28A - Exit Strategy

I would like to target my exit in a range of 5-10 years. I would like to develop one location in my local market, but focus on a training program that will allow to ensure consistency and quality in the process of expansion. I would start with a slow, conservative strategy for growth in the Orlando area. This would allow me to re-invest an adequate amount of my revenue stream to promotion and developing my training program. When the training program is completed, I would look at expanding into the Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg area. Once I have established a solid footprint on the Gulf Coast, it is time to open a location in Jacksonville. By this point, I will have established a line of locations stretching the I-4 corridor. Now is where I bring in the lawyers and start drafting agreements to allow franchising. This is the ultimate goal. I eventually want to get to a point where the business is on auto-pilot. By franchising locations, I can kick back, go fishing, and still have a nice and steady stream of royalties flowing in.

26A - Celebrating Failure

One of the first failures that I experienced this semester was in the first week of class. I failed to use the proper URL when turning in an assignment. The problem was that it wasn’t just one assignment, it was the entire weeks’ worth of assignments that fell into this category. I received a zero for the assignments, which is a new experience for me. It really pissed me off, to be perfectly blunt. However, upon further analysis, I realized that I waited until the last day to turn in the assignments. This did not leave me enough time to ask questions and determine if I was meeting the required criteria. The takeaway for me was to look at the assignments at the start of the week. This allowed me time to ask questions and receive a response before the mad scramble to get them completed. Failure is not something that is a new experience for me, it is just a detested adversary. Yet, failure allows me an opportunity to learn and understand what I will not do with my next opportunity.

25 - What's next?

When I look at the course of this venture, I can see a little bit of projected growth. Once the customer finalizes the purchase of the car, we have an opportunity to help them personalize their vehicle. We can supply weather protective floor mats and pin-striping. This will give me an opportunity to increase our revenue stream which will allow for faster expansion.

I relayed my expansion plans to a couple of random people at a bus terminal. They liked the idea of the floor mats, but they were split on the idea of pin-striping. In fact, one individual told me that they thought pin-striping was a little old fashioned. When I asked what they suggest, two of them mentioned that I should look at incorporating window tint, while the third person was interested with a mounting unit for their phone.

I would have to find a location if I were going to go into window tinting, but it’s not a bad idea. I don’t like the idea of meddling with phone kits. There would be too much inventory to carry because of the wide selection of phones on the market.

My current target area is the Orlando market. If I am looking at expanding, I would start with the Tampa area. Since the Orlando market is a service based economy and the Tampa area is a more professional market, I would have to consider altering my level of service. In Orlando, I can offer a shuttle service that would allow my clientele an easier time using our service. In the Tampa market, I could offer a concierge service that will conduct most of the work without your need to be there. This will cater to that demographic a little more effectively. Unfortunately, I did not have the availability to travel all the way to Tampa to talk to random strangers for perspective.

24A - Venture Concept #1 (Expert Car Buyers)

Opportunity

               The second largest purchase that people tend to make is buying an automobile. Unfortunately, when it comes this purchasing decision, most people are completely unprepared. They lack the knowledge of what vehicle suits their needs, what price would be a fair market value, and they lack the negotiation skills to protect themselves from devious car sales personnel that can easily take advantage of the unprepared. The main focus of my opportunity lies within the demographic group that gets preyed upon the most, single women. Divorcees and widowers are particularly sought after as potential targets. This is not a secret; it is well-known that the car sales industry is ripe with unscrupulous individuals.

Innovation

               I have the ability to come in with a network of industry professionals that can offer assistance to those that could use help gathering information, conducting market research involving to determine proper geographical pricing, and assist with the negotiation process. We can also review the extended warranty programs that the try and upsell to determine if it is worth the investment.

               Currently, there are no services that offer this line of assistance in the car buying process. We can analyze your personal living situation to determine what car will properly meet the individual’s needs. From there, we will have certified, factory-trained technicians examine the car to determine the mechanical condition of the vehicle. Once the car has been approved by our technicians, we have personnel that have experience within the industry working in the departments of sales and finance.

The internet and social media have changed the way that vehicles are marketed and sold. This allows us an opportunity to promote an effective marketing campaign to inform our potential clients of our services. Not only will this serve as a great promotional tool, but we can more efficiently advertise to our target market.

Venture

               I think that this idea has a good chance of success. First and foremost, people detest the feelings that they get when going car shopping. We have the ability, for a nominal fee, to remove the anxiety, the pressure, and the fear from the car-buying process. Secondly, the fee that they pay for the service will pay for itself. The network of professionals on staff will be able to save the customer more than what we charge them for our services.

               In the initial start-up stages, we will need a minimum of four people (2 technicians, 1 negotiator, and 1 administrative employee). In order to maximize our growth potential, we will have to develop a standardized training program to ensure consistency in our service. As growth occurs, we will have to onboard additional personnel at a rate commensurate with our growth. Typically, we will always need more technicians than any other position. In fact, some technicians have the aptitude to learn the art of negotiations, thereby making them a multi-functional employee.

Minor Details

               When it comes to an unfair advantage, I have a specific skillset that will outshine the competition. I am an Instructional System Designer that has been developing and delivering training programs for the last seven years. This will allow me to develop a system of training that can ensure a higher level of quality customer service with greater consistency.

               Once this venture gets launched properly, I want to chart out a plan for systemic growth. I am looking at expanding from a local business to a regional project within a 3-5 year timeline. I plan to have this business at a state-wide level by the end of the decade. At the end of the decade, I will look at franchising locations throughout other portions of the country. I will be able to offer a full training program with support from our established agents at various locations throughout the state. When that has been achieved, I am going fishing.

22A - Elevator Pitch #3

Elevator Pitch #3

I was a little lacking when it came to my last post. I was a little short of meeting the time requirement, so I had to figure out a way to make my pitch a little juicier. I tried to keep the same energy that I had in the last post, which was received well, but I continue to have issues with my microphone. In order to compensate for that, I talked much louder than I did for the previous assignment. I even reviewed with a little more scrutiny than I had previously. This allowed me to convey my message with a little more clarity, and hopefully spread my message with a greater degree of effect. I also found that I did a lot more takes than I did on the previous attempt in order to try and overcome some of the shortfalls that were pointed out to me in my reviews.

20B - Reading Reflection #2

The book that I chose was Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker. This book was broken up into three sections: Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategies. I think that the book really summed up a lot of what we are learning in that it really focused on identifying problems and creating innovative solutions for those problems. If I were going to create an exercise for the class, I would concentrate on previous innovations. My focus would be to look through the lens of history and analyze the creations that changed the way that people live. By doing this, you can try to understand their logic and analytical skills to problem solve, design creative solutions, and implement those plans. It would also have to incorporate some segment involving how to finance these plans. One of my surprise learning moments happened when reading about the Edsel. I was surprised that Ford looked at the failure of the Edsel as incorrect consumer reactions instead of analyzing their own failure. This told me that I need to constantly gain feedback from the consumer in order to maintain my competitive edge, lest failure walk in the door.

20A - Growing Your Social Capital

I was tasked to meet three people that could increase my networking potential. I connected with Maria Senkovskaya, Juan Cruz, and Walter Jenkins.

Maria Senkovskaya is a sales representative at the Orlando Auto Auction (supplier). I walked into the auction and she came up to me and asked if I needed any help. I pitched her my idea and received favorable feedback. She didn’t look at me as a threat to her business, she saw me as a potential opportunity. When I left, she made sure to give me her business card and asked that I contact her when I was looking for a car for someone.

Juan Cruz is the finance manager of a local Honda dealership (market expert). He was referred to me by Maria Senkovskaya. I explained my idea and asked for help in the negotiations process. He told me to always be on the lookout for programs being run by the credit unions. He said that they get some of the best interest rates. He said he didn’t want anything, but I brought him some doughnuts on the following Saturday for all of his help. He was surprised and thrilled at the prospect of free doughnuts on a Saturday morning (their busy day).

Walter Jenkins is a sales representative for a local used car outlet (domain expert). It turns out that Maria sells cars to Walter to re-distribute at his dealership. He was a little more willing to listen to me as I walked in on a slow day. I think that his advice is the opposite of what I should take as he saw me as a threat to business (selling cars is a little cutthroat).

I think that Maria and Juan could really help me supply and finance cars for my clientele, but I will not ask Walter for a thing. I just don’t trust him. Looking forward, this could be a useful exercise to periodically undertake just to expand my ability to meet customer needs.

20Ac-20

Napkin Idea 2

Napkin Idea 2

1)     Currently, I work as a Maintenance Training Developer and Instructor. I have been conducting training for twelve years, and I have spent the last seven years conducting instructional system design work while delivering the training that I develop. My role as a non-profit government agent that works to help people function is very personally rewarding. This is why I can easily see that my pursuit of a business that supports people in their second most stressful purchase would be a good fit for me.

2)     I am looking at providing a service that would allow people to purchase a vehicle with a reduced amount of stress, anxiety, and cost. I have the unique ability to leverage a network of talented sales professionals, service technicians, and financial consultants that will support our customers in satisfying their transportation needs. This will allow them to buy a car that suit their needs, identify to mechanical condition of the car pre-purchase, and help procure the financing that will make it an affordable purchase.

3)     My target market is independent women who are fearful of being ripped off by unscrupulous car sales representatives. They can range from the young buyer looking to get their first vehicle, to the widower who is now facing this purchasing decision on her own. We want to be a support agent to help bolster their confidence, remove the anxiety, and vanquish the vulnerability that they may feel.

4)     I am positive that people will pay for this service because the peace of mind being offered will surely be worth the modest fee that we will charge for the service. We can have our own independent agents assess the mechanical condition of the car, negotiate the price and finance charges, while also removing the anxiety of the process.

5)     My background gives me a distinct advantage in this arena. I have six years of luxury dealership experience as a Master Certified Technician. During this time, I have amassed an enormous network of individuals that have experience in sales, financing, and warranty administration.

I have no doubt that these elements will come together and form a strong foundation for this business. There is no other entity, that I know of, that is offering this particular service. The vast amounts of insider experience will allow us to gain an edge in dealing with any competitive forces that may try and surface to challenge our market share.

When it comes to feedback on my previous Napkin Idea, there are two things that stuck out to me:

1)     I have the experience to use as an advantage, like Ray Kroc did when he came up with his innovations for the restaurant business.

2)     There are customers out there who expect to get ripped off when buying a car.

18A - Create a Customer Avatar

My customer avatar represents a middle-aged to retired independent woman. She is either living with her children who are about to enter the collegiate ranks. She still works, but is winding down her career. She prefers to spend time with her children over the course of dinner. After dinner, she relaxes with a glass of wine and a romance novel while she prepares to sleep. When the weekend comes, she gets in her red Toyota Camry and heads down to the craft store for supplies. She and her friends occupy their time making knick-knacks for special events involving their children. It seems that there is always a birthday, a graduation, a wedding, or a birth that is on the horizon. She takes great joy in seeing the excitement that her creativity generates in those she loves. She is rich in love and never takes those in her life for granted. I do not feel that I have that much in common with my avatar. As I get older, my hair is getting darker and laced with streaks of grey. However, that is an inevitability in life, not that we are necessarily similar in trait.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior #2

In this exercise, I interviewed two mid-career divorcees and a retired widower. They were somewhat similar, but also strikingly different in their methods. It was fascinating to gather insight into what things that some may consider little, were significant in their purchasing decision.

Style was a very important part of the decision as they felt that it had to reflect their image, but pricing was a much larger concern for the retired widower who is living on a fixed income. In fact, style was such an important issue, that the color combinations almost had to be perfect. I was somewhat surprised by this because the styling and options can weigh heavily into the price. Seeing the two considerations as being front and center caught me a little off-guard, because I am more concerned about functionality.

When it came to selecting alternative options, they all considered the opinions of their children and their spouses. It seems that they had a great deal of confidence in their ability to be “current” about the latest trends and information. They gave a lot of that credit to the internet and social media.

When it came time to purchase, they all chose to go through a dealership, but they did so in different ways. One of the working adults chose a dealership that she had purchased a car with before. She felt comfortable there and financed the deal through a credit union. The other working adult purchased a car through a network dealership and was able to agree to finance it through the dealer’s finance department. The retired adult purchased a used car through a dealership because she knew the sales representative. Apparently, the sales representative is the son of someone she plays bingo with at her church group. She felt that she had established a comfortable amount of trust and paid cash for an almost new car that had very few miles on it at a substantial discount.

When I asked them about their purchasing decision, I asked them if they had any buyer’s remorse. The only person that did not give 100% positive feedback was the adult that purchased a car using the dealer’s finance department. Apparently, she had found (post-purchase) that she could have gotten a little bit better of a finance rate through a promotion at her local bank.

I was given quite a perspective about how attitudes and values change as your life stages change. Transitioning from one stage to another (single with no kids, married, married with kids, alone with kids, empty-nester, etc.) has significant impact on your purchasing decisions. I was really surprised at how much input they were willing to receive from their kids in the information gathering process.

In the end, I am discovering that a word-of-mouth marketing program, designed through referral based incentives, is probably going to be my best method for targeting this demographic group. I have to establish trust through enough presence in the digital markets, especially through social media, to entrust myself with them.

Tenacity and Paying it Forward

Since you are about to start this course, allow me to provide you with some advice. To begin with, there is an expected level of coursework that you must traverse. It is imperative that you master your time-management skillset to tackle the weekly demands of this course, while still managing the rest of your life. Secondly, be prepared to talk to a lot of people about things that you are not entirely comfortable about. It sounds crazy, because it is meant to take you outside of your sheltered comfort zone and thrust you into real life applications. Furthermore, when I felt like giving up, I always thought that I need this class to get my degree. Either take it and succeed, or let it get in the way of your goal. Finally, I would say that if you do not feel “tough enough” to take this class, you need to dig deep. Imagine that your survival depends on you passing this class. When you earn a degree from this University, you will never have to work for minimum wage again. Muscle through it, pass the class, get your degree, and live a better life.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior

1.      I have identified several groups of people to target marketing to: young males, young single females, female middle-aged divorcees, and female widowers. For this exercise, I decided to concentrate my focus on female widowers.

2.      My interviews revolved around three widowers, two that live in my neighborhood and one that is a member of my parish.

3.      Two of the interviewees were actually looking to purchase a new vehicle in the next six months, while the other was looking a little more into the future. She was estimating about next February, when she expects to get her tax return money. She said that was what she was going to use for the down payment, so she wanted to wait.

4.      Here is where everything was very different. When it came time to understand information searching, they all had a different approach. One of the women started by looking at the sales ads in the newspaper. She indicated that she had no specific brand loyalty, just that she preferred to buy an American car. The second woman indicated that she spoke to people in our church group to determine which cars she should look at. The third widower was pretty tech savvy and started her search by surfing the internet. She would browse through articles within Car and Driver and Consumer Reports.

5.      During the course of these interviews, I learned that even though these consumers may be in the same segment, they are not necessarily the same. All of these women approached their information gathering in different ways. I also learned that they don’t share the same view on timing. Some were willing to exercise patience to tackle their transportation problem in a way that allowed them less financial anxiety, while others were living in “the now”.

In conclusion, this segment needs to be targeted on an individual basis. It is a fallacy to think that they fit snuggly into a “one-size fits all” demographic. Based upon these findings, I feel that it would be best to do a meet and greet session that allows me to survey their levels of comfort and anxiety so that I may provide the best service possible to meet their individual needs.