Ambitions LIVE – Leadership and Commercial Conversations

Leading up to this event there will also be an online session.

The online session will be approximately three hours long with breaks, hosted by Ambitions programme facilitator Rachael Brown.

Full details are below -

• Commercial Conversations and Procurement: Wednesday 22 May – 9.30am to 1pm (online)
• Ambitions LIVE: Wednesday 19 June – 9.30am to 6pm at Cornerstone Centre, 3A Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH2 4BJ

These immersive masterclasses will cover a spectrum of what needs to happen from strategy to operations and logistics, and how to reach and understand your customers.

We will focus on planning and positioning, and allow you to develop and refine your best possible offer to compete in a busy marketplace, maintain customer loyalty and attract new business.

The private and public sectors have huge purchasing potential, and social enterprises can be the solution to providing them with products, services and experiences that are the solution to their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) aims. SIS Associate Chloe Cannon will lead this session.

In this session learn how to horizon scan, target contract opportunities, identify where to invest your time, and where to simply say no. Do not waste time tendering for contracts that you are unlikely to win.

Discovering the best way to use your time to secure the right, meaningful meetings with buyers and purchasers, and how to effectively communicate your product, service, or experience to meet their needs, is an art form.

How do you effectively communicate your product, service, or experience and when and how is the best way to highlight your impact?

Join us for this free, practical online session that will include:

• Developing your sales strategy and cycle,
• How and who do you target as the key decision-makers?
• Help to understand the precise language needed for contract tenders and how to limit the word count, and
• Developing your storytelling – how do you stand out, create interest, and ultimately, win the business.

We culminate our online sessions with a day in Edinburgh. If you are a social enterprise with the drive to grow your trading and sustainability to support the communities you operate in, then please read on.

As a key part of Ambitions Live, we are delighted to be joined by some key buyers from leading businesses all eager and ready to work with impactful organisations with great products, services, and experiences.

We will start the day with your chance to meet and connect with buyers who have a commercial interest in being part of the session. This conversation starts with a chance to explore brand alignment and collaboration opportunities.

The day will include a light lunch and the chance to network with peers over a drink at the end of the session.

Come and join us for a day of focused leadership learning which offers practical tools and tips to support you, your team and your organisation. Discover new or different ways to create commercial opportunities by exploring new routes to market that will drive your procurement, sales and business growth.

Our day will include: 

• Hearing from experts in purposeful and sustainable leadership, procurement, storytelling, and product development
• Facilitated group learning
• Hearing from social entrepreneurs with lived experiences who are already in this space
• The opportunity to network with a room full of your peers from across Scotland.