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PROJECT REPORT ON ANALYSIS OF THE STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY BSNL TO FIGHT COMPETITION AND INCREASE PROFIT AT DEHRADUN SUBMITTED FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MARKETING) (2010-2012) BY ASHWANI DHIMAN ENROLLMENT NO.

INTERNAL GUIDE Mrs. ITEE AGGARWAL Faculty of MARKETING S.G.R.R.I.T.S

EXTERNAL GUIDE Mr. N.S SHARMA Senior T. O. A BSNL DEHRADUN

SHRI GURU RAM RAI INSTITUE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE PATEL NAGAR, DEHRADUN
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PHONE: (0135) 2721763, 2726435, 2726209 FAX: 2721762

CERTIFICATE

This to certify that project report Mr. ASHWANI DHIMAN student of MBA (Marketing) 2010-12 Batch, SGRRITS, Dehradun has successfully completed her Project titled ANALYSIS OF THE STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY BSNL TO FIGHT COMPETITION AND INCREASE PROFIT under my guidance and supervision.

I wish his commendable effort and success.

Date

Internal Guide

Mrs. ITEE AGGARWAL (Faculty of Marketing)

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I hereby declare that the project report entitled ANALYSIS OF THE STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY BSNL TO FIGHT COMPETITION AND INCREASE PROFIT, written and submitted by me, under the guidance of Mr. SUBHA SINGH (S. D. E) BSNL, is my original work. The empirical findings in the report are based on data collected by myself. While preparing the report, I have not copied anything from any source or other projects submitted for similar purpose.

Dated Ashwani Dhiman MBA 3RD Sem

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PREFACE

As an integral part of the MBA curriculum, (Marketing), I needed a real exposure to the Marketing department and its functions to get a better understanding of Marketing techniques and strategies by way of undergoing practical training. I consider myself fortunate enough that I had an opportunity to get a practical training at the marketing, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Dehradun, for gaining substantial knowledge of Marketing Strategies, Competitor analysis and Customer satisfaction. Telecom Industry has always been an industry associated with intense changes. Customers needs and choices always change, there always a growing demand of quality. Due these changes, BSNL is facing stiff competition from other players of telecom industry. Initially BSNL was the leader but now the scenario has changed. Due to innovations and cut throat competition, its performance has come under considerable pressure. It is losing its market share. Its landline which used to be the jewel in its throne has reached its maturity level and is now in its declining stage. The lack of top line growth and increasing costs has put pressure on BSNLs performance. To regain its numero-uno position BSNL has engaged the services of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to help develop an overall strategy and transformation plan for the organization. BCG is a leading global consulting firm and has extensive experience working with major telecom incumbents globally and in India on issues of strategy, sales & marketing strategy and large scale transformations. BCG has significant experience of working with large Public Sector undertakings to help them define and implement their change agenda.

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OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

Every study or research has an objective. I started this research with an objective of helping BSNL to regain its number one position. There were many questions in my mind, I was confused because inspite of being a government of India enterprise it was still not number one in the market. Then I focused on finding the root cause of the failure of BSNL. The main motive of my study was to increase the sales and revenue. The focus was on retailers because they are well informed about the product and also they are representatives of a large group of people. So when we interview a retailer it means that we are interviewing a large group of people at the same time. So this proves to be time saving and more precise also they can let us know the real market condition and things to improve to increase the sales. BSNL has lost its number one position it the market therefore the senior officials adopted this method to find out the reasons and want its number one tag again. Doubtlessly BSNL is making profit but despite being a government of India enterprise it is not the number one company in the telecom sector.

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Primary Objective To find the cause of losing the number one position. To get the position again and trust of customers on BSNL. To know what kind of improvement is required to be the best in telecom sector. To understand the current market position and to evaluate the improvements required for BSNL To understand the product changes needed to give it a competitive edge in the market.

Secondary objective To increase the sales and revenue. To defeat its competitors. To find out the strategies adopted by the other companies.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY Scope of this research is very wide. This research is definitely going to be a huge success and will prove to be a great help. It will help BSNL in finding out the areas where they are lagging behind and will help them in changing strategies. Its very obvious that people have their trust on BSNL and has a big number of subscribers. BSNL is not only into mobile services but also it is INDIAs biggest landline service provider. BSNL has recently launched 3G mobile service which is a revolution in telecom sector. BSNLs broadband internet service is a mile stone. Services of BSNL are all perfect but right approach and strategy will make it easier for the customers to be familiar with it. I believe that the research programme will surely help BSNL to get a strong grip into the market. This kind of research programme should be conducted on a regular basis in order to be familiar with market conditions and changes. This project has proved to be of a great help for me too. This project helped me in understanding the market conditions and the factors that affect telecom industry. It also developed my problem solving skills and made me one step closer in becoming a successful manager in future.

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Company Profile Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. formed in October, 2000, is World's 7th largest Telecommunications Company providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India: Wire line, CDMA mobile, GSM Mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service, MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP services, IN Services etc. Presently it is one of the largest & leading public sector unit in India. BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country and now focusing on improving it, expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT applications in villages and wining customer's confidence. Today, it has about 46 million line basic telephone capacity, 8 million WLL capacity, 52 Million GSM Capacity, more than 38302 fixed exchanges, 46565 BTS, 3895 Node B ( 3G BTS), 287 Satellite Stations, 614755 Rkm of OFC Cable, 50430 Rkm of Microwave Network connecting 602 Districts, 7330 cities/towns and 5.6 Lakhs villages. BSNL is the only service provider, making focused efforts and planned initiatives to bridge the Rural-Urban Digital Divide ICT sector. In fact there is no telecom operator in the country to beat its reach with its wide network giving services in every nook & corner of country and operates across India except Delhi & Mumbai. Whether it is inaccessible areas of Siachen glacier and North-eastern region of the country. BSNL serves its customers with its wide bouquet of telecom services. BSNL is numero uno operator of India in all services in its license area. The company offers vide ranging & most transparent tariff schemes designed to suite every customer. BSNL cellular service, CellOne, has 55,140,282 2G cellular customers and 88,493 3G customers as on 30.11.2009. In basic services, BSNL is miles ahead of its rivals, with 35.1 million Basic Phone subscribers i.e. 85 per cent share of the subscriber base and 92 percent share in revenue terms. BSNL has more than 2.5 million WLL subscribers and 2.5 million Internet Customers who access Internet through various modes viz. Dial-up, Leased Line, DIAS, Account Less Internet(CLI). BSNL has been adjudged as the NUMBER ONE ISP in the country. BSNL has set up a world class multi-gigabit, multi-protocol convergent IP infrastructure that provides convergent services like voice, data and video through the same Backbone and Broadband Access Network. At present there are 0.6 million DataOne broadband customers. The company has vast experience in Planning, Installation, network integration and Maintenance of Switching & Transmission Networks and also has a world class ISO 9000 certified Telecom Training Institute. Scaling new heights of success, the present turnover of BSNL is more than Rs.351,820 million (US $ 8 billion) with net profit to the tune of Rs.99,390 million (US $ 2.26 billion) for last
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financial year. The infrastructure asset on telephone alone is worth about Rs.630,000 million (US $ 14.37 billion). The turnover, nationwide coverage, reach, comprehensive range of telecom services and the desire to excel has made BSNL the No. 1 Telecom Company of India. BSNL Registered Office Bharat Sanchar Harish Chandra Mathur Janpath, New Delhi-110 001 Bhavan Lane

BSNL Corporate Office

Bharat Sanchar Harish Chandra Mathur Janpath, New Delhi-110 001

Bhavan Lane

ASPIRATION

Be the leading Telecom Service Provider in India with global presence. Create a customer focused organization with excellence in sales, marketing and customer care. Leverage technology to provide affordable and innovative products/services across customer segments Provide a conducive work environment with strong focus on performance Establish efficient business processes enabled by IT

Vision, Mission and Objectives Vision: To become the largest telecom service provider in Asia.
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Mission: To provide world class State-of-art technology telecom services to its customers on demand at competitive prices. To provide world class telecom infrastructure in its area of operation and to contribute to the growth of the country's economy.

Objectives : To be a Lead Telecom Services Provider. To provide quality and reliable fixed telecom service to our customer and there by increase customer's confidence. To provide mobile telephone service of high quality and become no. 1 GSM operator in its area of operation. To provide point of interconnection to other service provider as per their requirement promptly. Contribute towards: National Plan Target of 500 million subscriber base for the country by December 2010. Broadband customers base of 20 million in the country by 2010 as per Broadband Policy 2004. Providing telephone connection in villages as per government policy. Implementation of Triple play as a regular commercial proposition.

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Social Commitment

BSNL is committed to provide quality Telecom Services at affordable price to the citizens of the remotest part of the Country. BSNL is making all effort to ensure that the main objectives of the new Telecom Policy 1999 (salient points indicated below) are achieved: Access to telecommunications is of utmost importance for achievement of the country's social and economic goals. Availability of affordable and effective communications for the citizens is at the core of the vision and goal of the new Telecom policy 1999. Strive to provide a balance between the provision of universal service to all uncovered areas, including the rural areas, and the provision of high-level services capable of meeting the needs of the country's economy; Encourage development of telecommunication facilities in remote, hilly and tribal areas of the country;

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SWOT Analysis of BSNL Strength : It has a competitive pricing policy. BSNL provides continuous training, career advancement opportunities and a self motivated work environment to its employees. BSNL has a corporate culture of mutual respect and is an excellent service provider. BSNL maintains solid partnerships with its customers. Transparency in billing Experienced telecom service provider Pan-India reach Easy deployment of new services Huge Resources (financial & technical pool) Weaknesses : Although it is investing too much in R&D but its marketing skills are below average. Although it is growing very fast but at the same time it is losing its customers as well because the competitors are chasing close behind. Non-optimization of network capabilities Bureaucratic organizational set up Poor franchisee network Huge and aged manpower Absence of single clearance window BSNL products are not available under one roof, even the employees face this problem. They do not get the required things at a single place. Opportunities : BSNL can retain its customers by improving its marketing skills. It can establish a world-wide knowledge-broadcast system via the internet. The group can strengthen and expedite research & development in order to deliver products of top international standards. Untapped broadband services Untouched international market Fuller utilization of slack resources Threats : External factors like political instability and economic instability which are affecting the business environment. The other threats can be the market saturation in term of business opportunities available in the conventional telecom business. Competition from private operators Keeping pace with fast technological changes Market maturity in basic telephone segment Multinational eyeing Indian telecom market

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Services Offered by BSNL

BSNL is the largest telecom operator in India and is known to everybody for Basic Telephony Services for over 100 years. Presently the Plain old, Countrywide telephone service is being provided through 32,000 electronic exchanges, 326 Digital Trunk Automatic Exchanges(TAX), Digitalized Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) all interlinked by over 2.4 lakh km of Optical Fiber Cable, with a host of Phone Plus value additions to our valued Customers. BSNL's telephony network expands throughout the vast expanses of the country reaching to the remotest part of the country.

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Internet

BSNL is India's no. 1 Internet service provider with more than 17 lakh subscribers, providing Internet service throughout the entire country (except in New Delhi and Mumbai) under the brand name of "Sancharnet". Sancharnet provides free all India roaming and enables it's users to access their accounts, using the same access code (172233) and user ID from anywhere in the Country. In order to make Internet available throughout the length and breadth of the Country. Internet Dhabas are being commissioned at all the Block Headquarters. BSNL has also started DIAS and Account free internet access (CLI based) facility on few select cities recently.

India's fastest growing cellular service, along

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with postpaid and prepaid services brings cellular telephony to the masses, through innovative technology and strategic pricing. This ambitious service uses state-of-the-art GSM technology to attain global excellence and leadership in business. Our entry into this sector has brought GSM cellular service at an affordable cost to the common man. All serving a single objective, to provide better communication to millions across India. Customers have reposed tremendous faith in BSNL and it has enrolled over 30 Lakh Cellular customers within ten months of launch of Cellular service, an unprecedented mark in Indian Cellular Market.

BSNL is in the process of commissioning of a world class, multi-gigabit, multi-protocol, convergent IP infrastructure through National Internet Backbone-II (NIB-II), that will provide convergent services through the same backbone and broadband access network. The Broadband service will be available on DSL technology (on the same copper cable that is used for connecting telephone), on a countrywide basis spanning 198 cities. In terms of infrastructure for broadband services NIB-II would put India at par with more advanced nations. The services that would be supported includes always-on broadband access to the Internet for residential and business customers, Content based services, Video multicasting, Video-on-demand and Interactive gaming, Audio and Video conferencing, IP Telephony, Distance learning, Messaging: plain and feature rich, Multi-site MPLS VPNs with Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. The subscriber will be able to access the above services through Subscriber Service Selection System (SSSS) portal.

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Video Conferencing service allows multiple participants to converse with each other regardless of their location through the video end-points or Personal computers. It involves Video and Audio communication. It's about connecting people.

BSNL Web Conferencing The revolutionary, Multipoint, Multimedia, Desktop based, Audio, Video & Data Conferencing service. BSNL Web Conferencing Service is made available on your desktop and enables you to conduct virtual meetings with your partners, suppliers, employers etc. It has the innovative feature such as Persistent meeting rooms, which simulates physical room environment wherein authorized users can enter their designated rooms the way do in physical meetings. Inet

Change your way of doing business by networking your computers, data terminals, hosts and LANs in different offices and manufacturing units both within the country and outside, through Inet - an X.25 based packet switched Public Data Network of BSNL. It provides extremely cost effective and reliable solution to your High Speed Wide Area Networking needs.

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WiMAX acronym meaning Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access.It is an IP based Wireless Broadband Access Technology utilizing IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard as the air interface. Range of WiMAX: 15 Kms for Rural area (LOS). 4 Kms for Urban area. WiMAX is the Next Generation of Wireless Broadband instead of Wi-Fi. It can connect you to the internet in faster speed and wider coverage compared to Wi-Fi that can only be connected on Hotspots like Hotels, Restaurants, Airports and Recreation Center etc.

WLL BSNL WLL-M is a communication system that connects customers to the BSNL Landline network using radio frequency signals instead of conventional copper wires, for the full or part connection between the subscriber and the exchange This comes with superior voice quality and high speed data capabilities. CDMA is popular with more than 100 million subscribers worldwide, and the number keeps on increasing exponentially.

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Analysis of the strategies adopted by BSNL to fight competition and increase profit

A project to analyze: Marketing Strategies Competition Customer Satisfaction

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Marketing According to marketing concept, an organization should try to provide products that satisfy customers' needs through a coordinated set of activities that also allows the organization to achieve its goals. Customers satisfaction is the major focus of the Marketing concept .An organization should must determine what customers want and use this information to create satisfying products The organization must also continue to alter ,adapt, and develop products to keep pace with customers- changing desires and preferences. The marketing concept emphasis that marketing begins and ends with customers. The marketing concept is not a second definition of marketing .It is a management philosophy guiding an organization overall activities .This philosophy affects all organizational activities, not just Marketing. Production finance, accounting, personnel, and marketing departments must work together. Today, businesses want to satisfy customers and build meaningful long term buyer-seller relationships. The term relationship marketing refers to long term mutually beneficial arrangement in which both the buyer and seller focus on value enhancement through the creation of more satisfying exchanges To expedite exchanges and develop beneficial exchange relationships, firm marketing managers must develop and manage marketing strategies. A marketing strategy is a plan of action for developing, distributing, promoting, and pricing products that meets the needs of specific customers. The marketing strategy articulates the best use of the firms' resources and tactics to met its objectives. To develop and manage marketing strategies, marketers focus on several tasks: Selecting a target market, developing a marketing mix, assessing environmental forces, and managing marketing efforts effectively.

A target market is a specific group of buyers on whose needs and wants a company focuses its marketing efforts. Marketing managers may define a target market as a vast number of people or as a relatively small group. A market opportunity exist when the right combination of circumstances and timing permit an organization to take action to reach a particular target market. Values of Marketing Every organization should follow/abide the values of Marketing. i.e. Ethics and Social responsibility

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Ethics Ethics may be one of the most misunderstood and controversial concepts in marketing. Nevertheless, this concept and its application need to be examined in order to support Marketing decisions that are acceptably and beneficial to the society. The term ethics relates to values and choices and focuses on standards, rules, and codes of conduct that govern the behavior of individuals. Marketing ethics refer to principles that define acceptable conduct in marketing. The most basic ethical issues have been codified as laws and regulations to encourage marketers to conform to society's expectations of conduct. At a minimum, marketers are expected to obey theses laws and regulations .however. It is important to realize that marketing ethics goes beyond legal issues: ethical marketing decisions foster trust in marketing relationship. Some marketers engage in ethical behavior because of enlightened self interest, or the expectation that ethics pays. These businesses believe that if they do not act in the public interest, the public and customers will strike back with restrictive regulations and legal action. Research has shown that the values of and examples set by the organization often have more influence on ethical decisions in marketing than a persons own value. Developing awareness of ethical issues is important in understanding and improving marketing ethics. An ethical issue is an identifiable problem. Situation or opportunity requiring an individual or organization to choose from among several actions that must be evaluated as right or wrong, ethical or unethical.

Social Responsibility Compared with ethics, social responsibility represents a broader conceptualization. Social responsibility in marketing refers to an organization s obligation to maximize its positive impact and minimize its negative impact on society. Whereas ethics relates to doing the right thing in making individual and group choices, social responsibility is achieved by balancing the interest of stakeholders in an organization. The four dimensions of social responsibility are generally considered to be a) Economic b) legal c) ethical and d) philanthropic concerns. a. b. c. d. Economic: Be profitable Legal: Obey the law - law is society's codification of right and wrong. Ethical: Be ethical Obligation to do what is right, just and fair. Philanthropic: Be a good corporate citizen -- Contribute resources to the community: improve the quality of life

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Social Responsibility of BSNL

We were the most trusted telecom brand in year 2003 & 2004. We have been given Golden Peacock award for Best Corporate Social responsibility. How can we leverage these distinctions? These achievements need to be highlighted through public relation exercise like press meet. This will help us in building our marketing image. In sales and distribution front though we have over one-lakh retailers, 1000 franchisees, 3300 CSCs, 36000 exchanges why are we not visible like others? Why cant we utilize all possible space? Cant we leverage our franchisee and STD-PCO strengths? Can we make these outlets as our core strength? Why our recharge coupons, India Telephone Cards are in shortage when there is no capacity constraint? Does it imply that our planning for printing, inventory management, logistics, and supply chain and of course franchisee management is inefficient? Do we have targets for these just like DELs & CellOne? Why cant we leverage this huge network for better customer care and improve collection efficiency? We must realize that with waiver of security deposits, no OYT schemes, no advance rentals, adjustment of landline security for CellOne, we dont get fixed deposits to meet our funds requirements. Everything has to be met from Operating revenues. We need to improve collections, realize bills early, not on the last day of payment and reduce bad debts. We need to provide 24X7 culture in our organization, though we have been providing operation and maintenance on 24X7 basis in the past and we will continue to provide in future too, but what about provisioning customer care and marketing on 24X7 basis?

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Franchising Franchising is an arrangement whereby a supplier, or franchiser grants a dealer, or a franchisee, the right to sell products in exchange for some type of consideration The franchiser may receive some percentage of total sales in exchange of furnishing equipment, building, management know-how and marketing assistance to the franchisee. The franchise supplies labor and capital, operates the franchised business, and agrees to abide by the provisions of the franchise agreement Franchising offers several advantages to both the franchisee and the franchiser. It enables a franchisee to start a business with limited capital and use the business experience of others. Moreover, nationally advertised retailers are often assured of customers as soon as they open. If business problems arise, the franchisee can obtain guidance and advice from the franchiser at little or no cost. Franchised outlets are generally more successful than independently owned businesses .Less than ten percent of franchised retail businesses fail during the first two years of operation, whereas approximately half of independent retail business fails during that period. The franchisee also receives materials to use in local advertising and can take part in national promotional campaigns sponsored by the franchiser. The franchiser gains fast and selective product distribution through franchise arrangements without incurring the high cost of constructing and operating its own outlets. The franchiser therefore has more capital for expanding production and advertising It can also ensure, through the franchise agreement, that the outlets are maintained and operated by its own standard. The franchiser benefit from the fact that the franchisee, being the sole proprietor in most of the cases, is likely to be very highly motivated to succeed. Success of the franchiser means more sales, which translates in to higher royalties for the franchiser.

In Dehradun, BSNL has 7 franchisees, 5 are active and 2 are proposed. These 5 franchisees are:

Kumar Drinks Mahalaxmi Distributors Stimilus Technochip Aggarwal Traders Each franchisee has been assigned a specific area in which they can expand their business. They are not allowed to sell their items in other areas. BSNL gives 5% commission to the franchisee on every recharge. Franchisee plays a very important role in generating the revenue.
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June 2011 report of the target achieved by Franchisees RCV+ C Topu p (Lakh Achievem ) ent 110 110 110 110 110 67 102 54.7 38 47.7

New Connecti on Achievem (2G+3G) ent Aggarwa l Traders 2200 Kumar 2200 Drinks Mahalax 2200 mi Stimulus Technoc hip 2200 2200 3271 2755 1857 753 387

% 14 9 12 5 84 34 18

% 60. 9 92. 5 49. 7 34. 6 43. 3

Sims through Sanchars oft 172 62 182 253 112

Achievem ent 31 155 53 0 17

KEY OBJECTIVE OF THE FRANCHISEE MANAGER INCREASE REACH-: Ensure that all retailers in the FM territory are served by BSNL Franchisee and are properly recorded. INCREASE SALES-: Help Franchisees in increasing sales and meeting targets. MONITOR PERFORMANCE-: Monitor Franchisee and FOS Performance. RESOLVE FRANCHISEE ISSUES-: Help in resolving franchisee issues/queries. RESOLVE RETAILER ISSUES-: Help in resolving franchisee-retailer issues as highlighted by the RMC/RMs

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MARKETING MANAGEMENT DEFINITION: Marketing management is the practical application of marketing techniques. It is the analysis, planning, implementation, and control of programs designed to create, build, and maintain mutually beneficial exchanges with target markets. The marketing manager has the task of influencing the level, timing, and composition of demand in way that will achieve organizational objectives. Marketing strategies of BSNL Our visions begin with our desires. - Audre Lorde We all have some visions of ourselves and our future, and that vision creates consequences. More than any other factor, vision affects the choices we make and the way we spend our time. Visions drive consequences. Principles drive results. Key is to base vision on principles. Stephen R Covey. It is true for individuals as well as organizations. The strongest form of vision / motivation is to base vision on What Legacy we want to leave. And to achieve it we must take a principled centered path. History is full of examples that many organizations have vanished grown and vanished overnight as their path to achieve vision was not based on principled way. Vision of the organization can only be translated into reality, if it is shared by one and all. The best way to implement is to involve them in formulation. But even if it is conceived by higher management then it has to be explained to each and every individual of the organization, otherwise it may remain as a showpiece.

Marketing vision of the BSNL has to be based on overall mission and vision of the organization. The mission of BSNL is b. To provide world class State-of-art technology telecom services on demand at affordable price. c. To provide world class telecom infrastructure to develop country's economy. And the vision of BSNL is To become the largest telecom Service Provider in Southeast Asia. In dynamic environment anything permanent is CHANGE. So we must revise and review so that focus is never lost.
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Marketing Objective The ultimate objective of any marketing activity is to satisfy the customers and today even a step ahead i.e. delighting the customers, for which customers are offered something beyond their expectations from the service or the product. The objective being to acquire and retain the customers, who should continually feel that they are getting more value of the money, they are departing with. Marketing is the establishment, development, maintenance and optimization of long-term mutually valuable relationships between consumers and organisation. Successful Marketing focuses on understanding the needs and desires of the customers and is achieved by placing these needs at the heart of business by integrating them with the organisation strategy, people, technology and business processes. At its most basic, Marketing involves customers, organisations and relationships and the combination creates the need for the management. Marketing is about creating a competitive advantage by being the best at understanding, communicating, and delivering and developing existing customer relationships in addition to creating and keeping new customers. The concept of the product life cycle is giving way to customer life cycle, focusing on developing products that anticipate the future needs of existing customers and creating services that extend the existing customer relationship beyond the mere transaction. The customer life cycle will focus on lengthening the life span of the customer with the organisation rather than the endurance of a particular product. Customers have changing needs as their life styles alter- the development and provision of products and/or services that continuously seek to satisfy those needs is good Marketing. The Marketing will focus greater attention on how to deliver customer satisfaction and organisation will begin to structure itself around customer segments and not product lines. A good Marketing Strategy will take the business vision and apply it to the customer base. Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. Once marketing is understood, we can define marketing management process as analyzing marketing opportunities, researching and selecting target markets, designing marketing strategies, planning marketing programs, and organizing, implementing, and controlling the marketing efforts. In simple words it implies a buyer, a seller, bonded by the mutual need, satisfying offer and a medium/process to exchange the offer.

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Marketing Process We often talk of marketing & Sales and often use it interchangeably without understanding the difference in it. Marketing is everything we do to get and leverage a client relationship. Marketing process is broad and includes all of the following: Discovering what product, service or idea customers want. Producing a product with the appropriate features and quality. Pricing the product correctly. Promoting the product; spreading the word about why customers should buy it. Selling and delivering the product into the hands of the customer. Contrasting the Sales Concept with the Marketing Concept:We Sell Confidence. The concepts surrounding both selling and marketing also differ. There is a need for both selling and marketing approaches in different situations. One approach is not always right and the other always wrong - it depends upon the particular situation. In a marketing approach, more listening to and eventual accommodation of the target market occurs. Two-way communication (sometimes between a salesperson and a customer) is emphasized in marketing so learning can take place and product offerings can be improved. A salesperson using the sales concept, on the other hand, sometimes has the ability to individualize components of a sale, but the emphasis is ordinarily upon helping the customer determine if they want the product, or a variation on it, that is already being offered by the company. In the sales approach, not much time is spent learning what the customer's ideal product would be because the salesperson has little say in seeing that their company's product is modified. Furthermore, they aren't rewarded for spending time listening to the customer's desires unless they have a product to match their desires that will result in a sale. The 7Ps for service marketing (Product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, people & process) are the means to attain, nurture, & retain the customers and not the end.

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Mission & Vision. Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you are alive, it isnt. Richard Bach.

Most of the big companies have a Vision & Mission statement so as to guide their all energy, efforts to realize it. BSNL also has a vision To become the largest Telecom Service provider in South East Asia. Firstly we need to understand the parameter for being the largest. Is it revenue, ARPU, profit, subscribers, Network (no of exchanges, BTS etc)? From monopoly to multi operator scenario, BSNLs market share is bound to reduce. But how much down we will let it? There are lot of similarities between British Telecom & us. One must keep watch on market share in monthly growth and take timely action. To improve our share, we need to acquire more than 50% of new acquisitions while maintaining earlier. This is quite challenging in this dynamic environment. Today landline base is reducing across globe, but why? Europe defines an operator with 25% or more market share as Significant market Power (SMP), while they intend to increase it to 40%. BSNL has been the largest operator and we must strive not only to maintain but enhance it. We need to act fast. Timely action is an essence. What should be our marketing Vision, will it help us in inspiring to achieve higher. Can it be something such as To retain the highest market share, build highest brand equity and maximizing the profits?

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BRAND EQUITY

BRAND EQUITY BRAND AWARENESS

What is Brand Equity? The goal of Brand leadership paradigm is to create strong brand anyway? In managing Brand equity, brand equity was defined as the brand assets or [liabilities] linked to a brands name and symbol that add to [or subtract from] a product or service. These assets can be grouped in to four dimensions brand awareness, perceived quality, brand associations and brand loyalty. These four dimensions guide brand development, management and measurement. Brand awareness: Brand awareness is an often undervalued asset; however, awareness has been shown to affect perceptions and even taste. People like the familiar and are prepared to ascribe all sorts of good attitudes to items that are familiar to them. The Intel Inside campaign has dramatically transferred awareness into perceptions of technological superiority and market acceptance. Perceived quality: Brand association can be anything that connects the customer to the brand. It can include user imagery, product attributes, use situations, Organizational associations, brand personality and symbols. Much of brand management involves determining what associations to develop and then creating programs that will link the associations to the brand.

PERCIVED QUALITY

BRAND ASSOCIATION

BRAND LOYALTY

Brand associations: Brand association can be anything that connects the customer to the brand. It can include user imagery, product attributes, use situations, Organizational associations, brand personality and symbols. Much of brand management involves determining what associations to develop and then creating programs that will link the associations to the brand.

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Brand loyalty: Brand loyalty is at the heart of any brands value. The concept is to strengthen the size and intensity of each loyalty segment. A brand with a small but intensely loyal customer base can have significant equity. Brand Preference : The stage of brand loyalty at which a brand will select a particular brand but will choose a competitors brand if the preferred brand is unavailable. See Brand insistence; Brand recognition. We may think what is Brand equity? In simple words it is how far people are willing to pay if we increase our prices i.e. premium for our services. We may feel happy to say there is lot of black marketing of our SIM cards. Is it a healthy sign? We reduce prices when competitors launch new schemes. Does it imply poor brand equity? Brand Equity can be built with good equity of quality of services at the affordable price. Continuous innovation in product and delivery of services with the appropriate pricing is the key strategy for developing the trust in customer so that he keeps his loyalty with BSNL. We have to be first mover in our efforts for product and price differentiation. Presently the market is in growth phase and price could be a differentiating factor, but how long? Is any scope left for further cuts? Ultimately it is the quality, customer care, and timely availability apart from price, which will matter. Quality depends on many parameters such as tangibles (like physical facilities, Appearance of personnel, Tools or equipment used to provide service, Physical appearance of service, Other customers in the service facility), Reliability, Responsiveness, Competence, Courtesy, Credibility, Security, Access, and Communications with customer, Understanding etc. Quality definitely commands premium. Why are people willing to pay more for Raymonds or Adidas or Sony when comparable offers exist in market? One may say that customer perception of quality is not built overnight; it may require a brand and brand building investments apart from a quality product. How many brands do we have? Our investments get diluted with more number of brands. Even Airtel merged the Touchtel brand with more popular one. Cant we have just one brand i.e. BSNL? Have we ever tried to examine our revenue breakup? While majority of the revenue comes from landline (DELs plus PCOs), how many people know of Bfone? CellOne happens to be more popular. So where should our marketing & sales effort be more? Wholesale, retail or corporate! What means do we need to use to promote our products and in what proportion? Advertising, PR, Franchisees, 24x7 customer care, business development etc. What activities should be taken up by Corporate Office, Circles and SSAs? In advertising there is need to synergize our activities at Corporate, Circle and SSA level. In this regard Corporate office has issued division of work guidelines. There is also a need to have good relation with our advertising agencies and simultaneously their performance need to be monitored for taking quality output from them. What is USP (Unique Selling Proposition) for BSNL? A Government company which delivers. A government company which gives service better than private could be a deadly combination, which no competitor can copy.
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Business Development. Business development units have been given the task to develop and nurture long-term relations with corporate houses. Many MoUs have been signed. Bulk bills are being issued. One-point payments are being realized for multiple service locations. Key Account Manager concept has been introduced. All this requires change of mindset in addition to the skills of marketing & sales. Do we have skilled manpower? Is our organization setup apt for better results? The staff expense to revenue ratio could be a good indicator. No doubt our revenues are up. Profit has increased. But consider the marketing budget we have in comparison to others. Even with this little budget many circles are unable to utilize it. We need to probe ourselves. Corporate office has permitted delegation of upto 70% of Circle budget to SSAs. Does it mean that our budget planning is wrong? How should we allocate marketing budget and which parameter to weigh? Per DEL/Mobile Acquisition cost Life time value Competitor spend Growth targets Life Time Value You cant give people pride, but you can provide the kind of understanding that makes people look to their inner strength and find their own sense of pride. Charleszetta Waddles. Let us understand what is the lifetime value of our customers? Paying commission of Rs 100200 to franchisee is not a cost considering the future flow of revenue from the customer. How many of our decisions are based on scientific analysis of the precious customer data we already have such as calling pattern, payment habits, usage profile etc? How many surveys we do, how much customer research we carry out? Net growth in mobile is high but what about churn? Cant we analyze & reduce it? Acquisition cost is usually said to be 5-8 times the retention cost. It is high time we learn fast, groom ourselves, improve our mindset and act fast. Business perspective is equally important as excellence in Telecom operations, maintenance, and installations & planning. Our core competence should be telecom business acumen and not just traditional expertise developed over the years.
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It is usually much easier to sell additional things to existing customers than to add new customer. Let us try to upgrade each customer by RS 20 RS 50 by offering them more add on relevant services. Vision is set in the Boardroom but realized in the battlefield. Each and every employee has to continuously lead this battle to be victorious. The corporate office is always willing to provide all resources. Together we can realize our vision. My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for next moment. -Oprah Winfrey Competition BSNL has very tough competitors in Indian market. Reliance is most live competitor for BSNL. Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and others are also there to give BSNL hard competition. Reliances plans for setting up a parallel telecom infrastructure has made BSNL very aggressive. It has announced an expansion plan of Rs 16,500 crore for upgrading its network . It also has cellular services plans in almost 300 cities. It is aiming to add around 68.3 lakh more lines. To provide more bandwidth to the user, the company is augmenting its long distance network by connecting more metros and large cities with high capacity DWDM systems. It is testing VoIP services in metro cites. It is also planning to increase the efficiency and bandwidth of network by going for distributed network where OFC is put to maximum use of comparison to PIJF. The focus next year will be on maximizing the revenue from the subscribers, by providing IN services in both basic and cellular as well as improving customer support services. Changing the attitude of employees in the highly competitive atmosphere is a task well cut-out for BSNL. BSNL's nearest competitor Bharti Airtel is standing at a customer base of 39 million. However, despite impressive growth shown by BSNL in recent times. Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, Indias largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom
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sector in the country with its world class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBUs) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 95 cities and has recently launched India's best Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Airtel digital TV. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Airtel is most preferred brand nowadays. It is reliable also. Its popularity is immensely growing, it might be due to its services or its advertisement. Its advertisement has a zing and attracts the young customers. On the other hand, BSNL has failed to attract the young people. They dont have plans that attract the young people, even their advertisement lack the required spark. The period or the time has changed, now the young people like a nice background, a good music and a famous face in an advertisement. Airtel has Shahrukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, music of A. R. Rehman, what else is required. On the other hand BSNLs advertisement looks very traditional and old. BSNL should take things seriously, because its high time now. It should change its strategy and should bring some innovative changes.

Customer Satisfaction: If the customer's expectations of product quality, service quality, and price are exceeded, a firm will achieve high levels of customer satisfaction and will create "customer delight." If the customer's expectations are not met, customer dissatisfaction will result. And the lower the satisfaction level, the more likely the customer is to stop buying from the firm. Customer Retention After four and half year of corporatization of BSNL, a customer-focused approach among its employees is still not present. In this era of intense competition, it is very important for any service company to understand that merely acquiring customers is not sufficient because there is a direct link between customer retention over time and profitability & growth. Customer retention to a great extent depends on service quality and customer satisfaction. It also depends on the ability of the organization to encourage customers to complain and then recover when things go wrong. Complaints are natural part of any service activity as mistakes are an unavoidable feature of all human endeavor and thus also of service recovery. Service recovery is the process of putting things right after something goes wrong in the service delivery.
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Importance of Customer Retention Why are customers more profitable for service firms over a period of time? There are a number of reasons for this. To begin with, to acquire a customer a company incurs promotional costs like advertising, sales promotion etc. It is said that it costs five times more to attract a new customer than retaining one. The operating cost decreases when a customer stays. Services being rich in experience and credence qualities, it takes some time for customers to get accustomed to it and once they are used to the service and are satisfied with the service provider ,they tend to purchase more over a period of time. As they remain satisfied with a service provider, they spread a positive word of mouth, which is very effective in case of services for attracting new customers. Longer the customer stays with an organization, more the organization knows about him, which enables it to offer customized services which make it difficult for the customer to defect. This may even provide opportunities to the organization to charge price premium by offering individualized services which may be difficult for the competitors to offer. Considering the importance of retaining customers in service business, Reichheld & Sasser coined a term Zero Defection. They highlighted that companies can boost profits by almost 100% by retaining just 5% more of their customers. Further, it is also very important to understand the life time value of a customer. For example, if an average customer of BSNL pays Rs. 500 per month and stays with the company for 20 years., his average lifetime value will be Rs. 500x 12x 20=Rs. 1,20,000. Further, if by a positive word of mouth, he brings just one more customer to the organization, his value to the organization doubles. Therefore, it is important for all the employees in the organization to understand the life time value of their customers. Once they understand it, they will treat the customer accordingly and will focus on building relationship with the very people who keep them in business. Reasons for customer Switching The reasons for customer switching can be identified as following: Pricing (High price, unfair pricing, deceptive pricing) Inconvenience (Wait for service, wait for appointment) Core service failure (Service mistakes, Billing errors) Service encounter failure (Uncaring, impolite, unresponsive behavior) Response to service failure (Negative response, no response, reluctant response)
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Competition (Found better service) Ethical problem (Cheating, Unsafe) Involuntary switching (customer moved, provider closed) An important aspect of the above is that six out of the eight service switching factors are controllable from a service organizations point of view.

Strategies for Customer Retention (A) Complaint Management System Any worthwhile complaints management system has to have following basic features: Visibility: Customer should know where to complain. Accessibility: Customer should know how to complain. As a rule of thumb, the more formal the system for lodging complaints, the less accessible it is to customers. Responsiveness: Complaints need to be dealt quickly. The quicker the complaints are dealt with, the higher the customer satisfaction. Customer-focused approach: A service provider who adopts customer-focused approach, invites complaints and indicates commitment of resolving complaints by its words and actions in all fairness.

Accountability: Someone in the organization has to take responsibility for complaint handling. Continuous Improvement: This is about looking at the root causes and fixing them. A good complaint management system must ensure that that complainant is kept informed, the
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staff understands the complaint processes, complaints are taken seriously and employees are empowered to deal with situations. (B) Service Recovery Strategies Consider the following incident regarding an airlines (British Airways). An aircraft door was left open in a rainstorm before take off and a passenger near the door unfortunately got showered. The flight attendant not only did everything that was routine- offered to have the customers garments cleaned and made sure that a customer relations representative contacted the customer later to demonstrate that they genuinely cared- but also made special gesture by offering the passenger a complimentary choice of certain tax free goods. It is very important for service companies to have service recovery strategies which can be applied in case of service failure. The following steps are useful in an effective service recovery system. Measure the costs of effective service recovery. It should include the indirect cost also, when a customer departs unhappily. Break customer silence and listen closely for complaints.Act fast. Train and empower employees. The front line people must be trained and empowered by the organization. Close the customer feedback loop.

(C) Managing Customer Waiting

Sometimes, it is not possible to match demand & capacity, and hence waiting by customers becomes inevitable. While reducing waiting time is important for a marketer, it is equally if not more, important to reduce the customers perceived waiting time. If a customers perceived waiting time is less, he will be more satisfied with the service. Various ways of managing customer waiting are as follows: The organization should analyze its operational processes in order to identify and remove inefficiencies or bottlenecks, if any. In case waiting cannot be avoided, a reservation system can be used.
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Since unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time, keep customer occupied by installing distractions that entertain and physically involve them. For example, TV sets, magazines reading material can be provided in waiting area. Provide waiting duration information i.e. information about the expected length of wait and/or queuing information i.e. a customers position in queue with continuous update. If unexpected delays occur, explanation should be given to the customer. This helps in reducing uncertainty and customer irritation. The key is to impress upon the customer that he has not been forgotten. Simple things like providing a glass of water or a cup of tea to the waiting customer can do wonders. Keep resources not serving customer out of sight. This can be done by keeping idle employees out of view and conducting activities that do not involve customer interactions out of customers sight. Try to reduce pre-service waiting time by transferring some of the pre-service waiting to the service encounter phase. A smiling service person who knows his job well can be very helpful in overcoming many negative effects of waiting. Therefore, training and incentive/ rewards for providing good service should be made. TOOLS FOR TRACKING AND MEASURING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Customer satisfaction we can measure by the various methods they are: COMPLAINT AND SUGGESTION SYSTEM A customer-centered organization makes it easy for its customer to deliver suggestions and complaints. Many restaurants and hotel provides forms for guests to report likes and dislikes. Some customer- centered companies P&G General Electric, Whirlpool-establish not lines with too-free 800 telephone numbers. Companies are also adding web pages and e- mail to facilitate two-way communication. These information's flows provide companies' with many good ideas and enable them to act quickly to resolve problem. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS Studies show that although customers are dissatisfied with one out of every four purchases, less than 5% of dissatisfied customer will complain. Most customers will buy less or switch suppliers. Complaint levels are thus not a good measure of customer satisfaction. Responsive companies measure customer satisfaction directly by conducting periodic surveys. They send
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questionnaires or make telephone calls to random sample of recent customer. They also solicit buyers, views on their competitors' performances. Whole collecting customer satisfaction data, it is also use fuel to ask additional questions to measure re-purchase intention; this will normally be high, if the customer satisfaction is high. It is also useful to measure the likelihood or willingness to recommend the company and brand to others. A high positive word-of mouth score indicates that the company is producing high customer satisfaction.

LOST CUSTOMER ANALYSIS Companies should contact customer who had stopped buying or who have switched to another suppliers to learn why this happened. When IBM loses a customer, it mounts a through effort to learn where it failed. Not only is it important to conduct exit interviews when customers first stop buying, but is also necessary to monitor the customer loss rate. If it is increasing this is clearly indicates that the company is falling to satisfy customers. Conclusion Todays customers are becoming harder to please. They are smarter, more price conscious, more demanding, less forgiving and they are approached by many more competitors with equal or better offers. The challenge is not to produce satisfied customers; several competitors can do this. The challenge is to produce delighted and loyal customers. If these customers are retained with the organization, they become really profitable by way of increase in purchasing, reduced operating costs, price premiums and through referrals. Too many companies suffer from customer churn i.e. high customer defection. It is like adding water to a leaking bucket. Various strategies such as measuring customer life time value, efficient complaint management system and service recovery strategies can be really helpful in retaining customers.

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Research Methodology

Research Problem To find the performing of BSNL vis--vis other companies like Reliance, Idea, Airtel, Vodafone and TATA Indicom. To know the consumer perception and their behaviour towards BSNL services. To find out if the retailers are not satisfied with the commission provided by BSNL. To find whether they sell the BSNL products or not, if no then why? To find whether the distributers visit the market and supply the products to the retailers To find out how much commission the other companies provide to the retailers? Research Objectives To know the preference of BSNL services with other competitive companies. To know whether the distributers are doing their duty or not? To find out what should be done to create the awareness about the products

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Information Requirement First I had to know about the entire competitor present in telecom services segment (reputed and well established companies). Before going for the survey I had to know the comparative services and rates of all the competitors existing in the market. Because at the time of retailers interview they used to ask several questions regarding BSNL services and schemes. I had to know about the distributers and the respected areas they were dealing in. these were some of the informations that I must know to make the interview interactive and interesting. Choice of Research Design Despite the difficult of establishing an entirely satisfactory classification system, it is helpful to classification marketing research on the basis of the fundamental objectives of the research. Consideration on the different type, their applicability, strengths, and their weakness will help to select the type best suited to a specific problem. The two types of researches are: Exploratory Research Descriptive Research

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Research Instrument used If one wants to know that how much people buy a particular brand or what they think about the brand or a particular company. Thus the questionnaire method has come to be the more widely used of the true data collection method. The questionnaire method in general has a number of advantages. A questionnaire consists of list of questions to be asked from the respondents and the space provided to record the answer.

Questionnaire in the project consists of: Multiple Choice questions question of this type offer the respondents an alternative to choose right answer among other. Sample design is a definite plan of obtaining some items from the whole population. The sample design used in this project is: Convenience Sampling This type of sampling is chosen purely on the basis of convenience of the interviewer.

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Sampling Sampling technique Sample units products Sample size Non-probability sampling People who are selling Telecom

100 respondents (age ranging Between 23 years to 65 years)

Method Data analysis method Area of district Timing of survey

Direct interview through Questionnaire Graphical method Dehradun-Rishikesh 11:30 AM to 5:00 PM

Field Work Method used for data collection Questionnaire was prepared keeping the objective of research in mind. Questions were asked to the respondents as regards to their willingness to use BSNL services. The help of questionnaires conducted direct interviews, in order to get accurate information. In order to get correct information I had to approach consumers ranging from 23 years to 65 years

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Data Interpretation Primary Tabulation & Interpretation on the basis of Questionnaires

1. Do you sell SIM cards (of any brand) Yes-95% No-5%

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Selling of Sim Cards of all Companies

Yes No

5%

95%

Interpretation- It was clear through the survey that maximum number of retailers were selling Sim cards and recharge both and only few were selling recharge only.

2. Do you sell recharges coupons (of any brand)? Yes- (paper recharge) 90% Yes-(electronic recharge) 85% No- 10%

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Selling of Recharge Coupons of all Companies

Yes (Paper Recharge) Yes (Electronic Recharge) No

5% 49% 46%

Interpretation- The second question was about recharge coupons, whether the retailers sell or not or they only deal with SIM cards and E-TOP up. It was found that 90% of the retailer sell paper recharge and 80% of them were dealing with electronic recharge and 10% of them did not sell any kind of recharge. This question was asked in order to get a brief detail about the recharge method used by the retailer. This was done because in case of paper recharge there is a problem of cross selling which means a dealer sells its paper recharge in other area. So by this question we got an idea of the number of paper recharge done by retailer.

3. Do you sell BSNL SIM cards? Yes- 69% No-31%

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Selling of BSNL Sim

Yes No

31%

69%

Interpretation: This question was asked in order to know whether a particular retailer sells BSNL on not it was found that 69% retailer were selling BSNL sim while 31% were not. The reasons for not selling the sim cards were many. Some said that distributors never came or they come rarely, then the customers do not prefer BSNL because of less attractive plans and network problems.

4. Do you sell BSNL Recharge Coupons? Yes 76% No 24%

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Selling of BSNL Recharge Coupons

No 24%

Yes 76%

Interpretations: It was found that 76% people were selling BSNL recharge, while 24% were not selling. So now its the job of BSNL to attract these 24% people.

5. Who is the supplier of BSNL SIM cards to you? A-Distributors 45% B-Big Retailers 30% C-No one 25%

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Supplier of BSNL Sim Cards

No One 25% Distributors 45%

Big Retailers 30%

Interpretation- The question was asked in order to find the distributor, who is selling the BSNL product to the retailer. Whether they are being able to fulfill the market demand or not and what kind of behavior they have towards retailers. I found that the distributors were not doing their job properly. They were not sending their FOS to the retailers and retailers were left on their own. They were themselves going to the big retailers to get BSNL products and were not getting commission. There is a good demand of BSNL in the market but due to attitude of the distributors BSNL is losing its market share. It shows that there is definitely some defect and gaps in market strategy adopted by BSNL. These are some of the reasons why people are losing their trust from BSNL and switching over other service provider. 6. Would you like to provide me some information regarding the selling of new mobile connections which you made in last month?

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Sale of new connections (last month)

Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance Tata

10% 11%

25%

16% 23% 15%

Interpretation-When this research was completed, it was found that Airtel and Vodafone were the leaders. BSNLs 16% is not acceptable, if compared to its potential. BSNL should change its marketing strategies. It should change the attitudes of its employees, recruit young people and improve its network.

7. Would you like to provide some information about the total selling in terms of the money in the last month?

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Sales in Average
35000 30000 30000 26000 25000 20000 16000 15000 10000 5000 0 Airtel Vodafone BSNL Reliance Idea 14000 Sales in Average 22000

Interpretation- in terms of sales BSNL is not too behind than Airtel and Vodafone, which are two of the best gainer of the last month, BSNL can do much better than this if it come back with its full potential. This is not the exact figure of the selling but an approximate idea. BSNL has a strong customer base the only thing is needed to make BSNL the Indias number one company is proper implementation of the marketing strategies.

8. What are the reasons if you dont sell BSNL SIM cards?

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Reasons of not selling BSNL

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 94% 78% 78% 77%

44%

9% Reasons of not selling BSNL

Interpretation- when I asked this question to the retailers they respond me in a straight way that none of the distributer come here to supply the products we have to go to the distributer for the SIM cards this was the main reason of not selling the SIM cards. There were also some factor affecting the selling of the SIM cards, second reason was the commission provided by the BSNL, they were not satisfied with it. Some of the retailers had different thoughts about this as per them the activation process is very lengthy and critical therefore they do not entertain selling BSNL SIM cards. Some said customers dont prefer BSNL due to network problem.

9. How many times the distributers visit to your shop to supply the telecom products?

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16 14

15

12 12 10 8 8 6 4 2 0 How many times distributers visit the shops in a month 1 8 BSNL Airtel Vodafone Idea Reliance

Interpretation: It was found that BSNL distributer are very lazy and not interested in roaming around in the market this is one of the main factor why BSNL is no longer the number one telecom company in INDIA whereas others companys distributer visit the market very often to fulfil the demand in the market and they try to get some information if there is any problem regarding the services and products. Retailers were very upset about the kind of behavior BSNL persons do with them

10. How much commission retailers get from the telecom companies?

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Commission provided by companies

Commission provided by companies 3.50% 3.50% 3.50%

2.50%

Airtel

Idea

Vodafone

BSNL

Interpretation- Retailers said that they were not getting good commission from BSNL but when I checked the office records, I found that the main culprit were the distributers because they were not giving the retailers a good commission. BSNL should keep an eye on the distributers and should become a little bit strict in handling them.

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RECOMMENDATION & SUGGESTIONS After getting the questionnaire filled, people are not fully satisfied with its services so that for existence in the local market BSNL must provide better services than its competitors. Though BSNL advertisement is rarely shown on television yet many people could recall it as per the data of questionnaire. It shows that there is a need to give advertisement only to rememorize customers. BSNLs advertisement that is going on air is not that appealing, especially to young people. The advertisement shows Deepika Padukone going to rural areas and hilly areas. I know that rural market is going to be a huge success but at present time it should focus more on urban market. There is one more problem with rural areas and the problem is of network. So it should be better for BSNL to improve its services in one sector and then eye on another because presently its not in a condition to sail in two boats at the same time. Company should launch its new services with improved quality. Company should focus more on young generation and should introduce those plans which will attract them like message pack and night pack. It should also improve its network. BSNL should give training to its employees on the topics like, customer satisfaction, their value, their importance to the organization. It should encourage its employees to change their attitude towards the customer. They should dedicate themselves to their jobs and should work for the satisfaction of customers. Because the present attitude of the employees is not that good their complaint handling system is not effective. So it should work toward its improvement

Need of the hour: A new marketing strategy BSNL has to take every effort to increase the market share. BSNL has to think seriously how to improve its service. At the same time each and every employee of BSNL has to think about the marketing strategy of BSNL. Its huge manpower can be plunged in to action. Whether it is improvement of quality of service or marketing, it cannot leave it to the management to take the initiative. It will have to start aggressively to ensure that the service is improved. It has also to pressurize the management to take necessary steps. The fact is that being a Govt. owned company, people generally have trust and good will in
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BSNL. Common people still believe that BSNL dose not involve in cheating and unfair business practices like private operator. Even the customers who had earlier switched over to private operators are ready to come back to BSNL, provided BSNL service is improving to their satisfaction. But BSNL must try to improve its GSM equipped capacity and also basic as well as Broadband connections

CONCLUSION The main objective of the training is to get direct exposure to the execution of day to day functioning of the department within the organization. It helps to understand the importance of team work, organizational culture, team dynamics, result orientation, organizational pressures complexities in achieving the desired results. In this research, the main thing was questionnaire. This questionnaire was basically made to know that where BSNL is actually stand in the eyes of its customers. After getting the questionnaire filled, it was found that although BSNL is providing a lot of services but due to its weak marketing strategy people are not aware about its services, so BSNL must take a step or adopt aggressive promotional activity for selling out of these services. People are not satisfied with its services so that for existence in the local market BSNL must provide better services than its competitors.
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Annexur RETAILER INTERVIEW Questionnaire

Name of Surveyor Name of Shop

Survey Date Shopkeepers Name

Address Shop Number Locality Name Town/Village Development Block Pin Code Mobile Number Road Number/Name

Tehsil Landmark Landline Telephone No.

Question No. 1: Circle the correct option. (a) Do you sell SIMs (of any brand)? (Yes / No) (b) Do you sell recharge vouchers (of any brand)? (Yes / No) (c) Do you sell BSNL SIMs? (Yes / No) (d) Who sells BSNL SIMs to you? . (Please fill in the name) (e) Do you Sell BSNL recharge? (Yes, paper vouchers / Yes, electronic recharge CTOPUP / No, dont sell) (f) What is your BSNL CTOPUP mobile number? .. Question No. 2: Can you please provide details for your sales of last month? Number of activations (SIM Number of recharge sales in last month, sales) in Last month in Rupees Airtel Vodafone
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BSNL Idea Reliance Tata Aircel

Market retailer survey questionnaire Question No. 3: In case you do not sell BSNL SIMs or recharge, What are the reasons f for the same? (Please tick all appropriate boxes) Tick the appropriate option Reasons for not selling BSNL products BSNL distributors never visited us BSNL distributor has weak/poor service The distributor does not have BSNL SIM Profit from selling BSNL products (Commissions etc.) is not as high as from other operators Customers do not want to buy BSNL products Network problem Others (Please specify)

Question No. 4: What is the commission given to you by each telecom operator? Commission Airtel Vodafone Idea BSNL Reliance Tata Aircel

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Websites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Sanchar_Nigam_Limited http://www.bsnl.co.in/company/vision.htm http://www.bsnl.co.in/about.htm http://www.bsnl.co.in/company/social_commitment.htm http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/dataone.htm http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/telephone.htm http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/3G/3GHomepage.htm http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/internet.htm http://www.marketing91.com/measuring-customer-satisfaction-2/ http://www.alttc.bsnl.co.in/altzine/vol_29032006/marketing.htm Books Research Methodology, Methods and Techniques (Second Revised Edition), C. R. Kothari, New Age International Publishers, Methods of data Collection, chapter 6, Pg. 95-112. Research Papers Marketing strategies of BSNL Shri G S Grover Director Shri N K Srivastava CGM ALTTC Ghaziabad. Shri Sunil Kumar DDG Marketing BSNL CO. Secondary sources BSNL files

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