What Is Finishing School Marketing Essay

A finishing school is the final polish to your education to make you an all-rounder with a good personality, grooming, excellent personal etiquette and dress sense. A well groomed person with a pleasant personality stands out in a crowd and has a higher chance of ready acceptance in any setting – be it the job market, family environment or peer group.

Need for a Finishing School

None of us can truthfully say that we are perfect and have nothing more to learn. Life is a school with live experiences. At our finishing school we give you the accumulated wisdom of our faculty to help you move up in your life. There are two ways to learn – one by making mistakes and the other by learning before you make the mistakes. We believe that we can make a difference in your life by helping you move upward towards your goals and ambitions.

Grooming in a Finishing School

You learn the art of conversation, the quietly elegant as well as the flamboyant style of dress and grooming, the art of conversation, managing to live within your income, tips on saving and investment, handling aggressive behaviour with calm and poise and to manage your time effectively. This is only an outline of things and each specific need has a program to handle it.

The ways of learning in a Finishing School

Our programs are FUN and learning has never been so easy. Practical learning always makes for more effective retention and we follow this approach in all areas of our programs. Studies about learning methodology reveal that kinesthetic, visual and auditory learning has a better appeal and makes for better understanding. Our course modules are developed keeping these principles in mind.

Age no bar for a Finishing School student

A person can enrol in our finishing school at any age between 7 and 70. We believe that there are no barriers to learning.

Our primary programmes are aimed at the segment seeking employment immediately or in the near future. These short-term courses help you enhance your basic knowledge and skill and give you additional inputs to make you stand out in the crowd.

Programmes for children, teenagers, parents, brides and grooms and the retired person are also available in our finishing school.

HISTORY OF FINISHING SCHOOLS:

Switzerland is known for its private finishing schools, such as Institut Villa Pierrefeu or Institut Alpin Videmanette (now closed), where Diana, Princess of Wales studied, and Mon Fertile, where Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall was partly educated. The finishing school that made Switzerland renowned for such institutions was the Institut Villa Mont Choisi, founded in the 1870s, which closed in 1995/6. Other notable schools included Institut Chateau Beau-Cedre which closed in 2002.

The term finishing school is occasionally used in American parlance to refer to certain small women’s colleges, primarily on the East Coast, that were known for serving to prepare their female students for marriage. Since the 1960s, many of these schools have become defunct as a result of financial difficulties stemming from parents’ decreased interest in paying for such an education for their daughters.

FINISHING SCHOOLS IN INDIA:

Finishing School is a supplementary training school popular in India that attempts to make-up for deficiencies of low-tier colleges by providing specialized vocational training in technical fields such as computer programming and information technology.

The recent boom in the Indian Economy has further enhanced the need for such finishing schools. These IT finishing schools cover technical skills as well as communication and problem solving skills. The biggest advantage of these finishing schools is that these schools cut down the “deployable time” for a company.

Other finishing schools attempt to make up for deficiencies in the Indian secondary education system with regards to math and science education and bring the student up to the level necessary for attending university and gaining admission. For instance, it is not uncommon for Indian students to spend an entire 1 to 2 years studying in a tutorial cram school after secondary education to gain entrance into a top Medical or Engineering school.

Western Countries are often flooded by extremely over-prepared and well networked Indian students, to the point of putting their own students at a disadvantage to their own rule and merit based college entrance and scholarship award systems where cram schools are virtually unknown, particular in Engineering and Medicine, areas which the Indian cram school focus on.

WELL KNOWN FINISHING SCHOOLS IN INDIA:

PRIYA WARRICK FINISHING SCHOOL, NEW DELHI

WALCHAND DALE CARNEGIE FINISHING SCHOOL, BANGALORE

GOOD SHEPHERD FINISHING SCHOOL, OOTY

ECOLE SOLITAIRE, PUNE

MODERN DAY FINISHING SCHOOL, MUMBAI

SWISS PERSONA FINISHING SCHOOL, NEW DELHI

ANOORADHA PATEL’S FINISHING SCHOOL, MUMBAI

RIGHT STEP FINISHING SCHOOL, CHENNAI

MAKEOVER FINISHING SCHOOL, GHAZIABAD

1.2 FRAMEWORK of SERVICES PROVIDED

Level-1 Elementary level

Concept of language

Usage & grammar

Parts of speech

Sentence formation skills

Dialogue session

Creative & simple terminology

Soft-skill development

Different usage of action words

Questioning skills

Messaging skills

Level-2 Advanced level

Ideal Introduction

Self-Confidence & Perfection Session

Listening Module

Vocabulary & Pronunciation Session

Preparing Impressive CVs

Manners: Request,

Offer

Permission

Art of Thanking People

Package for Corporate Executives

Communication Skills

Business Communication

Verbal and Non Verbal Communication

Active Listening

Behavioral & Telephonic Skills

Behavior Traits

Body Language

Tone

Presenting yourself

Positive Attitude

Confidence Building

Etiquette

Telephone and e-mail Etiquette

Mannerism

Art of Dressing

Conversational Styles

Change Management

Understanding Change

Causes of Change

Resistance to Change

Acceptance of Change

Presentation Skills

Public Speaking

Presentation by Participants

Role Plays

Level-B

Creativity

Brainstorming Session

Role Plays

Small Projects

Time Management

Maintaining Time Log

Prioritization to Works

Art of Delegation

Desk & Paper Management

Leadership

Leadership Styles

Dos of Effective Leadership

Perception for Leadership

Leadership by Delegation

Team-Work

“We feeling”

Factors Blocking & Contributing Team-Work

Stages of Team development

Conflict Management

Techniques

Practical Cases

Stress Management

Goal Setting

Presentations and Role Plays

Video Films

Management Games

Case Studies

Package for Housewives known as “Be a perfect lady”

Level-1

Personality Development

Confidence Building

Social etiquette: Walking, Talking, Sitting

Dinning Etiquette

Developing Conversational Skill

Improving Body Language, Gestures & Postures

Personal Counseling

Making your Importance felt in your family

Level-2

Art of entertaining guest in Hotel & Home

Accompanying Husband to the Business Party

Understanding Man – Woman Relationship

Advanced Dinning Etiquette

Home Management

Beverages: Cocktail & Mock tail Preparation

Developing Styles

Special Sessions on Make-up, Hair style, &Art of dressing

Package for Spoken English

Level & Fees:

Basic Level Rs.4, 000

Intermediate Level Rs.5, 000

Advanced Level Rs.7, 500

Duration: 3 Months

Timings:

Basic Level Morning: 8:00-9:30

Intermediate Level Noon: 4:00-5:30

Advanced Level Evening: 6:30-8:00

Days:

Batch-1: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Batch-2: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

Crash Courses

Duration &Fees:

5 Days: Rs.1500

10 Days: Rs.3000

15 Days: Rs.4500

Fees structure

Package

Fees (Rs.)

For Students

5,000

For Corporate executives

Level-A

Level-B

7,000

9,000

For Housewives

4,500

Spoken English

Basic

Intermediate

Advanced

4,000

5,000

7,500

Computer course

Ms-office

Tally

4,000

5,000

Crash courses

5 days

10 days

15 days

1,500

3,000

4,500

1.2 (A) Service Features

1.3 PROJECT REASONING:

We have chosen to prepare a Project Feasibility Report on “Finishing School” wherein we have mainly focused on three groups as our target segments:

Students

Corporate executives

Housewives

In the context of Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), we think the scope for the growth of our business is high due to following reasons:

It is considered that the level of English in Ghaziabad is comparatively low due to influence of vernacular language specially Ghaziabadi. The result of our market survey also reflects the same scenario that the majority of the respondents prefer to join the finishing school to get fluency in English. This aspect can be taken as important opportunity for our business.

Due to increasing professionalization of corporate enterprises, demand for well groomed professionals is increasing .To survive in such competitive scenario people are moving to such institutes which help them in grooming their personality and also in bringing best in them by giving their personality a complete touch.

In Ghaziabad the competition level in this field being low there is a high growth opportunity available for us.

We will survive and expand our business by providing best qualitative services to our customers and by maximizing their satisfaction.

1.4 FUTURE EXPANSION:

Our Finishing School, Grooming Persona will constantly update its market knowledge so as to cater to the changing aspirations of our customers by providing such services as would become the paradigm of excellence for others in the same industry.

In future we would like to expand our business by opening more branches of our school at various locations. And we are also thinking of having tie-ups with corporate.

1.5 FEASIBILITY STUDY:

A feasibility study looks at the viability of an idea with an emphasis on identifying potential problems and attempts to answer one main question: Will the idea work and should you proceed with it?

Before you begin writing your business plan you need to identify how, where, and to whom you intend to sell a service or product. You also need to assess your competition and figure out how much money you need to start your business and keep it running until it is established.

Feasibility studies address things like where and how the business will operate. They provide in-depth details about the business to determine if and how it can succeed, and serve as a valuable tool for developing a winning business plan.

WHY ARE FEASIBILITY STUDIES SO IMPORTANT?

The information you gather and present in your feasibility study will help you:

List in detail all the things you need to make the business work;

Identify logistical and other business-related problems and solutions;

Develop marketing strategies to convince a bank or investor that your business is worth considering as an investment; and

Serve as a solid foundation for developing your business plan.

Even if you have a great business idea you still have to find a cost-effective way to market and sell your products and services. This is especially important for store-front retail businesses where location could make or break your business.

For example, most commercial space leases place restrictions on businesses that can have a dramatic impact on income. A lease may limit business hours/days, parking spaces, restrict the product or service you can offer, and in some cases, even limit the number of customers a business can receive each day.

COMPONENTS OF FEASIBILITY STUDY

legal feasibility

technical feasibility

human resource feasibility

market feasibility

financial feasibility

LEGAL FEASIBILITY

To define the legal and corporate structure of the business. A Legal Feasibility Study may also include professional background information about the founders and principals of the business and what skills they can contribute to the business.

Legal feasibility study should include:

Description of Your Business Structure

Description of Your Organizational Structure

Internal and External Principles and Practices of the Business

TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY

The Technical Feasibility Study assesses the details of how you will deliver a product or service (i.e., materials, labour, transportation, where your business will be located, technology needed, etc.). Think of the technical feasibility study as the logistical or tactical plan of how your business will produce, store, deliver, and track its products or services.

A technical feasibility study is an excellent tool for trouble-shooting and long-term planning. In some regards it serves as a flow chart of how your products and services evolve and move through your business to physically reach your market.

HUMAN RESOURCE FEASIBILITY

It deals with the recruitment and selection of the proper kind of personnel in the various departments and also coming up with the ways of training, developing and retaining them by provision of various incentives and perks relevant to their needs and requirements.

MARKETING FEASIBILITY

All feasibility studies should look at how things work, if they will work, and identify potential problems. Feasibility studies are done on ideas, campaigns, products, processes, and entire businesses.

Feasibility studies assess something and consider both pros and cons. They analyze potential business scenarios. A Marketing Plan maps out specific ideas, strategies, and campaigns based on feasibility study investigations that are intended to be implemented.

Think of market feasibility studies as a logistical study and a marketing plan as a specific, planned course of action to take.

What should be Included in a Market Feasibility Study?

Things to Include in a market feasibility study include:

Description of the Industry

Current Market Analysis

Competition

Anticipated Future Market Potential

Potential Buyers and Sources of Revenues

Sales Projections

FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY

A financial feasibility study projects how much start-up capital is needed, sources of capital, returns on investment, and other financial considerations. It looks at how much cash is needed, where it will come from, and how it will be spent.

A financial feasibility study is an assessment of the financial aspects of something. If this case, for starting and running a business. It considers many things including start-up capital, expenses, revenues, and investor income and disbursements. Other portions of a complete feasibility study will also contribute data to your basic financial study.

A financial feasibility study can focus on one particular project or area, or on a group of projects (such as advertising campaigns).

1.6 WHAT IS SERVICE?

A service is any act or benefit that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result into ownership of anything.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICE:

No

Characteristics

Marketing Implications

Strategies

1

Intangibility

No storage

No ready display

Communication

problem

Pricing difficulties

Tangible clues

like documentation

Personal sources

Word of Mouth

Organizational image

Post purchase

communication

2

Inseparability

Consumer Involvement

in production

Personal Selling

Demand-Supply Match

Selection & training of contact person

Manage consumers

Multi-site location

3

Variability

Difficulty in

standardization

Difficulty in Quality

Control

Service blue-print

Training

Internal

External

Customer satisfaction

survey

Staff monitoring

4

Perishability

No inventorisation

Complementary service

Reservation system

Part time employees during peak time

Future expansion

Complementary services

1.7 PARTNERSHIP DEED:

DATE & TIME:

This agreement of partnership deed will execute on 1ST APRIL, 2013.

Name & Address of Partners

Adrika Sharma- B-9, Shiksha Niketan Appts, Sec-5, Vasundhara

Shefali Sharma- Kala Vihar, Mayur Vihar Extension, New Delhi

Bhumika Yadav- B-16, Kaushambi, Ghaziabad

A] NAME

The business of the firm will be carried on under the name “Grooming Persona”. However the partners shall be entitled to change the name of the firm as agreed upon.

B] BUSINESS OF PARTNERSHIP

The business of the firm will be to provide training that results into development & grooming of one’s overall personality and makes him marketable in this cut-throat competitive market.

C] DATE OF COMMENCEMENT

The date of commencement of partnership is 1ST APRIL 2013.

D] PLACE OF BUSINESS

The principal place of the business of the firm will be at

Address: 4th Floor Swapnil Complex,

Raj Nagar Extension, Ghaziabad,

Uttar Pradesh

E] DURATION

It is not fixed.

F] CAPITAL

The initial capital of the firm will be Rs.12,30,000 equally contributed by all the 3 partners.

G] DRAWINGS

Drawings can be made by the partners as many times as he wish in the year taking into account the respective accounts.

H] INTEREST

We will be giving the interest of 5% on capital and we will be charging the interest of 6% on drawings.

I] SHARE IN PROFIT OR LOSS

Profit or loss of the firm will be shared equally among all the partners.

J] ACCOUNTS

The books of accounts of the firm will be closed once in a year preferably from April 1 to March 31.

K] BANK ACCOUNTS

That the bank account of the firm will be maintained in SBI, Vasundhara branch in the name of the firm which 2 of the working partners would be entitled to handle as agreed by all the partners. They shall be authorized to avail all type of facilities in the name of the firm that are generally allocated by the banks.

TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY STUDY:

2.1 Plant Layout: 4,500 sq ft

2.2 Equipments:

LCDs, computers, audio-video materials, Library, computer lab will act as a physical evidence.

2.3 PROCESS OF PROVIDING SERVICES:

EntryOur Service delivery process will be as follows:-

Inquiry about the courses offered

Customers can be Students, Corporate executives or housewives

Is he interested in joining school?

Exit

End

Follow up & ask the reasons for not joining

c

Admission Process

(Collection of fees and advancing receipts)

Training/Teaching

End

Evaluation at the end of the course

End

Awards and Certificate to them who successfully complete the course

Exit

3. MARKET FEASIBILITY STUDY:

3.1 7 P’s of Marketing:

Service Product level chart

No.

Level

Service Offers

1

Core benefit

Personality development

2

Basic product

Qualitative teaching by competent faculties

Lucid Study materials With library &lab facility

3

Expected product

Good infrastructure

Regular classes

Good interior & exterior

Competent faculties

4

Augmented product

Individual attention

Cultural activity celebration

Well equipped Library & Lab

Video-conferencing

Ergonomics & aesthetic arrangements

5

Potential product

Indoor games

Health & meditation facilities

Personal coaches

Better life & career opportunity

Price refers to “Value for money”. In our case Price refers to the course fees. Taking into account all the factors stated below we have determined most competitive price for our training packages.

Price = Quantity of money received by service provider

Quantity of service received by the customer

Pricing Methodology:

Our Pricing strategy is based upon “Going rate pricing method”. We have decided the fees structure for various training package which is nearer to the fees charged by our rivals so as to compete with them.

Pricing Objectives

Primary Objective:

Being new entrant in this industry the primary objective of our pricing strategy is Survival and profit maximization.

Secondary Objective:

Once we get established in the market and achieve brand reputation then we would like to maximize our market share by opening new branches of our school and also by developing web portal to provide our services.

Place refers to the physical existence of the service outlet where the customers will come into the direct inter course of the service provider and where services will be delivered by the service provider and received by the customers. Our Finishing school will be situated in the heart of the city.

Address: 4th Floor Swapnil Complex,

Raj Nagar Extension, Ghaziabad,

Uttar Pradesh

Location Analysis

Reasons for selecting the Location:

We have hired the place on rent of Rs.4500 per sq ft. The reasons for selecting this place are as follows.

Proximity to Customers:

Raj Nagar Extension is considered to be both commercial as well as residential area. There are many colleges situated in this area o we will easily get access to our target segments.

Transportation Facility:

This area has well developed transportation facility with easy and speedy access to various means of transportation like buses, auto-rickshaws etc.

Diverse income Groups:

This area is considered to be economically developed area we can have access to the customers belonging to diverse income group.

Better Infrastructure & Low Cost:

The infrastructure like access to transportation, energy, lift facility, communication facility is also very good. Rent is also reasonable compare to construction cost of the school in that context it has been selective option to hire the place in this location.

Characteristics of Service Outlet

Flexibility in Consumption

High

Flexibility in Production

Low

Flexibility in consumption:

Availability of different timeslots to our customers will make the consumption flexible for them.

Flexibility in production:

It will be low at the initial level as there are no other branches or franchises of our school so there will be only single place for delivering our services. Once we get established in the market, we are thinking of expanding our business by opening new branches of our school and also by developing web portal to provide our services.

The success of any new business entity depends on how well it has been able to create awareness about its products or services in its target segment so as to induce its consumption by customers. Promotion policy of business plays major role in this.

Major means of promotion to be used by us are:

Advertisement:

Newspaper

It will be the major mean of advertisement for our finishing school. We will

be giving advertisement in, The Times Of India and in Ghaziabad Samachar.

Leaflets with newspapers

This will be the second mean of advertisement to be used by us wherein the leaflets of our finishing school will be attached with the newspapers.

Hoardings

We will be hiring the place like Vijay cross road, and Vastrapur for placing our hoardings.

It refers to the managing both internal customers that is the human capital of business involved in the service delivering process and external customers those who will actually consume the services.

Managing Internal Customers

Elements:

(1)Recruitment & selection:

We will be giving recruitment advertisement for faculties, receptionist and peon in The Times of India, Ghaziabad Samachar and Mail Today.

.

(2)Motivation:

The employees will be provided with following monetary and non-monetary benefits like bonus, picnic, and celebration of cultural activities, awards and certificates. Besides we will also follow suggestion box scheme.

(3)Team work:-

It is the team spirit on the part of the employees which is behind the success of any business entity. The culture of our organization will be such that will help in imbibing this spirit in our employees to provide qualitative service to customers. We will be having a meeting twice in a month to discuss important issues of business.

(4)Customer education:-

It is necessary for the employees of the organization to know who their customers are, what are their requirements and accordingly deliver the services to give them maximum satisfaction. In our case the major role in service delivering process will be played by counselors and faculties. We will create a kind of environment that updates them about the changing customer requirements continuously like by way of “Feedback Form” to be filled by our customers who have already availed our services and asking for their suggestion for further improvements.

No. of Employees: 12

Official Working Hours: 9:00am-9:00pm

Designation

No. of employees

Working hours

Centre Head

1

10:00am – 8:00pm

Counselors

2

10:00am – 8:00pm

Faculty

Full time = 4

Visiting = 2

As per batch hours

Receptionist

1

10:00am – 6:00pm

Peon

1

9:00am – 9:00pm

Sweeper

1

9:00am – 11:00am

3:00pm – 5:00pm

Managing External Customers

Elements:

Characteristic of external customers influencing the Service Provider:

Demographic factors like Education and family background, Occupation, Income, attitude & aptitude, involvement of customer in the service delivering process, experience of customers, awareness & perception has direct influence on the service provider.

Awareness, Training & Education of customers:

The prime work on our part will be to make potential customers aware of our services by using various media like newspapers, hoardings, leaflets etc. Once they approach to our school for inquiry, this task will be handled by our counselors to create in them for joining school and once they join the school then responsibility of their training will be shouldered by our competent faculties.

Services being intangible it is difficult to touch, and judge them so it becomes necessary for marketer to tangibalize the intangible so as to provide customers with various clues to make purchase decision. This task is performed by physical evidence. The physical evidences for our services will be as follows:-

Name: “Grooming Persona”

Punch Line: “THE ULTIMATE FINISHING SCHOOL”

3.2 MARKET SURVEY AND ANALYSIS:

STEPS

(1)Define the Problem & Research Objectives:

Market research is undertaken to achieve particular objectives by acquiring necessary information. The prime objective of our research is to find out scope and feasibility for establishing Finishing School in Ghaziabad.

Other Objectives:

To get the information regarding the number of finishing schools existing in the Ghaziabad.

To find awareness level of people regarding finishing school.

To find the potential market for new finishing school.

To find out process of establishing new finishing school.

To determine the competitive fees structure to attract maximum customers.

(2)Develop Research Plan:

Sources of data:

Primary data:

It is the first hand information collected by the researcher for its research purpose. For us primary sources of data collection were

Visit of various Finishing schools

People:-We have surveyed 1000 people of Ghaziabad for this purpose.

Secondary data:

The data collected from external sources where it was already existing for research purpose is known as secondary data like from Newspapers, Magazines, Internet etc.

Data collection method

Research approach:-“Survey Approach”

Research instrument:-Questionnaires for consumers

Sampling Plan:

It mainly contains following 3 components.

(1)Sample unit:

It represents the target population for the survey. We mainly targeted students, corporate executives, and housewives living in Ghaziabad.

(2)Sample size:

The survey was of 1000 respondents (Male & Female) of Ghaziabad city. We bifurcated them based upon their income level and occupation to make sample more representative of population.

(3)Sampling Procedure:

Convenience Method: We have surveyed conveniently accessible respondents like students of various schools and colleges of Ghaziabad and corporate executives and housewives residing I our nearby area