Executive Training

Executive Training Inc.

Case 2

Applied Marketing

Table of Content

Executive Summary

Problem Statement

Situation Analysis:

Part 1-Industry Analysis

Part 2-Competitor Analysis

Part 3-Company Analysis

Part 4-Customer Analysis

Part 5-Planning Assumption

Summary of Situation Analysis

Implementation

Decision Criteria's

Alternative Analysis

Planning Assumptions

Alternatives (Financials)

Choice and Rationale

Bibliography

Executive summary

Executive Training Inc. is a successful firm providing marketing and sales training for agricultural companies. Tom Jackson, president and owner of ETI (Executive training inc.) started the business 17 years ago. Due to the rapid expansion of internet use, Tom decides to investigate the idea of an online version of his training programs, whether this initial investment, at first thought to be very high, is worth the risk, and whether the preservation of this capital until the market is safe enough to expand into is a better idea.

The following pages show an analysis of this particular problem, and how we chose to resolve it. Before deciding on any marketing actions, we analyzed the company and the agribusiness industry situations to ensure that problematic areas would be defined and dealt with before any money was spent. Also, by using different marketing mediums and promotional tools along with financials we were able to calculate breakeven's along with the number of students that would be required in order to make this idea become a success. We found that out of all the alternatives, Direct Mail was the most promising of all methods. The following sections will display why exactly we made that choice.

Problem Statement

Tom Jackson, president and owner of ETI (Executive Training Inc.) are investigating whether or not expanding his training programs to an added Internet delivery based system is a good idea. While analyzing this case, the biggest problem was whether or not the target market for this new product line is substantial enough and would not take away from his existing services.

Some key issues that developed in making the decision of incorporating online courses was the high initial investment versus an equally high risk. The market is new and a customer base is questionable and although high start up cost, barriers to entry are relatively small, and risk of future competition exists, especially since other similar training programs exist already. The return on the expansion and profit margin also propose a warning signal that the original investment may not be worth the risk. Another issue was the implementation of a new marketing division to reach this untapped market. ETI has previously gotten by through either return customers or word of mouth. A new salaried sales person or advertising scheme may prove to be unsuccessful or the method of the marketing plan chosen could be incorrect considering the firm has never had to market themselves to anyone before.

The solution we chose to answer these key issues and our main problem of a questionable market for this new product line and whether it could take away from his existing services was to choose alternative two. A marketing plan that would have a one time fixed cost to create demo CDs of the course. Most people who have heard of online training discovered it on the internet according to the questionnaire, so its reasonable to say most people interested would also have a computer This method would provide not only a way to see if online training is correct for each company but also guarantee every possible consumer is made aware of our product, how it works, and its benefits

Situation Analysis

Industry analysis

ETI (executive Training Inc.) is a marketing and sales training firm concentrating on agricultural companies. Tom Jackson, owner and president, is exploring options of an added online delivery based training program.

The online training industry is very diverse with methods used and prices to charge accordingly. Prices can vary from 250$ per person per day a relatively low cost in comparison to a person to person training session, to 2500$ per person per day. And methods used to teach online can vary anywhere from videos, to narrated power points and cases. The market for online sales and marketing training is still very new, the industry itself is still creating a market for it self in any of its training divisions, and thus' competition is very low or even non-existent.

The customer base for such an online product although researched is questionable and seemingly very small. Only eight percent that participated in the questionnaire provided at each session stated that they have had or are currently engaged in online training of some form, and that only twenty percent had actually heard of or had investigated some sort of online training. The number of people aware of such a product is considerably higher than the people involved suggesting their may be a market for such training, however previous and current usage is very low, and those made aware of such training as well. Preference for such a product also seems low.

Substitute products for online training are also high and easily and readily available at universities, colleges, private organizations and even book stores or tutors. Training can be received a number of ways and according to market research appears to be best received person to person.

Competitor Analysis

Executive Training Inc. has many competitors' ranging from the typical company offering sales and marketing training to the companies entering the new market of online training. Since they are specialized in the agriculture business, this would serve them as strength because businesses in the industry