The Customers With Service Excellence

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The investigators is a private investigation company. It will be licensed by Singapore police force and located in TiongBaru. With skilled and versatile operatives as well as the utilising of the latest technology, this firm provides comprehensive range of professional investigation services

Mission statement

Guided by our core values of integrity and discretion we aim to create an environment where we can best serve our clients. We consistently strive to provide all our clients with accurate, efficient, and cost-effective private investigations in a timely manner. Our ultimate goal is to protect our client’s confidentiality and provide them with the information and answers they seek.

Vision statement

The Investigators' vision is to become a supreme solutions provider for personal, corporate and legal purposes; And to exceed expectations of the customers with service excellence.

Services Overview

This firm generates its major income from providing private investigation as requested by attorneys, for instance, many attorneys may hire private investigators to collect evidence of marital infidelity to present during court hearings, and other sectors such as, insurance companies who hire private investigators to investigate suspected claims, companies who want to gather sufficient evidence to fire a poor productive staff and so on. Besides, we provide psychological consultant which distinct us from competitors specially for those divorced customers.

Development to date and expansion plan

The investigators will commence operation on year 2013.. The Founder expects that the business will aggressively expand during the first three years operation and intend to implement marketing campaigns that will effectively target individuals and attorneys within the target market

Legal Status

This firm starts as a partnership under the laws of the state of Singapore. The firm now is seeking to raise $100,000 from as a bank loan. The interest rate and loan agreement are to be further discussed during negotiation

Services and why people need these services

Background investigations

Background investigation is mainly about finding out information about a person's past. For example, before an employer hire a certain staff, he may want to know the person' s past like whether he is a criminal or not, bankrupt or not. This is especially the case when it comes to dealing with critical information that is of utter confidentiality and integrity. For instance, banks cannot hire a person with a criminal background such as theft to handle their cash. This is a very big risk thus it is of great value to finding out who they are before giving them the job.

Marital investigations

Another important service offered by in investigators to our clients is marital investigations. This mainly copes with cases of cheating spouses. One of the major issues that most relationships struggle with is cheating. Singapore is one of the countries around the world that have a fast growing economy and despite this fact, many couples in Singapore struggle with this menace. (SK investigation services, 2013)http://www.sk.com.sg/articles/cheating-spouse-in-singapore/ It also has one of the largest ports in the world that largely contributes to the growth of its economy. The number of cheating spouses in Singapore also shows an increase trend. A study reported that most Singaporeans who cheated on their spouses did it with his or her fellow worker or colleague whom he or she spent the better part of the day with while at work (SK investigation services2013). Furthermore, every year, numbers of tourists who are on vacation visit Singapore, thus this creates another great opportunity for natives to meet new people. This, accompanied with technological developments, makes it hard for someone to catch his/her better half while in the act.

The Investigator is specialized in catching cheating spouses in Singapore while charges reasonably. Normally, there are signs that one has to look out for in their partners to determine whether they are cheating or not. Though, mere impulses and thoughts is not enough to prove that someone is really cheating. At times, it can be a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of one's actions and nothing hurts spouses more than knowing that their partners do not trust them. And worse, suspect them of cheating. This is the reason why Singaporeans seeking the services of the experts to find out if he/she is really cheating before taking the next course action. Even though there are several factors that can lead to the increase in the reported cases of cheating spouses in Singapore, they cannot justify this kind of immorality that is slowly destroying many marriages. Every person who is married is bound to make it work and avoid any temptations that lead to such vices.

Actually, marriage is all about compromise and accepting your partner with their perfections as well imperfections. This is due to the fact that no one really is perfect thus a lot must be done to keep a marriage alive. Either way, once a man or woman resorts to cheating, it is difficult to save such a marriage. The private investigative agencies in Singapore use various techniques to help those suspecting their partners of cheating. Among various the techniques available in this industry, the investigators mainly use surveillance to trail the suspects. They track and monitor all their movements and actions while taking notes of what they observe. Cameras are also used to collect evidence in terms of photos as well as videos. The notes help the agencies to design a report at the end of the investigative project to submit to their clients. With all the detectives all over Singapore, the citizens are more relaxed and worry less about their partners cheating on them. This is due to the fact that they know the agencies are just a call away and will not hesitate to help them in any way. This way, the number of cheating spouses in Singapore has also significantly dropped with more people fearing breaking their marriages when they are found. In the modern world, cheating is very rampant among couples and has been proven to be the number one home wrecker. Even despite this fact, spouses still cheat on their partners without thinking over the consequences. Whatever reason someone may give for cheating, it is not a justification to their actions since they know that it is not right. Marital investigators assist spouses who have any doubts that their companions might be cheating on them. The kind of proof provided by the investigators at the end of the project can either prove their fears as true or not. They also help in the sense that the suspected spouse will not suspect their partner of investigating them which might either cause havoc before the truth is unveiled or cause the cheating spouse to change their activities so they are not caught at all. It is always best to catch the cheaters red handed right when they are in the act so they have nothing to deny. This is a good example of the relationship between clients and SK investigation services.

Criminal investigations also clearly depict the kind of relationship between the customers and the detectives. This is aimed at finding evidence for criminal cases that have been declared to lack proof. It could also be a criminal case where the crime was well carried out in order not to leave any trace of evidence. These are usually referred to as perfect crimes since the offenders planned out the crimes so well that they appear to have no proof of the crime or trace to the person who committed the crime. No matter how perfect a crime might seem, there has to be some kind of evidence somewhere that can be used in the case against the accused. This is where the criminal investigators come in to help do research and dig into places and this where they might possibly get the much needed evidence. We have special tools and gadgets to help us with our investigation by making them simpler while producing accurate information. Just like the other two examples discussed above, this also shows the relationship between clients and the investigation services provided by our firm.

Industry analysis

Industry overview

The world security services market exceeded $174 billion in 2010, Market growth is expected to accelerate to exceed a yearly rate of 4.5% between 2010 and 2015 to reach almost $220 billion1. In light of Singapore, the security industry comprises over 270 security agencies (SA). The sector is projected to grow at a rate of 3 - 5% annually. 2

This industry is mature, and as to private investigation sector, there are more than 100 private investigation organizations that are approved by the government that are providing services in different disciplines of investigation in Singapore6. And it has experienced robust growth as the number of marriages ending in divorce has skyrocketed. Among married male residents, the general divorce rate was 7.6 in 2011 (Chart 1)and the rate among married female residents was 7.2 in 2011. Compared to a decade ago, the general divorce rates in 2011 were significantly higher (6.3 for males and 6.4 for females in 2001).3

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source:(Statistics Singapore)

As such, divorce attorneys are now seeking the services of private investigation services more than ever in order to collect evidence

regarding marital infidelity. The industry is expected to grow at a healthy rate as the trend continues.4

Porter 's 5 forces

There exists a strong competition; the market share of Singapore private investigation agencies is mainly held by the big franchises and companies. Therefore we will be facing a severe competition from theses competitors in Singapore, especially in our expansion phase.

Bargaining power of customers (medium)

This is a key factor, which may influence us. Customers have numbers of agencies to choose from. Therefore, they will be looking forward to obtain the best value service while pay minimum fees.

Bargaining power of suppliers (Low)

It may not be considered much of a significant factor in this particular industry, as compared to others, private investigation agencies are basically providing services and not the goods/ products. Mainly these services are provided through detectives. A worth mentioning factor may be that these expertise would not be required on frequent basis. Expertise once hired, are working for years, with proper treatment.

Threat of new entrants (high)

Since, the market size is growing , the possibility of new entrants in is on the higher side. Though the competition may yet be intense but even then, the profitability may compel new entrepreneurs to join the industry

Threat of substitute products(low)

This is also not an important factor to consider for this particular industry, as mere products or services can be the substitute for private investigation. Police stations could be considered as one, however, in most situations, they mostly just record the complaint, they merely carry out a comprehensive inquiry. These services only step in when serious offense has been committed, just like a disturbance of the peace or the problem of general interest. Because of the lack of personnel, money or time, the in-depth inquiry for the so called minor cases is not able to be conducted. Therefore, this phenomenon creates opportunities for private investigation. Victims may appoint those private eyes to conduct comprehensive investigation instead of report to official administrative services and wait for nothing.

Sensitivity to economic cycles.

This industry is of high level of consumption, and is sensitive to changes of the general economy. an economic downturn may cast adverse effect on this industry. However, this industry is still lucrative because divorce proceedings are inevitable and businesses will still encounter fierce competition and need corporate intellegence. Moreover, marketers also capitalize on the larcenous side of recessions. Sales of burglar alarms increase when "there is more unemployment and more crime results," said an alarm-company executive in 1971. (http://www.pinow.com/articles/336/are-pis-recession-proof Private investigators also enjoy good times during recession as according to a private investigator, because "fraud and theft tend to increase when jobs are scarce." (http://www.pinow.com/articles/336/are-pis-recession-proof

Electronically Stored Information is Changing the Investigative Industry

For traditional private investigation, like background checks, theft, insurance claims, etc. Almost all of these involve investigating trust.

The client-agency plays an important role when a client assigns a private investigator. For the past several decades, mostly, detectives conduct investigation by observing visible activity and records: printed documents, receipts, surveillance photos, subject interviews, etc. However, as technology advanced, the investigative industry is prone to be interested in Electronically Stored Information (ESI). Modern investigators seize the opportunity to access this information with apparent simplicity, efficiency and convenience while leveraging the intel into more valuable case results. Here is how the electronically stored information changes the investigative industry nowadays:

1. Electronic data requires analysis

Simply collect information from intel does not bring any value, or sometimes even lead to a wrong direction. Profound analysis of records from various resources is essential to the value to the clients. Therefore, more and more agencies tend to employ experts at comparison and creative interpretation of records in order to enjoy extraordinary success in the near future.

3. ESI levels the playing field for investigators

The ESI skills strengthen the competitive position for a smaller agency as compared to a relatively larger or more established one.

Deep ESI skills brings the competitive position of a smaller agency closer to that of a larger or more established firm. Developing the intel extraction practices lowers the entry barrier for those smart PIs.

4. Adding value to ESI distinct agencies from others.

A professional agency who goes beyond sending video footage from investigations and integrates intelligence from ESI becomes a new type of resource for clients. The expertise creates a stronger agency relationship which is harder for the client to replace.

5. The core purpose of the PI changes

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to transform electronic information into usable intel. Clients are more likely to look at agencies to provide interpretation of information, more often than just video footage or background snapshots. Agencies enjoying the greatest success are those who bring to the table more than what every other competitor can.

6. Clients are practicing "DIY-investigations"

As electronic records are more commonly available, potential civilian clients may try their hand at more self-directed "investigations". Individuals snoop on Facebook or emails to catch partner infidelity, so there are fewer domestic cases going to PI's. Companies may use public online records to weed out applicants, so they need background checks less often. Agencies may be competing against other investigators as well as their own clients.

7. Access to electronic information leads to new cases

An investigative agency proficient in the use of ESI can take on new types of cases which match their new existing business model, including asset recovery or FCPA. Asset discovery is an excellent example where a smart investigator can utilize their skills and provide value to a client using electronic records for tracking the flow of funds, asset purchases, and vesting of property, etc.

8. Investigators must keep up with changing laws

As technology changes and electronic records become more widespread, regulation and legislation on restrictions of their use increases. Scenarios where ESI creates a public outcry causes government agencies to pass laws on ESI usage, sometimes in a knee-jerk reaction. PI's now need to understand the requirements of DPPA, GLB, HIPPA, and the FCRA when using ESI. For example, employers in some states have restrictions on when Facebook can be used in hiring decisions.

9. ESI can boost client relations

Use electronic information to cement a relationship with new and existing clients. An astute agency will do as much or more due diligence on a client as they do with a subject. Understanding the true needs and history of a client serves their interest in engaging with a business partner who is truly intended on helping them discover answers.

10. Investigators are evolving into full service agencies

Now is the opportunity for professional investigators to develop a new version of the industry for themselves. Focus on identifying and building trust so your services exceed your clients' expectations, and distinguish yourself from the inferior competitors who commoditize their background checks and products.

No matter what the reason for the investigation, your client is trusting you to find the answer. Leveraging electronic data and distilling it down into usable intel is an invaluable service. Progressive agency owners are recognizing the evolution of their industry due to ESI.

1.(http://www.reportlinker.com/ci02408/Security-Services.html)

2.(http://www.wda.gov.sg/content/dam/wda/pdf/Speeches/21082012/NDOC%20Factsheet_20120808_CMC_V02_final.pdf)

3.(statistics on marriages and divorces)

4.(http://www.spf.gov.sg/licence/PI/others/PIA.html

6 http://www.sk.com.sg/blog/private-investigation-singapore-needs/

Marketing Plan

Marketing Never Ends

Marketing never ends, even after our business is up and running. A common step that a typical private agency always take is to sent out newsletters to attorneys

Target market

market size and customer profile

Singapore has a total population of 5.31 million, with the board middle class making up 37%-40%. 1 The Investigators average client will be middle to upper middle class man or woman currently undergoing a divorce and living in the company’s target market. Common traits among clients will include:

Annual household income exceeding $30,000.

Lives or works no more than 10 miles from the company’s office location.

Is a divorce or corporate attorney currently working with a divorcing individual or

corporate client that is seeking business intelligence

Possibility for citizens to assign an investigator

It is common that while a victim go to report a minor offence, the official administrative services mostly just record the complaint, they merely carry out a comprehensive inquiry. These services only step in when serious offense has been committed, just like a disturbance of the peace or the problem of general interest. Because of the lack of personnel, money or time, the in-depth inquiry for the so called minor cases is not able to be conducted. Therefore, this phenomenon creates opportunities for private investigation. Victims may appoint those private eyes to conduct comprehensive investigation instead of report to official administrative services and wait for nothing.

Market trends and opportunities

Searching for missing persons

One of the opportunities for private investigation is to search for missing people, as private eyes tend to be quite indispensable in two cases: Minors and adults that have gone missing- in the situation that there is no proof of an accident or crime. These cases are especially excruciating for families. However, official administrative services cannot really act efficiently. They record the case and conduct simple random checks in the family' s interest. But they truly step in when the proof or suspicion of an crime or accident has been established. In most situations, only private investigations can carry out necessary comprehensive investigation in time.

Services coping with company management

Prevention in terms of security for traders, manufacturers and financial companies, stems directly from the studies carried out and the advice given by private investigators - particularly in the fight against theft and fraud in companies and against shoplifting in shops and hypermarkets.

Private investigators work quite actively regarding security for traders and financial companies, particularly for prevention of theft and fraud in companies.

While in regard of unfair competition, solvency, tracking down debtors and etc, private investigators also play an essential role. These services provided by private investigators make a positive effect on trade and industry by reducing the total number of offences committed nationwide.

Services dealing with civil affairs

In-depth investigations, which are sometimes required to produce evidence in the event of problems concerning divorce proceedings, custody or separation rights, specific genealogical searches and even for premarital inquiries, do not fall under the responsibility of any official service and can therefore only be dealt with in a professional manner by private investigators - it is worth noting that in Singapore Civil Law, the burden of proof always falls upon the party instigating the proceedings.

Nevertheless, all such social affairs are of the utmost importance for private individuals, and the legal, moral and legitimate services carried out by private detectives in this particular area can affect the rest of their lives. Private detectives consequently play an essential, irreplaceable role in safeguarding citizens' legitimate rights an

Strategic position

The Investigators objective is to become the renowned investigation company in Singapore among its competitors. To achieve that, we worked out a strategic position which highlights that

Focusing on specific area instead of offering a wide range of services

Providing psychological consultant

The strategic position is based on evaluation of the following factors

1. Industry analysis

2. Target market

3. The competitive environment

4. Our strengths

5. Risks

Industry trends

There are more than 100 private investigation organizations in investigative industry that are approved by the government that are providing services in different disciplines of investigation in Singapore. The industry has experienced robust growth as the number of marriages ending in divorce has skyrocketed. As such, divorce attorneys are now seeking the services of private investigation services more than ever in order to collect evidence

regarding marital infidelity. The industry is expected to grow at a healthy rate as this trend continues

Target market

Knowing the nature of price buyers, which is that they do not care much about the value but the price charged, we target at value buyers of middle class to upper middle class family as to our business itself, it provides professional service in investigative industry, competing on price would only make us look tacky and unprofessional, and create wrong impression.

Competitive environment

Although most of the competitors in Singapore are founded by ex-law enforcement officers who without business experience, we are still in face of great pressure from them because firstly, most of the competitors like SK have been operating for decades, and they have considerable experience in this business. Second, Many of them enjoy large market share and quite good reputation which create substantial obstacles for us to enter the market. Moreover, the range of services they provided is quite wide.

Our strengths

Our strengths line in that we focus on a limited range of services so that we are able to converge our resources like HR to ensure the quality of these services. Moreover, besides investigation, we also provide additional psychological consultant to help victims in events like cheat spouse walk out of the shadow, in attempt to seek a good reputation among the community.

The risks of unregulated investigation

While private investigation remains unregulated, there are serious risks that some

private investigators will turn to illegal methods to achieve their ends. For example, using

false cover stories to obtain access to confidential information—"blagging" or "pretexting"

—or illegally paying public officials for access. These operators are sometimes referred to

as "information brokers" in the industry.

The growth in availability of information creates two new risks. First, it is increasingly

easy to access, store and transfer large amounts of personal data. Second, ease of access

means that almost anyone with an Internet connection can offer investigation-style

services without any background in the industry, skills or experience.

The Association of British Investigators told the story of dilettante detectives who can

sell their services without any training. It said that instead of posting sub-contracted

instructions to a trusted fellow member, it was now "possible to outsource work instantly

to a worldwide network of individuals purporting to be private investigators", who were

"inexperienced, part-time amateurs" and not notified under the Data Protection Act.

The association argued that this had damaged the integrity, quality, financial probity and

professionalism of the industry over the past 15–20 years.24 Witnesses from the private

investigation industry echoed these views—G4S said that "someone can be a butcher today

and a private investigator tomorrow without any proper checks"

1. http://www.littlespeck.com/content/lifestyle/CTrendsLifestyle-091128.htm

Marketing Mix-The 4 P' s

Price

We do not advertise our prices on-line, because If we do we are giving away valuable competitor intelligence and as a result, we are giving our competitors the upper hand.

A recent practice has evolved within the private investigation industry of offering private investigation ‘packages’. However, we are professional service providers in the legal/investigative industry, so it does not make sense offer "Buy Now", "Half Price", "Discount" type investigation packages. It only make us look tacky and unprofessional and creates the wrong impression.

product

Front attack strategy

The product strategy planned by us is "Frontal Attack". We have decided to compete in the market with our tough rivals by offering quality level of service at reasonably low prices. we are providing diversified services in the capacity of private investigation. Experienced detectives will be serving the customers . All these features and many others will help us in competing with our competitor at all levels.

Promotion

Holiday marketing

The holiday season creates a great opportunity for us to connect with our clients on a different level than rest of the year.

Here is how we going to do this

1. Give away gift cards

We will distribute gift cards as holiday presents for current clients or as incentives for potential clients

2. Send holiday greetings

We believe that holiday is a perfect time to remind our clients that we are thinking of them and appreciate their business. We will send out holiday postcards, e-mails or other messages/

3. Use social media

We are going to use Facebook, Twitter and such social media platforms to send out quick and friendly messages to strengthen our professional network.

5. Volunteer

we will get us involved in our community by volunteering a food drive, homeless shelter or other organizations and increase the public awareness.

Place

The services provided are always of high confidential, therefore, in terms of place strategy we would only be considering the site where we have to open up our agency.

The ideal location for our service at ThiongBaru which is the centre of Singapore.

Marketing Vehicles

Utilizing websites

To make sure that our clients could find us, we need to show up near the top of search engine results. Here are how we are going to achieve this.

Make sure our website is search engine-optimized. A search engine-optimized website is designed to the standards search engines use when determining ranking. http://webstyleguide.com/wsg3/5-site-structure/4-search-engine-optimization.html Relevant content, proper meta tags and descriptions, and words written, all these could be the variables affecting the ranking. To take care of all of these could be overwhelming, but an expertly designed website can be expensive.

Build links. When one website links to another website, search engines view it as a vote of confidence http://www.bing.com/webmaster/help/link-building-7a3f99b7. While the number of votes will affect the importance and ranking of a website. And, it can increase our ranking potential if a high-ranking website links to us.

Write original and relevant content. One of the major ways a search engine determines ranking is through relevant, well-written content http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/how-search-engines-operate.we are going to prepare something that could stick with visitors and encourage them to share on their own websites, so that people could link to our site.

http://www.pinow.com/articles/808/5-ways-to-boost-your-private-investigator-website-ranking

Forming strategic partnership with reputable PI agencies.

Forming alliances with other investigators is an economical route to additional profit. We do not have the added expense for wages and benefits while having the resources available to us as needed. Moreover, As to us, we only provide a limited range of services in order to converge our resources on the quality. To form alliance, when our client asks us to undertake a task, we have the ability to say, yes we can, because our alliance can provide the expert skills and additional investigative resource we may need.

Making cold calls to different courthouses and attorneys’ offices

We are living in a digital world, but interestingly enough, in many instances, first few clients came to investigators are those after receiving one of their letters or their brochure/business cards from a cold call. The latter is still one of the favorite marketing approaches whenever work gets slow–we’ll visit attorneys’ offices and/or hit the courthouses and pass out our business cards.

Use Testimonials as a Marketing Tool

Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool http://www.mspbusinessmanagement.com/blog/word-mouth-marketing%20. Therefore will have potential clients hearing and reading glowing recommendations about our services. Having someone else speak for us is extremely effective, however, it looks odd to ask our clients for testimonials.

Here is how we going to do it

1. Identify Our Testimonial Subjects

First, we will need to work out a list of clients whom are satisfied with our services. As to the list, we will try to recall cases that had a distinct outcome, and clients who were quick to praise us for quality work. Also we will target at people or companies which have good reputation, as these will distinct our testimonials.

2. Collect the Right Information

once we work out the name list, we will send them e-mails or give them a quick phone call. One thing to notice is that, we shall not hog their time whether have them write their answers or record them via a tape recorder or video camera.

here are the questions we are going to ask them in order to get enough information:

A general description of the problem they were having that needed investigative work

our customer service and professionalism

Reasons why they were satisfied and how we helped to resolve the case

3. Edit Testimonials to Fit our Needs

After we collected material from the interview, we will edit these testimonials into short paragraphs or video clips. And we will have to be extremely selective about which details and language to include. However, if we want to use a quite successful investigation case, we need not to be that selective and can just show off in longer form.

Once finished editing, we will show the person what we have done for his or her approval. Make sure they are okay with how we have shaped their words and with the way in which we are planning to display the testimonial.

4. Display Testimonials in the Right Places

ideal places to display testimonials for us are as listed below:

Brochures, business cards and other printed marketing collateral

On our website

Get people to post their testimonials on our local search profiles.

print the cases out in PDF form

1. http://pi-telegraph.com/10-top-reasons-private-investigator-business-working/

Competition

General competitive analysis

The competition among licensed private investigators is less than in many other businesses. As the main prerequisite on application for private investigation agency is to have a minimum of 3 years' experience in relevant investigation work (for non-law enforcement officers) and a minimum of 2 years' experience in investigation work (for ex-law enforcement officers), 1 Therefore, many applicants and licensees in Singapore are ex-law enforcement officers. Accordingly, there is a lack of experienced business personnel in this field. Further, most law enforcement training is not geared towards business and the amount of inexperience in this aspect of the field is shocking.

Competitors' profile

Despite the facts mentioned above, there are still strong competition within this sector with many competitors have been operating for decades and hold large market share. Listed below are two of the identified PI agencies which considered to be the top competitors for The Investigators.

1. SK Investigation Services 2

SK believes in providing professional investigation services. It handles every client’s cases with care, in Total Privacy and Confidentiality. Also, it carefully studies and plans clients' cases before commencing investigative work to minimize the "exposure" of cases during the course of the surveillance.

In addition, it provides accurate Information and Comprehensive Investigation Reports with Crystal Clear Digital Video Recording and Photographic Evidence to meet its client’s expectation. Its clients will be updated at regular intervals on the progress of the assignment.

Besides, it has a distinct reputation solving complex cases for individual client, law firms and multi-national corporations in the local and Asia Pacific Region. This has earned it Media and Press attention. It is the only private investigation firm in Singapore to be awarded with the "Top 200″ Outstanding Organization 2011 in South East Asia beside "Top 100″ Successful Awarded Entrepreneur Year 2010 (Platinum Category-Singapore).

2.Commercial Investigations LLP

Commercial Investigations LLP commenced operation since 1990 by 2 managing partners, and its private detectives have been in the investigation field since the 80s. Its detectives are all full-time career investigators recruited from the police/military or other specialized fields. Their backgrounds are vetted and they undergo intensive in-house and on-the-job trainings to ensure that all investigations are conducted professionally with high degree of integrity. One of Its teams are headed by a senior female operative who is in charge of matrimonial investigation and other personal cases.Commercial Investigations LLP invests and frequently up-grades state of the art equipment that provide crystal clear images. Monthly in-house training are conducted to up-grade Its investigators in investigative skills and usage of the latest equipment available.

In addition, it maintains a variety of vehicles which will enhance the operations, having a great advantage over other companies.

Upon undertaking a case, it guarantees the complete confidentiality of the client’s identity.

In the light of the operation of a case investigation, a senior private detective will be deployed as a case controller in each case. He/she will analyse the case, present the case with available options to obtain the necessary evidence and direct the team members under his/her charge. The client will be kept posted on the on-going case. http://www.cpis.com.sg/aboutus.html

Operation Plan

Challenges facing private investigation agencies

1.Things do not always go as planned

Private investigators in novels, movies and televisions are quite different from the reality. In literature, private investigators are super heroes, they hack computer networks, disguising, break and enter buildings, track on others and never lose the target. However, in reality, surveillance is affected by numbers of variables, such as weather, traffic patterns and there is no guarantee. Therefore, a reality for private investigators is that things do not always go as planned. However, affected by literature, clients are always expecting the same results. Thus the fact is, private investigators are always facing the situation that they are not able to achieve the results that their client expects, but they have to break bad news to them.

helphttp://www.pinow.com/articles/1223/private-investigator-tips-breaking-bad-news

Solutions to this challenge will be as following.

1.Make One Thing Perfectly Clear

In reality, no private investigator can guarantee a certain outcome. Therefore, we need to tell our clients specifically that what we can do and what we cannot do once clients seeking for our service, and write it down in paper form. This will prevent any misunderstanding at the end of service, particularly when there is nothing good to report. In most situations, detectives may work out a retainer agreement, which may state the tasks they are about to perform. when sometimes the process of investigation does not go as planned and clients start to complain, for example, "that is not what i m asking you to do", the retainer agreement will be presented for their reference. Make things clear at the beginning so that it will be easier for detectives to break bad news and for clients to accept them.

3. Selling an Intangible. Just like Harley-Davison selling a life style to their customers, we sell something intangible instead of just a written report or a video footage. In many cases all a detective has for the money is a final report and several photographs. This can be made even more difficult when the results are not matching clients expectation. We overcome this by offering psychological consultant and always remember that we are part priest and part therapist. The simple act of listening to clients and giving them outstanding customer service throughout an investigation will make selling an intangible easier. Especially if bad news is given in the end. http://www.pinow.com/articles/1223/private-investigator-tips-breaking-bad-news

5. No surprise

Clients of our business do not always like surprises, particularly when it is bad news. Our private investigator's final report should never include information that will surprise the client. In fact, a final report should really be more of a formality http://www.pinow.com/articles/1223/private-investigator-tips-breaking-bad-news. Any bad news should be communicated to our clients before they start to read the final report.

8. Give the client regular updates

Lastly, we need to make sure that our clients is up to date with our investigation progress. We can do this by phone or email. It is unacceptable to clients that after they assigning a case, the investigator disappear. And, things get worse if a private investigator reappears sever weeks later with no productive information or even bad news. Giving our clients regular updates makes them easier to accept an result which not match their expectation or even bad news.

2.Ethic issues

Houston attorney Clyde W. Burleson and Scott H. Belshaw, executive director of the University of North Texas Professional Development Institutes private investigations training program, have researched some key ethical issues for private investigators. http://www.pinow.com/articles/376/top-3-ethical-issues-for-pis-and-how-to-handle-them

Violation of privacy rights

Someone' s privacy is easily be violated, especially with the work of new technology. Violations of privacy could include hacking computers; placing cameras in hidden locations or using long-range cameras to take pictures through someone' s window; intercepting mail; and obtaining information under false pretenses. http://www.pinow.com/articles/376/top-3-ethical-issues-for-pis-and-how-to-handle-them

For instance, a credit agency can provide a person' s credit report to a private investigator. But he must be honest and careful not to lie about their intentions when trying to seek credit reports. Obtaining a credit report under false pretenses is a federal offense. http://www.pinow.com/articles/376/top-3-ethical-issues-for-pis-and-how-to-handle-them

Information obtained illegally is not admissible in court http://www.pinow.com/articles/376/top-3-ethical-issues-for-pis-and-how-to-handle-them , so it is useless to attorneys who hire private investigators.

The easiest way to avoid violating privacy is to conduct investigations from public viewpoints. http://www.pinow.com/articles/376/top-3-ethical-issues-for-pis-and-how-to-handle-them

Lack of training in ethical decision-making

In some cases, a private investigator has to respond to an urgent situation briskly, which means he may not be able to consider thoroughly. Such situation highlights the importance for private investigators to receive ethical and legal training, so that they will have knowledge needed up front.

To solve this problem, more universities and colleges should offer training programs for private investigators, with attorneys teaching criminal law, and other instructors offering background in privacy rights and ethics. http://www.pinow.com/articles/376/top-3-ethical-issues-for-pis-and-how-to-handle-them

Also, private investigators nowadays need to stand on the very top of the technology and be more knowledgeable in electronic investigative tools more than before as technology advanced. For example, back to Sherlock holmes' s age, it was quite difficult to detect a trace of blood. But now, a small machine could do everything, as long as you know how to control it. This field has traded in magnifying glasses for GPS receivers and laptops http://www.pinow.com/articles/376/top-3-ethical-issues-for-pis-and-how-to-handle-them Detectives who are not equipped with such knowledge will be leave to the situation which of distinct disadvantage.

3.During the recession, should we compete on price or value?

According to a poll in the PInow.com and ServeNow.com Yahoo! Groups 29 percent of investigators have discounted their fees during the recession, and 16 percent of process servers have cut rates as well http://www.pinow.com/articles/73/compete-value-price. This raises up the question: During the recession, should we be competing on value or price?

Customer Loyalty

Discounting rates does not increase customer loyalty, and We will not advertise our prices on-line, because If we do we are giving away valuable competitor intelligence and we are setting ourselves up for failure by giving the power to our competitors as a result, we are giving our competitors the upper hand.

A recent practice has evolved within the private investigation industry of offering private investigation ‘packages’. However, we are professional service providers in the legal/investigative industry, so it does not make sense offer "Buy Now", "Half Price", "Discount" type investigation packages. It only make us look tacky and unprofessional and creates the wrong impression.

Customer loyalty is built up progressively. The loyalty is affected by many variables. however, among these, providing consistent and excellent customer service is of great importance. We should be very clear that where our competitive advantage lies in, because clients are always looking for something more than a reasonable price. Moreover, an recession will not last forever, once the economy recovered, clients will not be satisfied merely with a good price tag, but are they seeking for high quality and professional services.

Reputation

When we are making decisions, we need to be extremely careful that what kind of images they may post to our clients. As it may take 10 years to build up a good reputation, while just need several minites to destroy it by scandals, or other unexpected accidents. The LIBOR scandal happened to the renowned bank Barkley is an extreme example.

The price of our services is a determining factor of our company. It reflects the quality of our services in a certain way.

Giving a discount may attract a lot clients immediately, however, in the long run, it will hurt our company. Because the one wants to start a pricing battle and therefore decrease the price is reducing the perceived value. This particular industry is just like the luxurious industry which is of high consumption, few people would buy a LV bad which is offering 50% discount, in fact, most of them may consider it as a conspiracy.

According to the global public relations firm Weber Shandwick, it takes about three and a half years to rebuild your reputation http://www.theiia.org/intAuditor/feature-articles/2011/june/the-whole-worlds-talking/, and seven to 10 years for a company to go from poor to adequate to outstanding in the mind of the consumer. So we are not able to afford to lose years of good business to poor pricing.

Work with Regular Customers

If a patient are quite satisfied with the treatment of a doctor, he would probably recommend this doctor to his friends. Same thing to our business, we should try to sustain old clients and let them popular our name as the mouth of words is a very effective marketing tool. If we cut prices for them "just this one time" they will wonder why they ever paid more for our services. Cutting price cannot achieve mutual benefit, in fact, no one benefits if we do so. It may not only affect our profit adversely, but also affect the industry' s perceived value as a whole

http://www.pinow.com/articles/73/compete-value-price

http://www.pinow.com/articles/1149/5-major-challenges-private-investigators

EXIT strategy

We will strive to survive in the industry, however, we need to work out a plan in case we fail to do it, that is to sell our business.

Here is the detail about our exit strategy.

Realize Our Worth

First thing is to recognize our value, to recognize what kind of advantages we have over certain areas. By recognizing and highlighting our company' s strength, we distinct us from those competitors. And therefore we increase our value. After we have identified our strengths, we need to consider how to utilize these to attract those acquiring us. Also, we need to know the goals of our potential buyers and work out how we could help them to achieve those goals. Doing this successfully would also increase our value.

However, we could not only identify our strengths, but also our weaknesses. these could be the factor that reduce our value, therefore once we recognize them, we will work out a resolution to solve them or at least to improve on them. Furthermore, show our potential buyers our weakness and how we can improve under acquisition will give our potential buyers the expectation about the acquisition and once again, it will increase our value.

Get Our Name Out

Once we done the first step, we will start to market ourselves. We will join local, and national associations for our industry. Also, we will attend their meetings in order to get to meet new people within our industry and widen our social network. Moreover, we will prepare an "elevator speech," which is a few minutes of talking points on what our company does and what distinct us. By doing these, we are putting our company on the radar of our potential buyers

Further, we will also join many universities sponsor events that are open to the community, including alumni and networking events. And spend several days to visit attorney and introduce our company to them- as they are the ones who normally decide which process servers and private investigators to hire http://www.pinow.com/articles/105/preparing-for-sale

Know Our "No"

Knowing what our company is worth is important before selling it. There are numbers of factors which determine the value of our company and the value to a potential buyer. Among these, our gross revenue, our total expenses and the assets included in the sale are of great importance. the rest are of less importance just like how the company is reliant on certain people, how good is our company' s reputation and the quality of our website.

Know our floor price, which is also known as "no number", to sell our company. This means that we are not going to sell our company to anyone who offer a price which is lower than our floor price. This price (or above) is the one that we are absolutely willing to sell our company for. After we working out this number, we will first keep it to ourselves as revealing these numbers to potential buyers could create obstacles to the negotiation process.

With hard work and a little luck, a potential buyer will see the value of acquiring our company. while at the same time, we will still strive to grow our business and increase public awareness.

http://www.pinow.com/articles/105/preparing-for-sale

Operation and Management

corporate structure

Here is our corporate structure which senior management stands on the very top, then the power was concentrated on two parts, private investigations which include private investigation services, surveillance services, legal compliance and licensure; Administrative staff, which consist accounting, sales-marketing and administrative.

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Getting the right candidate

http://www.pinow.com/articles/835/private-investigator-employee-hiring

Hiring is of great importance to a company, particularly to our business. A talented and experienced detective could give us enormous advantages. We believe that we have a great company, great culture, but we want to get the people who really want to work here. Although, hiring is a time-consuming and expensive process, getting the right people in the right role is of great importance. We are willing to do everything we can do to get the right candidate.

And here is how we going to hire

Run an ad:

The first thing we are going to do is to give a description about our company with specific details. We can conduct this by an instructor to give a briefing to those candidates who are applying for job here. After this short briefing we also set the foundation for testing. We will ask then to complete three specific questions to measure their ability to follow directions. Candidates will not move on to the next step unless they passing this. Here are our questions to ask.

A description of why they would be a good fit for the role.

Their current or past compensation.

A phone message.

We want to see if they can follow directions, if they sound professional, and whether or not their compensation is in line with what we’re able to offer.

10 minutes introductory phone call:

Once candidates pass the test mentioned above, our HR manager will schedule a phone call. The first question we going to ask is " how much do you know about our company". To ask this is to know how much preparation they did. If they can give a reasonable answer then more complicated questions will be followed, these are to make sure that this candidate has a similar ethical approach, are standing on the top of technology and is worth to invest.

30-60 minute phone interview:

This is more like a background checking process. During this, we will ask more details about candidates' career history. Ranking from 1 to 5 will be given with 5 being the highest. The score is important to us because we may interview plenty of candidates and easily to forget them.

Face-to-face interview:

During this process, , some of the same questions will be repeated again, this is to make sure that their answers are consistent. Also, hypothetical questions like "what would you do if you were encountered that situation" will be asked. We will pay attention to their body language and the tone along with the words while they are answering questions.

5. check references:

While a reference from prior manager is preferred, personal reference is also wanted, as sometimes it could give us the best information such as give us the insight to the person' s strengths and weaknesses.

Make an offer:

The final step is to make the offer. Also we make sure our paperwork is well-prepared to prevent employees leaving with equipment or confidential information.

Risk analysis

C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Tencent\Users\513996378\QQ\WinTemp\RichOle\HSG{Q%[email protected]

Risk analysis report sheet

Risk

Risk category

Lever of security (Low, medium, high)

Priority

Responsible

What

Business environment

Environmental

Medium

High

Management level

The financial crisis is currently affecting the global economy, Singapore is not an exception. The market is not steady. In such a situation, effective strategies are important. We should make dynamic judgments which reflecting the current market needs. Contingency plans should be prepared in hand to avoid such situation.

Use of capital

Business

Low

Medium

owner

Capital should be used efficiently and effectively, as the economy is undergoing a crisis. Proper research and planning need to be done to ensure this

Competitiveness

Business

High

High

Management level

Although most of the competitors in Singapore are founded by ex-law enforcement officers who without business experience, we are still in face of great pressure from them because firstly, most of the competitors like SK have been operating for decades, and they have considerable experience in this business. Second, Many of them enjoy large market share and quite good reputation which create substantial obstacles for us to enter the market. Moreover, the range of services they provided is quite wide.

External risk factors

Economic risks

The global economy has been very vulnerable in the past few years which tend to affect the decisions of every country, company and individual. The buying power of people of Singapore and rate of disposable income is already low

Legal risks

In Singapore, legal systems are very comprehensive and there are many regulations associated with operating the business. To negate suck risks, there should be a clear understanding of those regulations. policies should be made accordingly, which can benefit business as well as predict any uncertainty in it.