Airport Taxi Business Plan

PATS’ marketing/sales strategy will be two pronged, one to address each of our two segmented targeted groups:

1. Families/individuals: In addition to some advertising, we will be working with associations such as AAA and other community groups to try to build up a network of users. PATS believes that working with these groups will provide us with steady flow of customers. Additionally, since a lot of these groups have close knit among member referrals will be quite powerful when they are coming from a member who already has established a trust bond with other organizational members.
2. Business travelers: PATS will be contacting the travel department of many of the different companies in Cleveland that have a lot of employees traveling and informing them about our service and offering them an introductory discount. This will be an important segment to win over as companies routinely have employees traveling throughout the year. Businesses are also valuable because once the initial contact is made, the relationship can be turned into a steady stream of business.

5.1 Competitive Edge

PATS’ competitive advantage will be based on an incentive system that rewards the driver economically when they achieve good service, develop repeat customers and act in a team fashion instead of competing against other company drivers. This incentive system will reward drivers when:

1. The company receives positive feedback about the driver (a feedback system will be set up).
2. The customer is turned into a repeat customer.
3. The driver develops new customers.
4. The driver acts in manners that are team based instead of for individual gain.

Through this complicated but purposeful system, PATS is incentivizing behavior that they believe will help the company succeed, while not rewarding behavior that is destructive to the company.

Additionally, PATS will be having the drivers lease the cars through PATS for several reasons:

1. With PATS leasing the cars, they are able to get a volume discount for the leases. PATS will actually be passing on the costs to the drivers.
2. Leasing through PATS encourages a long term employee as there are fees to break a lease and PATS includes provisions in the lease that do not allow drivers to use the cars for more than two months beyond termination of employment.
3. By having the drivers lease the cars, they have an economic incentive to maintain the cars as they are financial responsible for damage beyond reasonable wear and tear.

5.2 Sales Strategy

As stated earlier, we will be going after both families/individuals as well as business travelers. PATS will have a different strategy for each group. For the individuals, PATS will use contacts through membership associations and clubs to build customers. Customers that are a part of an association tend to put more trust in a service provider when the service provider is aligned with the association. PATS will offer a discount for the association members to try to build up a following. Our selling spiel will be total convenience at a cost that is competitive with the price that they currently pay when they leave their car in the parking lot. Offering the ability to schedule in advance pick up from home and then pick up from airport should be a big selling point. People like convenience, and people are willing to pay for conveniences. One phone call to arrange all of your transport needs to the airport is quite a convenience.

Our strategy of wooing the business travelers will be a campaign to introduce PATS to the different travel departments of the larger companies in the area. The initial contact will be a letter/brochure describing our services along with a pricing guide. PATS will then follow that up with a phone call to try to receive a commitment from the company. By including the pricing information within the brochure, PATS believes that this will catch the eyes of the companies’ travel departments as they are acutely aware of the costs that they are paying now and PATS believes that they can convert the lead into a customer by offering essentially the same service of a limo company at a reduced rate.

5.2.1 Sales Forecast

The first month will be spent setting up the business. It is unlikely that everything will be ready to go so that we could begin to take fares. By month two the business office will be in order, brochures will have been sent out and PATS will have been working with associations to create visibility for the company. PATS will have two drivers and will be paying a base monthly wage on the assumption that PATS wants to have the drivers ready when fares come up but there is not likely to be enough fares to support the wages of the two drivers.

Month three will see an increase in fares and things will be getting busy. Business will continue to grow and by month five a third driver will be brought on board. It will not be until month 11 that a fourth and final driver will be brought on board.

5.3 Milestones

PATS will have several milestones to aim for:

1. Business plan completion. This will be done as a road map for the organization. While we do not need a business plan to raise capital, it will be an indispensable tool for the ongoing performance and improvement of the company.
2. Set up office.
3. Profitability.
4. Bringing on board the fourth driver.