Swindon & Wiltshire News
Wiltshire business plants Scottish training
Royal Wootton Bassett-based Intelligence Dialogue has been commissioned by a major trade association in Scotland to help grow the business practice of its members.
Diane Banister and her team at the training and development company will run two courses on behalf of the Scottish Plant Owners Association (SPOA).
SPOA is a trade body which supports plant owners throughout Scotland, ensuring best practice and supporting the sector to face challenges and celebrate success in the world of plant hire, ownership and operation.
“This opportunity came out of some webinars I recorded last year for the rental sector,” said Diane, who has run Intelligent Dialogue for more than 30 years.
Callum Mackintosh, President of the SPOA, explains: “Members need additional support to navigate the current challenges they are facing. Costs are rising across the board and it is very easy to miscalculate the cost of doing business.
“There is more to negotiating contracts than price and it is our duty to ensure that we do our best to equip members with tools and skills to support them to run a sustainable and profitable business.”
Of the first course, aimed at hire controllers, Diane says: “Hire controllers are the unsung heroes, they make everything happen. The role is part customer service, part technical, part operational, and part sales and it is very commercial. The way customers do business now is quite different, so they have to operate across many channels. It’s vital that plant hire companies attract and retain hire controllers, and training has a huge part to play in that.
“Our focus with them is about the commercial realities of being a hire controller, increasing revenues and protecting price.”
“The second course focuses on overcoming rental business challenges. This programme is about helping business owners or directors explore their commercial challenges. The programme is a mix of training and individual coaching sessions where they can develop a blueprint for their business and how they will apply and embed their learning.”
Diane, originally from Lincolnshire and now living in Wiltshire, is the managing director of Intelligent Dialogue. Training as a young national sales manager for a building society, the development programme left a lasting impression on her and her colleagues and inspired her to found Intelligent Dialogue.
“I’ve worked in the plant hire sector for 30 years, and there is nothing quite like it. It has created a little bit of buzz in the plant hire world in Scotland, and people are already signing up for for the training before it’s been properly launched which is great news.”
Intelligent Dialogue works with companies to improve their sales and growth through training and strategic planning. The mission is to help clients secure their future by working strategically to move their businesses forward.
