Ricardo Greenlawns business plan by Joseph Joe Ricardo of Orlando

Ricardo Greenlawns Business Plan by Joseph Joe Ricardo of Orlando

Business Plan for Ricardo Greenlawns

A. Business Description

1. Business Mission Statement

Give the customer high quality, low priced lawn care service. “Don’t sweat your

lawn, we’ll sweat for you”

2. Summary of Business

Our business is providing landscape services to Central Florida. Our main

concentration will be in the Southern Orlando area (32824, 32837, & 32821) with

plans to expand throughout the Central Florida regions. Our business is to maintain

lawns on a steady basis, maintain trees and other plants, as well as re-sod lawns.

3. Legal Description

Limited Liability Company

4. Competitive Edge

Providing low priced and high quality service to targeted market within the

community. A direct mailing target market campaign designed to grow the business

in specific neighborhoods.

B. Management

Joe Ricardo, CEO, 31, B.A. in History, is working on M.B.A. with a

concentration in Entrepreneurship and Marketing, as well as seven plus years of

experience in the landscaping business.

C. Marketing Plan

1. Industry


Our company provides landscaping services in South Orlando and there are

numerous opportunities for expansion throughout Central Florida.

2. Potential Customers

Potential customers are those of other landscaping companies who may be paying

too much for their current service. Other potential customers are those who are tired

of maintaining their lawns but have either not seen the right marketing material or

price.

3. Benefit of your product or service

Low price and quality service, month to month contracts and pay as you go

options in the winter months (October to February)

4. Geography

Our company currently services several areas. Most of our customers are located

in South Chase, our second highest concentration is in Deerfield. Our furthest

customers to the west are in Vizcaya (four customers) as well as a commercial

property close to the area. We also have customers to the South East in Meadow

Woods and BVL (approximately 10).

We need to first focus on building up our South Chase and Deerfield customer

base. We also need to build up our Vizcaya customer base to make our service to that

area efficient and profitable.

Phase I: (summer 2015 to summer 2016)

a. South chase, Deerfield, Meadow Woods, Pepper Mill, Ginger Mill

b. Whisper Lakes, Williamsburg, Hunters Creek, Falcon Trace.

Phase II: (summer 2015 to summer 2016)


a. Dr. Phillips, Bay Hill, Windermere, LBV, Winter Garden

b. Belle Isle, Taft, BVL (possibility but not necessary)

Phase III: (summer 2016 or 2017)

Commercial: Sandlake, Downtown

Downtown: Baldwin Park, Lake Eola, Thornton Park, College Park, Winter Park,

Maitland

Phase IV: (summer 2018)

East Side: Avalon Park, UCF, Semoran, Conway

West End: Metro West, Ocoee, Clermont

Phase V: (summers of 2018 and beyond)

I. West

a. 1. Osceola County, 4. Polk County

b. Hillsborough County, Pinellas County

II. North

a. 2. Seminole County, 5. Lake County,

b. Sumter County, Marion County

III. East

a. 3. Brevard County, 6. Volusia County

b. Indian River C., Saint Lucie C., Martin C.

c. Palm Beach County

5. Advertising & Distribution

Target advertising campaigns through direct mailing by specific neighborhoods.

Each direct mail piece will cost the company approximately $ 0.20; so for every $


100 spent on direct mail marketing we will be able to reach 500 potential customers.

We can order the postcards from GoPrint.com for approximately $ 115 for 5,000

postcards. Out of these 500 customers we should expect at least a 1% return or 5 new

customers, which will equal $ 375 in revenue per month. A 2% return will equal 10

new customers or $ 750 in revenue per month. A 3% return will equal 15 new

customers or $ 1125 in revenue per month. A 5 % return will equal 25 new customers

or $ 1,875 in new revenue per month. After the first few campaigns we will be able to

better ascertain the actual return on such marketing investments.

We will also use lawn signs at designated intersections in areas we are trying to

market our services in. While this may not be as effective as direct mail it should still

help bring in its fair share of new customers as well.

We will also eventually use web marketing by utilizing Google Adwords as well

as Facebook advertising. We can also utilize social media marketing by using

Hootsuite to feed several social media sites at once such as Facebook, Google+,

Twitter etc…

6. Public Relations

The company will use Edward Bernays strategies of marketing to our consumers

that they need our service due to convenience and affordability.

7. Pricing

In our first target market South Chase we will offer monthly service at $ 70 per

month in the Summer Season from March to October and a pay by the cut option for


the Winter Season from November to February. Our normal monthly service in

surrounding areas will start as low as $ 75 per month.

For Dr. Phillips and other affluent neighborhoods we will offer our services for as

low as $ 95 per month.

8. Sales and Credit Policies

Our prices are not designed to be negotiated down more than $ 5 or so, as we

cannot afford to give away jobs. We can negotiate within a reasonable price frame but

will have to accept no sale if the potential customer does not value our service at our

already low prices.

D. Operations

1. Employees & Compensation

Each crew will consist of a crew leader and a laborer. Each crew will maintain

service in a specified targeted area to reduce costs of operations, increase productivity

and increase revenues and profits.

The crew leader will make approximately $ 400 per week (with the possibility of

eventually making $ 450 to $ 500 salary). The laborer will be paid by the hour ($ 10)

and will make approximately $ 350 to $ 400 per week. At 75 to 90 cuts per week at $

75 per month one crew should bring in revenues of $ 5,625 to $ 6,750. After paying

out $ 1600 for the crew leader and $ 1400 for the laborer in a given month the

company will retain $ 2,625 to $ 3,750. After factoring cost of operation at between

20 to 30% each crew should be brining into the company; $ 1,968 to $ 2,812 in

profits per month (after decreasing 25% for operational costs).

2. Vendors and Outside resources


We will use vendors such as Landscape Supply, Home Depot and other local

landscaping and home improvement businesses for our supplies. We will use Costco

for our gas saving needs as they are the closest wholesale company near us, the next

closest is Sam’s Club. We will also use online/e-commerce sites such as Craigslist,

eBay and Amazon to find discounts on products we use.

3. Accounting and Bookkeeping

The company will use an accounting program (i.e. Quickbooks) to keep proper

accounting records.

E. Risks

The company risks losing current customers who are not willing to convert to

monthly service. We will help curve this loss as with every new monthly customer or two

we will attempt to convert an old customer to monthly service, if they are not willing to

convert we must count our losses and continue to gain new customers willing to utilize

our service on a weekly basis during the summer months.

F. Financial Management Plan

1. The plan is to reinvest 15 to 20% of revenue into direct marketing to increase our

customer base. We should expect to spend anywhere from $ 250 to $ 1,000 per month

depending on revenue, which will allow us to direct market to 1,250 to 5,000

potential customers each month.

2. Money must also be set aside for expansion of the business, for the purchase of

another truck, as well as a zero turn lawn mower, a backup walk behind mower, an

edger, weed eater and blower.

3. Pro Forma Profit and Loss Statement


4. Balance Sheet

5. Cash Flow Projections