PART 3   -   STAFFING REQUIREMENTS:

The final topic under the Management & Staffing section of business plan will be your staffing requirements. This section generally details the following items:

• number of employees needed over a three year period;
• the titles of each staff member;
• the skills required for each position;
• the availability of human resource in your area;
• when each staff member is needed (hiring date);
• duties & responsibilities of each employee;
• forecasted salary, wage, and commission for each position;
• whether casual laborers will be needed from time to time.

If your proposed business requires the hiring of highly specialized individuals, you may decide to add a brief statement about how you plan to recruit, select and hire employees. If training of employees is of prime importance to your business, be sure to discuss who and how they will to be trained. Also, many business plan writers provide a brief statement outlining corporate policies regarding employee motivation, incentives and benefits. You may also decide to discuss your company's planned managerial style, its corporate culture, and organizational structure. Below provides the staffing requirements for J&B Incorporate.

J&B's STAFFING REQUIREMENTS

The Company will require a total of five additional employees during its first year. These employees will fill two departmental needs - New Product Development Department and Sales Department. The New Product Development Department will require one (1) Product Development Manager, and one (1) Information Technologist. The Sales Department will require one (1) Sales Manager and two (2) Telephone Operators. Below provides information on each department's staffing need.

1. New Product Development Department:
As mentioned above this department will consist of two positions - Product Development Manager and Information Technologist. Below separately explains the roles and responsibilities for each position.

A. Product Development Manager
In January 200X, the company will hire one (1) Product Development Manager. His/Her current role will be to assist Management in developing the Company's initial product. This involves writing, editing and formatting selected business training topics. This individual must illustrate superior writing skills, business acumen, computer knowledge and organizational skills. In addition, the successful candidate must be able to work well independently and in a team-based environment. Also, he/she must be highly motivated, able to endure long working hours, and possess leadership skills.

Upon completion of the company's initial product, the Product Development Manager will work closely with Management, the Information Technologist, and outside entities to develop and implement selected future products.

As indicated in the Company's forecasted financial statements, the successful candidate will receive $11,520 during the four (4) month Product Development Phase. In addition, a salary of $35,360 is forecasted for year one, $36,400 for year two and $37,440 for year three.

B. Information Technologist
The Company will require one (1) Information Technologist and will be hired on March 1, 200X. In January 200Y, an additional Information Technologist will be hired. These individuals must have exceptional oral and written skills, business knowledge, organizational skills, superior computer skills, and software development experience. In addition, the successful candidates must be able to work well independently as well as in a team-based environment. They must be highly motivated, able to endure long working hours, and possess leadership skills. Also, the candidates must have experience in web page design and a complete working knowledge of the Internet.

These individuals will be responsible for designing and maintaining our corporate website, and promoting it to the Internet environment. In addition, the Information Technologists will work closely with Management, the Product Development Manager and outside entities to develop and implement future technology products and initiatives.

As outlined in J&B's first year forecasted financial statements, $31,200 will be paid to the Information Technologist in year one. In year two and three, $64,480 and $66,560, respectively is budgeted for the two positions required.

1.  Sales Department
In the first year of operation, J&B will require three (3) staff members to fill its Sales Department needs. Specifically, this department will hire one (1) Sales Manager and two (2) Telephone Operators. The duties, responsibilities and qualifications of these positions are presented below.

A. Sales Manager:
A Sales Manager will be hired to supervise the Sales Department. This individual must have superior oral and written skills, computer knowledge, organizational skills and have prior office experience. In addition, the successful candidate must be able to work well independently as well as in a team-based environment. He/she must be highly motivated, able to endure long working hours, and possess leadership skills.

As indicated in the Company's forecasted financial statements, the Sales Manager will receive a salary of $23,400 in the first year of operation. A five (5%) increase in salary has been forecasted for years two and three. Also, the Sales Manager will receive a one dollar commission on each product he or she sells. This commission strategy will act as a motivating factor that ultimately increases corporate sales.

The Sales Manager will be hired during the company's Testing phase - May 200X. During the product testing phase, the Sales Manager will assist Management in establishing the Company's communications network (telephone lines and message recordings), assist in developing a sales' dialog, and assist in the development of order forms and templates. When all communication systems have been established, this individual will assist management in testing and evaluating the Company's selling dialog/script with customers or callers. Two months have been set aside for the testing phase so that the Company can evaluate and monitor customer responses and concerns. This will allow us to fully design a powerful and successful sales strategy which will be used after the testing phase.

This testing process will provide the Sales Manager with hands on experience in communicating with customers, selling techniques and strategies, the ordering process, order fulfillment, internal communications and customer service. The Sales Manager will use this knowledge and experience to train and maintain his/her staff; namely, the two required Telephone Operators. Please note: The Sales Manager will take an active role in the selling function - making sales vis-a-vis the telephone.

B. Telephone Operators
In year one and two, two (2) telephone operators will be needed to accommodate the demand for the company's initial product. They will be hired during the pre-testing phase, however, they will not begin their employment with J&B until the testing has been fully completed - July 200X.

The successful applicants must possess exceptional communication skills, computer skills, organizational skills and prior office experience. They are required to have received training in some form of telephone solicitation; preferably telephone selling. In addition, these individuals must be able to work well independently as well as in a team-based environment. They must be highly motivated, able to work flexible hours and possess superior intersonal skills.

As indicated in the company's forecasted financial statements, each Telephone Operator will receive a salary of $17,820 during their first year's 44 week period of employment. In year two and three, the Operators will receive $21,645 and $22,230 respectively for a 52 week work period. In addition to their salaries, each Telephone Operator will receive a one dollar commission on each product he or she sells.

The Telephone Operators' main objective will be to make a sale when customers inquire about our product (s). They are responsible for communicating the merits of the Company's product, receiving orders from customers, collecting the necessary information from the customers, preparing the orders for shipment, and other services as per requested by management from time to time.

In addition, all Operators MUST record questions, concerns, and queries that customers/callers have during their phone conversions. This information is crucial to all departments when searching for creative ways to increase sales and improve upon selling strategies and techniques. This is the major reason for the company deciding upon an "in-house answering service" opposed to an "outside service bureau".

Casual Labor:
J&B will require a casual laborer for time to time. Furthermore, this individual will be utilized more during the product development phase for simple data entry. This includes typing and editing of names, address, telephone numbers, and circulation of various sources of media. He/she will be required to have computer knowledge, accurate typing skills, and editing skills. In addition, the successful candidate must be able to work independently without supervision. As indicated in the forecasted financial statements, the casual labor budget is as follows;

Human Resource Availability:
The human resources required by J&B are readily available in Orange County. Moreover, Orange County has quality training facilities that excel in producing a well educated labor force. For example, The Business College has introduced and subsequently expanded their training in telecommunications. This certainly accommodates our organization when hiring a Sales Manager and Telephone Operators.

Finding an Information Technologist will not prove to be a difficult task either. Furthermore, we see many educational institutions and computer companies working together to provide class-room training as well as on-the-job training in the areas of computer technology. Such training and experience provides participates with the knowledge and skills needed in order to help businesses better complete in today's technological revolution.

STAFFING REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY:

In the above example, J&B Incorporated discusses the number of employees required by the company and when each is scheduled to be hired. They also place titles on each position and detail the skills needed by each successful candidate. In addition, J&B discusses the duties & responsibilities of each staff member. Projected salaries and forecasted commissions are also indicated. Additionally, J&B suggests it will require casual laborers from time to time to assist in product development and basic operations. The company ensures human resources are readily available in their community or place of business.

The details addressed in the above example, show an investor that J&B Incorporated has clearly defined its staffing requirements and plan to recruit the individuals suitable for the tasks at hand. Such detail reenforces an investor's confidence not only in the management team, but in the entire business proposal.