ROUGH DRAFT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Snow-Be-Gone is a new product that is going to make the snow removal process relatively cheap and easy. The product is a much less strenuous way of removing snow than a shovel while maintaining a low price compared to snow blowers. The Snow-Be-Gone is intended for all homeowners, young and old, who live in areas that receive snowfall. More specifically, it is intended for the younger who are more technologically savvy and more into instant satisfaction vs. the older generations who need the product because of its ease of use and lack of strenuous activity. The sales of the product will be affected by environmental factors including how much snow falls in the area. Another worry for the product is the economic state the country is in right now. This could cause people to not want to spend money on a luxury product. Some of the goals that are associated with this product include, developing a product that actually gets the job done, penetrating all major retailers, sell 10,000 units for the first year and double sales annually, grow from a regional company to a national company and then to an international company, and lastly maintain superior customer service. There are specific strategies that will help maintain each of these goals. Many of the strategies include extensive advertising campaigns and gaining a lot of exposure. The product’s success will be tracked through using monthly revenue reports and customer surveys. Both of these will allow for the tracking of both financial success and consumer satisfaction. The Snow-Be-Gone is a product that is unlike any other product in its design. If market correctly and is able to meet the consumer, it should be able to find its niche in the snow removal market.

PRODUCT DEFINITION: The name of product that is going to be in production is Snow-Be-Gone. This is an invention that is going revolutionize the snow and ice removal industry by making it quicker and easier than ever to eradicate the snow and ice on homeowners’ driveways and walkways. The product is going to look much like a leaf blower in its physical form. This means that it will have a hollow tube that extends out of a backpack that is strapped onto the back. It looks much like a leave blower and acts like it to, but instead of just blowing out air to displace the snow, the Snow-Be-Gone is actually going to melt snow and ice in a matter of minutes. The product actual has a dual function to make this happen. The first function is blowing out air at extremely hot temperatures which will allow for snow and ice melting rather than just moving off to the side. The second function has to do with our patented snow-melting-solution which works with the hot air to speed up the melting job. This secret solution will be sold in gallon portions that are refillable. The backpack will hold our gallon solution, and the tube will have two switches that will serve the dual functions of blowing the hot air and distributing the solution. When the air switch is turned on, the hot air will blow out and vice versa with the solution switch. Buying salt to melt the ice will be a thing of the past because the Snow-Be Gone will melt it in seconds causing the sidewalks to be less slick and safer. There are a few features on the product that will help make the product safer and easier to use. Because the machine propels out extremely hot temperatures, which can be potentially dangerous if pointed directly at any person, safety is an issue. Due to this risk of consumers’ safety, the product will contain a safety switch that can be turned on so that there is no way to accidentally turn it on or have a young child mess around with it and get hurt. Along with the safety feature, the product will be battery powered which will allow for cordless mobility. The battery will be rechargeable which will hopefully please consumers because they will not have to go out and buy new batteries whenever the battery dies. The product is to be sold in kits which include the actual product and one gallon of solution to start off with. The kit’s anticipated total cost, both fixed and variable, per unit is to be around $100. Because of this, the anticipated price that the kit is to be sold at is going to be $125, a 25% markup. The snow-melting-solution costs will be anticipated to be $5 per gallon. The solution will sell for $20, which is also a 25% markup. Again, the solution is intended to be sold in gallon portions, and one gallon of it can melt 1,200 square feet. The average single car driveway is around 240 square feet, so snow-melting-solution will cover the average driveway five times. These prices because will allow the product to make a good profit on each unit sold while also undermining the cost of our snow blower competition which is selling anywhere from $200 per unit or above. Also, the addition of the gallon solution will be something that will keep the customers coming back which will keep a steady profit coming in rather than just selling one unit and never getting anymore business from the customers. The Snow-Be-Gone’s packaging and position are very important to the sale of the invention. The product comes fully assembled in a box with pictures of people demonstrating the use of the product. Inside the packaging there will be a user’s manual to help instruct the customers on how the product works. When customers think of the product adjectives like inexpensive, time saving, convenient, and efficient should come to their minds. The consumer will also hopefully think of the product as the best way to get rid of the unwanted snow and ice on their driveways and walkways relative to the competition. The positioning in the consumers’ minds will be vital to the success of the product.

ENVIRONMENTAL &
COMPETITIVE ANAYLIS:
The Snow-Be-Gone is a highly unique and relatively inexpensive product compared to some of the competitors in the snow removal market. It is efficient in the way that it melts the snow and ice. The Snow-Be-Gone is convenient and is a major time-saver. The use of the Snow-Be-Gone is helpful to customers with back problems that become especially expose when doing the strenuous work of shoveling snow. Since 80% of people suffer from back pain (source), the Snow-Be-Gone is extremely helpful in that it melts the snow and ice without any strain on the lower or upper back. The Snow-Be-Gone will also cut down on the 3000 reported finger injuries annually caused by snow blowers. (source) The production of the Snow-Be-Gone product will be positioned our within an hour radius of the Cincinnati market. This will give the product access to the markets of northern Kentucky, southeastern Indiana, and southwestern Ohio. The target market would be all homeowners, young and old, of areas that receive snow showers. It would not target business or commercial use. The Snow-Be-Gone targets two generations: Generation Y and the Baby Boomers. The product positioning for Generation Y would focus on the technological aspect of the product. Generation Y are generally thought to be more into and open to technology than other generations. Some would even argue that this generation is the most tech savvy relative to the other generation. The Snow-Be-Gone allows for instant satisfaction which is another thing Generation Y is very much into. They want to be satisfied instantly without out having to work hard for the end result. Generation Y is also a proponent of convenience and increased efficiency. The second target focus of the homeowners is the baby boomers. The main product positioning for baby boomers is that the product will be easy and not strenuous to use. This product will serve as a convenient alternative to the strenuous and time consuming tasks of plowing their driveways. Many of the older generations physically cannot go out and plow driveways so this product would be a perfect alternative for them. Even though the product is unique in its own sense, it still has several different competitors in the snow removal market. The first major competitor would be snow shovels. Snow shovels can range anywhere from 10-40 dollars. While snow shovels relatively low costing, they are highly labor intensive. The other competition that the Snow-Be-Gone faces is the snow blower. Snow blowers come in two types: the single stage and the two stage. Single stage snow blowers are less powerful but easy to handle. They are about the size of a walk behind mower. Single stage snow blowers can range anywhere from around 200-700 dollars. Two stage snow blowers are more powerful but are also relatively expensive. These can range anywhere from 700- 1200 dollars. They are also heavy and bulky, but ideal for larger driveways. There are some economic and environmental factors that could really affect the success of the Snow-Be-Gone. With the recent economic downturn people may be less willing to spend money on a product that is considered a luxury. Because of this the Snow-Be-Gone must focus on positioning itself as an investment that results in cost savings over time. It might be somewhat expensive now but overtime it will save much time and money. Another important factor to the products success is that it is dependent on external and environmental factors. These external and environmental factors include the length of winter for the area, the frequency of snowfall, and the amount of snowfall for the area. If an area does not receive much if any snowfall then the product would be pointless to purchase. These environmental factors will result in volatile sales cycles dependent on things outside human control.

GOALS & STRATEGIES:
Goal: The first and most important goal for the Snow-Be-Gone is to ensure that the product serves its purpose better than any other alternative out there.
• The product must be scientifically engineered to make sure that all its components work to their highest potential.
• The product must be field test to ensure that it actually does what it is intended to do.
• The snow-melting-solution must be tested to make sure that it works well.
• A guarantee will be put on the product to ensure consumers that this product works and gets the job done better than any product out there.
• There will be competitive demonstrations showing off the products power vs. snow blowers and snow shovels. Goal: The second goal for the product is to penetrate all of the major retailers primarily: Lowes, Home Depot, Sears, Kroger Marketplace, and Walmart.
• To achieve this goal, the Snow-Be-Gone must be displayed at home and lawn care trade shows. This will allow for the product to demonstrate its uniqueness, efficiency, ease of use, and functions in front of the executives of these major retailer in hopes that they will be interesting in selling the product.
• Meetings with heads of these retailers will be set up in order to push the product and get their interest. The product and its functions will be demonstrated in front of the executives to show exactly what it can do.
• The Snow-Be-Gone will pursue strategic partnership through revenue share agreements to initially get our product in retailing stores. This means that the major retailer that is in the partnership will buy the Snow-Be-Gone for the price it is sold for and then put it on the shelves and sell it for whatever they like. Then at the end of the fiscal year, the retailer in the strategic partnership will a percentage of total profit from the Snow-Be-Gone and solution.
Goal: The next goal for the Snow-Be-Gone is to sell 10,000 units in the first year and then to double its unit sales every year after.
• The launching of regional advertising campaigns will allow consumers to access information on the product and make the Snow-Be-Gone a more popular name with consumers. The advertisements will include television ads, newspaper ads, magazine ads, info-mercials, free internet ads and billboards. The channels most likely to reach the product’s target market include channels like HGTV, news channels, ABC, NBC, sports channels because the people who watch these channels tend to fall into the categories of homeowners and people who might be interested in the product.
• Once again, the attendance of trade shows will help to promote the product and increase the unit sales which will help achieve this goal as well as the “penetration of major retailers” goal.
• The product will have superior customer service. This is actually a goal in itself and will be explained later.
• The product will participate in marketing promotions such as a buy one Snow-Be-Gone kit and get another gallon of the snow-melting-solution free. This will save the customers twenty dollars on buying a refill of the solution which will hopefully entice them to buy a Snow-Be-Gone kit. The product will also have a sweepstakes where customers have chances to win certain prizes if they purchase a Snow-Be-Gone and get a winner inside the box.
Goal: The product will be anticipated as being a regional company for the first year and then, as revenues increase, move gradually toward national, maybe even international sales.
• To eliminate transportation costs for the first year of production, the product will first focus on selling to consumers within a one hour radius of our production center in Cincinnati, Ohio. This will save a lot of money in the early stages which will allow for the costs to be low and hopefully revenues to be higher.
• The use product promotions, strategic partnerships, advertisements, and demonstrations will help to saturate the local market.
• The selling of the product via the internet will help the Snow-Be-Gone expand outward to areas that are not local to the production point of Cincinnati, Ohio.
• When the unit sales goal for the first year is met, the product sales will increase from a one hour radius to a five hour radius. This will be made possible by attending local trade shows and searching for new retailers through the product’s current network.
• As the product continues to hit its unit sales goals year after year, the sale of the product will expand outward year after year. New production factories will be made around the world and transportation costs will start to be in play as the product grows and expands. The repeated process will continue until the goal of becoming an international company is met.
Goal: The customers’ satisfaction is first priority.
• There will be a 24/7 customer service department that will allow the customer can contact a service department at anytime in order to ensure they get help if needed.
• Demonstrations of our product will be provided at our retailers’ facilities to show the effectiveness and ease of use of our product. This will allow customers to see the product in action before they buy it in order to make a more educated decision on spending the money.
• A five year warranty on the product will be offered to ensure that if something goes wrong the customer will be provided with a new product or their money back. Along with this, there will be a 100% satisfaction guarantee on our Snow-Be-Gone solution or the customers’ money back. This will make customers feel safe and trust the product being sold.

CONTROLS:
There are a few key ways for the Snow-Be-Gone’s success to be tracked both in terms of financial and customer satisfaction. One way for the product to be monitored would be to keep a monthly sales revenue report. This will show exactly how much revenue is being brought in from the sales of the product. In order to keep track of the customers’ satisfaction and needs, a survey will be mailed to them after a few months of using the product. Some of the questions could be, “Did the product, Snow-Be-Gone, successfully satisfy your needs?”, “Would you continue using Snow-Be-Gone during the winter season?” By doing this, one will be able to see exactly what the consumer liked and disliked about the product and service. This will allow for changes to be made if necessary in order to ensure that the consumer is satisfied with the product.