The objective of the consultancy is to enable the organisation to improve its communication & engagement with its private sector targets.

It is led by David Stringer-Lamarre, Managing Director of FCL & Chairman of the Institute of Directors, City of London.

Many universities, public & third sector organisations wish to connect & engage effectively with companies in the private sector.

Some objectives:

• Sell their services & expertise to private companies
• Engage with private sector companies to generate investment
• Uplift their own profile by partnering with high visibility companies
• Generate research income
• Benefit from private sector knowledge & skills to improve organisational performance

Organisations often find engagement difficult resulting in many missed opportunities. This may be for a variety of reasons, including the following:

• A lack of a clear engagement strategy
• Inability to ‘speak the language’ of the private sector
• Failure to articulate the beneficial reasons to work together
• Not using a range of techniques to make & maintain contact
• Ineffective business development strategies &/or skills

Analysis

Our analysis involves a consideration of the current position of your organisation.

• What are your value propositions?
• Who are your targets?
• How are you engaging with them?
• Why should they buy from you?

The project scope will be tailored to the needs of each organisation. Here are some potential analytical areas for consideration:

• How appropriate is the private sector engagement strategy?
• Are the marketing and PR practices supporting corporate engagement? Is your organisation ‘well known’ amongst companies?
• Are you ‘selling’ the right things? Does the market want them?
• Are the value propositions to the client simple and clear?
• Quality & quantity of corporate connections
• What are the skills levels of key staff?
• [Do people understand the organisational objectives?]
• [How far are staff ‘buying into’ the corporate engagement strategy?]

Analysis may involve a consideration of hard & soft copy documentation and meetings with relevant people and teams (Leadership, Marketing, HR, Business Development, Corporate Engagement etc.).