Binding next/prev to a button

Hello SmartSlider-team,

unfortunately my current project isn’t online yet, so hopefully I am able to explain my issue.
Imagine a slider on a webpage. I would like to add custom buttons somewhere else on that page that are having the exact same effect as the next/prev buttons on the slideshow. Then the visitor can read through the text with highlighted links and if he clicks on one of these links the slider is sliding to the appropriate slide. (<- sliding is important here. I do not want to just reload the page with the slider showing the requested slide!)
I only have the free version of your plugin, but would like to work on my coding skills as well and to me this is just a perfect possibility to improve.

Hopefully you got me and are able to point me to the right direction. ??
Highly appreciated, best regards

-Bj?rn

The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]