Copyright © Palo Alto Software, Inc., 1995-2010
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Table Of Contents
1.0 Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2.0 Situation Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
2.1 Market Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
2.1.1 Market Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
2.1.2 Market Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
2.1.3 Market Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
2.1.4 Market Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
2.2 SWOT Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
2.2.1 Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
2.2.2 Weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
2.2.3 Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
2.2.4 Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
2.3 Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
2.4 Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
2.5 Keys to Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
2.6 Critical Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
3.0 Marketing Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1 Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 Marketing Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Financial Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.4 Target Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.5 Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.6 Strategy Pyramids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.7 Marketing Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.8 Marketing Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.9 Strategic Alliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.0 Financials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.1 Break-even Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.2 Sales Forecast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.3 Expense Forecast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.0 Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.1 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.2 Marketing Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.3 Contingency Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Corporate Retreat Professionals
1.0 Executive Summary
The Corporate Retreat Professionals (CRP) is an event planning company specializing in corporate
customers. CRP will offer two types of services; retreat training services as well as product launch
event planning. The retreat training services will be either leadership development training or team
skills training. For both types of retreats, CRP can take care of the planning of the event, as well as
actually hosting the training through the use of one of CRP's strategic business partners.
The mission of the Corporate Retreat Professionals is to provide companies with the highest level of
event planning. We exist to attract and maintain customers. When we adhere to this maxim,
everything else will fall into place. Our services will exceed the expectations of our customers.
The corporate market for event planning is steady and profitable. For some large companies,
economic downturns means cuts in training. This is only the case for shortsighted companies
however. The benchmark companies may trim down the work force during a downturn, but they do
not cut funds for training. They recognize that investments in human resources is always a good
investment. CRP intends to profit nicely from this intelligent business strategy. Additionally, even in
times of economic downturn, companies still have product launches and will still need someone to
organize these events. In short, the need for corporate event planning/ hosting services rarely
diminishes, it is a steadily increasing demand that CRP will capitalize on.
Corporate Retreat Professionals' projected growth rate is over 100% through year three and will
have profits as a function of sales over 11% by year three. By the beginning of year two CRP will
have four employees.
Annual Sales Forecast
$250,000
$200,000
$150,000
Large companies
Small companies
$100,000
$50,000
$0
2003 2004 2005
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Corporate Retreat Professionals
2.0 Situation Analysis
CRP is entering their first year of business. Marketing will be critical to develop sufficient business
to achieve profitability. The company offers high quality event planning for two specific areas,
corporate training and product release events. The basic market need is for a competent service
provider offering high quality event planning at a price that is cost effective relative to a company
trying to plan the events themselves.
2.1 Market Summary
CRP possesses good information regarding its typical customer. This includes customer needs, the
general circumstances from which the needs arise, and the difficulties the customer would face if
they tried to satisfy these needs themselves. This information will be leveraged to better
understand who is served, individual customers' specific needs, better communication channels,
and how CRP can satisfy those needs.
Target Markets
Large companies
Small companies
Table 2.1: Target Market Forecast
Target Market Forecast
Potential Customers Growth 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 CAGR
Large companies 9% 1,158 1,262 1,376 1,500 1,635 9.01%
Small companies 8% 1,878 2,028 2,190 2,365 2,554 7.99%
Total 8.38% 3,036 3,290 3,566 3,865 4,189 8.38%
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Corporate Retreat Professionals
2.1.1 Market Demographics
The profile for CRP's typical customer consists of the following geographic, demographic, and
behavior factors:
Geographics
• The immediate geographic target is the city of Seattle.
• The entire metropolitan area is in need of event planning services.
• The total targeted population is 3,036 companies.
Demographics
• Small to large size companies, with employees that range from 25-1200.
• Typically the company has one main office, however some of the customers will have offices
diffused into several locations.
• For the product launch services, 95% of the customers will be manufacturers, designers, or
software firms. Occasionally there will be a service provider that is launching a new service.
• For the corporate retreat services, the customers will typically be medium to large size
firms.
Behavior Factors
• The potential customers are trying to decrease their overhead by outsourcing activities that
are not imperative to the day-to-day operation of the company.
• These companies recognize that their core competencies are in other areas so they
outsource peripheral tasks.
• They attribute hi