Enterprise Management of CarSell - Case Study Example

Business Plan for CarSell, Inc. Prepared by YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION August 26, CONFIDENTIAL Contents Executive Summary The business of buying and selling vehicles, as well as servicing those individuals that do so, is a necessary service that is currently being offered in a less-than creative model. CarSell, an online community centered around a safe, reliable trusted network that connects buyers and sellers of vehicles and the necessary professionals needed to complete a successful transaction, represents the future of this industry. Car owners wishing to sell are faced with two options; selling it themselves or trading it in on a new car purchase—something many consumers do not want to do. Selling the vehicle themselves presents numerous challenges, ones that most people may not know how to overcome. Challenges such as: Placing a value on the vehicle. Preparing their vehicle for sale. Developing a marketing strategy. Finding, screening and qualifying buyers. Locating professionals to help them transact. Facing these challenges often creates an atmosphere of apprehension and uncertainty. Developing an online community that permits the open exchange of information between seller, buyer, and professional benefits the entire industry; and the prospect of doing so in the way proposed by CarSell offers significant profit potential for the company. Objectives 1. Receive a capital injection of $ 250,000. 2. Make CarSell the number one destination for buyers, sellers and professionals on the Internet by Year Three. 3. Expand internationally as this model can be replicated and scaled for a worldwide market. Keys to Success Differentiating the CarSell platform from the current classified ad websites and the traditional support services industry. Providing an easy to use platform allowing all users the ability to interact. Executing a precise and streamlined marketing strategy to achieve market penetration for national and international expansion. Developing and implementing multiple tier revenue streams. Delivering a valuable experience. Once the CarSell model is fully executed, all parties associated with the online community will be more efficiently and effectively served. It is now, when the online car sales industry needs a different model, that investors should take advantage of this opportunity by funding the development of CarSell and its unique approach to online community marketing. Details of Product or Service Currently, CarSell is planning the implementation of its model through a beta testing stage where management intends to determine: How the marketplace reacts to the online community approach to car sales. How many buyers and sellers are accumulated from each listing and what is the demand that can be projected from that data. How can direct marketing be used to entice sellers, buyers, and professionals to sign up for the service bundles provided by CarSell. CarSell is designing its unique web platform and, upon funding, will implement the model. Management is confident that the company can garner higher success rates because of its online community presentation in a Web 2.0 environment. What management will accomplish is revolutionary. Unlike other online sources, CarSell is making itself a truly “one-stop-shop” for vehicle purchases; from selection, inspection, and information to financing, warrantees, and deliveries. Community members don’t have to go anywhere else to find, buy, and protect their vehicle. Key Personnel YOUR NAME – Owner/CEO YOUR NAME has a degree in Business from University of Derby. His entrepreneurial skills and enthusiasm for CarSell is unmatched. His entrepreneurial skills include: Passionate – Believes in what he does and energizes the process. Flexible – Knows that it is important to respond to change. Calculated Risk-Taker – Uses risk/reward to make good decisions. Persistent – Never, ever quits. Optimistic – Cautiously approaches everything with a positive attitude. Action Oriented – Knows that entrepreneurs have to DO, not TALK. Goal Driven – Establishes a plan, and works the plan to achieve goals. Customer Driven – Makes sure the customer is the center of attention. Please refer to the attached resume to review his specific educational and work history. NAME – CTO To be determined NAME – SALES/MARKETING DIRECTOR To be determined Marketing Plan There are multiple avenues of marketing CarSell. Some aspects of the plan are not discussed in detail herein, as they are contemplated to be employed in subsequent years. These methods include radio, television, and traditional print advertising. What follows is a description of each component of the marketing strategy. Direct Marketing Management has determined that direct marketing will be the most effective initial approach to successfully accomplishing CarSell’s growth targets. Point-to-point direct sales and solicitations will be the first line of promotion as management seeks to build the online community and subscription base necessary for success. The company will utilize telemarketing as a part of its go-to market campaign. The purpose of the telemarketing will be to use referrals, listings, and purchased leads to market directly to buyers and sellers (B2C). For sellers, an off-line advertising campaign will be initiated through direct email. This will permit CarSell to utilize electronic media to screen potential sellers and then market directly to them. The same approach will be effective for any professionals seeking to be involved in this sector. Thus, a strategic alliance of professionals and sellers will be built through email, telephone, and online marketing. Management will set up its direct marketing program by tasking the sales department accordingly and providing the platform for them to coordinate the full focus of the marketing strategy. SEO The following is the core of CarSell’s SEO plan, which can be implemented via a contracted SEO firm or through and in-house team. The campaign elements are: Keyword Analysis – Carsell will have a professional SEO firm provide an analysis of the most effective keywords that are used in relation to this particular industry. CarSell will utilise the keywords that seem the most effective in the implementation of the SEO plan. Website Optimization – Up to 10 company website pages will be adjusted for search engine readiness based on the keyword choices determined by management. Based on the results of the keyword analysis, management may expand the content of the website to support the chosen keywords. Target Email – Management will utilize a targeted e-mail list so that it can begin a simple e-mailing campaign to introduce CarSell to as many clients as possible. Pay-Per-Impressions – People constantly use the Internet as a source of information and utilize links on popular websites as the predominant manner of obtaining that information. Management will incorporate a pay-per-impression model that is geared towards getting consumers to go from other popular sites directly to CarSell. This has been proven as an effective way of generating web traffic and management is confident that it can effectively lead people to the website. Viral Marketing Viral marketing is a proven form of distributing information on a product or service. It is called “viral” because it spreads from one person to the other individuals in his or her personal network. Within the correct environment, such as that proposed by CarSell, the growth is exponential. Management proposes to utilize the power of this formula through providing no- and low-cost web access to a customer base. Obviously, as the market for online communities and online car sales grows, so will the demand from consumers wanting to reach that market. In terms of methodology, management will set up its direct marketing program by ultimately tasking a sales employee accordingly and providing the platform for them to coordinate the full focus of the marketing strategy. Operations Plan CarSell will empower used car buyers and sellers, as well as the service professionals that assist in the process, by providing a secure online community where these individuals can connect within a single environment. By facilitating the interaction and communication of all parties, these transactions will be more effectively accomplished than as is currently done with traditional online methods. CarSell will provide a combination of features and technologies currently offered by industry leaders in the social/business networking and Web 2.0 communities such as Linkedin.com, Match.com, and MySpace.com. All of these companies have unique offerings in their respective industries and CarSell will be the offering in the used vehicle sales marketplace. CarSell will revolutionise the online used car sales industry by providing an online community that is: Collaborative Participatory Simple Accessible Efficient Action-oriented User Driven The primary revenue model will be membership and referral fee based. While there will be strategic partner advertising on the site, this is a secondary revenue generator. An upgrade discount may be used during initial market penetration. Human Resources Plan The human resource plan is relatively straightforward. There will be three primary departments; executive management, sales, and IT. The management will be the responsibility of the CEO, the sales will be under the Marketing Director, and the Chief Technology Officer will handle the technology. Each department head will be responsible for staffing out their departments as revenues and profitability allow. The overall HR plan will be guided by a Human Resource manual, which will set forth all policies and procedures for employees. Capital Plan Financial Forecasts Funding Proposal Sources of Support Given the nature of this business, the sources of support have been identified as the following: Soft Money – Public sector assistance from the Department of Trade and Industry as well as the Training and Enterprise Councils. Also, management believes that the Federation of Small Businesses and Forum of Private Businesses will be very helpful. Hard Money – Grants and training loans will be applied for, as well as consideration of private investors for initial funding. Market Entry CarSell has developed an aggressive implementation model that is geared towards effectively introducing the company to the market as the premier buyer/seller/professional marketplace for sales and purchases of used cars. CarSell plans to implement its marketing plans immediately; the company will be looking to secure relationships with a large number of constituents and roll-out its website throughout the first quarter of operations. The following matrix details the method by which CarSell will penetrate the targeted market within the first three years of operations on a multi-stage basis. Stage One – Operational Tuning (Three Months) Acquire capital financing. Implement the following marketing initiatives: Telemarketing Campaign Direct Marketing Campaign Public Relations Initiate Adword marketing with Yahoo and Google Establish efficient human resources capability in scale to operations. Initiation of web presence and service architecture. Refine financial and payment processing systems. Stage Two – Initial Market Development (Year One Concurrent with Stage One) Develop and strengthen marketplace portal, where buyers, sellers, and professionals can be presented with the advantages CarSell brings to the process. Aggressively promote CarSell using the marketing strategies outlined herein. Set gross sales goals for the First Quater by the third month of full operations, and look to increase gross proceeds from sales by two times in Year One. Begin analysis of Stage Three market penetration targets. Stage Three – Secondary Markets (Year Two) Strengthen the solid relationships with additional core selling partners to maximize CarSell’s services offerings. Begin attempts to market CarSell to a broader market, particularly in terms of strategic partnerships. Set targets to increase gross sales by 150%. Stage Four – Promotional Expansion (Year Three) Implement an international campaign that is focused on further improving CarSell’s market position. Focus on the streamlined development, as adjusted by previous experience, of additional major foreign markets. Expand the business model to provide a larger marketing resource to clients. Read More