Business Skills for Proposals and Pitches Assignment

Introduction

The business skills for proposals and pitches assignment is going to focus on the particular industry and then the current trends of that industry. The industry that I have chosen in this assignment in FMCG industry and the product is sugar free biscuits bakery in London. This environment of the business is quite unpredictable and this is the reason that before opening any business in this vulnerable environment it is very essential to conduct a proper market research in order to have an idea about the current trends of the market and risks involved.

Task 1

A. Conduct market research in a particular business area using appropriate online resources including market and industry reports.

The industry of FMCG is one of the most flourishing industries in the world. In London there is a great opportunity for the bakery of biscuits as it is one of the top most eaten products under the FMCG industry. People of every age love eating a fresh cookie. The figure below clearly shows that the in London the FMCG is one of the most dominating industries.

                                         

As the graph illustrated above depicts that there is a huge potential for growth for the FMCG industry. With people having more and more per capita income the business of FMCG is expected to grow even more. (Statista, 2015). This much huge chunk of FMCG industry of London shows a great and promising future for the FMCG business.

B. Select one market and evaluate the current trends in that market.

In the previous question we have discussed that what the conditions of the market are. After the discussion it has been analyzed that the future of the business in FMCG is quite promising and the growth is also high in London. The industry of FMCG is growing in consistent manner and this is the reason that the estimation can be made that the same industry will continue to grow even more in the future. In London the demand for genuine products is very high. Anyone can notice the latest trend of FMCG market i.e. people have become health conscious and they love the products which are good for their health safety. In the industry of FMCG and the business of biscuits bakery there is a latest trend that people have become quite conscious about what they are eating. Their inclination is towards the healthy products which they can eat without worrying about the negative impact that the products can have on their health. In the biscuits or cookies people of London are looking for those biscuits which are tastier, yet healthier and low in sugar.

The figure below shows that the latest trend which tops the list involves the health consciousness for the biscuit bakery business (FMCG).   

The above figure clearly states that the most important thing for the biscuit business is that the products must not make any compromise with the health of the people. People of London would love to have a fresh piece of Cookie which is made of organic ingredients and is sugar free. Not only that but also because of the revolution in technology the online biscuit orders are also being chosen by the customrs. Kiti Soininen is the Head of UK Food, Drink and Food service Research. According to Kiti the healthiness is considered to be more important by the generation of today than the tastiness of eatables. There is a constant demand of freshly made bakery (tasty yet healthy) biscuits. Having an approach of good health and organic ingredients seems quite promising for the Sugar Free Biscuit Bakery business.

C. Within that market choose a particular product or a service and analyse its strength and weaknesses.

Within the FMCG market the sugar free biscuit seems to have a great potential as the people are quite health conscious. The biscuits are not only for those suffering from diabetes but for all those who love to munch every now and then but avoid snacks because of the extra calories that are added due to it. The Strength and Weaknesses of the sugar free biscuits can be defined as:

Strengths of the Product:

• The biggest strength of my proposal of the business is that the economy of London is growing and this makes people spend more. This is quite a positive factor as growing economy means more jobs and more jobs means more purchase of snacks and who would not like to have fresh healthy homemade cookies.
• Another very big strength of my business is that there is no very huge investments are needed for the business of bakery. A road side shop is selected where not much of the space would be needed.  
• The best feature of my bakery’s biscuits would be that the biscuits will be sugar free, thus people can have them without worrying about getting fat and extra calories.  

Weaknesses of the Product:

• The greatest weakness of my product is that the competition is cut throat and my idea can be easily stolen. The reason behind this is that there is not a huge capital required for the business of biscuits and also the makers of biscuits are found easily in London.  
• Another weakness is that despite being the sugars free, biscuits are still avoided by people because they consider that there still a little amount of calorie in other ingredients of biscuits itself.
• The weakness as I state is that the majority of the people go for brands and new company with no popular name is going to take time to get popularity.  

Task 3

A. Pre-meeting Communication

To pre-plan the meeting and having a pre-communication of that meeting is very essential for avoiding the unsuccessful results of the discussion held at meeting. Thus for the success of a meeting pre-communication of that meeting is necessary. This includes the pre-communication about the individuals involved in the meeting, the agenda of the meeting, date and venue. Thus it can be said that the pre-communication process of the meeting involves having all those details required for the effective execution of the meeting. (Lohrey, 2015)

Sample Pre-Meeting Communication

To: Managers and Directors.

From:

Date: 27 July 2015

Meeting Agenda: New product proposal for S.F. Bakery

A meeting is going to be held about the new proposal for the ongoing discussion of launching a new product under the umbrella of S.F. Bakery. I would really appreciate if all of you come with new ideas with their feasibility as it would be really beneficial for the growth of the S.F. Bakery. For the same purpose I like to present it to you all, in an open discussion meeting. The meeting is scheduled on Monday, from 2 pm- 4pm (03-Dec-2015) considering your availability.

You are also to be informed that the best idea among all will go forward to a group of Venture Capitalists and thus the support is expected from all of you.

I am looking forward for maximum participation.

Thank you.

B. Participating in a formal meeting and presenting a proposal.

The meeting was attended by the directors, mangers and the CEO (including me).

Discussion held at Meeting:

The discussion was held on the agenda new business proposal i.e. Sugar Free Biscuits

The five ideas that were presented and were considered recording at the meeting are listed below:

• Give discounts if the order is in bulk.
• Add new flavours in cookies at the end of every month.
• Discount on festivals- thanksgiving, Christmas etc.
• Smaller packets as well as extra-large packets for party.
• Different range of cookies.
  • The first idea is good one as people love to save money on their purchases and ordering in bulk would benefit both the business as well as the customers. 
  • The best idea (which was given by me) seems the idea of adding the new flavours in cookies at the end of every month, the reason behind this is that this will keep the excitement on in people and they would visit to explore the new added flavour in bakery’s cookies.
  • Discount given on festivals seems a good idea as people tend to buy gifts for their loved ones on festivals and they also spend more in festivals.
  • Having smaller packets is also a good ideas as sometimes people want a packet of cookies which they can finish in one lot (so that there is no fear of getting the cookies soggy due to moisture), the larger packet idea is also good for party purposes.
  • Different range of cookies must also be there so many customers can buy the products as per their preference and affordability.

My proposed idea: Out of the ideas discussed above my proposal was to add a new flavored cookie in the collection of bakery. This idea can be combined with the idea of my other fellow (Mr. X) provide different range of cookies (the richer the flavor the more it is expensive).

C. Produce a brief but formal record of the meeting.

Minutes of the Meeting:

S.F. Bakery

Need of the hour: The meeting was held 03-Dec-2015 for the purpose of meeting the future demand of the market with innovative products. The trends of the market have been changed and customers have become quality and health conscious.  This is the reason that ‘healthy cookies’ is the idea to start the business. The commencement of meeting was done on 3:15 pm.

Customers Responses: The responses of customers towards the healthy cookies are quite positive.

Proposed Product: The new product was proposed at the meeting and it was appreciated and selected to go further to Venture Capitalists. The idea was to sell the healthy cookies made with organic ingredients.

Suggestions:

• The suggestion was made about the cost effectiveness of the cookies as customers are price conscious.
• As usual like always no compromise will be made with the quality of the product.
• R&D must be conducted consistently for further improvements in future.

Recommendations:

• The idea must be implemented as early as possible in order to avoid it’s selling by any other bakery.
• Proper quality check is also recommended.
• Along with the product the customer service must also be the key advantage of Company. (Biztree, 2015)

D. Critical evaluation.

From the commencement of the meeting to its adjournment the meeting was a success. The agenda of the meeting was discussed thoroughly and so it would not be inappropriate to say that the purpose of the meeting was fulfilled. The large range of ideas was discussed and all ideas were weighed by their pros and cons.

The meeting was fruitful because:

• Lots of ideas were discussed in the meeting.
• The ideas were weighed by the pros and cons.
• The unanimous decision was taken and all agreed to that decision 100%.
• The purpose of the meeting was fulfilled i.e. best idea has been chosen to present it to venture capitalists.

The meeting was also successful because of the following factors:

• There was no delay in the commencement of the meeting.
• A healthy discussion took place which encouraged lots of ideas from people.
• The decision for which the meeting was held in the first place was taken. (Ontario, 2010)

Task 4 LO 4

B. Critical evaluation

My performance along with the performance of my team members was satisfactory. All of the members participated with enthusiasm and presented their ideas. All the ideas were good but few of them were not feasible to implement it now so they were kept reserve to implement them in future. 

The learning experience: I have learnt a great deal with the tasks assigned to me. My learning is described as:

• Effective communication skills were acquired.
• Learned the art to organize the formal meetings successfully.
• How to prepare the minutes of the formal meeting?
• Participating in the formal meetings.

Recommendations to Improve the performance in Future

• More research on the ideas discussed above.
• More frequent meetings could be held. (Brans, 2011)

Conclusion

This business skills for proposals and pitches assignment has provided me thorough understanding of market research and its analysis. The assignment was aimed at giving the practical knowledge about the trends of the market and how the market research is conducted. Thus the purpose of the assignment was fulfilled as after completing the assignment I came to know about the practical implementation of the market research and various tools for market research. The assignment also gave me the knowledge about the application of the market analysis. Not only that the assignments also made me able to have a confidence that I can open my own business and can successfully run it.

References

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