pooja jain- final summer training project
TRANSCRIPT
‘A STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SELLING
STRATEGY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SPA CAPITAL’
Acknowledgment
Learning and acquiring knowledge has no leaps and bounds. It is
one resource that never gets exhausted, the more you preach, the
better it gets and the more it lives down through ages. From the
day since man set has feet on earth learning process had begun
and is still evolving making life happier and memorable. One can
only lead a person to things he needs to know. Experience through
failures and hardships makes a man perfect.
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Executive Summary
The financial sector is growing at a very rapid rate. Thus it poses a great opportunity for
all the Banking and Non-Banking Financial Corporations (NBFCs) to operate in an
efficient manner to boost their growth level. In today’s cut-throat competition era, no
company can survive with out paying due attention to the constantly changing
consumer’s demands, be it the demand for physical goods or for intangible and
inseparable services.
Marketing of intangible services is far more difficult than the marketing of physical
goods.
Moreover, the marketing of financial services is even tougher as many people are still
unaware about the things. They take these things as just the wastage of money.
Though the awareness among people is increasing but at a very slow rate.
Thus the strategies adopted by the companies to sell their financial products should be
such that the people themselves should come forward to demand these products.
SPA is no exception to this reality. SPA offer its customers the ITR filing services, which
is must for every individual and thus forming a very well planned tool to attract more and
more customers.
The customers so created directly or indirectly help the company to increase its business.
SPA used to cross-sell its services to the clients according to their interest.
My project is to study the effectiveness of this selling strategy of SPA by getting the
feedback of its clients.
Chapter 1 includes the industry profile consisting financial sector, financial services,
selling strategy and Customer Relationship Management in financial sector.
Chapter 2 includes the research objectives and the methodology i.e. how the sample is
chosen, ways to collect the data etc.
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Chapter-3 consists of the company profile of SPA Capital Services Ltd, which includes
its milestones, mission, the group companies.
Chapter-4 includes the findings and analysis part of the survey done to check the
effectiveness of selling strategy of SPA.
Chapter-5 includes the suggestions, which if implemented, would help the organization to
improve itself.
Chapter-6 concludes the research along with the limitations from the research suffers.
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Table of Contents
Student declaration i
Certificate from Company ii
Certificate from Guide iii Acknowledgement iv
Executive Summary v
Page no.
CHAPTER 1: INDUSTRY PROFILE 1
1.1 Indian Financial Sector 2
1.2 Selling Strategies 10
1.3 Customer Relationship Management 13
CHAPTER 2: OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY 18
2.1 Purpose of the study. 19
2.2 Research Objectives of the study 19
2.3 Research Methodology of the study 19
2.3.1 Research Design 20 2.3.2 Data Collection 20
2.3.3 Research design 20
2.3.4 Method of data collection 22
2.3.5 Limitation 23
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CHAPTER -3: Company Profile 23-38
3.1 About SPA 25
3.2 Promoters 26
3.3 Management Team 26
3.4 Group Companies 27
3.4.1 SPA Capital Services Ltd. 28
3.4.2 SPA Merchant Bankers Ltd. 29
3.4.3 SPA Securities Ltd. 31
3.4.4 SPA Insurance Broking Services Ltd. 32
3.4.5 SPA Com Pvt. Ltd. 32
3.5 Financial Management Services 32
3.6 Group presence and strength 33
3.7 Vision 34
3.8 Core Values 34
3.9 Milestones 35
3.10 Clients 37
CHAPTER -4: Findings and Analysis 39-50
4.1 Findings 40 4.2 Analysis 49 CHAPTER -5: Suggestions 51-53
CHAPTER -6: Conclusion and Limitation 54-56
Bibliography 57-58
Annexure 59-61
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Indian Financial Sector
Selling Strategies
Customer Relationship Management
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Indian Financial Sector
1.1 Financial Sector
A category of stocks containing firms that provide financial services to commercial and
retail customers. This sector includes banks, investment funds, insurance companies and
real estate.
Financial services perform best in low interest rate environments. A large portion of this
sector generates revenue from mortgages and loans, which gain value as interest rates
drop. Furthermore, when the business cycle is in an upswing, the financial sector benefits
from additional investments. Improved economic conditions usually lead to more capital
projects and increased personal investing. New projects require financing, which usually
leads to a larger number of loans.
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance
industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of
money. Among these organizations are banks, credit
card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies, stock
brokerages, investment funds and some government sponsored enterprises.
Financial Sector of India is intrinsically strong, operationally sundry and exhibits
competence and flexibility besides being sensitive to India’s economic aims of
developing a market oriented, industrious and viable economy. An established financial
sector assists greater standards of endowments and endorses expansion in the economy
with its intensity and exposure. The fiscal sector in India entails banks, financial
organization, markets and services. The sector is classified as organized and conventional
sector that is also recognized as unofficial finance market.
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1.1.1 Major Financial Services
1.1.1.1 Banking Sector
A bank is a financial intermediary that accepts deposits and channels those deposits
into lending activities, either directly or through capital markets. A bank connects
customers with capital deficits to customers with capital surpluses.
Banking is generally a highly regulated industry, and government restrictions on financial
activities by banks have varied over time and location. The current set of global bank
capital standards is called Basel II.
Channels
Banks offer many different channels to access their banking and other services:
ATM is a machine that dispenses cash and sometimes takes deposits without the need
for a human bank teller. Some ATMs provide additional services.
A branch is a retail location
Call center
Mail: most banks accept check deposits via mail and use mail to communicate to their
customers, eg by sending out statements
Mobile banking is a method of using one's mobile phone to conduct banking
transactions
Online banking is a term used for performing transactions, payments etc. over the
Internet
Relationship Managers, mostly for private banking or business banking, often visiting
customers at their homes or businesses
Telephone banking is a service which allows its customers to perform transactions
over the telephone without speaking to a human
Video banking is a term used for performing banking transactions or professional
banking consultations via a remote video and audio connection. Video banking can be
performed via purpose built banking transaction machines (similar to an Automated
teller machine), or via a videoconference enabled bank branch.
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1.1.1.2 Capital Market
A capital market is a market for securities (debt or equity), where business enterprises
(companies) and governments can raise long-term funds. It is defined as a market in
which money is provided for periods longer than a year[1], as the raising of short-term
funds takes place on other markets (e.g., the money market). The capital market includes
the stock market (equity securities) and the bond market (debt). Financial regulators,
oversee the capital markets in their designated jurisdictions to ensure that investors are
protected against fraud, among other duties.
Capital markets may be classified as primary markets and secondary markets. In primary
markets, new stock or bond issues are sold to investors via a mechanism known
as underwriting. In the secondary markets, existing securities are sold and bought among
investors or traders, usually on a securities exchange, over-the-counter, or elsewhere.
Money market
The money market is a component of the financial markets for assets involved in short-
term borrowing and lending with original maturities of one year or shorter time frames.
Trading in the money markets involves Treasury bills, commercial paper, bankers'
acceptances, certificates of deposit, federal funds, and short-lived mortgage- and asset-
backed securities.[1] It provides liquidity funding for the global financial system.
The core of the money market consists of banks borrowing and lending to each other,
using commercial paper, repurchase agreements and similar instruments. These
instruments are often benchmarked to (i.e. priced by reference to) the London Interbank
Offered Rate (LIBOR) for the appropriate term and currency.
Common money market instruments
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Certificate of deposit - Time deposits, commonly offered to consumers by banks,
thrift institutions, and credit unions.
Repurchase agreements - Short-term loans—normally for less than two weeks and
frequently for one day—arranged by selling securities to an investor with an
agreement to repurchase them at a fixed price on a fixed date.
Commercial paper - Unsecured promissory notes with a fixed maturity of one to 270
days; usually sold at a discount from face value.
Eurodollar deposit - Deposits made in U.S. dollars at a bank or bank branch located
outside the United States.
Federal agency short-term securities - (in the U.S.). Short-term securities issued
by government sponsored enterprises such as theFarm Credit System, the Federal
Home Loan Banks and the Federal National Mortgage Association.
Federal funds - (in the U.S.). Interest-bearing deposits held by banks and other
depository institutions at the Federal Reserve; these are immediately available funds
that institutions borrow or lend, usually on an overnight basis. They are lent for
the federal funds rate.
Municipal notes - (in the U.S.). Short-term notes issued by municipalities in
anticipation of tax receipts or other revenues.
Treasury bills - Short-term debt obligations of a national government that are issued
to mature in three to twelve months. For the U.S., see Treasury bills.
Money funds - Pooled short maturity, high quality investments which buy money
market securities on behalf of retail or institutional investors.
Foreign Exchange Swaps - Exchanging a set of currencies in spot date and the
reversal of the exchange of currencies at a predetermined time in the future.
Short-lived mortgage- and asset-backed securities
1.1.1.4 Insurance Sector
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In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used
to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the
equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for
payment. An insurer is a company selling the insurance; an insured or policyholder is
the person or entity buying the insurance policy. The insurance rate is a factor used to
determine the amount to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage, called
the premium. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has
evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.
The transaction involves the insured assuming a guaranteed and known relatively small
loss in the form of payment to the insurer in exchange for the insurer's promise to
compensate (indemnify) the insured in the case of a large, possibly devastating loss. The
insured receives a contract called the insurance policy which details the conditions and
circumstances under which the insured will be compensated.
1.1.1.5 Merchant Banking
In banking, a merchant bank is a financial institution primarily engaged in offering
financial services and advice to corporations and to wealthy individuals. The term can
also be used to describe the private equity activities of banking.[1] The chief distinction
between an investment bank and a merchant bank is that a merchant bank invests its own
capital in a client company whereas an investment bank purely distributes (and trades)
the securities of that company in its capital raising role. Both merchant banks and
investment banks provide fee based corporate advisory services, including in relation to
mergers and acquisitions.
1.1.1.6 Investment Banking
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An investment bank is a financial institution that assists corporations and governments
in raising capital by underwriting and acting as the agent in the issuance of securities. An
investment bank also assists companies involved in mergers and acquisitions, derivatives,
etc. Further it provides ancillary services such as market making and the trading
of derivatives, fixed income instruments, foreign exchange, commodity, and equity
securities.
Unlike commercial banks and retail banks, investment banks do not take deposits.
Investment banks offer services to both corporations issuing securities and investors
buying securities. For corporations, investment bankers offer information on when and
how to place their securities in the market. To the investor, the responsible investment
banker offers protection against unsafe securities. The offering of a few bad issues can
cause serious loss to its reputation, and hence loss of business. Therefore, investment
bankers play a very important role in issuing new security offerings.
1.1.1.7 Mutual funds
A mutual fund is a professionally managed type of collective investment scheme that
pools money from many investors and invests typically in
investment securities (stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, other mutual
funds, other securities, and/or commodities such as precious metals).[1] The mutual fund
will have a fund manager that trades (buys and sells) the fund's investments in accordance
with the fund's investment objective
1.1.1.8 Venture Capital Market
Venture capital (also known as VC or Venture) is provided as seed funding to early-
stage, high-potential, growth companies and more often after the seed funding round
as growth funding round (also referred as series A round) in the interest of generating a
return through an eventual realization event such as an IPO or trade sale of the company.
To put it simply, an investment firm will give money to a growing company. The
growing company will then use this money to advertise, do research, build infrastructure,
develop products etc. The investment firm is called a venture capital firm, and the money
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that it gives is called venture capital. The venture capital firm makes money by owning a
stake in the firm it invests in. The firms that a venture capital firm will invest in usually
have a novel technology or business model. Venture capital investments are generally
made in cash in exchange for shares in the invested company. It is typical for venture
capital investors to identify and back companies in high technology industries, such
as biotechnology and IT (Information Technology).
Venture capital typically comes from institutional investors and high net worth
individuals, and is pooled together by dedicated investment firms.
Venture capital firms typically comprise small teams with technology backgrounds
(scientists, researchers) or those with business training or deep industry experience.
A core skill within VC is the ability to identify novel technologies that have the potential
to generate high commercial returns at an early stage. By definition, VCs also take a role
in managing entrepreneurial companies at an early stage, thus adding skills as well as
capital (thereby differentiating VC from buy-out private equity, which typically invest in
companies with proven revenue), and thereby potentially realizing much higher rates of
returns. Inherent in realizing abnormally high rates of returns is the risk of losing all of
one's investment in a given startup company. As a consequence, most venture capital
investments are done in a pool format, where several investors combine their investments
into one large fund that invests in many different startup companies. By investing in the
pool format, the investors are spreading out their risk to many different investments
versus taking the chance of putting all of their money in one start up firm.
A venture capitalist (also known as a VC) is a person or investment firm that makes
venture investments, and these venture capitalists are expected to bring managerial and
technical expertise as well as capital to their investments. A venture capital fund refers
to a pooled investment vehicle (often an LP or LLC) that primarily invests the financial
capital of third-party investors in enterprises that are too risky for the standard capital
markets or bank loans.
Venture capital is also associated with job creation, the knowledge economy, and used as
a proxy measure of innovation within an economic sector or geography.
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1.2 Selling Strategy
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Selling consists of two main functions: tactics and strategy. Sales strategy is the planning
of sales activities: methods of reaching clients, competitive differences and resources
available. Tactics involves the day-to-day selling: prospecting, sales process, and follow-
up.
The tactics of selling are very important but equally vital is the strategy of sales. The
advantages are too compelling to ignore.
1.2.1 Competitive Advantages of Strategic Sales Planning
Increased closing ratio by knowing clients hot buttons
Improved client loyalty by understanding needs
Shorten the sales cycle with outside recommendations
Outsell competitors by offering the best solution
1.2.2 Selling Financial Services I different
Financial services are different from other products because of their special
characteristics
Abstract - Banking and financial products: cannot be touched
Complex - Products like derivatives, different matter. That is why our courses
typically documentary credits, or loan facilities require detailed explanation to
corporate or institutional clients
Lengthy decision-process - Banking and financial products are not bought
lightly, or on impulse, and so they need to be sold in a special way
1.2.3 Selling Strategies cover:
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Marketing Strategy Positioning of products Analyzing the product range Launching new financial offerings Marketing channels
Cold-Calling for Financial Services Targeting clients Preparing to cold-call Writing pre-call letters Handling the initial call Overcoming call resistance
Managing Sales Teams Motivating salespeople Performance management Agreeing targets
Identifying Client Needs Listening to your client Non-verbal communication Need Reinforcement Questions The Questioning Structure Uncovering sales opportunities
Relationship Management Getting the appointment Building the relationship The face to face meeting Gaining commitment When and how often to follow up Measuring the stability of the relationship
Closing the Deal Handling client resistance Objection-handling Appropriate closing techniques
Negotiating in the Financial Sector Negotiating basis points Negotiating fees and rates Key rules of negotiation
Presenting Financial Solutions Pitch-book presentations
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Effective presentation techniques Presenting at the highest level
1.3 Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a broadly recognized, widely-
implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and
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sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize
business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer
service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients,
nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold,
and reduce the costs of marketing and client service.[1] Customer relationship
management denotes a company-wide business strategy embracing all client-facing
departments and even beyond. When an implementation is effective, people, processes,
and technology work together to increase profitability, and reduce operational costs.[2]
1.3.1 Challenges
Tools and workflows can be complex to implement, especially for large enterprises.
Previously these tools were generally limited to contact management: monitoring and
recording interactions and communications. Software solutions then expanded to embrace
deal tracking, territories, opportunities, and at the sales pipeline itself. Next came the
advent of tools for other client-facing business functions, as described below. These
technologies have been, and still are, offered as on-premises software that companies
purchase and run on their own IT infrastructure.
Often, implementations are fragmented; isolated initiatives by individual departments to
address their own needs. Systems that start disunited usually stay that way: siloed
thinking and decision processes frequently lead to separate and incompatible systems,
and dysfunctional processes.
1.3.2 6 Steps from Customer Service
One of the ongoing challenges successful businesses face is in optimizing customer
satisfaction and developing Customer Relationship Management. So many companies
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"jump on the bandwagon" of improving customer service in order to impact customer
retention levels. Yet, since 1994, customer satisfaction has dropped in nearly every sector
of the economy according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index compiled by the
University of Michigan.
1. Setting A Clear Customer Experience Strategy
Often organizations confuse defining a customer experience strategy with creating a
"slogan". How many companies create a slogan without any supporting initiatives,
thereby disillusioning employees and creating a "flavour of the month?"
To establish a good strategy certain key practices are required:
Understand the overall organizational vision and mission
Define the organization’s customer service direction, slogan and values
Ensure customer service is defined as a key responsibility for the
business/department
Share the customer experience strategy via a comprehensive communications
program
Ensure that this strategy does not conflict with other business strategies. As
consultants, it is amazing how often we hear organizations say, "Improving
Customer Service is a priority, and we are also introducing stringent cost-cutting
measures." This can present a tough dichotomy.
2. Selecting the Correct People
It's really hard to teach an elephant to dance!
When recruiting employees to provide customer service, the process often tends to
concentrate more on functional expertise, technical competence and knowledge rather
than interpersonal skills. However, lack of the right attitude can drastically impact client
satisfaction levels. Research has in fact shown that attitude is the most important
requirement: skills and functional expertise can be taught.
Therefore in selecting the right people:
Define the critical job requirements
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Develop scenario-based interviews/assessment centres to screen and select
candidates
Involve multiple team members in the hiring process
Ensure evaluation is based on objective, not the subjective "Be Like Me" criteria
3. Developing, Motivating And Managing Your People
Even though you have hired the right people, there is still a need to orient them into the
organization’s customer relationship culture and define key communication skills. In Call
Centers and Technical Support departments, there is a tendency to rely on
technical/functional skills and neglect interpersonal skills development. This can result in
providing acceptable material service, the more tangible aspect, yet unacceptable
personal service, the competitive differentiator.
Therefore to build a customer relationship culture, it is important to:
Provide training in key areas required to deliver exceptional personal service
Reinforce these skills using ongoing coaching and feedback
Measure current performance levels
Reward performance using a combination of monetary awards and non-monetary
recognition
4. Establishing Effective Service Delivery Processes
Effective processes and procedures provide the foundation for smoothing or inhibiting
the material service element of the customer interaction. Efficient service delivery
systems appear transparent to the customer. Poor systems create those 'speed bumps' that
necessitate personal intervention in order to satisfy the customer requirements.
The critical elements in ensuring a positive material customer experience are:
Mapping the service delivery processes
Evaluating critical success points in the process
Defining service standards and objectives for these essential points
Establishing service delivery procedures to optimize material service
Creating service level agreements to smooth internal service delivery
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5. Building In Continuous Improvement
No matter how effective the service delivery processes, or well-trained the service
deliverers, things go wrong. Products have faults. Customers get frustrated. Things slip
through the cracks. The organizations that are built around managing the customer
experience are able to resolve these issues effectively. This process known as "recovery"
is an important differentiator in building customer loyalty.
In order to recover effectively, it is necessary to:
Actively seek customer feedback and complaints: you cannot improve if you don't
know what went wrong in the first place.
Train staff how to handle customer complaints effectively using the correct mix of
empathizing, apologizing and resolution.
Make sure that the real problem is solved, not just the symptoms.
Focus on proactive (prevention) as well as reactive (cure) problem solving.
6. Ensuring Managers Are The Key Change-Agents
As consultants, we observe that senior management often has the vision, intention and
commitment to introduce a comprehensive customer relationship management system.
The "make or break" element is in involving middle management in the change process,
and empowering them to be the key change-agents.
To do this, it is important to:
Engage the management team early and often in the process
Involve management members in articulating the customer experience strategy
Teach managers coaching skills so that they are able to articulate and reinforce
the key personal service skills
Use managers as facilitators when rolling out interpersonal skills training
Reward managers on establishing, monitoring and updating service delivery
processes
Ensure managers are able to act as an example to their teams.
Conclusion
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As you can see, in order to deliver outstanding service, it is essential to build a customer
relationship focused culture. This can take up to two years and can involve changing the
way the company operates in all aspects of service delivery. The time investment can be
high, but the pay-off can be enormous building long-term customer loyalty and helping to
ensure business profitability.
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Purpose of the study
Research Objectives of the study
Research Methodology
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2.1 Purpose of the study:
Various objectives which are guiding force for conducting the study are as follows :-
To understand why customers buy a particular product.
To know about customer acceptance of the product
To forecast the probable volume of the future sales
To assess competitive strengths and policies.
2.2 Research Objectives of the Study:
No research is useful if it does not have any research objective. Research objective tells
the researcher as for what kind of information or results, the research has to be carried
out. Without the research objective the researcher will not be able to carry out research
and if he performs the research objective it will not be of any use.
The purpose of my study is to measure the effectiveness of taxation services as a selling
strategy at SPA Capital i.e. how the services provided by SPA help it to build clients for
its other financial services.
2.3 Research Methodology:
Research is a careful critical inquiry in seeking facts and diligent investigation in order to
ascertain something. For formulating a significant research problem, the researcher
should try to acquire as much knowledge, of the area in which research is to be done, as
possible. The research must be fully aware of the environment to which the difficulty
pertains.
It refers to the method adopted to collect the relevant data and other information, which
forms the basis of the research writing. So, for the effective writing of this report, the data
must be quality oriented.
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Research methods which are adopted are as follows:-
Identifying the marketing problem
Developing Marketing Research plan
Designing Marketing Research plan
Designing marketing research strategy
Collection of Data
Analysis of Collected Data
Preparation of Research Report
2.3.1 Research Design:
Research design or model indicates a plan of action to be carried out in connection with a
proposed research work.
Descriptive research design has been used for conducting the study as to know the clients
acceptance to the SPA’s services.
2.3.2 Data Collection:
Data is collected through surveys by questioning people in person and by telephone about
their purchase preferences and likings.
SAMPLE ENUMERATION is the method adopted for data collection. It saves time &
reduces the cost of survey. Sampling enumeration sometimes is the only possible method
just as in cost of infinite universe, e.g. tossing of coin infinite times.
2.3.3 Research Design
2.3.3.1 Population:
Population for the purpose of this study consists of all the corporate employees who have
filed their ITR through SPA Capital.
Elements: Corporate employees
Extent: Delhi and NCR areas.
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Frame:
The frame is the source from which the data has been collected. e.g. company’s database,
telephone directory etc.
The frame for the purpose of my study is the SPA’s database.
2.3.3.2 Sample size:
A sample is a part of a population or a subset from a set of units taken with the object of
investigating the properties of parent population or set.
As it is very difficult to get the feedback of each and every client of SPA because of time
and resource constraint, a sample size of 100 clients is taken.
An optimum sample size in a survey is which represent the population very well and
reliable and flexible. The sample should be small enough to avoid unnecessary expenses
and large enough to avoid intolerable sampling error.”
Sampling unit:
The sampling unit of my study is the corporate employees.
2.3.3.3 Sampling Technique:
Sampling is simply the process of learning about the population on the basis of a sample
drawn from it. Thus in the sampling technique instead of every unit of the universe only a
part of the universe is studied and the conclusions are drawn on that basis for the entire
universe.
Convenience Sampling and the Judgement Sampling method are used to select the
sample as to ensure that the sample should represent the whole population and at the
same time to save the time.
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2.3.4 Method of data collection:
The data has been collected using following instruments:
Secondary Data
Primary data
2.3.4.1 Instruments of data collection:
o Questionnaire
Structured questionnaire
Telephonic survey
o Internal records of SPA
Types of questions:
Questions in the questionnaire are:
Open-ended questions
Dichotomous questions
Multiple questions.
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2.3.5 Limitation
The research suffers from the following limitations:
1. The findings of the sample may not be the accurate representation of the
population.
2. The study may suffer with the Nom-response error i.e. the responses were not
given by some sampling units.
3. The primary data used in the study may also suffer from some defects like
human biasness, inconsistency or ambiguity in the answers, wrong
interpretation of the questions by respondents, measurement error, and data
analysis error.
4. As the secondary sources are used. These may be biased.
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3.1 About SPA
SPA Group was promoted by a team of finance professionals in 1995 with an objective
to provide value added financial services. Initially, the Group focused as a niche financial
solutions provider in corporate finance and wealth management to Indian companies and
high net worth individuals. In January 2000, the Group expanded its operations and the
range of services. Today, SPA provides services for securities broking, merchant
banking, wealth management, financial advisory, corporate finance, risk management and
insurance broking.
SPA is being managed by its promoters along with a young and dynamic team of over
1000+ professionals with rich experience, in their respective fields. The Group has
established itself as one of India’s leading financial advisory house, offering various
financial solutions to its Institutional, corporate and individual clients.
Customer centric approach of SPA’s dedicated professional team has helped carve a
niche for itself in financial services arena and won confidence of its clients. Clients of
SPA are from a wide spectrum and comprise of Banks and other financial institutions,
Mutual funds, Insurance companies, foreign institutional investors, public sector
undertakings and government departments, private corporates, trusts and individuals.
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3.2 Promoters
Mr. Kamal Somani, FCA, is a senior finance professional with over 30 years of
experience in investment banking, securities broking and corporate finance. His vast
experience and vision has enabled the Group to establish itself as a respected financial
services provider in the country. He looks after the overall group strategies and leads
securities broking, investment advisory and investment banking activities of the Group.
Mr. Sandeep Parwal, B.Com (Hons), FCA, has over 20 years of experience in various
aspects of financial services. He handles investment advisory, insurance broking and
merchant banking activities of the Group. His expertise in providing customized
innovative solutions with unmatched speed provides a distinctive edge to the Group's
capability.
3.3 Management Team
The Core management team of SPA consists of persons having a rich experience in
Corporate Finance and Advisory, Investment Banking, Risk Management, Securities
Banking and Wealth Management.
Mr. Sanjay Joon, President MBA, having more than 21 years of experience in
marketing of financial products and has a vast experience in information technology and
administration. His forte lies in his abilities of accurately assessing his customers’ need,
meeting them and leading an ever enthusiastic team. He heads Mutual Fund Division of
the Group since its inception.
Mr. Sanjay Gupta, Associate Director (Investment Banking) ACA, B.Com(H),
having 10 years of experience in merchant banking and investments. Based at Delhi, he
skillfully delivers customized for debt structuring and placement need of PSU’s and
SLU’s.
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Mr. V K Khattar, Principal Officer He has to his credit 42 years of rich experience of
working with Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. and retired as the Regional Manager. He is
associated with our Group as the Principal Officer of the Insurance arm.
Mr. Vivek Gautam, Associate Director He is having 30 years of experience in the field
of Banking & Merchant Banking including 16 years of exclusive experience in
Investment Banking. He has worked for 14 years in PNB till mid 1991 in Managerial
positions. Thereafter he was deputed to PNB Capital Services Limited as Senior Vice
President and worked as Head Merchant Banking during 1991 - 1996 and was associated
in lead managing more than 60 public and rights issues for well known Corporates and
Financial Institutions. He was also Head Investment Department dealing in securities for
one year. Thereafter he worked as Director - Bajaj Capital Limited and President
Merchant Banking for 7 years and also as Head Merchant Banking and Executive
Director with Allianz Securities Limited for 1 year. He has wide experience in issue
management, private placement of equity and debt, corporate advisory & finance,
mergers & takeovers & distribution of financial products. He is with SPA Group since
October 2006 and looking after Merchant Banking.
32
3.4 Group Companies
3.4.1 SPA Capital Services Limited
SPA Capital Services Limited is the flagship Company of the Group and is engaged in
providing Wealth Management and Financial Advisory services to institutions,
corporates, and individuals since 1995. The Company is a leading distributor of Mutual
Funds in the country and presently has assets over Rs. 20,000 crore under its
management. The Company has successfully positioned itself as a strategic advisor to its
customers for wealth management with its customer centric approach and innovative
solutions.
The Company is registered with Reserve Bank of India as a Non Banking Financial
Company. Presently the shares of the Company are listed on the Delhi Stock Exchange.
Investments in Mutual Funds, Insurance, Corporate Bonds, private equity
Arranger to various Debt instruments including PSU, SLU Bonds, NCDs, CPs, ,
etc.
Institutional Broking for Fixed Income Securities and Equity
Project Finance,
SPA Group ofCompanies
SPA Capital Services Ltd.
SPA Insurance Broking Services Ltd.
SPA Merchant Bankers Ltd.
SPA Securities Ltd.
33
Business Valuation
Tax Planning
3.4.2 SPA Merchant Bankers Limited
SPA Merchant Bankers Limited offers comprehensive investment banking solutions
and highest quality independent financial advice to corporate sector and entrepreneurs.
Our service offering covers private placement of debt instruments and debt syndication
for both public and private sector corporate, Capital raising services through private
placement of equity, managing capital issues (IPO, FPO and Right Issues). Besides They
also cater to the entire spectrum of capital market needs through other services such as
Corporate and Infrastructure advisory, Valuations, Managing Takeovers, Buy Back and
Delisting. They have team comprising of multi-disciplinary professionals with a vast
financial advisory and investment banking experience, who structure various financial
products as per the requirements of the clients.
They have the Category –I Merchant Banking license from Securities and Exchange
Board of India (SEBI), the Indian Securities Market Regulator.
The Company has made notable and considerable progress in a short span in the debt
merchant banking activities successful various debt primary issues. This is also reflected
through the ranking by Prime Database, which has ranked the Group amongst the top 10
service providers in this segment. The Company was able to achieve above ranks on the
basis of its performance in just two financial years since it commenced investment &
merchant banking activities.
Since the commencement of merchant banking services, the Company has syndicated
funds for various Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), Designated Financial
Institutions(DFIs), Banks and several State Level Undertakings (SLUs).
The Company for its Merchant & Investment Banking activities has found patronage as
an Arranger with various central public sector undertakings like HUDCO, NTC, ITI,
34
MECON, IISCO SAIL, REC, KRCL, public sector banks and financial institutions. Also
the Company has had privilege to provide its services to various state level undertakings
of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. In the
private sector, the Company has provided its services to various domestic and MNC
corporates.
The achievements corroborate our untiring and sincere efforts towards building and
preserving mutually rewarding and sustainable relationships with our clients and giving
them our value added services with meaningful performance.
They have started providing equity capital market related services in the beginning of
2007 and advise Corporates, Banks and Businesses which are seeking to mobilize capital
from Investor. They offer following opportunities to clients to raise funds through the
following:
Private Equity Advisory
Initial Public Offering (IPOs)
Follow on Public Offering (FPOs)
Qualified Institutional Placements (QIPs)
Right Issues
Preferential Allotments and
Foreign Currency convertible bonds (FCCBs).
Our team as Lead Manager/ BRLM has successfully managed/ are managing transactions
for client across various industry sectors including
i. Information technology
ii. Telecommunication
iii. Infrastructure
iv. Power equipments
v. Steel
vi. Sugar
35
vii. Textiles
They, for execution of a transaction, combine our various strengths including in depth
knowledge of regulatory environment, understanding of industry and market dynamics,
distribution capabilities and networking with institution investors of our associate
concerns. They built our business on strong relationships, innovative ideas and ethical
standards.
3.4.3 SPA Securities Limited
SPA Securities Limited is a SEBI registered securities broking Company. The Company
is a member of Wholesale Debt Market, Capital Market and Futures and Options
Segment of the National Stock Exchange of India Limited. The Company is also a
registered member of the Over the Counter Exchange of India.
The Company is focused primarily on providing securities broking services to
institutional clients and is empanelled as an approved securities broker with all the major
Nationalized, Private and Co-operative banks, corporate houses, Insurance Companies,
Financial Institutions, Asset Management Companies and Provident Fund Trusts. The
Company had a turnover of Rs. 25000 crores at NSE-WDM for the financial year ended
March 2005.
Equity broking for institutions was commenced in 2004 end. In its first full year of the
operations, the Company achieved a turnover of over Rs.1500 crores in calendar year
2005.
3.4.4 SPA Insurance Broking Services Limited
36
SPA Insurance Broking Services Limited is the arm of the SPA Group providing entire
range of insurance service in insurance right from meeting insurance need of clients to
cover its risk spectrum, advisory, claim settlement and also meet requirement of clients if
they wish to outsource entire gamut of insurances related functions. The Company is
registered with Insurance Regulatory Development Authority as approved Broker. The
Company is empanelled with almost all the life and general insurance companies as a
Direct Broker. The Company is functioning as life and general insurance direct broker
and risk assessors.
3.4.5 SPA Com Trade Pvt. Ltd.
Recently Commenced, SPA Com Trade Pvt. Ltd. caters to existing clients of the Group
by providing research based commodity broking services.
3.5 Financial Management Services
Financial Management Services (FMS) is one of the niche services offered by the group
by setting up Corporate Help Desk in large corporate with employees strength of
preferably 500+.
Corporate employees Get Investment, Tax Advisory and Insurance services in their
offices itself.
These services helps in building long-term relations with corporate employees with the
proposal to file PAN and IT Return.
3.6 Group Presence and Strength
37
Customer centric approach
50 Branches covering all major cities in the Country
1000+ regular employees besides having associates risk inspection agencies,
valuers, surveyors available on call
Established since last 15 years
Association with SPA can enable clients to avail a variety of financial services
from a single source
3.7 Vision
38
“To be ‘the’ trusted advisor to customers by providing customized and personalized
investment solutions that create unparalleled value”
SPA believes in attaining customer satisfaction, on continuing basis, by providing highest
standard of financial services in India. The philosophy at SPA is to provide services to
clients after assessment of their profile, needs and risk-appetite. The basic work theme at
SPA is:
- Dedicated, competent and honest team of professionals
- Customer centric work environment
- Insight of customers’ perspectives
- Strong research base
- Clear understanding of applicable laws
- Consistency and passion to excel
- Technology savvy
3.8 Core Values
3.9 Milestones
Humility & Respect
Rationality
Neutrality
Integrity & Trust
Value Relationships
39
Since 1994, with the coming into existence of the SPA Group, They have diversified into
a complete financial solution providing house, catering varied needs of our clients
ranging from investment advisory services to investment banking, corporate re-
structuring, distribution and broking services, risk management and insurance advisory.
Within a short span of time, the Group has made a place for itself in the midst of the top
financial solutions provider in the country.
• 1995: Started Corporate Finance and Loan Syndication Services.
• 2000: Commenced Mutual Funds distribution, and now one of the largest
distribution houses in India.
• 2001: Started Debt Market Broking as member of NSE and became one of the
top broking houses within a span of 3 years. Approved broker for more then 125
domestic institutions (Banks, MFs, Insurance Cos & Corporates).
• 2002: Setup NON-SLR and PF Desk for Banks, MFs, Insurance Cos,
Corporates & Provident Fund Trusts, Pension Fund Trusts.
• 2003: Started services under FMS by establishing Regular Help Desk at Large
Corporates. Ventured into Risk Management & Insurance Advisory Services.
• 2004: Commenced Equity Broking exclusively for Institutions. Approved broker
for more then 75 domestic institutions.
• 2005: Started F&O desk, to provide more Investment & hedging opportunities
to clients.
• 2006 : Acquired Membership of BSE for equity and debt
• 2008. Became Authorized Participant of NSE for Securities Lending and
Borrowing
• 2008: Started retailed life insurance business as a new business initiative by
opening new branches with focus on telesales.
• 2008: Acquired Client Division of BLB Limited to start retail equity broking
40
• 2009: Depository Participant of CSDL and NSDL. Registered with SEBI for
trading in Current Derivative and also for offering PMS
3.10 Clients
41
42
43
4.1 Findings:
44
The findings of the project are derived from the questionnaires which are used for
collecting primary data to study the effectiveness of selling strategy of SPA Capital with
100 clients of SPA and these are well analyzed in the light of present circumstances and
external environment. Standardized editing procedure is followed.
Which services you are using?
45
Users of SPA services
100
30
10
50
40
18
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Taxation Services
Financial Planning
Merchant Banking
Insurace Broking
Securities Broking
Commodities Broking
Financial sercies
%age of clients
Hardly 50% clients are using their Insurance Broking services whereas for other services
this ratio is even lower.
The company is required to concentrate on these aspects. It should try to create awareness
among the clients and convince them to purchase them.
How long have you been associated with SPA?
46
Association period of clients with SPA
>1 year71%
1-3 Years17%
3-5 Years8%
5 Years <4%
Around 71% clients have recently join the SPA. This shows that the awareness level
among the people is increasing.
Do you feel the services offered by SPA are suitable for you?
47
Suitability of services offered
Yes95%
No5%
95% of SPA’s clients think that the services offered to them are well suited to their
requirements.
But still 5% clients do not find the services suitable to them. The company has to work
upon this aspect.
What is your satisfaction level with respect to SPA?
48
Satisfaction level of clients
Satisfied95%
Highly Satisfied0%
Highly Dissatisfied
0%Dissatisfied
5%
Out of 100 clients 5 clients are not satisfied with the service level of SPA.
The company has to put effort to minimize this ratio as far as possible.
Would you like to continue our services in future?
49
Future plans regarding SPA seervices
Yes55%
Can't say42%
Not at all3%
5% clients would continue our services whereas 42% clients say that this would depend
upon their future requirement and circumstances.
Would you recommend the services of SPA to your acquaintances?
50
Recommendation to others
Depends90%
Definitely7%
Not at all3%
As far as the recommendation is concerned 90% clients say that this would depend upon
their needs and situations while 3% say that they would not recommend to any person.
Do you want SPA to offer you more services?
51
More services required
Yes90%
No10%
90% clients want more services from SPA to fulfill their financial needs.
If yes, then please specify.
52
Clients want SPA to come with more services as
Customized services
Diversification in their taxation services.
Portfolio Management
Investment Banking
4.2 Analysis
53
Regarding the effectiveness of selling strategy of SPA following analysis could be done
The overall the selling strategy is effective but still there are some problems which can be
solved thorough better performance and taking some corrective measures.
Most of the clients are from the income group of Rs 3-5 Lakhs which can be extended
to other levels effectively.
Many few people are there who are using the commodities broking services,
merchant banking and financial planning etc. which shows a very poor result.
About 70% clients are new i.e. they have joined SPA last year. This is a good
indicator that people are now moving towards the financial services.
The services that SPA offers to its clients are well suited to their needs. Only 55
people are there who say that the services do not fulfill their requirements.
The satisfaction level of SPA’s clients is high which is a good indicator. This would
help it to create further long term relationships with its clients.
But still a very less number of clients are there who would continue with SPA. Most
of them depend upon the circumstances or their financial needs. So SPA should work
more to build long-term relations by introducing them with more customized services.
Similarly, 90% clients are of the opinion that their recommendation to others will
depend upon the latter’s requirement. The ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing can help the
company for sustainable growth. The existing clients should be so much influenced
that they can help in bringing new clients.
The most important thing is that the company should diversify its services to satisfy
its existing clients as well as the future clients. Many clients need that some more
services should be added like Investment Banking, Portfolio Management etc. so that
they can have one stop solution for all their financial needs.
And also the awareness level among people about SPA is very low. The company
should do effective promotional activities. It can use advertisement medias (print
and electronic).
54
SPA lacks in customized services which has a direct impact on services offered
and customer’s satisfaction.
Clients need more commitment from the employee’s side and timely services.
55
5.1 Suggestions:
No body is perfect in this world. Though the gap can be minimized to the possible level.
56
SPA Capital Services Ltd. is no exception to this,
SPA can also reduce the gap by taking care of certain things as have been analyzed from
the research.
Various suggestions are there which helps in improving the customer satisfaction are as
follows:.
The intensity of worldwide competition is increasing to all the areas of operations.
Therefore, there must be an improvement in product development and product design.
Company needs long-term global business strategies to survive in the market place.
Vertically integrated partnerships will be needed to strengthen competitive position.
A new type of alliance based on cooperative specialization within industries may
become a necessity. This will require extensive background research.
An increased variety of products and services are needed to be offered to the
consumers. Customization for the individual must be increased. This means that
expected life of products in the market will continue to decrease. Therefore, products
and services based on market research will hit the market at an increasing rate.
The quality of products and services needs continuous improvement as customer’s
expectations of quality are growing day by day. This requires more emphasis on
product research, social research, packaging research, distribution research etc.
Technology will continue to advance at a rapid rate. This will lead to more emphasis
on inter-disciplinary research and more importance to experimental designs.
To increase the market share by identifying more market segments, the impetus has
shifted to customer response requirements leading to more concentration on market
research.
For increasing profitability and reputation in the present market conditions , increase
in its workforce and professional competence is required.
To assessing the client’s requirement timely survey should be conducted. This would
help the clients to be with the company for a longer period.
Also, in the existing services only, the penetration is very low. The company should
improve upon this aspect by offering customized services.
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Though the awareness level among people about the solution of their financial needs
has been increasing but at a very low rate. This could be done by giving
advertisements, word of mouth marketing etc.
Some clients are not satisfied with the services of SPA. The company should try to
find out the reason of this dissatisfaction and overcome them.
Before offering services company should first access the needs of them. This will
improve the acceptability rate and help in building long-term relations.
The company should increase its promotion activities as very less people know about
the company.
Clients require the timely services so SPA should focus more on this aspect. As
ultimately it relates to the satisfaction level of clients and relationships with them.
It should work upon its responsiveness to clients. The clients should be provided with
the information whenever they demand the same.
Moreover, more commitment is required from the employee’s side so that the clients
feel that they are being served with due attention and care and their needs are
properly fulfilled.
After all, Customer is the King.
58
6.1 Conclusion:
59
From the study it can be concluded that
SPA Capital is a growing organization which has through its corporate clients, grown at a
considerable pace, which is quite appreciable.
One of the selling strategies adopted by SPA is assisting the corporate employees in their
ITR filing. This has, for sure proven to be a successful strategy in building long-term
relationship with their clients and thus grows in this competitive era.
As Income Tax Return filing is a mandatory procedure for every citizen of India who is
earning money from any source, most of the people approach to such type of companies
who file their ITR at a nominal rate and thus saving their time.
So this is a great opportunity for SPA and to boost its business level.
Though there are some deficiencies in the working of SPA yet this can be removed by
working on them and by proper handling of queries of clients.
SPA is an emerging organization which helps the people to fulfill their almost every
financial need at one stop. It is serving to various corporate employees such as Wipro,
TCS, Aricent Technologies etc. and generating a good amount of business.
6.2 Limitations:
60
Every study has its own advantages and disadvantages. No study is perfect as there is
always a room for improvement.
In this study though every effort has made to bring it into perfection and no stone is left
unturned, there are still certain limitations, which need to be highlighted without which
the study can become biased.
Such limitations are:
The data has been generated from the secondary source thus any error in the
information would have got replicated in the report.
Time constraint was another limitation. As no efficient research can be done in
this short period of time.
Also the information available was insufficient which has also been reflected in
the report. The resources were also not much available.
The biasness of the sample units may also cause the wrong results.
Some of the information about the research sample is collected through their past
record available with the company
The results drawn from the sample has been applied to the population which may
give incomplete response.
61
Bibliography:
62
http://www.spacapital.com
Gupta S.L., Market Research, Excel books, First Edition, 2003
Beri G.C., Marketing Research, Tata McGraw Hill, III Edition
Brookes William T., Sales Technique, Tata McGraw Hill
Dyche Jill, The CRM Handbook- A Business Guide To Customer Relationship
Management, April. 2004
Foss Bryan, Stone Merlin CRM in financial services: a practical guide to making
customer relationship, Kogan Page Ltd, 2003
63
Questionnaire
64
Name: _________ ___________________________
Age: __________
Gender: M F
Occupation: _____________________________________________________
Organization: _____________________________________________________
Income Group:
> Rs 1 Lakh Rs 1-3 Lakhs
Rs 3-5 Lakhs Rs 5-10 Lakhs
Rs 10 Lakhs <
1. Are you using SPA services?
Yes No
2. Which services you are using?
Yes No
Taxation Services
Financial Planning Services
Merchant Banking
Insurance Services
Securities Broking
Commodities Broking
3. How long have you been associated with SPA? ____________________11111__
4. Do you feel the services offered by SPA are suitable for you?
Yes No
5. What is your satisfaction level with respect to SPA?
Highly Satisfied Satisfied
65
Dissatisfied Highly Dissatisfied
6. Would you like to use our services in future?
Yes Can’t say No
7. Would you recommend the services of SPA to your acquaintances?
Definitely Depends
Not at all
8. Do you want SPA to offer you more services?
Yes No
9. If yes, then please specify.
__________________________________________________________________
10. How would you rate SPA?
1 2 3 4 5
Any Suggestions:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Signature
66