A small but growing weight loss supplement business wanted to expand nationally. The management team had no real experience with proactively growing a company and they didn’t want to take attention away from their current customers.
Capacity was engaged to determine exactly how they should market their products and how they should expand both their market share and their internal operations within a limited budget.
A full strategic marketing plan was developed starting with a situational analysis which is the key to getting a return on your marketing dollars. The research done during the situational analysis determined the demographics and psychographics of their perfect customer was women with emotional eating issues. Further research on their competitors determined not only there was room for them in the weight loss market, but that no one was really targeting this psychographic.
The rest of the plan including SWOT analysis, strategy, pricing, positioning, distribution, promotion, etc. laid out a map of exactly how we would go about gaining additional customers in the most efficient manner. There would be no “trial and error” with their marketing effort.
The next step was the operational plan. We determined one location would suffice but growth and future moves to larger facilities needed to be mapped out. Equipment purchases were also mapped out to track with growth. Suppliers & vendors had to be examined to determine if current relationships were ideal and if so, could they grow with the company.
Probably the most difficult parts of growth planning are the personnel plan and the financial projections. Payroll is often one of the biggest expenses a company has. Hiring too soon or too late during proactive growth can create a domino effect that closes the entire operation. The financial proforma allows us project this expense and all others as well as income. It is crucial to efficient planned growth.
This company also happened to be looking for funding from investors and Capacity has been retained as temporary COO to handle the funds and growth when the investment is secured.