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Effective Commercial Management Skills

Maximise your profits by reducing costs and risks and develop your commercial relationships with this 8 module, self-managed and flexible on-line course.

Self-paced online course »

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Course overview

The key aim of any commercial manager is to improve the profitability of the organisation, this means not just focusing on the figures. Successful holistic commercial management involves recognition of not just the price and product but also strategic analysis, risk, delivery, strong client and suppliers relationships, and getting the right people on board to deliver the goods.

Falconbury’s 8 module Effective Commercial Management Course has been developed to cover every aspect of this multi-faceted role. It provides best practice techniques and skills to allow you to understand how to choose and win the business, the subtleties of each contract, build lasting relationships, manage and mitigate risk and ultimately contribute positively to the bottom line every time.

How does this on-line programme work and what do you get?

  • Course access from anywhere through your own personal login and administration suite
  • Keep track of your progress as you go
  • Easy to use note taking and bookmarking facility to return to areas of interest and re-study
  • At your convenience: at your desk, from your tablet or from your home computer
  • An optional on-line multiple choice assessment at the end of the course for you to ensure you are satisfied with the completion of your training
  • Certificate of completion awarded for your training records

This course is part of our Commercial Management training courses series which aims to help individuals gain confidence in a range of areas surrounding contract law, and broader business management knowledge.

Course benefits include:

  • INCREASE your confidence when using shared financial information in decision-making
  • ENABLE you to gain competitive advantage by developing mutually profitable relationships
  • EMPOWER you to negotiate win:win deals everytime
  • ADVANCE your strategic and commercial analysis skills to make profitable decisions

Who should take this course?

  • Commercial directors and managers
  • Contract directors and managers
  • Business development directors and managers
  • Sales and marketing directors and managers
  • Commercial engineers
  • Procurement and purchasing managers
  • Operations
  • Project managers
  • Finance and HR managers
  • Marketing and sales

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The Effective Commercial Management Skills course will cover:

  • MODULE 1 - Commercial Awareness
    • Commercial Awareness
      • Introduction
      • Profit
      • Cash
      • Order book
      • Intellectual property
      • Contracts
      • Business analyses
    • The Contract
      • Introduction
      • Law
      • What is a contract?
      • Contract types
      • Illegal contracts
      • Contract formation
      • Types and formation of contracts - why worry?
      • Early lessons
      • The terms of a contract
      • If things go awry
      • Legal remedies
      • Breach and damages
      • The Sale of Goods Act
      • Product liabilty
      • Contract negotiation
      • The content of the contract
      • Contract requirements
      • Bringing the contract into effect
      • Intentions to purchase and instructions to proceed
      • Changing the contract
    • Self-Assessment Questions for Module 1
  • MODULE 2 - Key Issues in Commercial Contracting and Relationships
    • Contract Performance - 1
      • Introduction
      • ‘Boiler Plate’ terms
      • Seller and buyer obligations
      • Price
      • Payment
      • Delivery and passing of property and risk
      • Incoterms
      • Acceptance and rejection
      • Inspection
    • Contract Performance - 2
      • Time schedule for performance
      • Cancellation and termination
      • Warranty
      • Intellectual property rights: IPR
      • Liabilities and indemnities
      • Bonds and guarantees
      • Changes
    • Commercial Relationships
      • Introduction
      • Competition law
      • Confidentiality
      • Suppliers and subcontractors
      • Purchasing, procurement, buying and outsourcing
      • Procurement - benefit and risks
      • Prime contractors and subcontractors
      • Partnership and partnering
      • Consortia and joint venture companies
      • Preliminary agreements
      • Full agreement
      • Ancillary agreements
      • Multi-party agreements
      • Licences
      • It’s a ‘people thing’!
    • Negotiation
      • Introduction
      • Who are the negotiators?
      • What is negotiation?
      • Prior events
      • Purpose and importance
      • Serious matters
      • Preparation
      • The negotiation plan
      • Follow the leader
      • Questions and information
      • Rough and tumble
      • Win/win
      • That ‘people thing’
      • Examples
    • Self-Assessment Questions Module 2
  • MODULE 3 - Strategic Commercial Analysis
    • Achieving Business Stability And Growth
      • Introduction
      • Business goals
      • Business success - the evidence
      • Business stability - the evidence
    • Techniques of Strategic Analysis
      • Introduction
      • Environmental mapping
      • Industry mapping
      • SWOT analysis
      • From -> To Analysis
      • Root cause analysis
    • Approaches to Market Analysis
      • Introduction - defining business unit strategy
      • Market analysis - setting competitive strategy
      • Market mapping
      • Strategic Business Unit (SBU) analysis
      • SBU analysis: the benefits
      • Competitor profiling
      • Directional policy matrix
      • Competitive positioning: generic strategies
      • Competitive positioning: differentiation
      • Differentiation and price
    • Understanding the Volume - Cost - Profit Relationship
      • Introduction
      • The contribution approach
      • Product and service pricing
      • Cost profiling
    • Self-Assessment Questions Module 3
  • MODULE 4 - Commercial Option Appraisal
    • Tips and Tricks of Option Appraisal
      • Introduction
      • Force-field analysis
      • Stakeholder analysis
      • Identifying financial sensitivity and evaluating risk exposure
      • Evaluating business development options
      • ‘AID’ analysis
    • New Business Development Options
      • Key stages in business development
      • Stage 1: Pre-start-up
      • Stage 2: Existence
      • Stage 3: Survival
      • Stage 4: Success
      • Stage 5: Take-off
      • Stage 6: Maturity
      • Managerial Issues
      • Commercial Issues
    • Key Stages in Business Development
      • Introduction
      • Vision statement
      • Quantum leap approach
      • Taking stock
      • Strategic options
      • Organisation structure
      • Business-development projects
      • Strategic workshops
    • Self-Assessment Questions Module 4
  • MODULE 5 - Performance Measurement
    • Essentials of the Profit-and-Loss Account
      • Introduction
      • Depreciation
      • Internal profit-and-loss accounts
      • Cost of sales
      • Gross Profit
      • Bad-debt provision
      • Dividend payment
    • Essentials of the Balance Sheet
      • Introduction
      • Goodwill
      • Research and development
      • Cash flow statement
    • Performance Measurement and Ratios
      • Overview
      • Strategic Key Performance Indicators (SKPIs)
      • Financial Key Performance Indicators (FKPIs)
      • Freehold land and building valuation
      • Summary - building up the picture
      • Comparisons with competitors
      • Operational Key Performance Indicators (OKPIs)
      • City Key Performance Indicators (CKPIs)
      • Value added
    • Self-Assessment Questions Module 5
  • MODULE 6 - Financial Analysis for Decision-Making
    • Budgets and Budgeting Control
      • Basic issues
      • Budget assumptions
      • Co-ordination
      • Sales budget
      • Overhead costs
      • Capital expenditure
      • The cash budget
      • Monthly budget phasing
      • Effective monthly reporting
      • Financial year forecasts
      • Monthly report summary
    • Cash Management
      • Introduction
      • Debtor management
      • Prompt invoicing
      • Creditworthiness
      • Credit limits
      • Eliminating excuses
      • Prompt-payment discount
      • Requesting payment
      • Telephone follow-up
      • Further action
      • Stock and work-in-progress management
      • Creditor payment
      • Overhead costs
      • Adequate finance
      • Using paper
      • Sale and leaseback of freehold properties
      • Asset leasing and hire purchase
      • Debt factoring
      • Fixed-term loans
      • Bank overdraft
      • Monitoring cash flow
      • Bank contact
    • Profit Management
      • Introduction
      • Variable costs
      • Fixed costs
      • Marginal profit
      • Break-even point
      • Product and service profitability
      • Customer profitability
      • Marginal-pricing danger
    • Techniques and Commercial Factors
      • Introduction
      • Technique
      • Evaluation
      • Pay-back period
      • Discounted pay-back period
      • Percentage internal rate of return
      • Net present value
      • Essential replacements and legislation requirements
      • Sensitivity analysis
      • The management role
      • Decision audit
      • Investment risks and rewards
      • Application
      • Commercial factors
    • Self-Assessment Questions Module 6
  • MODULE 7 - Effective Commercial Management Skills
    • Principles of Commercial Risk Management
      • Taking a risk
      • Commercial risk management
      • The risk pendulum
      • Risk bearing, risk sharing
      • Partnership sourcing and partnership contracting
      • Approaches to partnership contracting
      • Exclusion clauses
      • Insurance
      • Customer characteristics
      • Company culture
    • Post-delivery risk
      • Is there life after delivery?
      • Key contractual milestones
      • Residual obligations and risks
      • Pricing
      • Account management
      • The do’s and don’ts of post delivery risk
    • Self-Assessment Questions Module 7
  • MODULE 8 - Commercial Management of Projects
    • Risk Management Through Sensitivity Analysis
      • Introduction - risk management
      • The need for the most likely case
      • No need for provisions or contingencies
      • ‘One at a time’ approach
      • What is meant by ‘sensitive’?
      • Sensitivity due to inflation or deflation
      • Analysis of price and volume changes
      • Why carry out sensitivity analyses?
      • Identify the risky parameters and tie them down
    • Schedules and Milestones
      • Introduction
      • Budgets for projects
      • Preparing estimates
      • The project plan
    • The Project in Process
      • Introduction
      • Monitoring a project
      • Progress reports
      • Building in quality
      • Dealing with problems
    • Self-Assessment Questions Module 8
  • Final Assessment
  • Course Evaluation

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Tim Boyce

Tim Boyce has been involved in contract management for over 20 years. He began his career in the Ministry of Defence holding executive positions in contracts, contracts policy and finance. His industrial career began at Plessey in 1980 after which he enjoyed appointments with Siemens, British Aerospace and as commercial director at BAE Systems. His functional responsibilities have included contracts, commercial, procurement, estimating, legal, project accounting and the implementation of the European Business Excellence Model.


He is a former member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). His committee work included the CIPS National Contracts Management Committee, the CBI Contracts panel, the CBI Defence Procurement Panel and the CBI/MoD working groups on partnering and incentive contracting. He was the CBI observer at the HM Treasury Central Unit on the Purchasing Working Group on incentivising industry. In 1997 he was invited by the Director General of the CBI to join the CBI Public Private Partnership Forum. He has lectured widely in the UK and the US.



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Paul Elkin
The Management Matters Partnership

Paul M Elkin is Managing Director of TMMi group, which provides consultancy services with a particular focus on business strategic development, performance management and corporate image. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and an experienced Management Consultant. After 15 years in a range of senior management roles in both public and private sector industry with UK and US businesses plus three years with Price Waterhouse, Management Consultancy Services, he formed the TMMi group at the end of 1989.

Paul’s personal career and, in particular, recent consultancy experience have provided the opportunity to work with a wide range of UK, European and US businesses. The nature of the involvement with each business has varied considerably according to their particular needs.

Paul is the author of a series of practical ‘reference guides’ covering finance, strategy and business awareness and supports the delivery of MBA programmes in the areas of strategy and finance. He has also been involved in a range of initiatives in Europe for major corporates including ABB, Philips, International Paper and General Motors.

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Eric Evans
Eric Evans

Eric Evans has worked in commercial roles for more than 20 years. He has Director-level experience in consumer goods, healthcare and the public sector. He is the author of books on e-commerce and negotiation, and lectures on MBA programmes across Europe and the Gulf Region.

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Cathy Lake

After leaving Oxford University Cathy Lake MA (Oxon) worked for the educational publishers Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd. Since 1976, she has worked as a freelance editor, writer and project manager. During the past two decades, she has taken part in, and also managed, almost every aspect of the publishing process. She has worked for most of the major national publishers and has written about 40 training manuals and textbooks, mainly on management and health-related topics. As well as writing for commercial publishers in the UK and abroad she has also written management development workbooks for corporate clients.

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Barrie Pearson

Barrie Pearson is Chief Executive of Realization. The company provides world class coaching and mentoring to entrepreneurs and chief executives in wealth creation and personal development. He is the author of 12 books, and has presented many successful seminars on corporate finance in the UK, Europe, New Zealand and the Far East.



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Ralph Tiffin
Tiffins Consultancy Ltd

Ralph Tiffin was a mechanical engineer who subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant and became manager in one of the largest international firms of accountants. He is now managing partner of an accountancy and consultancy practice. He has a wealth of experience with companies of all sizes in the UK and overseas. His work typically involves developing clients reporting and management systems, along with appropriate management training and developing project appraisal processes and spreadsheets.



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Course code 6389

  • GBP 200.00 +VAT
  • EUR 280.00 +VAT
  • USD 312.00 +VAT
  • Browser-based online learning
  • Take the training at your own pace
  • Receive a certificate of completion upon passing the assessment
  • Follow progress if purchasing on behalf of your colleagues
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Multiple colleagues? See above for details of our discounts for 2, 3, or 4 delegates. For more, talk to one of our training experts to discuss how to:

Distribute, monitor and customise this course for your staff and colleagues

Aleksandra Beer

Aleksandra BEER
Training expert

Yesim Nurko

Yesim NURKO
Training expert

+44 (0)20 7749 4749

inhouse@ipi.academy