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A Report
On
“STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
PATTERNS AND BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENTATEDUMENTOR
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES”
By
AKSHIT GARG
14BSPHH010883
“EDUMENTOR EDUCATIONAL SERVICES”
2
A Report
On
STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
PATTERNS AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
AT EDUMENTOR EDUCATIONAL
SERVICES”
Submitted By: Akshit Garg
Enrollment no: 14BSPHH010883
A report is submitted in partial fulfillment of required MBA Program at
IBS Hyderabad
Distribution List:
1) Prof. VSP RAO (Faculty Guide)
2) Mr. Vikas Jain (Company Guide)
Date of Submission: 13th May 2015
3
AUTHORIZATION
I, AkshitGarg, here by state that this project work entitled “ Study Of
Consumer Behavior pattern and business development at
EduMentor Educational Services” is an original piece of work done
and submitted by me towards partial fulfillment of MBA Program from
ICFAI University. The findings and conclusion expressed in this report
are genuine and for academic purpose. It is our own and it has neither
been submitted nor published anywhere before resemblance to earlier
project or research work purely coincidental. It is totally based on hard
work and creativity.
4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This report would have been quite impossible without the immense help and pleasant
environment offered at EduMentor Educational Services, wherein they hired me as an
intern for three months. I am deeply grateful to the entire management of “IBS-
Hyderabad” for giving me an opportunity to dirty my hands on the practical aspect of life.
At the onset I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Vikas Jain and Mr.
ManujArora, Co-owners of EduMentor Educational Services for giving me an
opportunity to work on this project in their organization. They took additional efforts to
bring my report to its fulfillment and completion.
I would like to thank Mr. VivekWankhede, for believing in me and bestowing me with
the responsibility of one of the most important centre of EduMentor i.e. Malviya Nagar
(the only Centre in South zone).
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. VSP. RAO, my Faculty Guide for not
only being a guide but also a mentor and his tireless support and guidance in the course of
my project and its completion.
Mr. Akhlas Usmani, Business development manager and Head of west zone of
EduMentor Educational Services and Mr. Vivek Wankhede, regional manager, who has
acted as a source of inspiration and motivated me to move beyond my comfort boundaries.
Mrs. Surbhi Arora, the Operations Head of EduMentor Educational Services, for their
consistent guidance and motivation that instilled in me the thrive to achieve and excel.
Last but not the least I would like to thank The Almighty GOD, my parents and my friends
who have been the pillar of strength for me in all the phases of life.
5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Authorization..................................................................................................................3
Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………..4
Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………6
1. Introduction
1.1 About the Company.....................................................................................8
1.2 Market Overview........................................................................................8-9
1.3 About the Project........................................................................................11-12
2. Phase I
2.1 Step 1- Identification and analysis of methods being used
by EduMentor in conducting business............................................13-15
2.2 Step 2- Competitor Analysis........................................................................16-19
2.3 Annexure………………………………………………………………….20-21
2.4 Analysis and inference…………………………………………………… 22-30
3. Phase II…………………………………………………………………………….31-34
3.1 Survey and Analysis………………………………………………………35-44
4. Phase III……………………………………………………………………………45
4.1 Annexure………………………………………………………………….46-47
4.2 Survey and Analysis………………………………………………………48-57
5. Conclusion.........................................................................................................…...58
6. Recommendation…………………………………………………………………..59-60
7. References…………………………………………………………………………61
6
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Name: AKSHIT GARG Enrollment No: 14BSPHH010883
Title of the Project:
“STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR PATTERN AND BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT AT EDUMENTOR EDUCATIONAL SERVICES”
The project aims at generating business for EduMentor by getting early as well as late
enrolments so that EduMentor becomes number 1 in the undergraduate entrance exam industry.
For this an initial analysis of the market was required, so I went for mystery shopping and came
to know the difference between EduMentor and its competitors. I also analyzed the past methods
used by EduMentor, which helped me in developing new strategies. After that different strategies
were adopted like:
Board Centre Activity
Counseling in schools
Counseling at Tuition centers
Tele-calling
SMS Marketing
Internet Marketing
Referencing
Mentoring
One major challenge was to promote and generate welkins for EduMentor educational services,
which was done through all the above activities. Commerce students are not known to register
themselves for coaching classes before the end of board exams. So I came up with an idea of
making parents and students aware of the options available with them in Delhi University and
other famous Universities, before the Board exams got over, by calling them or talking to them
face to face while doing the Board Centre Activity.
I became a Center Manager of Malviya Nagar center, the heaviest centre of South Delhi. I was
given the responsibility of generating sales at Malviya Nagar and other 10 centres ofEduMentor
as well. It was my responsibility to manage the center along with the sales. At the same time I
also participated in Board Center Activity, which is the biggest marketing tool (direct marketing)
of EduMentor.
7
ABSTRACT
The project primarily aims at understanding consumer behavior pattern and essentials of
luring and converting a client into a student. It focuses on analyzing the factors that lead
to client satisfaction that would eventually enable the organization to serve its clientele
well. Thus, would ultimately help in increasing the overall market share and hence the
revenues for the company.
The project is divided into three phases that is preliminary, intermediary, and final phase,
for that matter I have designed three different questionnaire dedicated to each phase for
better understanding.
I. Preliminary Phase: Analyzing the current market trends followed by the competitors and making out new
plans for the growth and development of the organization. The first phase examines the
probable factors that could influence the behavior pattern of a student in joining an
institute. Also this phase would identify and compare the competitors on significant
parameters like infrastructure, faculty, location etc. and finally to scrutinize the student
satisfaction levels against the services offered at EduMentor.
For this an initial analysis of the market and the differences between EduMentor and its
competitors was required. I also analyzed the past and current methods used by
EduMentor for conducting its business.
Board Centre Activity
Counseling in schools
Tuition Centre counseling
IP activity
Tele-calling/SMS Marketing
Internet Marketing
Reference Generation
II. Intermediary Phase: This phase mainly aims at identifying the opportunity and areas of improvement in the
field of test series, faculty, course curriculum, etc. The second phase however would help
in identifying the scopes and areas of improvement on the parameters mentioned above
with the help of questionnaire.
III. Final Phase: The final phase would enable organizational development which would ultimately lead to
business development at EduMentor in terms of improving the services as per the
requirement of the market and more importantly implementing reinforcement activities
(aiming to convince the clients that they made right choice by purchasing the service),
developing promotional and business development strategies (by keeping in mind the
needs of the target audience and moves by the competitors).
8
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 About The Company
EduMentor Educational Services, one of the biggest names in undergraduate test
preparations, is engaged into providing comprehensive, result oriented entrance test
preparation for graduation level management courses (BBS/BBA) and many other
courses like Hotel Management, BCA, Mass communication, as well as B.EL.ED.
The company was established with the name “Focal”, in the year 2006 with a base of 35
students, which grew to about 200 in 2007. Since then, the company has been growing
multifold. It occupied a market of about 2700 students by 2012, and is witnessing a target
of 3000 students in 2015, which will make it the leader in this particular sector. The name
of the organization changed from Focal to mentor and then later on to EduMentor
Educational services in 2009.
The USP of the company is that it is the only institute in Delhi/NCR that works upon
only the preparation of undergraduate courses. A major emphasis is on the BMS course at
ShaheedSukhdev College Of Business Studies, University of Delhi, as this is the best
institution in the South East Asian Region for the same. The other institute are those of IP
university, Symboisis International University, BhartiyaVidyapeeth, JamiaMiliaIslamia,
etc.
Test Preparation is EduMentor`s best delivered portfolio of educational service and
remains its core competency. In a country where careers are almost entirely dependent on
an individual’s ability to clear competitive exams, EduMentor has become a name that
invokes trust and assurance. Over the years EduMentor has been able to carve a niche for
itself in this competitive industry because of its focus on service quality and delivery.
With the concept of research and playing with data, EduMentor developed its proprietary
tool “TEST-LAB” that has analyzed scoring pattern of 2000+ students across 3 years and
has helped in pinpointing patterns of scoring i.e. strong and weak areas, ensuring
improved scores. Also the concept of Mentoring aims to ensure that a student is not just
motivated but is fanatic about clearing entrance exam. A team of 100+ extremely
motivated faculty and mentors pride themselves in pushing students to their limits, and
have also been responsible for training thousands of students in past nine years by
expanding their domain knowledge and by introducing varied preparations modules for
media, law, hospitality & IT entrance after 10+2.
In the current year the company targets to retain its market share of about 3000 students.
This race to the top is being accompanied with the help of about 50 interns pursuing their
masters in business administration. The company has also expanded its reach in and
around Delhi and NCR with 11 centers.
1.2 Market Overview
With dramatic increase in demand for professionals in almost all spheres and good
quality education becoming an avenue to success, private coaching institutes have
mushroomed across the country in recent years, becoming an industry worth thousands
crores of rupees. The trend of group tuition is also becoming popular. In fact, some
9
classes and group tutors have tie-ups with colleges, as a result of which these colleges
recommend only particular institutes.
India’s education system is divided into different levels such as pre-primary level,
primary level, elementary education, secondary education, undergraduate level and
postgraduate level. Though the market of postgraduate management entrance test
preparation is highly operational and has great presence, with in key players in market
like IMS, Career launcher and TIME operating in a big way, the market for the
undergraduate entrance test preparation is still in its nascent stages.
As most of the students at this stage are more concentrated on the boards examinations,
and are little aware about various career options that are present for them after class 12th
examinations, the growth prospects in this niche market are immense. Unlike the
postgraduate management courses entrance test industry is a seasonal business.
The various career options after class 12th, especially for commerce students are:
Management Courses (BMS/BBA/BBM)
1. These degrees are designed to give a broad knowledge of the functional areas of a
company, and their interconnection, while also allowing for specialization in a particular
area.
2. Admission into the main colleges and Universities-
Delhi University (Entrance test for BMS) Notification –April.
Symbiosis Deemed University, BBA , Notification –March
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (IP) (Entrance test for BBA)
Notification- March.
Narsee Monjee institute of Management Studies, BBA, 240 seats out of which 15 %
for management Quota.
Christ , Bangalore, BBM
Career Options After Class XII for
Commerce Students
Management
Hotel
Management
BCA
Mass
Communicatio
n
Law
B.El.Ed
10
Eligibility is different for different Universities and Colleges. For example in DU, a
minimum of 60% in 10+2 CBSE along with English being a compulsory subject is
the eligibility criteria.
A total of 840 seats in DU, 590 seats in Symbiosis, 5720 seats in IP University, and
120 seats in Jamia are available.
Hotel Management
The Hotel Management course has the following top colleges under it-Institute of
Hotel Management (Delhi, Bangalore, Aurangabad, Calcutta, Ahmedabad and
Chennai), Oberoi Center of Learning and Development, Delhi and Christ, Bangalore.
Admission into these colleges is through a Joint Entrance Test (JEE) with an
eligibility of Pass in 10+2 with English as a subject.
Mass Communication
A 3 year degree course, which provides different degrees depending on each college,
example- Bachelors of Journalism and Mass Communication (BJMC), B.A. (Hons.)
Journalism or Bachelors of Mass Media and Mass Communication (BMMMC).
Some of the top colleges in Delhi University are Indraprastha College for Women (19
seats), Kamala Nehru College, Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi College of Arts and
Commerce, Maharaja Agrasen.
Each college has a different admission criteria and different number of seats.
Law
EduMentor coaching institute mainly focuses on training its students for the Common
Law Admission Test (CLAT), which constitutes 11 colleges-
NLSIU, Bangalore, 80 seats
NALSAR, Hyderabad, 80 seats
NLIU, Bhopal, 80 seats
NUJS, Kolkata
NLU, Jodhpur
HNLU, Raipur
GNLU, Gandhinagar
CNLU, Patna
RMLNLU, Lucknow
RGNLU, Patiala
NUALS, Kochi
B.El.Ed. (Bachelor of Elementary Education)
12th+B.El.Ed=PRT(Primary Teacher)
Graduation + B.Ed.=TGT(Trained Graduate Teacher)
Post Graduation + B.Ed.=PGT(Post Graduate Teacher)
A four year degree course, which offers a number of advantages for girls, however,
you can teach only upto 8th Class in case you do B.El.Ed after 12th Class.
11
1.3 About The Project
The project primarily aims at understanding the essentials of luring and converting a
client into a student. It focuses on analyzing the needs and expectations of the clients that
would lead to client satisfaction, and would eventually enable the organization to serve
its clientele well. Thus will ultimately help in increasing the overall market share and
hence the revenues for the company.
The project examines the probable factors that could influence the decision-making
process of a student in joining an institute. This would include analyzing the various
promotional strategies that could eventually be a reason as to why a student joins an
institute, also to identify and compare the competitors on significant parameters like
batch strength, faculty, mentoring,etc. and finally to scrutinize the students satisfaction
levels against the services offered at EduMentor. A major focus would be in identifying
the scopes and areas of improvements on parameters like the test series, quality of
questions, extra gyaan sessions, with the help of questionnaire. In addition, the project
would enable Organizational Development at EduMentor in terms of improving the
educational package as per the requirements of the market, developing promotional and
business development strategies (by keeping in mind the needs of the target audience and
moves taken by the competitors) and eventually generating business for them by
attracting students to the newly launched programs. This would include structuring of the
entire business so as to increase the efficiency of the work at EduMentor.
Scope of the Project
The prime objective is to analyze the factors that influence the behavior patterns and
decision making of a student to join an institute for undergraduate test preparation. Also,
identify the competitors present in the market and key parameters of comparison. And
finally to scrutinize the client satisfaction on different factors while the client, that is, is
the student is using the services so imparted by EduMentor. The results due to these
activities would eventually help in advancement of business at EduMentor.
Methodology
The following methodology will be followed during the course of the project.
Mystery Shopping: In order to gain insights of the strategies of competitors, a study
was conducted to gain knowledge about the business model of various competitors
like Career Launcher, IMS, Pratham and BbaGuru and thus develop competitive
promotional strategies for EduMentor.
Questionnaire: For the purpose of competitor analysis, thereby working on the
betterment of the service wherever required.
Feedback Forms: The faculty and students to identify the areas where improvement is
needed and thereby working on the same would fill this in.
Reinforcement Activities:
i. One to one mentoring: To boost the morale of the students and deal with their problem
areas in a better manner.
ii. Maintaining Performance Report: So as to evaluate the students on timely basis and
helping them on their weak areas.
12
Limitations Of The Project
Some of the limitations of the project are:
1. Duration of operations: The biggest challenge ahead would be totake the business a
full time business, round the year operations will give the company stability and
better brand presence.
2. Reach: The Company covers only Delhi/NCR region, it doesn’t go beyond.
3. Financial issues: The company is not funded by any outside source/agency, and thus
had limited resources to offer during various business deals.
4. The result and conclusions of the project cannot be generalized, as the area of work
under my coverage is restricted to the west zone.
13
2. PHASE-I
PRELIMINIARY
The first phase of the project aims at findings the factors that could influence the
behavior pattern and decision-making process of a student in joining an institute. This
phase would identify and analyze different promotional strategies being used by
EduMentor, and would also classify and compare the competitors on significant
parameters.
Period of realization: 4th March 2015 – 15thApril 2015
Location: Malviya Nagar
Introduction:
Whenever a student joins any institute for undergraduate test preparations, there are a
number of factors that influence their behavior and decision-making. Therefore, it
becomes important for an organization to understand which elements drives the student
to make such a choice and also to gain insight of as to how and why is its service being
purchased by a customer.
This phase of the project would thus focus on probing these factors, which can be those
ranging from the marketing/promotional strategies being used by an organization to those
dependent on how clearly can a student differentiate between EduMentor & its
competitors and also to those that are tangible, that is what the student can see, in terms
of infrastructure, faculty, study material, accessibility and so on.
Modus Operandi:
In order to find the factors that influence the decision making process of as student to join
an institute for undergraduate test preparation, the preliminary phase is dividedinto three
steps.
The first step is to find identify and analyze the methods being used by EduMentor in
conducting business.
The second step would involve competitors’ analysis. And un order to gain insights of
the strategies of competitors, the strategy of “mystery shopping” was used and a
study was conducted to gain knowledge about the business model of various
competitors like Career Launcher, IMS, Pratham and Bbaguru and thus develop a
competitive promotional strategy for EduMentor.
And finally the third step would be to explore the factors that influence a student’s
decision in joining any coaching institute. The students were made to fill a
questionnaire in order to identify the factors and gain an in-depth understanding of the
reason behind the institute choice. In order to explore these parameters, surveyof 8
questions and 100 respondents were surveyed.
STEP 1:Identification and analysis of methods being used by EduMentor in
conducting business.
EduMentor has developed a number of promotional strategies for conducting its business.
These strategies can be one of the major reasons for a student joining an institute. Thus,
14
they were developed in a way that the target audience could be hit directly in the most
cost effective measure and conveying the message clear to the audience, the message of
presence and positioning themselves as specialists in the field of undergraduate entrance
test preparation, with an aim to leave a mark on the student’s memory and thus being one
critical reason for them joining the institute.
The various strategies so adopted were:
Counselling in schools
Tuition Centre Counselling
Board Centre Activity
IP Activity
Tele-calling/ SMS Marketing
Internet Marketing
COUNSELLING IN SCHOOLS
This is the very first time that a student comes to know about EduMentor, and probably
about the career options after class XIIth in the field of management. This is a very
critical activity because the class XIIth students have no or less information about the
institutes that provide appropriate training for undergraduate entrance exams. So it
becomes increasingly important that a student becomes aware about EduMentor as early
as possible, before he/she comes to know about the established brands like IMS and
Career Launcher.
The main objectives of school counselling are-
Creating brand awareness of EduMentor in the target market.
Positioning EduMentor as the specialist in the field of undergraduate test preparation.
Providing a student the right guidance about the courses or the careers options that
he/she can take up after their class XII exams.
Making them realize that coaching is necessary for cracking any entrance test.
Gathering a database, that can be used to be in touch with the students during the peak
season and can also be used for the purpose of tele-calling.
TUITION CENTRE COUNSELLING
Tuition centre counselling is mostly similar to school counselling aiming at educating
students at their respective tuition centres about the various career options that they can
take up after class XII. The objective of this counselling is to provide the students
appropriate information about their future and about institutes that can provide them the
right training for the preparation of the entrance exam of whichever course they want to
pursue for their graduation.
The purpose of this counselling is mostly to create awareness about the presence of
EduMentor, to position EduMentor as specialist dedicated to only undergraduate test
preparation and finally to communicate to the students how EduMentor stands ahead of
all other institutes in the same field.
BOARD CENTRE ACTIVITY
The board centre activity is one of the major business development and promotional
activities at EduMentor. The activity is designed in such a way that maximum number of
target audience is covered in the limited span of time. It was a five day activity wherein a
15
maximum number of schools were to be covered in each zone, which were the centres of
class XII board examination. The work schedule of the activity included:
Distribution of Information Booklet to students and parents.
Counselling of parents.
Database collection of both parents and students.
IP ACTIVITY
Similar to Board Centre Activity in terms of work schedule, IP activity is also carried out
for the purpose of covering the maximum target audience that is filling the forms of Guru
Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. The activity is carried out by distributing
information booklets and brochures, counselling of students and parents and collecting
the relevant data from them at the campus of the university itself. Primarily conducted
prior to a few days of the last date for filling up the forms of IP university, this activity
brings in a lot of unaware students and parents, who are in great need for proper
counselling and thus helps in tapping a huge percentage of the target market.
TELEPHONE COUNSELLING
This is a direct marketing activity which runs throughout the year. A student needs lots of
counselling and persuasion before he joins an institute, he might not have the time or
willingness to come to the institute, so the phone counselling serves this purpose. Being a
part of the counselling team I dealt with a large amount of confused and perplexed
students who needed mental support and encouragement during their boards.
Sales call or tele-calling is based on the data gathered from the school seminars, Board
Centre Activity, and IP activity. As a part of the phone counselling team I validated the
student database collected from the associates and then we resumed calling and provision
of information over phone. I attempted to strike a rapport with the student and tried to
provide information satisfies a student’s inquisitiveness.
INTERNET MARKETING
Mails were sent directly to the customers, highly customized, giving them tips regarding
boards and information about form details of entrance exams with an immediate calling
helpline to generate response.
16
STEP 2:Competitor Analysis Competitor analysis is a critical part of a firm's activities that helps it to generate an
understanding of competitors’ past, present (and most importantly) future strategies. It is
an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors.
Inspite of being an essential component of corporate strategy; most firms do not conduct
competitor analysis. They operate on what is called informal impressions, conjectures,
and intuition gained through the titbits of information about competitors that every
manager continually receives. As a result, it places many firms at risk of dangerous
competitive blind spots due to a lack of a complete competitor analysis. In utilizing
competitor analysis as part of strategy formulation, firms are able to adapt or build their
own strategies and be able to compete effectively, improve performance and gain market
share in their businesses. In a large number of instances, firms are able to tap new
markets or build new niches.
This analysis also provides the management an informed basis to develop strategies and
helps them understand their competitive advantages/disadvantages relative to
competitors. Directly or indirectly, competitor analysis is a driver of a firm's strategy and
impacts on how firms act or react in their sectors.
In any business the main motive is to offer something better than the competitor. The
undergraduate management studies market is new in origin, majorly dominated by CAT
(MBA entrance exam) preparation institutes with no major specialist institute preparing
just for management entrance exam.
The unique business model of Edumentor is being replicated by the local players, with
offerings of similar kind and adoption of similar strategies the competition has intensified
in the market. The major players in this sector can be listed as:-
1. IMS
2. EduMentor
3. T.I.M.E
Student
School Counselling
Workshops
Board Center
Activity
Telephone Counselling and Direct
Mails
Bank and IP Activity
Word Of Mouth
Posters and
Bulletins
17
4. CARRIER LAUNCHER
5. PRATHAM
6. SMART CARRIERS
7. SINGH STUDY CIRCLE etc.
The competitors of EduMentor can thus be divided into two categories:
1. Established brands like IMS, T.I.M.E, Career launcher, etc.
2. Unestablished Brands having only local presence like Alchemist, smart career, new
parameters.
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF COMPETITOR’S PROGRAMS
Analysis of Competitors Programs
NA
ME
COURSES OFFERED SCALE OF
OPERATIO
N
IMS
CAT,BBA,LAW,HOTE
L
MANAGEMENT,BCA
etc
NATIONAL
Edu
ME
NTO
R
BBA/BBS/BBE/BFIA/
B.El.Ed/Eng.(H)/HM/L
AW
NCR
T.I.
M.E
CAT,LAW,BBA,H.M. NATIONAL
CAR
RIE
R
LAU
NC
HER
CAT,BBA,LAW,H.M.,
BCA etc
NATIONAL
P.T.
EDU
CAT
ION
S
CAT,BBA,LAW,H.M.
,BCA etc
NATIONAL
SM
ART
CAR
BBA,LAW,H.M etc.. NCR
18
RIE
RS
NE
W
PAR
AM
ETE
R
BBA,B.Ed,H.M.,BCA,
MASS
COMMUNICATION
etc
DELHI
(GURGAON
AND
WEST)
SIN
GH
STU
DY
CIR
CLE
BBA, H.M, BCA.B.ED,
MASS
COMMUNICATION
ETC.
DELHI
(GURGAON
AND
WEST)
SOURCE: Author’s compilation of various secondary sources
19
EDUMENTOR VS OTHER INSTITUTES
Analysis of differences between EduMentor and other institutes
EDUMENTOR IMS &
OTHERS
CLASSES 7 DAYS A
WEEK
3-4 DAYS A
WEEK
BATCH
STRENGTH
35-40
STUDENTS
60+
MENTORING
1:1
YES NOT
POSSIBLE
CENTRES 11 40-50 ON
EVERY
STREET.
ALL
FRANCHISE
IN DELHI
COMPANY
OWNED
CENTRES IN
OTHER
STATES.
EXTRA
CLASSES
FOR IP
ENTRANCE
YES NO
FACULTY ALUMNI OF
BBS/MBAS
CRITERIA
DECIDED BY
INDIVIDUAL
FRANCHISEES
NOT BY
COMPANY
SOURCE: Author’s compilation of various secondary sources
20
EduMentor Educational Services
This questionnaire aims at exploring your views on the important factors that
student consider before joining any coaching institute.
Name: …………………………………………………………………………………..
School: ………………………………………………………………………………….
Address: ………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Contact: ……………………………… Email id: ……………………………………...
Q1. Have you joined a coaching institute in past?
o Yes
o No
Q2. What are the factors, which influence your decision making regarding
coaching institute?
o Past Results
o Location
o Fees
o Peer group
o Infrastructure
o Batch size
o Other, please specify………………..
Q3. Do you think preparations for competitive exams after class 12th can be done
by self study only?
o Yes
o No
Q4. Which all courses would you like to enroll for?
o BBA/BBS/BBE/BFAI/B.com(H)
o IIM
o BCA
o HM
o Law
o MASS COM
21
Q5. How do you get to know about eduMentor?
o School Counseling
o Board Centre activity
o Tele-calls
o Friends
o Other, please specify……….
Q6. How important are the personal counseling and mentoring sessions conducted
at your Centre? (5 being very important and 1 being least).
o 1
o 2
o 3
o 4
o 5
Q7. Please select any two facilities that should be there at any institute?
o Air conditioner
o Clean water/washrooms
o Message notification
o Form filling sessions
o Student web portal
Q8. According to you, what should be the batch size?
o Less then 10
o 10-20
o 20-30
o 30-40
o Does not matter
Q9. According to you, what should be the duration of class?
o 1 hour
o 2hours
o 3hours
o 4 hours
o Above
Q10. According to you what should be the best time to join coaching institute for
preparations of entrance exam?
o Beginning of class 12th
o During class 12th
o Right after Boards exams
o 10-15 days post board exams
o Few days before entrance exams.
22
Analysis & Inference
The analysis below shows the findings of the questions that were asked in the
questionnaire.
Q1. Have you ever joined a coaching institute in past?
The idea behind the question is to know whether or not a student has joined any institute
for competition entrance exam preparation in past or not. This is because, for a student
who might be a drop out or a transfer from some other institute, thinking and decision
making process would be different from those who are fresh aspirants. Since he/she
would be joining institute for the second time, they will be more cautious and would look
into more of qualitative aspects as compared to what other student would see, thus factors
that would further influence their decision making would be different.
Inference:
There were only 14% students of the sample size who had joined coaching institute in
the past.
That is, most of the students i.e. 86% were ones who had no experience of joining an
institute. Thus for future reference, whatever valuable information is received from
this survey would be applicable on students who never joined a coaching institute in
the past.
14%
86%
Joined coaching institute
Yes
No
23
Q2. What are the factors, which influence your decision before choosing any
coaching institute?
Inference:
71% of the students claimed thatteaching methodology is one of the most intriguing
factors that could make them choose us over any other institute. Every year a lot of
hard work is done to develop best teaching methodology.
Past results stands as the brand image of particular institute. Therefore, 57% students
consider it as one of the major factor before choosing any institute.
Batch size & timings and location of the coaching institute are also the factors
students consider before joining institute. In our case batch size had 48% weightage
where as location 49%.
Since financial issue can be a problem for few students so fees that comprised of 31%
weightage was also the factor they considered before joining institute.
Infrastructure and other factors such as peer group, etc. also comprised of 24% and
4% respectively.
Location 49 49%
Past Results 57 57%
Infrastructure 24 24%
Fees 31 31%
Batch size and Timings 48 48%
Teaching Methodology 71 71%
Any other 4 4%
24
Q3. Do you think preparation for competitive exams after class 12th can be done by
self-study only?
This question was asked to know whether the preparation of competitive exams can be
done by self study only.
Inference:
77% students think that preparation for entrance test can’t be done by self-study only
whereas 23% students thinks they can do preparation by self study only.
Q4. Which all courses you enrolled for?
23%
77%
Self Study
Yes
No
BBA/BMS/BBS/BBE/BFAI/B.com (H) 76 76%
IIM 26 26%
Law 23 23%
BCA 14 14%
HM 10 10%
Mass Com (BJMC) 18 18%
B.El.ED 1 1%
25
Inference:
The survey depicted that 76% of the students enrolled for BBA/BMS, 14% for BCA,
another 10% for HM, another 23% , 26% and 18% for Law, IIM and Mass Com
respectively.
Since every year students mostly enroll themselves for BBA/BBS, it stands as the
target market for EduMentor.
Q5. How you got to know about eduMentor?
Inference:
Word of mouth is critically important for a service industry. Whenever a typical
customer is faced with new purchasing decision, their instinct is often to consult
people around them. They put more faith in the advice and recommendation of people
they know than simple advertisement message.
It was observed that 39% of the respondents got to know about EduMentor from their
Family & friends, on further conversation with few of them we came to know that
their friends actually suggested them to come and visit Centre.
Thus we came to know that it is increasingly important for us to focus on the
satisfaction of our already enrolled students because it is client satisfaction that will
bring positive word of mouth marketing that would allow us to gain credibility
through the ever expanding circles of our client and people they know. This will lead
to growth of the company and increased revenues.
Also, we found that 27% of the students attended counseling that was conducted by
EduMentor at their respective schools, and this was what brought them to the centres.
Thus, a little more focus on activities related to school counseling could help us to
capture a good percentage of the target market at a very early stage.
The rest 18% got brochures from the board Centre activity, 16% students received
Tele-calls from the counselors.
16%
27%
18%
39%
How you got to know about eduMentor
Tele calling
school counseling
board Centre activity
Friends & Family
26
Q6. How important are the personal counseling and mentoring sessions conducted at
your Centre? (5 being most important and 1 being least)
This question was included to know the importance of counseling and mentoring done at
EduMentor’s Centre by counselors.
Inference:
In survey we found that most of the students i.e. 41% considered counseling and
mentoring really important. They marked level of importance to 4 out of 5.
24% students were neutral on this. Neither they considered it as very important nor
denied from it. They marked level of importance to 3 out of 5.
Also, there were students who were really up for it. They considered it very much
important hence marked it 5 out of 5. The weightage of such students was 24%.
11% students did not consider it much important and hence marked level of
importance to 1 & 2 out of 5.
Since more than average number of students favored the personal counseling and
mentoring sessions, it should be continued at all centers. EduMentor should try to
bring modification in counseling and mentoring techniques so to make it more
interesting for the students.
1 6 6%
2 5 5%
3 24 24%
4 41 41%
5 24 24%
27
Q7. Please select any two facilities that should be there at your coaching institute?
Inference:
This question was included to know what kind of basic facilities student requires.
Student web portal is the integral facility a institute must have these days. 54%
student demanded for student web portal.
Form filling sessions and message notification is kind of assistance provided by the
institutes, 42% and 46% students also demanded this respectively.
Clean drinking water and washrooms are necessities therefore, 48% students also
demanded for it.
Above-mentioned four facilities were given weigh more importance then air
conditioner facility, which was only by 23% students.
Air conditioner 23 23%
Clean drinking water & washrooms 48 48%
Message Notification 46 46%
Form filling sessions 42 42%
Student web portal 54 54%
28
Q8. According to you, what should be optimum batch size?
Inference:
According to 35% of the students the optimum batch size should be 20-30 students
in class. As per them this particular range of batch size provides a good
competitive environment, which makes study fun and does not make class over
crowded.
28% students marked 10-20 students in a class as optimum batch size where as
21% marked 30-40.
There were also students who are not able to study in big batches. According to
them less then 10 students should be there in class so that they can interact with
faculty frequently and clear their doubt
Also there were 5% students to whom batch size does not matter. They are
comfortable with any number of students in class.
5%
28%
35%
21%
11%
Optimum batch size
Less then 10
10 to 20
20-30
30-40
does not matter
29
Q9. According to you, what should be duration of class?
Inference:
Duration of class is also an important decision on which an institute thinks upon.
Duration of class should be such that it should be enough to cover predetermined
topic and should not be enough long as well.
56% of the students think 2 hour should be the duration of class. Most of the
students used to remain fresh and active through out the class with this much class
duration.
According to 22% students 3 hour should be duration of class.
There were 14% students who were fine with 4 hour and above duration of class.
Students with low sitting capability demanded class for an hour i.e. 8%.
8%
56%
22%
7%
7%
Duration of class
1 hour
2 hours
3 hours
4 hours
above
30
Q10. According to you, what should be the best time to join coaching institute for
preparation of entrance exam?
This was the question asked to know the best time to join a coaching institute for
entrance test preparations.
Inference:
According to the survey 61% thinks coaching right after board exams is the best.
In fact we observed this at our Centre in South Zone Delhi, most of the
enrollments i.e. 50% were done between 7 April -12 April which was time period
right after board exams.
Since South being a place of upper middle class, people usually have kind of late
back attitude. So 19% people said 10-15 days post board exams is the right time to
join coaching.
Since people do not have much awareness about entrance exam after 12th, so there
were very few who were interested in taking coaching before class 12th or during
class 12th.
There were few who take the coaching just for the sake of taking it or to clear their
doubts at last moment. 2% people were in this category.
8%10%
61%
19%
2%
Best time to join coaching institute.
Beginning of class 12th
During class 12th
Right after board exams
10-15 days post boardexams
Few days beforeenterance exams
31
3. PHASE II
INTERMEDIARY
This phase mainly aims at identifying the opportunities and areas of improvement in the
field of test series, faculty, infrastructure, course curriculum, etc. Further its will lead to
increasing client satisfaction.
Period of realization: 16th April 2015 – 5th May 2015
Location: Malviya Nagar.
Introduction:
Once the client, that is, a student gets associated with EduMentor it becomes substantial
to gain insight on factors/parameters that the student like and also on those which
requirement improvement. The idea is to identifying the areas of improvement and to put
in appropriate efforts to bring upon the required changes while the client (student) is
utilizing the services and thus to eventually increase the satisfaction levels.
This phase would thus help in identifying the scopes and areas of improvement on
parameters like the test series, quality of questions, extra gyaan sessions, faculty
feedback, etc.
Modus Operandi:
A questionnaire was used in order to identify the expanse of improvements on the above-
mentioned factors.
Questionnaire provides a quantitative method of data gathering where in the data
so gathered can be easily integrated.
The advantage of using a questionnaire over any other form of data gathering tools
such as an interview is that one can reach large number of people more easily in a
short period of time, that is, questionnaire are easily accessible and less time
consuming.
Whereas, interviewing 100 respondents or more can be very time consuming.
However, there were certain disadvantages with usage of questionnaire, this is
because many a time it is found that if questionnaire is lengthy the respondents
may ignore certain questions or may fill it in a rush. So the questionnaire I
designed had minimal number of questions so that the respondent don’t find it
boring, also no such questions were asked that could make a respondents
uncomfortable thus reducing the chances of respondents ignoring or leaving the
questions unanswered.
In order to explore these parameters, a survey of 7 questions was formed and 100
respondents were surveyed. These respondents were the students who have been enrolled
with and have been utilizing the services being provided by EduMentor.
3.2 Additional Activities That I Engaged In
In additional to exploring the areas of improvement, I took the initiative to do something
worthwhile for the students besides their regular scheduled course content. The idea was
to give the students a feel good factor, the feeling that they made the right decision by
enrolling with EduMentor, not only in terms of study/course material but also in terms of
32
proper motivation, personality development, gyaan sessions, activities to make them
realize their aim in life and how far have they reached in fulfilling them and so on.
i) MENTORING
Mentoring, one of the unique activities taken up at EduMentor is done to support and
encourage students to manage their own learning in order to maximize their potential,
develop their skills, improve their performance to achieve desired goals.
The duty of the mentor was now to check and keep a record of performance of students at
their centers. The role of the mentor was more than just counseling, the mentor was also
required to keep a check on whether their course is properly being taken up in the class,
are they facing any problems with the methods used by their faculty, are they studying at
their homes etc.
I as a mentor realized that the first step to be effective mentoring would be to build
connect with the student so that they accept us as their mentors. For rapport building I
conducted “Ice-breaking Session” with an aim to know my mentees, their goals in life
and their respective career choices. This gave my mentoring a great kick-start.
Learning: Understanding the problems the mentees are facing, be it an educational issue
(such as, students not satisfied with a particular teacher) or personal issues (financial
issues, family problems) and coming up with the solutions, which made them more
comfortable.
ii) ONE TO ONE SESSIONS
One to one sessions were also conducted for the students in order to understand
their expectations from the institute and their potential to perform.
Needs and ambitions of one student differ from those of another therefore such
sessions help in understanding their individual needs.
In such sessions students feel free to express themselves since may a times they
feel shy to discuss their problems in front of others.
These sessions were also important to discuss with them their performances so far
and make an action plan for them accordingly. I helped most of my students to
prepare a proper timetable with enough time for study, recreation and sleep as
well.
iii) MOTIVATION SESSIONS
It becomes increasingly important to keep the students motivated on a regular basis
because it is only when they are motivated they will give in their best to studies.
However, there were times when due to various internal and external factors students felt
demoralized.
During this tenure of fourteen weeks there were many instances when students felt
demotivated because of factors like scoring lesser marks in mock test, marks in
board exams not up to their expectations, students in the same centers performing
extremely well etc.
So it became an important task to motivate them, build confidence in them and
make them realize that they can achieve their desired goals.
33
Sometimes even live/ personal examples were quoted to bring back that
confidence in them.
iv) VOCABULARY SESSIONS
Vocabulary forms a vital part of the student’s education, even if it is viewed in respect of
preparation for the competitive exams, the significance remains the same. Apart from its
importance in education, vocabulary has a great role to play throughout ones life.
In spite of its importance, vocabulary is not one of the strengths of most of the students.
Hence, I decided to take vocabulary sessions in order to help my students to improve
their word bank. I realized vocabulary can be built chiefly by two methods: memorizing
it and using it in daily routine. Reading is an exercise that has its own rewards, and many
students are motivated to enjoy it as a pastime. However, formal vocabulary building is
usually not viewed as a “fun” task and usually neglected. Therefore, I took it as a
challenge and organized a “Vocab Week” where in I took special sessions of vocabulary
for 5 days with a target to make my students familiar with approximately 250 new words
in coming days. I looked for ways to make vocabulary learning easy for students.
The “Um” Game
Equipment: A small bag of random familiar items.
Objective: To increase concentration, listening skills and to promote use of vocabulary.
The “Vocab Week”
Objective: To make the students familiar with approximately 250 new words in coming
5 days.
The response to the activity was overwhelming. The students really enjoyed the
activities, they particularly mentioned this would really help them to retain the new
words lifetime long.
v) PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT SESSIONS
Personality means characteristics and appearance of a person – patterns of thoughts,
feeling, behavior, communication ability and physical features. Personality development
plays an essential role not only in an individuals’ profession but also in personal lives. It
grooms an individual and helps him make a mark of his/her own. Not only this, but
personality development helps an individual to inculcate positive qualities like
punctuality, flexible attitude, willingness to learn, friendly nature, eagerness to help
others and so on.
Since students demanded that apart regular classes they would also want teachers and
mentors
to focus on their personality development so that they remain ready for group discussions
and personal interview sessions. For this I decided to conduct certain sessions that would
help the students to realize that personality development is not a very big task and each of
them already possess certain qualities and the characteristics that just need some
polishing.
34
vi) DAILY QUIZ AND ASSIGNMENTS
Daily quizzes were conducted in the class to ensure students devote enough to develop
their general knowledge. Also assignments were given to students on daily basses in the
form of “Practice test books” which they were suppose to submit before class failing
which they were not allowed to attend the class.
If for consecutive three days a student came to the class without completing their
assignments, their parents were informed about it and also were asked to come down to
Centre and talk to their particular mentor.
vii) INFORMING PARENTS ABOUT THE PROGRESS OF THEIR CHILD
Informing the parents about their child is just like after sale service to them. Weekly
report was given to their parents, which includes rank of their child in last mock test and
discussion about home assignments. This was done to ensure that parents keep an eye on
their children when at home. This also helped to check whether their child is actually
performing or not.
35
EduMentor Educational Services
This questionnaire aims at exploring your views on the important areas that might
require an improvement at EduMentor.
Name: …………………………………………………………………………………..
School: ………………………………………………………………………………….
Address: ………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Contact: ……………………………… Email id: ……………………………………...
Q1. What would you further like from your faculty/mentor during your sessions?
(Select any two)
o To help in identifying strong and weak areas
o To provide encouragement and support
o To help in defining future goals
o To give personal attention
o Out-of-class assistance
o To come up with topic related puzzles.
Q2. How do you rate the quality of practice questions in the coarse material
provided?
o Very good
o Good
o Average
o Poor
o Very poor
Q3. How do you find the test series conducted so far?
o Very effective
o Effective
o Average
o Poor
o Very poor
Q4. Did the tricks and tips so discussed in class helped you for the exams?
o Yes
o No
o Somewhat
o Not at all
36
Q5. Please rank in order of importance what extra assistance would you require
besides regular coaching. (1 being least important and 5 being most important)
o Overall personality development sessions
o Time management
o Regular mock GD/PI sessions
o Regular gyaan sessions
o Alumni visits (BMS/BBS/BBE/BFAI/IIMs)
Q6. How do you rate the study material?
o Very good
o Good
o Average
o Poor
o Very poor
Q7. How do you rate the physical infrastructure?
o Very good
o Good
o Average
o Poor
o Very poor
Q8. What all improvements would you want to see at EduMentor in future? Please
provide your feedback as well.
………………………………………………………………………………………
…………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………….
………………………………………………………………………………………
…………
37
Analysis and Inference The analysis below shows the findings of the questions that were asked in the
questionnaire.
Q1. What would you further like from your faculty/mentor during your sessions?
The idea behind putting up such a question is that many students have good grasping
strength but due to lack of certain efforts from faculty/mentor may cause hindrance in
their performance. Therefore the question was set up with aim to get a clear picture of
what all efforts faculty and mentor could make that can actually add to the level of
performance of students.
Inference:
77% of the students were not aware of their strong and weak areas and needed
appropriate assistance in identifying them. On interacting with them it was found
that if they get help in identifying these areas, it would keenly work upon making
them better in their strength and improve their weakness, which ultimately will
enhance their performance.
Also, 20% students need assistance to explore their future goals of life. This
helped them to look at themselves 5 years from now. 19% students demanded for
regular motivation session to encourage and achieve pre determined short-term
goals.
A very few %age of students demanded for personal attention, out of class
attention and topic related puzzle sessions.
To help in identifying strong and weak areas 77 77%
To provide encouragement and support 19 19%
To help in defining future goals 20 20%
To give personal attention 9 9%
Out-of-class assistance 10 10%
To come up with topic related puzzles 9 9%
38
Q2. How do you rate the quality of practice questions in the coarse material provided?
The purpose of putting up a question that required the students to rate the quality of
practice questions is to know how helpful have the assignments and books so provided to
them been so far. By the time they would answer this question they would have written at
least two of their competitive exams and thus would now have a better conception of how
beneficial the courseware has been for them, whether the questions were too hard, too
easy or satisfactory enough to provide them necessary knowledge. Basically to know or
not changes should be introduced in the quality of practice questions.
Inference:
According to majority of students i.e. 60% the quality of practice material is very
good. While few students i.e. 29% student marked it as good, it helped them to
prepare well where as according to 11% students’ material quality is just average
and there is still scope of improvement.
60%
29%
11%
0%
0%
Qaulity of coarse material.
Very Good
Good
Average
Poor
Very poor
39
Q3.How do you find the test series conducted so far?
This question is designed with an aim similar to the previous question. The intention is to
learn whether or not the mock test series have been instrumental in respect to the
student’s competitive exam. And also to whether or not any modification should be
introduced for the same.
Inference:
As per majority of students i.e. 61% the mock test series so conducted was very
effective. Although 30% students marked it as effective and mentioned it could be
made better by introducing questions on patterns of previous year competitive
exams. They wanted mock test to be conducted more rigorously and with strict
invigilation to maintain discipline.
61%
30%
9%
0%0%
Test Series
Very effective
effective
average
poor
very poor
40
Q4. Did the tricks and tips so discussed in class helped you for the exams?
The ulterior motive to put such a question was to learn that whether the tricks and tips so
shared with the students with respect to solving their entrance exams were helpful for
them or not.
Inference:
According to majority of students i.e. 81% the tricks and tips so discussed ere
extremely beneficial for them in exams. It helped them to save a lot of time in
quantitative aptitude and logical reasoning section.
Another 17% of the students felt that the tricks and tips were somewhat helpful,
that is, they were contributive and were of some help to them in the exams.
Also 2% of students said tricks and tips taught to them were not helpful at all.
Yes
No
Somewhat
81%
2%
17%
Tricks and Tips
Yes
no
Somewhat
41
Q5. Please select from the following, what extra assistance would you require besides
regular coaching?
INFERENCE:
The survey shows that 47%% of the students felt that they need regular GD/PI
sessions besides their regular coaching classes.
Group discussion (GD) and personal interview(PI) are second most important stage
for the students who are appearing for a competitive exam. First most important
stage being the preparation for the entrance exam itself. Majority of the students
who just gave their class 12th board exams are not used to the concept of GD/PI,
and had fear due tolack of confidence, proper content, communication skills, body
language and listening skills that would be required to crack a group discussion or
a personal interview. Therefore, it is immensely important for us to devote time on
taking up regular GD/PI mock sessions.
Also 21% students demanded for Alumni visit (BBS/BFIA) to regularly motivate
them. 17% students demanded for time management sessions so that they give their
best shot in exam where as 13% demanded for overall personality development
sessions.
13%
17%
47%
2%
21%
Extra Assisstance
Overall personalitydevelopment sessions
time management
regular mock gd/pi sessions
regular gyaan sessions
Alumni visits
Overall personality development sessions 13 13%
Time management 17 17%
Regular mock GD/PI sessions 47 47%
Regular gyaan sessions 2 2%
Alumni visits (BMS/BBS/BBE/BFAI/IIMs) 21 21%
42
Q6. How do you rate the study material?
The purpose of putting up a question that required the students to rate the study material
is to know how helpful have the assignments and books so provided to them been so far.
This questionnaire would also be helpful in preparing the course material for the coming
year batches. If the students would seem to be satisfied with the courseware, the new
courseware can be built on similar lines with necessary changes in the pattern of
questions.
INFERENCE:
According to 20% of the students the quality of practice questions is very good.
While a majority of the students accounting to 64% of the sample size believe that
the questions and the course material is good, it helped them prepare well for their
exams.
20%
64%
16%
Quality of study material
Very Good
Good
Average
43
Q7. How do you rate the physical infrastructure?
The idea behind putting up this question was to know whether or not the students are
satisfied with the physical infrastructure of the institute. The points added by the students
in this context can be important while deciding the centers for the next year’s batches, be
it being with same Centre or changing it.
Inference:
For 50% of the students the physical infrastructure was good. While the other 44%
and 6% students felt that physical infrastructure of the Centre was average and
poor respectively.
The students elaborated that even though the Centre building, the classrooms, the
furniture, and the teaching tools are very good but there are certain issues with
respect to proper air conditioner, ventilation of rooms and also regarding proper
water facility at the Centre. Even though there is water tank at Centre, there is no
provision of proper disposal.
Students who marked the physical infrastructure as average and poor mentioned
there is still scope of improvement in it. They mentioned tools such as projector
and all can be addition to teaching tools, which might help them in better
understanding of the content taught.
Therefore in this respect much care should be taken while choosing centers for the
coming year batches.
50%
44%
6%
0%
Infrastructure Quality
good
average
poor
44
Q8. What all improvements would you want to see at EduMentor in future? Please
provide your feedback as well.
The question required the students to jot down the improvements that they would want to
see at EduMentor and also to provide their valuable feedback. It was put up as an open
ended question for the reason that there may be certain issues/parameters that may have
been missed, therefore to give the students a chance to put down what they felt needed an
improvement was also important.
After summing up the views of the students following were the inferences:
INFERENCE:
The students slightly weak in mathematics and those from the non-mathematics
stream demanded more attention.
Physical infrastructure, specifically lack of proper air conditioner seemed to be a
majority issue. Majority of the students are not satisfied with the air conditioner
system at the Centre. Also teaching tools need bit up gradation for e.g.: Projectors
should be installed to make things easier to understand.
More assistance as already mentioned was asked for GD/PI sessions.
45
4. PHASE III
FINAL The final phase of the project scrutinizes the satisfaction level and further focuses on business
development opportunities.
Period of realization: 5th may 2015 onwards
Location: MalviyaNagar
Introduction:
Consumer is the most important for any organization and is the one and only individual
that can tell an organization how well they are doing. Not by growth charts or sales
figures, but by telling exactly how it feels to be in the position of a buying customer.
Therefore, in order to retain costumers or to obtain positive word of mouth it becomes
necessary for the organization to keep its consumers happy and satisfied.
This phase would enable business development at EduMentor in terms of improving the
services as per the requirements of the market and more importantly suggesting and
integrating standard recommendation for betterment of the company at all centers.
Modus Operandi
A questionnaire was used in order to probe the students in regards to their experience at
EduMentor over the period of two months.
Questionnaire provides a quantitative method of data gathering where in the data
so gathered can be easily integrated.
The advantages of using a questionnaire over any other form of data gathering
tools such as an interview is that one can reach large numbers of people more
easily in a short period of time, that is, questionnaire are easily accessible and less
time consuming.
Whereas, interviewing 100 respondents or more can be very time consuming.
However, there were certain disadvantages with usage of questionnaire, this is
because many a time it is found that if the questionnaire is lengthy the respondents
may ignore certain questions or may fill it in a rush. So the questionnaire I
designed had minimal number of questions so that the respondents felt no fatigue,
also no such questions were asked that could make a respondent (student)
uncomfortable thus reducing the chances of respondents ignoring or leaving the
questions unanswered.
In order to explore the opportunities for business development, a survey of 10 questions
was formed and 100 respondents were surveyed. These respondents were the students
who have been enrolled with EduMentor from the very beginning and are now on the
verge of completion of their coaching.
46
EduMentor Educational Services
This questionnaire aims at scrutinizing the customer satisfaction level and explores
business development opportunities for EduMentor educational services.
Name: …………………………………………………………………………………..
School: ………………………………………………………………………………….
Address: ………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Contact: ……………………………… Email id: ……………………………………...
Firstly questions were designed to understand the level of satisfaction of the
students.
Q1. Did you get timely motivation from teachers/mentors?
o Yes
o No
Q2. Did the Centre manager communicate information on time ?
o Always
o Only when asked
o Never
Q3. Was syllabus of all subjects completed on time as committed?
o Yes
o No
Q4. Are you over all satisfied by the services provided by EduMentor educational
services? Please rate out of 5. (5 being maximum satisfaction level and 1 being no
satisfaction)
o 1
o 2
o 3
o 4
o 5
Q5. Would you refer EduMentor to relatives/friends in future?
o Yes
o No
o May be
47
Now further questions were designed with the prospective of business
development at EduMentor educational services.
Q6. What can be the best way to promote eduMentor and reach maximum number
of students?
o More school and tuition counseling
o Sponsoring school events
o Banners and posters
o Television advertisement
o Organizing subject workshops
Q7. What else can be done for the betterment of eduMentor in South zone
(Delhi)?
o Must have a permanent Centre (For Soha batch)
o Provide pick up and drop facility
o Must have few more centers in South Zone
Q8. According to you, should Edumenotor start with MBA entrance test coaching
as well, since till now it’s only specialized Centre for undergraduate test
preparation?
o Yes
o No
Q9. Did you face difficulty to commute for EduMentor Centre in Malviya Nagar?
o Yes
o No
Q10. What should be the location of Edumentor centers in South Zone (Delhi)
specifically?
o With in metro connectivity
o With in bus connectivity
o Scattered through out the South Zone
o At major places only
48
Analysis And Inference
Q1. Did you get timely motivation from teachers/mentors?
Inference:
As per 80% of the students, they received timely motivation from their mentors
and teachers. They added that the teachers and the mentors encouraged them from
time to time and even their competitive entrance exam.
However, 20% of the students felt that timely motivation was not given to them.
They claimed they should been given more attention, and some of them wanted to
have out of class assistance.
80%
20%
Motivation
yes
no
49
Q2. Did the Centre manager communicate information on time?
Inference:
According to majority of students i.e. 81% the Centre managers communicated
information on time. This helped them to keep updated about the release and
closing dates of various college forms, next day class schedule, general
information, etc.
15% students mentioned information was given to them only when it was
specifically asked which should not be the case, it shows lapse in Centre
management. Also, 4% students said that they didn’t get any information
regularly.
81%
15%4%
Always
Only when asked
Never
50
Q3. Was syllabus of all subjects completed on time as committed?
Inference:
The survey shows that 78% of the students answered that the syllabus of all
subjects was completed on time as committed.
However, we found that there were 22% students who said that the syllabus for
some of the subjects was not completed on time. On further discussing about the
matter we found that these students were the ones who joined the batches late and
hence missed on a lot of classes. Therefore, another important thing to be kept in
mind for the coming year is to keep a track of course completion of students who
joined the institute late.
78%
22%
Yes
No
51
Q4. Are you over all satisfied by the services provided by EduMentor educational
services? Please rate out of 5. (5 being maximum satisfaction level and 1 being no
satisfaction)
This questioned is designed with an aim to know the over all satisfaction level of the
students by the services imparted by EduMentor educational services.
Inference:
42% of the students marked satisfaction level to 4 out of 5. They were satisfied
with the overall services imparted by the EduMentor educational services. They
mentioned there is always a scope of improvement but they were satisfied what all
they got.
30% of the students stand neutral on level of satisfaction. They were neither too
much satisfied nor dissatisfied.
18% students gave us 5 on 5. They were very much satisfied what all they got
from EduMentor be it study material, teachers, mentors, Infrastructure, etc.
Also, there were very few who marked level of satisfaction below 3.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
1 2 3 4 5
Satisfaction Level
%age
52
Q5. Would you refer EduMentor to relatives/friends in future?
Inference:
It was found that 54% students would refer EduMentor to their family and
relatives for sure.
While there were 46% such students who may refer the institute to their friends
and family.
54%
46%
53
Now further questions were designed with the prospective of business
development at EduMentor educational services.
Q6. What can be the best way to promote EduMentor and reach maximum
number of students?
This question was designed to know the right promotional tool so to reach maximum
number of students
Inference:
Since this year very few schools were targeted for school counseling in South zone
Delhi, according to most of the students i.e. 48% EduMentor should focus on
school counseling for promotion and creating awareness.
Sponsoring a schools event such as debate competition, fest, annual day, etc. can
also be the medium to reach large number of students at a time. 24% of students
suggested for sponsoring school events.
Organizing subject workshops can be a mutual benefit to the company and
students at a time. These can also one of the ways to promote EduMentor. 24% of
the students suggested this as an option.
7% and 9% students laid emphasis on banners/ posters and television
advertisements.
48%
12%
9%
7%
24%
More school & tuitioncouseling
Sponsoring school events
Banners & posters
Television Advertisements
Organizing subject workshops
54
Q7. What else can be done for the betterment of EduMentor in South zone (Delhi)?
This question was designed to have an idea of business development opportunities in
South zone to increase its market share.
Inference:
Majority of the students (80%) said EduMentor should have few more Centres in
South zone Delhi. Since this year we just had only one Centre in South zone, most
of students faced difficulty to commute. Many of them were travelling for almost
an hour to reach Malviya Nagar.
11% students laid emphasis on pick up and drop facility from home because they
travel a long way to reach Centre.
9% students mentioned that EduMentor should have one permanent Centre in
South zone for Soha batch.
9%11%
80%
Must have a permanent Centre(For soha batch)
Provide pick & drop facility
Must have few more centres inSouth Zone
55
Q8. According to you, should EduMenotor start with MBA entrance test coaching as
well, since till now it’s only specialized Centre for undergraduate test preparation?
Inference:
Till now EduMentor is only into entrance test preparation of undergraduates. It is a
specialized institute for undergraduate test preparation. Since preparation of MBA
also consist of similar subjects with bit more difficulty level, 83% students
suggested to start with MBA coaching as well.
On the other hand 17% students suggested remaining specialized in undergraduate
test preparations only.
83%
17%
Yes
No
56
Q9. Did you face difficulty to commute for EduMentor Centre in Malviya Nagar?
Inference:
This year we just had one Centre in South zone Delhi, many students failed to
enroll because they were not able to commute. Also among enrolled students 24%
said they faced difficulty to commute for the Centre.
Majority of students live near by so 76% of them did not face any difficulty.
24%
76%
Yes
No
57
Q10. What should be the location of EduMentor centers in South Zone (Delhi)
specifically?
This question was designed for the future reference, if at all eduMentorplans to develop
few more centres in south, what should the location of centres.
Inference:
Since metro is the life support system for Delhi residents, most of the students
suggested having centre in metro connectivity.
28% students suggested having centres only at major places in south where as
18% suggested having centres all over south zone.
Students who live at places where there is no metro connectivity suggested to have
centres at places with bus connectivity.
44%
10%
18%
28% With in metro connectivity
With in bus connectivity
Scattered through out theSouth Zone
At major places only
58
5. CONCLUSION
This section sums up all the analysis for the project that was done with the help of
various graphs and charts. This holds the conclusion of the whole project.
5.1 Conclusion
This project was about studying client behavior pattern and business development at
EduMentor Educational Services. The project is bifurcated in three sections i.e. Phase I
(Preliminary stage), Phase II (Intermediary stage) and Phase III (Final stage). Phase I
focuses on analyzing client behavior pattern where as phase II and phase III focuses on
business development at EduMentor educational services.
In this project, detailed study has been done on analyzing the factors that influence the
decision making of a student to join an institute for undergraduate test preparation. Also
measures have been taken to identify the parameters, which further need more
improvement. And finally to scrutinize the client satisfaction on different factors while
the client, that is, the student is using the services imparted by EduMentor. Also, focus is
on exploring the business development opportunities for EduMentor educational services.
The market study has been carried out at Malviya NagarCentre.
It was found word of mouth and tele calling proved to be the sources from where most of
the students get to know about EduMentor. Among the factors that the student looked
before joining an institute, with respect to infrastructure most of students looked for
proper air conditioner and proper drinking water & washroom facilities and with respect
to the quality of study the students looked for the teaching methodology and past results.
In phase II (Intermediary) it was tried to explore the areas, which still have scope of
improvement. The main aim for doing this was to create positive word of mouth and
further business development for EduMentor educational services in South Delhi.
Questions were related to study material, physical infrastructure, extra assistance
required, etc. It was found that majority of students were satisfied with the overall
services imparted by the EduMenotor. Main area of concern was the physical
infrastructure, which according to the students need bit up gradation.
In phase III (Final) it was tried to scrutinize the consumer satisfaction level and explore
business development opportunities in South. Questions were asked to get an idea what
more can be done in South Zone Delhi to flourish in coming years. According to the
survey EduMemtor should have more centres in South Zone Delhi. It can arrange
facilities such as pick and drop from home for those who face difficulty to commute.
Also, it can start with MBA entrance test preparations in coming year
59
6. Findings & Recommendations
Finding:
EduMentor is having very low market share in the segment. The other
players like TIME, IMS and Career launcher are relatively very famous for
their entrance test preparation packages.
RECOMMENDATION:
Sales and revenue of the company should be increased each year because
this segment is so vast and is having a lot of potential. To capitalize on sales
and increase revenues company should focus on left out regions of Delhi
such as South Zone and NCR region. Company should focus on developing
few more centers in south zone and also should try to have one permanent
Centre in South.
Finding:
EduMentor requires a lot improvement in the field of advertising and
communications. Competitors fetch the large chunk of customers because
messages of EduMentor do not them or strike them continuously. This is the
reason that IMS has continuously positioned itself as the market leader
RECOMMENDATION:
EduMentor should focus more on public events, on road hoardings and
promotional activities. Advertisements in the magazines and newspapers
should be given sometimes so that the customers can be able to relate it with
their purchasing decision. This is the market where consumer can never be
the customer. Therefore the promotional activities should have sync between
psychologies of Consumer (Student) and the Customer (Parent).
Finding:
Many respondents during the process of counseling felt that EduMentor
should not charge premium price for its services. As far as pricing is
concerned in actual, EduMentor takes Rs1 8,500/- per student, which is way
above the pricing of market leader IMS.
RECOMMENDATION:
To justify the premium pricing, sales people have to make a lot of
commitments to customers. Operations team try to fulfill them to their level
best but many times if any of the commitments are not met, the customer
loses the satisfaction from the services and ultimately brand value of the
EduMentor gets degraded.
60
Finding:
During the survey it was found that very few schools were covered in South
Zone for school counseling sessions as compared to other Zones in Delhi.
RECOMMENDATION:
For a coaching institute it’s the most important that a target market must
know about their existence. The best way to tell the students about the
teaching methodology, study material, etc. can be done through schools
counseling only. Also it creates a base for initial walk-ins, which can be
easily converted. From next year more and more schools should be targeted
for schools counseling sessions.
Finding:
During initial stages it was observed that many students fail to enroll due to
difficulty in commuting to the Centre. This was direct loss of revenue for the
company.
RECOMMENDATION:
This was the problem occurred in south zone this year because EduMentor
just had one Centre in whole South Zone. There can be alternate solutions to
this problem. EduMentor can provide pick up and drop facility to students,
EduMentor can have few more centres at major places in South zone.
Finding:
During the survey it was found that students were not satisfied by the
physical infrastructure of the Centre in terms of proper air conditioner and
teaching tools.
RECOMMENDATION:
Since EduMentor is at growth stages. Its been reaching new heights year by
year. A little lapse in quality of service can lead to big loss to the reputation.
For this EduMentor should heir centres with proper physical infrastructure.
In teaching tools we can add projector to the class rooms which will
obviously help students to learn things more effectively.
61
7. REFERENCES
1. EduMentor, 2014. Information booklet.
2. IMS, 2014. Information booklet.
3. T.I.M.E, 2014. Information booklet.
4. Primary data collected from students and parents.
5. Websites of the competitors, colleges and universities which include:
www.careerlauncher.com
www.imsindia.com
www.du.ac.in
www.wikipedia.org
www.EduMentor.co.in
