Presently, we have legally registered our immigration consulting firm (under the name Sharon Greene® Immigration Consulting, LLP) and we have acquired the required business license and all the necessary permits to run this type of business in Canada.
Our office facility is located at 32 Victoria St Etobicoke, ON M8V 1M6, Canada. We were able to secure a standard office facility along the road in the heart of the city. Our office facility is well furnished with a training room and enough packing space for our clients.
Currently, we have concluded recruitment and training exercises for all the employees that will pioneer the business. We are set to open our immigration consulting firm on Monday the 8th of March, 2022 with a house party for residents in the neighborhood.
Table of Contents
1. Our Market Goals
Every business is expected to have a marketing goal, and that we have done ours too. We have perfected our sales and marketing strategies, and are set to deliver excellent services to a wide range of clients from within and outside Canada.
We know that if we structure our business properly and have highly trained and motivated employees, we are likely going to meet or even surpass our set market/sales target of generating enough income/profits in the three months of operation.
With the help of experts, we have been able to examine the Immigration Consulting Firms cum Immigration Lawyers & Attorneys industry with more emphasis on Toronto – Ontario, and have analyzed our chances in the industry.
Against this backdrop, we have been able to come up with the following marketing goals. It is important to state that our marketing goals/projections are guided on the information we gathered from the field and of course from some workable assumptions.
Our intention of starting our immigration consulting firm is to make profits from the industry and we will do all that is permitted by the law in Canada to achieve our aim and ambition. Our marketing goals are guided by our company’s vision and it is to provide our clients with skilled immigration advice and services in an efficient manner.
Here are our marketing goals:
- To generate a minimum revenue of 500,000 Canadian dollars within the first 12 months of operation
- To generate a minimum revenue of 1,000,000 Canadian dollars in our second fiscal year of operations
- To generate a minimum revenue of 2,500,000 Canadian dollars in our third fiscal year of operation
We aim to achieve the following from our marketing efforts:
- To build an immigration consulting firm that will compete favorably with leading immigration consulting firms in Canada and to be listed among the top 15 immigration consulting firms in Canada (within 10 years of operation)
- We aim to achieve a sustainable growth at the rate of 20% annual revenue generation
- We want to build a self – sustaining immigration consulting firm that will contribute to the growth of the Canadian economy.
2. Our Marketing Budget
If we intend to generate the income we have set as our target within the first three years of operating our immigration consulting firm, we must be willing to invest in marketing our business. In view of that, we have set aside a marketing budget of $50,000 Canadian Dollars for the first year of operating the business.
Subsequently, we will budget between 5 percent and 12. 5 percent of our annual income towards marketing and promoting our immigration consulting firm. In the future, if there is any need to increase the budget in order to explore other means of generating more income, we will gladly do that.
3. Our Target Market
The demographic and psychographic composition of those who need the services of immigration consulting service providers cut across individuals, families, small businesses and large corporations.
Sharon Greene® Immigration Consulting, LLP will initially serve small to medium-sized businesses, from new ventures to well-established businesses, families and individual clients, but that does not in any way stop us from growing to be able to compete with the leading immigration consulting firms in Canada. Below is a list of the people and organizations that we have specifically designed our services for;
- International Students
- Undocumented Migrants
- Sport Clubs
- Individuals
- Households and families from within and outside Canada
- Expatriates
- Foreign Workers (Skilled, Unskilled, and Semi-Skilled Foreign Workers)
- Multinational Organizations
4. Benefits Our Clients Stand to Gain When They Patronize Our Firm
Sharon Greene® Immigration Consulting, LLP is established with the aim of maximizing the profits in the Immigration Consulting industry and we are going to ensure that we do all it takes to attract clients on a regular basis which is why we have been able to work on business policies that will benefit our clients.
As an ICCRC immigration consultancy, we are highly-reputed both among clients as well as our industry peers. These are the benefits that a client stands to gain when they patronize our immigration consulting services:
- We will offer special discounted rates to disadvantaged individuals, refugees, asylum seekers, nonprofits, cooperatives, and small social enterprises.
- As against hourly billings for immigration consulting services which is the practice in the industry, we will charge our clients a flat fee for many basic services such as providing legal advice about the ability to reside in Canada, collect and submit appropriate documentations to prove a case, help in obtaining the type of documentation needed to legally reside within the country and to obtain immediate access to citizenship in emergency situations
- We are aware that there are clients that will need regular immigration consulting/advice and assistance, we will offer general counsel services that will be tailored to take care of such clients’ needs, at a flat rate.
- Professionalism and excellent customer service delivery of the highest order from our highly trained staff members.
5. Our Unique Selling Point
- What Makes Our Immigration Consulting Firm Superior to Our Competitors
Our unique selling point as an immigration consulting firm lies in the power of our team; our workforce. We have a team that can go all the way to give our clients value for their money. We are well-positioned and we know we will attract loads of clients from the first day we open our doors for business.
Another competitive advantage that we are bringing to the industry is the fact that we provide professional and trusted immigration cum legal services that assist individuals, businesses, and non-profit organizations in seamlessly handling their immigration concerns. We also provide expert immigration related legal counsel in combination with our own business backgrounds and deliver valuable services in a timely and cost-effective way.
Lastly, we are a client-focused immigration consulting firm that provides broad-based experience at an affordable fee that won’t in any way put a hole in the pocket of our clients. We will offer a complete range of immigration consulting services to our clients. That perhaps will give us an advantage over our competitors.
6. Strategic Marketing Alliance with Our Competitors in the Immigration Consulting Industry
When it comes to forming a strategic marketing alliance with other players in the Immigration Consulting industry, there are loads of opportunities. As a matter of fact, it is now becoming trendy in the Immigration Consulting industry for smaller immigration consulting firms to merge with larger firms and for the bigger firms to acquire smaller firms; mergers and acquisitions.
Immigration consulting firms in Canada are coming to the conclusion that being bigger is better for them. For example, an immigration consulting firm that is just starting out can look towards merging with a bigger firm that is well-positioned and recognized in order to form strategic marketing alliance.
7. Creating Brand Identity for Our Firm
It is a fact that any business that wants to grow beyond the corner of the street must be ready and willing to utilize every available means to advertise and promote the business. We are quite aware that boosting our brand awareness will go a long way to endear our immigration consulting firm to the market in Canada.
We have been able to work with our consultants to help us map out publicity and advertising strategies that will help us walk our way into the heart of our target market. First and foremost, we want our brand to be visible and well communicated which is why we have decided to work with a different class of people in the society.
All our publicity materials and jingles are done by some of the best hands in the industry. Below are the platforms we intend to leverage on to promote and advertise our immigration consulting firm;
- Introduce our immigration consulting firm business by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to migrant communities, sports clubs, multinationals and corporate organizations, households, and key stake holders in Toronto and other cities in Ontario Province.
- Advertise our immigration consulting firm in magazines, newspapers, TV and radio stations et al
- Promote our immigration consulting firm online via our official website and all available social media platforms
- Adopt direct mailing coupon marketing approach
- List our business on yellow pages/local directories (both offline and online)
- Position our billboards, signage/flexi banners at strategic places
- Encourage our loyal customers to help us make use of word of mouth to promote our immigration consulting firm
- Sponsor relevant TV programs, Radio programs, and community-based programs.
- Offer Pro Bono services once in a while to asylum seekers and refugees as part of our community social responsibility
- Brand all our official cars
8. Possible Questions We Intend Asking Customers During Market Survey
These are the 10 possible questions we are going to put forward when conducting a marketing survey on our customers/clients:
- When was the last time you hired our immigration consulting services?
- Are you comfortable with our contract terms and conditions?
- If you are not satisfied with our contract terms and conditions, what areas would you want us to work on?
- Aside from our immigration consulting firm, have you ever engaged the services of another immigration consulting firm/immigration attorney?
- If yes, what is the name of the immigration consulting firm?
- Are you comfortable with our price structure and the flexibility in our payment options?
- If you are to change one thing about our immigration consulting firm, what would that be?
- How would you want us to communicate to you when we want to pass useful information about our firm? Through letters, text messages, email, or via mobile apps (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp et al)
- Can you comfortably recommend the services of our immigration consulting firm to your organization, family members, friends, and colleagues?
- Are you satisfied with our customer service delivery? If no what areas would you want us to improve on?
9. Our Retention Strategies
It is easier for businesses to survive when they have a steady flow of business deals/customers and also when they are able to retain at least a minimum of 60 percent of their clients; repeated business is a major factor in growing a business. We are aware of this which is why we have decided to offer a wide range of immigration consulting services.
We are in business because we want to make money and we know that we cannot make money without having customers to patronize our legal services hence we have been able to map out strategies not only to win customers but also to ensure that we retain them and make them our loyal customers.
These are methods we will use to improve our customer experience so that we can create a good impression and generate repeated businesses from them:
- We will give out discounts to our customers from time to time whenever they patronize our services
- Aside from rendering our services at highly competitive prices, we will also make available flexible payment options.
- We will make use of effective customer relationship management (CRM) software to effectively manage our clientele base.
- We will ensure that we carry our clients along when making decisions that directly affect them.
10. Promote Our Immigration Consulting Firm without Using the Internet
Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on when it comes to advertising and promoting our immigration consulting firm in the market place without the aid of the internet;
- Place adverts on local TV and Radio Stations, and Newspapers/Magazines
- Sponsor relevant community-based programs
- Install our Bill Boards in strategic locations in Canada
- List our immigration consulting firm on yellow pages/local directories (offline)
- Ensures that all our official cars are well branded
- Encourage our customers to use of word of mouth advert method to promote our immigration consulting firm
- Attend chambers of commerce meetings with the aim of networking and promoting our immigration consulting firm
- Design and freely distribute unique car stickers to promote our firm
- Offer pro bono services on a regular basis.
11. Promote Our Immigration Consulting Firm on the Internet
The internet is known to be the biggest platform when it comes to advertising/promoting any business/brand, and one good thing about advertising on the internet is that it is far cheaper than other conventional advertising platforms.
Here are the ways we intend using the internet to advertise/promote our immigration consulting business:
- Leverage on social media platforms such as; Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snap chat, YouTube, Twitter, Google + et al to promote and advertise our immigration consulting firm
- Make use of mobile apps to promote our immigration consulting firm
- Design an interactive corporate website and use the platform to promote our immigration consulting firm
- Place adverts on high traffic websites
- Engage in blogging and make use of the platform to promote our immigration consulting firm
- Leverage on direct email marketing strategy and bulk SMS to advertise and promote our immigration consulting firm.
12. Ways to Offer Incentives to Customers/Clients
From our feasibility studies and market research, we were able to pinpoint some of the strategies that will help us secure and retain clients as a new entrant into the Immigration Consulting Firm. One of such strategies is to offer mouth-watering incentives (bonuses, discounts, and rebates et al) to our loyal customers from time to time.
In view of that, we have documented some of the possible ways we intend to offer incentives to our customers in our business plan document and we hope to review them in order to continue to outsmart our competitors in the industry.
We will ensure that we give out up to 50 percent discounts to loyal customers who are known to spend a certain amount as determined by our management team annually in patronizing our services. We will also give out gifts/souvenirs to corporate and individual clients during special celebrations such as Christmas, New Year, Independence day celebrations (Canada Day), Thanksgiving and Easter celebrations.
13. After Sales Service or Customer Support
The nature of immigration consulting services does not give room for after-sale services which is why we usually go all the way to provide excellent services to our clients whenever they patronize our services.
As regards customer support services, we will ensure that we maximize our customer relationship management software applications so as to keep in touch with our customers and carry them along when we have any information that we know will benefit them and to give them the opportunity to lodge their complains if they do have any.
14. Creative Marketing ideas Specific to Our Immigration Consulting Services
One of the creative marketing ideas that we intend to adopt as an immigration consulting firm is to regularly offer pro bono services to individuals (refugees and asylum seekers) who are in need of immigration consulting services but due to one reason or the other are not able to afford our consulting fees.
We will also ensure that all our employees are directly or indirectly involved in the marketing of our immigration consulting service. We will create a provision for our employees to earn a commission when they bring in business deals for the organization. We will also encourage freelancers to work with us; whenever they refer clients to us, they will earn a percentage of the deal.
Lastly, we will leverage on the power of the media to market our immigration consulting service using both online and offline platforms. We will work hard to ensure that we get repeat business from any corporate business deal we execute (handling immigration concerns for expatriates and foreign workers).
Also, we will encourage our customers to refer our immigration consulting services to their friends, family members and colleagues. Part of our strategy is to reward loyal customers and to leverage on word-of-mouth marketing from satisfied customers.