Report of the Summer Internship project

For

IDENTIFICATION AND TESTING OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL FOR

TOPPER INTEGRATED LEARNING SYSTEM

Company Name: Greycells18 Media Pvt. Ltd.Company Type: Media Broadcasting

Location: Noida, New DelhiDuration: 15th April 09 – 25th June 09

Submitted on: 06th July 2009Submitted by: Puneet Kumar, MBA, 1st YearACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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I would like to acknowledge and thank from the deepest portion of my heart to all the people who were always behind me, whenever I needed any help for successful competition of my internship and this report. To start with I would like to thank my institute, Pearl School of Business for providing me this opportunity. To start with, I would like to thank my course coordinator Mr. Sanjay Kumar, who not only gave me valuable inputs but also helped me as much as he could during my internship. I would like to thank my mentor here Ms. Namita Chawdhary who gave me her valuable inputs so that I could start my interns from the right direction. I would also like to thank Mr. Samit Chopra, Sr. Sales Manager at Greycells18, who acted as a supervisor as well as a teacher when it comes to learning organization behavior and culture. He gave us valuable tips and tricks of marketing. Along with him I would like to thank Mr. Vikas Jain, Sales Manager for always being helpful and cooperative whenever I was stuck with any problem. I would like to thank Mr. Sushil Kumar Bhatti for becoming a great team member to work with. Without his support I wouldn’t be able to perform as fine I have done now.

Last but not the least; I would like to thank my parents and teachers for supporting me to achieve this level.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Acknowledgement2. Table of content3. Summary4. Introduction5. Industry Analysis6. Company Analysis7. Organization Chart8. Organization Structure9. Competition10. Product Analysis11. Existing Sales and Marketing Scenario12. The Project:

a. Identification Phaseb. Testing Phase

i. Schoolsii. coaching or tuition centers, iii. housing societies or apartments, iv. corporate houses, v. government buildings, vi. malls, vii. commercial markets, viii. museums a ix. theme parks.x. Clubs

13. Conclusiona. Schoolsb. Coaching Center

14. Learning Outcome

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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The purpose of this report is to summarize my summer internship project for my evaluation. This project was done at Greycellls18 Media Pvt Ltd. and was done for nearly two months duration (15th April 2009 to 25th June 2009) at their Noida and New Delhi office.

In this report I have detailed the industry analysis and company analysis and the target market. These are also correlated with the concepts taught in the first year of MBA. The project given and the work done has been explained in the report later. The final result, conclusion, achievements and expectations have been mentioned in the closing of the report.

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INTRODUCTION

This report is the description of the project undertaken by me at Greycells18 Media Private Limited. The project identification and testing of distribution channel for Topper learning system was assigned to me and six other MBA students.

The product Topper was launched in 2008 and was aired free of cost initially. The right strategy for creating awareness among target market and right distribution channel was still not found till year end. Our project dealt with this situation and we were assigned the task of finding and testing the right distribution medium for the product. We were divided into teams to two members and I was grouped with Mr. Sushil Kumar. We were given the area of Noida and Faridabad to cover. We visited number of schools and coaching institutes and worked out the right approach to follow for about a week. After the strategy was finalized, testing phase was on. We visited 21 schools and 38 coaching institutes for this purpose. We finalize that those people who has more than one coaching center or schools running or has contacts in more than one coaching center or school should be contacted and make them our Associates. We planned to give them commissions on sales which they would be able to make. We could provide them promotion materials and marketing assistance if necessary.

At the end of the internship, we were able to make 14 coaching centers as our associates and 5 schools are ready to allow us to promote our product at their premises once their schools are reopened in July.

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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

According to the latest statistics, over 300 million children are enrolled in schools across India. Out of these, over 50 million are in the secondary and senior secondary classes. This figure is huge in front of only 2 million seats that are available in various colleges and universities in India. The number of seats for professional courses like medicine and engineering is 7 lakhs. Thus, there is a huge demand for suitable teaching aids, which allow students a better chance to enter into these courses.

The biggest problem in our education system is that it predominantly focuses on the urban population. The rural has either has to compromise on quality of education or has to relocate to urban areas. The level of schools, the teachers and the overall education standards in small towns and villages is lower. Thus, there exists a significant opportunity to supplement the existing school system so that children can get the best out of their educational years.

Television in India has grown many folds over the last decade. From a one-channel system, we now have more than 300 channels airing all types of content into India. The total number of TV homes is now crossed over 100 million and about 60% of all households in India owns a TV set. Thus, television is easily one of the most widespread communication medium in the country.

Being a video medium, television provides for pictorial and graphical view of concepts and theorems with the help of animations and special effects, thereby allowing children to learn faster. Concepts that are difficult to teach in theory become much easier when depicted visually, especially when explained with the help of real-life situations and animations

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Internet has made more than 4.73 million users who are connected through high speed broadband connections. The figure is of August 2008 and the number is growing rapidly.

Education through new media like TV and internet is now set to explode even further with the rapid modernization and digitization of our lives. New distribution technologies such as DTH, CAS, IPTV, etc. also enable interactivity. Along with extensive broadband penetration, these modern communication technologies provide a strong infrastructure to drive quality education across India.

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COMPANY ANALYSIS

The company is focusing on niche market of secondary and senior secondary school students which has not been served well by the use of latest technology. The company’s mission is to create a comprehensive interactive learning service that will help students understand their subjects better, and enable them to excel in their exams.

The company is a Joint Venture between Network18, which is

one of India's leading full play media conglomerate with interests in television, internet, filmed entertainment, mobile content, print, magazine and allied businesses and Educomp, an innovative educational company and is called Greycells18 Media Private Limited. This Company works in the field of education, providing education with the help of latest technology and media like TV, computers and internet. Mr. Sunil Khanna, former head DTH, Reliance and Mr. Sricharan Iyengar, former VP and Business Head, ESPN Star Sports are company’s joint MDs. It is co-promoted by Mr. Raghav Bahl of Network18 and Mr. Shantanu Prakash of Educomp, in their personal capacities and Capital18, Network18’s private equity initiative. The majority stake in this company is with Network18 and that is the reason behind ‘18’ being attached with its name.

To help teachers and students make best use of latest technology and access provided by television and internet, company has created a unique education service called Topper Integrated Learning System, which is an interactive learning system for the school students. It is the company’s most successful brand. It has more than 10000 users of its TV channel and more than 25000 users of its web portal across the globe.

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This year another product range has been launched called Cracker, which is a unique form of question series for preparing for engineering and medical entrance exams like AIEEE, GRE, BITSAT, CET and PMT.

The company is based in its newly shifted office at 426, GhitorniMG Road, New Delhi -- 110030ORGANIZATION CHART

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WORK FLOE OF THE COMPANY

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COMPETITION

Direct Competition

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Topper Learning System is first of its kind service which is dedicated to the school students. Now various websites like www.extramarks.com are coming up. They are claiming to help school students are only providing either written materials or providing online test or both, but Topper’s main advantage is its episodes which no body other is providing till date. So there is no direct competition for this product in the market.

While roaming in the market we came across few schools and coaching institute owner were looking for shooting their own videos. They could give competition in near future.

Indirect Competition

Topper Learning System is designed in such a way that it doesn’t substitute the school and coaching center learning but supplements it. User use it for self study but school students require a push for studying which only a teacher physically present could give. So neither school nor coaching center is taking is as a threat and they are happily welcoming this product. Some narrow minded tutors are seeing this as a threat and trying to motivating students to go against it, are causing indirect competition. But once one student uses it and carefully understands its benefits, these things could be overcome.

PRODUCT ANALYSIS

As briefed earlier, the Topper Integrated Learning System is developed to help the students and teachers to use latest

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technology in the field of learning. It involves media like TV, computers and internet to reach to homes and make learning easy and convenient. The product is available with two mediums: TV and internet. These media are as follows:

Topper TV ChannelThe Topper TV channel is a 24 x 7 TV channel. It is available

on direct-to-home (DTH) platform. Currently channel is available with two companies – Airtel Digital TV and Tata Sky.

The features of TV channel are: Videos – in the form of episodes, are of 30 minutes duration.

The basic concept, solved questions and exam decoded sections are of 10 minutes each in the whole 30 minute episode. The concepts are explained with the help of real life examples and animated visuals. Presenters of the episodes are faulty from IITs and foreign universities. Each episode is repeated four times in a week at different time slots so that user can watch without disturbing his/ her current schedule. Videos cover the syllabus of secondary and senior secondary level following latest CBSE guidelines. Topper covers Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics for Classes 11 and12 and Science and Mathematics for Classes 9 and 10.

Interactivity is provided through the platform’s middleware that is on pressing the red button on the remote. The interactive elements include daily quizzes, tips, exam decoded and more.

Special videos like Exam Special and Careerwise are aired in Jan-Feb when students are preparing for their final exams. It gives them overall quick revision of the syllabus and also gives special tips for the exams. Careerwise is career guidance for the students who wish to go in engineering or medical college after school. It gave them the complete information about various courses, entrance exams colleges

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and institutes. it also give them a small introduction (scope and future) of various streams offered at various colleges

The price to subscribe this channel is Rs 1000.00 for a year. To subscribe one can contact the DTH service provider or can call at our customer care number.

Topper Web Portal (www.topperlearning.com)

The web portal is much interactive and has more features than the TV channel. It is available in two types:

1. Individual use: where it requires a broadband connection of minimum 256kbps speed installed in a computer having speaker systems.

2. In – School Model: this is for mass use. This model is for places where there is a large gathering especially in schools. All it needs in a school is having computer laboratory with broadband connectivity. The Topper is installed on all computers and students and teachers can access Topper during their free times in school.

The web portal has following advantages:

Lessons on demand: As all the episodes are preloaded on the website, one can watch any video and any desired time and any number of times. User just has to search the desired topic to watch and the video gets started.

Interactivity: as the internet is a two way process, the interactivity of the web portal is much higher than the TV channel. Website has additional features like ask the experts, in which you can ask any doubts by sending emails to the faculty. Study online section has all the topics in written form which could be read once user logins into the website. Test online section has test papers; user can give test online and has the option to save the score. This helps teachers and

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parents to monitor their child’s performance throughout the year.

Topper community: Website has an additional feature called Topper Community. All the members can chat with each other or can share their views on any subject.

Careerwise: The TV episode is loaded on the website and user can watch it at any point of time. Additionally, it has features like asking any query form our career analyst Ms. Tanvoy Gogia. Various articles upon education are posted on this section on a regular basis.

If anybody wants to have the website subscription, he/ she has to purchase the retail pack from any of these medium

- Associates.- Call our call center.- Through credit card by login in the website.- Order on Homeshop18, sister concern of Greycells18.

PricesTV Subscription: Rs 1000.00 (inclusive of all taxes)Web Subscription: Rs 1300.00 (inclusive of all taxes)TV + Web Combo Pack: Rs 1500.00 (inclusive of all taxes)Airtel Bundle: Rs 2500.00 (inclusive of all taxes) – this package

contains Airtel Digital TV Set top box + one TV subscription

p.s.: - All the subscriptions are valid for one year only.- Web subscription is available in the form of retail packs

consisting of a demo CD, a user guide and the login key.

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EXISTING SALES & MARKETING SCENARIO

The existing sales and marketing of the product was covering the broad market area. The market was not in direct touch with the product. When we entered the company, the marketing and sales was done by broad mediums like tickers on sister concern TV channels like IBN 7, CNBC, Homeshop18 etc, and the DTH service provider for the TV channel only. The existing sales scenario with these media was like:

Advertisements – Scrolling advertisements on sister concern news channels were aired. The common channels were IBN 7, CNBC Awaaz etc. The advertisements consisted of a tagline and call center numbers from where a customer can get more details and finally order the product. If got an order, a sales team would visit the customer’s premises t give a demonstration and install Topper.

Call Center Back Hand – The back hand people search for the data of students studying in secondary or senior secondary classes and make sales calls to them and their parents. They use to get data from schools, coaching centers, internet databases, data collected ay any event (kiosks or event organized by Topper)

DTH service provider – The DTH service providers provide marketing and sales assistance for Topper TV only. Last year Topper TV was aired free of cost on Tata Sky in its Active Topper feature. For this year, Tata Sky started charging its users. Airtel Digital TV is also doing marketing for the Topper TV Channel.

Online through credit card – The website itself act as its salesperson by selling its subscription online through credit card payment option. One can pay and receive the login password on email id.

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Homeshop18 is the Group’s online & on-air retail marketing and distribution venture which is India’s first 24 hour Home Shopping TV channel.

OUR PROJECT

The basic problem with Topper was to find the right marketing and sales approach. Till now they were looking their marking with a broader view, in order to reach to the masses they have to concentrate their efforts to the niche market of secondary and senior secondary school students and their parents. To start with, we identified the various means and places to find our target market. For this, we followed CPS model for problem solving.

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IDENTIFICATION PHASE

This phase was executed during the first week of our internship. This phase focused upon identifying the various destinations from where we could spread awareness. We started with brainstorming sessions and then filter out the feasible one. We use the CPS model as:

Mess/ Objective finding – this was clear, to get maximum sales.

Fact finding – the facts were

Problem finding – the problem was to find the right marketing and sales strategy. The existing sales and marketing system was not effective. To start with we have to list all the possible places where we could find our potential market.

Idea finding – a brain storming session was held in which we listed more than 50 places. Only feasible and potential holding ideas were filtered for further operation. These were – Schools, Coaching or Tuition centers, housing societies or apartments, corporate houses, malls, commercial markets, clubs, museums, theme parks or fun parks.

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TESTING PHASE

This was the Solution Finding or Idea Evaluating phase of the CPS model. These ideas were tested by the group members and then evaluated in group meetings. The briefs of which is as follows:

Schools As Topper follows CBSE pattern, our search was only for those

schools who were following CBSE pattern of education. The schools chosen for testing phase were either in nearby locality or have some personal contacts because we want to go to other schools with our full preparation. Schools were also first choice for us as the company’s existing marketing team was already doing this.

METHODOLOGYWe listed out few schools nearby and made a visit after taking earlier appointment or visiting in meeting hours of the principal. After interaction with the concern person as well as listening to our marketing team’s reviews, it was clear that schools are the major market potential.

ADVANTAGES Parent Teacher Meetings are the best platform for our

business as students and their parents both are available at the same time specially parents has their ward’s education concern in his mind at that time.

Teachers can also recommend to the students if they are convinced that the product will certainly help in student’s learning. Also they can make any special comment on the product which would help us in making Topper better.

In – schools model could be proposed. Value addition to the school.

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DISADVANTEGES Difficult to get permission. As the school’s decision making is

a long process as they are usually run by a trust or society. They don’t give much importance to another media apart from

their regular system. They have faith in the existing system and don’t want any changes.

Teachers usually take this as a threat to their extra tuition classes and thus don’t support Topper.

Schools could not be attracted simply on the basis of commissions which we would be providing on sales volume achieved.

CONCLUSIONThe school holds the major part of the market. The school

market requires less effort and yields maximum output. Also further marketing is easier for us as we can use the school’s goodwill with our brand.

Tuition/ Coaching CentersWith increasing competition among students for achieving

good marks in exams, there is an increasing in coaching centers business. These coaching centers are interested in money making so they can be easily fit into our business plan.

METHODOLOGYWe use to start with internet finding the list of coaching centers in nearby area with their contact details. Then take appointments so that when we visit coaching institute, the concern person is ready to devote at least half an hour’s time. Presentation of the product and its features was given and we ask for their reviews for selling strategy.

ADVANTAGESAfter our interaction in coaching centers, we found that most of coaching centers are interested in doing business with us. They could get sales by making Topper a compulsory to every student. They can also have Topper episodes running in their classes to assist their coaching.

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Another advantage is that we could use the goodwill of a teacher. As there are few famous teachers for particular subject visiting one or two coaching centers. If he/ she recommend Topper to his/ her students, they will definitely going to buy it.

DISADVANTAGESThe only disadvantage with coaching center was number of students being low as compared to schools.They can treat us as their competitors. They can take it as end to the extra coaching classes.Few coaching centers demanded their own content to be added on Topper.

CONCLUSIONCoaching centers are opened for making money and doing business. They can be our Associates who would be selling in a particular area and will be paid commissions on margin basis.

Housing Societies and apartmentsTo reach the consumers as well as the buyers at the same

point, we decided to go to households. We chose societies over normal sector colonies because of the easiness in reach. A society has common gates, parks, buildings and regular meetings are held. We could use these things to promote our product. We could have promotional activities in their premises.

METHODOLOGYWe chose one society and took the permission for putting a kiosk or canopy in their premises. We have to pay some amount for society fund and they provided us the space and electricity. We arranged materials like canopy, LCD screen, DVD player, pamphlets, demo CDs, broachers etc. from the company and put up stalls for few days in different societies.

ADVANTAGES User and buyer can watch a demo at their premises. One can recommend it to friends, relatives etc.

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Students from different schools and different coaching centers can be targeted. Word of mouth publicity will spread awareness to other schools and coaching institutes.

Common views from students as well as parents can be obtained.

DISADVANTAGES Return on Investment of the fee could not make on any of the

stall. Senior secondary students could not be found with their

parents walking in society. They were mostly found riding on bikes. Parents were found driving in their cars. So no footfalls of the target audience.

Fewer footfalls because of climate.

CONCLUSIONThe idea of Apartments and societies was a failure.

Corporate Houses/ OfficesIn order to reach the actual buyer i.e. parents and guardians,

we decided to go to corporate houses.

METHODOLOGYContacting the HR department for having a presentation for their employees if not, a canopy could be installed in the premises.

ADVANTAGES Place where we could reach only the parents. Showing the demo. One can recommend it to friends or relatives.

DISADVANTAGE Getting permission is a hard nut to crack. If got, target audience is not found

CONCLUSIONIt was a flop.

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Malls

Commercial places are common for any marketing activity. Mall premises are for used for these purposes. Also LCD Screens are installed in various locations on which we can air our advertisement while our stall is ut in their premises. Malls are the places where we could find families on weekends.

METHODOLOGYOne of our college has personal contact in one of the busiest malls in Delhi. We make an arrangement for meeting with the concern person. After frequent discussions it was decided that the malls are not feasible as the fee for putting canopy and advertising was very high.

ADVANTAGES Spreading awareness on large scale. Lots of people can be

make aware at the same time Place where we could reach both the parents and students. Showing the demo. One can see and recommend it to friends or relatives.

DISADVANTAGE Expensive Most of the families comes to watch movies and they are

alwys in a hurry. People come here to enjoy and relax not to take serious

matters like studies.

CONCLUSIONIt is only successful if we have to spread awareness only.

Commercial marketsWe also tried our hand at commercial markets. This is the

place where every one visits. This place also has parents, teachers and students.

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METHODOLOGYIt was simple to install the canopy but at some places we could not do so because of Police interruptions. They did not allow such canopies and stalls to put up in a commercial market.

ADVANTAGES Place where we could reach every one. Showing the demo. One can recommend it to friends or relatives and they can

also come and visit the stall.

DISADVANTAGE Getting permission form Police authorities is a hard nut to

crack. If got, market found is very broad. The target audience is not

easily found

CONCLUSIONIt was a flop.

Museums (like National Science Museum, Rail Museum etc.) A lot of education companies use this platform for their promotional activities. Here we can find refined target of class wise schools students.

METHODOLOGYWe visited the National Science Museum, Pragati Maidan authorities and ask for our requirements.

ADVANTAGES Place where we could reach students of various schools at the

same place along with their teachers. We can also find general visitors. Showing the demo.

DISADVANTAGE

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Fees for putting stall were too high. Senior secondary students would not be found as visiting

museums are done in smaller classes only. Students will only see it and will their parents after going back

to their homes. We will again have to visit either their school or their homes for sales.

CONCLUSIONIt was a flop.

Theme Park/ Fun ParkThis idea was selected by us but was later rejected by our CEO when we show them our list.

ClubsSocial clubs like new friend’s club were targeted as we could find parents in weekends. METHODOLOGYWe visited the club and met the club’s secretary. We took the list of all members ith contact details and also did telecalling.

ADVANTAGES Place where we could reach parents and guardians. Showing the demo. Attract by giving discounts to the club members. One can recommend it to friends or relatives and they can

also come and visit the stall.

DISADVANTAGE Most of the clubs don’t allow outside activities. If got the permission, market found is very broad. The target

audience is not easily found

CONCLUSIONIt was also not successful.

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OVERALL CONCLUSION AND EXECUTION OF THE RESULT

From the testing phase we concluded that Schools and Coaching Centers would be targeted. These were the places where we could find our users and hence obtain high yield with less efforts.

In schools, another way found was utilizing the PTMs as we could find user and the buyer at the same place. The coaching center could be made our Affiliate who would be selling and promoting Topper in his defined area.

SchoolsInitially we tried to focus more on schools as summer

vacations were approaching. First few days, we visited the principals directly in their visiting hours. We would explain the concept by giving presentations with the help of demo CD provided to us. We show them the presentations and one demo episode. Generally they were not prepared to devote half an hour for us so they use give us some other day to visit. We learnt from this experience and we started taking appointments with the principals initially. We also started sending emails detailing the product and the proposal. After the meeting and presentation we use ask for the permission for putting canopies in their premises during Parent Teacher Meetings. The main problem aroused those days was summer. Due to rise in temperature, CBSE guided schools to close down earlier than scheduled. So the PTM were either cancelled or postponed in July. We visited 18 schools in Faridabad details of which can be seen in the report attached.

Total number of schools contacted22

Number of schools visited15

Tie-ups 4

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Coaching Centers

After the closing of all the schools coaching centers were only left. We started visiting the areas where numbers of coaching centers could be found nearby. We met coaching center owners and demonstrated the product and then explain the business proposal. Once the coaching center owner is ready to be associated with us, we make them our Affiliate. The affiliate purchases the retail packs form us at 30% discounted price on MRP and sells it at MRP. The remaining becomes his profit.

Total number of coaching centers contacted

38

Number of caoching centers visited24

Tie-ups14

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. To make a marketing strategy for marketing and distributing a product for niche market. This was the major learning outcome from this project. The real challenge was to reach the niche market which was also not undefined (market consisting of only parents, only students or both).

2. It is more beneficial to look for those people who are into big business of this kind. For example, we contacted SMD Tutorial’s Mr. Ankur Banga, he was also running another business of providing his study materials to students of classes 1st to 7th in various schools across Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and few others metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Pune etc. We focused more on him because he has an existing network and our product is compatible with it. Also he is deficient in providing materials for higher classes so he could use our product there. This tie up is in their testing phase as they have started introducing it to their associates.

3. Dealing with variety pf people: Every new school or coaching institute is different and this difference is due to te authority running it. This project introduced us to number of different form different locations. This experience was a major confidence booster when I go to another new school or coaching center.

4. In the testing phase of our project, I learnt to test and filter out ideas. This cannot be done by sitting in office and doing brainstorming, but one has go to the actual market and face the heat.

5. Don’t focus on individual selling like door to door marketing. This cost a lot of money and yield is very low because of utility of the product in a household.

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6. Starting on a business requires some background work to be done. Before making a deal the background and potential of the second party is looked upon. The party must be genuine and its goodwill will be added on to our business. We did this by observing the location of the coaching center or school. Our product would mainly used by children of middle, upper – middle and high class income group peoples who has computers and broadband internet at their homes. If the locality of a certain coaching institute or school is poor then definitely we would our target market. Background check was also needed to check the potential. This was seen after asking questions some like how many students are studying? Students have computers at their homes? What is the fee structure? Etc. this gave us the potential of the party. And if the party has its network in schools and coaching centers, that party is very fruitful to us.

7. Deal as professionals do: This way to start with a new party is always appreciated by others and they also feel privileged to be associated with a company like this. Weather its first meeting or just normal phone conversation, being informal doesn’t in long run.

8. Major learning was to know the culture of a media company. The media culture is more vibrant and colorful as compared to other corporate. The crowd is young and full of energy. This thing makes the difference from other businesses.

9. Last but not the least; I learnt to make use of my personal contacts. I never realized earlier that people I knew could be of so much help. Some personal contacts were efficiently utilized during testing phase.

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