills learned in the course have completely changed my perception of what is required to plan and deliver effective and professional presentations. In particular, the planning formulae provided a way to critically examine the premises of what is required in a presentation, which dramatically reduced the time and resources spent in information gathering.

Value Gained From Workshop

I have been able to cut through the chaos the characterised my information gathering processes, and dramatically reduce the time and effort previously expended in planning verbal and written communications. Through using ECC’s planning structure, I feel more confident in choosing what is included in presentations, and in succinctly presenting that information.

ECC’s approach of getting in touch before the session surprised me, but certainly made the first day more efficient, as I had a better idea of what to expect than I normally do when going to a training course. ECC had made their goals clear from the start, so after we met up we got straight down to productive work.

The key point I took away from the course was the need to tailor one's presentation to the audience. So often in the past I have tailored my presentations to myself! ECC also highlighted just how essential good preparation is to effective communication.”

Martin Callaghan, Directorate of Combat Development - Army Future Land Warfare Branch, Department of Defence

“ECC positively changed myself and my team’s perception of what a business presentation is. In addition, we also apply the skills learnt in other areas of communication such as meetings & report writing.

Even if you've attended communication skill workshops before, you might just have to forget all the rigid rules that you've learnt to deliver a real presentation. Added to this I have recognized significant time saving during preparation.

John Rayner did an excellent job because based upon his knowledge & experience he had my teams constant attention throughout the learning."

Jared Wong, Technical Pre Sales Manager, NORTEL - MALAYSIA

“Thank you for your feed back, as a participant in your course I found it most beneficial.

Your approach and teaching methods were very easy to follow and certainly encouraged participation. From a personal point of view I take on board a new structure that can only help me in my every day communication duties.”

Adam Garfi, Vic. Sales Manager, Midford

“Obviously whatever you worked on was needed for my staff as it all came together by the end of the sessions.

Some of the immediate benefits I’ve witnessed are:

Increased enthusiasm for their work
More communication confidence
Thinking outside the communication skills box
Excited about learning new techniques
More Focused with their business messages
An increased team spirit
A higher degree of professionalism.

I believe most of the benefits from my team’s training will not all be read within such a short time frame. And so, based on these immediate benefits, I expect to see many more in the longer term.”

Joanne Day, Division Manager, Gazal

“I really enjoyed my time during ECC’s training. The approach was very informative, which made it much easier for me to learn.

I had always sub-consciously tried to structure my presentation and arguments however, ECC’s training has taught me new communication tools plus, how to apply them.”

Giuseppe D'Amore, Design Manager, BRACKS (02) 9202 0000

"I enjoyed the learning ECC offered and got a good deal out of it. Apart from advice on how to structure presentations, I came up with the system that works best for me.

ECC's approach is Informal, no pressure, minimises nerves and engages participants to want to learn and improve. The man learning for me was a highly effective way to structure presentations and determine the mode of presentation that works best for me.

The personal outcomes I gained are increased confidence in how I deliver presentations and increased confidence in how I communicate with people on a daily basis.

All up the course was very rewarding!"

Steve Carter, Project Manager, Thiess

“I felt the approach and set up of ECC was very good and easy to understand.

John Rayner’s experience brought relevant stories, examples and references, which really helped key learning’s to stick in my mind.

I have learnt to start with the conclusion of my message(s) and work my way back to the start. This has made it much easier preparing presentations following the workshop.

I feel more confident towards planning and delivering business presentations having learnt a new approach.

Although this was the 2nd time in the past 5 years that I participated in a business communication course (the 1st time with a different trainer), I feel I learnt more from this as I felt more at ease, and I was able to relate to the stories John shared.”

Michelle Mercieca, Sales Representative, Maui & Sons

“I really didn’t think my old style of presenting was that ineffective until I looked in from the outside.

I have already used the planning structure you taught to re-hash an old presentation and used the structure elements to test against the old in terms of ‘was it meeting the requirements of the plan’. I felt I got a lot of benefit form ECC’s Learning Process.”

Paul Varasson - Senior Civil Estimator - Thiess (Vic)

“To whom it may concern...

In my capacity as Building Manager within the Leighton Holdings Group I have been associated with ECC and John Rayner since early 2004.

I involved ECC with our Westmead Hospital team in a High Performance Team Workshop to better align our project objectives to the performance of each key staff member. This was a critical process as the project runs until June 2008 and the team was relatively new.

Accountabilities Maps were created against each identified objective. The outcome was the creation key performance communication indicators stating the involvement of particular members of the team. We are monitoring this process quarterly to ensure we achieve what we agreed.

The process that John put us through in preparation for the Westmead Hospital Workshop assisted in making sure the day was successful. I have since used this process and John's input on our 100 Pacific Highway (a commercial high-rise development) project.

I know some of my staff could not have presented their input on the two examples above without the preparation work John put them through leading up to the workshop.

ECC are retained on an ongoing basis to conduct Communication training for our business and to assist on individual assignments as required. I highly recommend John and ECC to future clients."

Steve Holden, Building Manager, THIESS

"We engaged John Rayner of ECC to coach a number of safety professionals in their communication skills focusing on very specific contexts - presentations at meetings and induction. John conducted interviews of peers and supervisors to identify individual strengths and weaknesses of the individuals involved to then tailor the training and give specific feedback.

The coaching was then in a classroom setting but focusing on its application in the work environment. I found this approach to be highly effective as it delivered specific results - a improved induction and a quality presentation at a meeting, and higher audience engagement and satisfaction. Plus I learnt a number of techniques and tools that enhanced my communication skills that I continue to apply. The feedback from the other participants, their peers and supervisors was very positive".

Amanda Brain, NSW Safety Manager, Thiess

"I found the workshop conducted by ECC to be a valuable learning in all forms of communication. John Rayner's approach is very practical & encourages participation.

We all tend to take communication for granted & forget about our audience or the message we want to get across. I now constantly stop & use the techniques, whether it be internally or with our external customers. Not a bad to use at home either!

I would highly recommend ECC if you are looking to hone in on improving you or your teams communication impact".

Michael Woodland, National Sales Manager, General Mills Australia

"ECC’s Workshop...

As a second level presentation skill training, this workshop surely provided an excellent refresher course on previously attended presentation training, plus (big plus) the material included very useful planning tools.

Above all if there was only one thing to take away, would be the introduction of a new concept (to me) of EQ."

John Rayner's Facilitation Ability

I could offer several superlatives to describe John's presentation and training abilities. Whilst content is important, it is useless if not delivered appropriately. In short, John ensured I got the most I could from

within myself during the training and therefore I am a more confident and polished presenter - excellent job & well done!"

Jean - Yves Empeigne, Sales Manager, Nortel Networks Australia

“I thoroughly enjoyed working with ECC. I found that I could be open about the things which I feared when it comes to presenting.

I discovered a number of things about myself which I was not aware of in the area of engaging with people either one on one or larger groups. So, it was good to get that objective opinion form an expert.

The methodology I learnt is simple and effective. I use it regularly for sales discussions etc. Instead of walking into a discussion with no real idea about how I am going to structure the discussion, I now have a proven method to follow.

I have witnessed many positive outcomes because I tailor all discussions to focus on a few simple messages, which are focused, logical and more influential.”