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SIC 4213 Motor Freight Transportation - Trucking, except local

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General Freight Trucking Business Plan

Mike's Trucking Service

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Strategy and Implementation Summary

The strategy of Mike's Trucking is to consolidate its good customer and client service by making timely deliveries, hiring the best drivers and having a competitive pricing structure. The company's goal in the next year is to become an independently-run business entity without having any contracted services. We would like to fully manage our trucking operation, from hiring drivers to sourcing business. The company's goal within the next five years is to operate a full-service trucking business with a fleet of trucks, "hot-shot" trucks, and minifloat loads. Mike's Trucking would like to be in a position to handle any job available at this stage.

Key components of our initial strategy can be summarized as follows:

• Expand fleet of trucks. The company is currently working to expand on its existing fleet of trucks. This will enable us to increase the number of customers we are able to serve.
• Establish independent status. The company is currently operating under fee sharing, but is working to become independent and manage its own operations, from sourcing to daily management.
• Establish a complete trucking business. The company is currently working toward becoming a complete trucking business with a fleet of trucks which includes long-haul trucks. The management of the company has identified a good customer base which it can tap into once all the necessary equipment has been acquired. This will enable the company to service areas outside its current domain and increase profit levels.

5.1 Value Proposition

Mike's Trucking offers the following advantages to customers.

• Quality Service. We provide our customers with courteous, prompt, and dependable service. The company has a reputation for timely deliveries and the best drivers in the industry, and intends to build upon that.
• Competitive rates. We will provide competitive rates for our customers because we have low cost inputs.
• Package handling. By maintaining dependable and safe equipment, we will ensure that there is no damage to customer's cargo.

5.2 Competitive Edge

Our major competitive advantage is the vast industry experience and solid reputation of its owner, Mike Smith. His company is also well known among its clients for going that extra mile in the customer-service department.

5.3 Marketing Strategy

We markets our services as solutions to the many companies requiring cargo to be transported promptly and efficiently. The company's future marketing plans will be nationwide, emphasizing haulage capabilities for any cargo. The overall marketing plan for services is based on the following fundamentals:

• The segment of the market(s) planned to reach.
• Distribution channels planned to reach market segments: television, radio, sales associates, and mailings.
• Share of the market expected to capture over a fixed period of time.

5.3.1 Pricing Strategy

At the time of this writing, Mike's Trucking has a lease arrangement with various companies. The company's pricing is based on miles per thousands of pounds of cargo transported. We will be able charge competitive rates, as we have minimal overhead compared to our competition. The table below sketches out the pricing structure; for a key to this table please see asterisks at the bottom of the page.

Figure 3. The company's pricing structure.

Mileage:	0-1500 lbs. FAK*	1501-6000 lbs. FAK*	6001-16000 lbs. FAK*	16001-30000 lbs. FAK*
	Hot Shot**	Stakebed**	Minifloat**	Single Axle**
10	$50	$90	$115	$196
20	$50	$90	$137	$210
30	$50	$90	$155	$228
40	$52	$90	$175	$247
50	$65	$94	$195	$275
60	$77	$105	$200	$300
70	$90	$115	$220	$356
80	$104	$124	$240	$375
90	$116	$140	$255	$409
100	$130	$155	$270	$438
110	$140	$170	$290	$477
120	$157	$185	$305	$500
130	$170	$200	$316	$526
140	$183	$215	$335	$530
150	$195	$230	$350	$540
160	$210	$249	$385	$558
170	$220	$264	$400	$575
180	$235	$279	$420	$595
190	$250	$295	$450	$615
200	$260	$305	$480	$630
210	$275	$325	$505	$645
220	$288	$341	$530	$660
230	$300	$357	$555	$685
240	$313	$372	$580	$700
250	$325	$385	$600	$710
260	$340	$400	$615	$720
270	$355	$419	$630	$730
280	$367	$434	$645	$745

* FAK= Freight of all kinds.

** Types of trucks.

5.3.2 Marketing Programs

Market Responsibilities. Mike's Trucking is committed to an extensive promotional campaign. To accomplish initial sales goals, the company will require an extremely effective promotional campaign to accomplish two primary objectives:

1. Attract quality sales/service personnel with a desire to be successful.
2. Attract customers that will consistently look to Mike's Trucking for their hauling needs.

Promotion. In addition to standard advertisement practices, Mike's Trucking will gain considerable recognition through these additional promotional mediums:

• Press releases sent to radio stations, newspapers, and magazines.
• Radio advertising on secondary stations.
• We plan to advertise nationally, in magazines and newspapers, on television and radio, and on billboards.

Incentives. As an extra incentive for customers and potential customers to remember the name, Mike's Trucking plans to distribute coffee mugs, T-shirts, pens, and other advertising specialties with the company logo.

Brochures. The objective of a brochure is to portray the company's goals and products as an attractive functionality. Mike's Trucking will develop three brochures: one to be used to promote sales, one to announce the product in a new market, and the third to recruit sales associates.

5.4 Sales Strategy

The company will base its sales strategy on increasing the sales from its existing customers, and also to target new businesses. For the latter purpose, we will employ a part-time sales representative.

A customer survey has shown that currently Mike's Trucking is losing sales from its existing clients because the company cannot provide certain types of services. The customers have also shown interest in giving more business to Mike's Trucking once the company increases its truck fleet to handle special orders. Once the new trucks are purchased, we will notify our clientele of the new services and pitch our services to the new businesses. We will further continue our policy of only accepting jobs which can be delivered with high customer satisfaction. Orders that require outsourcing will be gradually eliminated so that we can provide total quality control over the services we render.

5.4.1 Sales Forecast

The following table and charts show our projected sales for the next three years.