Business Plan: The Covid Challenge Commercial Cleaning

This business plan outlines the establishment of a commercial cleaning service, focusing on providing high-quality and affordable cleaning solutions to both private and commercial spaces in the UK. The plan encompasses a detailed industry analysis, including SWOT analysis and Porter's Five Forces, to assess market dynamics and competitive pressures. It highlights the unique selling proposition (USP) of the business, emphasizing the use of advanced digital technology, including AI, for efficient and hygienic cleaning services. The report covers service descriptions, competitor analysis, risk management, marketing strategies, financial projections, and management team structure. The business aims to leverage technology to gain a competitive edge, build a loyal customer base, and maximize profitability within the growing UK cleaning industry. The plan addresses potential risks and provides contingency measures to ensure the long-term sustainability and success of the venture.

The Covid Challenge
Business Plan
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Business Details......................................................................................................................3
Location..................................................................................................................................3
Industry Analysis....................................................................................................................4
Service description.................................................................................................................5
USP and competitor analysis..................................................................................................5
Risk and Contingency Plan....................................................................................................8
Sales and marketing strategy..................................................................................................8
Finance and funding plans....................................................................................................10
Management team................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Business Plan is a written document which provides information about goals of the
business firm, the ways of attaining business goals and the timeframe for attaining business
objectives. The present report outlines elements of business plan for niche industry of
commercial cleaning industry. The business details, industry analysis, product description,
competitor analysis, operations plan, marketing strategy, finance and funding plan, risk and
contingency plan is provided in this report. In addition to this the area of managing a
successufull business enterprise is also covered in this report with focus on justification of the
ability to effectively lead and manage the enterprise to success is given in this report.
MAIN BODY
Business Details
The entrepreneurial venture of the commercial cleaning service company involves
offering cleaning services to consumers with the use of advanced technology and highly skilled
employees. Commercial cleaning venture seeks to provide affordable cleaning services to private
spaces and commercial spaces of individual consumers and business organisations. The mission
vision and objective of the entrepreneurial venture:
Mission: To become industry leader in the British cleaning industry
Vision: To provide sustainable and affordable cleaning services to consumers in UK
Objectives:
 To provide high quality and affordable cleaning services to consumers in the British
industry
 To maximise profitability
 To build loyal consumer base
Location
The cleaning services provided by the company will be accessed through company
website, voice calling orders. The cleaning services provided by the company include sending
cleaning staff with cleaning equipment to the decided cleaning area to provide the services to the
consumers.
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Industry Analysis
The cleaning industry contributes £54.5 billion to the UK economy every year. For
comparison, this figure is greater than the economic contributions of food and drink manufacture
and agriculture combined (£28 billion and £10.4 billion respectively). The cleaning sector creates
a huge number of jobs, employing over 970,000 people (Welcoming to The British Cleaning
Council, 202). There are nearly 65,000 businesses currently operating in the UK cleaning
market. The industry as a whole is growing at a faster rate than the national average. Since 2013,
the industry’s turnover has increased by 28% while the economy grew by 14% (5 cleaning
industry trends for 2019, 2019). The sharp growth rate of the cleaning industry provides huge
potential to new enterprise for international expansion and domestic leadership of the firm. The
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of British cleaning industry are identified below
with the help of SWOT analysis.
SWOT analysis of UK cleaning industry
Strengths Weaknesses
 The cleaning industry provides an essential
service which has permanent demands as the
need for maintaining hygiene of organisation
will remain permanent.
 The cleaning industry enables business firms
to gain loyal consumers as it involves direct
interaction between consumers and
employees of the company.
 In order to attain profitability,
effective marketing strategy is
required to attract and build a
loyal consumer base.
 Cleaning business enterprise are
dependent on labour to provide
effective services to consumers
(Aspøy, 2020).
Opportunities Threats
 Technological advancement has enables
business firm in the cleaning industry to
deliver exceptional services to consumers.
 Rapid growth of the cleaning industry
provides high growth opportunity to business
firms (Nagels and et. al., 2021).
 The intense competition in the
hospitality industry is threat to
business enterprises.
 Shortage of skilled employees is
threat to the enterprises in the
cleaning industry.
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Service description
The services provided by the commercial cleaning business enterprise include using
range of cleaning methods, chemicals, equipment and technology to facilitate and execute
cleaning process of commercial areas. The scope of the commercial cleaning services is huge
which include floors, tiles, partition walls, internal walls, suspended ceilings, lighting, furniture
and cleaning, window cleaning, deep cleans of sanitary conveniences and washing facilities,
kitchens and dining areas, consumables and feminine hygiene facilities as well as cleaning of
telephones, IT, and other periodic cleaning as required. The services will be provided to the
consumers by sending employees equipped with technology needed to complete full cleaning of
the location.
USP and competitor analysis
USP: Unique selling proposition of a commodity is defined by the advantages of the
commodity which are only provided by the commodity and provide separate identity to the
commodity apart from the consumers. The unique selling proposition of the proposed
commercial cleaning enterprise is the increased usage of digital advanced technology in core and
non-core operations of the company. AI technology will be used to ensure the most effective
cleaning services are provided to the consumers. In addition to this, various aspects of
commercial cleaning such as bacterial or termite termination will be inspected with the help of
advanced technology to ensure hygienic and spotless cleaning is facilitated. This will help the
firm build a unique branding in comparison to other cleaning services such as CCS contract
cleaning services or Britannia cleaning services. In case of digital technology consumers will be
able to order cleaning services digitally with the help of the company’s official website and
application. The requirement of meeting with team of employees to select appropriate cleaning
options is eliminated as consumers can construct personalised cleaning order as per their budget,
services selected and location layout. The firm will be able to gain loyal consumers due to their
innovative solutions to consumers to ensure the exceptional services are given to the consumers.
Competitive analysis of the British commercial cleaning industry with the help of
Porter’s five forces analysis is provided below:
 Bargaining power of suppliers: The next factor in the five force model will define that how
easily the suppliers of company will drive up the cost of raw material. The force of this
factor is based on the numbers of supplier, uniqueness in input and the cost a company to
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switch to another supplier. The threat of suppliers in case of the commercial cleaning
business venture which forms the basis of this plan is moderate. This is because the
cleaning equipment used in the cleaning industry can be purchased in bulk amount from
large number of suppliers selling the dame quality products. This reduces the bargaining
power of the suppliers engaged with the cleaning industry. On the other hand the labourers
which use the cleaning equipment are part of the suppliers section in case of the services
provided by the commercial cleaning industry (Voss, 2018). Availability of skilled labour
which is able to effectively clean locations at less cost is low which increases the overall
power of the suppliers. In addition to this lack of technological advancement in automation
for the cleaning industry increases the dependency on labour. This is another reason which
increases bargaining power of suppliers to a moderate level instead of lowering the power.
 Bargaining power of consumers: This factor is based on the ability to drive the price lower
or their level of power. The force of customer is defined by the numbers of customers a
company has and how significant each customer is for company. If the customers have more
power it means their force is high on company. Industries with high buyer power tend to
have low margins because consumers force business to sell products or services at low prices
to capture their purchase. The bargaining power of the consumer in case of the cleaning
industry is high. The main factor which contributes to the high in case of commercial
cleaning services is the huge number of alternatives available to consumers to gain
commercial cleaning services. This increases the price sensitivity of the consumer which
means that the consumer prefer the lowest priced services and change their cleaning service
provider if the prices are increased even slightly.
Threat of substitutes: Substitute products will usually use a different approach or technology to
solve the same customer requirement. This is the factor of porters five forces model
defines the availability of substitute products. A company produce goods and services
which have no close substitute means company have more power to increase the price
of their products. The threat of substitutes in case of the commercial cleaning industry is
low. This is because the only direct substitute which can replace the consumer
requirement of conducting cleaning procedure in large commercial area is by finding
individual labourers to complete the job (Abbazov and et. al., 2017). This is not an
efficient and low cost substitute in terms of large commercial spaces or areas which
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require professional cleaning such as healthcare and day-care centres. This is because
individual cleaning labourers will not be able to professionally clean the area with and
ensure complete hygiene in the same time as cleaning service provider with experienced
staff and technological equipment. It is because of the lack of effective substitutes
consumers deflect to competitive organisations instead of reliable substitute product in
order to gain quality services at lower price.
 Threat of new entrants: Another factor which influence the power of company is the
potential of new entrants. If there is less barriers in the path of new entrants or if the cost and
time required for entering into an industry is low the power of existing company will
decrease. Economies of scale, ease of switching provider and product differentiation are
some of the factors which play a role in increasing or decreasing threat of new entrant
(Wellner and Lakotta, 2020). The threat of new entrants in case of the cleaning industry is
high. The reason behind this is that the investment required to enter this industry is not
exceptionally and high small business firms with limited financing can construct an
organisation and decrease market share of existing consumers immediately after entering the
industry. Lack of brand loyalty of consumers towards a particular services provider and ease
of switching services to low priced organisation enables small business firms to enter market
and attract consumer base of existing firms.
 Intensity of rivalry: This force will define the numbers of competitors and their ability to
undercut a company. This aspect of the Five Forces Analysis outlines the influence of
competition on the commercial cleaning industry environment. Increase in the number of
alternative products available to the consumers means decrease in the power of company
(O'Hara and et. al., 2017). The intensity of rivalry in context of the commercial cleaning
industry is very high. The factors which contribute to the intensity of rivalry in the
commercial cleaning industry is the presence of large number of firms in the industry. This
competitive force is strong as there are more than 65,000 cleaning business organisations
operating alone in the British market. Apart from this another factor which plays a role in
increasing the intensity of competitive rivalry in the sector is the high aggressiveness of the
existing firms in the industry to enhance market share. This is a strong force which increases
the chances of price wars in the industry and decreases the overall profit margins of
organisations operating in this sector. The ease with consumers seek alternative options is
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attributed to low switching costs of commercial cleaning industry. This promotes consumers
to seek the lowest priced services in the market and increases the aggressiveness of the firms
to capture as many consumers in low prices offered so that profitability can be maximised.
The high threat of new entrants also works in favour of increasing competitive intensity in
the commercial cleaning industry. The need to capture large amount of consumer base
increases as new entrants have the ability to easily attract consumer base of the existing
firms.
Risk and Contingency Plan
Financial Risk: This is the primary risk associated with establishing business
enterprise(Teberga and Oliva, 2018) . The investment required to construct a technologically
advanced cleaning firms is high. The financial risk mitigation strategies used for the proposed
business enterprise include establishing a prudent cash management approach, A/R collection
policy and proper budgeting.
Legal Risks: The legal risk associated with staring a commercial cleaning solutions
company involve ensuring compliance with legal duties of the firm. This risk is mitigated by
following taxation, employment and safety laws and determining applicable data protection laws
and IP laws to the advanced technology used and digital services provided by the firm.
Talent Risk: This includes hiring unskilled employees at the firm which increases
chances of failures (Knoben and Bakker, 2019). This risks is mitigated by maximising usage of
technology and minimising need of human resources. In addition to this implementation of
effective talent management strategy is also a practice to reduce this risk.
Sales and marketing strategy
The sales and marketing strategy of the company utilises both digital marketing and
traditional marketing methods to communicate with the target consumer base of the firm. The
information about the target consumer base and marketing methods of the company is provided
below:
STP analysis for the commercial cleaning company
Segmentation: The first segmentation method by Commercial cleaning company is demographic
segmentation. This segmentation method groups consumers on the basis of their income. The
target consumer base of the Commercial cleaning company belongs to middle income and high
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income consumer base which need to professional cleaning solutions for their business or private
spaces.
The second segmentation method is behavioural segmentation method is behavioural
segmentation method (Jaiswal and et. al., 2020). This segmentation technique targets consumers
with online purchasing habits and habit of positing travel experience on social media.
Targeting: Out all the consumer segments the most profitable target segment for the
cleaning service provider is the high income demographic segment of consumers which are
highly demanding consumer base. The company can use the advanced technology and AI to
provide excellent consumer services to this demographic and gain consumer loyalty and high
profitability.
Positioning: In order to reach the target consumer base of the firm the aim of the firm is to
create a brand positioning which creates an image of technological advancement and premium
cleaning service provider in the mind of the consumer.
Marketing mix of the commercial cleaning providers is provided below:
 Product: The products offered by the cleaning services include range of commercial
cleaning service packages which provide different combination of cleaning services high
glass cleaning, high dusting usage of AI for Hygiene check of the location and others. The
services will be differentiated from the competition from usage advanced technology.
 Price: Dynamic pricing strategy will be adopted by the company which includes offering
service packages at competitive prices for basic packages and premium prices for cleaning
service packages which involve usage of complicated technology such as AI.
 Place: The services can be ordered from company website and the physical store of the
company along with digital application of the firm.
 Promotion: The promotional channel used for connecting with the target consumer base
involve social media marketing and email marketing in order to facilitate personal sealing
and gain loyal consumer base. In addition to this construction off consumer digital loyalty
card accessed through company application is another promotional element introduced in
order to gain consumer loyalty.
 People: This includes the skilled consumer base of the company comprising experienced
professional cleaning staff.
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 Process: The processes used by the firm to deliver cleaning services utilise digital
technology through company application to order required cleaning services instead of
meting with staff member which is not the norm for business opponents.
 Physical Evidence: This includes user friendly design of company website and high tech
interiors of the physical stores.
Finance and funding plans
The start-up costs and cash flow requirements for the commercial cleaning service
provider company is given bellow:
Start-up costs: These refer to the expenditure undertaken to establish new business firm
(Klyver, Steffens and Lomberg, 2020).
Cash flow requirements: This is defined as the movements of money into and out of a
business, typically categorized as cash flows from operations, investing, and financing.
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Cash Flow Months August
2021
September
2021
October
2021
November
2021
Management team
The ability to manage and lead the entrepreneurial venture is justified with the usage of
paternalistic leadership style. The relation between given leaders and he employees is equivalent
to that of a large extended family. In exchange of such treatment, the expectation of the leader
are the loyalty and trust of the employees and a commitment to attaining the business objectives
of the company (Wijayati, Fazlurrahman and Hadi, 2018). This will ensure that the employees of
the firm are loyal and are motivated towards continuously developing their skills for the
collective benefit of the employee and the company
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that in order to create an effective business plan the
first step is determining the initial business details such as location mission vision and objectives
of the company. Conducting an industry analysis to understand the growth potential business
threats, strengths and weaknesses of the industry is crucial which can be competed with the help
of a SWOT analysis. In addition to this, identification of unique selling proposition of the
products or services offered is an important step in creating business firms which stands out from
the industry opponents and gains success. In addition to this competitive analysis of the industry
is essential to understand the competitive forces which are at play in the specific industry and
their power in influencing business activities of the company. There are various risks factors
associated with starting a new business which need to be identified beforehand so that
appropriate risk mitigation strategies can be constructed and implemented to prevent the
company form failure. It is important to construct a sales and marketing strategy which covers
every method of reaching and interacting with the consumer base. It is important to determining
financing and funding options for creation and initial years of the firm in order to ensure that the
company is able to compete with existing industry players and gain consumer base in a manner
which ensures profitability. Identification of personal ability to manage operations is also
important as it ensures the at the company is moved towards the right direction after market
entry.
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REFRENCES
Books and Journals
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Jaiswal and et. al., 2020. Green market segmentation and consumer profiling: a cluster approach
to an emerging consumer market. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
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model of the impact of employment and parallel job search on hybrid nascent
entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 35(5). p.106042.
Knoben, J. and Bakker, R. M., 2019. The guppy and the whale: Relational pluralism and start-
ups' expropriation dilemma in partnership formation. Journal of Business
Venturing, 34(1). pp.103-121.
Nagels and et. al., 2021. Pilot-scale evaluation of ozone as a polishing step for the removal of
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O'Hara and et. al., 2017. Tuberculosis testing for healthcare workers in South Africa: A health
service analysis using Porter's Five Forces Framework. International Journal of
Healthcare Management, 10(1). pp.49-56.
Teberga, P. M. F. and Oliva, F. L., 2018. Identification, analysis and treatment of risks in the
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Voss, J., 2018. Cleaning and cleaning validation: a biotechnology perspective. Routledge.
Wellner, S. and Lakotta, J., 2020. Porter's Five Forces in the German railway industry. Journal
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Wijayati, D., Fazlurrahman, H. and Hadi, H., 2018. The mediating of change organization in the
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Online
5 cleaning industry trends for 2019, 2019. [Online] Available through <https://www.foremost-
uk.com/section/The-5-trends-that-will-shape-the-cleaning-industry-in-2019>
Welcoming to The British Cleaning Council, 2021. [Online] Available through
<https://britishcleaningcouncil.org/>
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