Business

1.0. Executive Summary
Does your whole body hurt often or do you at times feel sore from a whole days work Are you frequently stressed What you certainly need is Tom Merchants Massage  Body Spa. Tom Merchants Massage  Body Spa will now be a home based body spa and massage center under the ownership of Tom Merchants. Tom has been a reputed and professional therapist in the state of Texas since 1991.

He has run several various message businesses in Texas which have not been just consistently profitable, but most importantly meeting customer specifications. He founded the Irving Massage Therapy and later the Irving Wellness Center. Due to the harsh chemical fumes and smells usually found in the spas servicing nail and hair clients and the noises in town, Tom now chooses to professionally attend his clients from a quiet, conducive and relaxing home environment which ensures that he serves the clients with maximum attention and care. Tom merchants will specialize in Swedish massage, deep tissue, prenatal and pregnancy massage, sports and a wide range of spa body treatments such as sea salt glows, body polishing, sugar glow, peppermint-lavender, paraffin body fandango wrap and herbal body wrap. Having been an instructor in massage therapy and studied in both Kansas City Massage Apprenticing Collective (1989) and the Institute Of Natural Healing Sciences (1991), Tom remains the best professional and extremely skilled therapist and massage professional in Texas (Spafw, 2009). Toms chief goal is to provide executive tailor made services that relax the body, soul and the mind. To facilitate this, Tom Merchants Massage and Body Spa brings in specialized and unique combination of products and equipments that guarantee that the customer is refreshed and relaxed in unique and modern way that no other therapist has done (Spafw, 2009)

The objective of Tom Merchants Massage  Body Spa is to cater for every client individually by acknowledging that everybody has their unique sensitivities thus addressing these unique needs to satisfy the client optimally. The massage is custom modified and dependent on the customer and the body tolerances and specifications. This business plan brings out the new image of Tom Merchants Massage and Body Spa which clearly states the intention, cost effectiveness and profitability of a home based office over the former location.

2.0 Description of venture
Touch is a crucial part of human contact. It makes people feel appreciated and loved by those around them (Massageden, 2008). This is the basic principal underlying the Tom Merchants clinic. The products and services of the company have been designed in a unique way to offer massage and body spa services with a new, different touch in the industry that will not only be fulfilling to the customer but also lasting for long. For Tom Merchants, the most important thing is to relax and refresh the client with their professional massage services and also cater for their pockets by charging fair and affordable prices for their services (Massage Den, 2010).

Tom Merchants clinic holds that the customer is the king. Our mission is to establish a lucrative business by offering therapeutic massage professionally in a caring, conducive and relaxed home environment (Spadfw, n. d. ). The objective here is to always attend the customer and ensure that their massage is done just as they wanted it done. By listening to the customer first, the company has the goal of being the most effective therapeutic clinic not only in Texas but also in the United States of America in less than a decades time. Their massages have been designed to bring about improved breathing, relieve stress, encourage relaxation, improve the circulation of blood, lower blood pressure, relax muscles, help in managing pain, improve posture, strengthen the immune system, improve flexibility, relieve tension headaches and decrease depression. This is a composite function that many companies have not been able to bring together and do effectively (Massage Den, 2010).

One of the major uniqueness of the Tom Merchants clinic is its facility for online booking of business appointments. From the clinics website, clients are given an advantage over the other dealers in massage by creating a simplified, quick and reliable means of getting an appointment with the professionals (Spafw, 2009). Further, unlike other competitors whereby the payments have to be made through the dealers accounts or other means convenient to the service provider, Tom Merchants allows its clients to use a variety of methods to make payments for the services provided to them.

These include the MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express, Cash, Debits and Checks (Local Botw, 2008). Therefore the customer is given an opportunity to choose the most convenient means of making payments, at any time of the day.  The clinic also gives its busy clients the opportunity to get massage services right at their doorsteps Once the client has booked an appointment with Tom Merchants clinic and wishes to have their massage done at home, the professionals are all available to them after the usual working hours. Tom merchants attend home clients on week-days at nights and during the weekends depending on the clients availability (Johnson, 2008).

3.0 Industry analysis
The planned shift by the company to a home based operation will facilitate easier access by clients around Grand Prairie since they will not have to travel to downtown for their appointments. The Grand Prairie has been identified as a conducive and profitable target market since the residents there represent a large percentage of the clients who regularly make visits to massage therapists. In addition, since the residents of South Grand Prairie, Mansfield and Arlington in Texas often require short multiple sessions running for weeks or even months, a home based location could make Tom Merchants clinic more convenient for both day and night appointments. In addition, it is more lucrative because the clients who are not available during the week days can comfortably book appointments for weekends at their homes since the clinic will be running twenty four hours, seven days a week. The relocation to the home location is being done to allow for more customers since the home service slots have for a long time been more than the slots at the service station. The business exists to solely serve the customers at their pleasure and this is one factor that contributes to good relaxation during massage.

A massage psychotherapy business, like other businesses, is faced with stiff competition (Poston, 2009). There has been a recent wave of new entrants into the business over the last five years. This leaves us with only one option- we must be the best in the market to keep our customers coming back and bringing along their friends and relatives or colleagues at work. There are a good number of similar businesses, although they are relatively fewer in the whole of Texas compared to other states. Most of the body workers and therapists are concentrated downtown leaving an extremely lucrative market in interiors of Grand Prairie and its environs. By providing delivery of services to the clients homes, Tom Merchants is aiming at capturing this market segment which appears almost unexplored.

It is expected that in less than a decade the clinic will be able to extend its home services to other states and also provide exceptional services that will enable the clients enjoy the benefits associated with home services. Once the clients have fully appreciated the creativity behind the Tom Merchants services, this will not only draw more customers but also allow for the advancement of quality to customers.

4.0 Marketing Plan
Our first and chief plan in marketing our business is to market the proficiency and the prowess that we have over and above our competitors. Touch is one of the best tools for marketing and public relations (Fanuzzi, 2003). Our special touch is our strongest marketing tool. We are not selling any tangible product which we can rebrand or repackage because for our prospective clients to accept our services, it is our special and professional touch they are bound to accept. Our marketing plan most importantly is geared towards ensuring that we are different by being professional and creative, establishing rapport with our prospective clients and maintaining confidentiality about the information that our clients share with us, for example, the detail of their accounts, email addresses and residential areas which will be necessary for processing payments and visiting our clients for the home booked services. Our company has a strong policy that binds us to keep secure the clients information with us, whether online or offline.

Since our prospective clients are mostly in the group that prefers operating from around the comfort of their homes, we intend to maintain a record of our appointments and remind them through emails and phone calls about their upcoming appointments with us at least twenty four hours before the booked time. The Tom Merchants believe that there are three major items that determine the success of a company the location, the competitive strategy and the marketing mix (the four Ps of marketing which represent product, price, place and promotion) (Brown, 2006). The planned relocation therefore represents a principal marketing plan. By availing themselves to the local residents and creating awareness about the relocation, the business will simply appear as a new entrant in the market with experience and market information because the company has already exhausted the current market segment and moving to a new market segment is the best plan ahead.

Our competitiveness is the other aspect that makes us a company worth first selection. It is our capacity to offer an intuitive massage that senses the clients musculature, presence and posture that gives our company a hedge over competition. The years of experience we have had in the massage industry combine a profound knowledge in anatomy and kinesiology. This is what we brand with a keen sense of understanding and the knowledge gift of reading the clients needs that ensures that we are always on the lead. Over countless times, our company has received both written and oral recommendations from new clients such as a higher sense of healing or magic hands To run the business, we use specialized methods to conserve energy and pace appointments to ensure that we remain active and effective in our services all day long. This helps in striking a balance between professional and personal lives.

Although the move to a home office from the downtown site may appear a little unprofessional to some of our customers, it certainly will bring access to a new unexplored market while at the same time maintaining old clients by taking our services right at their doorstep. Vital to the achievement of the goals of relocation will automatically be maintaining referral with our former health care providers as well as establishing new contacts with others, for example chiropractors.

5.0 Production and operation plan
What we produce as the end product in our industry is a relaxed, refreshed and satisfied client. The means of achieving the end is simple but requires commitment and consistency in work. Tom Merchants will now be operating from home and apart from the adjustments of a new environment that has to come with it we remain effective and productive in offering excellent results just like in the past. On the new site, the companys main area of production will be providing massage and body spa services with a slight change in the operation. Main operations will be run from the home office but with an emphasis of the home appointments. To this end, the company has ordered portable massage kits and mobile equipments that are going to be extremely crucial in reaching out to the prospective clients. The company will maintain the existing relationship with its health care and massage product suppliers but will also need to blend in a new taste on the supply chain by incorporating the home customer made kits and equipments to be used for the new service. The major goal among others for the relocation is to gain a competitive advantage over the other companies by simply being available at the demand of the customer, with the right solution to their massage issues. Providing custom tailored services and appointments will go a long way in winning the confidence of the clients. More to this is that the production strategy of the company will be based on market research of the market segment and a careful consideration of the suppliers to ensure that the products purchased by the company are the best for massage.

6.0 Organizational plan
Tom Merchants Massage and Body Spa is a sole proprietor business that is owned by Tom Merchant who has been a licensed therapist in Texas State since 1991. He has run several various massage businesses in Texas which have been not just consistently profitable, but most importantly meeting customer specifications. He founded the Irving Massage Therapy and later the Irving Wellness Center.  Having been an instructor in massage therapy and studied in both Kansas City Massage Apprenticing Collective (1989) and the Institute Of Natural Healing Sciences (1991), Tom remains the best professional and extremely skilled therapist and massage professional in Texas. Tom Merchants specializes in Swedish massage, deep tissue, prenatal and pregnancy massage, sports and a wide range of spa body treatments such as sea salt glows, body polishing, sugar glow, peppermint-lavender, paraffin body fandango wrap and herbal body wrap. The planned relocation will be based at Tom Merchants home office which is well equipped with all the professional facilities and equipments just as the customer would want it placed.  Tom merchants will work along with his skilled staff in South Grand Prairie, Mansfield and Arlington in Texas. Their services will be offered throughout the week running during both day and night.  We have carefully considered the viability of our working hours through a thorough market research which observed that most of the body workers in Grand Prairie, Mansfield and Arlington do not provide weekday night services and we are anticipating a strong slot from operating on week day nights. The staff has a drafted schedule that spells out the working hours of every team since this kind of business will call for working in shifts amongst the staff to prevent excess fatigue which might affect the quality of services offered. There will be a staff team during the day at the home office and also in the field. During the night, there will be another different team in the same areas until midnight when the last team is expected to report and work through till morning. This strategy will automatically rule out any threats from the competitors and enable our business to thrive and increase productivity.

7.0 Assessment of risks
 Generally, massage therapy is a very risky free business, but safe on the clients and legalized by the government. The greatest risk facing the venture however are claims coming from customers which are most of the times undue or malicious. Such claims usually involve complaints of undesirable results after body massage. To handle this claim, our company simply uses disclaimers against any third party accusations since it ensures that the customers are in the right condition both medically and physically before proceeding to carry out a massage.

To many people, even the competitors, the move by Tom Merchants to a home office has drawn a lot of controversies, with some arguing that it is due to lack of sufficient facilities for our services. This has caused a great risk to the business since it could lead to loss of loyal customers. However, our clinic considers critics and propaganda a good foundation for proving ourselves professional and competitive in Texas.

Market saturation also serves the other risk facing this new venture. The therapeutic industry has been saturating slowly but steadily and competition has increased to new levels. There is a risk that before our company even establishes a proper footing in the home office, new other ventures will also be opening and filling the market. In a saturated market, winning the loyalty of a customer calls for extensive promotion, lower pricing, strategic positioning and extremely differentiated products. At times the cost of performing these promotional services may not be worthwhile.

The single question that has to be asked about a prospective therapist is Which health conditions would you consider preclusive of massage therapy and why (Bourke, 2010). The right answer to this question is There are certain conditions which must rule out massage therapy (Bourke, 2010). This is what this part addresses in relation to Tom Merchants Company which is purely therapeutic in massage. Massage therapy is among the safest types of therapy one can have. Still, there are a number of issues that clients need to be aware of which contain some risk factors (Scribd, 2009).

Sometimes, some forms of massage could result in some life threatening consequences to cancerous clients while at the same time others could bring about exceptional benefits to the same client (Bourke, 2010).  In response to this complexity, our company has taken a step in advising our clients to ensure their health conditions before choosing the type of massage they should undertake if they have had health complications earlier. Tom Merchant and his professional staff have also taken the step of consulting with professional medical providers who are familiar with the specifications of such cases before proceeding with a massage or any related therapy. The case of cancerous clients does not rule out massage therapy completely since it can be carefully handled, but there are other risks that are more likely than not in the process of carrying out a massage (Bourke, 2010).

A client having any open wounds or burns on the skin should consider rescheduling their appointments until the wounds and the burns are completely healed. In addition, a recent heart attack is the other risk area that could cause undesirable results because it is likely to exert so much pressure on the heart. Generally, ill health condition, especially involving the circulatory system is not desirable for massage, for example, deep thrombosis of the vein, blood clots or unhealed fractures (Bourke, 2010).

8.0 Conclusion
The move to a home office by the Tom Merchants massage and body therapy could be the best decision that the company has ever made. Although Tom Merchants admits that he might be faced with a few difficulties at the beginning, he believes that it will only take a short while to make the clients develop confidence and preference to his business. Tom also believes that moving to a home location will also give him more time with his family since he will be working from home. After all, Tom Merchants business still maintains its former clientele and business reputation which is only likely to improve but not deteriorate as a result of moving to a new home office.