Analysis of results
When looking at my primary research I found that most people have their own garden, but don’t maintain it. This tells me that there may be a greater demand for landscape gardeners. The main age group, I will aim my services at is 40-50 years old because most people express an interest. I will segment the market geographically by borough, the main borough I will target Enfield, Barnet. I visited lots of gardens in Enfield, Barnet and found that the number of gardens in Enfield and Barnet where much bigger in size compared to Haringey gardens. Most people said they do there shopping in, Edmonton Green, Wood Green and Enfield Town. Since there are lot of people who do their shopping in Edmonton green, I may advertise my business in local supermarkets. My research on how much people spend shows me that most people spend £200 that was 42% of the market. I will target the high earner, the people who spend between £500-£1000 and more on the garden this would be 22% of the market. I found that the most popular newspapers people read, was The Mirror, so I may also advertise my business in the Mirror.
Factors affecting demand
I will be providing services to my customers, so therefore I will want to know about the factors that affect my business. Economists are groups of factors that affect customer’s behaviour as the economic determinants of consumer demand. Here are factors that affect demand for my goods and services.
- The disposable income of consumers is important, if income is high then there is a greater demand for good and services. If income is low then they may not be much demand.
- Prices of competitors may be preferred if they offer a better or lower price service.
- Taste is also an important factor, if the consumer likes my service; they are more likely to contact me for more business.
- Advertising has a big effect on demand, because this can lead to an increase in demand for services and goods.
- Weather is another factor effecting demand
2 Marketing plan
Analysis of competition
I found looking at my competitors that they use competitive pricing. So this tells me that the price plays an important role of my business. In order to increase my market share, I will beat my competitor’s prices. I have ten main competitors that provide similar service as my business. My business is located in north London. When looking at my competitors I found most of them are looking to survive, and some are looking to increase market share. Some of my competitors are also using the same supplier as my business, such as Wick and B&Q. I may also hire equipment for big landscape jobs.
Marketing Planning
I will now look at my own personal SWOT analysis. This will give me a good idea about where my business is, in the current market. When I have finished my business plan, I will do a SWOT of my business. Below is my personal SWOT analysis.
Marketing Mix
This is a strategy that contains the main four elements:
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
Product
Product for my business will to provide a service, as I am a landscape gardener. The product is also known as the consumer products. Below are the features and benefits, and what the market segment needs. For my business my main product will be providing high quality fences.
Product differentiation
The way in which I can differentiate my service from my competitors, is to make it more attractive to customers is by:
- I could give out guarantee on certain, expensive features of gardens.
- I can give out free advice for certain features to my customer.
- I could give special offer, like a 10% discount to customer if they refer my business to potential customers and friends.
- Unique designs that appeal to people.
Price
The price level for my business decides to sell its services at will affect both the quantity of sales and the profit-margin. There are many considerations for my business will need to take into account before, I decide upon a selling price for a new product. There are many methods and strategies that I can use for pricing. I will decide to use competitor based pricing. Going rate pricing is the term used to describe a business charging a similar price to competitors for a similar product. The prices will also depend on how much the material cost.
Promotion
This is the tactics that a business uses to make consumers aware of their product and to entice them to call for the services. For my business I will be advertising in the yellow pages. This will cost me £2000, it should affective. I will also use direct mail, and shop window in supermarket.
Place
The place is not that important for my business, because I will be going to my customers and be giving them quotes, on certain features for their gardens. I will be located Enfield. The main segmentation I will be targeting will be my region Enfield, Barnet and Haringey. I will be working from home. I also have my own my own business one ton pick van and a car, so I can visit my customer before getting work from them. I think working at home suits my business, because most people in Enfield have quiet big gardens. The average disposable income in Enfield is also higher compared to Haringey.
Below I will list factors that determine a suitable location for my business. Each fact will have a score out of 10, (10 means vary important, 0 means not important at all).
Below I will show the advantage and disadvantage of working at home.
3 Production & quality assurance
Quantity to be produced
I will be providing a service to those people who need their garden improved and maintained. I will estimate the amount of sales that, I will receive and this will give me an idea of how much quantity to be produced. I will be using by sales budget to help me decide how much quantity of raw material. I will focus my sales budget on my main product this will be fences.
The machinery and equipment needed
Lawnmower: Turbo Trim XL400 Petrol Hover Mower cost: £200
Hedge trimmer: Black & Decker GT350 Hedgetrimmer cost: £100
Chain saw: Sovereign 1550W Electric cost: £100
Wheelbarrow: Home base Gladiator Wheelbarrow cost: £30
Shovel: Ames Landscaper Fibreglass Shovel cost: £20
Fork: Ames Landscaper Fibreglass Digging Fork cost: £20
Security system: Yale Wirefree Communicating Alarm System cost: £180
Hand trowel: cost: £5
Rake: Wilkinson Sword Lawn Rake cost: £15
Gloves and small tools: cost: £30
Van: cost: 8000
Landscape gardeners use a variety of construction equipment, garden tools and machinery. They also use raw materials such as wood, stones and concrete
Human Resources
I will employ a fully skilled landscape gardener; this will help me to meet the goals for my business. The person that I will employ is some one that I already know. The person name is Abdee who has two years experience as landscape gardener and key skills in ICT. Abdee has also got a qualification in AVCE Business double award. Abdee will be working full-time.
I am the owner of A&A Garden services my name is Andrew, I have four years experience as a landscape gardener. My qualifications are AVCE Business double award I have good communication skills, good horticultural skills, and the ability to interpret and follow plans and drawings. I also have creative and organisational ability, and skills in making calculations are also important. Business skills are also very useful that I have for my business.
My personal qualities
I have an interest in the environment, and I am self-motivated, patient and reliable. I also enjoy meeting and discussing plans with people. An eye for detail and an ability to plan ahead is also useful.
Physical Requirements
Both Landscape gardeners have a good level of fitness and a strong back. We both have to do a lot of hard physical work and repetitive tasks, such as pushing barrow loads of soil for long periods, especially if they deal with construction in particular.
Constraints
In my business the partner is responsible for the debts of the partnership and therefore I have chosen the partner carefully and draw up an agreement on the responsibilities and rights of each partner known as a Deed of Partnership or The Articles of Partnership.
Unlimited liability for the business debts and it is referred to as an unincorporated business this means that there is no legal difference between the business and the owner.
The main constraints of a partnership come from shared responsibility.
Disputes can arise over decisions that have to be made, or about the effort one partner is putting into the firm compared with another.
The distribution of profits can cause problems. The deed of partnership sets out who should get what, but if one partner feels another is not doing enough, there can be dissatisfaction.
A partnership has unlimited liability.
Taxation and insurance payments will also be paid by my business. I will pay Income tax this will affect my salary.
National Insurance contributions towards payments, made by both the employee and me who pay for the cost of a state pension and the National Health Service. If this increases my company's costs will be higher and could result in redundancies.
Quality level required and mean of achieving targeted quality
I will be providing a high quality service, for my main product fences the way in which I will determine this is by visiting the supplier Cruse Hill Wood by observing and checking the raw material is suitable and meets the quality level required. When I visited Cruse Hill Wood I found that the quality of fences had been carried out by the supplier inspectors and workers to the standard of quality assurance. Cruse Hill Wood also met the standard for ISO 9000 and BS 5750 this shows that the supplier must high quality fences.
When working as a landscape gardener my experience tell me that quality is more important than price. Customer comes first in order to maintain customer satisfaction. For my business customers perception of the quality of my services is the most important factor in determining success.
I will use Total Quality Management this way I will aim for zero defects so I can satisfy my customers. I will be in charge for every job that goes to plan and I will make sure my worker carry out work to the ‘TQM’. ‘TQM’ will help to relies on a single fundamental principle that should really serve as the core mission of any business: Maximize productivity while minimizing costs, of course, when looking into what goes into the process it not always as easily transformed into reality. I will seek to maintain ‘TQM’ by checking each job and making continuous improvements. It will make me think ‘TQM’ requires a new process thinking mindset. I must realize that everything I do is part of a process. Our focus shifts from managing outcomes to managing and improving processes; from what to do to how to do the processes better. Quality performance expands to include how well each part of the process works and the relationship of each part to the process. Also, process improvement focuses on continuously achieving the greatest potential benefit for our customers.
I will focus on the following:
- Identify necessary elements for a successful quality management approach.
- Know how they fit together to successfully accomplish quality goals.
- Display the most options, thus helping make the right quality management choices.
