Unit 44 Pitching and Negotiation Skills

Introduction

This unit gives students a comprehensive overview of the essential pitching and negotiation skills required to win new contracts on agreeable terms. These skills are essential for the managing and running of a small business or being part of a dynamic and innovative workforce. Good pitching skills for a new product or service will generate sales and networking opportunities, while negotiating with different people and in different business transactions will secure more favourable deals. This unit aims to provide students with the knowledge base and tools that will help them to develop these skills.

Learning outcomes

LO1 Evaluate the context of a negotiation and identify the information required to prepare for a negotiation

Context for negotiating:

Understanding the rationale for negotiation and the importance of negotiating skills in the workplace.
Generating new business and winning new deals.
Key negotiation tactics and strategies.

Preparing to negotiate:

the Request For Proposal (RFP) process.

Preparing to negotiate:

determining goals, tactics and strategies.

Closing a deal:

creating and finalising a contract.
The value of understanding the context and key individuals in a negotiation, including cultural awareness and differences in international business negotiations.
Collapse and recovery when negotiating.

LO2 Manage documentation relevant to tenders and contracts

Context for tendering:

What are the key elements of an RFP document?
What is procurement?
What are the different types of procurement processes?
The contractual process for both personal and classified information.
The key elements of Master agreements and statements of work.
Contract Law.
Amending contracts and breaches of terms and conditions.

LO3 Develop a pitch to achieve a sustainable competitive edge

Developing a competitive strategy for pitching:

The structure of pitching with emphasis on the value of brand loyalty, innovation and networking and partnerships.
Building the bridge of trust during a pitch and the importance of providing realistic solutions to problems, opportunity focus and partnership approaches.
Determining key outcomes and the pursuit of value.
Dealing with rejection and asking for referrals.
Summarising and follow-up.

LO4 Assess the outcome of a pitch and negotiation

Outcomes of a pitch and negotiation:

Determining key outcomes and contingency planning for dealing with rejection.
Contractual implementation and fulfilling obligations, on-going monitoring/review of contracts.
Managing relationships and generating incremental revenue.
Terminating contracts.

Resources

FISHER, R. (2012) Getting to Yes: Negotiating an agreement without giving in. London: Random House Publishing.
KLAFF, O. (2011) Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal. New York: McGraw-Hill.