Running head: HIGHER GROUND PARKING ENFORCEMENT

Higher Ground Parking Enforcement
Harold Dimanche
Strayer University MKT/500 05/23/12

Executive Summary
Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE) is a parking enforcement company to maintain and regulate parking throughout the city, residential, and private areas. Higher Ground will collaborate with property management companies in the Atlanta area, and provide parking enforcement at no cost to the property management company. Higher Ground will serve Fulton County Georgia, and the corporate office will be located in the City of Buck Head. Higher Ground will enforce parking in a plethora of ways by implementing a boot system in compliance with city and/or state ordinances, as well as foreign markets to further establish worldwide presence. Immobilization of vehicles will be the main income forming focus of the company, but parking lot attendees as the secondary form of income. There will be a total of 17 employees to run the everyday business of Higher Ground. There will be 5 employees that will be designated as a parking attendant for the parking lots we acquire as a company. All the employees will be license as an immobilizer to immobilize vehicles in the City of Atlanta. Financing for startup will be solely on the owners of Higher Ground, and private investors they acquire through startup of a business. First year income with a projection of 700 boots per month will be a minimum of $630,000 annually. The boot cost per Atlanta city ordinances will be $75.00, per day. The Parking Lots will also generate income at approximately 10 parking lots with an average of 43 spaces at a daily rate of eight dollars will generate about $41,280 annually. Our projected annually expenses will be close to about $190,000, with a net profit of about $481,280. The annual expectations were set at minimal levels, but expectations are too far exceed expectations. Our target market is very general and with the population of drivers in our designated service zone will be able to maximize on profit. In this executive summary as well we explain the competitors different advantages as well as link the competition to different avenues of our business. Our SWOT analysis has shown our strengths and weakness towards pushing our product and maintains our financial infrastructure.

Higher Ground Parking Enforcement
Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE) is an entity of Higher Ground Development which has been in business since January 12, 2012. The Parking Enforcement Company is set to erect on April 16, 2012. Higher Ground is to provide parking enforcement to the City of Atlanta, and private residential, and commercial class A high-rise buildings. Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE) provides immobilization of vehicles, parking control, towing, and gate access repair, as well as the removal of abandoned vehicles and vehicles with five or more outstanding citations. The Parking Enforcement Unit will accomplish its goals by insuring that appropriate enforcement is carried out vigorously, yet fairly and efficiently. Parking regulation enforcement includes general enforcement of metered and time zone areas, residential permit parking, disabled access restrictions, street sweeping, commercial and other restricted zones. The issuance of citations provides an incentive for citizens to comply with regulations, which in turn improve accessibility, increases parking availability and encourages the efficient movement of traffic.
Mission Statement
Higher Ground is a public service organization working to improve parking access, availability, traffic safety, management, and maintenance while encouraging the efficient movement of traffic throughout the city and privatized areas. Foreign Market A foreign market for parking enforcement can be implemented worldwide especially within countries with a wide population. One market we would like to closely build a relationship with would be Shanghai in China. According to the Shanghai Municipal People Government Order (SMPGO) on enforcement, “Most police officers are in the office which is why we use and depend on traffic cameras to enforce traffic and parking violators” ( SMPGO, 2005). We will definitely adapt to the changes of a foreign market. For instance we would use bike boots to strap on to bicycles. This would lower the cost of the vehicle boots, plus will be easier to tote, due to the heavier traffic jams in Shanghai. As the worlds most populated city we will be extremely successful, simply because the numbers prove us correct. The more people in the city will equal to more drivers, which will than equal to more parking violators. Marketing Plan In our marketing plan we have expectations of targeting the potential audiences that will indeed benefit from our strategy of parking enforcement. Our first potential audience to our marketing plan is the property management company. The property management company owns the property that we would want to acquire as a potential asset. The property management company needs us to control parking spaces for their residents and visitors. The residents of the property we will be serving will like their parking spaces monitored. They need the added sense of security that there parking is secured and even during a late night they know they could park in there designated space. Parking garages or the specific term of “Ramp Managers” is the main parking entity in a busy metropolitan downtown area. They need us to insure parkers are paying when using their parking garages, as well as repair the gates as they become damaged and broken. Visitors and employees will all benefit from the parking enforcement for each of their parking needs. Marketing Segmentation BusinessDictionary.com (2011) defines market segmentation as the “process of defining and sub-dividing a large homogenous market into clearly identifiable segments having similar needs, wants, or demand characteristics.” Segmentation allows businesses to break down and identify the market segments that they are able to provide their products too. A market segment is a group of people, businesses or organizations who share wants or needs. Our market segment would be relative interest, simply because we are providing a need to patrons needing to safeguard their assets. All our customers are in need of parking for their business and they need they share the same interest of making profit. Parking is the focal point of a major city development to attracting tourism, and business to the city. As per the Federal Highway Administration, licensed drivers have increased steadily by an average of 1.6% since 2006 (FHA, 2011). Target Market
Our target market is anyone 16 years or older with a valid permit operating a motor vehicle in the Metro Area. According to the FHA it states, 16-20 drivers will increase at a more rapidly rate than their older driver counterparts (FHA, 2011). This fact is beneficial to our business simply because younger driver’s choice and decisions are extremely poor. We are not trying to take advantage of younger drivers, but facts say that they will be the most drivers on the road. This means that they will be our main target since they will mostly be occupying the roads and highways. As per our residential contracts they fall in this category, but older adults from 25-30 and 35-40 will be our target market since they will occupy the residencies we will be monitoring.

S.W.O.T Items | Strengths | Weakness | Opportunities | Threats | Policy | Growing awareness of transit and Active transportation initiatives | Demand is greater than supply in certain areas downtown | Potential for vacant lands in the downtown area to be developed for parking function | Developments outside the downtown core offering free, convenient parking | Operations | Parking prices are very reasonable.Good cooperation between downtown agencies to address parking needs | Enforcement, while dedicated, allows offenders to beat system; avoid tickets or not paying full fines | Parking fees can be restructured to improve management of existing parking facilities | Lack of supply in some parking areas result in poor perception of management and Higher Ground parking |

The SWOT analysis above does not list all of the issues in the SWOT, but the ones mostly requiring our attention to promote efficiency in parking. I listed two main categories to provide different perspective in our policy and our operations. Market Position Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE) fits into property managements, business owner, and public city official’s agenda. We offer the most innovative parking services at a reliable price. We are a newer company which means we have not formed bad habits, nor developed manipulation techniques against the violator. Most parking companies do not offer parking garage gate repairs, at HGPE we offer the gate repair at no extra charge. We confidently hire the best technicians that are skilled in all assets of parking garages, and city code enforcement. We strive to compete at a high level in such an aggressive market; we will never forget the purpose of our business and the relationships with the clients. The metropolitan area of Atlanta, GA has had major growths in their population from the year 2001-2009 (AJC, 2010). It is a major hub in entertainment, social networking, and business to business ventures. Downtown and Midtown areas in the City of Atlanta are essential to our business, Buck Head, In- town, Piedmont, Grant Park, and Brookhaven neighborhoods are definitely in our scope as future projects.

Product Offered The product that Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE) is offering is the Physical employee monitor of parking facilities, and being qualified as a designated able body gate repairer for malfunction of parking gates. The employee will be able to use many tools to enforce parking in client’s property. They will have the capability to boot vehicles i.e., immobilization of vehicles, also be able to monitor parking traffic through different devices. The parking employee is the product we are offering to our clients to assure their parking needs. Our characteristics of our product include the vigilant employee, highly trained, knowledgeable of parking policies and procedures, and provide excellent customer service. The product we offer to the clients remains are greatest asset as our business thrives on the product. Training is another characteristic our employee brings to the table, which will turn out crucial in crunch times when decision making needs to be done. The employee will remember his/her training and be able to apply the corrective measures of their duties. Service Offered
The service component of the product is the most important part of the product to say the least. The service is what drives the product to flourish, as well be useful to our clients we are offering service too. What we envision our product to bring us to a class above the rest. Customer service will be our focal point, training patrons and clients on potential hazards, and recovering of losses due to non-payments. Gate repair is another service we provide from the service stand point. We will fix all gates to ensure loss preventions and non-payments. By keeping the employee versatile he will be able to provide gate repair, as well as parking enforcement. We will demonstrate people skills to enhance our employee into being able to control situations as they may get out of hand. Communication with the patrons and client is truly something we plan or have to keep open due to the nature of the business. Product and Depth
The width, or breadth, of a product mix is a measure of how many different types of products the organization offers. Each type is called a product line, and every line is distinct from the others in terms of its use by customers and what benefits people seek from it. For example, a fruit-processing company might sell lines of jam, juice and pie fillings (Handlin, 2011). To enhance the firm's overall value to its customers, marketers could add width to its product mix with a new line of fruit-based sauces. In the parking industry we cannot add width to our product which is personnel. We can expand our development into owning parking garages, or real estate development which we are an entity from in the first place.
The depth of a product mix refers to the number of distinct items in a product line. For example, the fruit-processing firm's line of pie fillings might include apple, cherry and strawberry; it could be deepened further with sugar-free varieties. Adding depth to a line is a common means of attracting customers with different tastes and better satisfying existing customers' desires for variety (Handlin, 2011). This strategy can also help the firm take advantage of economies of scale in production, distribution and marketing. Our depth and scale in production, distribution and marketing doesn’t apply to our company. Marketing our services to clients, and renew contracts with current clients remain our top priority in the longevity of the company.
The value of an organization's product mix to its customers is often centered on three product characteristics: quality, functionality and style. Quality refers to the brand's dependability or durability. A product's functionality is a measure of how effectively, safely and conveniently it performs and delivers promised benefits. Style is based on cosmetics and aesthetics, like color, texture or smell. Improvements on any or all of these dimensions can better satisfy value-conscious buyers and significantly enhance the firm's competitive strength (Handlin, 2011). Core Business
Core business may change by different factors, one factor is the economy and how it it changes. High gas prices will force patrons into the mass transit system, which will ultimately affect our core business of parking enforcement. Our business will still be successful due to the fact we do have the gate repair side of our business. Market changes are part of everyday life and business need to have the tools to protect them in case the market fails due to the ailing economy. Branding Strategy
A global brand is defined as the worldwide use of a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or combination thereof intended to identify goods or services of one seller and to differentiate them from those of competitors (Cateora, 2002). Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE) domestic and global branding strategy consists of: * The brand is more than just a logo, but how they view HGPE we will first build a view where parking is simple. HGPE is Simple. No need for the difficult parking structures and rules. By using HGPE for your parking needs will be met SIMPLE * The brand should promote the image you want people to have of the system, such as the customer service image. We deal with customers on the everyday basis and due to our complicate nature of enforcement; customer service is the channel that will deliver HGPE to new heights. When you are enforcing parking customers and parkers usually park near the closest spots. Some spots might be reserved or may be in use by another source. Human nature will force them to park in that spot, which will eventually be the cause of our enforcement. We do have a business that is driven by customers so giving the best service is important to the nature of our business. * It should reinforce the positive aspects of the system – “Free and Easy Parking”,
“Visit Downtown and Parking Is On Us”, Etc. * Use consistent signage and other branding tools to “tie the system together” when you use the proper signage it will register in the head of customers and patrons to be able to link it to your brand. The Global strategy will work due to the fact the branding views of HGPE in the domestic market will form a widespread outcome in the type and quality of business of Higher Ground Parking Enforcement.
Pricing Strategy Our pricing strategy is pretty simple; it will run on different aspects and will be formed by different violations that have occurred. We will coincide with the ramp managers to effectively come with a pricing strategy that will be ideal for consumers and patrons, as well as provide ease of mind. Our pricing strategy reflects our branding strategy, we offer free 1-hour parking, and our rates are the most competitive rates in the city. We provide early bird specials; as well provide the sense of excellent service to our clients and patrons. Customer service is where we excel due to the nature of our business.
Our pricing strategy gives the consumer the benefit of the doubt in all cases; even the violators receive a chance. Parking Tickets have been setup to provide the customer with optimum time to pay fines and provide different violator levels to ensure that compliance is met through our enforcement practices. In our signage we provide clear expectations on parking as well as an information center in order to aid the patrons in not receiving a fine/or boot. Many different ways we are here to help the consumer become better parkers in a heavily metro area. Our brand stands behind our mission statement, and Higher Ground Parking Enforcement stands behind the community. Successful branding also creates “brand equity” – the amount of money that customers are willing to pay just because it’s your brand. In addition to generating revenue, brand equity makes your company itself more valuable over the long term (Yip, 2002). In the case of our business we would like the brand equity, to be long term with the companies we have under contract. Since our services are a free service we would like to be retained as a major asset to some of these real estate development companies, and property management companies.
So our pricing strategy remains to be fair and all retrospect cater to the consumer for the consumers is where our incomes are primarily coming from, as well as the ramp managers of garages. Distribution Analysis
As per Higher Ground Parking Enforcement our distribution would be more tended towards our products. We use a plethora of products for parking enforcement and our parking garages we monitor. One of the products would be a “Boot”, which is intended to immobilize vehicles for payment for a number of infractions. Next would be a pay station we will setup in the parking garages for collection of payment from parkers. The distribution we would use would arrange from a numerous variety of wholesalers.
A channel we would use to make our life a little less complicated is e-commerce, we would use e-commerce to setup our infractions for consumers to pay. We would use a website like a PayPal in order to provide ease of payment to consumers. If not PayPal several different pay options would be implemented for the consumer. Our retailers we service would mostly be part of the property management company we provide service too. Our distribution solely still remains in the business and new ventures we pursue for the successful running of our company. Push and Pull Strategy
We use a little bit of both of the push and pull strategy for our business to succeed; the push strategy is used for the consumer. We push the consumer on the importance of parking in a busy metropolitan city, such as Atlanta, Ga. We inform them that parking is the basis of the city operation and that parking is indeed a priority to the homeowners and there guest. The value is what we label the parking space as, and then transfer to the owners as a means of income. Income is the main basis of business, which business is what we all strive for at the end of the day.
The pull strategy is the return effect of our push strategy; when we push the customers on the importance of parking, they will then pull for our services as parking becomes compromised. Parking spaces as they begin a problem for the client they will want our services in enforcement of their assets. Retailers and homeowners are in a real inconvenience with parkers that miss-park, and unpermitted parkers. Distribution Strategy
Our distribution strategy as stated above will be perfect for our company, since our product is the physical monitor. The tools that he uses would be distributed through our designated wholesalers. The distribution strategy fits the product and service. The target market is where the strategy is originated from, and is the basis of the service that we provide.
Our target market is licensed drivers in the state, and we use that statistic in determine our distribution strategy. We often compare the amount of properties we have to assemble a strategy of success with our distributors. Like stated above we will use e-commerce to handle most of our distribution needs, and to aid consumers in paying for infractions. Our distribution strategy is one of our main factors in achieving success, and it is a critical in our marketing plan. The tools we need to make our marketing strategy successful fully depends on the distribution of products that we have, resources and the tools needed to provide optimum service to our clients. Advertising Strategy
Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE) has an advertising strategy more complex to the core of our business. First, advertising on a level that will align with our marketing strategy is imperative to the focal point of our business. We advertise our services to the property managers, ramp owners, and retail district developers. Our marketing strategy is to provide a parking experience that will benefit the consumer and owners listed above. We will use different aspects of advertisement to lure these potential clients in allowing us to provide a service to them that will benefit their business in a plethora of ways.
Our advertising strategy is innovative in many ways, when we secure our contracts with our clients we will build different avenues to let patrons know of our service. Our main income comes from applying parking enforcement that we provide. One gesture we have is “Getting towed cost” when a vehicle gets towed it provides a great disservice to patrons and costly at many situations. Time consumption is also a big ordeal when it comes to towing a vehicle; immobilization service is much cheaper than the ordeal of a tow. Our marketing plan aligns perfectly with the advertising strategy, because it provides a service to our clients and the convenience to their patrons. Effectiveness of Advertisement
Our main objective in measuring advertising effectiveness is to determine the effect of each advertising campaign from the results of our measuring and compare it with its price. Then we can decide which campaigns bring the best value for the money spent.
It is also important to realize the various factors influencing advertising. The medium, ad copy, the format, audience – all of this affects the final success of the campaign. Therefore, it is necessary to judge the effectiveness in context. Before we start, we need to decide which criteria we are going to monitor. These will differ with respect to the medium used, our possibilities, and the purpose of the ad (Vlach, 2012).
Examples of possible criteria: * customers tell how did they learn about us (visitor experience) * increase in sales of the promoted goods (i.e., enforcement products) * more calls to our toll-free line * calls to a campaign-specific phone number * specific codes applied by customers to receive offered discount (i.e. early bird parking specials) * redeemed coupons or vouchers that would give out free or ½ price parking * increased visits on our website * other metrics from our website statistics (i.e. request a boot)
It is best to combine several criteria, because a customer can for example either contact you by calling your line or by sending you an email. Also, accept the fact that we are not going to be able to measure everything (Vlach, 2012). Customer Satisfaction
We will measure customer satisfaction with a Tip-line; the tip line will allow the customer to provide feedback in important areas. The feedback then will generate an email along with a free hour parking. This will engage customers to provide feedback in any circumstances. We also will provide a dispute line, which will allow customers to dispute an immobilization of a vehicle. This will allow satisfaction as well as a clear explanation on the reason their vehicle was immobilized. In the enforcement business good feedback from customers is essential in our business since we tend to deal with pretty negative situations when it comes to immobilization, or any enforcement handed down to patrons . The central focus of the gaps is the customer gap, the difference between customer expectations and perceptions. Expectations are the reference point’s customers have coming in to a service experience. Perceptions reflect the service as actually received to the customer.
We will address the gaps of customer expectations and experience as needed. Our model is to provide service to the client. Our perceptions from the customer will only be negated by the client. We hold a stance of proper service to our client and the patrons of our clients. Due to the nature of the business perceptions of our service is viewed negatively like previously stated above often comes out negative, but we counter the bad expectations from the customer with excellent customer service. By implementing our desire to provide excellent customer service to patrons, we win both the fight and the war. Experiences from prior situation’s and closing that gap have been difficult, so as our market plan states we have a priority of service to uphold to our clients.
While many companies are keenly aware of the value of excellent customer service, few can accurately quantify its direct impact on their bottom line. On the face of it, the problem is rather simple. Most businesses understand that turning the customer experience into an emotional engagement strengthens their brand and results in more loyal and satisfied consumers. However, most companies do not measure their effectiveness in converting each opportunity into revenue, nor do they measure the overall cost of poor customer service. This is the only binding effect we provide that will allow us to stand above the rest, without placing our standards of service in question.
Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE) is at the focus point in exceeding industry standards, quality of service, and client retention. In the need of question of our service we are happily to provide a number where we could be reached to state claims and discrepancies of their experience. Competition
Competition stands in front of a company like Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE), mainly due to our experience starting up a parking company. Our experience as young professionals in an industry dominated by professionals that have been around for years and lack of properties under our belt possess threats to our company. We are knowledgeable set of guys with research and development tools to build a company of virtue and success. Our biggest competitor is Park Atlanta, and they mainly enforce city wide parking. They issue tickets for metered parking and use the metered parking revenue and citations that they use to support the infrastructure of the city (AJC, 2010).
The different between the competition and our company is that we specialize in the private sector, and our main competition specializes in the public sector. In most cases we will never cross unless purchased from as a contractor for the city government. But there are different companies that are like us just not a whole as a full service parking company like HGPE provides.
Our company is designated to become a leader in the parking industry by applying innovative and cost effective techniques that will suite the clients and patrons of the establishments we service. In retrospect to the companies providing such changes to their business we will be known to be the innovators of parking in the Metro Atlanta area. Most trends in the parking industry are not used and the customer service is very poor in referring to the situations that arrive from enforcement of vehicles. During the difficult time that your vehicle is immobilized we provide a customer dispute line were they are granted the opportunity to dispute their fine and find out the reason for citation within 24 hours of violation. We bring the customer service as our main weapon in attracting potential customers and patrons of our services Macro-Environmental Analysis
Our macro analysis of the environment really affects us legally. In the form of legality we need to observe measures placed by the cities, and state government. This poses a problem but could also be very beneficial to us as we have rules that could aide us in the process of the booting and enforcement process. Those will be the only problems we run into in the legal form. The technical form not so much other than server issues for payments. Parking Trends
There are many different trends that the city of Atlanta uses for their parking, and variety of ways to obtain documents of parking by visiting ParkAtlanta.org. This site is used to pay infractions and violations of city ordinances by your vehicle. The city uses this system to obtain payment for their vehicle and it is what most violators use to pay their fines. Some Central Parking garages use the retail pricing strategy of rates ending in $.99 (Park Atlanta, 2011). Traditionally, garages post a seemingly random rate that round to a simple dollar amount once the 4% City of Atlanta sales tax is applied. If you drive an Oversize vehicle or SUV, you have probably been charged a $5 – 10 surcharge by at least 90% of garages. Looking forward, you can expect to pay more. The average Oversize surcharge jumped to $10 and a number of garages started charging $11 in 2009 (Park Atlanta, 2011).

Summary In the paragraphs above I have explained to you the reader the market plan for HGPE. In the market plan above we have explained the company background, mission statement, foreign market, and our market plan to implement. Parking is a focal in the development of major cities as an attraction for tourism and business. Our market plan provides an idea where we aide in the progression of the city by enforcing parking and protecting ramp managers investment. When providing different distribution strategy`s HGPE will use different forms of e-commerce to setup different channels of business as stated above. This marketing plan will take Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE) to the next level in the parking business, by providing a variety of outlets and solutions for the clients and patrons for their parking convenience. HGPE listed our target market and who we plan on our company use for business and profit. Our expectation for our business and vision is to be premiere in the Metro Atlanta area with multiple contracts to push our business towards government contracts. This marketing plan opened my eyes to the value and hard work a business needs to do in order to achieve success. There has been plenty different aspects in creating a market plan and the diligence it takes to put your marketing plan into action is on another scope. This marketing plan is something one day that I plan on incorporating in my own business to achieve financial gain and notoriety as this market plan is for the parking industry. In finally, Higher Ground Parking Enforcement (HGPE) is destined to make an imprint with the local consumers as we place the client and patrons first in our business.

References
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Market Segmentation (2011), Business Dictionary, Business Dictionary Online, viewed April 21, 2012.
Philip R. Cateora & John L. Graham (2002). International marketing, 111th Ed, John Biernat, pg.367-368
David Aaker & Erich Joachimsthaler.“The Lure of Global Branding,” Harvard Business Review77 (November/ December 1999): 137-144
George S. Yip. Total Global Strategy II (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,2002), chapter 10.
Federal Highway Administration as part of the Department of Transportation (2011). Traffic and Parking trends in the near future, Article Retrieved at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/travel_monitoring/tvt.cfm
Mira Vlach (2012). Project managemement, and the solution to marketing brands. Article; Services section. Retrieved May, 21 2012 at http://www.mira-vlach.com/
Atlanta Journal Constitution (2010); Parking problems downtown face a major vote in city ordinance laws Atlanta to reclaim 4 million. Article; Department of Transportation, retrieved from http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/atlanta-eyes-tighter-parking-1423065.html
Park Atlanta (2011). Parking trends from 2009-2011 in redevelopment zones in downtown district.
Park Atlanta (2009). GA-Section on county ordinances. Section 150-88 of the City Code of Ordinances. http://www.parkatlanta.org/booting.html
City Council (2009). County ordinance vote. Retrieved on June 10, 2012 from citycouncil.atlantaga.gov/2010/images/adopted/0301/10O0281.pdf

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