Discover SoCal's Premier Dirt Bike Shop in Murrieta

Running head: Faultline Powersports: Murrieta
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Faultline Powersports: Murrieta
a project presented to
National University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the class of
Marketing 302A: Marking Fundamentals
Mary McCabe
By:
Christina Loyd
May 3, 2015

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Abstract
Whether you are riding supercross, motocross, or just riding with your friends, Southern
California is the place you want to be. Southern California has 7 major tracks and multiple
smaller tracks open every single day of the week. With the hours and locations of the tracks who
wouldn’t want to ride down there? The 7 major tracks are all in different locations ranging from
San Bernardino to Riverside to Pala. With all these places open to ride, people need to have a
store where they can shop for parts and accessories for their bikes, as well as have a good service
experience. I would like to introduce my business plan and marketing strategy to open up
“Faultline Powersports” in Murrieta, California. This marketing plan for Faultline Powersports:
Murrieta, will consist of the mission statement, SWOT analysis, competitive advantages,
proposed strategy, a description of the target market, a position strategy, and a short outline of the
marketing mix strategies including the product, pricing, place, and promotion.
Mission Statement
Our mission as a retail dirt bike shop is to offer a full line of parts and accessories,
as well as great customer service for the motocross community. We constantly strive to offer
quality service and expertise to exceed our customers’ expectations. We provide an enjoyable
working environment to our employees as well as a fun, laid back environment for our
customers.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
"The ideal outcome of a SWOT is accurate data that can be utilized to create a solid action plan
for addressing a weakness and threats, and highlighting or positively exploiting your strengths
and opportunities” (Goodrich) The following is my SWOT Analysis for the marketing plan of
opening up Faultline Powersports located in Murrieta, California.
Strengths
History. One of the main key strengths of Faultline Powersports; Murrieta location;
would be that the owner has grown up in the motocross industry. Whether it was riding or going
to races, street bikes and Moto GP or motocross and Supercross, the owner of Faultline knows a
lot about each subject. Having history with the sport and with your own store means a lot to
customers. Faultline Powersports in the Northern California, Downtown Location has been
around 10 years and the Hollister Hills location has been around for 8. The store being around as
long as it has and with history growing up watching the sport, you are able to have good
conversations with the customers whether they have a question or just want to talk. You have a
set establishment that keeps people coming back.
Relatable Employees. At Faultline Powersports, it’s not mandatory to ride or know
anything about dirt bikes as an employee when you first start, but most of the employees do ride
themselves or have some knowledge or basic dirtbike facts. While working at Faultline Hollister
Hills, you get the questions 2 or 4 times a weekend., “Do you ride” or “What kind of bike do you
have.” They usually aren’t disappointed if you tell them no, but they do get excited when you tell
them, yes. By riding or having knowledge about things other than parts; for example, the latest
Supercross, Motocross, or Moto Gp stats or winnings; you connect with the customers on a

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better level. At Faultline Downtown, we have customers who come and sit for hours to talk about
the latest and greatest gear or news in the motocross world. By having a shop in Southern
California with relatable employees could boost customer service reviews and we will start to
receive more customers.
Distributor Accounts. The third strength of opening up Faultline Powersports Murrieta
location would be a simple set up because we already have a good relationship with our
distributors. We order from Tucker Rocky, Western Powersports, Fox racing, and Parts Unlimited
just to name a few on a daily basis. Whether it’s on the phone or putting them in on the computer
we have to order new stock multiple times a week. Because we have a good connection and
accounts with these dealers, it would be easy to open up a third location with them.
Weakness
Distance. With the other two Faultline locations being in Northern California (Hollister)
the distance would be a major weakness for opening up a shop in Murrieta. The reason this
would be a weakness, would be because from Hollister to Murrieta it is at least a 6 hour drive
due to traffic depending which route you take. You have to take distance into consideration due
to the fact that if a problem in which a phone call couldn’t fix, you would have to wait 6 hours or
a day depending on how soon the owner or manager could drive down to check on the store.
Employees. Opening up a new store requires a new employee search. You have to think
about the employees you have at the moment. The main concern or question to think about
would be do you ask current employees if they would like to move to run the shop in Murrieta or
do you as the owner, go down there for a weekend and interview a new group of people. If you
have current employees whose goals are to move to Southern California anyway, this would be a

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perfect opportunity. If no one wants to go, then you would have to search for at least two or three
new employees as well as a manager whom you could trust to watch the store while you're away.
Reps. In this business you deal with multiple people. As I had mentioned in the strengths
we have good communication and relationships with our distributors. Between ourselves and the
distributors we have reps. An example of an outside sales Rep job is per Western Powersports
would be, “Secures new business within territory to effectively sell power sports products to
dealerships while promoting WPS house-brands and company objectives. Candidates should
possess the ability to effectively and persuasively communicate with a wide variety of
personalities working in a fast-paced, sales-driven environment. Highly qualified individuals will
have 3 to 5 years of outside sales or industry/dealer-related experience. If you’re a self-starter
who enjoys working independently, have strong presentation, negotiation, and closing skills, and
excel at finding solutions to varying customer challenges, this is an exciting opportunity to
enhance your career!” (Western Powersports) At Faultline Powersports: Downtown and Faultline
Powerpsorts: Hollister Hills we have the same reps for each store. The reps we have are the
“Northern California Reps” meaning they do almost all of Northern California based off where
their company tells them to go. While trying to make Faultline Powersports: Murrieta happen we
would have to get new reps. Getting new reps isn’t the issues, the weakness here would be
building relationships with these new reps.
Opportunities
Location. The location itself probably trumps all doubts about a shop. Murrieta is a prime
location for a shop. Murrieta is 60 minutes from Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, 50

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minutes from Milestone MX in Riverside, 31 minutes from Pala Raceway in Pala, 49 minutes
from Chauilla, and 26 minutes from Perris Raceway in Perris. Being centrally located between 5
of the major 7 tracks is a huge plus for a shop. All of these tracks are open almost every day of
the week. Some tracks, like Perris raceway, even have night riding. Whether people are going
South to Pala Raceway or North towards Glen Helen Raceway they would pass through Murrieta
located on the 215, being able to stop and go to the shop.
Population. Being in Southern California especially the Murrieta area you have more
opportunities to grow your customer base. The population in Murrieta and its two closest cities;
Temecula, and Menifee is 297,706. (Census Bureau) Where as the population for Hollister and
it’s two closest cities; Gilroy, and Morgan Hill is 129,126. With the bigger population and more
dirt bike riders you have the opportunity to build a better customer base.
Word of Mouth. “92 percent of consumers around the world put their faith in word-of-
mouth endorsements (including those obtained through social media) above all other forms of
advertising- an increased 18 percent since 2007. (Lamb) In the motocross industry word of
mouth spreads quickly whether its good or bad. By having outstanding customer service and a
good selection of parts in stock it gives the shop an opportunity to grow.
Threats
Established Shops. There is no doubt about it that with such a large populated area that
there are already a few dirt bikes shops within the area. The two major shops that people would
think to go to would be Temecula Motorsports or Chaparral Motorsports. One located in San
Bernardino and the other on the boarder of Temecula and Murrieta. This could be a disadvantage
and a threat to opening up a new shop.

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Being new. Being a new shop goes hand in hand with the first threat of established shops.
Being new might bring some hesitation to new customers. Although Faultline Powersports is
popular in Northern California nobody would really know of it in Southern California.
Sometimes people are hesitant to try new shops or services especially service wise because they
don’t know how they work or the reputation of the mechanics.
Competitive Advantages
A few of the competitive advantages that Fautline Powersports Murrieta location would
have over other shops would be pricing, labor / service as well as great customer service. First
pricing, Faultline Powersports guarantees to have the best prices around. Unlike other stores in
the area we will price match if we are able to see an add or look it up on a website in real time.
We will do price match on walk it and phone orders, most stores in the area only do price match
for mail orders. The second competitive advantages would be a good labor and service area. With
most of the shops in Southern California being 2 to 3 weeks out on services bringing in a new
shop who could do service and labor as well would be a plus. The third competitive advantage
would be Faultlines great customer service. Fautline Powersports gets complemented on the
daily about their customer service and the enthusiasm of their employees. Having a shop that
people feel comfortable coming into makes it better for business to succeed. These are just three
things that will help Faultline Powersports succeed in Murrieta, California.
Objective
The main objective while putting together a marketing plan for Fautline Powersports to
be opened up in Murrieta, California would be to open up a shop that would surpass the
exceptions of our customers while cutting down the competition of other shops. Faultline

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Powersports currently has two locations in Hollister, California. Adding a third location in
Southern California would help grow profit and recognition of the Faultline company. The main
goal hoped to be accomplished by opening up a dirt bike shop in Southern California would be to
become one of the better shops in the Murrieta area. To achieve this goal there are a few things
that the company is going to have to do. The three things that would be the main objective and
focus on Faultline Powersports would be having better pricing than the other shops, good
customer service, as well as fast yet efficient labor work. To be able to have better pricing than
the competitors you have to think about what sells, or what you can get deals on through your
distributor. Another plus that could add to your business is price matching from legitimate sites.
Many of the shops already established will not do walk in price matching, if they do price
matching it has to be through their mail order service. If someone is in the store and wanting to
spend money there or has an intention to purchase other items as well, Faultline will be able to
price match as long as it’s not under cost. The second thing that Faultline strives for is good
customer service. This can be shown in multiple ways, from simply saying hello to helping them
pick out a brand new outfit head to toe because they just got a dirt bike. Good customer service
can go a long way in a new or existing business. Customer service is what keeps people coming
back. Lastly we would strive to have fast and efficient labor and service department. Most of the
shops in Southern California are two to three weeks out on their service schedule due to slow
service or waiting longer for parts. By having one or two guys who know what they are doing
and can get it done in a timely manner you would bring in more customers. At Faultline
Powersports Northern California Locations we have a mechanic who in most instances is able to
turn around work the same day or within 24 hours. If its anything more extensive then it’ll
usually take a few days. Many customers come to Faultine over other services departments in

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town due to labor prices and the time it takes to get things done. By utilizing these three major
objectives Faultline could succeed in opening a new shop.
Target Market / Position Strategy
Target Market “Your target customers are those who are most likely to buy from you.
Resist the temptation to be too general in the hopes of getting a larger slice of the market. That's
like firing 10 bullets in random directions instead of aiming just one dead center of the mark--
expensive and dangerous.” (Entrepreneur Staff) When thinking about a target market for
Faultline Powersports in Murrieta you have to take into the consideration of the population of
that area and the surrounding areas. You also have to take into consideration who really
participates in dirt-biking or street bikes. First our Target Market would be more focused on male
customers. Faultline Powersports brings in girls gear and casual wear every year so that we have
some in stock although most our customers are male. While looking at the stats from
professional Motocross racing women vs men there is a substantial difference. In 2013, only 35
women lined up on the starting gate compared to the 178 men who lined up. Second element to
think of would be age range. (Motocross Lucas Oil) Our main target age would be 18-50. The
reason this would be the main age range is because people between this age usually have a job.
Of course we get kids younger and older adults but the younger kids usually have their parents
buying their stuff or getting it as a gift. The last element of a target market would be job. You
don’t have to be rich necessarily to be able to ride dirt bikes or race but you do have to have a
decent income. Of course dirt bike gear and parts have a wide range of prices to try and fit
everyones budget, but even at that the lowest cost of dirt bike pants would be $79 and the lowest
cost jersey would be $25. Even though they do have these low cost options there are still more
expensive gear out there like Troy Lee design or Fox Air. Not only is there different pricing

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options in gear and accessories but you see pricing fluctuate between OEM (Original equipment
manufacturer) and aftermarket parts. There are multiple other things one could look for when
trying to make a list of the target market but gender, age, and occupation would be the three main
ones concerning to Faultline Powersports.
Positioning Strategy The way you position information or products is one of the most
important things your business can do. “Position the place a product, brander group of products
occupies in consumers minds relative to competing offering.” (Lamb) At Faultline Powersports
the sale floor would be set up in a way that would be easier for customers to find what they are
looking for. When you first walk into the store all of the boots are grouped with the boots, all the
pants and jerseys with pants and jersey, as well as all the helmets together. Not only is it broken
up by item it would also be broken up by brand. All the fox stuff would be together, all the
answer / msr gear would be together, and all the Troy Lee designs would be together. Having
similar items all together would make it easier for the customer to get in and get out if they are
on the go. This also helps if the customer has no idea what they are looking for. The store set up
would be easy to navigate helping out customers and the position of products throughout the
store.
Marketing Mix
According to MKTG Principles of Marketing, “The term marketing mix refers to a unique
blend of product, place (distribution), promotion and pricing strategies (often referred to as the
four p’s designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a target market.”(Lamb) The
first p is product. Products can expand more than just the actual product itself, it includes details.
When looking at mx gear you look at the whole concept not that its just gear. What brand is it?

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What product line does it come from? The second p is place. “The goal is to make sure products
arrive in usable condition at designated places when needed”(Lamb) Faultline prides them self
on being able to have multiple things in stock based off location. Depending on if you are
downtown or at our store at the hills we make sure to have what we would need at each store.
There are some occasions where a person would like to order something. Depending on what
wear house it is in we should be able to have it within a day or two. Being able to carry a lot of
items would be excellent for a new store. The third P is promotion strategies. Promotion
strategies in a dirt bike shop are used often some times. There are many ways you can make a
deal sound even better. One example of promotion could be if someone purchases a pant and
jersey combo they receive a gloves at 40% off. Another promotion could be if you purchase
$300+ worth of stuff we throw in a free Faultline T-shirt. The fourth P is pricing. This can make
it or break it for some businesses. When selling items sometimes there are polices called Map
(Minimum Advertised Price) put in place by distributors. Once the product is in our store you are
able to price it at what you want although you cannot post it on social media or website if you are
selling it under 10% of map. If you do it violates it and your shop could get in trouble. Pricing
has to be comparable to other stores as well as some larger online retailers.
Implementation
Starting a business requires time and money. There are a few things Faultline would need
to think about before moving forward with any of these plans. The two main things would be
location as well as money. Faultline would be looking for an area that is big enough for a service
area, parts area, as well as multiple rows of clothing, gear and accessory. We would want a store
that was facing a street or a building that was able to be seen. There are plenty of commercial
areas to choose from in Murrieta. Now that Faultline has an idea of what type of building and

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space we would like the next step is financing. To start up this business you have to create a list
of items that you would need. We would need the building, clothing and accessories to stock, and
possibly new or addition staffing. There are a few types of loans through the Small Business
Administration. To get the application process started we would have to fill out the information
and apply. Faultline Powersports would be able to add a location to the city of Murrieta within
the next year to a year in a half.
Conclusion
Motocross is a livelihood down in Southern California with tracks 20-60 minutes apart
open every single day southern California would make a good home for Faultline Powersports.
Because of the outstanding customer service and pricing Faultline Powersports will blow
competitors out of the water. Marketing to adults who have a passion to ride we will always have
a good amount of gear and parts in stock. By Faultline Powersports having an owner and staff
who are dedicated and knowledgeable about motocross we will tackle any obstacles and make
sure the Murrieta location is a huge success.
Reference
Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Gilroy (city) QuickFacts from the
US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Hollister (city) QuickFacts from
the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Menifee (city) QuickFacts from
Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Morgan Hill (city) QuickFacts
from the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Murrieta (city) QuickFacts from

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Census Bureau. "United States Census Bureau." Temecula (city) QuickFacts from
Entrepreneur Staff. "Target Market." Entrepreneur. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
Goodrich, Ryan. "SWOT Analysis: Examples, Templates & Definition."
BusinessNewsDaily.com. N.p., 01 Jan. 15. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
Lamb, Charles W., Joseph F. Hair, and Carl McDaniel. MKTG 8. 8th ed. N.p.: n.p.,
n.d. Print.
Motocross, Lucas Oil Ama Pro, Hangtown Motocross Classic, Ca Hangtown -
Sacramento, and Round 1 Of 12 - May 18, 2013. WMX (n.d.): n. pag. 18 May
2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.
Sacramento, and Round 1 Of 12 - May 18, 2013. 250MX (n.d.): n. pag. 18 May
2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
Sacramento, and Round 1 Of 12 - May 18, 2013. 450MX (n.d.): n. pag. 18 May
2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
Small Business Administration. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
Western Powersports. "Employment | Western Power Sports, Inc." Employment |
Western Power Sports, Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

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