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Business Plan for TruSpeed Performance
OWNER: John R Beasley
TruSpeed Performance LLC
8523 Mesa Dr
Sandy, UT 84093
801-243-7812
I.Table of Contents
I.Table of Contents...... 2
II.Executive Summary
III.General Company Description
IV.Products and Services...... 5
V.Marketing Plan
VI.Operational Plan...... 21
VII.Management and Organization
VIII.Personal Financial Statement
IX.Startup Expenses and Capitalization...... 41
X.Financial Plan...... 43
XI.Appendices...... 44
II.Executive Summary
TruSpeed Performance is an Auto Repair and Performance Company built on the basis of making our customers cars look good, run well and perform at their maximum performance without breaking the bank. We are dedicated to “wowing” our customers and leaving a lasting impression of our work. We target automotive enthusiasts ofany age but ages 16-40 as our primary market. We offer a wide range of products that are produced in the US, Asia, Australia and Europe. We also plan to produce custom products for rare tuners that don’t have a huge aftermarket support but lots of enthusiasts.
We feel that now is the opportune time to get into the performance and automotive industry. Technology is booming for vehicles and people are looking to customize their vehicles more and more. In the pages that follow we have included our research and the research shows that now is a great time for the automotive aftermarket.
The company is owned and operated by automotive enthusiasts, not suits with a big pocketbook and only corporate and business experience. We know our industry and we know what our customers like. We feel that by having this knowledge we are able to cater to our customers and give them the best experience possible. The industry is going away from a garage where people just drop off their car and trust their mechanic to make the best choices. People want to feel involved, informed and like their vehicles are customized to fit them and their personality.
We feel that in order to have the most up to date tools and best looking shopthat the budget we have for $110,000 is the best option. We feel that the things we have chosen to purchase for the businesswill help our customers to feel in control, and informed. In the pages that follow we will display just where all that money will go and how it will effectively allow us to serve our customers and be productive. We have also planned for a marketing strategy as well as a prime location that we feel will help to draw a huge increase in business. We also feel that by being able to accommodate our customers better with more services we will have less to turn them away for and more reason for us to be their one stop shop. By these methods we feel we will be able to not only pay back the money we are lent in a timely manner, but also be profitable.
III.General Company Description
TruSpeed Performance was started to change the face of the aftermarket and automotive repair industry. We wanted to give our customers the feeling of security and trust when leaving their vehicles with us. We give their cars the same care that we give our own vehicles.
TruSpeed Performance is built to be an honest, no hassle, low cost alternative for our customers' performance needs. We love to work on cars. We take pride in learning as much as we can and sharing our skills with auto enthusiasts.
We're not out to rip people off and cut corners. We work on every car with the same passion we have working on our own. We'd love to see our customers' tuner looking clean, driving fast, and expressing them and their style without breaking the bank.
We pride ourselves on being the guy that says, ya I'll make that part that no one else will make, or sure I'll take on that custom project no one else will touch. At TruSpeed Performance we're all about making our customers dreams and ideas into reality and doing it right. We won't recommend parts we don't think our customer needs or would really see a benefit from. We'll recommend options that we ourselves would want to try if their car was our own.
We feel that by taking a different approach to the performance world that we will be able to start a trend of trust and a great working relationship with our customers. We feel that by being honest and not trying to jerk customers around and keeping their interests at the top of our priority list that we'll have plenty of happy customers who will leave our shop with a lasting impression of our 110% attitude and attention to detail.
We feel that by starting this business with low overhead and coming from a couple of enthusiasts modifying cars in a garage to a world re-noun full service custom and performance shop that still treats every customer as if they were family, that we will have a competitive advantage over our peers.
IV.Products and Services
At TruSpeed we pride ourselves on doing everything right the first time. We aren’t going to hack job something or “ghetto rig” the customers vehicle, just to get it out of our shop. We practice the industry’s standard and original manufactures methods of repairs. We are an AllData Certified repair shop, which means we use the same information the dealers do to repair our customer’s vehicles. We are kept up to date on all the recalls and technical service bulletins released around the industry.
We feel that we can do the work that most other shops can with more attention to detail, and not as much cost. That is why we have set our rates the way we have. We strive to keep our prices less than our competitors and do a better job. We feel that too many dealerships today claim a high standard of excellence because they are the Original Equipment Manufacturer, but fail to do so. We have found that many dealerships cut corners or charge customers for services that are not needed. This is why we feel that by being honest and upfront we will have a competitive advantage, not only in price but in quality of service.We also sell a variety of aftermarket parts including some which are made only in Japan, Europe and Australia. We pride ourselves on offering the best options to our customers at competitive prices. Our labor and fees are as follows:
Luxury Make Labor Rate $60/hr
Standard Make Labor Rate $45/hr
Diagnostic Flat Rate $40/hr
Dyno Tuning Rate $250/hr*
Street Tuning Rate $100/hr
GM ECU Unlocking fee $150**
Custom Projects minimum $300 R&D Labor
*does not include dyno rental time
**excludes GM V6 Alloytec
V.Marketing Plan
Based on our research we have found that the number of small cars and light trucks in the state of Utah, both new and used, being purchased during the last few months of the fourth quarter of 2010 has gone up 6.27%. We have also found that not only have more vehicles of this type been purchased, but also more have been registered since last year. We have also found that shops are beginning to only perform the most basic maintenance or repairs; however they are not working on the custom tuners. Most of the race shops will only build the very expensive track only cars that the build from the ground up.
We have found that by being available to not only build and tune high performance vehicles, but to also be able to do the standard regular maintenance on vehicles, we are able to appeal to a broader spectrum of people. In Salt Lake County alone, 13,381 used vehicles were purchased in the fourth quarter of 2010. These vehicles, unlike the new models, aren’t covered under a manufacturer’s warranty anymore and people need a reliable place to take their car for service. With the elimination of some of the industry’s well known auto manufacturers, owners will need a reliable shop to turn to for their repair needs. With the market becoming smaller in choices of different vehicles people are looking for more ways to make their vehicle unique. By being versatile in not only helping customers to help their cars to perform better, we are also equipped to help their cars run like they are supposed to.
This strategy opens our market up. There are 1,932,492 of Utahans who registered their passenger cars this year who next year will be looking to get their emissions and inspection requirements taken care of to reregister next year that could be potential new customers for us. We will also be able to help the 1,929,033 of Utahns passenger cars and light trucks who registered last year whose vehicles registration will soon be expiring. A new study commissioned by SEMA indicates that aftermarket products influence about 1,180,000 new-vehicle sales each year.The automotive marketing research and consultancy firm AutoPacific collected and analyzed consumer data to quantify the effect that accessorization has on the sale of new vehicles. The resulting report, "Influence of Accessories on New-Vehicle Sales", details the findings.
Our specialty is performance. Of the new vehicles purchased during the fourth quarter of last year, 2,157 of those vehicles are a part of our specialty target market. Currently the performance aftermarket is growing significantly. With shows like Street Customs, American Choppers, and even the old reruns of Pimp My Ride and movies like The Fast and The Furious (newest of installment was released last month “Fast Five”), people are getting more excited about customized vehicles. Also the groups of people who are enthusiastic about certain vehicles and modifying them are growing too. Almost every weekend year round the SCCA hosts at least one autocross, rallycross, or wintercross event. Miller Motor Sports Park offers their Wide Open Wednesdays in which many cars that are street cars with a few modifications. The tracks and racing communities are booming and they need a reliable shop to help them meet their performance needs on a middle class wage. Most of these people are weekend racers who work all week. They aren’t professional racers with an unlimited budget. This is why we feel that our company is a huge asset to this economy and its auto enthusiasts.
With the price of gas consistently going up and down, but seemingly more ups than downs, many people are looking to get the best fuel economy out of a vehicle. Many people don’t want to sacrifice the feeling of a performance vehicle and are left with poor gas mileage. With our skills in tuning the modern computers in vehicles today, we would be able to help our customers not only get more power but also better fuel economy out of their vehicles. Many people today don’t realize the importance of their alignment and suspension in the drivability of their vehicle. We feel that by helping some of the tuners and everyday drivers fine tune their suspension as well that not only will we be helping their car perform better and their tires to last longer but we’d be helping making those vehicles safer on Utah’s crazy roads and our wonderful race tracks.
Some of the hurdles of being a new company in the automotive industry today are competing with the chain stores and the brand recognition that they already have built. The cost of marketing and getting our name out there isn’t going to be horrible, but it’s a necessary evil to starting in this industry. However, we feel that it can also be an advantage, not being a big name store with huge waiting lines and appointments. We can give our customers a professional impression by our methods and professional appearance and a homey feel with our honesty, sincerity, and genuine 110% attention to detail while working on their vehicles. We feel that our customers will leave with the feeling that they were treated fairly and that they got more than they paid for. We feel that this will be our biggest factor that helps our success. With a convenient prime location in the center of of Salt Lake City, we are right in the heart of our target audience. Once customers leave they will tell their friends and family of their experience with us, and by being near the two largest freeways in Utah our visibility will put our name on their minds.
What will set us above the rest of the performance and repair shops in the area? We have found that most of our competitors, for example SLS Performance, Solid Autowerks, and the few other performance shops in the area tend to be hard to find and tend to be very limited in the work they do or can do. We feel that by not only beating their prices and doing more, we can also succeed over them by being in a convenient to find comfortable location where our customers will feel happy coming to us again and again. The location we have chosen for the new home of TruSpeed Performance is just west of State Street, and just North of the 7200 S exit on I-15 it’s a very easy to find location, surrounded by similar businesses and right across from the local paramedic station.
Also what will set us apart from our competitors is our standard of excellence in not only our work but in education. We feel that our customer’s vehicles should be in the hands of a qualified professional who has not only taken the time to gain the experience but has also taken the opportunity to become certified to prove their competency. We will strive to make sure that all of our employees will make the most of their experience by gaining as many certifications in the industry as they can, including ASE, ICAR, MESA, etc.
We feel that most of our customers are looking for the best quality of product out there for their vehicle, but they are also concerned about getting the most for their hard earned money. This is why we strive to get the industry’s best products for our customers at the best prices that we can possibly offer them. Our customers are pleasantly surprised when we tell them our versatility in products we offer and to what extent we’ve gone to make sure we are able to get the best products for their vehicles at the best possible prices. When we find that a customer’s vehicle is lacking options with what we currently offer, we’ll do the research and put in that extra time to make sure that if there is a better option for them that we’ll get it. We are also working to produce many custom products for vehicles that our customers own and love but don’t have much of a support in the aftermarket at this time. We will go above and beyond doing research for our customers to help make their dreams come true with their vehicles.
Our customers have a large range of interests, backgrounds, ages, and incomes but they all come together under one common passion. We feel that because we also have this same passion that we can best serve their needs. Our customer’s passion for cars goes beyond all their differences and brings them together, and for this reason it will bring them to us. We have 16 year old kids who are so excited about driving and their first car that they have a ton of ideas for sometimes less supported older vehicles but have a decent income and not a lot of bills because they still live at home. We have older high school kids who may have newer cars or cars they have started to modify themselves but don’t have the means to do the big modifications we are capable and experienced in performing. We have broke college students who are on a very tight budget but throw their every last dollar not spent on school and living into their cars. We have older more established working adults who have a good income and are finally in a financial state where they can finish that project car they’ve had sitting for so long. And our final customer is the everyday working class individual who needs their car repaired, serviced, or inspected for licensing. Each and every customer has a unique need and a unique budget, but where we feel we are able to serve them better than our peers is that we spend the extra man hours to help make their dreams a reality. Hours that we aren’t being paid for, but spend because we get excited about the projects people bring in because we take them on as if they were our own project car.
Table 1: Competitive Analysis
FACTOR / TruSpeed / Strength / Weakness / Solid Autowerks / SLS Performance / Importance to CustomerProducts / Comparably / We import and get more unique parts / We don’t stock as many parts as our competitors yet. / They have some accounts we don’t and have some better prices on things because they’ve been in business for longer / Have huge line of products including some of their own / Having the parts on hand and not having to wait is definitely important to customers