Summer training Project Report

On
“A Study In Telemarketing And Promotional Activities Of
Outlook”

MERI College Of Engineering and Technology

Submitted in partial fulfilment for the award of degree for

Bachelors Of Business Administration (BBA)
BATCH 2019-2022

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Behind every achievement lies an unfathomable sea of gratitude to those who have
extended their support and without whom it would never have come into existence.
To them we say our words of gratitude

I would take this opportunity to thank Outlook Group for providing me the
opportunity to be a part of his sales Team and giving me assistance and guidance
throughout this internship program.

I would like to express my deepest sense of gratitude to our faculty for giving me this
opportunity to undergo Summer Training at Outlook India Ltd. I would also like to
extend my heartfelt gratitude to them for their constant motivation and valuable
insight, guidance and facilities at all phases of the project

Last but not least I am also thankful to the entire Summer Placement Team who
helped us t in getting my Summer Placements at outlook.

Anand Krishnan
BBA (2022 passing out batch).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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Outlook is part of the RAJAN RAHEIA GROUP which made its beginning in the
construction business and after building a huge presence in the realty market, the
group. diversified laterally into manufacturing, financial services and media. The
magazine division of Outlook consists of OUTLOOK ENGLISH, OUTLOOK MONEY,
OUTLOOK TRAVELLER OUTLOOK HINDI, OUTLOOK BUSINESS and OUTLOOK
LUXURY TRAVELLER.

The Outlook Group is one of the best publishing houses in India. Outlook is a well
known brand which is appreciated all over the world. Outlook is owned by Mr. Rajan
Raheja and is being published in Delhi since 1995 by the Outlook Group with Mr.
Vinod Mehta as the editor in chief Currently Mr. Rajesh Ramachandran is the editor
in Chief. Outlook has its branches in New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai,
Chennai and Hyderabad, with New Delhi being the head office of the Outlook Group.
It is one of the top magazine publishing company in India blessed with talented
editorial team. The magazine known for its unbiased content and portfolio, Outlook
English (weekly) which is the flagship magazine of Outlook Group secured 7th most
read English magazine in India (Indian Readership Survey 2017).

Like its other peers, the company is also a victim of sudden trend change in the
world. The company is struggling to compete with its substitutes like TV, internet and
newspaper. The company incurred a huge loss of Rs 7.8 crore in FY2017. The
company have taken some actions like introducing digital magazine and increasing
social media presence. The company is going through some major flaws in its
subscription department. The problems like late delivery, repetitive calls and miss-
commitment are degrading the company's goodwill in the market.

Internship is very essential for every BBA student as it gives a glimpse of corporate
culture to a student. In this internship. Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd. we learnt
the practical application of the marketing approaches. The title of this internship was
"TELEMARKETING AND PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES OF OUTLOOK
MAGAZINES". The interns were responsible for bringing business for the company
in form of subscription sales. The company has provided all the basic digital

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infrastructure to its intern so that they could work on that. Interns generate sales for
the company through cold calling, field visits and email marketing. The only thing
which makes this internship unique from others is its internship structure which
allows an intern to think and execute the task in the way he/she wants.

The interns at Outlook Group feel as they're the integral part of the organization. The
interns are also rewarded with 10% commission on every sale they convert. Apart
from this, interns are supposed to address the customer's grievances and resolve
them. The t interns are exposed not only to just sales, but also marketing. This
internship indeed requires hard work and dedication as selling a product which isn't a
necessity is difficult.

The majority of non-subseriber has not actively rejected subscribing, but simply need
more convincing In addition, gift subscription offers significant growth opportunities,
but consumer awareness of them appears to be relatively low and gifting process
could be made to be more of an "event" and to give the recipient more choice and
freedom in their little selection.

Moreover it was concluded that there are a lot of potential subscribers who need just
a little extra something to make them subscribe.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

S.NO TITLE PAGE NO

1 Certificate 2-4
2 Student declaration 6-7
3 Acknowledgement 8-11
4 Executive Summary 12-13
5 Chapter 1 : Introduction 14 - 17
6 Chapter 2 : Literature Review 18
7 Chapter 6 : Research Methodology 19 - 20
Objective of Study
8 Chapter 7 : Data Analysis and Interpretation 21 - 23
9 Chapter 5 : Conclusion 24 - 25
10 Bibliography 26
11 Annexure 27

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT
Generating sales in any company is the most interesting and most difficult part. It
requires to analyze the consumer behavior so that we can make our services
according to their needs. We have to design our sales promotion strategies in such a
way the maximum people are attracted by it. In our 45 days internship we have cold
calling, field visits, Email marketing, follow up and many things that include most of
the above said techniques and strategies which have made our product (OUTLOOK
MAGAZINES) at market leader.

We have products which cater to each and every segment of market e.g. Outlook
English, Outlook Money, Outlook Hindi, Outlook Business and Outlook Traveller.

Outlook group was started in 1995 since then it has established itself in the market of
print media. They have been also successful with different products they have
launched in addition to their basic magazine outlook English. Outlook also has a very
dedicated site which gives a very good insight into the outlook group.

The internship program at Outlook Magazines is properly designed. It includes all the
fundamental activities which brings business for the company. The activities which
were performed on daily basis and were the integral part of the internship program
These includes.

 Cold calling. This includes contacting the customers (Old & New) and selling them
subscription for the Outlook Magazines.

 Solving subscriber's grievances: The problem faced by the existing

subscribers are being addressed and all attempts are made to resolve them.

 Data Analytics: This includes analysis of the 500's of data every day and
finding the prospects out of it. This is an important activity as it gives a brief
about the subscribers buying patterns.

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 Drafting mails quotations: This includes drafting mails to the customers and
prospects accordance to their requirement and also preparing quotations and
Performa invoice whenever required.

 Field Visits: Visiting the places where magazine could be sold like travel
agencies, 4/5-star hotels, showrooms and libraries.

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 CHAPTER 2: INDUSTRY PROFILE

Print Media, as anyone can understand is one of the most important factors coming
through in the way a nation works. Newspapers, magazines, books etc. are ready by
a lot of people and are certainly one of the most trusted mediums of National and
International News.

India has a vast array of Print Media with Thousands of Magazines and Newspapers
in circulation. Top Notch Journalism, great reporting, press unity and a very strong
network is what makes Print Media so much of a success even today in the age of
Television and the Internet. It is also said that Print Media also helped literacy and
undoubtedly the General Knowledge of the average person in India.

The newspaper with the largest Circulation in India is Dainik Jagran, having near
about Two million readers. Next comes Times of India, an English newspaper,
followed by Dainik Bhaskar, another Hindi Newspaper.

The Indian Med and Entertainment (M&E) industry is a sunrise sector the economy
and is making high growth strides. The Indian M&E industry is on the cusp of a
strong phase of growth, backed by rising consumer demand and improving
advertising revenues The industry has been largely driven by increasing digitization
and higher internet usage over the last decade, Internet has almost become
mainstream media for entertainment for most of the people.

Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry grew at a CAGR of 12 25 per cent
from 2011-2017; and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.6 per cent to touch Rs
2.032 billion (US$ 31 53 billion) by 2020 from Rs 1,308 billion (USS 19.46 billion) in
2016. The industry provides employment to 3.5-4 million people, including both direct
and indirect employment in FY 2017.

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The print industry accounted for the second largest share in M&E to reach Rs 303
billion (USS 4.66 billion) in 2017, with a CAGR of 7 per cent till 2020 The Print
market is expected to reach USS6.69 billion by 2021. Increasing income levels and
evolving lifestyles have led to robust growth in niche magazines segment.

India is one of the highest spending and fastest growing advertising market globally.
The Indian advertising industry is projected to be the second fastest growing
advertising market in Asia after China. At present, advertising revenue accounts for
around 0.38 per cent of India's gross domestic product. Advertising expenditure in
India is expected to grow 13 per cent year-on-year to Rs 69,346 crore (USS 10.71
billion) in 2018 and Rs 1.07 trillion (US$ 16.70 billion) by 2020. The Indian digital
advertising industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 32 per cent to reach Rs
18,986 crore (USS 2.93 billion) by 2020 Print was the largest contributor, accounting
for 38.11 per cent of the advertising share in 2016 and is projected to be 40.7 per

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cent in 2017. Print media and television together contributed for 76.2 per cent of total
revenue from advertising in 2016

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the Information and Broadcasting
(I&B) sector (including Print Media) in the period April 2000-September 2017 stood
at USS 6.86 billion, as per data released by Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion (DIPP), FDI/NRI investment of up to 26 per cent in an Indian firm dealing
with t publication of newspaper and periodicals. FDI/NRI investment of up to 26 per
cent in publications of Indian editions of foreign magazines. FDI/NRI investment of
up to 100 per cent in publications of scientific and technical magazines/ specialty
journals/ periodicals.

Indian Readership Survey:

MRUC (Media Research User Council) conduct a survey annually which is

considered as the most genuine in media industry. The survey is called as Indian
Readership Survey, which is done by MRUC and Nielson. The survey reveals the
reading pattern of the Indian on various /parameters like demographics and modes.

According to the recent survey IRS 2017, it was found that magazine readership in
India is increased by 75% from the year 2014 to 2017.

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 CHAPTER 3: COMPANY PROFILE

RAJAN RAHEJAGROUP

The Rajan Raheja Group is a diversified conglomerate which has interests in sectors
such as building materials (through Prism Coment, H&R Johnson (India) and RMC
Ready-mix (India)), automotive and industrial batteries (Exide Industries), cable T.V.
(Hathway Cable & Datacom and Asianet Satellite Communications), financial
services (in life insurance and asset management through joint ventures with ING),
publishing (OUTLOOK group), retail (Globus, H&R Johnson (India) TBK, Food world
and Health & Glow), real estate development, software, petrochemicals and hotels.

OUTLOOK: In October 1995, group company Hathway Investments Private Limited

entered the print media. OUTLOOK, a weekly newsmagazine headed by Vinod
Mehta, galvanized a sluggish market reeling under the impact of satellite TV.

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OUTLOOK quickly carved a significant niche for itself among discerning readers who
value its in-depth, investigative reporting as well as its stylish visual format. Known to
be fiercely independent, OUTLOOK has shaken the establishment on events ranging
from Kargil to Kashmir to cricket, sensitized the reading public to important issues
like big dams, education and gender, and provided an unremitting focus on South
Asian geopolitics.

Today, OUTLOOK is the preferred magazine of 1,5 million readers in India, and sells
more than 11.2 million copies over the year.

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 CHAPTER 4: PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Outlook Weekly: Outlook, India's most exciting weekly newsmagazine covers the
entire spectrum of issues from current affairs, business, sports, lifestyle, technology,
international affairs etc. Outlook gives you a holistic picture, insightful analysis and
fresh perspective galvanized a sluggish market reeling under the impact of satellite
TV. Outlook quickly carved a significant niche for itself among disceming readers
who value its in-depth investigative reporting as well as its stylish visual format.
Known to be fiercely independent. Today, Outlook is the preferred magazine of 1.5
million readers in India, and sells more than 11.2 million copies over the year,

Outlook Hindi: Outlook Hindi, a weekly newsmagazine, was launched in October

2002 to establish significant presence amongst the vast Hindi reading audience. The
product targets the evolved Hindi reader keeping their interests, realities &
aspirations in mind Outlook Saptahik retains the core strengths of Outlook with
objective, fiercely impartial and bold journalism, while brandishing its own identity
through a strong parallel editorial. The magazine is empathetic to its target audience
& is not a translation of its English counterpart.

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Outlook Traveller: Outlook Traveller is India's No. I Travel Magazine. This is a
monthly magazine which covers domestic & international tourism, getaways,
cuisines and holiday planning. Every month since June 2001 Outlook Traveller has
introduced readers to the wonders of unknown destinations while also encouraging
travellers to take a fresh look t familiar places. Whether people are planning a
holiday, or simply dreaming of one, Outlook Traveller continues to take them closer.

OUTLOOK BUSINESS: Another magazine by Outlook which covers the business

news, interviews of business tycoons, the new jobs in offerings. This magazine is
most preferred by Business Schools, business professionals, businessman etc. This
is fortnightly magazine by Outlook. OUTLOOK Business, in the true tradition of the

OUTLOOK group, has as its aim no less an objective than the complete rewrite of
what has been tried by the way of business journalism in the magazine space.

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Outlook Money: In July 1998, the Group launched "Intelligent Investor" re-
christened as "OUTLOOK MONEY" as of 30-Nov-
2002, India's first personal finance magazine, which offers
sound strategies for the lay investor, especially the growing segment of salaried
middle and upper middle-class and self-employed professionals. Its message is clear
and simple: "Invest well, borrow wisely, spend smartly. Evidently, that message has
gone down well the magazine sold upwards of 1, 00,000 copies a fortnight within a
year.

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 CHAPTER 5: SUPPLY CHAIN

The main proposition of outlook on which they compete with othe distribution
channel. Copies were send to the press for publishing on Friday night and on
Saturday morning it was boarded from airport and send to all major hubs through
metro's as well as tire 2 and tire 3 cities from where copies being distributed to
vendor, news stand, hawker. Moreover outlook has a hub in top ten metro cities
where the magazine are delivered directly to the individuals. Other than this they use
postal authorities for timely delivery of magazines Metro cities include:

NORTH-Delhi, NCR, Chandigarh and Lucknow,

WEST- Ahmadabad, Mumbai, and Pune.

EAST- Calcutta

SOUTH Bangalore, Hyderabad and madras

Based on the place where offices are located company simply uses courier delivery
services rather than postal services. Earlier outlook use to outsource courier services
now they had a contract for job outlook magazine All magazine are delivered
personally. Other than this places like Kota, Jaipur, Manesar and Agra where there
are no offices. magazine are delivered through local post if not delivered properly
than it is being send through UPC a registered services so that it reaches on time.

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 CHAPTER 6: 4 P'S OF MARKETING

PRICE:

The pricing is decided on analyzing the competitors pricing strategy. Even a slight
decrease in price account for high profit. The price of outlook magazine vary for Rs
25(outlook) to Rs 100(Marie Claire) depending on the money invest for each
magazine and seeing the target market. Subscription offer have to be a mode to
save so they are a value for money as it's cheaper than individual magazine with a
marked difference.

PRODUCT:

The company defines each product according to various segments and is trying to
cover each segment. Magazine like MARIE CLAIRE aim women and girls of elite
and middle. class. At the same time magazine like outlook money and outlook
business aims at corporate world and working class Outlook saptahik is mainly for
people with limited access to English. Every product aims at a particular target
market and age group.

PLACE:

Place is selected according to the product keeping in mind its target market and the
age group. Magazine that have high probability to be sold among the elite class are
target to malls etc, whereas health and fashion magazine are targeted to saloons,
fitness clubs and spa. Travel magazine are generally targeted towards airports, car
rentals etc. The place of selling affects the sales tremendously,

PROMOTION:

Outlook India adopts a promotional strategy that aims at organizing event offering
free subscription as gift. Hoarding, banner and new plan are a great way adopted by

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outlook to promote their magazine. It aims at shelter, airport for its promotion and
advertising as mass crowd present in these areas.

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 CHAPTER 7 : COMPETITION

MARKET SHARE
OUTLOOK 25%
INDIA TODAY 32%
BUSINESS TODAY 12%
OTHERS 31%

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In fig 1. OUTLOOK quarterly sales doughnut is being described and it is observed
that during 2nd quarter (Jul – Sep ) and 4 th quarter (Jan – Mar ) maximum revenue is
earned reasons thereof are as follows :

1. In the middle of 1st and 2nd quarter , company appoints college interns , who
are really enthusiastic and focused towards the work . Secondly , company
launches Bonanza Offers during this period .
2. During Last Quarter , every employee gives his/her best performance to
achieve the annual target and company earns maximum profit through its
Subscription and Retail Division .

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In fig.3 , it is clearly shown that advertisement division gives 45% revenue
followed by Retail (30%), Subscription Division (20%) and events sponsorship i.e
only 5% group earns maximum revenue by publishing advertisement in their
magazines , retail and subscription division together gives good figures to the
groups by circulating 1.5 million copies . Similarly , small but effective division ,
Event sponsorship also contributes by organizing Award ceremonies .

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 CHAPTER 8: SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS:

 Eleven different magazines which cover each and every segment and fulfil the
needs of different age group belonging to different sectors.

 Exclusive photography and articles, OUTLOOK does not copy the content
from internet and paste in its magazines.

 Co-promoters of international magazines like -Marie Claire, GEO and News

week with reasonable prices,

 OUTLOOK has well organized and experienced man power, which approach
directly and indirectly as well, to the readers.

 OUTLOOK has set up its own strong distribution channel, which circulate 1.5
million copies in INDIA.

 OUTLOOK gives you multiple times address change flexibility and charge
nothing for the service.

 OUTLOOK is known for its range of magazines, subscription offers (also

available with internet edition) and on the spot delivery of the gifts which one
cannot ignore.

WEAKNESSES: Slow Processing

 It takes four weeks in delivering first copy of the subscriber and two weeks in
case of address change.

 If gift is not delivered by the executive then OUTLOOK takes two months of
time in delivering the gift

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OPPORTUNITIES:
 OUTLOOK can increase its product line by launching three new magazines
related to auto industry, magazine for beauty parlour's exclusively and
OUTLOOK technology these three can increase the market share of
OUTLOOK

 OUTLOOK has an opportunity to promote its magazines at international level

with international edition.

THREATS:

 Strong competition number of International Brands are coming to India and

competing for the market share by increasing the product line,

 Perception of readers", OUTLOOK favours Congress party and does not write
anything against the party.

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 CHAPTER 9: MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED

1. Mass impersonal selling methods (Advertising)

Pull Blend

2. Face to face personal selling (Salesman ship).

Push Blend

Both of these are closely related to the Channel of Distribution.

1. A Pull Blend is one in which mass impersonal, sales efforts are given the
greatest emphasis. The purpose of pull blends to pre-sell to the final
consumers so that they demand the product at the retail level of distribution.
The firm adopting this strategy would spend more on advertising and sales
promotion rather than in personal selling.

2. A Push Blend emphasizes personal selling Naturally firms adopting this

method develop strong sales force at both the distributor and the dealer level;
this method would tend to push the product through the channel of distribution

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 CHAPTER 10: LEARNING FROM INTERNSHIP
This training proved to be highly beneficial for me as it trained me for future.

 It increased my practical knowledge and well equipped me with all the

methods and knowledge.

 I learned to deal with people and control my patience level which is a very
important ingredient in the dish of life. I faced all kinds of people and learned
to adopt myself in different situation

 The training was very useful in studying the services, client's satisfaction,
consumer behaviour, company culture which is vital for us as we are the
future managers who will lead the world.

 It made me polish my internal qualities such as competitiveness, team spirit ,

leadership, confidence etc. I adopted good convincing skills and
characteristics to work in different environment.

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 CHAPTER 11: LIMITATIONS
 Sometimes magazine, gifts, etc were out of stock so many suspects dropped
the subscription

 Sometimes magazines do not reach on time.

 Data analytics has not performed on the customer data. The result of it, many
customer contacts were repeating several time.

 Customer data is not satisfactory. Few of the customer had already taken the
magazines in previous month but their records are showing in Next month
data

 Many times the issue arrived that the magazines are not delivered on specific
places.

 If magazines are not delivered then there is no money back plan for the
customer.

 Client's perception about Outlook magazine and brand loyalty.

 In comparison to India Today, Outlook lags in its distribution channel

because India Today delivers its magazines within 2 weeks from the date of
subscription whereas Outlook takes 4-6 weeks.

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 CHAPTER 12: SUGGESTIONS
 Company should be emphasis on more effective advertisement

 The most important task is that company should give its priority to coverage. If
the company could cover home towns, cities and villages then it will create
their more magazines readers.

 The company should enhance its awareness among many people by mobile
road shows: outdoor advertising in local and national newspapers as well as
more type of ads on prime time on television channels for different uses
segments. So that many people may come to know about the services of the
magazines and can become a subscriber of the company.

 The policy or company should be simple. And bring more transparency.

 The company should update marketing department in town offices for the
benefit of the subscribers as well for the company.

 Company should appoint some executives to make strong relationships with

customer.

 Follow Up is very crucial for any call and hence should be done very
thoroughly by the sales executive, As magazines is not a critical product for
any organization and have to be pushed for sales, hence if regular and
thorough follow-up is not done, the client may soon lose interest in the product
and forget it. Hence, the sales executive should try and maintain a
relationship with the chent and pursue him with great interest.

 There should be a system of Daily Sales Report (DSR) to improve efficiency

of the sales executive. Since a sales executive goes on an average on calls,
there should be a system wherein he is supposed to come back and record
each and every detail related to the call in a DSR.

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 According to Indian Readership Survey 2017, there is a tremendous growth of
Regional magazine in India. These magazines have a huge popularity in their
respective regions. In fact, two regional magazine Vanitha (Malayalam) &
Ananda Vikatan (Tamil) have secured their position in top 20 most read
magazine in India where Vanitha itself has the readership of 61,26,000 which
is 4 times than that of Outlook English. If we see top 50 charts, it has-10
regional magazines.

 Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd should focus on introducing regional

magazines to gain more market share.

 While interacting with 1000's of customer during this internship, it was found
that there is the possible demand for the magazines of exclusive segments
like Technology, architecture, sports etc. which are very rare i.e. very few
options available in Indian Market.

 Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd. should explore the possibility of

expanding its product portfolio to the new magazine segments

 Like newspaper companies, Outlook group should focus more on its

advertisement revenue instead of subscription & circulation. During this
internship, it was observed that customer hesitate subscribing magazine as it
is costlier. In India, Magazines are still premium not necessity. Outlook is
constantly increasing its subscription prices every year which forces a new
customer to think before the purchase.

 Outlook Group should reduce its subscription prices and focus more on
increasing its readership and advertisement revenue.

 The company has a much unorganized structure when it comes to its

subscription sales. The customers are very irritated from the repetitive calls
and the miss commitment done by the interns in the organization. Some of
them even consider it as harassment. The department is least bothered
about the subscriber grievances.
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 Outlook Group should look into functioning of its subscription department as
they are the ones who are representatives of the company and should focus
more on customer satisfaction instead of just sales.

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 CHAPTER 13: CONCLUSION
THE POTENTIAL FOR SUBSCRIPTION GROWTH

The majority of non-subscriber has not actively rejected subscribing, but simply need
more convincing.

In addition, gift subscription offer significant growth opportunities, but consumer

awareness of them appears to be relatively low and gifting process could be made to
be more of an "event" and to give the recipient more choice and freedom in their little
selection.

Moreover it was concluded that there are a lot potential subscribers who need just a
little extra something to make them subscribe. These relatively inexpensive
premiums related to business are effective. They increase trial subscription, and we
can sell more efficiently.

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 REFERENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY

Outlookindia com

National Readership Survey

Indian Readership Survey

Books referred:

Marketing Management by Philip Kotler.

AMA Handbook for satisfaction by Alan Dutka

Website visited:

www.ouitlookindia.com

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/outlook_(magazines)

www.outlookindia.com/archievecontents.asp.

Slideshare.com

Scribd.com

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 ANNEXURE
OUTLOOK SUBSCRIPTION PROPOSAL

Dear Sir/Ma'am

Greetings from OUTLOOK GROUP!!!!!

I am Anand Krishnan . This message is reference to subscription of OUTLOOK

MAGAZINE.

Outlook is one of the largest selling magazine in India with circulation of more than
1.5 million copies. Having user base around 5 lac.

We are dealing with 5 product line:

 OUTLOOK - Current Affairs

 MONEY - Finance & Stock Market

 HINDI - Current Affairs & Knowledge

 TRAVELLER - Sight-seeing

 BUSINESS - Corporate World

We will send the magazine through courier. And courier charges are totally free.
I appreciate for your taking the time to review our Proposal. Thanking you in
anticipation

Expecting for a favourable reply.

Warm Regards

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Anand Krishnan

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