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The Corporate Retreat Professionals (CRP) is an event planning company specializing in corporate customers. CRP
will offer two types of services, retreat training services as well as product launch event planning. The retreat training
services will be either leadership development training or teaming skills training. For both types of retreats, CRP can
take care of the planning of the event, as well as actually hosting the training through the use of one of CRP's
strategic business partners.
The corporate market for event planning is steady and profitable. For some large companies, economic downturns
mean cuts in training. This is, however, only the case for shortsighted companies. The benchmark companies may
trim down the workforce during a downturn, but they do not cut funds for training. They recognize that investing in
human resources is always a good investment. CRP intends to profit nicely from this. Additionally, even in economic
downturns, companies still have product launches and will still need someone to organize these events. In short, the
need for corporate event planning/hosting services rarely diminishes, it is a steadily increasing demand that CRP will
capitalize on.
Corporate Retreat Professionals' projected growth rate is over 100% through year three and will have profits as a
function of sales over 11% by year three. By the beginning of year two CRP will have three employees.
1.1 Mission
The mission of the Corporate Retreat Professionals is to provide companies with the highest level of event planning.
We exist to attract and maintain customers. When we adhere to this maxim, everything else will fall into place. Our
services will exceed the expectations of our customers.
1.2 Objectives
CRP's objectives for the first three years of operation include:
3. To increase our number of served clients by 20% per year through superior service.
5. Company Summary
6. CRP, soon to be located in Seattle, will offer event planning for corporations. CRP will be specializing in
training/leadership retreats, team building skill retreats and product launch events. CRP will be located in office
space in downtown Seattle.
7. CRP will begin making a profit after month 10, and will grow steadily each consecutive month.
8. 2.1 Company Ownership
9. CRP will be a Washington corporation. The sole stock holder will be Jeff Organizer.
10. 2.2 Start-up Summary
11. CRP start-up costs will include all the necessary equipment needed for an office, legal fees, accounting fees,
advertising fees, and website development fees.
12. The home office equipment will be the largest chunk of the start-up expenses. This equipment includes a 3
computer system, fax machine, office supplies, cellular phone, and pager. The computers should have at least
a 500 megahertz Celeron/Pentium processor, 64 megabytes of RAM (preferably 128) and 6 gigabyte hard
drive. One computer will become a server with a printer and a writable CD-RW for backing up the system.
Microsoft Office will be installed on all the workstations and one computer will need QuickBooks(r) Pro. The
office will require some desks, bookshelves and couches. Two phone lines will be needed in addition to a
cellular phone and pager for Jeff.
13. The accounting fees will be used to set up the accounting suite so CRP can do the accounting in-house.
14. The legal fees are used for the formation of the corporation as well as for reviewing/generating standard client
contracts. The advertising costs are based on the need to communicate our service to perspective customers.
15. The Web creation fees at start-up costs are for design and creation of the website.
Services
CRP will offer event planning for the corporate market. CRP will concentrate on two types of event planning:
1. Corporate retreats- These events are typically used for two different reasons. They are either a leadership
training or teaming skills training where employees of the corporations are sent away to develop these skills. In
addition to the planning of the events, CRP will be able to host the event as well. While CRP's core
competencies are not in hosting, CRP will align itself with a well respected host of leadership
development/teaming skills programs and have them assist CRP in the hosting aspect. Using a strategic
partner in this case allows CRP to stick with a narrow focus but still offer the service to our customers.
2. Product launches- These are events where the corporation is releasing a product and they have an event that
is open to people outside of the corporation. The purpose of the product launch event is to create visibility for
the new release.
Additionally, CRP will offer event planning for product launches. Product launches are an integral stage in the
release of a new product, communicating to the public about the new "thing" the company has just released. Our
customers will be companies seeking to raise awareness about their new product release. CRP will provide a
complete service of planning and hosting these product release events.
The corporate customer is a company that contracts with CRP to plan and typically host an event for the company.
Corporations will be turning to CRP to plan the events because:
1. It is cost efficient for a third party to plan the event. This is the case because the third party only does event
planning so they can plan and host the event more efficiently.
2. The company does not have additional people that can be taken away from their daily job and invest time in this
infrequent event.
Our event planning services for corporate retreats will typically be utilized by larger corporations. A larger company
can be generally defined as one with more than 40 employees. Smaller companies sometimes will utilize this service
of ours, however, it is the larger corporations that typically have the budget for this activity.
For our product launch event planning, we will be servicing companies of all different sizes. Typically the companies
that use this service will be product based companies, but we will also offer this service to service-based companies
who desire to announce a new service that they are offering.
There are companies that provide product-release services, but they do not specialize in it. Because event planning
is a tight market, CRP will benefit from their specialization in this area.
In the past, the buying patterns for the larger corporations was in the past to have an in-house solution. This pattern
is is disappearing in favor of outsourcing as there is the constant drive for gains in efficiency, something outsourcing
can offer.
CRP's product release planning services will be targeted at all different size companies. Companies of all sizes have
product release and it is unusual for them to have product release many times a year requiring someone to be a a
full-time planner on staff. Therefore, it makes sense for them to hire an outside service to plan the event using their
expertise in event planning to drive down the costs of production and hosting.
CRP will increase company visibility through a website, local Chamber of Commerce networking, and participation in
trade shows. Our website will be quite detailed and provide a visitor in-depth information about the services CRP
offers, the corresponding high level of quality, and the cost savings that can be achieved by using CRP.
CRP will also be quite active in the local Chambers of Commence in the Seattle metropolitan area. Over the years,
Jeff has come to realize that a lot of business transacts through the Chamber of Commerce or relationships that were
started through that organization.
Lastly, CRP will be active in the many trade shows that come through Seattle. The use of trade shows allows
members of CRP to be introduced to a wide range of businesses that otherwise would be difficult to establish an
initial relationship with.
CRP's second competitive edge is based on the use of strategic relationships. CRP clearly realizes that they cannot
be good at everything. CRP believes it is better to concentrate on a few things, excel in those areas, and form
strategic partnerships with companies that excel in the service areas that CRP doesn't. Applying this philosophy,
CRP has decided in addition to planning corporate retreat training sessions, they want to offer the service of
hosting/leading these events as well. The service of hosting/leading however, is quite different than planning and
CRP believes that it would be more cost effective to form a strategic relationship with an expert in this field instead of
trying to become proficient themselves. CRP then is able to offer a top-notch service offering of hosting/leading the
training seminars but does not have to invest heavily in developing the program.
The use of strategic relationships is unusual in the event planning space. Most event planners are generalists and try
to do a little of everything. CRP is following the model of benchmark companies in other industries that have
recognized the value of specialization and the use of strategic relationships.
Jeff's spiel to prospective customers will be based on the high level of service offered and cost advantages by going
with CRP. The cost savings can be quantitied and shown to the customer while the higher level of service can be
guarantee as well as communicated through testimonials from satisfied clients.
Additionally, the website will be used not only to communicate information to prospective customers, but also a
method of communication where CRP can provide more specialized information such as cost estimates as well as
answering questions through the site.
The third month should see the start of sales activity. It will not be until the fifth month that things will really kick in.
From month six through 12 sales will steadily increase and the increase should continue well into year two.
Management Summary
CRP is a Washington corporation whose sole stock holder is Jeff Organizer. Jeff will be incorporating to protect
himself from personal liability.
Jeff Organizer, Founder and President, has a degree in Business from the University of Washington. After college,
Jeff spent five years working for Andersen Consulting. During these years, Jeff became familiar with a large number
of companies and the important players in the Seattle business community. While working for Andersen, Jeff
attended an MBA night program and received his MBA in 1996.
After completing his degree, Jeff decided to join Boeing in their PR department. It was at Boeing where Jeff learned
the bulk of his organizing and event planning skills. These skills, in conjunction with his MBA education, gave Jeff the
confidence to handle a wide range of business propositions. After three years at Boeing, Jeff decided to start his own
business. Corporate Retreat Professionals was finally born.