Environmental Analysis

From an analysis of the Jackson area, we find several relevant points for Vision Creation Inc. (referred to as V.C. for further use in the proposal) to consider including the economy, social trends, and competition. 

Local Economy

 

The Jackson-Everett-Bellevue economy currently holds an estimated 6.8% unemployment rate .  In past economic slumps, direct-demand for executive coaching services rose. 

The increase in demand results from these factors:

• People need to refine their skills to increase their marketability.
• Coaching helps executives deal with increased workloads due to downsizing.
• Executives hire coaches as a last resort when everything else fails.

Indirect-demand for executive coaching, from within companies (Human Resource Departments), fell because of tighter budgets.

Social Trends

 

Executive coaching services become more popular every year because coaching achieves results.  Fortune magazine conducted a survey regarding executive coaching. The poll says that: The respondents were executives from large (mostly FORTUNE 1,000) companies who had participated in either "change oriented" coaching, aimed at improving certain behaviors or skills, or "growth oriented" coaching, designed to sharpen overall job performance.   Half of the respondents held positions of vice president or higher, and a third earned $200,000 or more per year (see appendix 1, graph 1).

When asked for a conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from the coaching they got, these managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies. Almost three in ten (28%) claimed they had learned enough to boost quantifiable job performance--whether in sales, productivity, or profits--by $500,000 to $1 million since they took the training. They also reported better relationships with direct reports (77%), bosses (71%), peers (63%), and clients (37%), and cited a marked increase in job satisfaction (61%) and "organizational commitment" (44%), meaning they are less likely to quit than they were before (see appendix 1, graph 2).

Even with these proven results, suspicion about coaching runs deep.  Barriers to executive coaching continue to exist.

These barriers include:

• Associating coaching with psychotherapy.
• Many executives lack awareness of their own behavior.
• Doubt concerning the coach’s abilities.

 

 

 

Competition

The Puget Sound Region employs thousands of executives.  Local executive coaches reach a small fraction of these executives.  Human Resource (referred to HR for further use in the proposal) departments may already employ coaches so getting a foot in the door at a larger corporation may prove difficult.  Success for executive coaches depends on the coach’s amiability and referrals from clients.  With little local competition, a quality coach will likely succeed.

 

SWOT Analysis

For Vision Creation Inc.

Table 1.

 

Marketing Goals and Objectives

            .
            V.C. has yet to clearly define its marketing objectives for executive coaching. We do know V.C. will focus on expanding their current market in the Jackson area and introducing the VER (pron. veer) method, a new product within executive coaching.

 

●Currently, V.C. holds a minute percentage of the Jackson area market consisting
   of V.C.’s present clients.      

●Further development of their market base will center on V.C.’s clients’
   references to other businesses and organizations and through word of  
   mouth. 
 
●V.C. will expand their primary service of executive coaching to meet the
   diverse needs of different executives. 

●At present, V.C. uses a few different tools for coaching executives.

V.C. plans to market one such tool, the VER method, within executive coaching.  The VER method consists of three parts.  In the first phase, vision, V.C. aids an executive in coming up with their vision for their future, their goals.  Next, in the execution phase, executives create a plan describing how they will achieve these goals.  Lastly, in the results phase, V.C. will work with the executive to bring to light what is keeping the executive from reaching their goals.
Executives are concerned with a variety of issues the VER method can help them with. For instance executives want to set clear goals for themselves. In the vision phase of VER they can set goals with the help of their executive coach. Some other values executives are concerned with are effectiveness, personal growth, forming group cohesiveness, and leadership. By working through the VER method with their coach executives can precisely define what they want to achieve in these areas, how they will achieve it, and what is in their way of achieving it. This careful analysis of goals will lead to results.
Executive coaching needs to create awareness within their niche market of executives and HR personnel.  This service is new to a majority of the community and, more importantly, to their untapped market of executives.  At V.C., the goals and objectives of marketing an executive coaching service require careful planning.
            V.C. is a young company offering services still in development. Thus, no clear marketing goals have been established. The development of these goals will happen as executive coaching pervades more of corporate America and executives so they understand the importance of this resource.

 

Marketing Strategies

Target Market:  Executives & Business Owners
 
We identify one target market as business executives. These people hold management positions in their companies and must go through their HR departments to hire executive coaches. An analysis of this target market concludes that executives posses high levels of education, intelligence and years of previous business experience. We expect both executives and business owners to range in age from their late 30’s to early 50’s, with 60% between the ages of 40 and 49 years.  Executives and business owners thrive economically in the business world, but many still aspire to higher goals and levels of achievement.

            Business executives can benefit greatly form executive coaching. V.C. can provide them with an outside perspective on improvements they can make in their work strategy. They can help executives fully develop and utilize the skills they have. 

V.C. will depend on radio promotion and direct mail to inform executives and business owners about our service. Through these mediums we hope to encourage executives to use our service or recommend executive coaching to their subordinates.  Presentations at conferences will market to executives, human relations personnel, and business owners.  V.C. will send letters and brochures directly to business owners and human relations management. A company website will provide detailed information for those who want to learn more about V.C.'s services.

 

 

Target Market:  Human Resources

V.C. must also target the influencers, or the people who recommend coaching to an executive.  For example, a person who oversees an executive, or the executives themselves, may recognize a certain skill they need to improve for greater success.  They will ask the HR department for a recommendation on a coach who would fit their needs.
HR can benefit from hiring an executive coach in a plethora of ways. By hiring an outside coach HR frees up resources that would have been used for in-house training. V.C. can also provide a fresh, outside view of ways executives of the company can improve.  
V.C. must market their services to the HR departments.  When the need for an executive coach arises, HR departments will hopefully call in Britt as their first choice.  The HR departments contain an educated, organized and busy workforce.  V.C. must approach these people accordingly.  They look for specific qualities in an executive coach to make sure they hire the best person for the job. Some of these qualities include education criteria, proven results, and a competitive pricing structure.  The HR departments want to know if their investment in executive coaching will pay off and add value to their company.

A combination of mediums should be used to advertise our services to the influencers.  Most importantly, V.C. needs to provide information the HR department and executives can both understand.  For example, we can distribute our brochures at conferences attended by executives and human resource representatives, set up print ad and direct mail campaigns and update our company website.

 

The Marketing Mix

Price and Product. We recommend V.C. provide the following packages for their Executive Coaching service to both individuals and HR departments. Each package will consist of one-on-one meeting with a trained executive coach working towards the increased effectiveness of the executive.

-Introductory Package:
            2 - in person sessions                                         Price: $450
-Executive Coaching Package*:
            4 - in person sessions
1 - half hour phone consultation                          Price: $1250

 

-Executive Phone Package*:
            4 - phone consultations
            1 - half hour phone consultation                          Price: $700
-Retainer Package:
            1 or 2 – in person sessions/month
            2 hours of phone consultation                             Price: $900/month

*The executive coaching package and the executive phone package require a two-month commitment.  In person sessions and phone consultations last 50 minutes, unless otherwise stated.

 

Place.  Our product is based on person-to-person interaction between Britt and the executive.  For this reason, our service will only be distributed in the Puget Sound area.  Most coaching takes place in Britt’s office, however he does make visits to executives.

 

Expected Customer & Competitor Reactions.  Most of the market for executive coaching remains untapped in Jackson.  Competition exists as HR departments at corporations continually refer to their favored executive coaches.  Becoming part of this short list of favored executive coaches could prove challenging.
            Many barriers to entry into the market exist. Advertising is done primarily by word of mouth, making it difficult to inform a large number of individuals or corporations about our service. It is also difficult to get a job as an executive coach in a large corporation. HR wants to work with someone they know and have worked with before. Without well established credentials and an excellent reputation it is hard to get your foot in the door. Finally, due to limited resources V.C. suffers from a lack of advertising and ability to begin implementation of their marketing plan.