Telephone Sales Business Plan

The university community serves 18,000 students. Each year, students spend in excess of $100 million dollars for products and services with businesses in the university community.  In a recent campus survey, over 75% of students reported that they own cell phones.  Of that number, over 80% reported that they also have a landline phone.  This represents a multi-million dollar market in the university community.

University Telephones will focus on students that live on and off campus by offering products and service plans that are tailored to student needs. Approximately, 6,000 students live on campus.  An additional 12,000 students live off campus. Currently, there is no telephone equipment outlet operation within five miles of the campus.

4.1 Market Segmentation

University Telephones will focus on two customer groups:

• Students living on campus;
• Students living off campus;
• Non-students that work or live in university area.  This group includes university faculty, administration, and university-area residents.

4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

The market for telephone equipment and cell phone plans is very fragmented, crowded and competitive. Among these, there are only a few large local firms that serve the entire city of Richmond. The remainder are small firms that sell from kiosks in the surrounding malls. University Telephones’ current niche is its location on Steward Street. At the beginning of each term, a number of telephone equipment and service providers set up tables and kiosks on Steward Street but after day ten, they have all left the area.  University Telephones will have a permanent home on Steward Street and we believe that will be seen as a advantage by our customers.