FaultlinePowersports Murrieta mkt480

Running head: Faultline Powersports: Murrieta 1

Faultline Powersports: Murri-eta

a project presented to

National University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the class of

Marketing 302A: Marking Fundamentals

Mary McCabe

By:

Christina Loyd

May 3, 2015

Running head: Faultline Powersports: Murrieta2

Abstract Whether you are riding supercross, motocross, or just riding with your friends, Southern

California is the place you want to be. Southern California has 7 major tracks and multiple

smaller tracks open every single day of the week. With the hours and locations of the tracks who

wouldn’t want to ride down there? The 7 major tracks are all in different locations ranging from

San Bernardino to Riverside to Pala. With all these places open to ride, people need to have a

store where they can shop for parts and accessories for their bikes, as well as have a good service

experience. I would like to introduce my business plan and marketing strategy to open up “Fault-

line Powersports” in Murrieta, California. This marketing plan for Faultline Powersports: Murri-

eta, will consist of the mission statement, SWOT analysis, competitive advantages, proposed

strategy, a description of the target market, a position strategy, and a short outline of the market-

ing mix strategies including the product, pricing, place, and promotion.

Mission Statement

Our mission as a retail dirt bike shop is to offer a full line of parts and acces-

sories, as well as great customer service for the motocross community. We constantly strive to

offer quality service and expertise to exceed our customers’ expectations. We provide an enjoy-

able working environment to our employees as well as a fun, laid back environment for our cus-

tomers.


SWOT ANALYSIS

"The ideal outcome of a SWOT is accurate data that can be utilized to create

a solid action plan for addressing a weakness and threats, and highlighting

or positively exploiting your strengths and opportunities” (Goodrich) The fol-

lowing is my SWOT Analysis for the marketing plan of opening up Faultline

Powersports located in Murrieta, California.

Strengths

History. One of the main key strengths of Faultline Powersports; Murrieta location;

would be that the owner has grown up in the motocross industry. Whether it was riding or going

to races, street bikes and Moto GP or motocross and Supercross, the owner of Faultline knows a

lot about each subject. Having history with the sport and with your own store means a lot to cus-

tomers. Faultline Powersports in the Northern California, Downtown Location has been around

10 years and the Hollister Hills location has been around for 8. The store being around as long

as it has and with history growing up watching the sport, you are able to have good conversations

with the customers whether they have a question or just want to talk. You have a set establish-

ment that keeps people coming back.

Relatable Employees. At Faultline Powersports, it’s not mandatory to ride or know

anything about dirt bikes as an employee when you first start, but most of the employees do ride

themselves or have some knowledge or basic dirtbike facts. While working at Faultline Hollister

Hills, you get the questions 2 or 4 times a weekend., “Do you ride” or “What kind of bike do you

have.” They usually aren’t disappointed if you tell them no, but they do get excited when you tell

them, yes. By riding or having knowledge about things other than parts; for example, the latest


Supercross, Motocross, or Moto Gp stats or winnings; you connect with the customers on a bet-

ter level. At Faultline Downtown, we have customers who come and sit for hours to talk about

the latest and greatest gear or news in the motocross world. By having a shop in Southern Cali-

fornia with relatable employees could boost customer service reviews and we will start to receive

more customers.

Distributor Accounts. The third strength of opening up Faultline Powersports Murri-

eta location would be a simple set up because we already have a good relationship with our

distributors. We order from Tucker Rocky, Western Powersports, Fox racing, and Parts Unlim-

ited just to name a few on a daily basis. Whether it’s on the phone or putting them in on the

computer we have to order new stock multiple times a week. Because we have a good connec-

tion and accounts with these dealers, it would be easy to open up a third location with them.

Weakness

Distance. With the other two Faultline locations being in Northern California (Hollis-

ter) the distance would be a major weakness for opening up a shop in Murrieta. The reason this

would be a weakness, would be because from Hollister to Murrieta it is at least a 6 hour drive

due to traffic depending which route you take. You have to take distance into consideration

due to the fact that if a problem in which a phone call couldn’t fix, you would have to wait 6

hours or a day depending on how soon the owner or manager could drive down to check on

the store.

Employees. Opening up a new store requires a new employee search. You have to

think about the employees you have at the moment. The main concern or question to think about

would be do you ask current employees if they would like to move to run the shop in Murrieta or


do you as the owner, go down there for a weekend and interview a new group of people. If you

have current employees whose goals are to move to Southern California anyway, this would

be a perfect opportunity. If no one wants to go, then you would have to search for at least two or

three new employees as well as a manager whom you could trust to watch the store while you're

away.

Reps. In this business you deal with multiple people. As I had mentioned in the

strengths we have good communication and relationships with our distributors. Between our-

selves and the distributors we have reps. An example of an outside sales Rep job is per Western

Powersports would be, “Secures new business within territory to effectively sell power sports

products to dealerships while promoting WPS house-brands and company objectives. Candidates

should possess the ability to effectively and persuasively communicate with a wide variety of

personalities working in a fast-paced, sales-driven environment. Highly qualified individuals will

have 3 to 5 years of outside sales or industry/dealer-related experience. If you’re a self-starter

who enjoys working independently, have strong presentation, negotiation, and closing skills, and

excel at finding solutions to varying customer challenges, this is an exciting opportunity to en-

hance your career!” (Western Powersports) At Faultline Powersports: Downtown and Faultline

Powerpsorts: Hollister Hills we have the same reps for each store. The reps we have are the

“Northern California Reps” meaning they do almost all of Northern California based off where

their company tells them to go. While trying to make Faultline Powersports: Murrieta happen we

would have to get new reps. Getting new reps isn’t the issues, the weakness here would be build-

ing relationships with these new reps.


Opportunities

Location. The location itself probably trumps all doubts about a shop. Murrieta is a

prime location for a shop. Murrieta is 60 minutes from Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino,

50 minutes from Milestone MX in Riverside, 31 minutes from Pala Raceway in Pala, 49 minutes

from Chauilla, and 26 minutes from Perris Raceway in Perris. Being centrally located between 5

of the major 7 tracks is a huge plus for a shop. All of these tracks are open almost every day of

the week. Some tracks, like Perris raceway, even have night riding. Whether people are going

South to Pala Raceway or North towards Glen Helen Raceway they would pass through Murrieta

located on the 215, being able to stop and go to the shop.

Population. Being in Southern California especially the Murrieta area you have more

opportunities to grow your customer base. The population in Murrieta and its two closest cities;

Temecula, and Menifee is 297,706. (Census Bureau) Where as the population for Hollister and

it’s two closest cities; Gilroy, and Morgan Hill is 129,126. With the bigger population and more

dirt bike riders you have the opportunity to build a better customer base.

Word of Mouth. “92 percent of consumers around the world put their faith in word-of-

mouth endorsements (including those obtained through social media) above all other forms of

advertising- an increased 18 percent since 2007. (Lamb) In the motocross industry word of

mouth spreads quickly whether its good or bad. By having outstanding customer service and a

good selection of parts in stock it gives the shop an opportunity to grow.

Threats

Established Shops. There is no doubt about it that with such a large populated area

that there are already a few dirt bikes shops within the area. The two major shops that people

would think to go to would be Temecula Motorsports or Chaparral Motorsports. One located in


San Bernardino and the other on the boarder of Temecula and Murrieta. This could be a disad-

vantage and a threat to opening up a new shop.

Being new. Being a new shop goes hand in hand with the first threat of established

shops. Being new might bring some hesitation to new customers. Although Faultline Power-

sports is popular in Northern California nobody would really know of it in Southern California.

Sometimes people are hesitant to try new shops or services especially service wise because they

don’t know how they work or the reputation of the mechanics.

Competitive Advantages

A few of the competitive advantages that Fautline Powersports Murrieta location would

have over other shops would be pricing, labor / service as well as great customer service. First

pricing, Faultline Powersports guarantees to have the best prices around. Unlike other stores in

the area we will price match if we are able to see an add or look it up on a website in real time.

We will do price match on walk it and phone orders, most stores in the area only do price match

for mail orders. The second competitive advantages would be a good labor and service area.

With most of the shops in Southern California being 2 to 3 weeks out on services bringing in a

new shop who could do service and labor as well would be a plus. The third competitive advan-

tage would be Faultlines great customer service. Fautline Powersports gets complemented on the

daily about their customer service and the enthusiasm of their employees. Having a shop that

people feel comfortable coming into makes it better for business to succeed. These are just three

things that will help Faultline Powersports succeed in Murrieta, California.

Objective


The main objective while putting together a marketing plan for Fautline Powersports to

be opened up in Murrieta, California would be to open up a shop that would surpass the excep-

tions of our customers while cutting down the competition of other shops. Faultline Powersports

currently has two locations in Hollister, California. Adding a third location in Southern Califor-

nia would help grow profit and recognition of the Faultline company. The main goal hoped to be

accomplished by opening up a dirt bike shop in Southern California would be to become one of

the better shops in the Murrieta area. To achieve this goal there are a few things that the com-

pany is going to have to do. The three things that would be the main objective and focus on

Faultline Powersports would be having better pricing than the other shops, good customer ser-

vice, as well as fast yet efficient labor work. To be able to have better pricing than the competi-

tors you have to think about what sells, or what you can get deals on through your distributor.

Another plus that could add to your business is price matching from legitimate sites. Many of the

shops already established will not do walk in price matching, if they do price matching it has to

be through their mail order service. If someone is in the store and wanting to spend money there

or has an intention to purchase other items as well, Faultline will be able to price match as long

as it’s not under cost. The second thing that Faultline strives for is good customer service. This

can be shown in multiple ways, from simply saying hello to helping them pick out a brand new

outfit head to toe because they just got a dirt bike. Good customer service can go a long way in a

new or existing business. Customer service is what keeps people coming back. Lastly we would

strive to have fast and efficient labor and service department. Most of the shops in Southern Cali-

fornia are two to three weeks out on their service schedule due to slow service or waiting longer

for parts. By having one or two guys who know what they are doing and can get it done in a

timely manner you would bring in more customers. At Faultline Powersports Northern California


Locations we have a mechanic who in most instances is able to turn around work the same day or

within 24 hours. If its anything more extensive then it’ll usually take a few days. Many cus-

tomers come to Faultine over other services departments in town due to labor prices and the

time it takes to get things done. By utilizing these three major objectives Faultline could succeed

in opening a new shop.

Target Market / Position Strategy

Target Market “Your target customers are those who are most likely to buy from you.

Resist the temptation to be too general in the hopes of getting a larger slice of the market. That's

like firing 10 bullets in random directions instead of aiming just one dead center of the mark--ex-

pensive and dangerous.” (Entrepreneur Staff) When thinking about a target market for Faultline

Powersports in Murrieta you have to take into the consideration of the population of that area and

the surrounding areas. You also have to take into consideration who really participates in dirt-

biking or street bikes. First our Target Market would be more focused on male customers. Fault-

line Powersports brings in girls gear and casual wear every year so that we have some in stock

although most our customers are male. While looking at the stats from professional Motocross

racing women vs men there is a substantial difference. In 2013, only 35 women lined up on the

starting gate compared to the 178 men who lined up. Second element to think of would be age

range. (Motocross Lucas Oil) Our main target age would be 18-50. The reason this would be the

main age range is because people between this age usually have a job. Of course we get kids

younger and older adults but the younger kids usually have their parents buying their stuff or

getting it as a gift. The last element of a target market would be job. You don’t have to be rich

necessarily to be able to ride dirt bikes or race but you do have to have a decent income. Of

course dirt bike gear and parts have a wide range of prices to try and fit everyones budget, but


even at that the lowest cost of dirt bike pants would be $79 and the lowest cost jersey would be

$25. Even though they do have these low cost options there are still more expensive gear out

there like Troy Lee design or Fox Air. Not only is there different pricing options in gear and ac-

cessories but you see pricing fluctuate between OEM (Original equipment manufacturer) and af-

termarket parts. There are multiple other things one could look for when trying to make a list of

the target market but gender, age, and occupation would be the three main ones concerning to

Faultline Powersports.

Positioning Strategy The way you position information or products is one of the

most important things your business can do. “Position the place a product, brander group of

products occupies in consumers minds relative to competing offering.” (Lamb) At Faultline

Powersports the sale floor would be set up in a way that would be easier for customers to find

what they are looking for. When you first walk into the store all of the boots are grouped with the

boots, all the pants and jerseys with pants and jersey, as well as all the helmets together. Not only

is it broken up by item it would also be broken up by brand. All the fox stuff would be together,

all the answer / msr gear would be together, and all the Troy Lee designs would be together.

Having similar items all together would make it easier for the customer to get in and get out if

they are on the go. This also helps if the customer has no idea what they are looking for. The

store set up would be easy to navigate helping out customers and the position of products

throughout the store.

Marketing Mix

According to MKTG Principles of Marketing, “The term marketing mix refers to a unique

blend of product, place (distribution), promotion and pricing strategies (often referred to as the


four p’s designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a target market.”(Lamb) The

first p is product. Products can expand more than just the actual product itself, it includes details.

When looking at mx gear you look at the whole concept not that its just gear. What brand is it?

What product line does it come from? The second p is place. “The goal is to make sure products

arrive in usable condition at designated places when needed”(Lamb) Faultline prides them self

on being able to have multiple things in stock based off location. Depending on if you are down-

town or at our store at the hills we make sure to have what we would need at each store. There

are some occasions where a person would like to order something. Depending on what wear

house it is in we should be able to have it within a day or two. Being able to carry a lot of items

would be excellent for a new store. The third P is promotion strategies. Promotion strategies in a

dirt bike shop are used often some times. There are many ways you can make a deal sound even

better. One example of promotion could be if someone purchases a pant and jersey combo they

receive a gloves at 40% off. Another promotion could be if you purchase $300+ worth of stuff

we throw in a free Faultline T-shirt. The fourth P is pricing. This can make it or break it for some

businesses. When selling items sometimes there are polices called Map (Minimum Advertised

Price) put in place by distributors. Once the product is in our store you are able to price it at what

you want although you cannot post it on social media or website if you are selling it under 10%

of map. If you do it violates it and your shop could get in trouble. Pricing has to be comparable

to other stores as well as some larger online retailers.

Implementation

Starting a business requires time and money. There are a few things Faultline would need

to think about before moving forward with any of these plans. The two main things would be lo-

cation as well as money. Faultline would be looking for an area that is big enough for a service


area, parts area, as well as multiple rows of clothing, gear and accessory. We would want a store

that was facing a street or a building that was able to be seen. There are plenty of commercial ar-

eas to choose from in Murrieta. Now that Faultline has an idea of what type of building and

space we would like the next step is financing. To start up this business you have to create a list

of items that you would need. We would need the building, clothing and accessories to stock,

and possibly new or addition staffing. There are a few types of loans through the Small Business

Administration. To get the application process started we would have to fill out the information

and apply. Faultline Powersports would be able to add a location to the city of Murrieta within

the next year to a year in a half.

Conclusion

Motocross is a livelihood down in Southern California with tracks 20-60 minutes apart

open every single day southern California would make a good home for Faultline Powersports.

Because of the outstanding customer service and pricing Faultline Powersports will blow com-

petitors out of the water. Marketing to adults who have a passion to ride we will always have a

good amount of gear and parts in stock. By Faultline Powersports having an owner and staff who

are dedicated and knowledgeable about motocross we will tackle any obstacles and make sure

the Murrieta location is a huge success.

Reference

Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Gilroy (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Hollister (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Menifee (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.


Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Morgan Hill (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Murrieta (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Temecula (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Entrepreneur Staff. "Target Market." Entrepreneur. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Goodrich, Ryan. "SWOT Analysis: Examples, Templates & Definition." Business-NewsDaily.com. N.p., 01 Jan. 15. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Lamb, Charles W., Joseph F. Hair, and Carl McDaniel. MKTG 8. 8th ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Motocross, Lucas Oil Ama Pro, Hangtown Motocross Classic, Ca Hangtown - Sacramento, and Round 1 Of 12 - May 18, 2013. WMX (n.d.): n. pag. 18 May 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.

Motocross, Lucas Oil Ama Pro, Hangtown Motocross Classic, Ca Hangtown - Sacramento, and Round 1 Of 12 - May 18, 2013. 250MX (n.d.): n. pag. 18 May 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Motocross, Lucas Oil Ama Pro, Hangtown Motocross Classic, Ca Hangtown - Sacramento, and Round 1 Of 12 - May 18, 2013. 450MX (n.d.): n. pag. 18 May 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

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