MKT6044: Prepare for this first Meeting with the Objective of Gaining Agreement to Submit a Proposal for Selling your Products/Services to the Company: Business Development Assignment, UoB, Singapore

Assessment Tasks

Assessment task one 

As a result of your good preparation, you have managed to secure an initial meeting with your prospect.  For the first part of this assessment, you will prepare for this first meeting with the objective of gaining agreement to submit a proposal for selling your products/services to the company.

Format:

• A 5-minute credentials presentation (using the audio recording facility on PPT) in order to introduce yourself, your company and its products/services.
• Completion of a sales meeting pro forma to show how you will address the following:
  • Identification of what you will wear and, based upon your research, you will build rapport with the prospect
  • Identification of key open questions you will ask in order to establish the situation (S) of the client
  • Based upon your research how you would anticipate the prospect to respond
  • Identification of key open questions that would help you to ascertain the problem they may wish to have solved
  • Based upon your research identify what these problems might be
  • Considering what objections the client may raise and how you will deal with these
  • Closing the meeting, gaining the agreement of the next steps, which will be the production of a business proposal for the client to purchase one of your company’s products or services based upon the needs you have identified from your initial meeting. Consider the various methods of closing and which one you would choose (justify your choices)

Assessment task two

As a result of your meeting and an assessment of the client needs prepare a basic proposal to your target company detailing why they should do business with you and presenting a product or service that would be suitable for then, based upon their identified needs.  The proposal should follow the format below.

1.Background

On the client organisation and on your organisation.

2.Identified Needs

Summary of the problem you wish to solve.

3.Solution

A summary of your solution to the problem, introducing the product of service your wish to sell and its features and benefits

4.Costs and timings

Summary of timeline and costs involved.

5.Account Management

How the account will be managed if you are successful.

Bear in mind the following when preparing your proposal:

• What is my customer’s problem?
• How can I offer a solution remembering to fully justify your choice by linking this to the identified needs of the client?
• How do I appeal to the interest of decision-makers (remember the DMU)?
• What differentiates my offer from my competitors? You need to demonstrate a knowledge of competitors here.
• Have I asked the customer to take clear action on the proposal?

Task One

You will then deliver a credentials presentation tailored to what is known about the client you are targeting with your product/service, recording it as an audio PPT for submission.

Consider your questioning skills including knowledge and application of the SPIN model and addressing objections to reach an agreement, recording your response on the sales pro forma template for submission.

Task Two

For this second element, you will need to develop an outline proposal to address the identified needs of the client, ascertained from the one to one meeting.  The proposal should offer a solution to the identified problem.  The document should also include details of how the account will be managed.

Background to Sipsynergy

Sipsynergy was born from a history of software development as a service provider arm of SectorSix.  SectorSix is a software company that makes software for Cisco UC applications and markets this software to service providers around the world.

Cloud services are reshaping the market for telecoms operators, and the change in the competitive landscape directly benefiting the end customer.  Historically, the market has been dominated by large vendors and Public Telephone Operators that struggle to scale down to the SME market with a competitively priced offering due to technology and service delivery restraints.

Additionally, these companies face difficulties incorporating cloud technology into their heavily established business model.  As the industry evolves faster, with more dominant software orientated platforms, large companies lack the agility to maintain the currency of their service offerings.

Sipsynergy is at the start of an ambitious but realistic growth plan over the next three years. It plans to exploit a market in the middle of explosive growth with its innovative and compelling products, specifically targeting small to medium-sized companies with less than 500 users.

Currently, the barriers to entry for the SME market are relatively high and the Sipsynergy solution is competitively priced, simple and robust and enjoys a first-mover advantage.