TRICKY BUSINESS 2
PROGRAMME 5: I-MAGINE
ACTIVITIES
Guidance
These activities support a mix of individual, paired and group work.
Before viewing
Share your experiences of buying and selling things on the internet. Why do you use the internet for this? How do you decide which websites to use? What makes you trust one website more than another? What three tips would you give someone who is buying or selling something on the internet for the first time?
Discuss what business mentor, John Boyle, means when he says that 'when you work for yourself, you make your own luck'.
Match these terms with their definitions:
(Download printable version [PDF, 32KB])
a) advertising | 1. The total amount of money a business makes in a specific period (for example, a month, a year) |
b) marketing | 2. Find and cultivate prospective customers, telling them about the key features, benefits and advantages of a product or service |
c) public relations (PR) | 3. Describe or present a product, service or idea in a way that encourages people to buy or invest in it |
d) sales | 4. The money that is left when a business has paid all its expenses (for example, wages, rent, power, products and raw materials) |
e) publicity | 5. Make sure that products and services reach the right people (for example, by doing research, identifying the target market, costing items and setting prices) |
f) profit | 6. Promote goodwill and make people think that a business is a good one |
g) turnover | 7. Get mentioned in the media |
The answers are: a-3, b-5, c-6, d-2, e-7, f-4, g-1
After viewing
To view 4Learning video clips you will need Windows XP/2000 and Windows Media Player 9, 10 or 11. Unfortunately, the clips are not supported on Macintosh computers.
The video clips may contain a few seconds of extra material at the beginning and end. We have therefore included opening and closing descriptions to help identify the intended scene.
Risks and rewards
Clip one: 04:18 – 05:17
- Opens with Andrew saying, 'The business at the moment is at the point where we're about to expand into a couple of different areas.'
- Closes with the narrator saying, 'Their lifestyle is important to them and that means knocking off early for a game of squash and a few pints.'
Successful entrepreneurs use 'balanced' risk assessments to make decisions – they look at the risks and the rewards. Do a balanced risk assessment for Andrew and Alistair. Show what might happen if i-magine a) expands and b) stays as it is now. What would you advise Andrew and Alistair to do? Have you got what it takes to be an entrepreneur? How do you feel about taking risks? Share and discuss your ideas.
Website crisis
Clip two: 09:35 – 10:43
- Opens with the narrator saying, 'But before they have a chance to follow John's advice, they've hit a crisis.'
- Closes with Alistair saying, 'I'm a bit bitter about the whole thing.'
Explain why this website crisis occurred and how it could affect i-magine's core profits and future sales. Was it a good business decision to contract out the design of the new website? What could Andrew and Alistair have done differently to ensure that the designers delivered on time? Make a checklist they can use when they are looking for similar suppliers in the future.
Direct selling
Clip three: 10:39 – 12:19
- Opens with the narrator saying, 'In desperation, they've taken time out from what John is suggesting and have turned themselves into face-to-face salesmen.'
- Closes with the narrator saying, 'And they didn't get the contract.'
Are Andrew and Alistair good salesmen? What big mistake did they make and why? What impression did they give their potential customers? Imagine that you have to give a sales presentation promoting i-magine's VoIP products. List the things you will have to do and the information you need. Where could you find this information and how much time do you think it would take to get it? Do you think that it is worth putting this much effort into preparing and planning for a sales presentation?
Gearing up for expansion
Clip four: 16:18 – 17:53
- Opens with John Boyle saying, 'I utterly agree the market is huge, it's enormous and you have the potential to be one of the market leaders.'
- Closes with John saying, 'They must be much more dynamic and daring if they want to be at the front when this market explodes.'
Why does John describe the decision that Andrew and Alistair have to make as a 'time-sensitive' one? Do you agree with him when he says that they are being too cautious? What could happen to i-magine if it grows too quickly? What would you do if you owned i-magine?
Public relations
Clip five: 18:40 – 19:50
- Opens with the narrator saying, 'The guys now concentrate on John's next piece of advice: PR.'
- Closes with Andrew saying, 'And there's no reason why Alistair and myself can't get the PR a PR agency would get us.'
Draw a spidergram showing how the PR firm plans to generate interest in i-magine and what it will have to do to achieve it (for example, how it will get articles in magazines and newspapers). Review the results. Are the firm's services worth £2,000 a month? Will Andrew and Alistair be saving money if they do their own PR?
