Operational Plan
Description of the Company’s operation
Pegasus Travel is a tour company that offers tour packages to customers. The customer needs to log in to the website of the company and create a package for their tour needs through the special promotions link. The customer will provide their specifications such as preferred locations, diet preference, and their preferred price. Customer also provides personal details for which they can be contacted to give information about whether they will choose the package or not.
Pegasus website also provides the customer with an email address for communication and a monthly newsletter to educate the customer on promotions and new packages. The business plan should also consider the customers who are not technologically conversant and provide an option of manual registration where the customer can call a representative for bookings or even visit care centers (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
The flow of orders for goods andor services
The order in which service flows at Pegasus shows that the customer registers his or her details on the website indicating their tour package preference. The representative of Pegasus then contacts the customer to find out whether they have chosen their preferred tour package. With the chosen customer tour package, the representative makes essential arrangements such as hotel and airline reservations for customer satisfaction using Apollo and Sabre reservation systems.
The customer will then be issued with a ticket after choosing the best price from the various fares provided by the airline and hotel companies. Weekly sold tickets are used by Pegasus to pay the reservation agencies (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
A customer is then informed through email of the trip schedule after the entire package has been concluded. The representative can also contact and give clarification to the customer and later send a letter to confirm the trip details. If the customer needs to make any changes to the package they can then send a request at this period. Once the whole process has been finalized, the customer will be provided with a welcome pack that consists of maps, emergency contacts, foreign language phrases, country customs, and history (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Technology utilization
Pegasus uses a company website for all its operations for both the customer and the reservation agencies. Other technology utilization includes reservation systems such as Apollo and Sabre where Pegasus representatives register the customers to the traveling and hotel agencies. Since there is a provision of paper maps, Pegasus can also consider the option of digital or online maps such as GPS enabled maps to provide better navigation to the customers in case of emergencies.
Emergency contacts should also be provided from an online database just in case a customer loses the physical ones can search and find contacts. Pegasus also used chat rooms for the customers to interact with one another and give feedback to the company to provide information for future improvements. Feedback is also provided through an online survey such as questionnaires (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Marketing Plan
The key promotional tool for Pegasus is the use of word of mouth. Through customer care services and packages, a customer gets satisfied and then informs others. The use of a chat room will help facilitate customers interact with one another and sharing personal experiences. The most unique feature is the ability to help older handicapped people to also experience traveling to their desired destinations through the finding of companions for them. For the purposes of minimizing costs, Pegasus should employ their own professional and experienced web designer/ developer to develop and maintain the company website from time to time (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strength for Pegasus should also include an agreement with travel agencies from most parts of the world and not only Europe since some customers would like to travel to Africa and Asia among other continents. This will increase the market segment and attract customers from the entire world (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
The weakness of one local retail can be strengthened by creating Pegasus agencies in various airports or strategic places such as major towns to increase face-to-face customer service especially to customers who have weaknesses in accessing the internet and using computers (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Opportunities and Threats
The case of getting rid of alliances with travel agencies would not be a better idea in the future. This is because the company will need to penetrate to interior markets such as rural areas and residential estates and it would be cost-effective when agencies deal with that to prevent the use of funds in developing buildings and facilities (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
By always having a new product or service that attracts the customer interest and loyalty, competition from starting companies will not affect the company much and therefore I believe that this threat is made into a strength (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Service Development Strategy
Pegasus should also strategize in creating an online database for the emergency contacts that easily be accessed through internet-enabled handsets, Ipads, and palmtops. The online database should also include a guide for the customers online. This will help in increasing the value-added service that Pegasus would like to provide and help in gaining a competitive advantage (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Customer Service
On top of having a customer care center, Pegasus should also provide online customer service by offering online training and education to its customers to reduce the number of contact to the contact center which can then only be used for emergency purposes. There should be continuous surveys and inquiring feedback from customers to help Pegasus get custom made services for its customers (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Pricing
Pegasus can have other business practices on the side that can help support the company during times of fluctuations by subsidizing the customer prices. This will help them in not experiencing very high. This will help in creating customer loyalty and therefore competitive advantage (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Distribution
Distribution should also include minor agencies of Pegasus Company that will penetrate the interior market where larger facilities cannot be developed. This will increase the market segment and attract people even in the interior parts of the world to travel in other countries. The guidebooks should be readily available in the agencies to reduce the costs of mailing them to the customers and maximize profits (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Promotion
Promotion can also include lottery winning whereby the tenth customer for example gets a 20% discount on the package. This will increase the number of time customer access the website and even increase sales. With after-sales services such as well-established customer care, Pegasus will have more customers loyal to the company and therefore increase sales and maximize profits (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Product forecasts
A two-year forecast indicates that that the company will have increased its market share and segment as this is evident from the profits of $1,147,673 that are experienced. With well-established measures and structures in place, the profits of Pegasus will double and therefore expand in a span of six years. With increased profits, more investors will be attracted through the sales of company shares to the public (Peters and Stoller, 2003).
Controls
Pegasus should have controls in place to help direct the employees in the company. Well managed or directed employees are motivated in performing their duties. Control should also include the maintenance of the company website from time to time to ensure quality service to the customers. Pegasus should evaluate the operation costs to ensure control of operating expenses and therefore maximizing expenses to help in the expansion of the company to meet its organizational goals
Reference
PETERS, M., STOLLER, G. 2003. Pegasus Travel.com: Fasten Your Seatbelt. Business Plan Analysis, 2:644-664.