Pitching and Negotiation Skills Report: Cocofina Case Study & Funding

This report delves into the crucial aspects of pitching and negotiation skills, essential for business development and securing funding. It examines the negotiation process, including key steps like preparation, information gathering, discussion, and agreement, highlighting the importance of win-win outcomes. The report also explores the Request for Proposal (RFP) process, detailing the creation, issuance, and evaluation of RFPs, along with the relevant documentation. Furthermore, it covers the contractual process, emphasizing contract selection, information gathering, negotiator selection, review, and approval. A case study on Cocofina, a food and drink company, illustrates these concepts, including a Dragon's Den pitch scenario and the challenges in securing investment. The report aims to equip readers with a comprehensive understanding of these skills and processes for effective business operations and securing funding.

Pitching and negotiation skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
LO1 .................................................................................................................................................1
P 1 Determined what is a negotiation, why it occurs and who the key stakeholders are during
a negotiation process..............................................................................................................1
P 2 Evaluate the key steps and information required for negotiating and generating deals...2
LO2..................................................................................................................................................3
P 3 Explain the RFP process & relevant types of documentation required............................3
P 4 Explain the contractual process & how relevant documentation is managed and monitored.
................................................................................................................................................4
LO3..................................................................................................................................................5
P 5 Develop an appropriate pitch that achieve a sustainable competitive edge.....................5
LO4 .................................................................................................................................................6
P 6 Assess the potential outcomes of a pitch..........................................................................6
P 7 Determine how organisations fulfil their obligations from a pitch, identifying potential
issues that can occur...............................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Pitching is to investors is considered as an in-built part of raising funds for the start-up.
Moreover, each pitch whether in front of small time investors or the large firms, must majorly
demonstrate that why the individual's start-up is solving a real problem. One cannot thrive in
any form of working environment without the skills of negotiation, as these techniques are used
when there is a discussion between more than two people with separate objectives for a similar
situation.
Cocofina company is based on food and drink business Retailing coconut water, baking
ingredients, snacks and many more. The organisation was inspired by Jacob Thundil's who
approved to a joint venture of euro 75,000 for 20% equity from Sarah Willingham however the
investment was never accomplished. The report is based on this chosen company to know what
is negotiation, why it occurs and who are its stakeholders. Further, the report will cover RFP
process and types of documentation required. In addition, it will demonstrate a presentation of
Dragon Den that will represent the need to secure funding for the business.
LO1
P 1 Determined what is a negotiation, why it occurs and who the key stakeholders are during a
negotiation process.
Negotiation is considered as one of the common techniques which is used to make
decisions & control disputes. Also, it is defined as a major building block for several alternative
conflicts resolution procedures. It is a type of approach through which employees solve their
differences. In addition, it refers to a process by which compromise or approval is reached while
neglecting argument & dispute. It has been observed that in any disagreement, people smartly
aim to attain the best potential results for their position. Moreover, other definition of negotiation
is that, it is a process where two or more people or parties with varied needs & ambitious discuss
a problem to identify a solution with mutual acceptance. Therefore, in business it is important to
have negotiation skills in both formal and informal discussion such as situation of sales, legal
contract, lease, etc. There are further involve different kinds of negotiation such as; distributive,
and integrative. Apart from this, there are also some reasons that states that why people choose to
negotiate such as; gaining recognition of either problems or parties, check the strengths of other
parties, change perception, and so on (Balachandra and Brush, 2016).
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Negotiation occurs among organisations, involving businesses, non profits and so on.
Also, it basically happens because the parties wish to create or develop something new and some
conflict of interest arises between them and they think that they can use some kind of influence
to crack the deal, instead of accepting what the other party will voluntarily give them. In this
case, negotiation occurs where they prefer to find for approval rather than fight openly.
Moreover, when negotiation takes place, parties generally expect give and take. Since
negotiation includes two or more parties, is less frequent researched. Here the disputants will
either make effort to pressurise or force the other party to agree with their demands or will
develop a solution that fulfil the objectives of both the sides.
A stakeholder is refers to any individual who is influences by the results directly under a
decision making process. Further, it is a term that is generally used while disputes resolution, or
procedures in which representation of all influences group's desires. Therefore, while practising
negotiation as a particular form of participation involves investors, workers, trade unions and
government. In the Cocofina company, the process of negotiation was between Jacob the
founder, and Sarah & Nick who offered finance to them. Moreover, negotiation is very common
aspect of workforce as the enterprises are usually large & the employees are generally organised.
Only because of the financial constraints of all parties, negotiation is considered necessary.
Trade unions are supposed to get participated in negotiation at that time when implementing
agency might be utilising other forms of engagement (Clingingsmith and Shane, 2017).
P 2 Evaluate the key steps and information required for negotiating and generating deals.
Negotiation basically aims at solving differences among people in order to gain
advantage and is conducted by placing a position & making concessions to attain agreement.
Although negotiators does not sacrifice effective negotiation, in favour of a positive connection
between parties. Also, negotiation process diffuse the communication of almost everyone in
group and companies. The Cocofina company made use of simple steps involved in negotiation
process which is described below :-
Preparation & planning :- this stage makes sure that all the negotiators are known about the
facts of the situation in order to clarify their own position. Prior to the beginning of negotiation
process, one must be aware of the conflicts, the reason behind dispute and the history leading to
the negotiation among parties involved. It also involves people, point of view regarding the
conflict expectations from the discussion. Therefore, understanding clearly before and
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undertaking preparation earlier, helps them to avoid further unnecessary waste of time at the time
of meeting (Cremades, 2016).
 Collecting of information, where one needs to learn as much as one can regarding the
problem and assess type of information that will be required from the other side.
 Evaluation of one's leverage & the other party's advantage at the outset is essential
because there are range of things one can perform to enhance one's leverage. It is also important to learn the people who are involved in the process of negotiation as
knowing their roles and objectives will facilitate better.
Discussion :- at this stage, both parties or members of each side bring forward the exact situation
as they look it, i.e. their knowledge about that situation. Under this, skills that are used involves
questioning other parties, listening carefully and clarifying situation. It has been observed that it
is sometimes helpful to write notes at the time of negotiation to note points in case if there is
further need for clarification.
Clarifying goals :- after the stage of discussion, goals are defined clearly. This because it assists
in potential to find or create some common ground. Furthermore, clarification is considered as
essential part of the negotiation process.
Negotiation towards win-win results :- the stage concentrates on win-win results where both
parties feel that they have achieved their objective or gained something positive by the
negotiation process.
Agreement :- this stage is successfully achieved when both the sides understand the viewpoints
of other side & interests have been taken into consideration. Also, it is crucial for everyone to
involved in the discussion openly in order to attain an acceptable solution.
Implementing course of action :- the final step under process of negotiation involves
implementation or formalisation of the agreement that has been worked out & procedures that
are essential for implementing (Fernandez and Roberts, 2015).
LO2
P 3 Explain the RFP process & relevant types of documentation required.
The term RFP is request for proposal, which is a document that solicits proposal,
frequently made by a bidding process, by the firm interested in procurement of a commodity,
service or worthy resources in order to submit business proposals. Further, this is utilised where
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the request requires technical expertise, specialisation ability. Apart from this, it presents primary
requirements for the commodity or service. The process of RFP begin with a draft request for
proposal , bidders see the draft solicitation document & submit recommendations for betterment.
RFP issued by the company may also include expected bidders to a prior bid conference so that
questions can be asked about the appeal document & understand more about the project. The
final request for proposal, demonstrating feedback collected at the time of draft stage , is issued
and then proposal is submitted by the bidders.
 Crafting RFP document :- the RFP document basically informs the vendor regarding the
problem the issuer expects to address. The documents must involve; purpose of RFP,
should explain what exactly issuer wants to attain, how vendors will evaluate and last
must provide a wish list.
 Discovery :- it is important for vendors to reply effectively after receiving RFP
documents. Clients discovery enables vendor to reach to the satisfaction of client's pain
i.e. trying to solve and empower more efficiently.
 Vendor shortlist :- here subsets of vendors are identified by the issuer who are most likely
to solve the needs which is known as short list (Miles, Vries and Kasouf, 2017).
 Completing the final evaluation :- at this stage the issuer has an in-depth understanding
about each vendors offering and will decide which solution is best to address their
requirements.
 Creating, issuing and signing the contract :- this stage should me managed with extreme
care as the contract is important because it contains all the relevant information required
for accomplish of RFP.
P 4 Explain the contractual process & how relevant documentation is managed and monitored.
Contracts are basically known as written agreement, subcontract, binding papers of
intent, lease, memorandum or other documents. Well introduced activities and practices,
undertaken by the contracting agencies, to make sure that a contract is entered into & performed
in a well manner. It is an agreement among two or more people that create obligations that are
enforceable or recognised by law. Process of contracting :-
 Selecting a contract :- the agreement that should be chosen by the organisation must suit
for their transaction. It is always suggested that the contractor must use one of the
agreements template or other kinds of university based agreements. This serves as a
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beginning of negotiation and is specifically useful if the financing agency does not have a
draft agreement.
 Gathering the essential information :- it is considered necessary to not to get involved in
the work without a formal, written contact signed by an authorised individual.
Furthermore, the complete packaging of contract will involve; entirely signed proposal
routine sheet in UAccess Research, budget, payment schedule, statement or scope of
start-up, additional supporting papers (Monahan, Johnson and Gratch, 2018).
 Choosing a negotiator :- contracting services are accountable for creating and reviewing
agreements between the organisation or external party.
 The contract review process :- the agreement is sent to the contracting office in order to
check all the detailed information including terms and conditions and the principal
investigator go through the papers to ensure; all blanks are filled, charges are shown
clearly, taxes are included, and so on.
 Approval and signing the contact :- after negotiation is done and agreement of both
parties are ready, then comes approval. Also, if the company has any specific
procurement policies then they will be required to met first to gain agreement. After both
the parties get agree, the next step they take is making it official by signing it.
LO3
P 5 Develop an appropriate pitch that achieve a sustainable competitive edge.
Before an individual starts pitching his star-up to other, he must first make sure that his
offering has several important qualities. Pitching a start-up is considered as less about simply
describing what a person's product is or what their offering does.
 Define a problem :- it is not enough to have a great idea, the start-up building individual
must ensure that his offering involve certain important features. The first thing to begin
with is to figure out the problem that is worth solving. While crafting pitch, find the
problem that will be solved rather than only showing how best the solution is (Romme
and Reymen, 2018).
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 Describe solution :- there are many entrepreneurs who make their pitch by explaining
their solution, and they avoid step first. Once, problem is well defined in first step, then
comes describing the solution.
 Know the target market :- after compulsion of above two steps effectively, an
entrepreneur must focus on thinking about his potential consumers who exactly have this
problem. In this section i.e. target market of developing pitch he will define who has the
problem he is solving for.
 Describe the competition :- in this modern business world every organisation has its
competitors. There are rivalries available in the market who also develop the same pitch
and solve the problem of customers, in turn act as major competitors for an entrepreneur.
 Financial summary :- the start-up pitch needs to show finance or revenue potential which
is considered very essential to develop a pitch. The best way to perform this is to employ
any metrics entrepreneur may already have.
LO4
P 6 Assess the potential outcomes of a pitch.
All problems in the dispute were settled :- people always think that if there were five issues on
the discussion table and all five issues are solved, then they have attained the success. However,
it is not necessarily accurate. It is more crucial to differentiate between settling or problems &
mutually beneficial settlement (Smith, Grosso and Grosso, 2015).
All issues were solved mutually :- another way to asses the potential outcomes of pitch is a way
to think regarding success in negotiation is to investigate if all problems are settled to the mutual
benefits of all.
Underlying the core conflicts were solved :- it has been observed that, unless the core conflict is
negotiated, it will arise again. Frequently, the symptoms of dispute are solved without underlying
core conflict being resolved.
The range of unresolved issues were decreased :- it has also been discovered that if the number
of issues left unsettled and are reduced , it is considered as success of the pitch, such as resolving
five issues out of seven is considered as a big gain.
The parties learn to interact better :- this is another way to assess the success of a pitch, in
which there is seen that whether any learning has taken place. Hence, the negotiation is
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considered successful if both parties learn or develop a sense to communicate more effectively or
become good at resolving disputes (Why your “Pitch” is so important and how to nail it, 2017).
P 7 Determine how organisations fulfil their obligations from a pitch, identifying potential issues
that can occur.
There are many institutions available that provide funds for start-ups and providing them
a well prepared pitch is considered very effective. Presently, it has been discovered that angel
investors have become a vital source of business financing, this is where a great pitch comes in
(Wray, Celio and Monti, 2018).
 It has been determined that, a great pitch is concise, convincing and delivered in a self
assured manner.
 The concept behind developing a pitch is that the person has an elevator length of time
period to pitch his products or services to potential investor. Moreover, securing funds for
the business is the major objective of a great pitch.
 Although people seeking leadership position, particularly in political position needs a
great pitch. Therefore, a great and well prepare pitch is a way to fulfil entrepreneurs
obligation towards their start-up.
 As similar to the business plan, a pitch of the products must be compelling & practical to
fulfil the responsibility through it.
 Also, it must include all the knowledge regarding problem, its solution, target market,
competitors and financing summary. In this context, a great pitch must be convincing to
the investor that his money will not be wasted and it is in safe hands.
 A great pitch is always considered important for trading new start-up as it necessarily
reflects the strategic plan for the product.
In addition, the major objective of a great pitch is to impress the investor so that he can
buy the entrepreneur's idea. Hence, it a business and one must never take it lightly, as the
importance of a pitch is to secure the subsensible funds & promoting the brand.
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CONCLUSION
From the overall report it has been concluded that, pitching and negotiation skills are
very important for an individual to start a business. A pitch is something that defines completely
the product or idea of an entrepreneur to an investor and then the investor invests in the brand.
Negotiation skills are abilities to discuss mutually about various issues with two or more parties
and come to a solution mutually. Apart from this, the report also described about the request for
proposal process, which is a proposal made to the investor to sell an idea, commodity or asset
related to the business. Moreover, it demonstrated how assessment of potential outcomes of a
pitch are acquired.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Balachandra, L. and Brush, C.G., 2016. PITCHING TRUSTWORTHINESS: HOW TRUST
IMPACTS EARLY-STAGE INVESTMENT DECISION-MAKING
(SUMMARY). Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research. 36(1). p.4.
Clingingsmith, D. and Shane, S., 2017. Training Aspiring Entrepreneurs to Pitch Experienced
Investors: Evidence from a Field Experiment in the United States. Management Science.
Cremades, A., 2016. The art of startup fundraising: pitching investors, negotiating the deal, and
everything else entrepreneurs need to know. John Wiley & Sons.
Fernandez, C.S. and Roberts, D., 2015. Strengthening Negotiation Skills, Part II: Moving
Beyond Sheer Knowledge With 4 Additional Key Strategies to Create Influence for Public
Health Leaders. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. 21(3). pp.304-307.
Miles, M. P., de Vries, H. and Kasouf, C. J., 2017. Accelerators as authentic training experiences
for nascent entrepreneurs. Education+ Training. 59(7/8). pp.811-824.
Monahan, S., Johnson, E. and Gratch, J., 2018, June. Autonomous Agent that Provides
Automated Feedback Improves Negotiation Skills. In International Conference on
Artificial Intelligence in Education (pp. 225-229). Springer, Cham.
Romme, A. G. L. and Reymen, I. M., 2018. Entrepreneurship at the interface of design and
science: Toward an inclusive framework. Journal of Business Venturing Insights,. 10.
p.e00094.
Smith, T. L., Grosso, J. L. and Grosso, S., 2015. Essential skills for employee professional
development: teaching negotiation online. International Journal of Business Research and
Information Technology. 2(1). pp.92-105.
Wray, T. B., Celio, M. A. and Monti, P. M., 2018. Causal Effects of Alcohol Intoxication on
Sexual Risk Intentions and Condom Negotiation Skills Among High-Risk Men Who Have
Sex with Men (MSM). AIDS and Behavior, pp.1-14.
Online
Why your “Pitch” is so important and how to nail it. 2017. [Online]. Available on:
<http://www.brookes2cents.com/why-your-pitch-is-so-important/>
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