Business Development: Pitching and Negotiation Skills Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of negotiation and pitching skills, crucial for business development. It explores the importance of negotiation in resolving conflicts, detailing the negotiation process, its stages, and evaluation methods. The report also examines the Request for Proposal (RFP) process, competitive tendering, and contract procedures, offering insights into effective bidding strategies. Furthermore, it delves into the pitching process, including dynamic and creative pitch techniques, potential outcomes, and post-pitch obligations. The report analyzes the current business environment, competitive landscape, and provides a practical guide to crafting compelling pitches, making it a valuable resource for students and professionals alike. Risk management and legal obligations are also discussed. The report uses Marks and Spencer (M&S) as an example throughout the document.

PITCHING AND
NEGOTIATION SKILLS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
2. Rationale for the process of Negotiation.................................................................................2
3. Evaluation of the negotiation process.....................................................................................3
LO2..................................................................................................................................................4
4. RFP process for the company.................................................................................................4
2. Competitive Tendering and Contract Process.........................................................................4
LO3..................................................................................................................................................5
1. Process of pitching..................................................................................................................5
4. Dynamic and creative pitch.....................................................................................................6
LO4..................................................................................................................................................7
1.Potential outcomes of a pitch and ways for fulfilling the post pitch obligations....................7
2.Evaluation of the pitch.............................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Negotiation skill is regarded as the most effective skill in the corporate as it can help to
solve the conflicts which can raised due to certain reasons also the pitch is the plan for all the
activities which can create an competitive edge for the Marks and Spencer. This project includes
the evaluation of the negotiation skills and its process to resolve any conflict. Also the
importance of it is described so that one can learn about its importance with the critical
evaluation of the process and its various stages which are involved in the successful
implementation of the concept. Also the complete effective pitch process has been described
along with the example and the potential outcomes related to it is also described with the
suggestion for the risk management along with its legal obligations. Request for proposal has
been depicted along with its complete procedure and the competitive tendering with the
suggestions for providing the applying of the effective tender for the company (Badger, 2016).
LO1
1. About Negotiation
Negotiation is defined as the process in which the interest of two parties is combined in a
mutually agreed decision which can lead to avoid certain kind of disputes in the company.
Conflicts possesses harm to the organisation as it can influence the relations of people can lead to
minimise the harmony of the atmosphere in a particular aspect which affects the functions and
operations of the corporate which leads to many problems in the attainment of goals and
objectives. Negotiation is a resolving method of disputes which can occur between individuals or
group of different parties. It helps to maintain peace and harmony to Marks and Spencer (M&S)
by following a particular framework for solving all the issues. It helps to reduce all the
differences among people by suggesting measures to satisfy the interest of each other. This helps
to create their bond between them by creating a sense of trust for each other. This potential of
trusting each other makes the decision process very easy to implement and effective in
providing solution to all the problems.
Negotiation is very necessary skill that every employee should have as it helps to
coordinate with other workers for making a certain operation very effective in approach. This
negotiating can occur anywhere whether it is in companies for particular business, non- profit
and can be between the companies and the government for the legal aspects. It is much required
between the board members as it is comprised of stakeholders which have their serious interest
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and a rigid nature which lead to disputes often as there is no sense of mutual agreement in them.
Negotiation becomes very important there to resolve every kind of disputes related to any
investment or important decision for the company.
2. Rationale for the process of Negotiation
The negotiation process plays an important role in every corporate as the conflicts are the
most common aspects of it as the firm comprises many personnel which have different
perception and thought process which definitely creates disputes among them. Therefore,
negotiation is very necessary for solving differences between various companies of the industries
or in the organisation itself. Negotiation process has many stages which lead them to implement
the process with a complete reasoning for demanding expecting from the opponent party and also
understand their needs. It has made the conflict solving procedure very easy.
Negotiation process can be successful by adopting these stages effectively:
Phase of Preparation
For any procedure which is to be implemented must have certain data and information
which can provide support to it. It is very important to gather all the facts and figures related to
any issue before commencing any formal negotiation with other party. After the collection,
leverage of both the parties is evaluated. One should also know about other opponent with whom
negotiation will be performed. Objectives of self should be very clear which helps to understand
what is required from the negotiation.
Phase of Opening
It is regarded as the introduction stage of the negotiation in which both the parties tries to
understand each other so that they can create some impression. This impression is very much
beneficial as it leads to affect all psychologically because it can divert the direction of an
agreement in a positive manner.
Phase of Bargaining
This stage involves keeping up of self exceptions and requirements from the meeting so
that one can provide a clear visual of what they actually want and expect from each other. It
helps to create a kind of mutual understanding of why and what they require.
Phase of Closure
This leads to end of the meeting where negotiation is complete verbally but the
documentation procedures have to be performed. Amendments are also done after revision.
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3. Evaluation of the negotiation process
The process of negotiation has certain stages which are the necessary phase for resolving
disputes:
Preparing
This phase is very crucial as it helps to acquire various kind of information related to
certain issues as it can lead both the groups to decide their expectations from each other and
terms which they want to impose. Also what would be the benefits and disadvantages associated
with the negotiation. How they can make the meeting more effective and what can be the
possible solutions for that particular issue.
Opening
It is the second procedure in which the actual scenario of the negotiations occur in which
most importantly, a meeting is conducted where both parties introduces themselves to each other
and also get to know about them. It has two perspectives which include rapport where both try to
develop a positive image so that they can impress each other. Also, probing method is followed
which is mostly an inquisitive round where anyone can ask questions to each other which are
mostly open ended. This stage makes sure that every starts on a friendly note and helps to create
a pleasant environment.
Bargaining
This is the main stage where actual activities are conducted where both keeps their
expectations and needs from the negotiations and also get acknowledged about someone who is
on the other side. It can lead to an intense atmosphere where serious problems are being
discussed. It can follow a series of arguments, questioning and explaining as it is very important
to provide opponent a clear view of the expectations. It creates a relation where give and take I
performed. The degree of leniency depends upon how much the other person is ready to
negotiate. It can also create many problems when negotiation is not performed due to the rigidity
of the attitude of all the groups.
Closing
This is the final stage where everything is made to settle down as it is very important to
come into a conclusion where everyone has to decide a mutual agreement.
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LO2
4. RFP process for the company
Request for Proposal is a kind of document which creates a proposal which is made
through a process of bidding by the organisation when it keen in acquiring particular resources
from the surrounding and submit it to the suppliers as a proposal for business.
Marks and Spencer has the following procedure for sending a request for proposal to
other responsible person:
Project Planning
This stage includes certain decisions related to what should be the requirements for the
project, is the scope has wider or narrower prospective, how one can align the strategies for
facilitating the business, it also includes the budget of a project including the timeline and other
prospectives.
Drafting
It is a written form of the particular project where the company provides the statement of
purpose along with the information related to background and the schedule of the project. It also
includes certain terms in a contract form and conditions regarding any aspects.
Issuing the RFP
This step includes the distribution to the network along with the responses to the written
proposal followed by answering the question which is related to certain doubts prompted by the
suppliers and at last, receiving the sun missions regarding the projects.
Reviewing proposals and awarding contracts
This step is very crucial as it includes the scores related to RFP and final list which is
derived after the submission of all the answers related to queries. It leads to make the best final
offers for other which can provide multiple of benefits.
Documents which are required for making the proposals are bid form, certain drawings,
specification regarding projects, time lines, charts, breakdown of prices etc. For breaching the
mutual agreements, one can get certain punishments and has to pay fine money for breaking any
legal conditions.
2. Competitive Tendering and Contract Process
Competitive tendering process is the series of activities which is perform for acquiring
certain products and services by sending supplier an invitation which is known as the proposal.
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In this the tender which has the lowest price among others wins for the order. It has certain
procedures which are discussed below:
Registering the interest
One has to follow certain processes for registering the request with the company. This
registration leads to the update of the events regarding particular tenders.
Attending sessions for tender
This includes attending the certain sessions conducted by the company regarding the
tenser in which all the related information is discussed so that one can get the opportunity to
clear all doubt and ask questions accordingly.
Developing the response strategy
If one is preparing for the high- valued tender then they have to build certain strategies
for effective bidding process and the requirements which are associated with it. One has to make
a plan regarding the cost required for the tender, information gathering, resources required for
the fulfilment of tender and etc (Candas Sejogren,2018).
Writing a compelling bid
It includes preparing a proposal for the tender including its planning , drafting into certain
documents and refining it. The structure and the propositions should be managed properly and
described very clearly.
Presenting the bid
The bid which is presented should be lowest as it has the maximum chance of winning.
The panels members of a particular tender requires a presentations from the bidders fir the
contracts which are highly valued. In representing the proposal to the panel one has to make sure
that it is able to depict the message very precisely and clearly. Plan the presentation and prepare
well for delivering.
The recommendation for effective tendering includes attending the various informatory
sessions conducted by the company, develop the strategy very well which is cost effective,
review the proposals of the firms which has already won the tender earlier (Keinonen, 2016).
LO3
1. Process of pitching
Pitch is potentially not a document which can be presented physically. It contains the
contents which are same as included in the business plan, the main difference can be the
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broadness of the material covers and the method of delivery. The development of an ideal pitch
starts with the review of the respective business plan thoroughly. The key elements which
include in the summary are written in the pitch. The main aim of the pitch is to present the ideas
and aims of the business or the product.
the process of pitching includes the following steps
 It includes the discussion of the current environment, which is comprises of the economic
environment of the industry and the economy of the nation. It also includes focussing on
the competitive environment, competitors and their applied strategies for sustaining and
entering into certain markets.
 Providing the best illustration of how the their marketing plan can contribute for the
achievement of the aims and goals of the company.
 It also determines how each functional department contributes for the objectives and
helps in this particular plan by explaining their role
 Including a summary table for the whole plan which describes all strategies and activities
in short and brief
 Closing the pitch on a note which is very enthusiastic which reflects the excitement of
the individual for the growth of M&S for the coming years (Mejía-Arauz and et.al.,
2018).
4. Dynamic and creative pitch
MARKS AND SPENCER
PITCHING DOCUMENT
Background / Overview It is a British multinational company which provides various kind of
home products, range in clothing and other luxurious products to its
customers. It has the aim to provide all kind of products under the
same roof.
Objectives of Ad
campaign
The main objective of ad campaign is to attract large number of
potential customers. Motive is to convince audience to buy their
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product in massive amount as it can provide various benefits to
them.
Target Audience They have a target audience from the age group of 15 to 35 years
where they have a price range which differs according to the
economic status of an individual so that it can be afforded by any
class of customers thus building up a huge customer base
(Woodard and Tunnls,2015).
important things to be
presented
“ anyone can have us” is the highlighted statement that will be used
by the team for pitching among the audience.
Scheduling the board The team will initiate for hiring a team which is talented and creative
so that maximum amount of profit and output can be generated from
the theme representing the company.
LO4
1.Potential outcomes of a pitch and ways for fulfilling the post pitch obligations
Potential outcomes of an effective pitch can be very delightful as it can increase the
attraction of the potential customers towards them by using their various kinds of ad campaign
that includes the motto of “anyone can have us” through which they convey a message that it is
super affordable by everyone as they have the varied price range which for various segments of
the customers. This will lead to increase the base of the customer and they will be able to lead
in the retail market and can sustain for long. The brand creation will occur and the products will
be trusted through the brand's name which means that they will be highly valued by the buyers
and also the loyalty of them will be created for long thus retaining the customers and will be
able to earn a great profit amount and increase in share in the economy of the market. an
effective pitch can Lead the company to be running the business for a long term. Their effective
pitch for ad campaigns were very attractive as they gain the interest of the customer for choosing
them among the available options. With the increase in the demand of the products they attained
the concept of economies of scale where they have to invest less now for the huge bulk
products of goods (Nic Giolla Easpaig and Humphrey, 2017).
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There were many legal documentations that they have to fulfil regarding the post pitch
obligations like they have to fulfil every criteria which they promised in the advertisement
campaign which also provide them a preference among others in the eye of a customers. Many
agreements were made to signed by the employees for not leaking the information related to
any pitching campaign to others.
2.Evaluation of the pitch
The pitch for the Marks and Spencer were made after the complete analysis of the
market environment which included several aspects like the strategies used by the rivals, what is
the economic status of the market followed by the financial position of the company. May be the
number of employees which are required for the creative team can be less as the resources
required for the recruitment process is not appropriate and the process of recruiting the team
members might require along time as compared to the expected one. Some times there can be the
problem for funding as they are not able to gather the investor who can invest I their ad
campaigns and various strategies which can provide lots of benefit to them. Lack of investors can
lead to stop the campaign as every activity requires certain amount from which it can acquire its
various resources (O'brien, 2016). Another issue can be related to the available resources as
sometimes resources which are available are not sufficient for the imple3mentation of a certain
successful plan. There Are many other obstacles which can occur and one might not be prepared
for it as the theoretical plan is very different from the practical implications. These risk has to be
managed by making certain pre action plans which can be used in managing the risk that can
affect the affectivity of a certain pitch plan .Some funds from the profit can be saved for the
future crisis and secondary option for the sponsors can be maintained so that if the first investor
does not take interest than company can approach to other. Also another secondary team can be
kept on hold in case the first team fails to do the given task or the number of recruited members
becomes less as compared to the expected one (Wiener, 2017).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded that the negotiation can lead to mutual agreeableness of two
individuals who completely disagrees on the particular topic. Negotiation has certain process
such as preparation, opening, bargaining and closing which can lead to perfect resolution of the
particular issueless. Also, the pitch process has been described which can be very effective in
the creation of the competitive edge of the company.
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REFERENCES
Badger, M. A., 2016. The Biomechanics of Obstacle Negotiation by Hummingbirds. University
of California, Berkeley.
Belinsky, S. J. and Gogan, B., 2016. Throwing a Change-Up, Pitching a Strike: An
Autoethnography of Frame Acquisition, Application, and Fit in a Pitch Development and
Delivery Experience. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.59(4).pp.323-
341.
Cremades, A., 2016. The art of startup fundraising: pitching investors, negotiating the deal, and
everything else entrepreneurs need to know. John Wiley & Sons.
Fletcher, D., 2018. Looking to the future: how can we further develop critical pedagogies in
entrepreneurship education?. Revitalizing Entrepreneurship Education: Adopting a critical
approach in the classroom.
Keinonen, H., 2016. Television format as a site of cultural negotiation: Studying the structures,
agencies and practices of format adaptation. VIEW Journal of European Television History
and Culture.5(9). pp.60-71.
Mejía-Arauz, R. and et.al., 2018. Collaboration or Negotiation: Two Ways of Interacting Suggest
How Shared Thinking Develops. Current opinion in psychology.
Nic Giolla Easpaig, B. and Humphrey, R., 2017. “Pitching a virtual woo”: Analysing discussion
of sexism in online gaming. Feminism & Psychology.27(4).pp.553-561.
O'brien, J., 2016. Negotiation for Procurement Professionals: A Proven Approach that Puts the
Buyer in Control. Kogan Page Publishers.
Wiener, O., 2017. High Impact Fee Negotiation and Management for Professionals: How to Get,
Set, and Keep the Fees You're Worth. Kogan Page Publishers.
Woodard, T., Tunnls LLC, 2015. System and method for pitching and evaluating scripts. U.S.
Patent Application 14/510,084.
Online
Candas Sejogren.2018. 4 Ways to Predict the Result of Your Investment Pitch.[online].Available
through <https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/296713>
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