BSBTWK401: Build and maintain business relationships
Activities
Complete the following activities:
1. Carefully read the following:
This project requires you to communicate with others in order to build and maintain at least two different business relationships. As part of the assessment you will establish, develop and maintain effective work relationships and networks through relationship building and negotiation.
Vocational education and training is all about gaining and developing practical skills that are industry relevant and that can help you to succeed in your chosen career.
For this reason, we are giving you the choice to base this project on your own workplace, or you can use the case study provided. This will mean that you are applying your knowledge and skills in a relevant, practical and meaningful way to your own situation!
To complete this assessment using your own workplace, you must be a worker within an organisation or you may be a freelance/contract worker. You must have a broad knowledge of networking and negotiation and be able to contribute to creating solutions to unpredictable problems. You may have responsibility for and provide guidance to others.
It is important that you are able to access enough information and resources for your chosen organisation in order to be able to do your assessment. As a minimum this should include workplace documentation (policies, procedures, business development and networking objectives, etc.) and any resources relevant to networking. You will also need to take part in one formal and one informal networking opportunity.
You will need to communicate with others to establish connections and build rapport. Your communication may be either directly with business contacts or fellow students/your assessor can play the roles of relevant people/parties. You will be collecting evidence for this unit in a Project Portfolio. The steps you need to take are outlined below.
2. Preparation
Make sure you are familiar with the organisation you are basing this assessment on and have read through the necessary background information. For the case study business, this is all of the documents included in the Simulation Pack. If it’s your own business or a business where you are working, have your business or case study approved by your assessor.
3. Identify networking opportunities
You must use relevant workplace information as well as the Internet to determine suitable networking opportunities and identify business contacts that you will engage with during this project.
If you are basing the assessment on a real workplace, you will take part in industry relevant networking opportunities and engage with real business contacts.
If you are basing your assessment on the case study, you will use the information provided in the Simulation Pack and search the Internet for suitable networking opportunities. Your assessor/fellow students will play the roles of relevant business contacts in the activities that follow.
Complete Section 1 of your Project Portfolio. To do this, you need to:
• Identify and outline at least three business development and networking objectives of the organisation
• Identify your own role and goals for networking and describe how you will use networking to contribute to organisational objectives
• Identify the organisational policies and procedures you have to adhere to when networking with others
• Research and outline at least four networking opportunities that will promote organisational objectives while adhering to organisational policies and procedures (this may be participation in a relevant LinkedIn group, free
webinar, conference, after-hours event, associations and so on.)
• Identify at least two business contacts that you plan to establish a relationship with (this may be a supplier, another organisation, a member of a committee, an internal/external customer, a government agency representative, and so on).
• Confirm your communication channels in preparation for exchanging information with a business contact (this may involve setting up or checking social media accounts, applying for memberships, checking and confirming website information, etc. as well as checking communications policies and procedures for different channels)
4. Engage with business contacts
Use written communication to engage with two business contacts. In order to do that you will develop a short message (email, social media message, etc.) that contains:
• your full contact details
• a reason for making contact (mention how you met or found their contact information)
• Requesting a meeting/ telephonic discussion (face-to-face, online via Zoom, at a networking event, after hours meeting, etc.). Ensure that you adhere to organisational policies and procedures when engaging contacts
5. Promote business opportunities
You must engage with two different business contacts using verbal communication to promote business opportunities. Each meeting/discussion should last between 5 and 10 minutes.
You may use any form of verbal communication (this may be a face-to-face meeting, online meeting, a telephone discussion, etc.) to engage your contacts.
You will need to attach proof of this at the end of Section 1 of your Project Portfolio. If you are using the case study, you will use the information in the Simulation Pack to guide your discussion and fellow students/your assessor can play the roles of relevant people/parties. If you are communicating with fellow students, you may record the discussion for your assessor. You will engage with:
• John Mansfield, the founder of HomeEd (a Home Education Curriculum supplier based in Melbourne)
• Kate Gills, marketing specialist and member of the Sydney Sales Meetup group.
During the meeting/conversation you will deliver a 2-minute pitch about your role and the products and services your organisations offer.
Your presentation/pitch should include:
• Your name (use your own name)
• Job title and brief description of role
• Organisation’s name and location
• Description of products/services offered by the organisation
• Description of your typical clients/customers
• In what ways you are different from your competitors
During the meeting/call, you must use communication techniques to establish rapport with your business contacts as you will be assessed on this. You will also need to communicate effectively through:
• Speaking clearly and concisely
• Using persuasive language and appropriate non-verbal features (such as tone and volume)
• Using active listening and questioning techniques to confirm understanding Your assessor will be watching/listening to see that you adhere to organisational policies and procedures when communicating.
Attach evidence of your meeting/call (video of face-to-face meeting, recording of telephone discussion, etc.) to Section 1 of your Project Portfolio.
6. Maintain business relationships
You must identify any two barriers to business development opportunities and negotiate a solution for one situation.
If you are using the case study, you may use the information in the Simulation Pack to answer the questions in your portfolio, and you may assume the following:
Barrier 1: A large client in Portugal has indicated a problem with their subscription fee due to miscommunication and the relationship is strained as a result.
Barrier 2: Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings with this client can only take place online. Furthermore, the time and culture differences make
communication difficult.
Use Section 2 of your Project Portfolio to outline at least two barriers to business development opportunities.
You are now required to negotiate a solution to one of the identified situations by using a suitable method (this may be a face-to-face meeting, online meeting, a telephone discussion, email, etc.). You will need to attach proof of this at the end of Section 2 of your Project Portfolio.
If you are using the case study, you will use the additional information supplied in the Simulation Pack to prepare for the negotiation. You will negotiate the subscription fee with the CEO of LisbonCo College to ensure the client is retained and satisfied with the product and subscription fees. At the same time, you must ensure that Worlducation makes a profit.
You will negotiate with your assessor, assuming the role of CEO of LisbonCo. This negotiation his may take place in person, online, over the phone or using email. Your assessor will provide you with more information and a time and date the negotiation will take place.
If you are using your own workplace, make sure that you are able to gather enough information and that you are using analytical processes to identify problems, gather relevant information, evaluate options and determine solutions and provide evidence of the negotiation that took place (e.g. recorded call) or re-enact a mock negotiation with your assessor.
During the negotiation, you must demonstrate your ability to:
• Speak clearly and concisely
• Use problem-solving techniques to find the best solution
• Use persuasive language and appropriate non-verbal features (such as body language, tone and volume) to achieve mutually acceptable outcomes
• Using active listening and questioning techniques to confirm understanding
8. Develop networking strategies
You must research at least four strategies to represent and promote organisational interests to contacts. Your strategies must include participation in at least one formal and at least one informal network.
Bear in mind that you will participate in at least one formal and one informal network in the next activity step, so do your research based on this. If the strategy involves attending an event, you need to include the name of the event, where it will be held, date and the cost of the event. You should also provide a brief description of the expected value and benefit to yourself, as well as for the organisation.
If you are using the case study, you may research strategies relevant to the role of a Sales Manager or sales industry networks, provided you will be able to participate in an informal and formal opportunity (note, there are many free webinars available on LinkedIn you could attend). If this is not possible, you may participate in opportunities relevant to yourself – this may be related to your current/previous role or a strategy relevant to the industry you work in/are planning to work in.
Use the Internet to find relevant networks (or refer to your previous research done in activity step 3 of this assessment if those opportunities meet the criteria above). Use Section 3 and the Networking Strategy template in your Project Portfolio to record the information.
