2007-2010 Nrmca/Pca Strategic Plan to Promote Concrete Parking Lots

2007-2010 NRMCA/PCA STRATEGIC PLAN TO PROMOTE CONCRETE PARKING LOTS

MISSION: Maintain and Expand Markets for Concrete Parking Areas

GOALS:

Increase Market Share for Concrete Parking Areas from 9.1% (2005) to 15% by December 31, 2010
Develop and Maintain an Effective Delivery System (state, regional, local)
Ensure Regular and Effective Communications Among Promoters and Stakeholders
Provide Quality and Timely Support Materials and Services
Educate Stakeholders, Promoters, and Customers
Develop/Implement an Effective Measurement System.

2007-2012 WRMCA PARKING LOT PROMOTION INITIATIVE

VISION: ToMove From Opportunity to Significant Market Share Gain for Concrete Parking Lots in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP).

MISSION: To Expand and Profitably Serve Markets for Concrete Parking Areas Across Wisconsin and the UP Through Collaboration with Local, Regional, and National Stakeholders.

GOALS:

To systematically develop, over a 5-year period beginning in 2007, 80 inspired concrete parking lot contractors across Wisconsin and the UP
To train and support through the WRMCA Parking Lot Promotion Academy, 16 active WI/UP parking lot promotion teams annually, for a total of 80 active teams promoting concrete parking lots across WI and the UP by 2012
To employ fast-track prototyping for the Initiative, through the use of existing and proposed local, regional, and national programs and resources
To increase market share for concrete parking areas in Wisconsin and the UP from 5% (in 2005) to 10% by December 31, 2012.

Preface

The NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan for Promoting Concrete Parking Areas (2007-20210) provides a clear roadmap and national direction for promotion of concrete parking lots and many opportunities for the WRMCA to employ fast-track project prototyping for implementing its established Concrete Parking Lot Initiative (PLPI), through the use of existing and proposed NRMCA/PCA parking lot promotion programs and resources.

The purpose of this document is to initiate and ensure regular and effective communication between WRMCA parking lot promoters and stakeholders, NRMCA, and PCA, and to establish WRMCA’s PLPI as the strategic plan/effective delivery system for concrete parking lot promotion in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP).

The document also provides background and discussion points for a parking lot promotion conference call scheduled for Friday, April 20, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. Current call participants include National Resource Director (Midwest Region) Jon Hansen of NRMCA, WRMCA Promotion Director Cherish Schwenn, and WRMCA Promotion Committee member Phill Domask.

Electronic copies of this document (and supporting email attachments) have also been distributed to Glen Ochsenreiter, Senior V.P., Marketing, at NRMCA; Patrick Essie, WRMCA Executive Director; and Ray McVeigh, Executive Director, Great Lakes Cement Promotion Association.

PLPI Background

As part of its 2007 promotion program planning under the direction of WRMCA Promotion Chair Ed Gebauer … in the spring of 2006, WRMCA staff helped Statewide Promotion Committee Members develop a 5-year program designed to significantly increase market share gain for concrete parking lots in Wisconsin and Michigan’s UP by systematically developing, over a 5-year period, 80 inspired concrete parking lot contractors. The WRMCA Board of Directors approved the plan – called the WRMCA Parking Lot Promotion Initiative – in July of 2006. The Wisconsin members of the Great Lakes Cement Promotion Association agreed in October of 2006 to help fund implementation of the first year of the program (2007).

Ms. Schwenn initially touched base with Mr. Hansen regarding NRMCA participation in the PLPI at the NRMCA North Central Regional Work Plan Meeting in Milwaukee in August, 2006. A two-page overview of the Initiative is included in the email distribution attachments (PLInitiative.pdf) of this communication.

How WRMCA’s PLPI Helps Achieve NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan for Promoting Concrete Parking Areas Objectives & Strategies

Objective 1.2 – Beginning with this communication, the PLPI can be added to NRMCA’s inventory of current parking lot promotion program efforts (including strategies and tactics employed). Ms. Schwenn will help NRMCA expand its industry promoter and trained professional promoter inventory as WRMCA parking lot promoters step forward through the PLPI, including focused Associate Parking Lot Ambassadors (Phase I), energized Ready-Mix Producers (Phase II), and inspired Concrete Contractors (Phase IV).

Objective 1.3 – Ms. Schwenn will help NRMCA expand its trained professional promoter inventory as PLPI participants complete best-practices concrete parking lot promotion training at the WRMCA Parking Lot Promotion Academy. Graduates of the first Academy class will enter the marketplace on December 7, 2007.

Objective 1.4 – Ms. Schwenn, Mr. Hansen, and Mr. Domask will begin the process of creating synergy between the PLPI and the NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan during their April 20, 2007 phone conference call.

Strategy 1.1.2 – Ms. Schwenn and Mr. Hansen began the strategy of integrating the NRMCA National Accounts Program into the PLPI on August 29, 2006. They will continue the integration process during their April 20, 2007, conference call.

Strategy 1.1.3 – This electronic communication begins the process of engaging the WRMCA, its regional promotion programs, and the GLCPA in the NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan for Promoting Concrete Parking Areas.

Strategy 1.1.4 – The PLPI includes both conventional and pervious concrete as part of the Parking Lot Promotion Academy training.

Strategy 1.2.1 – Ms. Schwenn will provide a listing of current WRMCA Statewide Promotion Committee members after the committee meets on April 19, 2007. The WRMCA listing will be updated and forwarded to NRMCA as the PLPI enters phases I, II, and IV.

Strategy 1.3.1 – The December 6, 2007, WRMCA Parking Lot Promotion Academy will be the first of five annual best practices training events designed to create, over a five-year period, 80 inspired concrete contractors to provide concrete parking lot paving services across Wisconsin and Michigan’s UP.

Strategy 1.4.1 – Ms. Schwenn, Mr. Hansen, and Mr. Domask will compare the PLPI with NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan Goals, Strategies and Actions during their April 20, 2007, phone conference call and attempt to plug “gaps” between PLPI and the NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan.

Objective 2.1 – The PLPI includes statewide and regional concrete promotion organizations in Wisconsin and Michigan’s UP.

Objective 2.2 – Ms. Schwenn and Mr. Hansen create a natural and effective link between NRMCA and the WRMCA, providing superior communications, cooperation, and accountability for concrete parking lot promotion and promotion of other cast-in-place concrete markets.

Objective 2.3 – The link described in Objective 2.2 can best facilitate the establishment of a network in Wisconsin and the UP for “pull through” of projects from NRMCA’s National Accounts program. The link can also facilitate “pushing” appropriate local/state projects into the national arena. During their April 20, 2007, phone conference call, Ms. Schwenn and Mr. Domask will share with Mr. Hansen a proposed concrete parking lot stormwater management system demonstration project (Babcock Park, near the State Capitol), where testing opportunities may warrant the support and assistance of the RMC Foundation.

Objective 2.4 – WRMCA’s Parking Lot Promotion Initiative is in place and implementation of Phase I begins April 9. See Strategy 1.4.1 above.

Objective 2.5 – From 2007 to 2011, WRMCA’s PLPI will create 80 inspired concrete parking lot contractors, 320 trained concrete parking lot contractors and at least 60 energized and trained ready-mix producers.

Strategy 2.1.1 – WRMCA, its statewide and regional promotion programs, and GLCPA are already involved and committed to concrete parking lot promotion in Wisconsin and Michigan’s UP.

Strategy 2.2.1 – Ms. Schwenn and Mr. Hansen have created a natural and effective link between NRMCA and the WRMCA.

Strategy 2.3.1 – The linkage described in Objective 2.2 and Strategy 2.2.1 is established. The WRMCA contact listing described in Strategy 1.2.1 above will help in establishing a network in Wisconsin and the UP for projects initiated by the NRMCA National Accounts program. The listing will be expanded and update as annually through 2011, the WRMCA implements phases I, II, and IV of its PLPI.

Strategy 2.4.1 – Regional meetings in 2006 have initiated the strategic planning process for concrete parking lot promotion in Wisconsin and the UP, resulting in the development and implementation of the WRMCA Parking Lot Promotion Initiative.

Strategy 2.5.1 – Annually, the WRMCA and its GLCPA partners undertake strategic planning to balance market opportunities, statewide and regional promotional objectives, and resource requirements for the purpose of creating, expanding, and defending markets for ready-mixed concrete in Wisconsin and Michigan’s UP. Strategic Planning for 2008 WRMCA Promotion programs began with a Marketing Audit on March 9, 2007, and will continue April 19 at the WRMCA Statewide Promotion Committee Meeting. The association’s five Regional Promotion Committees will meet in April and May of 2007 to complete 2008 program planning. The WRMCA budgeting process requires promotion action plans be cast-in-concrete for Board approval in July … six months prior to program implementation. The ROI analysis described in the NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan for Promoting Concrete Parking Areas will be utilized by WRMCA members in their 2009 promotion program planning (March to June, 2008).

Objective 3.1 – WRMCA members and Wisconsin members of the GLCPA have identified concrete parking lots as a key target market and have been made aware of the NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan for Promoting Concrete Parking Areas through the WRMCA weekly e-zine, In the Mix.

Objective 3.2 – WRMCA will use its weekly e-zine, In the Mix, to update its membership and GLCPA members on the progress of the NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan for Promoting Concrete Parking Areas.

Objective 3.3 – WRMCA will use its weekly e-zine, In the Mix, to promote to its membership and GLCPA members the resources available at ConcretePromotion.org.

Objective 3.4 – The WRMCA contact listing described in Strategy 1.2.1 above will include email addresses unless specific promoters included in the listing determine to opt out from parking lot promotion-related electronic communication.

Strategy 3.1.2 – Ms. Schwenn will be attending the Professionals Promoters Workshop in Skokie and will include information about the NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan for Promoting Concrete Parking Areas and how it interacts with the WRMCA PLPI in her reports to the Statewide Promotion Committee, the WRMCA Board, the WRMCA membership (by including a workshop wrap up in the association’s weekly e-zine, In the Mix, and to Wisconsin members of GLCPA in the July issue of the quarterly GLCPA Update). Because WRMCA stakeholders are already on board, NRMCA and PCA will not need to budget time and resources for introducing the NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan for Promoting Concrete Parking Areasprogram at the 2008 WRMCA Annual Convention.

Objective 4.1 – Training in the use of the existing Concrete Pavement Analysis (CPA) software is a key portion of the best practices training at the December 6, 2007, WRMCA Parking Lot Promotion Academy. Will a beta version of the updated software be available for use on December 6?

Objective 4.2 – Providing Promotion Tools (and training to maximize tool effectiveness) is also a key portion of the best practices training at the December 6, 2007, WRMCA Parking Lot Promotion Academy. Will the ad slicks and the pitch-book and Power Point tools for specifiers be ready on December 6?

Objective 4.3 – Project-focused, local promotion by WRMCA Parking Lot Promotion Teams (Contractor/Producer/Supplier) is yet another key portion of the best practices training at the December 6, 2007, WRMCA Parking Lot Promotion Academy. Will the vendor be in place and project tracking data available for implementation by WRMCA Parking Lot Promotion Teams beginning in January, 2008. Have costs for the service been finalized? Will the program use digital distribution?

Objective 4.4 – The WRMCA will add technical staff in July of 2007, and will be able to support the central parking lot design assistance-service component of the NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan for Promoting Concrete Parking Areas to specifiers in Wisconsin and Michigan’s UP. But Ms. Schwenn will remain the key link/contact between the WRMCA membership, NRMCA, and for all things associated with the NRMCA/PCA Strategic Plan for Promoting Concrete Parking Areas.

Objective 4.5 – Ms. Schwenn will create concrete parking lot promotion case studies for WRMCA stakeholders and welcomes the chance to share member success through the Strategic Plan Success Story database.

Objective 4.6 – Through the link described in Objective 2.2 above, Ms. Schwenn will keep Mr. Hansen informed regarding the status/success of the WRMCA PLPI.

Objective 5.1 to 5.3 – The WRMCA PLPI utilizes existing WRMCA communication vehicles (newsletters, e-zine, web site, meetings, conventions programs, emails, faxes, direct mail) to educate and communicate with WRMCA stakeholders. The benefits of concrete promotion and the emerging opportunities in concrete parking lot promotion are frequent topics in these communication vehicles. Ms. Schwenn will continue to keep concrete promotion in the forefront of membership communication, will incorporate, as appropriate, key messages developed by NRMCA and PCA, and will promote and utilize tools for increasing the “environmental benefits of concrete IQ” among WRMCA stakeholders (including promoting GreenConcrete.info to WRMCA stakeholders when it is launched). As new parking lot promotion guides and model strategies are introduced, Ms. Schwenn will work with Mr. Hansen to incorporate them into WRMCA promotion efforts, including the Parking Lot Promotion Academy.

Objectives 6.1 to 6.4(Measurement) are the responsibilities of PCA and NRMCA. As part of the PLPI, WRMCA producer members, beginning May 1, 2007 will voluntarily track parking lot volume through an EASY FAX-BACK FORM, filled out by the plant dispatcher and faxed to the WRMCA office each time a WRMCA company provides concrete for a concrete parking lot. This basic reporting mechanism is fraught with problems, but provides a baseline (howeverflawed) to track the effectiveness of PLPI training over the course of its 5-year implementation. PLPI project-focused promotion tracking, which begins in 2008, can potentially provide more accurate measurement of PLPI program success and, whencompared with PCA quarterly market share reporting, may shed light on concrete’s share of the parking lot reconstruction market in Wisconsin and Michigan’s UP.