Case Study

Local Business Case Study
Introduction to Business 2














Submitted to: Rob Grieve
2006 04 18

Submitted by: Lukas Marsalek










Executive Overview
Superior Propane needs to come up with a way to regain sales in the Bancroft area. Our group needed to find a way to help them get back the market they have lost after closing down their office in the area a few years ago. We have decided to have them open up new office space in downtown Bancroft. The office will hold one receptionist and one salesperson, as well as a few items from their product line. We also thought that the company could try and get an agreement with a contractor in the area to put Superior products in the houses and cottages that he is building.

Introduction
Superior Propane used to have an office located in the Bancroft area, but closed it due to slow business. Superior has to compete with a locally owned propane business in the area called Kelly’s Propane. People in the area would rather support a local business than a national company, such as Superior. Since Bancroft is becoming even more popular for it’s Muskoka like cottage country Superior needs to get back into the market and help increase their sales in the area. In this case study we are coming up with a way to help them regain market share in the Bancroft area. If we begin to get the sales generating again we will position more help in the area. Our challenges with this case study are coming up with ideas to overcome low sales in the area as well as not spend an abundant amount of money while doing so. We also would like to come together with a contractor in the area to find out whether or not it would be possible to make an agreement that the contractor install Superior products when building. A limitation that we may run into is money. We need to be able to put out the money for an office building in Bancroft as well as pay a salary for both a receptionist and a sales representative. To get the information we needed for this case study we spoke with Steve Barber who is the Marketing Manager for the area. We met with Steve at the Belleville Superior office on many occasions to discuss the project. We also took a good look at the Superior website, www.superiorpropane.com, to gather any additional information.

Body
To start this process we went to Superior Propane and met with Steve Barber he gave us an idea to work with. After talking with Steve we have decided to find an office/storefront in the Bancroft downtown area. We found a great location that we think would be appropriate for Superior. We then need to decide who will run the office. The less people working for us at the time being will help Superior save money, we will only have one person working in the office and we will have one sales representative. If we need to increase our employees as business picks up then we will do so as needed. Our office will include items from the Superior product line, such as Premier Gas Ranges, Direct-Vent Wall Furnaces, Gas Water Heaters, Visual Flame Vented Room Heaters, Gas Stoves and more. We believe that if the customer has easier access to our services they may be more open to using our services. The spring and summer would be a great time to open the new office because there will be lots of tourists and people who are looking to buy property in the area. If they know that Superior is accessible in that are as well as many other areas they may decide it’s best for them. We also would like to be able to set up an agreement with a contractor in the area to put in Superior products in the homes, cottages and other buildings that they are building. This would only work if the houses they are working on or are going to work on are going to run on propane. The contractor could also suggest the idea to a client to have them put superior into their plan. We talked these ideas over with the group and decided these ideas would work best. These are all important ideas we think Superior could go through with and the ideas will help boost their sales in the area.
This picture shows the building and store front that we had in mind for the Superior office in Bancroft. This building is located in the downtown area of Bancroft.

Conclusion
After thinking this case study over, we believe that our ideas would work best for what is needed. The ideas are simple and be followed through with in the very near future. The cost of our idea is minimal and can most likely be put into perspective by Superior. Our recommendations are that Superior think the ideas over and use them as best they can to help increase their sales in the Bancroft area.