Business Reality
Follow one rupee from the first enquiry to the bank account
Most business teaching is horizontal — a chapter per function. This session is vertical: one real piece of business, tracked from the enquiry that started it to the payment that closed it, naming every team that touched it and every point it could have died.
The single most useful thing a management student can see.
A business is easiest to understand as one journey rather than six departments. An enquiry arrives; somebody qualifies it; somebody sells; somebody prices; somebody delivers; somebody invoices; somebody chases the payment; and if all of that went well, the customer comes back.
Every function a student studies appears in that chain, in order, doing something specific. It is the same content as the syllabus, arranged the way the business actually experiences it.
The journey, stage by stage
32 topics across 6 areas. Six stages, and what can go wrong at each.
The Enquiry ArrivesWhere business comes from.5
- How a customer enquiry becomes an order
- Where enquiries originate
- Lead qualification
- What gets ignored, and what that costs
- How enquiries are recorded and routed
The Sales ConversationUnderstanding before proposing.6
- Discovery
- Understanding customer expectations
- Proposal and quotation
- Pricing and negotiation
- Terms and conditions
- Why deals stall here
The OrderThe commitment, and what it obliges.5
- Purchase orders and work orders
- What documentation exists before work starts
- What operations now has to deliver
- Capacity and scheduling
- Where promises exceed capability
DeliveryDoing the thing that was sold.5
- How an order becomes revenue
- Operations and quality
- Vendors and inventory
- Customer communication during delivery
- Handling complaints
Invoice and CollectionRevenue is not cash until it arrives.6
- Invoicing
- Payment terms
- Customer credit
- Handling delayed payments
- Why profitable businesses run out of money
- Following up without damaging the relationship
Repeat BusinessThe cheapest revenue a business ever earns.5
- Customer onboarding
- Customer retention
- Creating repeat business
- Referrals
- Why customers leave quietly
What students see at each stage
- Which team owns it
- What document changes hands
- What decision gets made
- What it costs when it goes wrong
- How long it actually takes
How the session runs
A practitioner brings one real piece of business — anonymised — and walks it end to end, with the actual documents where possible: the enquiry, the quotation, the order, the invoice, the payment record. Students trace where it nearly failed. A second scenario is then traced by the students themselves.
What your students leave with
- The full path from enquiry to collected payment
- Which team owns which stage, and what they hand over
- Where deals and orders most often fail
- Why revenue and cash arrive at different times
- A way to connect every functional subject they study
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Six departments look complicated. One journey does not.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.