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Winning BusinessAn introductory guide
CrisisEthical Enterpriseand Employment(3xE) Network
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2 Winning Business
Contents
1. Why grow a trading business? 4
2. Things to think about when getting ready to do business. 4
3. The need for market research. 5
4. Working with other organisations/developing partnerships. 6
5. Winning business. 7
6. Summary. 10
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Winning Business 3
3xE Network: a social
enterprise networkfor the homelessnesssectorThe Ethical Enterprise and Employment
(3xE) Network is run by Crisis to bring
together organisations using social
enterprise and supported employment
models, and organisations working with
unemployed people who are homeless or
at risk. 3xE works in partnership with socialenterprise inrastructure organisations
throughout England to improve take up o
their services by homeless sector social
enterprises. 3xE also unds a variety o
support services specially tailored to the
needs o the homelessness sector to enable
organisations to start and develop social
enterprises or supported employment
schemes. The network is unded by the Big
Lottery Basis programme.
Info sheetThis is the ourth in a series o ino sheets
that 3xE is producing to capture and
disseminate the learning rom the Network. It
is based on a conerence that the 3xE project
held on November 30th 2011 (Winning
Business), which explored the ways in which
organisations in the homeless sector can
begin to develop and generate commercial
trading services and incomes.
It details the key themes and issues
raised over the day by both speakers andparticipants and oers details o where urther
inormation about them might be accessed1.
It is intended as a primer rather than
serve as a blueprint or how to develop a
social enterprise and then subsequently win
business, it oers the rationale or doing so
and the key stages to consider when planning
your strategies.
Many groups who use this ino sheet may
already be pursuing aspects o developmentwhich are introduced here. The ino sheet is
thereore structured into separate sections,
the ordering o which refect a typical
journey in developing and launching a new
social enterprise venture.
This inosheet draws upon national
research, training materials and personal
experiences o Adrian Ashton a nationally
acclaimed provider o advice, training
and consultancy services in relationto Governance issues and enterprise
development.(www.adrianashton.co.uk)
1 please note any web links were correct at time o publication o this ino sheet some websites may change over time
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4 Winning Business
1. Why grow a tradingbusiness?It is important to be clear as to the reasons
why an organisation is interested developing
a social enterprise as a trading business,
as it will help ensure that the right business
models are adopted. Some o the most
commonly cited reasons or homelessness
and housing sector organisations to set up
such are venture are:
there is increasing competition or undingrom traditional sources such as grant
making trusts and public bodies,
generating income rom traded services
presents a clear opportunity to not only
protect services, but also potentially
increase them by being able to subsidise
them through prot rom trading,
traded income also helps to balance the
nancial risk o being over-reliant upon a
single, or very small number o, existing
income sources.
2. Things to think aboutwhen getting ready todo businessIt is important or social enterprises to have
strong business oundations beore competing
or business and trading in the open market.
In any new venture there may be barriers that
could impede development and likely success.
Being clear about what these might be, and
how they can be best addressed is crucial.
While there are many other books and
materials already published on such barriers2,
the main ones that were identied through the
Winning Business event were:
Finance:
Developing new services and products
will incur costs (e.g. stang, materials,
premises, etc), a long time beore sales
revenues are generated and received.
These will need to be careully actoredinto the business plan and start-up nance
may need secured. Introductory guides
to the dierent sources o development
nance can be ound at http://www.sel.org.
uk/unding-and-nance/ and http://www.
slideshare.net/adrianashton/nancing-
socent-mmu-guest-lecture-nov-2011
Getting the Right Skills and Support:
Your organisation will need good
management support. For some socialenterprises not all o those leading the
business are recruited as entrepreneurs
or marketing managers. Look around you
to see who can help or example, it may
be that some providers o nance can also
oer you nancial guidance as part o their
investment in you.
2 http://www.unece.org/leadmin/DAM/ceci/ppt_presentations/2007/eed/tur.pdhttp://sheeld.academia.edu/ColinWilliams/Papers/648817/Tackling_the_barriers_to_entrepreneurship_in_a_deprived_neighbourhoodhttp://www.cda.org.uk/2011/09/14/access-to-nance-is-largest-barrier-to-sustainability-o-uk-social-enterprises/
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Understanding the market:
Organisations dont always thoroughly
understand who their customers will be.
Without adequate market research it is
impossible to properly price or promote
the service in a way that will attract their
interest and custom.
3. The need for market
researchHowever well you are able to gain the
resources, investment and skills needed to
develop and launch your new enterprise,
ultimately you need to be assured that it is
easible there is a demand or it and people
are willing to pay you a price that allows you
to sustainably oer it.
In order to best present your service to
targeted customers it is vital to make surethat you understand them nd out what
their priorities and concerns are, how and
when they procure services, and what they
might be willing to pay. It is important to do
this beore you enter into the market place
and compete or business.
There are already various published guides3
(including a 3xE ino sheet Marketing Matters)
on how to undertake market research and
develop a marketing plan. Whichever onesyou use, the key task will be to identiy what
it is that makes you stand out. What can
you oer, either through the way in which you
deliver your service, or the impact it creates or
your customer that they currently cant benet
rom by using any other enterprise. Knowing
this will make it ar easier to attract their
attention, and also their business.
3 http://managementhelp.org/marketing/market-research.htm
2 http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073901910
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6 Winning Business
4. Working with
other organisations/developingpartnershipsFor some smaller social enterprises or
those that are looking enter into larger
contracts working in partnership with other
organisations can increase the contracting
opportunities. Partnerships can be used to
pursue various aims and take dierent orms
rom occasional and inormal joint purchasingagreements to access savings on bulk/shared
purchasing, to legally ormalised consortia or
delivering contracted services.
An example o consortia delivering services
is the WISE Group4; they identiy contract
opportunities and delivery partners, and
oer partnerships which include access to
management unctions and inrastructure.
This gives credibility to the partners so they
can bid or contracts they would otherwisebe excluded rom. In return the WISE Group
gains the opportunity to access new services
that it can oer elsewhere.
A social enterprise might identiy a contract
opportunity that ts with its services and
social mission, but which it is too small
to bid or, or not be able to satisy the
requirements o the commissioning ocer
(such as having 3 years o audited accounts
or adhering to certain quality managementstandards). In such instances, collaborating
with another enterprise that can deliver the
balance o services and to collectively meet
those requirements is highly benecial.
Thus improving the capacity or all involved
to enter the supply chain o contracts that
they would otherwise not be able to bid
or independently. This also helps them to
develop a trading history which is can then
build on to grow and strengthen itsel to bid
or later contracts in its own right.
There are many other benets to working
collaboratively with other organisations, in
partnerships or consortium; these can vary
depending on the size o the organisation and
the aims o the collaboration. However, some
o the benets can be:
Oers immediate access to a wider
variety o skills, expertise and resources,with each member working towards their
strengths
There is a potential or wider social aims
and impact to be met
Savings in time and money (especially with
bulk purchasing)
Allows organisations to shortcut the
time and costs involved in developing the
inrastructure needed to when bidding or
and delivering contracts
Minimises the risk Increases the possibility to bid or larger
and more sustainable contracts
Improves the prospect o investment
opportunities
When exploring the development o any such
partnership, it is important to recognise that
it will take time and eort, not all parties will
want the same things rom the relationship,
and not all may care that youre a social
enterprise or about your social mission.
There are various resources available to
support organisations begin to explore and
start the process o developing partnerships:
http://www.partner-up.org/resources/
http://oundationcentre.org/gainknowledge/
collaboration
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/
4 http://www.thewisegroup.co.uk/content/
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Winning Business 7
publications/rs2.aspx?
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/
library/guidance/cc34text.pd
http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support/
collaborative-working
Whichever type o partnership is being
explored, there are common stages that need
to be worked through to ensure the best use
o the time and other resources that may be
available to you in pursuing them
a) agree the purpose or the partnership what everyone wants to achieve rom it
and what they agree is their shared or
common purpose in coming together
b) agree how the partnership will operate
how decisions will be taken, who will be
responsible or what actions and areas,
who else needs to be involved, and how
its perormance will be monitored
c) ensure that other stakeholders and
interested or aected parties have the
opportunity to be involvedd) encourage all partners to commit the
resources they have agreed to, and that the
partnership will need to make it a success
e) review the achievements and progress o
the partnership at regular intervals
5. Winning businessFinally, now that an enterprise has been ormed
and its management is in place, it can begin the
business o winning contracts and work.
Finding the Opportunities
Ultimately, all strategies that are employed to
win business rely on being able to nd it! This
can be done in a variety o ways including
monitoring various registers (examples o
which are listed in the appendices to this ino
sheet), networking and knocking on doors.I potential customers dont know that youre
interested in them they wont contact you
with invitations to deliver services. Developing
a range o personal contacts can help you to
remain on top o changes in the marketplace.
There are various websites that list and
prole arising contract opportunities. Those
listed below oer a ree, either national or
European, directory. However, there are
others that will also search or contractopportunities on your behal on a paid
subscription basis.
Many local authorities also have their own
dedicated procurement system to advertise and
accept proposals to deliver contracted services
so you should make contact with your relevant
authority. Contacting your local Chamber o
Commerce may also help in identiying contract
opportunities with private companies.
http://contractsnder.co.uk/
http://www.undingcentral.org.uk/Deault.aspx
http://www.ojec.com/Deault.aspx
http://ted.europa.eu/TED/main/HomePage.do
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8 Winning Business
Elevator Pitch
As well as selling your service or product,
you will also need to sell your organisation.
You should consider crating an elevator
pitch, essentially being able to tell the story
o your organisation and why people should
be interested in doing business with it in the
space o less than 2 minutes5. Practicing such
a pitch is vital as you wont have a second
opportunity to make the rst impression with
a potential customer.
Procurement & Contractual Requirements
You should also be able to satisy the
contractual requirements o your customers.
For example, public contracts usually require
reerences, o a number and type, which
most start-up enterprises will be unable to
meet. So consider careully i it may be more
appropriate to target private customers who
wont require such stringent conditions.
Another option is to become a sub-contractor
to a larger company that can ull the
contractual obligations. You can identiy thecompanies to approach by nding out who
delivers the Level 1 (top-level) contract to
your chosen rm.
When targeting customers, it can also be
useul to identiy how ormal their tendering
processes are, so you are prepared or the
time required to prepare proposals to deliver
services or them. Under EU regulations any
public contracts or works (physical buildings,
etc) valued at more that roughly 4million,and or other services valued at more than
roughly 150,000, must be openly advertised6.
Below these amounts, commissioning
authorities will be allowed to use their own
procurement rules. However, such local rules
can vary widely between areas and bodies,
so you should be aware that procurement
procedures or one public body or a certain
contract value will not automatically be the
same elsewhere or contracts o the same
amount. Further background inormation on
public sector contracting or social enterprises
and community and voluntary bodies can be
accessed on-line at http://www.navca.org.uk/
localvs/lcp-1
Capacity
Being able to recognise how well you can
meet customers requirements means you
need to be realistic about your own capacity
not just in terms o being able to satisy the
requirements set by the contracting body, butalso in assuring yoursel that you can aord to
complete the work up ront. Delivering services
under contract will invariably mean that you
wont be paid until sometime ater you have
delivered the work.
It is important to bear in mind that they may
also have concerns about using a new start
enterprise as a supplier, so you will need
to demonstrate your capacity, quality and
abilities. It may be that initially you are onlyable to oer a relatively small level o service
or quantities o your product. However, even
small contracts with any type o organisation
oer you a oot in the door. From this initial
contract you will gain contacts, be able to
develop and build on relationships and grow
your services in the uture.
Pricing Strategy
Consider your pricing strategy - this orms
an important part o your marketing plan (see3xE ino sheet Marketing Matters). The price
you charge should ensure that you can aord
to deliver your service and also generate a
surplus to reinvest. While there are resources7
that can support you to identiy what such a
price might be remember that you should also
be able to show how your price is realistic. You
should research your competitors prices and
be realistic about where you sit in the market.
5 http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/04/the-art-o-the-elevator-pitch-10-great-tips.php
6 see http://www.out-law.com/page-5964 and http://competition.practicallaw.com/7-422-4818
7 www.bized.co.uk/sites/bized/les/docs/pricingstrat.ppt
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Winning Business 9
I your prices are higher than the average (due to
the additional costs related to running a social
enterprise) than it may be more dicult to secure
the deal. However, you may be able to overcome
this by targeting your business at companies that
are more socially conscious and consider your
social value within their bidding process.
For example, tcuk8 are identiying the nancial
benets to the wider economy that they
are generating through their employment
o ex-homeless clients (creating savings to
state benets and associated health costs ithey had remained otherwise unemployed,
generation o income tax, etc) to put them in
a avourable position when contracting.
Social Value
This illustrates the wider concept o social
value being able to show how you are
benetting both the local community and
wider society. Such value might include
employing local people (making savings to
the state in terms o unemployment costs), acommitment to using local suppliers yoursel
(and so strengthening the local economy),
health benets that your sta enjoy in terms
o education and support (reducing the need
or longer-term health costs) and so on.
An approach to identiying such value that
is requently cited in relation to winning
contracts rom public bodies is Social
Return on Investment (SROI). The SROI
methodology not only identies the impactsto the stakeholders o your services but also
places a monetary value on them. In doing
so, it is able to calculate a ratio o benet
created to cost or example, or every 1
an authority has spent on commissioning a
service, 3 o benet may have been created
in the wider community through peoples
health improving, savings accrued to state
benets rom people entering employment,
and savings to the justice system rom people
reducing rates o oending. Further guidance
and examples o SROI can be accessed
through the SROI Network at http://www.
thesroinetwork.org/
The concept o social value is not
consistently useul in respect o winning
contracts, as some bodies stipulate that
contracts are awarded only on the basis o
cost at the point o delivery. However, there
seems to be a growing interest in the wider
social benets associated with contracts.
Under the Public Services (Social Value) Act2012 all public bodies in England and Wales
are required to consider the economic, social
and environmental benets when procuring
public services9. Although this does not apply
to public work contracts or public supply
(goods) contracts, there is a growing approval
or public bodies to consider social value when
procuring all contracts, across the board.
Ultimately the need to be able to evidence
and articulate the social value you arecreating will be based on the interests o
your target customers an echo o the
arguments about the need or market
research and understanding what is important
to your customers. Introductory guides
researching and reporting on such impacts
and value can be accessed at http://www.
socialimpactscotland.org.uk/third-sector/
methods-and-tools-.aspx and http://www.
proveandimprove.org/
Keep trying!
Finally, i you dont win the contracts or
work that you are pursuing, always ask or
eedback. It may be that there is something
about your service which is not appealing
i so its important to address this so that
it doesnt prevent you rom winning work in
the uture.
8 www.tcuk.org/ps
9 http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/uploads/les/2012/03/public_services_act_2012_a_brie_guide_web_version_nal.pd
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10 Winning Business
6. SummaryIn summary and conclusion, any organisation
considering developing trading enterprises
needs to be honest with itsel about its
capacity, culture and ability to do so.
Generating income through social enterprise
wont be relevant or suit every organisation.
However it should at least be explored i or
no other reason than to assure itsel that
continuing as it currently is really is the most
appropriate strategy or it to pursue.
This ino sheet serves to oer an overview
o the main processes and stages involved
in not only developing a commercial service,
but also in taking it to market and winning
business. The various links and reerences are
oered at starting points to a range o other
existing resources and support that already
exists.
It is not a set blueprint as no two
organistions are exactly the same, or acethe same issues. However, it presents the
principal questions to ask, explains the
rationale as to why these are important and
oers support in addressing them.
The ollowing links to additional resources on
developing a social enterprise may also be
useul:
http://www.socialrms.co.uk/get-involved/
start-social-rm
http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support/
unding-nance/income-sources/open-market
This ino sheet draws upon the already stated
3xE conerence, national and other research,training materials and personal experiences
o Adrian Ashton a nationally acclaimed
provider o advice, training and consultancy
services in relation to the development
and management o social enterprises and
business development
www.adrianashton.co.uk
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Winning Business 11
Appendices:Sources of details of where to nd
contract opportunities:
There are various websites that list and prole
arising contract opportunities. Those listed
below oer a ree either national or European
directory, but there are others that will also
search or contract opportunities on your
behal on a paid subscription basis.
Many local authorities also have their own
dedicated procurement system to advertise
and accept proposals to deliver contractedservices so you should make contact with
your relevant authority. Contacting your local
Chamber o Commerce may also help in
identiying contract opportunities with private
companies.
http://contractsnder.co.uk/
http://www.undingcentral.org.uk/Deault.
aspx
http://www.ojec.com/Deault.aspx
http://ted.europa.eu/TED/main/HomePage.do
Bibliography:
Selected additional publications which urther
explore some o the issues raised in this ino
sheet:
Catalyzing Consortia: the actors required
or successul social enterprise consortia
cohesion and successul tendering, SELNET,
2009
Collaboration or success: insights into social
enterprise collaboration to deliver public
services in the North West region, SELNET,
2009
Working in a consortium: a guide or third
sector organisations involved in public sector
deliver, Cabinet Oce, 2008
Key points captured from all speakers
and workshop sessions at the Winning
Business event
Partnerships: Using Partnerships to Win
Business
Richard Litcheld, Eastside Consulting
1. Partnerships may arise either reactively in
response to arising contract opportunities,
or pro actively in pursuit o strategic
business development - but both taketime
2. Rather than try and develop new skills
and expertise in house, consider
collaborating with another organisation
who already has them
3. Understand that there will be cultural
dierences between organisations: the
same job title wont carry the same
responsibilities everywhere
4. Be clear what you have to oer other
organisations, as well as what you want/need in return and what youre not willing
to compromise on
5. Remember the pub test - how well do
you think you can get along with these
other people?
Marketing: Get ready for success: How
well do you know your market?
Sara McGinley, Marketing & Communications
Director, Social Firms
1. Have a concise, clear pitch- dont bafe
your potential client with too much detail.
They may not know or care what a social
enterprise is, put yoursel in their shoes,
what are they looking or?
2. What stops your rm buying rom social
enterprises? Empathise with what it is and
get round it when you are trying to sell to
others.
3. Should you create more social enterprisesin an area /sector o the market i ones
already exist, whats your USP?
4. You need a great service and product, the
eel good message is not enough.
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12 Winning Business
5. Make sure you advertise your service in
both the social enterprise arena and where
youd expect to nd it e.g. amongst sector
competitors in yellow pages
Contracts - The elements of your business
that you need to have in place in order
to win contracts in the private and public
sectors.
Facilitator: David Miller, Bikeworks
1. Build a good team around you andensure you can promote their skills and
experience
2. Try or achievable goals, i you are a
smaller organisation look or contracts
with other small organisations.
3. Work on internal contracts, i available, to
increase your experience, job record and
sustainability.
4. I you miss out on a bid, nd out who got
the bid and why
5. Similarly i you miss out on a quote, ndout what the other quotes were ater the
process and then look into re-pricing your
service
Being Investment Ready - How do you
make your business investment ready?
What are investors looking for and how do
you demonstrate you have it? this was
combined with workshop 3.
Facilitator: Danny Wilson, Big Issue Invest
1. Shop around or investors as some will be
better suited or your needs
2. Look into the dierent types o investment
are you looking or a loan or an
investment?
3. Investors are looking or clear business
plans
4. Investors invest in people as well as the
business model, thereore be seen to be
proessional at all times and demonstrateyour passion and ambition
5. Scale and robustness is important to
investors, thereore the more contracts
you have the better
Where are the contracts? - How do you
nd new contracts? What do you need
to have in place to demonstrate you can
deliver?
Facilitator: Sian Thomas, TCUK
1. Knocking on doors, and getting the right
contact details can be a challenge but is
essential
2. Attend local business orums and
networking events
3. Dierent sectors have dierent rules andregulations check these and make sure
that you are in a position to respond to
their needs
4. Use the Chamber o Commerce to nd up-
to-date inormation on local businesses
5. Make sure that you target your pitch (e.g.
elevator pitch)
6. Keep going!
Social Value, is it valuable?
Facilitator: Adrian Ashton, www.adrianashton.co.uk
1. Its import to identiy your social value to
inorm internal business planning and
prioritising o your development ideas
2. Presenting your social value/impact
reports to customers or commissioners
shouldnt be automatic - only share them i
relevant and theyre likely to be interested
in what it shows
3. There are benets, but also limitations,to using existing tool-kits and measures
- especially as they allow or easier
benchmarking, but may mean you miss
important stu
4. Given the wide number o such tool-kits
and standards, it can be dicult to choose
which is appropriate without investing time
in exploring the options
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3xE Network
Crisis
66 Commercial Street
London E1 6LT
Tel 020 7426 8500Email [email protected]
www.crisis.org.uk/3xe
Registered Charity Numbers:
E&W1082947, SC040094.
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