ABSTRACT

The project involves on overall learning of Business environment for a start up in educational
sector with primary focus on Business development in new markets to ultimately increase the
overall market share and hence the revenues for the company.

The project is divided in to six stages:

I. Understanding the product at Edumentor and analyze the competitors and their product
present in the market.
II. Developing promotional strategies for East Delhi region
III. Development of a new centre in preet Vihar in East Delhi zone and reach the company
targets for the zone.
IV. Handle the operations of the Preet Vihar Centre.
V. Conduct a market research to understand the promotional strategy which suits best to a
start up educational institute.
VI. Launch a New product B.EL.ED and achieve the target of the company.

The basic objective of all this study is to learn and understand the working of the educational
services which were provided by the company. To understand all the parameters, I initially
started with the promotional of the edumentor products. Then I was given the responsibility of
handling a new centre in preet vihar

The Stage I is completed. In stage I, I studied about the undergraduate management programs,
various coaching products and analyzed them with respect to the products present in the market

The Stage II the primary phase of development of the strategy for year 2010 has been
completed, with minute continuous changes from time to time responding to competitor actions.
Initially , we studied the competitiors strategies and simuntaneously employed our strategies in
the promotional part

The Stage III the development activity for Preet Vihar centre has been completed with selling
part continuing to achieve maximum admissions.

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The Stage IV involves handling the operations of the newly built centre. The operations are still
in the process and would continue till the end of the term. Initially there were few obstacles
regarding the batch allotments. But at present it is in smooth operations.

The Stage V involves the overall study of the promotional strategies, and know which tools of
promotions suits best a company in educational coaching

The Stage VI involves the launch of a new product B.EL.ED. The target is center wise. The
target for my centre (Preet vihar extension) is 25 by may 10th . As on 4th may we stand at 8 .

LIST OF ILLUSTRAONS

A) List of figures
S no. Title
1. Market share of major players in the market………………………………….

2. SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………….

3. Types of products……………………………………………………………...

4. STP analysis…………………………………………………………………...

5. Effectiveness of promotional tools……………………………………………

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B) List of tables
S no. Title

1. Programs offered at EduMentor………………………………………………

2. Comparative table of competitor programs………………………………….

3. Market shares of major players in the market………………………………..

CHAPTER 1:
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 INTRODCUTION

INTRODUCTION
About the Company: EduMentor educational services

Edumentor educational services was initially known as FOQUAL, was started in the year 2006
by Mr. Vikas Jain with 35 students. In the second year of its operation the company was renamed
as ‘Mentor’ classes. In 2007 the student strength increased to 300.

The company was again renamed as ‘EduMentor’ in the third year of its operation because the
name Mentor had already been registered by some other organisation. Again the company
showed an exponential growth as the number of students increased to 900.

Over these years EduMentor has been able to carve a niche for itself in this competitive industry
because of its focus on product quality and delivery.

In the year 2010 the company targets to be the number one player in this industry for which a
target of 4000 enrolments has been set. For this purpose a marketing strategy has been planned
and executed, the company has around 50 MBA students (interns and graduates) working with it
to achieve this target. The company has also expanded its reach in and around Delhi and NCR
with 18 centres.

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The core team comprises of alumni of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and leading
MBA institutes which is an asset and an effective marketing tool to influence prospective
students to enrol since the institute is run by them who know ‘how it is done, as they have done it
already ‘.

Company vision:

EduMentor was established with the goal of providing specialised coaching to the
students who seek admission in BBS / BBA / BBE. Our aim was not just to open a
coaching institute but rather to create a Knowledge Hub where students are the top
priority. That is the reason why our faculty consist only of those who have been to the
best BBA/BBS/BBE & MBA institutes making us ‘The Only Specialist BBA/BBS/BBE
Entrance Coaching Institute’. At EduMentor our core competency lies more in mentoring
our students to the right path of education than merely preparing them to achieve the
best results.

Purpose, Scope, and Limitations

Purpose:

The purpose of the project is to get an overall idea about the marketing of EduMentor
Educational Services. It aims at developing the promotional and business development strategies
of the company after thoroughly analyzing the same of the competitors. It also focuses on finding
out the student preferences regarding the choice of any coaching institute by rating them on
different factors and using conjoint analysis.

As the aspects of this project are multidimensional so is its purpose. It will take into
consideration the mutual benefit of the company coupled with gaining some practical knowledge
about the Education market & their overall marketing strategies & processes.

Value-addition to the Company

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1) Find out the various products and courses present in the industry

2) Find various promotional and business development activity being undertaken by the
company and the its competitors

3) Make company know the best products, methods and practices present in the market and
develop strategies accordingly

4) Find out the positive and negative aspects pertaining to specific area of operations

5) Find out customer preference, and factors affecting selection of package

6) Suggest the company the best possible scheme coupled with awareness and timing of benefit.

7) Overall business development of company in terms of revenue and value enhancement and
making the company operations more efficient and effective for long term benefit.

Academic Benefits

1) Got an insight of educational products and gain through knowledge of various

promotional strategies.

2) Real time experience of interacting with perspective customers and convert them into
real customers.

Scope of Project:

The objective of the project includes, the organizational Development at EduMentor

Educational Services. EduMentor has just entered this market of educational services, so
the basic aim of this project is Business Development that is generating business for them
by attracting students to the newly launched programs. This would include structuring of
the entire business so as to increase the efficiency of the work done at EduMentor.

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 The project would enable EduMentor in Business development of the educational
packages by reaching to the maximum number of students. Also it aims at developing
promotional strategies (by keeping in mind the requirements of target audience and
moves taken by the competitors) to increase conversion of students into these programs.
The project will also help in measuring the students preferences for EduMentor
educational package and how best EduMentor can come up with an educational package
that meets the need/expectation of students based on the survey that will be done.

Also, the fact that offering educational service is a growing business and will help me in
any future entrepreneurial stint that I might wish to undertake.

Methodology:

The methodology followed comprises of a brief study of the evolution of undergraduate

management entrance test preparation markets and its growth in India.

• In order to fulfill the above objectives a descriptive study will be taken up which
primary and secondary data would be collected from the websites of the various
institutes, the records of the company, news paper etc. and surveys respectively.
• Tools like mystery shopping, ghost calls etc were used to understand the strategies
and offerings of competitors.
• After the required data is collected a detailed analysis was done to understand the
overall market, products present and competitor offerings.
• The data collected also helped in developing the overall promotional strategies.

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 • As a part of promotional strategy followed by EduMentor various activities like
Board center activity and Bank center activity were conducted throughout East Delhi
Zone (allotted to me) in order to reach the target audience. A team of 250 associates,
15 managers and 10 quality managers will be hired and trained to conduct the
activities.

• Individual counseling of parents and students will be done in order to generate sales.

Limitations of the Study:

The project taken is very vast so considering the accuracy of all the aspects as required by
the study is a major limitation. However, every attempt will be made to overcome any
flaw which might occur due to this. Certain other factors which can form drawbacks to
the conclusions of the project are:

• The project undertaken needs a lot of secondary data so the availability and precision of
this data forms the major limitation as the biasness has to be minimized.
• The results and conclusions of the project cannot be generalized as the area of work
assigned to me is restricted to the east zone. Also ,conducting surveys in other zones is
difficult to lack of time, so there may be a bias in the project

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10
 CHAPTER 2
PRODUCT DETAILS AND
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

UNDERSTANDING THE PRODUCT AT EDUMENTOR

EduMentor was established with the goal of providing specialized coaching to the students who
seek admission in BBS / BBA / BBE /BFIA. At EduMENTOR the core competency lies more in
Mentoring the students to the right path of education than merely preparing them to achieve the
best results.

The product mainly encompasses management courses at the under graduate level. The three
major courses which are offered are BBA, BBE and BBS. Providing coaching for these three
courses forms the product for edumentor along with mentoring students for the same.

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All the courses are three full- time professional degree courses. A BBA/BBS degree provides
adequate learning of managerial skills and knowledge of business activities to the students.
However, BBE (bachelor of business economics) is a management degree which lays emphasis
not only on the management skills but also helps the students to get adequate knowledge about
the economy and its functioning.

All the three courses have been designed so as to groom professionals for future , rather than
mere academicians or ‘degree holder’.. the course has kept in consideration the needs for the
industry , so that students are job ready after their graduation unlike in the traditional sources
where they are required to undertake additional professional courses to find a job. The
approach to learning is a very practical one, complete with industry case studies , role plays
and a lot of industry interaction.

A more detailed understanding of the courses is required both for the development of business
in the preet vihar center and to decide upon the marketing strategies.

Edumentor provides coaching for undergraduate management courses. The primary being:-

1) BBS /BFIA(University of Delhi)

2) BBA (I.P. University, Symbiosis Pune, Christ Bangalore etc.)

3) BBE(University of Delhi)

4) BCA/ BBA (camp) (I.P.University)

5) B.El.Ed.(University of Delhi)

BBS: BACHLOR OF BUSINESS STUDIES

It is the prime pitch made by Edumentor, the company pitches itself to be the only specialist
institute for its entrance coaching. From this year onwards, Students who have maths in their
commerce stream are allowed to appear in the delhi university course (BBS/BBE/BFIA). Also
only one exam will be conducted for all BBS/BBE/BFIA aspiring students.

BBS is a professional degree which has been designed on the same pattern as MBA programs.
The subjects for the course are taken up from the curriculum of best ranking MBA colleges in

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India. During the two years or 4 semesters of BBS, students study the basics of all functions of
management namely finance, marketing, human resource and specialize in one of these in the
final year.

BBS is an outstanding general management program; the curriculum for BBS is rigorous,
flexible, and continually enriched with the latest developments in management theory and
practice. The academic calendar is based on six semesters - each six months in duration,
followed by the University examinations.

The Bachelor of Business Studies program enables graduates to think conceptually, logically and
adapt to change. In particular, the program is designed to:

• Develop intellectual and interpersonal skills

• Emphasise the broad economic, financial and managerial dimensions of dynamic
business environment
• Facilitate the integration of academic knowledge and practical work experience
• Foster a high degree of professional competence in a specialist area
• Produce innovative and creative graduates
• Produce graduates who are motivated to continue life long learning and who cope
effectively with change.

Graduates of the Bachelor of Business Studies degree can look forward to a broad range of
career opportunities in the dynamic and competitive environment of today's business world.

BBA: Bachelor of Business Administration

BBA aims at transforming a student into a corporate personality. This course with its intensive
syllabus and a wide range of value addition modules enables the student to aspire for higher
studies in premium business schools and India and abroad. Being a professional course it ensures
a healthy balance between theoretical foundation and practical exposure to the present day
business world.

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A quality BBA program offers more skill enhancement and practical knowledge than usual
degree courses. Like an MBA program, learning through case studies, group activities, project
writing, presentations, summer internship, etc. form an integral part of a BBA program. BBA
graduates have an edge over others and are sought after by the industry owing to the exposure
the course offers to operational environment in the field of Business.

Most of the BBA programs require a candidate to pass in Class 12 / HSC examination. Some of
the institutes may demand minimum marks of 50% in class 12 as an eligibility to pursue the
program. However, students who have appeared their H.S.C examination and awaiting their
results are also eligible to take these tests.

BBE: Bachelor of Business Economics

Economists study the optimum use of financial resources for the success of an organization to
increase productivity. They study production, distribution and consumption of good and services
on the application of economic policy in particular area such as finance, labour, agriculture,
energy and health.

The program- Bachelor of business studies is designed to develop broad business analytical skills
as well as the technical knowledge required within the economics and finance environment. You
will focus on the application of economic, finance and statistical theory to common business
problems. Furthermore, class presentations, simulations and group assignments are used
extensively to develop essential personal qualities including clear thinking, resourcefulness, the
ability to work in a team and perform under pressure.

As a BBE graduate one is expected to gain the necessary conceptual abilities, analytical skills
and knowledge to equip one for a variety of professional career opportunities in industry,
commerce or government service.\

In BBE the student verifies and reports how something is put into practice. As well as in the
'ability' as in the 'activity' the deepening of 'knowledge' is the core factor. The students have to
acquire an insight in the different functions that can be distinguished in a company, such as
production, logistics, finance, marketing, informatics, control, etc. Future business economists

14
are to be educated to deal with company problems in an integral way. Special emphasis is placed
on ensuring the students' qualifications for the job market and providing them with the necessary
skills for academic research and further studies.

B.El.Ed :Bachelor of Elementary Education

The Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed.) programme is a four-year integrated

professional degree programme of Elementary Teacher Education offered after the senior
secondary (class XII) stage of school. Conceptualized by the Maulana Azad Centre for
Elementary and Social Education (MACESE) of the Department of Education, University of
Delhi and launched in the academic year 1994-95, the programme is an attempt towards fulfilling
the need for professionally qualified elementary school teachers. B.El.Ed. is designed to integrate
the study of subject knowledge, human development, pedagogical knowledge and
communication skills. Both professional and academic options are available to students who
graduate with a B.El.Ed. Degree.

The programme aims to produce graduates of high caliber in the field of teacher education. A lot
of effort is spent in the training of students and giving them a supportive and stimulating
environment. A good number of students have been placed in government and private schools as
professionally qualified elementary school teachers. Others are pursuing post-graduate studies
and research in disciplines like education, linguistics, psychology, languages, history, social
work, sociology, mathematics and political science. Many B.El.Ed. graduates are pursuing
research in educational studies in Central Universities. Some of them are working as teacher
educators.

BCA : Bachelor Of Computer Application

The course provides a sound academic base from which an advanced career in Computer
Application can be developed . These graduates can start their career a Junior Programmer and
get promoted to the post of senior Programmers & Project Managers in the IT sector. Any
candidate who has passed HSC(10 + 2) exam from any stream with English as passing subject
with minimum 45% marks at 12th std. Admissions will be made strictly according to the rules
and procedures laid down by the University of Pune or on first come first serve basis.

OTHER MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS PITCHED BY THE

COMPANY:

• BMS : (Bachelors of Management Studies)

99 colleges of University of Maharashtra conduct the course

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 • BBM: (Bachelors of Business Management)

University of Pune, Admission through CET

• BBS/BIBF:

Jamia milia University

• BBA:

Christ Bangalore, Narsee Monjee (Mumbai) etc.

PROGRAMMES OFFERED
The BBS/BBA/BBE program is offered in two formats:

a) Classroom b) Correspondence

Table 1

Features Classroom Correspondence

Program Program
Basic Reference Material Yes Yes
Classroom Training Yes No
Class Assessment Tests Yes No
Comprehensive Tests Yes Yes
Simulated Tests Yes Yes
Competitive Test Ranking Yes Yes
GD & PI Training Yes No

The company provides a specialist coaching for the management courses, substantiating the
claims with excellent course material, results and the best faculty pool from the industry. The
advantage of being a firm of CBS alumni initiative provides it with extensive knowledge of the
product and process forming the core advantage for the company.

16
ANALYZING THE COMPETITOR

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The next major step in the project was to analyze the competitor, their strategies, keeping a
track over their actions and responding to them

Competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management is an assessment of the strengths and
weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an offensive and
defensive strategic context through which to identify opportunities and threats. Competitor
profiling coalesces all of the relevant sources of competitor analysis into one framework in the
support of efficient and effective strategy formulation, implementation, monitoring and
adjustment.

Given that competitor analysis is an essential component of corporate strategy, it is argued that
most firms do not conduct this type of analysis systematically enough. Instead, many enterprises
operate on what is called “informal impressions, conjectures, and intuition gained through the
tidbits of information about competitors every manager continually receives.” As a result,
traditional environmental scanning places many firms at risk of dangerous competitive blind
spots due to a lack of robust competitor analysis.

Almost everyone in business understands the principle of trying to offer something better than
what their competitors are offering.

The undergraduate management studies market is new in origin, majorly dominated by CAT
(MBA entrance exam) preparation institutes with no major specialist institute preparing just for
management entrance exam.

The major players in the market can be listed as below:

1. IMS

2. EduMENTOR

3. T.I.M.E

4. CARRIER LAUNCHER

5. P.T. EDUCATIONS

6. SMART CARRERS

7. CARRER POINT

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 8. PRATHAM

With lot other small players operating in small vicinities and unorganized tuition centers.

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF COMPETITOR PROGRAMS

Table 2

NAME OF COURSES OFFERED SCALE OF

NAME PROGRAM OPERATION
IMS MAX-PREP CAT,BBA,LAW,HOTEL NATIONAL
MANAGEMENT,BCA etc
EduMentor N.A. DELHI AND
BBA/BBS/BBE ADJOINING PLACES
T.I.M.E Crash Course For NATIONAL
BBA entrance CAT,LAW,BBA,H.M.
CARRIER CAT, BBA, LAW, H.M., NATIONAL
LAUNCHER BBA Express BCA etc.
P.T. CARRIER AFTER CAT,BBA,LAW,H.M., NATIONAL
EDUCATIONS 12th BCA etc
SMART BBA, LAW, H.M etc.. DELHI
CARRERS N.A.
PRATHAM BBA, B.Ed, H.M., BCA, DELHI (EAST AND
N.A. Mass Communication etc. WEST)
SOURCE: Author’s compilation of various secondary sources

MARKET SHARES OF MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE MARKET:

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 Table 3

NAME OF THE INSTITUTE NO. OF

STUDENTS
IMS 2700
EDUMENTOR 2600
T.I.M.E 400
CARRIER LAUNCHER 1000
P.T. EDUCATIONS 550
SMART CARRIERS 1100
PRATHAM 1500
SOURCE: Author’s compilation of various secondary sources

COMPETITORSMARKETSHARE

15%
11%

6% 27%

10%

4%

27%

IMS EDUMENTOR T.I.M.E

CARRIERLAUNCHER P.T. EDUCATIONS SMART CARRIERS
PRATHAM

Figure 1

SOURCE: Author’s compilation of various secondary sources

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SWOT ANALYSIS

21
MARKET LEADER ANALYSIS:

22
The market leader for undergraduate management coaching is I.M.S. in Delhi with maximum
number of enrolments in various consecutive years, so I analyzed the strategies used by the
leader so as to understand the need of the market and develop the strategies for EduMentor.

IMS is a national level player backed with strong finances and structured pattern of operations.
The strategies can be understood under the following heads:-

PRODUCT:

The main product of IMS is CAT (MBA entrance test) coaching. It also caters to various
undergraduate entrance exam coaching with various products in its portfolio.

The undergraduate coaching product ‘Max-Prep’ comprises of:-

• BBA/BBA/BBE entrance coaching

• CLAT : LAW entrance coaching

• Hotel Management

• Journalism

• Media

• Fashion

The study materials of all the products are same with some specific sections added according to
specific entrance test.

PLACE:

IMS has its centers across all the major cities of the country, in Delhi also it has a strong
distribution channel.

The centers are located all over Delhi making it a more accessible option for the target
audience. It also has its centers spread in all major adjoining NCR region, with a centre each in
NOIDA, Gurgaon, Gaziabad, Faridabad. The centers are all located at prime locations
providing it a higher visibility over the competitors.

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PRICE:

The price of IMS is slightly higher as compared to the other players present in the market. It
reflects that IMS charges a premium on its price in lieu of its brand value and the market
holding. The price of IMS varies from one zone to another depending on the demographic
factors (mainly income) depending on affordability of the product at the place.

The pricing strategy forms the main part of competitor analysis as some segments of the
market are price sensitive and respond sharply to the price variations in the market. The price
for coaching in Delhi is kept at Rs.11, 500 by IMS.

PROMOTION:

IMS being a national level player enjoys high brand awareness in Delhi and NCR region. The
agenda of promotion for the company is to make the audience aware of the product offerings
and remind them about them being the market leader.

Being a major player of the industry it enjoys high financial resource back up and the study of
their promotional strategies portray that they conduct Capital intensive promotions using mass
marketing tools, mainly above the line marketing strategies such as :-

1) News paper ads: used throughout the season, with varying intensity and updated
offerings with respect to change in market conditions.
2) Radio ads: used mainly during the opening of the season to create an
informational wave.
3) Internet ads: (Contextual ads, banners on different websites, sponsorship ads)
4) Mobile ads : (bulk SMS)

IMS also uses some below the line marketing strategies which they have evolved responding to
the action of smaller local players where the financial resources are scarce, so employ Labor
intensive promotional strategies like direct mail, sales promotion, outdoor publicity etc.

The overall analysis of the competitor helps in better understanding of the market conditions.
In services industry like ours one has to keep track on every competitor move so as to respond
to their action as the industry is sensitive to changes in price and product feature. Hence, a
complete track of competitor is vital for survival in coaching industry.

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 CHAPTER 3
DEVELOPMENT OF
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

25
DEVELOPING PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY FOR
EDUMENTOR
AN INTRODUCTION

Understanding the company, its product and analysis of the competitors gave a comprehensive
knowledge about the market and the industry. The major work that I was assigned was then to
understand the company objectives, its target audience, company constraints and then to decide a
comprehensive marketing strategy for the East delhi region which would help company to
increase its brand awareness in limited resource environment and to ultimately reach the desired
objectives.
PROMOTION
Promotion involves disseminating information about a product, product line, brand, or company.
It forms one of the four key aspects of the marketing mix. Advertising and promotions is
basically to bring a service to the attention of potential and current customers. They are best
carried out by implementing advertising and promotions plan. The goals of the plan should
depend very much on the overall goals and strategies of the organization, and the results of the
marketing analysis, including the positioning statement. Types:

Above the line sales promotion

Above the line is a type of advertising through media such as TV, cinema, radio, print, banners
and search engines to promote brands. Major uses include television and radio advertising, web
and Internet banner ads. This type of communication is conventional in nature and is considered
impersonal to customers. It differs from Below the line advertising, which believes in
unconventional brand-building strategies, such as direct mail and printed media (and usually
involve no motion graphics).These strategies require huge amount of investments and are
majorly Capital intensive.

Below the line sales promotions

These are short-term incentives, largely aimed at consumers. With the increasing pressure on the
marketing team to achieve communication objectives more efficiently in a limited budget, there
has been a need to find out more effective and cost efficient ways to communicate with the target
markets. This has led to a shift from the regular media based advertising. These strategies
involve high level of ground work involving manpower and hence are more of Labor intensive.

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TWO PARTS OF PROMOTIONS:

Figure 2

An organization based on the motive of the campaign, different constraints and requirement of
the market develops a comprehensive promotional strategy to reach its objectives.

27
DECIDING ON PROMOTIONAL PLAN

The plan usually includes what target markets has to be reached, what features and benefits have
to be conveyed to them, how will it be conveyed it to them. Also, some factors which need to be
considered are - who is responsible to carry the various activities in the plan and how much
money is budgeted for this effort. Successful advertising depends very much on knowing the
preferred methods and styles of communications of the target markets that you want to reach
with your ads. A media plan and calendar can be very useful, which specifies what advertising
methods are used and when.

For each service we first consider all the media which are available for promotion like TV, radio,
newsletters, classifieds, displays/signs, posters, word of mouth, press releases, direct mail,
special events, brochures, neighborhood newsletters, etc. and then decide which suits the
organization. The practicality of the media which is to be used in terms of access and
affordability (i.e. the amount spent on advertising which is based on the revenue expected from
the product or service, that is, the sales forecast) also plays a very important role in choosing the
promotion media.

A lot can found about the customers preferences just by conducting some basic market research
methods. We also first need to know what the available promotional tools are so that we can
choose the most effective tool for the firm. Following gives a brief description of the important
promotional tools:

Brochure, Direct mail, E-mail messages, Magazines, Newsletters, Newspapers, Online

discussion groups and chat groups, Posters and bulletin boards, Radio announcements,
Telemarketing, Television ads, Web pages

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STEPS INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING THE PROMOTIONAL
STRATEGY:

To develop a promotional strategy one should understand the target audience, analyze the
competitor strategies, understand the company constraints, and other factors which can then be
used to develop a comprehensive strategy to meet the company objective.

The steps involved in developing strategies for EduMentor can be enumerated as:

STEP 1: Understanding company objective

STEP 2: Understanding STP

STEP 3: Analyzing competitor promotional strategy

STEP 4: Analyzing company constraints

STEP 5: Methods suggested

STEP 6: Designing the Sample Papers and other Distribution material

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STEP 1: UNDERSTANDING COMPANY OBJECTIVE:

Edumentor is a local player and is comparatively a new entrant in the market. The company has
relatively less awareness in the Delhi market, with even little awareness in the market where the
company had to expand in the year 2010.

So the major objectives of the company for conducting promotions this year were:-

 Hit the target audience directly, in cost effective manner

 Create Brand Awareness for the company in new markets
 Create competitive advantage (comparing competitors)
 Create exact positioning for companies in the mind of target audience
 Reminding the audience in the existing market
 And ultimately to generate sales

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STEP 2: SEGMENTING TARGETING POSITIONING

SEGMENTATION

A segment is a group sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to have similar product
and/or service needs.

A true market segment meets all of the following criteria:

• It is distinct from other segments (different segments have different needs)

• It is homogeneous within the segment (exhibits common needs)

• It responds similarly to a market stimulus

• It can be reached by a market intervention

BASIS OF SEGMENTATION

Segmentation can be done depending on many variables which represents specific nature of the
group, some of the variables are:

 Geographic

• Region ,country ,Density of Area, Climate

 Demographic variables

• age ,gender ,family ,family life cycle, education , income, occupation

• socioeconomic, religion, nationality/race , language

 Psychographic variables

• personality ,life style, value, attitude

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  Behavioral variables

• benefit sought ,product usage rate, brand loyalty, product end use

• readiness-to-buy stage, decision making unit, profitability, income status

 Techno graphic variables

SEGMENTATION AT EDUMENTOR

Edumentor defines its segment on the basis of Demographic Variables, primarily considering
the factors age, education and income. The management coaching is to be provided at
undergraduate level, so the students need to be segmented on basis of their educational
specialization in 10+2 i.e. Science, Commerce, Arts etc.

Also the students are segmented on basis of their schooling background (i.e. Government and
Private schools) which helps to classify two different segments which have to be targeted with
different pricing strategies for both. Also, the income of family helps to segment the students and
thus facilitates Edumentor to plan its target audience more accurately.

TARGETTING

For any organization it is not possible to serve every segment, so the marketer decides to serve
the segment which provides the maximum opportunity, a process which is known as Targeting.

TARGETTING AT EDUMENTOR

Considering the constraints of finances, time and other factors, Edumentor decides its target
audience to be students of Class 12th which comprises of commerce students who are interested

32
in management courses, that is, mainly students who do not expect a percentage beyond 95%.
The parents of these students act as the Opinion leaders and Decision makers for EduMentor.

Out of all the segments discussed Edumentor targets both Government and Private school
students with the same product but with different pricing strategies. As the government school
students find it difficult to pay a premium fees, hence charging a price suitable for them helps to
increase in the market coverage for the company.

Edumentor specifically focuses Commerce students and the promotional strategies are
formulated in such a manner that they directly reach the target audience e.g. Board centre activity
(booklet distribution outside board centers).

POSITIONING

It is the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target
market for its product, brand, or organization. It is the relative competitive comparison' their
product occupies in a given market as perceived by the target market.

POSITIONING AT EDUMENTOR

The analysis of competitors portray that almost all psychological space in minds of target
audience has been filled by some or the other competitor. But most of the competitors serve more
than one segment, with no clear positioning of a specialist management coaching institute.

The market has a stiff competition as a large number of coaching institutes have been
mushrooming in the city at different locations. Many players have positioning in terms of
Quality-Prices model, others on basis of faculty and so on, but no player in the market
specifically focuses on management coaching at undergraduate level. This forms as the core
advantage of the product and the service provided at Edumentor.

Hence the company decided to position itself as the “Only specialist institute for management
coaching at undergraduate level” along with providing the best possible attributes like faculty,
product, and vision aiming in the same direction.

33
Understanding STP for the company helps to channelize the resources which may be finances,
time or human resource in one direction. This helps the organization to reach its goals and
provides a more focused approach in reaching the company objectives.

Hence the STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) for EduMentor can be
summarized as below:

Figure 3

34
The overall STP analysis of the company helps in understanding which market to be catered, and
hence helps in customizing the overall promotional effort to be channelized in the same direction
facilitating the best utilization of the available resources and meeting the company objectives.

STEP 3: ANALYZING COMPETITOR PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

The next major step is analyzing the strategies used by competitors, considering both National
level and Local players, which would help in:-

 Develop an overall Promotional strategy keeping in view competitor moves

 Helps in breaking the clutter(making differentiator in the promotional strategies)

35
  Learning from the mistakes without committing them

The major strategies adopted by competitors are:

Most of the players are national level player enjoying high brand awareness in Delhi and NCR
region. The agenda of promotion for the company is to make the audience aware of the product
offerings and remind them about them being the market leader.

Being a major player of the industry it enjoys high financial resource back up and the study of
their promotional strategies portray that they conduct Capital intensive promotions using mass
marketing tools, mainly above the line marketing strategies such as:

1) News paper ads: used throughout the season, with varying intensity and
updated offerings with respect to change in market conditions.
2) Radio ads: used mainly during the opening of the season to create an
informational wave.
3) Internet ads: (Contextual ads, banners on different websites, sponsorship
ads)
4) Mobile ads : (bulk SMS)

The local players in the market are restricted to promotions at particular locations which are near
to their centers mainly using Labor intensive strategies such as flier distribution, local cable
networks and attachments to news papers, but the drawback of this strategy is that it gives
relatively a cheap image of the organization.

STEP 4: ANALYZING COMPANY CONSTRAINTS

EduMentor has just entered into the market of educational services. It is their fourth year of
operation in a row. With the presence of number of competitors in the market and also with the
increasing brand value of the market leader i.e. IMS in the BBA/BBS/BBE coaching segment, it
was very difficult for EduMentor make its presence felt. Apart from this, there were some other
constraints also which were to be kept in mind while designing the promotional strategies. They
were :

36
 • Financial Constraint: EduMentor is a Self–funded organization which was started in
2006. In its first year of operation the company taught around 35 students. In the
subsequent three years the numbers grew from 900 to 2000 in the fourth year. During the
time of expansion of the business, the company received many offers of mergers and
acquisitions from the market leader and other established players in the industry. The
company decided to retain its identity and remained a proprietary business. Due to this
the company faced some financial constraints as there was no source of external funding.

• Time Constraint: The second challenge which was there before devising the business
development strategy was the time constraint. The target market i.e. the class XII
commerce student is busy with their board examination in the month of March. This the
time when the promotional activity is at a full swing because after the completion of the
board examination, students opt for different institute for their entrance exam preparation.
So the effective time of promotion is around one month in which we have to build the
brand name and adopt different strategies to make a strong brand recall.

• H.R.: The next major constraint for the promotional campaign was the insufficient
Human Resource availability as the majority of the people were inexperienced and had to
be trained in the limited span of time

• Competitive Pressure: The competitors having a strong over the market with major
players having established brand image, the major challenge was to fight the high brand
image of competitors, establish company’s brand name and hence getting the enrolments
done even being a relatively new player in the market.etc.

STEP 5: Methods suggested

The overall study of all these factors provides a comprehensive knowledge regarding the market
segments, requirement of target audience and the constraints of the company.

37
So a strategy had to be developed wherein the target audience could be hit directly in the
most cost effective measure and conveying the message clear to the audience.

So it was decided to use below the line marketing strategy, customized to the needs of target
audience target audience and using few above the line marketing strategies. The strategies used
were:-

1) Direct mail:

Mails were sent directly to the customers(children giving board examinations) highly
customized, giving them tips regarding boards and information about form details of
entrance exams with an immediate calling helpline to generate response.

2) Magazines (booklet distribution)

Magazines distribution in form of sample papers and informational booklets formed the
basic and the most important promotional activity for the company can get quite
expensive. The distribution was done in two main promotional activities of the
companies:

 Bank centre activity:

An outdoor promotional campaign involving the distribution of material and

collection of data in the banks where BBA/BBS/BBE forms are sold.

The activity helped the organization to hit a very refined crowd, directly the target
audience without waste of efforts and resources.

 Board Centre activity:-

The board center activity is one of the major business development and promotional
activity of EduMentor. The activity was designed in such a way that maximum
number of target audience can be covered in the limited span of time. It was a six day

38
 activity in which we were supposed to cover maximum number of schools in our
assigned zones (East Zone in my case), which were the centers of class XII board
examination. The work schedule of the activity includes:

• Information Booklet distribution to students and parents

• Counseling of parents

• Database collection of both parents and students

Both the activities were the main promotional activity (outdoor publicity) campaigns.
Both the activities are explained in detail in the Stage-II (Business development part of
the project)

Activity brief:-

Schools Covered: 350, Banks covered: 38

Target Audience:-70,000-80,000 students

Area of coverage: Delhi and NCR region

3) Posters and bulletin boards: Posters can be very powerful when placed where the
customers will actually notice them. Hence various posters were placed near the school
vicinities, coaching centers, outside banks and University areas

4) Conducting Mock tests: During the Board centre activity, I was given the
responsibility of conducting three mock tests which were designed to invite the students
to take these test and enrolled with Edumentor. After the test was completed, the students
were mentored by our expert counselors and were enrolled. The success ratio was

39
 enormous and by the end of the third test, we were able to enroll 123 students out of 253
who attempted the mock tests.

5) Telemarketing: The use of telemarketing is on the rise as the response rate in

comparison to other promotional tools is very high.

All the work done during the outdoor publicity lead to collection of huge student data, the
dedicated quality managers managed to ensure that the data is real and not fake. The
telecallers were planned to convert this data into the final sales enrolment. Counseling
script with all basic information were designed so to make the work mode accurate and
accountable.

 All the promotional activities were designed keeping one thing clear in the mind that the
ultimate motive of every activity was to create response, generate enrolments and hence
increasing the revenue and brand awareness for the company.

40
41
 CHAPTER 4
STAGE II: BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT

STAGE II: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR EAST

DELHI ZONE

After completion of Phase-I of the project, I was assigned the Zonal responsibility for EAST
DELHI region. Edumentor has always been a leader in the east delhi region and thus the
responsibility of performing and being no.1 in this region was all the more important. Throught
this I learned the various entrepreneurial activity involving comprehensive learning of the
business environment.

Edumentor treated East Delhi as a separate profit centre with its own planning horizon, goal
setting and strategy formulation for attaining those goals.

 MOTIVE OF EXPANSION

42
  Increasing customer base

 Creating more revenues for the company

 TARGET FOR EAST ZONE

The company target for East delhi zone for the year 2010 was to increase the brand
awareness.

The main activities to be conducted in B.D. of East delhi Zone were:-

• ANALYZING THE CONDITION EARLIER

• BRANDING

• PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN

 BOARD CENTRE ACTIVITY:

 Finding out the board centre

 Hiring and Training of managers, associates and quality managers

 Performing the Activity

 Database Checking

43
  BANK CENTRE ACTIVITY

• CENTER SELECTION

• FINAL CONVERSTION (SELLING AND COUNSELLING)

• RESULTS FOR PREET VIHAR EXT TILL DATE

• NEW PRODUCT : B.EL.ED

44
 I. CONDITIONS EARLIER
By the year 2009 Edumentor became one of the most prominent undergraduate management
preparation brand in Delhi. It showed around 300% growth from the previous year and gained
place in top three companies in the sector.

The major plan of expansion in the year 2010 comprised of establishment of new business
centers in East Delhi region itself namely from three to six so as to expand in the centre.

After the completion of designing promotional strategies for East Delhi region as a whole I was
designated the Zonal Manager of East Delhi Zone, so as to analyze the market, study the
competitors and finally conduct the business development activities in the zone..

Edumentor has always been a major player in East Delhi, so the geographical location and its
presence made it an established brand. But some major players were offering other
undergraduate courses such as law, hotel management, aviation industry etc. related courses and
were waiting for the board exams to end. So our primary aim was to develop a strong student
base before the board exam end. The Target that was given to us was 1200 students before the
board exams end.

So my objective was to have conducted the board centre activity so as to cater to maximum
number of students.

45
 II. BRANDING

The major aim of the branding activity was to increase the visibility of EduMentor in the zone.
Since the site of product delivery (Preet Vihar Extension Centre) is surrogate, hence it becomes
more important to make the brand more visible and separable from the tie up centre(Learning
Hour)

The activity needed combined promotional effort of placing banners and hoardings at different
location to create brand awareness and increase recognition.

The main tools used in the process were:-

• Banners

• Hoarding

• Standies

In designing the banners and hoardings the main aim was to create recognition of the company
name and its address, so the design majorly comprised of the name and address with the
company tag line presented along.

The other important aspect is also the placing of banners and hoardings, even a feet’s mistake
leads to a loss of visibility of several kilometers, the both the tools were decided to be placed
near the vicinity of the centers to make the presence of the company felt at the place.

The Standies were to be placed inside the centre as one of the element to justify the authority
forming a part of physical evidence in the service sector. The Standies are more informational in
nature discussing elements such as results, faculties, and other core advantage of the company

46
All the efforts had to be channelized keeping in consideration the budget constraints and so
initially all the brand visibility measures had to be placed just nearby the main centre keeping In
focus the development of that area.

III. EXECUTION OF PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN

The Campaign was being conducted in two phases:-

 Board Centre Activity

 Bank Centre Activity

Board Center Activity

The board center activity is one of the major business development and promotional activity of
EduMentor. The activity was designed in such a way that maximum number of target audience
can be covered in the limited span of time. It was a six day activity in which we were supposed
to cover maximum number of schools in our assigned zones (East delhi Zone in my case), which
were the centers of class XII board examination. The work schedule of the activity includes:

• Information Booklet distribution to students and parents

• Counseling of parents

• Database collection of both parents and students

The days on which the activity was performed were the days on which CBSE (Central Board of
Secondary Education) had scheduled class XII board examination for commerce stream. The
prime reason for targeting only the days of commerce stream examination was that, majority of
the students going for the preparation of BBS/BBA/BBE entrance coaching is from this stream.
Although there are students from other streams also, like science and humanities who also

47
prepare for this test, and comes under our target market. But because of the financial constraints
of the company this activity could not be extended for the days of examination of all other stream
students. So, in order to cover this lost market, two out of the scheduled six days were targeted
and were made the most important days of the whole activity. These were the days on which all
the students of all the streams have common subject examination i.e. English and Maths.

The days decided for the activity were 4th, 10th, 18th, 22nd, 25th and 29th of March. The
examination scheduled for these days were Business Studies, English, Economics, Maths,
Information Practices and Accountancy respectively.

I was appointed to look after the whole board center activity of East Delhi Zone. For the
successful completion of the activity I have to hire and train a team of around 200 plus associates
with the help of 15 managers. I planned to cover a maximum of 70 schools on all the days of the
activity. For this I divided the activity in five phases.

Phase 1 – Designing the board Centre activity

The objective of the board centre activity was to cover maximum number of board centre and to
create awareness amongst the student to study with Edumentor. The board exam starts from
10:30 pm to 1:30 pm.

The activity was designed as follows:

48
Phase 2 – Finding out the board centers

The first phase of the board activity was to find out the class XII board exam centers of all the
private and government schools in my zone. For this, I with my team of 15 managers divided my
zone into sub-zones. Every manager was assigned a sub-zone and was asked to visit every
private and government school of that area and get the relevant information about board exam
center of each school. In order to check the authenticity of the information given by the manager
I called up every school and re-confirmed their board centers. This re-confirmation call was
necessary because any wrong information about the board center can lead to a disaster on the day
of the activity.

At the end of phase 1, I had a list of 56 board centers. The list, thus generated had the following
information.

• Name of the school (board center)

49
 • Total no. of schools coming for the examination in a particular center. (Eg. One , two
,three etc.)

• Strength of the students at a particular center.

The limitation of the first phase was that many schools disagreed to tell their respective board
centre. We then managed to get the school code of that school from the website and by visiting
the CBSE website I managed to get the centres of those school. The number in the end was 70.
So before the beginning of the Board Centre Activity we had 70 schools of east delhi.

Phase 3 – Hiring and Training of associates

Each board centre required around two associates, a total requirement of 150 plus associates was
required. So hiring and training of 150 associates was the next phase activity. These associates
were required to distribute the information booklet, collect the database of student/parents and do
the counseling of parents.

The hiring and training of associates was done a week before the start of the activity. While
hiring a associate we need to rate them on 3 parameters.

• Counseling: The associate must be able to counsel the parents . So s/he should have good
communication skills

• Distribution: The associate must be able to distribute maximum booklet in minimum

time.

• Commanding: The associate must be able to convince the local labour to work with him
for half an hour and distribute maximum sample papers.

This phase of the activity was the toughest one. This was because it was very difficult for us to
find out such a huge no. of good quality people. For this we dependent on three sources of
recruitment and team building.

1. Hunting – In this, me and my team of managers got down on road and searched for the
associates. In order to find such associates, we shortlisted some of the areas in our zone

50
 where we can find the maximum youth. For this, we targeted institutes like NIIT, Aptech
and colleges of Delhi University. At these locations we were able to find many youth
who were interested to work for us for the scheduled six days of the activity. We invited
people for the training program and offered them a certificate apart from their salary after
the completion of the activity.

2. Event Coordinators – I got in contact with the event coordinators who provide
assistance in hiring good quality people. These coordinators had number of people under
them who can be hired on per day basis.

3. Associate References – The third source we used for the team building was associate
reference. In this, we asked our selected associates to give us the references of their
friends and relatives who can be interested in working for the six days of the activity. In
order to generate a good result from this source, we offered the associates extra incentive
for every referral selected. The move proved to be advantageous and team building
exercise caught pace.

After the training of the associates, we rate them on a scale of 3. The associates are given grades
A, B and C on each parameter as per their communication skill and ability to distribute
information booklet. The best person gets A grade and the worst is given a C grade.

Person with grade A and B in the counseling parameter was made to do the counseling and
database collection outside the board center and C grade associates are made to distribute the
booklet. It was mandatory for the associate to score an A in commanding parameter.

Phase 3 – Performing the Activity

As discussed before, the activity was scheduled to be performed on six days viz. 4th, 10th, 18th,
22nd, 25th, 29th of March. Although the task performed on each day was the same but the scale
and the intensity of the activity was different. Like, activity done on 4 th, 10th, and 29th were a full

51
day activity. The rest of the days were to be conducted as a half day activity because the number
of target audience would be less

4th March

This was the first day of activity. On this day we planned to cover around 70 private and
government schools.

We decided to cover all the schools from the first day itself. In order to make the days activity
successful we placed a combination of our A grade associates and B grade associates in these 70
centers and made the C grade associate to accompany them so that they can get the actual look of
the activity. This would make our C grade associate more familiar and experienced with the
activity.

SMALL ACTIVITY 1

After the first activity , The database collected was huge and we decided to call these students for
English mock test . With time being a major constraint , we decided to hire Quality managers to
call the students on the database, Check its authencity and call the students to take the English
mock test and pitching about tips and tricks and individual analysis of the paper.

10th March

52
On this day we covered the same number of schools in East Delhi. As the English exam was
covered for all the streams thus one of the major changes we did in this activity was to filter out
the science and humanities stream data.

Also compare to the last activity there were changes in the content of information booklet. We
tried to inculcate a mock economics paper in the information booklet and to know about the
answers they had to call our helpline number which were directly transferred to the Quality
managers.

The content was changed because on the first day, when we distributed the booklet which
contained all the relevant information about BBA/BBS/BBE courses and about EduMentor, It
was found that many students threw it away as they found the matter irrelevant to them. So, for
the activity of 10th we came out with a new booklet which contained a Sample Paper of
Economics. As students had their Economics exam on 18th so this change helped a lot in
increasing the volume of distribution.

SMALL ACTIVITY 2

We conducted an Economics mock exam where the students were given individual analysis and
were given few tips and tricks to conduct the exam , both in English and Hindi medium. My
responsibility in the mock test was to conduct the exam and counsel the students on a large scale.

18th March

Activity was performed on all the schools and the activity was conducted for the whole day. We
changed our strategy because we wanted to cover our major target audience which is commerce
stream .The major changes done was in the information booklet which contained the
Mathematics and Information Practises sample paper was distributed. We however did not
conduct any mock exam because the students themselves had less time for preparation.

53
22nd March

For these days we planned to go with our full force to cover all the 70 schools in East Delhi zone.
We targeted this day as the most important day because by this time board exams are about to get
over and the students and their parents become more serious about the future. So in order to hit
that psyche of the parents we planned to cover all the 24 schools in East delhi Zone. The
company in total covered around 286 schools all over Delhi. In this day we distributed the
Accountancy sample paper.

SMALL ACTIVITY 3

A small activity was done from the HR Department. I was given the responsibility of doing a
guerilla warfare on our prime competitors i.e. IMS. Here I along with my manager were sent to
one of the centers where IMS was conducting its PDP sessions for the students aspiring for CAT
related colleges. Here our objective was to counsel maximum number of students to join
Edumentor as Centre manager of various centers. It was a two day activity and we managed to
get 78 centre managers to give their number.

I also helped the HR team at EduMentor to select maximum centre managers from the database
collected

25th March

This day as the number of schools conducting the information practices was less. We therefore
gave our associates a day to rest and asked our dedicated managers to distribute and counsel the
parents.

29th March

54
This day was scheduled as the last day of the Board Center Activity. Our target was to counsel as
many students and parents as possible. The competiton expected on the last day was very less.
The literature of the information booklet was changed. On this day we distributed three
information booklet. The first one was a BBA/BBS/BBE information booklet consisting of 64
pages. The second was our BBA/BBS/BBE information booklet consisting of a BBS sample
paper. The third was a BCA sample paper from Infocomm, which is a sister associate of the
Edumentor.

Phase 4 – Database Checking

The final phase of the Board Center Activity was the database checking. In the six days of
activity we collected a database of around 18000 students. So the biggest challenge after each
day of activity was to call on the collected databases and check for its authenticity. This was an
important part of the activity because we cannot always rely on the work done by the associates.
There was a big possibility that the associate may try to cheat with his work by giving us fake
databases.

So, it was made sure that after each day of activity we have to check the databases. During the
checking process if we find the work of any associate not satisfactory, then we fired that person
before the next activity. This process helped in creating a fear in the mind of the associate, which
led to authentic work in the later stages.

During the database calling, apart from checking the databases we worked upon one more
strategy of multiplying the database. We followed the Snowball Technique. In this, when we
called on the databases to check the authenticity, we asked the person whom we have called for
references. We collected the name and number of 3 to 4 of his friends. So ultimately our database
multiplied to three to four times.

55
Bank Center Activity

Bank Center activity was the second big business development and promotional strategy which I
conducted. Bank Activity was a unique strategy which the company followed as none of
competitors was performing this. In this activity, we targeted all the branches of the banks where
the entrance exam forms of BBA/BBS/BBE are available, because of which we get the direct
reach to the target market.

I managed this activity at 20 branches of Punjab and Sind Bank across Delhi. The entrance
examination form of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi for the BBA course
were available at these branches till 28st April’10. I have selected around 5 managers from each
zone of Delhi for performing the activity in their respective zones.

All the 15 managers selected were allotted one branch for performing the work. They were made
to do two main tasks there. They were:

1. Collection of database of students/parents buying the form.

2. Counseling of parents/students about BBA and EduMentor.

The database collected from this activity was a very refined and filtered database. This was
because the people coming there to buy forms were our direct target audience as they were
appearing for the entrance exam. So it was very clear that these people require coaching for the
exam, so we tapped this opportunity completely. The biggest advantage we had in this was that
there was no competitor who was targeting at this segment which worked in our favour.

After collection of the databases, a rigorous process of tele-calling was followed in order to
convert this perspective customer.

56
 IV. CENTRE SELECTION
Deciding the place of product delivery after successful completion of the Board Centre Activity,
the number of students who were getting enrolled were more than expected. Thus it was now
necessary to open a new centre where the enrollments and the classes would be done. This was
near the head office and was the new PREET VIHAR EXTENSION branch.

The site selection forms one of the most important parts in developing the zone. The decision
majorly depends on the following factors:-

• Presence of competitors

• Quality and Pricing of the product offered

• Cost factors

The competitors play a major role in deciding the location of services delivery, the major player
for the undergraduate management course near preet vihar are IMS, T.I.M.E. ,Carrier Launcher
with no small unorganized competition. Here, the market size is considerable for establishment
but the major players have good market hold, IMS being the market leader. Therefore the
establishment was done where the competition would be less.

Quality of education is the main agenda of the company and hence the company maintains the
same level of quality at every centre, also the company decided to keep its pricing uniform at all
the centers across Delhi and NCR making the product features uniform all through the areas of
operations, the price of the product provided by EduMentor is Rs.11,500 for the entire package,
whereas the market leader at East Delhi offers the entire package at Rs.8900, so the centre had to
be established at a place where the target audience is not price sensitive and gives quality a
preference over cost.

Since the company is in initial years of its operations, so the effective utilization of resources
restricts the company to develop its own infrastructure in the zone. To avoid infrastructural
development a tie up with GT computers coaching centre (a GT Group initiative) was made to
use their respective infrastructure.

Hence the place gave a perfect starting set up for EduMentor with less competitor pressure,
substantial customer base and premium infrastructure under limited time period and cost
constrains.

V. FINAL CONVERSTION (SELLING AND COUNSELLING)

After 29th march I was given the responsibility of the centre manager for the newly built centre.
My responsibilities are

57
 1. To generate walk-in for the preet vihar centre

2. To handle the sales (counseling)

3. To handle the operations of the batches.

4. Generate References from the students so as generate more enrollments

Operations

In the operation part my responsibilities are

1. To follow the schedule.

2. Mark attendance of the students and the students who are absent are immediately called
and mentored.

3. To keep the inventory check.

4. To give feedback about the faculty everyday by asking the students

5. To generate references from the enrolled students

6. Collection of fees and accounts maintenance

VI.CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Till recently the centre was able to manage the new enrollments and allocate them to a particular
batch. But EduMentor work starts where competitors work ends i.e. In satisfying the needs for
the students and constantly mentoring. The mentoring is the most important part of the student
apart from the studies. This is constantly done so as to increase his/her confidence for the exam.

Keeping this in mind, all the centre managers were given a responsibility to keep a daily target of
mentoring students. In my centre , I managed to mentor 25 different students everyday. But we
were finding that their confidence level was achieved but were not ready to study. Thus on a
single day I managed to mentor 183 students out of the total 200 students at the centre .

VI. RESULTS TILL NOW

Preet Vihar Centre

58
The Preet Vihar Centre is fully operational with eight batches already running (seven batches for
BBA and one batch for BCA)

The zone has enrolled around 44 enrolments (by 1/05/10 including 10 back outs), the zone has
almost reached its breakeven point and hence the target for the year and considerable amount of
profits are expected till the end of season.

Overall results of the company:-

Edumentor this year have reached around 2081 enrolments till date, which makes it to be the
largest player in the market .

Effectiveness Of Promotional Tools Used:

This analysis was done by us to study the effects of our promotion tools and how it could be
improved in the future. This was done by the data collected during enrolments, a question that
had o be filled during filling the enrolment form, a result of 100 enrolment forms.

LEARNING OUTCOME FROM THE STAGE II

The stage included immense study of the company products, potential tools of promotion,
competitor activities and sharing last years experience for development of promotional strategies.
The stage helped in overall learning of conventional and non conventional methods of promotion

59
Their evaluation and finally designing the best perspective option for the company providing
scope of applying individual creativity in the task.

Some practical learning experiences from the stage are:

1. Strategizing promotions is not a onetime exercise, the competitor pressure and seasonal
requirements create rapid revision of the strategies, the changes may even have to be
made on daily basis so as to capitalize the market as the work is seasonal.

2. The distribution material in form of booklet has very high rate of retention as compared
to other tools like one pagers and flyers and helps in creating a high level of response.

3. The big companies(national level players) having huge revenue base focus on capital
oriented promotional strategies where as the start up firms use labor oriented strategies
which are comparatively more time consuming but cheaper. But the results specific to
industry portray that labor intensive work (as involves direct interaction with customer)
is a more successful strategy for the industry.

4. Before materializing any plan of action it is important to first check the feasibility of the
plan as in short operational period the chances of correcting error are relatively very less.

5. A continuous check over every move of competitor should be kept as even minute
changes in strategies (for e.g. price variation) may divert lots of perspective customers to
the competitor.

6. Every time an activity is conducted the competitors surely respond to or copy the strategy
quickly, so breaking the clutter (moving ahead of the competitor) every time is
important.

7. While deciding on promotional strategies or distribution material, nothing should be left

on the customer to comprehend; a simple language creates a greater amount of response
rather than using bombardic words.

8. Last but not the least it should be understood that the ultimate aim of every promotional
activity is to create response, so maximum focus should be on response generation from
the customer i.e. providing him a reason to respond and respond immediately

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LEARNING OUTCOME FROM THE STAGE III

The stage involved practice field exposure and provided with an experience of managing team,
the overall activity helped in understanding the basics of business and acted as more of an
entrepreneurial opportunity as the total responsibility of developing the zone from the initial point
was provided to me.

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Some practical learning experiences from the stage are:-

1. A thorough knowledge of geographical area of expansion, locating the demographics and

competitor presence is primary to undertake the business development.

2. The visibility factor in Branding exercise is most important; even a foot’s alteration in
position of branding tools may lead to loss of visibility to many kilometers.

3. In case of a progressive activity (Board centre and Bank centre), there is a revised
strategy for each progressive day based on previous learning, so the time between the
activities is crucial.

4. In temporary workforce as the accountability is very less, some back up H.R. should
always be present so as to ensure the successful completion of the activity even in case of
crisis and back outs.

5. The most crucial part of working with temporary workforce is conduction of their
training, even if it appears to be a more time consuming activity no part of the training
exercise should be compromised.

6. If the training exercise is successful in making the work force believe that the activity
would provide them an experience more valuable than the monitory gains (value
addition), the workforce links more to the work.

7. As the work of outdoor publicity activity is both mentally and physically tiring, hence
rotation of workforce is important to different centers to reduce monotony in work.

8. Outdoor publicity creates a potential for market, but the conversion of the scope i.e.
rectification and follow-up of data is equally important, as leads to ultimate conversion of
enrolments.

IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS:

Recommendation 1:

 The company this year solely is dependent on Undergraduate Management coaching

preparation, which provides it with an advantage of being specialist but it also enhances
the risk as the dependence is just on one market.

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  Hence, the company this year managed to get into other niche markets for BCA and
B.El.Ed . They must still diversify its operations i.e. consider other undergraduate
coaching preparations such as Mass Communication, H.M., Law etc; it would not only
help the company to reduce risk but also to increase the market share and ultimately the
revenues.

Recommendation 2:

 The operations of the company till current year are restricted to only five months revenue
period making the growth more vulnerable to season and unplanned changes.

 Hence, the company can bring educational packages that provide the coaching for a year
or two year comprehensive test preparation where the target audience taken into account
would be 11th and 12th standard students.

Recommendation 3:

 One of the major problems in the current operational year was inadequacy of experienced
H.R. in the organization as the number of permanent were less and the centre managers
are only either summer interns from various colleges or MBA passouts from various
colleges.

 Hence, the company should increase the number of permanent employees so as to

conduct the activities and overall business development in a more efficient manners for
better market capitalization.

REFERENCES

1. EduMentor, 2009, 2010. Information booklet.

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 2. IMS, 2010. Information booklet.

3. T.I.M.E, 2010. Information booklet.

4. Times of India, 2010. [Advertisement], New Delhi, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd.

5. Hindustan Times, 2010. [Advertisement], New Delhi, Birla Group.

6. Kotler Philip, 2007.MARKETING MANAGEMENT, New Delhi: Dorling

Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.licensees of Pearson Education in South Asia.

7. Websites of the competitors, colleges and universities which include:

• http://www.careerlauncher.com/[ accessed 1 March 2010].

• http://www.imsindia.com [accessed 7 March 2010].

• http://www.du.ac.in/[accessed 22 March 2010].

• http://ggsipu.nic.in[accessed 22 March 2010].

• http://www.en.wikipedia.org [accessed 22 March 2010] .

• http://managementhelp.org/ad_prmot/ad_prmot.htm [accessed 11 April 2010].

• http://www.EduMentor.co.in [accessed 16 April 2010].

• http://www.managementhelp.org/pblc_rel/basics.htm[accessed 21st April 2010].

• http://www.scribd.com/doc/3962624/Project-Report-1[accessed 23rd April 2010].

GLOSSARY

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• BBA:- BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

• BBE:- BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ECONOMICS

• BBS:- BACHELOR OF BUSINESS STUDIES

• BElEd :- BACHELOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

• BCA: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS APPLICATION

• HM:- Hotel Management

• CL:- Carrier Launcher

• T.I.M.E:- Triumphant Institute of Management Studies

• IMS: INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

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