Strategic plan part I
Shane Bayless
BUS/475
November 7, 2011
Mark Guberman

Strategic plan part I Creating a hobby store in today’s environment will not be easy. The Internet offers products at lower prices than what can be offered at a local store. The hobby store I would like to open up would specialize in model trains. The vision of this store will be a family ordinated environment which people enjoy creating a model railroad system. This store will need to provide excellent customer service and advice to encourage people to come into my store and pay more than which they would need to over the Internet. Defining the business The train store that I am proposing to start is one that promotes family values and traditions. This hobby store would help people new to creating a model train system. Classes or groups could be offered on the weekends to help encourage people to come into the shop and learn more about the model train world. The mission statement for this store will be, to provide excellent customer service to the customers, helping them learn about the model train world and encourage people to come into the store and make them feel welcome and to encourage them to bring in family and friends.
Future of the store The model train store that I want to create will encourage family’s to spend time with each other and build a model train system that will be both inventive and fun to play with. This store needs to be honest with its customers and provide information to customers to encourage them to want to come into the store and share ideas with people in the store. The store personnel will need to know about the model railroad world. The store in the future would need to have parts from actual railroads and maybe have an old railcar in the back where a model railroad system could be built. This could allow customers to play with this system or watch it as it runs. This hobby store will have people available to help customers build a railroad system and have weekend seminars to help teach people how to create their own model railroad systems.
Guiding principles or values The guiding principles for this business are to encourage people to build a model railroad system that fits into a person’s life. Not all people who walk into the store will desire a large model railroad system, some may just want a small system that can be broken down and reassembled. These people need to be encouraged to have extra track and cars to have a good time with their model trains. Some of the principles dealing with this store will be to treat customers like family and be honest with the people which enter the store. Do not ignore customers which only want to build a small system. Speak with them and understand what they want desire for a model train. The culture of the people entering the store will be people looking for a hobby or already have a model railroad system in place and just want to add to it. They last part will be the more serious hobbyist and will be more likely to be a return customer.
Strategic direction Knowing the where the store will head in the future helps develop a plan for the future. The store needs to maintain customer relationship to help build the future of the organization. To build honest relationships with my customers will be a necessary part of the future of the hobby store. I do not plan on building a chain of stores just one store that people will enjoy visiting and bouncing ideas around about how to build a model railroad system to fit into their lifestyle. Encouraging family values people will be more willing to introduce family friends to my store. I want the store to have railroad artifacts that will help set my store apart from other hobby stores. This store will specialize in model trains and be able to offer more support to the model