Write a pitch memo and provide feedback on another employee's recommendation.

Assignment Instructions
To propose your recommendation to management, please complete the following:
Write a pitch memo and provide feedback on another employee’s recommendation.
Deliver an oral presentation with PowerPoint as support.
Write a business improvement proposal.

Write a pitch memo and provide feedback on another employee’s recommendation.
Before you spend a lot of time developing your proposal, you may first want feedback from an executive to see if you’re on track. Prepare a one-page, single-spaced memo to the executive who would be responsible for implementing your recommendation. You might approach this memo as follows:
Determine which executive should receive your memo and review his or her profile. If you’re proposing a staffing or training recommendation, then Maggie Simmons, the VP, HR, should receive your memo. Tailor your memo to what you know about this person: What is important to him or her, and how does he or she prefer to receive information?
Do some preliminary research to show that your idea meets the evaluation criteria outlined in Jacqueline Marcus’s presentation:
Return on Investment: Is it worth doing?
Feasibility: Can we implement it, and will it work?
Manageable Obstacles or Challenges: What are the costs and potential downsides?

After you’ve written the memo, you should team up with a neighbor and provide feedback to each other.
Be honest in your evaluation of the idea. Your feedback will help the employee shape and support his or her recommendation. If you don’t think the idea is sound, then you have a responsibility to tell the employee. On the other hand, every idea will have some merit, so be careful about dismissing the idea entirely—and perhaps discouraging the employee from working to improve the recommendation.
Offer new coffee beans, beverages, or bakery items (e.g., buy fair trade coffee, expand coffee bean offerings, sell cupcakes).
Offer a new product (e.g., mugs, hats).
Offer a new service (e.g., Wi-Fi, delivery to nearby offices).
Offer a customer loyalty program (e.g., a club card, discounts).
Reconsider company plans to open a store each month (e.g., open fewer stores).
Redesign company branding and other elements (e.g., the logo, menu, store furnishings).
Reduce expenses (e.g., freeze salaries, reduce benefits).
Pursue new business opportunities or ventures (e.g., open PersuadeCafé to franchising, merge with another café).
Implement better training (e.g., an orientation program, ongoing training).
Boost online sales (e.g., Web site promotions, social networking).
Restructure the management team (e.g., eliminate, combine, or add positions).
Implement a program to evaluate service and ensure consistency among stores (e.g., a mystery shopper program).

Assignment #2: Due Monday March 28th
Deliver an oral presentation with PowerPoint (upload to Moodle discussion forum)
Next, you’ll deliver an oral presentation to the executive team. You might approach this presentation as follows:
Gather evidence to support your recommendation. For example, you might reference examples from the customer survey results to define and present your understanding of a particular issue. And you might cite external evidence from academic research and business journals to explain trends. You could show how your recommendation has worked in other businesses by describing your own experience in a credible way or by interviewing business leaders who have faced similar challenges in similar businesses.
Explain your idea clearly. For PersuadeCafé executives to understand your recommendation, how can you describe your plan? Can you help executives visualize your proposal in some tangible way?
Describe how your recommendation meets the program criteria. Executives may be more likely to accept your ideas if you explicitly map your recommendation to the criteria outlined in Jacqueline Marcus’s presentation (i.e., ROI, feasibility, and manageable obstacles/challenges)
Acknowledge potential costs or downsides. To be most credible—and to address the third criterion—you will want to acknowledge the financial or other costs of implementing your recommendation.
Organize your presentation to emphasize main points. Think about how to structure your presentation. Using the direct order of communication, how will you ensure that your main point is upfront and your supporting arguments are sequenced logically?
Prepare a PowerPoint presentation. What visuals will support your oral presentation? Consider text, graphics, and charts that will reinforce your main points and make your ideas easier to understand.
Prepare to address questions. You’ll handle questions better if you prepare for them. What questions do you think executives will have about your recommendation? Brainstorm a list of possible questions and practice answering them.

Assignment #3 Write a business improvement proposal .
A written proposal will support your oral presentation and further persuade the executive team to implement your recommendation. Follow the suggestions above to write a clear, convincing proposal.