Persuasion and Advanced Business Communication was founded by Bill Docherty.
After graduating from Strathclyde University Bill started his career in the Civil Service and was a District Inspector of Taxes in the Inland Revenue. He joined Arthur Andersen in Glasgow and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1986.
He was head hunted into Robson Rhodes as a Partner where he built a specialist UK team generating £1.7m in fees using Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) in Business and Rainmaking skills.
In 1996 he was head hunted back to Andersen as a Partner to set up and head a new UK practice area where he built a UK team generating £5 m a year in fees within 4 years once again applying the Rainmaking and NLP in business skills.
In 2000 he resigned his Partnership in Andersen to found Persuasion and Advanced Business Communication, which specialises in the Science and Art of Persuasive Communication. He trains and develops Rainmakers, Rainmaking Teams and Persuasive Leaders in the Professions and Business worlds.
Bill is a Chartered Accountant who is qualified in NLP as a Master Practitioner and NLP certified trainer.
Bill is Chairman of the Manchester Branch of the Institute of Directors and an advisor to the North West Regional Assembly and the North West Development Agency on the interaction of the European community and the North West of England.
Professional Bodies
- Member of the Institute Of Chartered Accountants Of Scotland
- Fellow of The Institute of Directors
- A Fellow of the Institute of Sales & Marketing
- Member of the Professional Speakers Association
- An Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management
Sue France
The Times Crème & DHL PA of the Year 2006
Sue France – PA and Marketing Manger to Bill Docherty has won the prestigious Times Crème DHL PA of the Year award 2006 – see the attached article featured in The Times. Sue said she is delighted to have won the award and even more delighted that Bill appreciates Sue enough to have taken the trouble to nominate her.
Sue started work as a shorthand typist/word processing operator and worked her way up becoming a senior secretary, team supervisor, events manager and Personal Assistant to the Head of Andersen in Manchester which was the leading accounting firm in the UK. Sue attended Salford University part time to be awarded a post graduate diploma in human resource management and became a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Sue then became part of the global training team as training manager responsible for 600 secretaries in the UK. Sue took redundancy in 2002 when Andersen collapsed worldwide and started working with Bill Docherty, an ex Andersen partner who had left in 2000 to set up his own training and development company – Persuasion. Bill is the Chairman of the Institute of Directors Manchester and Chairman of the YMCA Manchester.
Sue is the UK National Training & Development officer for European Management Assistants (EUMA) a voluntary secretarial networking organisation which helps to develop PA’s and provides global links for PA’s.
For the past 7 years Sue has been involved in sponsored walks in such places as the Grand Canyon, the Inca Trail in Peru, the Alps and the Great China Wall in order to raise funds for children’s charities. Sue will be climbing the most live volcanic mountain in the world - Mount Etna in Sicily for a local children’s charity - Medequip4kids in 2006 and is in training to climb to Base Camp Mount Everest (18000 feet) at the beginning of 2008.
This year, following Bill’s nomination, Sue won the prestigious award of The Times Crème DHL PA of the year award 2006. Sue was presented with her trophy at the Times Crème exhibition in London in May 06 and is now looking forward to the fabulous prize of 2 weeks in Cape Town.
Sue has 2 children, Sara aged 27 and Samantha aged 15 who keep her young and busy!
Sue will be presenting to an IIR conference for PA’s in London on 20 November 2007 and the title of the presentation is:
“You too can be the PA of the Year – find out how!”
Outline of presentation:
The PA/Boss ‘Marriage’ – the secrets of how to
make it work
Empathy and empowerment: Strategies for gaining mutual respect
Top tips for dealing with your boss’s most difficult characteristics
Insights of what makes a successful Personal Assistant
Multi tasking – how to cope without getting stressed
Networking to your advantage
Continual learning
