Summary

RuralShores Skills Academy (RSA) has been engaged with an FMCG company having operations pan India. We were involved with the training of the field marketers and monitoring of the marketing process. The field activity was below-the-line (BTL) marketing where women, who were the marketing team, would actually speak with potential consumers and demonstrate the products, such as bathing soap or clothes washing soap and so on. The customer interactions were tracked through smartphones that the company has provided them. All information was loaded on a portal.

RSA’s role was to train the field resources in soft skills and the marketing process for effective and efficient performance. Most important elements to evaluate were the actual conversations they had with the potential customers in the field. RSA trainers conducted field trips daily with these women marketers to ensure they were following the right process and utilizing the soft skills taught. Frequent monitoring and information made available from the smartphones allowed our trainers to track the field staff and observe if they indulged in any malpractice such as bulk sales to just meet their sales targets. RSA also deployed MIS personnel in-house to track the portal data.

Conclusion

RSA training and engagement on the ground led to a consistent increase in marketing that was visible month on month at the rate of 10-15% per location.

In addition, RSA has successfully carried out the following audits for the FMCG Company

• Marketing Audit: audit of implementation of marketing activities in the field
• Implementation Audit: field audit of product/service implementation
• Field Staff Audit: audit of field sales and marketing staff