Marketing Plan for Cintas and the Healthcare Industry
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to describe the business of laundry and the rental uniform plan for the healthcare industry through Cintas Corporation.

Product life cycle in the case of Cintas is slightly different. There is not a new product when we are speaking of laundry and the rental uniform. Cintas has been providing this service for a number of years when Doc Farmer started the business known as Acme towels. A product life cycle "describes the stages a really new product idea goes through from beginning to end so for Cintas its finding new customer’s to service that they have not focused on in the past. The product life cycle is divided into four major stages: (1) market introduction, (2) market growth, (3) market maturity, and (4) sales decline. The product life cycle is concerned with new types (or categories) of products in the market, not just what happens to an individual brand." (Perreault, McCarthy, 2010).

Market Introduction
The 4 P's are used in the introduction stage. The product, laundry service to hospitals, surgical centers and health care providers, is being introduced. During this time branding and quality is established; Cintas has their brand and quality out in the uniform rental market, but they will need to show they can provide a sanitary environment when they also launder for meat processing plants, utility workers, trash companies and pet food producers. Cintas will need to be aware of lack of trust to provide the sanitary conditions necessary. The contracts Cintas present when the time comes need to lock in pricing but be flexible with the customer until the trust is built. Profits are expected to be low during the introduction of hospital laundry; however once they have customers in place more customers will trust the conditions of the plant. High cost will be assumed as no other laundry will be able to be processed at the same time as hospital laundry. Usually, multiple customers’ laundry is laundered in the same batch and then is sorted by electronic bar code. The nature of the hospital laundry will not allow for this and increases the production cost.

Growth Stage
During this stage there is an increase in the demand. Hopefully, the hospitals that the sales teams have brought in will be part of large groups such as Allegiant Healthcare. If Cintas begins with one small hospital with a small contract and the job is done according to contract and guidelines the demand will increases by adding other Allegiant hospitals. For instance in the Omaha there are three Allegiant hospitals and a large Cintas plant. Cintas may need to add a third shift for a quicker turn around on the laundry. "The innovator begins to make big profits as more and more customers buy." (Perreault, McCarthy, 2010). The growth of this new market can lead to more medical groups and surgical centers.

Maturity Stage
In this stage the strong growth of sales lessens. A competitor, such as Aramark or G&K may have come out with a similar process. The competitors "may have skipped the early life cycle stages." (Perreault, McCarthy, 2010).
The promotion cost more than likely have risen during this time. The EPA has very strict guidelines that have a direct impact on cost; also if you need to add a 3rd shift there will be more wear and tear on the machinery in the plant. More hours on the machines require preventative maintenance to be performed more often which will lead to cost of labor, tools and repair items. At this point the primary objective is to defend Cintas as a reputable brand that stands by their contract and their ability to provide uniforms that are sanitized, returned in a timely manner to the customer. Cintas will need to focus will be on maximizing the profit of hospital laundry.

Decline Stage
New providers will be coming into the market; some hospitals have gone with on-site laundry or disposables. Profits become marginal at best. Not only are competitors providing similar services but there are new options (i.e.: disposables). Cintas will have a few options one is to maintain the product and reduce the cost of promoting through the sales team and try to stand on word of mouth and reputation. During this time it is a true balancing act; If making it known to more of the healthcare industry were to drop too much sales will not increase and become stagnate.

Product
Cintas will compete with G&K and Aramark the most in the Omaha area. Cintas will have to rely on their; respectable reputation/strong market recognition, diversified customer base, strong network across industry, broad product portfolio, capital resources.

Product Features Cintas offers externalized linen laundering service. They are able to provide weekly or bi-weekly pickup of the laundry. Hospitals are around the clock business and need 24 hour phone service, Cintas is able to provide that (the Omaha location would be adding a 3rd shift for the healthcare industry services thus allowing the 24 hour phone service).
At Cintas there is personal selling, from the start the sales person invites the healthcare administrators to tour the facility and show the features of the plant. Once there is a contract the customer is assigned a Service Manager and a Sales Service Representative (the driver assigned to the route). If the sales team focuses on their Pre-existing customers in the healthcare field Cintas as a name will speak for itself.
Due to the fact that laundry is done in bulk they can offer a bulk discount for facilities supplying more than “X” amount of pounds per week. Word of mouth business from other hospitals in the same group will show if Cintas is handling the accounts in the correct manner.

Pricing Strategy
As stated before Cintas is a respected and reputable company; their customers are willingly pay a higher price for Cintas service. They are known for exceeding their customer’s expectation and have pricing in place with contracts and service agreements. The price points have several factors such as environmental regulations, increasing unemployment rate and increasing energy costs. In definition, "determine the price that customers are willing to pay for the product and then work back to determine how to make and deliver a product that can deliver on customer expectations profitably. This is a type of pricing that focuses on the value that customers see in the product, rather than only the costs." (www.nd.edu)

Conclusion
Provide laundering services for non-uniform linens in the health care industry, and offer external laundering services to hospitals or clinics who do not rent/purchase uniforms from Cintas. Satisfy the current customers while also expanding customer base in the healthcare industry and meet the growing need in health care industry. By providing this Cintas will help the hospital avoid dependence on uniform supply.
"For health care facilities that are currently maintaining on-premise laundry, Cintas’ externalized linen laundering service is the most reliable, cost efficient, expedient, and professional among other companies that are also offering similar services, because we have a well-established delivery system and technology that is not only eco-friendly but also satisfies our customers’ requirement of high sanitation standard." (Pam Rogers Cintas Marketing)

References http://www.nd.edu yahoo search engine
Perreault, William D., McCarthy, Jr E. Jerome. (2010) Essentials of Marketing The McGraw-Hill Companies.