Business Blueprint for APS Solution Providers (April 2017) Blueprint for APS... · Best practices that enable the sales force to target its effort towards profitable leads & activities

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Business Blueprint for APS Solution Providers (April 2017) Program to Improve Private Early Education (PIPE)

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Contents

1 Introduction to FSG Inclusive Markets

2 Introduction to PIPE

3 Context and objectives

4 Key business elements

5 Archetypes and best practices for business elements

6 Hypothetical financial model

7 Appendix

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FSG is a mission driven non-profit (501 c3) focused on Scale Social Impact

We are well known for having pioneered innovative approaches

Low-income housing

Catalytic Philanthropy Philanthropy that considers the big picture

Inclusive Markets Creating markets that work for everyone

Shared Value Creating business value and social value

Collective Impact Organizing around common goals

Early Childhood Education

We use these approaches to help global leaders create impact and promote their effective use

We leverage these approaches to run initiatives that create scale sustainable impact 100,000

Opportunities Initiative

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx

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FSG Inclusive Markets (FSG IM) believes that markets can and should benefit the poor

We believe that markets should be part of the portfolio of solutions for social change.

Our strength is in understanding how to make inclusive business models work, and how to get them to scale.

We create impact in various program areas by: driving new thinking for the field, and making change happen on the ground.

We are a “mission driven” and non-profit unit whose work is entirely public domain.

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FSG IM works on multi-year programs to develop new models and scale new industries…

Ownership Housing Safe Drinking Water

20,000 households being served through decentralized community-based water plants

Supported 30+ pilots across India

First government tender for this model from Delhi Jal (Water) Board

80,000+ affordable housing units sold

Established markets in 21+ cities

10 housing finance companies serving low-income households with a >INR 1000 crore loan portfolio

Early Childhood Education

6.2 million low-income children need early childhood education in urban India

Conducted interviews with 4407 low income parents across 8 cities to understand beliefs and behaviors among India’s working poor

Working with 7 companies to improve learning outcomes of children from low income families

*

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Contents







7 Appendix

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PIPE aims to give every low-income child a strong foundation they deserve and an equal opportunity to succeed in life

~1.2m Parents

Assessing conceptual

learning (as opposed to

current rote learning)

Demand ~3200

Affordable Private Schools

using developmentally appropriate pedagogy

6-8 High quality companies

serving 1000s of

APSs sustainably

Supply

200,000+ Low income children having better learning outcomes annually

A system on its way to transformation

+

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Low-income families aspire and are willing to pay for “quality education” for their children

1 Source: IRS 2014. The actual reported average in the A3 class was INR 18,127 and INR 8,352 in the D1 class. However, as self-reported incomes tend to be lower than actual, we estimate INR 20,000 and INR 9,000 to be closer to the actual averages for A3 and D1 classes respectively

Ganesh is a part of the pantry staff in the Mumbai office. He earns INR 15,000 (USD 235) every month and has two children, Vijay (5 years old) & Vidya (11 year old)

“I want my child to learn English and get an office job”

“We pay INR 1000 (USD 15) every month to send each of our children to private school and tuitions”

“My wife ensures our children are regular with school and homework”

Low-income households in urban India typically earning between INR 9,000- INR 20,000 (USD 140 to USD 315) a month1, spend a disproportionate

amount of their income on private sector education

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These families constitute ~70% of urban India1

1 Source: IRS 2014. (or 27.5 million) 70% in terms of socioeconomic class in cities with populations greater than 1 million people. The research selected households belonging to socioeconomic classes A3-D1 according to the New Consumer Classification

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86% of children from low-income households in urban India attend affordable private schools1

Estimated 130,000 – 160,000 Affordable Private Schools (APS)s in urban India

All inclusive school fees range from INR 500 – INR 1650 per child per month

APS market is highly competitive and highly fragmented

An APS with ~350 students can make ~INR 14 lakh per school per year

APSs are able to deliver at 1/3rd the price of a government school (based on cost per student) 2

1 Source: FSG research. Percentage of parents of 4 and 5 year olds enrolled in a private educational institution. Assumes that those in non-APS private preprimary classes will transition on to grade one at an APS. 2Source: Muralidharan and Sundararaman (2015) (http://www.ncaer.org/uploads/photo-gallery/files/1382332164KM_NCAER_Working_Paper.pdf) and Center for Civil Society’s 2017 Report of Budget Private Schools in India (http://ccs.in/bpsreport)

http://www.ncaer.org/uploads/photo-gallery/files/1382332164KM_NCAER_Working_Paper.pdf

http://www.ncaer.org/uploads/photo-gallery/files/1382332164KM_NCAER_Working_Paper.pdf

http://ccs.in/bpsreport

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Unfortunately most children in APSs are not school-ready due to developmentally inappropriate and rote learning pedagogy

1FSG research through 480 independent assessments using modified IDELA tool

Children entering Grade 1 or aged 5+ should be able to identify and correctly count numbers up to 20 and conduct simple addition and subtraction operations, complete a 4-12 piece jigsaw puzzle and begin to read simple words and sentences. However,

54% of children could not count 14 pencils from a bunch of 20 pencils

82% cannot complete a 4 piece puzzle

78% cannot read three simple three letter English words1

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By facilitating the market for high quality or activity based learning products, PIPE aims to improve learning outcomes

Ecosystem barriers

Low-income parents

Affordable private schools

Differentiation based on grades and infrastructure Emphasis on capex & technology Class 10 results

No fit-for-purpose tools available to assess 5 year olds

Activity based product

companies

Use “wrong” markers based on rote learning Write numbers till 100 Recite English rhymes

From To

6-8 companies serving 1000s of APSs Demonstrated profitable business model Product offering tailored for APSs Demonstrated better outcomes for

children

Differentiation based on learning Emphasis on outcomes Educating parents on right markers

Refined tool developed for assessing 5 year olds

Best practices to serve APS disseminated

“Right markers” published

10% of urban families use at least one “right” markers Right markers cannot be taught

through rote learning (e.g. is 18 > 22?)

Limited interest in serving the APSs Unclear business model Unclear product offering and

implementation approach

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Activity-based approaches provide the range of stimulations necessary for holistic early learning

Example of an activity using the dice

Teacher asks a child to come forward and roll the dice

Depending upon the number that comes up, the teacher and student jump together that many number of times

If the dice shows zero, the teacher and the child do not jump - thus instilling the concept of zero

Product + Training + Support costs INR 600 / child annually

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PIPE has partnered with 7 high potential companies that could improve learning outcomes at scale in APSs

English-learning Program

Full school Program

Montessori Program

Full school Program

English learning Program

Math learning Program

Full school Program

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Our efforts are funded by

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Our team brings together strategic, educational, and operational experience and expertise1

Vikram Jain Program Team Leads the PIPE program 15 years of strategy, operations and

consulting experience Worked with Monitor Inclusive Markets,

McKinsey and Deloitte MBA, London Business School

Priyamvada Tiwari Field Team, Mumbai Teach for India fellow with extensive

experience in the education space across Delhi and Mumbai

4 years of experience across curriculum design and development with a focus on literacy

Gauri Kirtane Scan & Quality Team Over 10 years of experience in

education leadership, with a focus on teaching, learning and curriculum design

Most recently, Education Manager for more than 35 centers and 1200 students at the Akanksha Foundation

EdD, University of Pennsylvania

Sana Kazi Program Team 6 years of consulting experience in the

education sector Worked with PwC, Center for Civil

Society and Goldman Sachs MPA, LSE

Sriramprasad Rangarajan Partner Team 6 years of operations and consulting

experience in India and Africa Launched an employability

assessment tool that has been commissioned on 30,000 +candidates

Worked with HCL, PwC and Athena MSc Operations Research, LSE

Vignesh Shankar Business Model Team Broad consulting experience across a

range of strategy development and operations improvement projects in India and Africa

Worked with A.T. Kearney PGPM, Indian Institute of Management

1You can review the profiles of our entire team. http://www.fsg.org/our-people

http://www.fsg.org/our-people

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Contents







7 Appendix

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Context and objectives

In urban India, early years’ education can be accessed at different types of schools (e.g., standalone preschools, government schools, aided schools, private unaided schools)

FSG’s customer research shows that a vast majority of low-income families* send their children for early years’ education to ‘affordable private schools’ (APS)

These APSs are serviced by private players such as text-book suppliers, technology providers, various types of curriculum providers, and financing companies

This document lays down a business blueprint for two specific types of curriculum providers servicing the APS market, hereafter referred to as ‘solution providers’: full-curriculum providers and 1-subject curriculum providers

Context

Objectives

Outline key business elements for solution providers in the APS market and the best practices for each business element

Provide a detailed financial model, available as a public good, for solution providers in the APS market

1

2

* Based on FSG research done on 4,300 families in 8 cities of urban India

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This document focuses on two specific types of curriculum solution providers

Curriculum solution providers Non-curriculum solution providers

100

Supplementary services (e.g., science kit or digital library)

1 subject (material+

support only)

Full curriculum

provider

SMC* (responsible for financial results, e.g.,

fee collection, managing

teachers, etc)

Full School (Standalone

or chain)

1 subject (End-to-end

solution, incl teacher)

Focus of this document

Provide solutions outside core teaching, such as: ERP solutions (e.g., ReportBee,

SchoolMitra) School financing (e.g., Varthana,

ISFC) Infrastructure solutions (e.g.,

Vinyas) These solution providers have been treated as analogues for the purpose of our work

Leve

l of e

ngag

emen

t w

ith th

e sc

hool

* SMC = School management company

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Contents







7 Appendix

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Key business elements for a solution provider (1/2)

Pricing strategy

Lead* generation

Best practices on pricing, which cover aspects such as — What is your pricing structure? (e.g., student kits, teacher training) — When to charge? (e.g., upfront collection, staggered collection) — How to collect? (e.g., liaising with a school finance company)

Click here for more details

Sales Force Effectiveness

Best practices that enable the sales force to target its effort towards profitable leads & activities and limit effort spent on less profitable ones – Includes aspects such as tracking a sales funnel, pre-qualification of new

leads, sales pitch, sales process and Sales force training and incentivization Click here for more details

Channels available for lead generation which include, cold calls, workshops and events, referrals, partnerships (for owner introductions) and resellers – These options have different implications in terms of cost and effectiveness

– deploying a mix of channels could be useful for a solution provider Ways of seeding the product in the market, including after-school programs and

pilots with a smaller number of grades Click here for more details

1

2

3

Description

* Lead = Sales leads i.e., APSs which might be prospective customers for the solution provider Note: These key business elements have been selected based on inputs from experts and PIPE’s partners

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Key business elements for a solution provider (2/2)

Teacher engagement

Parent engagement

Best practices to engage with teachers, pre- and post-implementation Key objectives include ensuring good quality implementation given relatively

low quality teachers, and equipping them to address parents’ concerns about the product


Best practices to engage with parents pre- and post-implementation Key objectives include ensuring renewals and building a strong brand within

parents in the target group Click here for more details

Monitoring

Includes best practices to track product implementation at schools, monitor learning outcomes of students, track solution delivery at schools and collect feedback from key stakeholders


Owner/ Principal engagement

Best practices to engage with APS owners/ principals after the sale – includes pre-implementation and post-implementation engagement

Key objectives include ensuring good quality implementation and driving renewals


4

5

6

7

Description

Note: These key business elements have been selected based on inputs from experts and PIPE’s partners

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Contents







7 Appendix

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Best practices related to pricing strategy (1/2)

What to charge for

Have a simple pricing structure (i.e., ideally only a per-student price)

(See next slide for an illustration of good pricing structures)

Description

Pricing strategy

Rationale

A complicated pricing structure is difficult for owners to understand and can increase time taken for sign up

Explicitly charge for tangible elements that can be passed on directly to parents – Charge for tangible products like books,

student TLMs, teaching aids, etc. – Build in the price of intangibles like teacher

training into prices for tangible elements

Owners are more comfortable investing in things which can be easily showcased to parents

Owners want to make limited investments in teacher training due to high attrition

Mark up the printed MRP of the student kit (e.g., by 30% over the cost of the kit to owner) in order to build in a margin for owners

Owners are used to commissions (usually 20-40%) from publishers

Building this margin into the MRP of student books makes it easier for owners to recover costs from parents

1

Create a tiered pricing structure (i.e., lower price if school buys for more students)

Bulk discounts incentivize owners to buy product for more classes and also helps recover sales cost

Back

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Pros Simpler Does not draw

attention to intangible elements

Easy for owner to pass on cost to parents

Illustration: Options for pricing a product

Pricing Options

Category Cost Cost-plus pricing Value-based pricing Pricing to aid transfer of entire cost to parent

Servicing Cost

Licensing cost (per school)

INR 0 INR 20,000 INR 0 INR 0

Teacher training cost (per teacher) INR 7,500 INR 9,000

INR 20,000 for training and monitoring

INR 0

Monitoring cost (per school) for 4 visits INR 7,500 INR 10,000 INR 0

Material cost

Teacher manuals and TLM (per class) INR 750 INR 1,000 INR 0 INR 0

Student books and TLM (per student) INR 200 INR 500 INR 1000 INR 1,350

Acquisition cost

Acquisition cost1 (per school) INR 30,000 INR 0 INR 0 INR 0

Total for 60 students, 2 teachers INR 66,000 INR 80,000 INR 80,000 INR 81,000

Total for each additional child INR 200 INR 500 INR 1,000 INR 1,350

Total for each additional teacher INR 8,250 INR 10,000 INR 0 INR 0

Cons Complex Draws attention

to intangibles Difficult to pass

on cost to parents

Pros Simpler Owners pay for aspects

that they value Cons Difficult to pass on the

entire cost to parents

Recommended pricing strategy

Pricing strategy

1

1. Assuming each salesperson sells to 15 schools

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Best practices related to pricing strategy (2/2) Pricing strategy

When to charge

Have a payment structure with 2-3 milestones, where the entire amount is collected within 3-4 months of roll-out, and the solution provider is never out-of-pocket with the APS. Below is an illustration of the payment schedule: – 1st instalment at the time of sign-up – 2nd instalment before delivery of material – 3rd instalment before a follow-up training

Give the owner a card that mentions exact dates when payments are due and the amount to be paid on these dates

An option of staggered payment improves sale-ability of the product

Collecting payments within 3-4 months reduces probability of default

Having too many instalments can make collections cumbersome

Making material delivery contingent on payment can make it more likely to get payments on time

1

Description Rationale

How to collect

Incentivize schools to pay upfront (e.g., give discounts for upfront payment)

Take post-dated cheques from the owner when the contract is signed

Tie-up with a school finance organization to recover cost of the infrastructure required for the intervention. The solution provider puts a small amount (say 5%) in an escrow, and this is used to cover the first loss; the rest of the risk is borne by the finance company

Collecting payments upfront reduces probability of default

Taking post-dated cheques reduces travel cost of collecting cheques for each instalment

Tying up with a school finance organization reduces the level of risk borne by the solution provider

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There are 5 potential ways to get leads to schools (1/2)

Door-to-door

Solution provider sets up a sales team to conduct cold calls and make door-to-door sales Some solution providers use part-time staff, an external agency or less qualified

salespeople to do the cold calls and fix appointments (See ‘Appendix: Lead generation’ for tips on how to generate leads through cold calls)

Description

Lead generation

Workshops & Events

Solution provider uses workshops to showcase the product to principals or APS owners and answer their queries – These workshops could be organized by the solution provider or by a third-party like

NISA (e.g., state chapter conferences), book publishers, local headmasters’ associations; these are positioned as conferences for thought leadership

Some solution providers also help schools organize competitions or events (e.g., art competition, or story-telling competition) – This is especially relevant for pre-primary as bulk of new admissions happen there – The event could either be organized by the solution provider directly, or could be

organized by the school, with the solution provider training the APS teacher to conduct it; the event could also be open to students from other schools

Referrals (or word of

mouth)

Solution provider leverages its strong value proposition for teachers, principals or owners through referrals – Principals/ owners refer 3-4 schools which are not direct competitors; solution

provider can pay owners / principals commissions for every lead that signs up, or give them benefits in the form of a free academic service or discount on renewal

– Due to high teacher attrition in APSs, a teacher joining a new school can advocate for a product used in her last school

Sometimes, solution provider sets up a call center or a centralized telephone contact number to convert word-of-mouth leads into sign-ups

2

a

b

c

Back

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There are 5 potential ways to get leads to schools (2/2)

Partnerships (for owner

introductions)

Solution provider enters into a partnership with an organization that is engaging with APSs (e.g., finance companies, uniform vendors) and seeks introductions to APS owners in their network – Partner organization makes an initial pitch to its network of schools, and forwards

interested leads to the solution provider – Solution provider then takes forward conversations with these prequalified leads – Solution provider pays a commission to the partner for each sale closed from a

prequalified lead It is important to partner with someone who has an established relationship with the

schools to ensure that owners are open to hearing the pitch

Lead generation

Resellers

Solution provider uses an external organization (e.g., finance companies, local book distributors, book publishers, local uniform distributors), or an individual with contacts in the local APS space, for end-to-end sales

Solution provider gives the reseller a commission for each sale – Sometimes the solution provider has a transfer pricing model, where the product

is given to the reseller at a fixed price, and the reseller is free to charge any markup from the end customer; no commission is paid to the reseller in such cases. However, this model is not ideal as it leads to different prices in the market

Solution provider gives implementation support and manages engagement with various stakeholders

2

d

e

Description

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The various models for lead generation have different implications in terms of cost and effectiveness (1/2)

Door-to-door

Allows for a more exhaustive coverage of the target geography

Pros

Lead generation

Cons

Workshops & Events

Effective way to reach out to a large number of schools

Senior members from the organization pitch at workshops, leading to relatively higher conversion rate, and lower number of visits required for conversion

Typically implies a high cost of customer acquisition (due to low conversion rates of <10% and larger number of visits for sign-up) – May be more viable for a high ticket-

size solution provider, or once an area has been “seeded” and owners begin to recognize visible markers

Limited access to events organized by a third party (e.g., NISA state chapters)

Requires high effort to incentivize owners/ principals to attend the workshop


mouth)

Higher conversion rate, and low number of visits required for conversion

Low-cost method as typically benefits given to owners for referrals are low, or non-financial

Absolute number of leads generated through this method during the initial years of the provider’s business is low – Solution providers need to build

enough credibility for them in the APS market, for referrals to be significant

2

a

b

c

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The various models for lead generation have different implications in terms of cost and effectiveness (2/2)


introductions)

Lead generation

Resellers

Can reduce number of visits and improve conversion rates

Involves relatively lower cost than cold calls (commissions of 25-30% of ticket size, over a 2-3 year period per school signed-up)

Pros Cons

A partner pitching multiple products might focus on high ticket-size products (leading to lesser leads for mid or low ticket-size products)

The model has not been tried at scale, so effectiveness is uncertain

Allows solution providers to sell in regions where they do not have own sales force

Increases risk of reseller’s salesperson over-committing on level of service and follow-up

Less viable for APS vertical due to high (30 to 40%) commissions per school signed-up

Number of sales through this channel has been low for most solution providers

Might be less effective for curriculum solution providers due to the technical nature of the products and level of training that reseller’s salespersons would require

Salesperson may find it difficult to effectively pitch more than 2 products

A reseller pitching multiple products might focus on high ticket-size products (leading to lesser leads for mid or low ticket-size products)

2

d

e

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Typical spread of cost and effectiveness of various channels


introductions)

Lead generation

Resellers

Cost of acquisition Proportion of leads

2

d

e

Door-to-door

a


mouth)

c

Workshops & Events

b

High Low conversion rates of <10% Large number of visits to sign-up

High Most solution providers rely on this

channel for the majority of sales Allows for a more exhaustive

coverage of the target geography

Medium Relatively high conversion rates Lower number of visits to sign-up High cost of organizing the event

Low Highest conversion rates of 80-

90% Least number of visits to sign-up Benefits given to owner are

usually low, or non-financial

Medium Relatively high conversion rate Lower number of visits to sign-up Commission of 25% on each sale

High Commission of up to 40% on

each sale

Medium Effective way to reach out to a large

number of schools Only a few large solution providers

get access to third-party events

Low Absolute number of leads

generated through this channel are usually low for most solution providers

-Not known- The model has not been tried at

scale, so effectiveness is uncertain

Low Number of sales through this

channel has been low for most solution providers

?

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Some solution providers are using after-school programs and pilots to seed the market

After-school program

Lead generation

In cases where the school is hesitant to sign up for a program, a solution provider could offer an after-school program1, which would be run at the school and paid for directly by the parents – There is a clear value proposition for the owner, who gets rent – The school’s teacher gets trained on the solution provider’s program, and is given

additional compensation for running the program after school – The solution provider is able to demonstrate the value of his product to parents

and owners, as well as earn additional revenue Preliminary feedback from solution providers using this model has been that schools

are reluctant to allow their pre-primary teachers to run this program, as they fear the teachers would leave after the training, and start an independent tuition class

2

Description

1. FSG customer research with 2,010 parents shows that over 25% of parents send their children to tuition classes. Children attend tuition classes an average of 1.7 hours a day, or 5.8 days a week. Parents who send their children to tuition classes pay an average of ~INR 300/month (~40% of the average fee paid to the shool)

Pilot the program for an

year

Some solution providers sell to a lesser number of Grades (i.e., LKG, UKG, etc.) in the 1st year of implementation – This helps increase the ease of selling the product, due to the low investment

from the school – Additionally, in case of full curriculum solution providers, students who have not

used the program since the beginning might find it difficult to cope with it at higher grades

Some solution providers with a K-10 product have divided their product into K-5 and 6-10 and sell the K-5 product in the first year as a pilot

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Best practices for Sales Force Effectiveness Sales Force Effectiveness

Best practices for Sales Force Effectiveness cover the following areas:

Tracking a sales funnel: Create a sales funnel for tracking movement of leads across different stages in the sales process to ensure one has a robust pipeline, and to help understand (a) where “drops” are happening and why and (b) the effectiveness of individual elements (sources of leads, individual salespeople, etc.)

Pre-qualifying new leads: Set qualifying criteria for leads to ensure that time and resources are invested in high-potential leads

Creating a sales pitch : Create a pitch that conveys key messages which resonate with owners, as well as appropriate collateral to accompany it

Outlining a sales process: Detail out the sales process with objectives for each meeting with key stakeholders at the school

Training for salespersons: Conduct an initial training for salespersons, shadow them on the field, and provide detailed feedback

Incentivizing sales team: Compensation structure for salespersons should adequately incentivize the team to sell

3

a

b

c

d

e

f

Back

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Tracking the sales funnel can help improve Sales Force Effectiveness

Enable management team to track progress of leads and performance of salespersons

Gain insights to refine the sales process, e.g., – Invest more time on sources of leads where

the conversion rate is usually higher – Identify geographies with a higher conversion

rate, focus sales effort on those and learn form there

Make the sales team more efficient, by informing strategic choices, like: – Deprioritize leads where there is no movement

on the sales funnel. E.g., If a school does not purchase after a pre-decided number of meeting, do not invest more time on follow-up

– Redefine the focus of the team. E.g., If there are very few new leads, the team might decide to push generation of new leads

– Determine when a senior salesperson should pitch at the school

Objectives of creating a sales funnel

Identify the key stages in the organization’s sales process to create the sales funnel1

Deploy a customizable CRM tool, which can be edited by any salesperson, and which makes it convenient to visualize data in the format of the sales funnel. e.g., Excel (to start with), Zoho, Sales force, Sales Mantra, Kapture, Vtiger, Insightly, etc.

Assign administrative responsibility to one person to ensure that data entry is completed in a timely manner

Use output of this tool to conduct weekly sales calls

(See next slide for an illustration of a sales funnel for a solution provider)


Institutionalizing the sales funnel

3a

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Illustration: Sales funnel Output of the funnel by salesperson and source of lead

1. List of schools where the sales team has name and number of a contact person 2. Salesperson was able to speak with a contact person at the school (e.g., admin in-charge, or head teacher at the school) 3. Owner has made a counter offer of the amount he would be willing to pay for the product 4. School has signed the contract/ agreement to buy the program and the cheque for advance payment for the program has been cleared

Sales person

Source of lead Stages in the sales funnel Expected closures List of

leads1 First contact made2

1st pitch to principal/ owner complete

2nd pitch to principal/ owner complete

Negotiation initiated3

Signed up4

Sales person A

Cold Calls 100 50 10 6 4 2

Partner A 200 70 30 10 6 4

Partner B 150 100 50 40 35 25

Total 450 220 90 56 44 31

Sales person B

Cold Calls

Partner A

Partner B

Total

Status as of current week


3a

Enables tracking performance of different sales persons and comparison across different sources of leads

E.g., in the illustration above, Partner B is the source with the highest conversion rate

Helps identify where the highest drops are happening in the sales process

E.g., in the illustration above, the highest drop-off is from ‘first contact made’ to ‘1st pitch to principal’

Attributes of a good sales funnel Not more than 5-6 stages in the sales funnel Each stage should have a set of clearly laid out qualifying criteria,

so that there is no ambiguity on where a lead would lie on the funnel Stages should be applicable for all sources of leads, so as to enable

comparison across them The funnel should capture the date at which a lead enters a stage,

to track movement and ageing

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Illustration: Quality of sales pipeline

City: _____________ Number of sales people: _______

x% of leads are not interested in the program because: They already

have an English program

Busy/ not given time for a meeting

Reason unknown

1. List of schools where the sales team has name and number of a contact person 2. Salesperson was able to speak with a contact person at the school (e.g., admin in-charge, or head teacher at the school) 3. Owner has made a counter offer of the amount he would be willing to pay for the product 4. School has signed the contract/ agreement to buy the program and the cheque for advance payment for the program has been cleared

x% of leads are not worth following up because: Principal did

not see academic value in the program

Owner found the program to be unaffordable

School has already purchased books for the next Academic Year

Reason unknown

x% of leads are not worth following up because: Not answered

calls/ no movement along the funnel for 3 weeks

Unconvinced of the value proposition

Feel the product is too expensive


List of leads1 First contact made2

1st pitch to principal/

owner complete

2nd pitch to principal/

owner complete

Signed up4

x% of leads yet to be contacted

Attempted to contact x% of the leads, but number invalid/ could not be contacted

3a

Negotiation initiated3

x% of leads are not worth following up because: Requesting for

too high a discount (quoted price by owner is >25% lower than intervention’s floor price)

Requesting for too many servicing visits

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It is important to prequalify new leads early on so that visits to schools which are unlikely to buy can be minimized


Establish pre-qualification criteria for new leads. Some examples include: – Minimum of 50 students in pre-primary classes – Fee range (e.g., in case APSs are finding the program too expensive, then a solution provider can

choose to only approach schools where fee is above a minimum cut-off) – Number of interventions already running in the school / proportion of school revenues going to existing

interventions – Schools are willing to spend a limited amount (maybe 10-15% of revenues) on “non-essential” products. If the school has already taken on other products, they are less likely to buy

These can be identified by looking at the key reasons for drop-off in the sales funnel

In addition to size of business in year 1, it is also important to look at the possibility of expansion of business from the school

Ensure that the sales team tries to establish where a school lies in terms of these criteria early on in the pitching process

Description

3b

© FSG | 38

Best practices for developing a sales pitch

Tips for making an effective pitch

Make the pitch conversational Begin pitch by getting the owner to acknowledge

the need or gap which the product fills Provide a simple explanation of the product and

support offered Have 2-3 key points of the value proposition

form the crux of the pitch. Focus on points that resonate with owners (See ‘Appendix: Sales Force Effectiveness’ for messages that typically resonate with owners)

Give an example / demo to explain the effectiveness of product

Clearly explain any technical terms used in the pitch

Line-up the next meeting with the owner Showcase tangible aspects of the program (e.g.,

TLMs, homework sheets, assessments) (See ‘Appendix: Sales Force Effectiveness’ for collateral that should accompany the sales pitch)

Common errors made by solution providers while pitching to APS owners Pitch is not conversational, and often a

monologue by the salesperson Need identification is not done Lack a clear description of the product and its

value proposition Use of too much jargon which owners are

usually unable to understand or relate with – E.g., “Our program uses the LSRW

approach to teaching English”, “We provide tactile finger reading books which cater to kinaesthetic learners”

Responses to questions or concerns raised by owners are vague

Focus on points that do not resonate with APS owners, such as: – Theory of child development (e.g.,

importance of fine motor skills) – Techniques and process used in

designing products – Long heritage of R&D at the organization


3c

Click here for an illustration of a pitch with these common errors Click here for an illustration of an effective pitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVRyhhGcv_U&t=3s

https://youtu.be/iP1SzwlqRwA

© FSG | 39

Best practices for detailing out the stages in the sales process

Define objectives and agenda for key meetings with a school and share these with salespersons (See ‘Appendix: Sales Force Effectiveness’ for an illustration of a sales process, with agenda for each meeting)

Specify which meeting should be conducted by a senior

salesperson, or someone from the product/ content team. E.g., Senior salesperson could visit APSs in the third or fourth interaction with the APS owner (i.e., once an owner is negotiating on the price)

Give salespersons clear decision rights. E.g., on the extent of discount that can be offered, or timeframe within which they can stagger the payment from an APS

Decision rights for the salespersons can be based on the stage in the sales process. E.g., Salespersons can offer a discount of up to 10% in the third interaction with APS owner

Ideal time for pitching to APSs is between October to March


Best practices Rationale

Allows salesperson to have a more structured interaction and ensures movement across the sales funnel

3d

Clear demarcation of responsibilities between a junior and senior sales team member

Can help close the deal sooner

See ‘Appendix: Sales Force Effectiveness’ for rationale

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Best practices for training and incentive structure for the sales force

Training the sales force

Provide new sales staff with training on the product and how to pitch it to owners Ensure that the training includes mock pitches by the sales force Follow up the initial training with shadowing of salespersons on the field, and

provide detailed feedback on their pitch Share a proposed sales script, along with responses to FAQs with salespersons during

the training (See ‘Appendix: Sales Force Effectiveness’ for a list of questions frequently asked by owners after a sales pitch, and for an illustration of how the training could be structured)


Incentive structure

In the compensation structure for salespersons, have a high proportion of incentive pay, linked to number of schools they sign-up or the amount of revenue they bring in

Incentives can also be linked to the amount of discount offered by the salesperson to close the lead – e.g., if a sales person was given decision rights to sign-up schools at a discount of

30%, but is able to close a school at a discount of 10%, then the solution provider should share the benefit of 20% with the sales person

Incentives should be paid in instalments, based on receipt of money from the school, and could also be tied to renewal of the school for subsequent years

3

e

f

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Ideal school engagement calendar for a new school for a high ticket size solution provider

May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr

Regular updates through email, SMS or WhatsApp

Ongoing support over phone & WhatsApp

Student engagement

End-term assessment Product

sold

Activity

Mid-term assessment

Initial orientation

Academic year commences

Follow-up training Classroom observation

and feedback

Teacher engagement

Initial orientation

Academic year ends

Parent Teacher Meeting (explain assessment

results)

Showcase session (demonstrate progress

on quality markers)

Parent engagement*

Spot-check of student

learning


learning


learning

Classroom observation

and feedback

Feedback visit

Feedback call Model school visit (optional)

Feedback call

One-on-one session to demonstrate

student learning


Initial training

Feedback visit

Classroom observation

and feedback

Follow-up training

Jointly conducted by pre-primary teacher and intervention partner

Conducted by intervention partner

Other milestones

4 5 6 7

* In addition to year-round updates, homework activities, and/ or events/ competitions Note: This is an indicative calendar. The academic year might start at different times in different cities. It is important to create different calendars for different cities, as required

© FSG | 42

Challenges with owner / principal engagement

Challenge 1: Data from FSG pilots shows that owners are usually not engaged in monitoring the intervention and this leads to a poor quality of implementation

– While support and monitoring from owners/ principals can improve implementation significantly, APS owners lack the expertise required to lead successful school transformations; they are often not aware of their responsibilities in terms of ensuring effective implementation and may not be aware of the right indicators to gauge quality

Challenge 2: Owners primarily have financial motivations, and would only want to renew a product which helps them differentiate in the competitive micro market. This includes two key activities:

– Demonstrate the benefits of the product to owners

– Support the school in retaining existing students and increasing enrolments next year


4

a

b

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Challenge 1: Owners are usually not engaged in monitoring the intervention leading to a poor quality of implementation

In the initial orientation session, provide them an overview of the program, their responsibilities for ensuring proper implementation and emphasize that their support is critical for implementation – Areas of discussion include: lack of AV infrastructure, lack of space, etc. (See

‘Appendix: Owner/ Principal engagement’ for areas that require their support) – Share a supervision plan and things an owner can focus on when observing classes;

the supervision plan can be left behind as a collateral

Encourage owners/ principals to attend a part of the teacher training to ensure they are aware of things to check for when conducting classroom observations

Share and take the owner/ principal through a short manual or handout which provides an overview of the benefits of the product, and lists ways in which they can support teachers (See ‘Appendix: Owner/Principal engagement for sample handout)

Organize a group visit to a model school to let owners/ principals view successful implementation and get motivated to improve implementation at their school. If the visit is not feasible, show a video of ideal classroom implementation

Share regular reports highlighting data from classroom observations and comparing the school with the model school of the solution provider, so that owner can track quality of implementation (See ‘Appendix: Owner/Principal engagement’ for sample report)

Jointly conduct a classroom observation with owners so that they are aligned on the status of, and challenges with implementation


Make them aware of their

responsibilities

Provide regular updates on

implementation status

How to engage owners/ principals to ensure good quality implementation

4a

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Challenge 2: Owners only want to renew a product which has tangible benefits that they can demonstrate to parents (1/2)

In the orientation session, explain learning outcomes from the intervention, and seed markers that owners/ principals can use to gauge the impact of the program

During classroom observations, or monitoring visits, periodically demonstrate outcomes of the program to owner/ principal as well – Outcomes need not be restricted to improvement in Math/ English skills, but also aspects such as

how children are enjoying learning

Organize a one on one session at the end of the year with owner/ principal to demonstrate impact of the program (in terms of learning outcomes of students against the markers seeded in the orientation session, or as improvement in skills of teachers)

In the regular reports shared with owners, include learning outcomes that they can observe in classrooms that month (See ‘Appendix: Owner/Principal engagement’ for sample report)


How to demonstrate benefits of the product to owners/ principals

4b

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Challenge 2: Owners only want to renew a product which has tangible benefits that they can demonstrate to parents (2/2)


Train owners to effectively communicate the benefits of the product to parents (existing and prospective) – Schools can distribute pamphlets, brochures, etc. highlighting the benefits of the product to existing

as well as prospective parents

– Provide owners ideas on how to use quality markers to demonstrate the impact of the product to parents

(See ‘Appendix: Owner/Principal engagement’ for an example of a marker of quality, and pamphlets that owners can share with parents highlighting the benefits of the product)

Assist the school in conducting marketing events / brand building activities for parents in the neighborhood – Solution provider could sponsor, or help the school conduct events (like, art competition, story telling

competition) where the school invites children from the neighborhood; at the event, hand out customized certificates to children that are co-branded with school and solution provider’s logos

– Solution provider could encourage school to put up hoardings or material like posters, wall paintings, etc. wherein the solution provider co-brands with the school, and highlights the benefits of the program

– Solution provider could give awards and certificates to model schools, which owners can display prominently

(See ‘Appendix: Owner/ Principal engagement’ for illustrations of branding activities and material being used by solution providers at APSs)

How to support owners in exhibiting benefits of the product to parents

4b

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Owner/ Principal engagement calendar

Organize an orientation for school owners in June/ July, at the start of the AY to : – Cover the academic overview of the program – Set expectations and seed markers they can use to judge the quality of the program – Assign responsibilities to owners for ensuring successful implementation in the

classroom (e.g., ensuring teachers are planning for the next day’s lessons) – Reiterate the payment schedule expected from the APSs

Conduct visits to share feedback with the owner in July and September:

– Share performance of school on parameters assessed during monitoring visits, and show a comparison with the best-in-class/ model school of the solution provider (e.g., student learning outcomes, adherence to plan, learning space management)

– Share a targeted list of action items for the school owner, based on school’s performance on these metrics, to improve quality of implementation at the school

– Demonstrate impact of the program against quality markers Organize visit to a model school in August to observe ideal classroom implementation

Conduct a second owner engagement session around February to:

– Showcase results of the program, against the markers of quality – Explain the program’s benefits for children and the school over the next year

(targeted at renewals)

Conduct 2-3 feedback calls during the year to address concerns related to implementation


Initial orientation

Feedback visit

One on one session to

demonstrate student learning

Model school visit (optional)

Feedback calls

4

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Challenges with teacher engagement

Challenge 1: APS teachers are not implementing the program as explained by the solution provider, e.g., – Teachers choose to skip some aspects of the new program (e.g., free play, art and craft, lessons on

gross motor development, etc.) because of one of the following reasons

They are not convinced of the value of conducting some parts of the lesson plan

Teachers are often less qualified and skip parts of lessons where they have not understood the instructions in the lesson plan

Teachers are reluctant to devote time on planning for the next day’s lessons because they feel that new programs take away time from their day-to-day activities; hence, they choose to skip activities they have not prepared for

– Teachers lack motivation and are not excited about implementing the product

– Due to high teacher attrition, some teachers implementing the program may not have undergone any training

– Teachers often over-estimate the learning levels of children, believe they are performing well, and do not see the need for changing their approach to teaching

Challenge 2: Teachers are unable to address concerns shared by parents about the program (e.g., parents often complain to teachers about the lack of homework, or the slow pace of learning)

Teacher engagement

5

a

b

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Challenge 1: Ensure that teachers are implementing the program as explained by the solution provider (1/2)

How to ensure teachers deliver the program effectively Rationale Ensure teachers are provided with training and support throughout

the year, which includes the following: – Initial training, just before the start of the academic year

(See section on ‘Best practices for conducting teacher trainings’ for more details)

– Classroom observation and feedback #1, within 1 month of implementation and before follow-up training #1 (See ‘Appendix: Teacher engagement’ for best practices)

– Follow-up training #1, within first 2 months of implementation – Classroom observation and feedback #2, before follow-up

training #2

– Follow-up training #2, after the mid-term examination

– Classroom observation and feedback #3, after follow-up training #2

Teacher engagement

Ensures teachers begin implementation soon after the training, when concepts are still fresh in their minds; should cover lessons of 1st term

5a

Several doubts emerge once teachers have had 2-3 weeks time to begin implementing the program in the classroom

Helps plug in gaps identified through the first classroom observation

In case there is teacher attrition, helps bring new teachers up to speed on program

Provides an opportunity to clarify any residual doubts that have emerged

APS teachers struggle in the first 2-3 months, so front-loading teacher engagement ensures effective implementation

Covering the content of the entire year in the 1st training would lead to teachers not retaining it, so this training should cover content for 2nd term

In case there is teacher attrition, helps bring the new teachers up to speed on program

Helps identify and clarify doubts on content for the 2nd term

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Challenge 1: Ensure that teachers are implementing the program as explained by the solution provider (2/2)

How to ensure teachers deliver the program effectively Rationale

Teacher engagement 5a

Cost effective way of supplementing in-person visits to the school

Helps resolve queries as and when they arise, leading to immediate course correction

Support over WhatsApp and phone calls, throughout the year – Share videos of ‘good implementation’ over WhatsApp – Encourage teachers to ask questions, and share pictures and

videos from their classroom – Share feedback and common learnings in a timely manner

Teacher manual should be detailed, so that teachers can reference concepts or tips shared during the training easily

APS owners often prefer a teacher manual in English, while teachers find it easier to follow one in local language

Detailed, bilingual manual and session plans should be shared with teachers – these should cover which materials to introduce when, how to use them, what to do next, etc. and the wording should be simple – Solution providers should share a first draft of their manual

with teachers to test whether they are able to comprehend it easily

PIPE has observed that implementation is often delayed because there is no time specifically carved out for the intervention in the school’s pre-primary time-table

Assist teachers in slotting the intervention into the school’s time-table

Videos might be easier for APS teachers to follow, and would make it easy for them to visualize how the activity would play out in the classroom

Develop a video catalogue of all important activities to be conducted in the classroom

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5a Best practices for conducting teacher trainings (1/2)

Teacher engagement

Best practices Rationale Conduct trainings in groups of 15-20 teachers Use a mix of English and local language to conduct trainings

Focus less on abstract theory (e.g., various domains of development) and cover practical activities (e.g., how to use TLMs, how to read and follow session plans, run through of first few lessons, demo of a couple of lessons, etc.)

Cover aspects like effective classroom management techniques, session planning, space and resource management, etc.

Use videos to help teachers visualize implementation in practice (See ‘Appendix: Teacher engagement’ for illustrative videos)

Ensure teachers conduct mock activities during the training session

More cost effective Allows teachers to share learnings and ideas Difficult to conduct mock sessions if group is smaller

than 15 teachers Difficult to keep all teachers engaged if group is

larger than 20 teachers

APS teachers struggle with English and are usually more comfortable with the local language

APS owners prefer that the training is in English, so that teachers try to conduct the class in English

APS teachers lack skills to do classroom management, session planning, etc.

APS teachers need pointers on how to manage the entire class when one-to-one or small group activities are being conducted

Approaches like activity-based learning are very different from the approach traditionally used by APS teachers, and they struggle to understand or visualize it if they are only explained in theory

Videos, if left with teachers, also help them refresh their memory, before they implement a concept in the classroom

© FSG | 51


Teacher engagement

Best practices Rationale Demonstrate to teachers gaps in learning outcomes of

children

– Preferably by using ‘visible markers of quality’ to test children in their class

– Alternatively, by showing population-level data from published reports

Share training objectives and plan for achieving them at the beginning of the session

Ensure teachers have access to manuals and TLMs and these are referenced to explain activities during the training; manuals should have space for teachers to take notes

Follow-up trainings can have more theoretical aspects and reflections on the science behind the product

Teachers struggle to use TLMs or implement the session plan unless they have adequate time to read the manual and interact with TLMs during trainings

Helps teachers understand why the program is important

Motivates teachers to work towards improving learning outcomes using the program

(See ‘Appendix: Teacher engagement’ for more best practices on teacher training)

Structuring the session in this manner improves understanding and ensures teachers are able to follow the training easily

When the teachers have been implementing the product for some time, they are able to relate to these theoretical concepts better

© FSG | 52

Challenge 2: Teachers are unable to address concerns shared by parents about the product

How to equip teachers to address parent concerns Rationale

Teacher engagement 5b

Share responses to common concerns raised by parents – Trainers should provide teachers with a cheat sheet which

contains responses to frequently raised concerns by parents – Trainers should discuss these responses with teachers during

the training session Conduct a mock parent interaction with teachers during the

training session (e.g., trainer plays the role of a difficult parent, and teacher tries to address the trainer’s concerns with the program)

Most parents approach teachers with concerns related to a new program (e.g., lack of homework, lack of writing)

Teachers struggle to provide satisfactory responses to parents when faced with these difficult questions

Share ‘visible markers of quality’ with teachers and train them to demonstrate learning outcomes to parents: Share ‘visible markers of quality’ with teachers, which they can in turn use to easily demonstrate the improvement in learning outcomes to parents

Parents are likely to be better convinced about the benefits of the program if they are able to see the improvement on ‘visible markers of quality’

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Challenges with parent engagement Parent engagement

6

Challenge 1: Implementation as well as renewals are impacted if parents of existing students do not see the impact of the product

– Parents may not be aware of what to expect from the intervention (i.e., ideal learning outcomes)

– Parents may not know about the progress at school, and whether their child achieves the expected learning outcomes

– Parents may not be certain whether any changes or improvement can be attributed to the introduction of the new intervention at the school

– Parents may use incorrect indicators to gauge quality of teaching at the school (e.g., homework, writing, etc.) and are likely to compel schools to revert to bad ECE; they are sometimes concerned about the lack of alignment of the classroom curriculum with the tuition curriculum

– Owners are unlikely to renew if parents do not see the value of the product

Challenge 2: Solution providers have a poor brand awareness among parents, leading to low demand

a

b

Back

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Challenge 1: Implementation as well as renewals are impacted if parents do not see the impact of the product (1/2)

Conduct a simple orientation for parents wherein the solution provider covers the following: – Demonstrate the need for the new product, by showing the current level of children (e.g., use visible

markers to show children are not aware of even basic concepts) – Explain harmful effects of bad ECE practices (such as, rote learning), and the importance of quality

ECE and a conducive home environment – Use mock activities to show how concepts would be taught using the solution provider’s approach – Set expectations about the new program (e.g., lesser written work, lesser homework, and timeframe

within which improvement would be visible) – Share markers of good quality with parents (these could also include markers not linked to learning

outcomes, e.g., child likes going to school, child does homework on his own, etc.) – If the product is used in high-end schools, also highlight that to parents

Jointly conduct Parent Teacher Meetings with the school to address complaints or clarify parents’ doubts about the product

(See ‘Appendix: Parent engagement’ for an illustration of a Parent Teacher Meeting)

6a Parent engagement

How to communicate impact of the product to parents

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Challenge 1: Implementation as well as renewals are impacted if parents do not see the impact of the product (2/2)

Encourage owners to conduct showcase events, where they can showcase the activities that children have been doing in class (e.g., display art and craft prepared by students in PTMs, or have students lead parts of the PTM); these showcase events, and parent-teacher meetings could be used to demonstrate performance of students against markers of quality shared at the beginning of the year

(See ‘Appendix: Parent engagement’ for illustration of a showcase event conducted by a solution provider)

Train teachers to use tech-based platforms (e.g., WhatsApp, SMS, uploading voice messages onto an IVRS) to share regular updates with parents; updates could include videos/ pictures from the classroom, learning outcomes for the month, home activities that parents can do with the child, etc.

Share home-work activities that parents can do with children, along side clearly laid out instructions and learning outcomes from the activity so that parents can see the improvement in their child through the year

– Home work activities should be designed to cater to parents who may not be very literate, e.g., coloring sheets, or story cards

(See ‘Appendix: Parent engagement’ for an illustration of home-work activities)

6a Parent engagement

How to communicate impact of the product to parents

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Challenge 2: Solution providers have a poor brand awareness among parents, leading to low demand

Conduct competitions, or activities in the community (e.g., painting competition, math quiz) and

hand out customized certificates to children that are co-branded with school and solution provider’s

logos

– These could be organized at the school; solution providers could evaluate sponsoring the event and

training teachers to conduct such an event, instead of conducting this themselves

Use hoardings, wall paintings, pamphlets, etc. to advertise the product in the community

Develop apps that provide parents simple activities that they can do at home to support their child’s

development

6b Parent engagement

How to build a brand for the product

© FSG | 57

Parent engagement calendar Parent engagement

6

Initial orientation

Conduct an initial orientation at the start of the Academic Year in June/ July which would cover the following: – Academic overview of the program – Set expectations about program (e.g., lesser written work) – Share learning outcomes, and seed markers which parents can use to judge quality

of the program – Share activities which parents can do at home with the child – Explain theory behind child development, importance of quality ECE and conducive

home environment

Parent Teacher Meeting

2nd parent Teacher Meeting

Ongoing updates and

activities

Trainer should jointly conduct the parent-teacher meeting with the pre-primary teacher after the mid-term exams in October, and cover the following: – Explain results from the mid-term assessments conducted by the school – Demonstrate immediate (2-3 months) impact of the program against the markers of

quality – Address any complaints or clarify any doubts that parents have about the program

Conduct a 2nd parent-teacher meeting around the month of March to: – Showcase results of the program, against the markers of quality – Explain benefits of the program for children and the school over the next Academic

Year

Provide regular updates through tech-based platforms (e.g., WhatsApp, SMS, IVRS) Share home-work activities that parents can do with children, along side clearly laid out

instructions and learning outcomes

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Objectives of monitoring Monitoring

7

Objective 1: Track implementation of the product at schools to ensure that it is being delivered correctly

Objective 2: Monitor learning outcomes of children to check whether there is a demonstrable impact of the product

Objective 3: Collect feedback from key stakeholders at the school (i.e., parents, teachers, owners/ principals) to understand and resolve their concerns

Objective 4: Track solution delivery at the schools to ensure on time servicing as well as delivery of products

a

b

c

d

Back

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7a Objective 1: Track implementation of the program at schools Monitoring

Aspects of implementation that need to be tracked How to track these aspects Infrastructure assessment and support at the school

– Availability of adequate space to conduct activities

– Student seating arrangement for activities (e.g., are children seated on the floor for circle time)

Classroom delivery by the teachers, for example, – Appropriate use of TLMs – Adherence to session plan – Pace of delivery during each session – Accuracy of content being delivered – Proportion of session plans completed, against

expected completion in the given period

Student engagement in classes, for example, – Individual attention to struggling students or

quick learners – Student management/ discipline while activities

are conducted

Conduct classroom observations using a standardized tool and metrics

Tool used for monitoring implementation could either be on: – a tech platform (e.g., survey, dashboard

with data on usage of a product by owners), or

– paper (e.g., a checklist administered by an engagement manager)

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7b Objective 2: Monitor learning outcomes for children Monitoring

How to track student learning outcomes

Create mid-term and end-term assessments aligned with the curriculum Train teachers to conduct assessments at the school, and monitor this data to track

improvement

Performance on school

assessments

Improvement against markers

of quality

Conduct spot check of outcomes against the markers of quality (through trainers) – A right marker of quality should be simple for owners and parents to

understand, and should showcase improvement on aspects which parents and owners value (e.g., spoken English, or Math)

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7c Objective 3: Collect feedback from key stakeholders at the school (1/2)

Monitoring

Aspects on which feedback should be collected

Feedback from teachers at the school Collect feedback on the following aspects after a

teacher training: – Key takeaways/ learnings from the session – Level of comfort to deliver the program – Feedback on structure of training (e.g., timing,

length) – Likes and dislikes about the training or the

trainer – Expectations and requirements of support from

the solution provider – Key questions/concerns

Collect following feedback during monitoring visits: – Aspects that teachers like about the product – Challenges with implementation – Specific activities which the teacher is not

conducting at all or not implementing properly – Impact of the product on the performance of

the children – Parents’ feedback on the product – Recommendations for improving the product – Perception of whether the intervention has

increased / reduced workload

Feedback from owners at the school Perception of how the product has performed,

compared to initial expectations Key challenges / drawbacks of the product Quality of solution provided by solution provider Parents’ awareness and feedback on product Recommendations for improving the product Expectations of the impact of the product on

business (e.g., enrolments, fees, etc.) Willingness to renew the product next year (to

be asked in the latter half of the academic year) Feedback from parents at the school Awareness of the product Perception of the monetary cost for the product Perceived value-proposition of the product, and

expectations of what the product can achieve Impact of the product on the performance of

their children Concerns/questions about the product Recommendations for improving the product

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7c Objective 3: Collect feedback from key stakeholders at the school (2/2)

Monitoring

How to collect this feedback

Create a discussion guide to collect qualitative feedback from teachers, owners and parents through in-person interviews – The guide could be administered by someone other than the trainer who conducts training/ monitoring

sessions, to make teachers more open to giving feedback on the quality of the trainer – If the person collecting feedback is from a “dedicated monitoring team”, it gives the impression that

the solution provider takes monitoring and feedback seriously

Create a feedback questionnaire for the teachers, owners and parents to fill out – The questionnaire can be shared with teachers at the end of a training or monitoring session, with

parents during PTMs, and over e-mail with owners

(See ‘Appendix: Monitoring’ for an illustrative feedback questionnaire)

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7d Objective 4: Track service delivery at the schools Monitoring

Aspects of service delivery that need to be tracked How to track these aspects Delivery of material (i.e., student TLMs, classroom

kits) Training sessions (i.e., whether dates for the

session were communicated in advance to the school, training session was conducted for the appropriate duration, at the right time, and with the appropriate attendees)

Monitoring visits (i.e., whether dates for the visits were communicated in advance to the school, visits done at the agreed cadence)

Create an implementation tracker to monitor service delivery – This tracker can be created on a CRM

tool, and updated at regular intervals by the trainer or relationship manager for each school

Spot checks by a senior learning manager at schools to see whether service delivery is on track

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Contents







7 Appendix

© FSG | 65

School-level economics of various solution providers Benchmarks

Rev

enue

O

pera

ting

Expe

nses

Provider 1 Provider 2 Provider 3 Provider 4 Provider 5

# of classes 3 4 3 3 3 # of students 100 120 100 100 110

Price per student ₹ 1300 ₹ 575 ₹ 600 ₹ 2,750 700 Other revenues1 ₹ 0 ₹ 0 ₹ 0 ₹ 0 0

Total revenue ₹ 130,000 ₹ 69,000 ₹ 60,000 ₹ 275,000 ₹ 77,000 # of schools closed by 1 salesperson 10 13 15 10 10

Total cost of a salesperson2 ₹ 600,000 ₹ 730,000 ₹ 600,000 ₹ 400,000 ₹ 510,000 # of salespersons managed by one sales manager 4 4 4 4 4

Total annual cost of a sales manager2 ₹ 900,000 ₹ 912,500 ₹ 900,000 ₹ 750,000 ₹ 1,200,000 Cost of acquisition (spread over 5 years)3 ₹ 16,500 ₹ 14,740 ₹ 11,000 ₹ 11,750 ₹ 16,200

# of servicing visits done by a trainer at each school 8 6 6 9 10 # of servicing visits that a trainer can do in an AY 160 180 120 180 200

Total annual cost of a trainer2 ₹ 625,000 ₹ 700,000 ₹ 480,000 ₹ 360,000 ₹ 450,000 # of trainers managed by a head trainer 10 10 10 10 10

Total cost of a head trainer2 ₹ 825,000 ₹ 825,000 ₹ 600,000 ₹ 750,000 ₹ 800,000 Cost of servicing3 ₹ 35,375 ₹ 26,083 ₹ 27,000 ₹ 21,750 ₹ 26,500

Cost of TLMs4 per student ₹ 257 ₹ 150 ₹ 150 ₹ 867 ₹ 225 Cost of TLMs4 per class ₹ 4,500 - - ₹ 18,000 ₹1,500

Cost of TLMs4 ₹ 39,200 ₹ 18,000 ₹ 15,000 ₹ 140,700 ₹ 29,250 Gross profit ₹ 38,925 ₹ 10,177 ₹ 7,000 ₹ 100,800 ₹ 5,050

Gross margin 30% 15% 11% 37% 7%

1. Revenue from sources like after-school programs; 2. Total cost includes salary, reimbursements, incentives 3. Assumes full utilization of trainer, head trainer, sales person and head sales person; 4. Teaching Learning Material Source: FSG interviews with solution providers Note: Product maintenance, overheads, and marketing costs have not been included as complete information for all 5 providers is unavailable; This table reflects available revenue and cost estimates for the providers as on March 2017

© FSG | 66

Key market data for various solution providers

Provider 1 Provider 2 Provider 3 Provider 4 Provider 5

Renewal rate 85% 50-60% 85% Not available 75%

# of schools signed by a salesperson in a year 10 13 15 10 10

Total cost of sales person ₹ 600,000 ₹ 730,000 ₹ 600,000 ₹ 400,000 ₹ 510,000

# of schools managed by one trainer 20 30 20 20 20

Total cost of trainer ₹ 6,25,000 ₹ 700,000 ₹ 480,000 ₹ 360,000 ₹ 450,000

Benchmarks

Source: FSG interviews with solution providers Note: This table reflects available revenue and cost estimates for the providers as on March 2017

© FSG | 67

Snapshot of the hypothetical financial model

Model has been created at a hub or city-level, assuming a growth rate for number of schools in each hub or city

– Expansion to other hubs/cities has been built-in assuming the same rate of growth for new hubs/cities

IRR in the model is calculated using the net cash flows for each year

The model assumes all negative cash flows will be covered by equity investment, and projects the maximum equity investment that would be required for the business

The price of the product and all salaries are assumed to be growing slightly below the inflation rate year-on-year, and the TLM costs grow at a rate much lower than inflation, as provider gets scale benefits

This is a financial model for management planning and decision making that can be used for business forecasts, and does not take does not take tax implications into consideration

Key assumptions

Price/ student ₹ 1,000

Renewal rate 75%

Default rate 5%

# of students signed-up per APS

150 students across 5 classes

# of servicing visits per school1 8

Total cost of a servicing staff member2 ₹575,000 p.a.

# of schools signed-up by one salesperson 10

Total cost of salesperson2 ₹6,00,000 p.a.

Cost of TLMs (incurred every year)

₹225/ student, and ₹1,500/class

Marketing cost (as a % of revenue) 6%

1. Each servicing staff member can do 160 visits in a year; 2. Includes salary, reimbursement and incentives (if any)

Targets ~4,000 schools across 20 hubs or cities in 20 years Peak investment of ₹ 42 million required and payback period of 11 years Potentially generates an IRR of 25%

Financial model

© FSG | 68

Hypothetical provider starts with 20 APSs in 1 city and is projected to grow to ~4,000 APSs across 20 cities by year 20

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

Year 20

Year 15

Year 10

Year 5

Year 1

0

5

10

15

20

Year 1

Year 10

Year 15

Year 20

Year 5

Total number of hubs or cities

0

50

100

150

200

Year 20

Year 15

Year 10

Year 5

Year 1

Total number of APSs per hub or city

Total number of APSs

Financial model

Please click on the link below to open and download the excel document with the hypothetical financial model

Detailed instructions on how to use the model have been provided on the excel document

© FSG | 69

Key takeaways from the financial model Financial model

Solution providers can expect an IRR of up to 25%, positive operating margin1 by year 6, positive earnings before tax in year 8, and break-even in year 11

An average investment of ₹ 6 mn p.a. in the first 7 years yields an average net inflow of ₹ 20 mn p.a. for the next 7 years (i.e., year 8 to year 14), and an average net inflow of ₹ 79 mn p.a. from year 15 to year 20

As scale benefits are achieved and certain costs stabilize, the provider can expect an operating margin of 19% in year 20

– Acquisition costs are high initially as the provider is building its base, but drop significantly by year 5 –from 42% to 29% – and continue to reduce (to 16% by year 20) as the provider reaches scale

– Cost of TLMs as a proportion to revenue continues to reduce as cost of TLMs grows at a rate much lower than inflation

– As scale is achieved, product maintenance and overheads costs reduce significantly (from 42% and 75% respectively in year 1 to 1% and 12% respectively in year 20)

Returns from the business are most sensitive to (1) price charged (2) number of students signed-up per APS (3) number of servicing visits per APS (4) renewal rate (5) number of APSs signed up per salesperson

1. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation

© FSG | 70

₹42 million of total investment promises returns of 25% over 20 years with payback period of 11 years

1. Earnings before tax

-200

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Y1 Y5 Y10 Y15 Y20

mill

ion

(₹)

Company- Cash flow, revenues and EBT1 Cumulative cash flow, revenues and EBT (₹ million) vs. Years in existence

Cumulative cash flow Revenues EBT

Payback period of 11 years

Internal rate of return over 20 years : 25%

Operational breakeven at

Year 8

Peak investment of ₹ 42 million

Financial model

© FSG | 71

Positive operating margin achieved in Year 6 and 19% operating margin by Year 20

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10 Y11 Y12 Y13 Y14 Y15 Y16 Y17 Y18 Y19 Y20

Ope

ratin

g m

argi

n (%

)

Company- Operating margin (EBITDA1) Operating margin (%) vs. Years in existence

1. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation

Positive operating

margin from Year 6

Financial model

© FSG | 72

At a per school level, operating margin of 19% is reached in year 20

Financial model

Year 1 Year 3 Year 8 Year 15 Total number of schools 20 139 932 2,717

Number of new schools per hub or city 20 40 60 50 Salespersons required per hub or city 2 4 6 5

Total price charged per school ₹ 150,000 ₹ 160,613 ₹ 189,509 ₹ 222,217 Default rate 5% 5% 5% 5%

Total revenue received per school* ₹ 142,500 ₹ 152,583 ₹ 180,034 ₹ 211,106 Cost of acquisition per school ₹ 60,000 ₹ 55,969 ₹ 39,896 ₹ 39,205

Cost of servicing per school ₹ 28,750 ₹ 35,410 ₹ 44,342 ₹ 49,991 Cost of TLMs1 per school ₹ 41,250 ₹ 42,988 ₹ 47,480 ₹ 52,110

Product maintenance cost per school ₹ 60,000 ₹ 9,518 ₹ 2,416 ₹ 1,749 Overhead cost per school ₹ 107,500 ₹ 23,709 ₹ 20,734 ₹ 26,331 Marketing cost per school ₹ 8,550 ₹ 9,155 ₹ 10,802 ₹ 12,666

Total operating costs per school ₹ 306,050 ₹ 176,749 ₹ 165,669 ₹ 182,053 Product development cost ₹ 90,000 ₹ 14,277 ₹ 4,076 ₹ 3,279

Cost of furniture and fixtures ₹ 14,000 - - - IT expenditure ₹ 22,500 ₹ 3,966 ₹ 1,983 ₹ 1,910

Total asset investments per school ₹ 126,500 ₹ 18,243 ₹ 6,059 ₹ 5,189 Net cash flow before tax/ school (₹ 290,050) (₹ 42,410) ₹ 8,306 ₹ 23,864

Net cash flow before tax (% revenue) NA NA 5% 11% Operating profit2 per school NA NA ₹ 14,365 ₹ 29,053

Operating margin2 per school NA NA 8% 14% 1. Teaching Learning Material; 2. Operating profit before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization * Per school is calculated as total revenue and total costs divided by the total number of schools (both, old and new) for the solution provider in that year

As provider reaches scale, and old schools continue to renew, number of new sign-ups (and number of sales staff) required reduces. As a result, average cost of acquisition per school reduces significantly

Costs of overheads and product maintenance per school reduce significantly year on year until year 8 as the number of schools signed up increases rapidly, and stabilize thereafter, increasing only to the extent of inflation

Largely stable on a per school basis; cost inflation on TLMs is assumed to be lower than price inflation

Increases due to inflation

Decreases as no major changes made to product after initial years

© FSG | 73

Operating profit per student increases from ₹ 96 in year 8 to ₹321 in year 20

Financial model

Year 1 Year 3 Year 8 Year 10 Year 15 Year 20

Total number of students 3,000 20,850 139,800 199,800 407,550 584,100

Revenue per student ₹ 950 ₹ 1,017 ₹ 1,200 ₹ 1,272 ₹ 1,407 ₹ 1,654

Cost of acquisition per student ₹ 400 ₹ 373 ₹ 266 ₹ 253 ₹ 261 ₹ 259

Cost of servicing per student ₹ 192 ₹ 236 ₹ 296 ₹ 306 ₹ 333 ₹ 385

Cost of TLMs per student ₹ 275 ₹ 287 ₹ 317 ₹ 328 ₹ 347 ₹ 383

Product maintenance cost per student ₹ 400 ₹ 63 ₹16 ₹ 16 ₹ 12 ₹ 10

Overhead cost per student ₹ 717 ₹ 158 ₹ 138 ₹ 149 ₹ 176 ₹ 196

Marketing cost per student ₹ 57 ₹ 61 ₹ 72 ₹ 76 ₹ 84 ₹ 99

Total operating costs per student ₹ 2,040 ₹ 1,178 ₹ 1,104 ₹ 1,128 ₹ 1,214 ₹ 1,333

Product development cost ₹ 600 ₹ 95 ₹ 27 ₹ 28 ₹ 22 ₹ 27

Cost of furniture and fixtures ₹ 93 - - - - -

IT expenditure ₹ 150 ₹ 26 ₹ 13 ₹ 13 ₹ 13 ₹ 8

Total asset investments per school ₹ 843 ₹ 122 ₹ 40 ₹ 41 ₹ 35 ₹ 36

Net cash flow before tax/ student (₹ 1,934) (₹ 283) ₹ 55 ₹ 103 ₹ 159 ₹ 286

Net cash flow before tax (% revenue) NA NA 5% 8% 11% 17%

Operating profit# per student NA NA ₹ 96 ₹ 143 ₹ 194 ₹ 321

Operating margin# per student NA NA 8% 11% 14% 19%

* Per student is calculated as total revenue and total costs divided by the total number of students (both, old and new) for the solution provider in that year # Operating profit before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization

© FSG | 74

Operating costs per student as a proportion of revenue reduce from 116% in year 3 to 81% in year 20

Financial model

Year 1 Year 3 Year 8 Year 10 Year 15 Year 20

Total revenue 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Cost of acquisition as a % of revenue 42% 37% 22% 20% 19% 16%

Cost of servicing as a % of revenue 20% 23% 25% 24% 24% 23%

Cost of TLMs1 as a % of revenue 29% 28% 26% 26% 25% 23%

Product maintenance as a % of revenue 42% 6% 1% 1% 1% 1%

Overhead cost as a % of revenue 75% 16% 12% 12% 12% 12%

Marketing cost as a % of revenue 6% 6% 6% 6% 6% 6%

Total operating costs as % of revenue 215% 116% 92% 89% 86% 81%

Product development as a % of revenue 63% 9% 2% 2% 2% 2%

Furniture and fixtures as % of revenue 10% - - - - -

IT expenditureas a % of revenue 16% 3% 1% 1% 1% 0.5%

Total investment in assets (% revenue) 89% 12% 3% 3% 3% 2%

Net cash flow before tax (% revenue) NA NA 5% 8% 11% 17%

Operating margin2 NA NA 8% 11% 14% 19%

* Per student is calculated as total revenue and total costs divided by the total number of students (both, old and new) for the solution provider in that year 1. Teaching Learning Material 2. Operating profit before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization

© FSG | 75

Sensitivity analysis (1/3): Returns are sensitive to the price charged and number of students signed-up per APS

Break-even period (years) IRR (%) Maximum investment needed (₹)

Price per student2 (₹)

900 18 years 7% ₹ 87 mn

950 14 years 17% ₹ 58 mn

1,000 11 years 25% ₹ 42 mn

1,050 9 years 32% ₹ 30 mn

1,100 8 years 38% ₹ 24 mn

Variations in Break-even period, Maximum investment needed, and IRR with Price per student

Assumption: In our sensitivity analysis, we have assumed that sales volumes do not change, with increases or decreases in price and ticket size ; 1. IRR is negative, i.e., initial investment not recovered; 2. Price / student in Yr 1

Financial model

IRR (%) Number of students signed-up per APS

120 (4 classes)

140 (4 classes)

150 (5 classes)

175 (5 classes)

180 (6 classes)


900 NA1 NA1 7% 26% 29%

950 NA1 7% 17% 34% 37%

1,000 NA1 16% 25% 42% 45%

1,050 3% 24% 32% 49% 52%

1,100 12% 31% 38% 57% 60%

IRR with Price per student and Number of students signed-up per APS

IRR increases by 7% when price is raised from ₹ 1,000 to ₹ 1,050 IRR increases by 9% when number of students signed-up per APS increases from 140 to 150

© FSG | 76

Sensitivity analysis (2/3): Returns are sensitive to the number of servicing visits done per APS and the renewal rate

IRR (%) Number of servicing visits per APS

6 7 8 9 10


950 25% 19% 17% 6% 1%

1,000 32% 26% 25% 16% 12%

1,050 39% 33% 32% 23% 21%

1,100 45% 40% 38% 30% 28%

IRR with Price per student and Number of servicing visits per APS

Financial model

IRR (%) Number of servicing visits per APS

8 10 12

Renewal rate (%)

60% 5% NA1 NA1

70% 19% 6% NA1

75% 25% 12% NA1

80% 26% 15% NA1

90% 32% 22% 8%

IRR with Number of servicing visits per APS and Renewal rate

IRR reduces by 13% when servicing visits are increased from 8 to 10

Assumption: Number of sales each year remain unchanged; 1. IRR is negative, i.e., initial investment not recovered

IRR increases by 6% when renewal rate increases from 70% to 75%

© FSG | 77

Sensitivity analysis (3/3): Returns are sensitive to the number of APSs signed-up by a salesperson in a year

Financial model

# of APSs signed-up by a salesperson in a year

6 8 10 12 14

IRR (%) NA1 12% 25% 26% 28%

IRR with Number of APSs signed-up by a salesperson in a year

Assumption: Number of sales each year remain unchanged; 1. IRR is negative, i.e., initial investment is not recovered

IRR increases by 13% when number of APS signed by a salesperson are increased from 8 to 10

© FSG | 78

Contents







7 Appendix

© FSG | 79

Appendix

1 Low priority business elements



© FSG | 80

Product development and

refinement

Low priority business elements (1/2)

Additional sources of

revenue

Some ideas mentioned for generating additional revenues include after-school programs, Math/ English labs, products for parents and licensing the product/ technology to other solution providers

Some solution providers are also exploring models where their own teachers conduct classes at schools

Includes curriculum design and delivery

Textbooks and TLMs

Includes design and manufacturing of textbooks and teaching-learning materials

Role balancing

Ways to ensure staff is effectively utilized throughout the year

This issue is specially relevant for sales staff, trainers and servicing staff

Description Rationale for deprioritizing the element

While a couple of investors have talked about the importance of conducting in-depth research before developing the product, we have not heard of any more best practices or strategic choices regarding this element

While books and TLMs currently account for 20-30% of costs for most solution providers, they do not believe there is significant potential to bring down costs further without sacrificing quality

Has not emerged as a very important element during external conversations – very few providers look at sources of revenue outside of their core business

While most solution providers agree that utilization is currently an issue, they haven’t been able to work out a viable option for the same

© FSG | 81

Low priority business elements (2/2)

Geographic footprint

Includes both: – Penetration in each city where provider

has presence – Choice between a regional or city-based

strategy

Revenue potential

Potential revenues per school (e.g., INR 50k, INR 50 k – 2 lacs, INR 2 lacs+)

This guides the level of engagement that the solution provider can afford, in terms of sales as well as implementation in school

Description Rationale for deprioritizing the element

While most providers have mentioned that it is important to maintain a scale of 50-100 schools in a city, no other interesting insights or best practices have emerged through our conversations

The insights related to this business element have been captured within the seven core business elements

© FSG | 82

Appendix


2 Archetypes and best practices for business elements 2.1 Pricing strategy 2.2 Lead generation 2.3 Sales Force Effectiveness 2.4 Owner / Principal engagement 2.5 Teacher engagement 2.6 Parent engagement 2.7 Monitoring


© FSG | 83

Appendix




© FSG | 84

Learnings on how to generate leads through cold calls

Identify low income

neighborhoods

Based on our experience pitching products at APSs across 4 cities, we have identified neighborhoods that are likely to have a high concentration of APSs

Click on Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi to get access to our data

Lead generation

2

Obtain contact details for leads

which fit the qualifying

criteria

Focus on neighborhoods where you are finding more

leads

Sales persons should visit the areas assigned to them and speak to shopkeepers, street vendors, hawkers etc. to get names of schools in the area

Conduct walk-in pitches at these schools (e.g., to the admin head), and gather basic qualifying data about the school (e.g., fees, enrolment, presence of a competing solution provider)

At schools which fit the solution provider’s qualifying criteria, line-up a meeting with the owner/ principal

It could be more productive to initially look at different areas of the city, and then go deep into 2-3 areas where the team has been able to find more leads

Divide regions among the sales persons in the

city

In order to avoid a conflict, wherein two sales persons end up pitching at the same APS, divide the regions in the city among the sales persons – E.g., one sales person could get North Delhi and the other could take South

Delhi

Back

https://drive.google.com/open?id=12M4UZLzeo1_kU-xL_SDvF3QsGmU&usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1czWdATUmkvWnJUeg--_MLIZGbgY&usp=sharing

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1cr5L3RulpbDg9N25Ce7WkDlCH1w&ll=12.952909376843046,77.59792820000007&z=11

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iD6U-Y4cqWpp-HDjkyneI6BBsZ0&usp=sharin

© FSG | 85

Appendix




© FSG | 86

Illustration: Performance metrics for salesforce

Sales person Source of lead Average number of visits required to sign up an APS

Average time taken to sign up an APS

(days)

Average number of visits done per day

Average number of calls made per day

Salesperson A Cold Calls

ISFC

NISA

Total

Salesperson B Cold Calls

ISFC

NISA

Total

Salesperson C Cold Calls

ISFC

NISA

Total

Status as of current week

Salesforce effectiveness

City: _____________

3a

© FSG | 87

Best practices for developing a sales pitch Messages that resonate with APS owners (1/2)


3c

Need to differentiate in

the micro-market

Necessity to differentiate in the competitive environment in which most APSs operate Importance of improvements in spoken English and Math as market differentiators

for the school Potential branding benefits offered by the intervention provider (i.e., the opportunity

to associate itself with the intervention provider’s brand) Use of the product in ‘elite’ schools and examples of mid and high end schools the

owner would appreciate

Importance of the pre-primary

years

Importance of ‘good’ ECE in order to ensure better academic results in the future Lack of focus on ECE amongst most schools and NGOs

‘Activity-based’ learning

Benefits of ‘activity-based’ learning, and the inadequacy of rote-learning, particularly in the pre-primary years

Benefits of adopting activity-based practices similar to those in ‘elite’ schools or pre-school chains, which were previously inaccessible or unaffordable

Interventions ‘tailored’ for the

APS market

Many products in the market are not suitable for the APS segment The need for products that account for the APS’s

– Teachers’ skills and qualifications

– Parents’ backgrounds

– Infrastructure limitations Back

© FSG | 88

Best practices for developing a sales pitch Messages that resonate with APS owners (2/2)


3c

Importance of sufficient follow-up and support for teachers, to ensure successful implementation of any program – With interventions that have limited follow-up trainings (e.g., one follow-up

training in a year), some owners expressed concerns about whether teachers will be able to implement properly

Address owner’s concerns about follow-through on the commitments of post-sales support – Owners have had poor experiences in the past where a provider has not

delivered on the commitment of post-sales support, so they saw value in PIPE’s plan to monitor impact and implementation as added assurance that the partner will implement the intervention properly

Comprehensive program

Strong follow-up and support

Value of a comprehensive program that not only provides material, but also provides the school with the support required for effective implementation of the material (e.g., teacher training, assessments)

Owners value structured programs that enhance the impact of the good practices that they may already be implementing in an ad-hoc manner (e.g., schools that may already be using some TLMs to teach math value a structured curriculum that links the TLMs and activities to math concepts in the syllabus)

© FSG | 89

Best practices for developing a sales pitch Collateral to be used while pitching

Engagement calendar, which details the extent of after-sales support that the solution provider would be giving through the year

Marketing brochure, that highlights benefits of the program, such as “improvement in Math and spoken English skills”

Testimonials of APS owners and parents, which bring out the benefits of the program in terms of improved student learning outcomes, and improvement in enrolment for the APS

Product videos, which showcase the pedagogy in a manner that is easy for owners to understand Sample TLMs and student kit, as owners often ask to look at the tangible elements of the program,

and see whether they would be appealing to parents – A demo of an activity using the sample TLMs can be very impactful in explaining the pedagogy


3c

Back

© FSG | 90

Illustration: Engagement calendar to be left as collateral while pitching


3c

School Engagement Calendar 2017 2018

Activity Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

Teacher Training & Observation

Initial teacher training

Session #1

Follow-up training #1

Session #2

Follow-up training #2

Session #3

Student Assessment

Mid year assessment

End year assessment

Parent Engagement

Initial Orientation PTM Showcase

Session

Principal / Owner Engagement

Contract signed

TLMs and child kits delivered

Initial orientation

Feedback visit

Model school visit (optional)

Feedback visit

Feedback call

Feedback call

Session to showcase

student learning

Continuous Support Phone and WhatsApp support on an as-needed basis

© FSG | 91

Illustration: Marketing brochure for an English language provider


3c

Page 1 Page 2

© FSG | 92

Illustration: Marketing brochure for an Art program (1/2) Sales Force Effectiveness

3c

Page 1 Page 2

© FSG | 93

Illustration: Marketing brochure for an Art program (1/2) Sales Force Effectiveness

3c

Page 3 Page 4

© FSG | 94

Illustration: Sales process for pitching a product at APSs

First interaction Objective: Line-up a detailed, longer meeting with owner/ principal Usually a 10-minute interaction, over the phone or in person Salesperson should use an elevator pitch and show collaterals highlighting the product’s benefits

Second interaction

Objective: Clearly explain the program and gauge owner’s interest Usually a 30-40 minute in-person meeting with principal/ owner Salesperson should do a detailed pitch bringing out the key aspects of the product’s value

proposition (See section on ‘Best practices for a developing a sales pitch’) – Based on the quality of their salespersons, provider may consider increasing their focus on

showcasing TLMs and collateral instead of a detailed conversation about the product Showcase TLMs (i.e., teacher and student kit) which form a part of the program Show product videos to help owner/ principal visualize implementation in practice Offer to conduct a product demo or organize a visit to a model school to showcase

implementation in practice

(Optional) Product demo/ Visit to model

school

Product demo: Trainer should conduct a brief demo (i.e., < 1 hour) with teachers at the school, showcasing how a classroom would run using the new pedagogy – Focus on putting teachers at ease, and highlighting aspects that would appeal to

them (e.g., avoid bringing up the level of preparation that would be required from teachers) Visit to model school: A visit to a model school should be organized

– Provider should select a model school where owners are open to answering questions, and in return offer incentives in the form of freebies to model school owners

Third interaction onwards

Close the deal with interested owners by negotiating and addressing concerns – Offering a discount too early in the sales process often leads to long negotiations, and

expectation of further discounts from the provider

Sign contract Get contract signed and collect advance payment cheque

Sales Force Effectiveness 3d

Back

© FSG | 95

October-March is the ideal time to sell interventions to schools – It is difficult to sell between April and May as

Schools have published fees for the next academic year and may not be able to pass on costs to parents

Some owners are wary of surprising parents with “last minute“ changes just before the beginning of the academic year

Many schools may have already placed orders for text books for the coming academic year – It is difficult to sell between May and September as

Some APSs are hesitant to make academic changes for the current year once classes have begun

Owners miss out on the branding benefits offered by the interventions – Enrolments are nearly done – Marketing collateral for the year has already been produced by then (e.g., annual books

advertising new initiatives are published) Some owners might not yet be ready to consider interventions for the next academic year Decision makers are often unavailable during the summer break (May-June)

Some owners claim to face cash-flow issues at the end of the academic year and prefer to pay for the intervention after the admission fees have been collected for the next academic year

3d Ideal time for pitching to APSs Sales Force Effectiveness

Back

© FSG | 96

Illustration: Questions frequently asked by owners after a sales pitch


3e

“Will this program work at my school, where teachers are not as competent?”

– Owners often point out that their teachers are not graduates, or not proficient in English which would make it difficult to implement the program

“What if my teachers leave in the middle of the program?”

– APS owners face a high rate of teacher attrition, and so are worried about investing money on training them

“What if my parents are not comfortable with this program?”

– APS owners have seen that programs which involve lesser home-work, or reduced emphasis on writing, often meet with resistance from parents

“Can you guarantee me exclusivity with this product in this area?”

– APSs operate in a highly competitive micro-market, and would like to use the program to differentiate from their competitors

– If APS owners insist on exclusivity, then the solution provider should ask them to name 2-3 schools (i.e., their direct competitors) where they would not want the solution provider to pitch the program

“Could you provide me a break-up of the cost of the program (i.e., proportion of cost for various components, such as material, monitoring, and training)?”

– APS owners do not like to pay for intangible aspects of the intervention (e.g., license fee), so they often enquire about the break-up of cost and use it to guide their negotiations

Back

© FSG | 97

Illustration: Agenda for a sales force training session

Time Agenda 9 – 10am Give a background of the target customer (i.e., APS owners) and the constraints

under which they operate (i.e., lack of effective infrastructure, low-resource settings)

10 – 11am Provide an explanation of the program and its value proposition for APS owners1

11 – 11:15 am Break

11:15 – 11:45 am Mock pitch by Mr. A (experienced salesperson) to Mr. B (sales head)

11:45 – 12:15 pm New salespersons to prepare a sales script which they can use in the field

12:15 – 1:30pm Each salesperson to do a at least one mock pitch using their script

1:30 – 2pm Detailed feedback to each salesperson


Day 1

Time Agenda 9 am – 12 pm Experienced salespersons to shadow new salespersons on pitches

12 – 1 pm Debrief and discuss learnings from the pitches conducted; Tweak sales pitch based on the same

Day 2

3e

1. Explanation of the program should be given by an experienced sales person rather than a member of the product team or a trainer. This would ensure that new sales team members are able to explain the product in simple terms, rather than learning too much jargon.

© FSG | 98

Appendix




© FSG | 99

Areas where solution providers require the owners’ support Owner/ Principal engagement

Procurement of AV infrastructure Provision of storage space for books and TLMs Changes in seating plan, or physical infrastructure to tackle lack of space for some activities (e.g., gross

motor development, play, etc.) Integration of the product into the school time table Carving out dedicate time for teachers to do session planning Appointment of a senior teacher as the point person to coordinate across all aspects of implementation Hiring helpers who can assist teachers, especially in classes with a high student-teacher ratio

4

Back

© FSG | 100

Illustration: Handout for owners providing an overview of the product’s benefits and tips for supporting teachers


4

1. Students will be able to read full sentences on their own by the end of Sr. KG e.g., My mug is red and it has hot water in it.

2. Students will improve at spelling difficult words, and be able to read them independentlyak e.g., rabbit, bathtub, laboratory, chocolate, etc.

3. Children will be able to recognize sounds in words and begin reading unfamiliar words. e.g., Recognize sounds in ‘bring’ (br-i-ng), ‘Maharashtra’ (Ma-ha-rash-tra), ‘stench’ (st-en-ch)

4. The speed and accuracy of your child’s reading will improve, getting them ready for 1st standard. This means they will be able to read their textbooks more correctly and with greater speed than if they did not have phonics.

1. BEING PREPARED FOR CLASS: Please ensure teachers spend 1-2 hours of planning time in a week, going over lesson plans together, clarifying doubts over a call with the trainer, practicing the English sounds, and getting the materials ready

2. COMPLETING THE SYLLABUS: Please check-in with your teachers once in two weeks to see if they are progressing on the session plan as per the expectations. Please refer to page _____ of the manual for the syllabus, and to know what the ideal completion for each month.

3. FOLLOWING THE LESSON PLAN: Using the observation checklist on page ___ of the manual, please visit your teachers’ classrooms once a month to ensure they are following the instructions in the teacher manual. Please reach out to your school’s Relationship Manager if you have concerns.

4. RESOURCES AND SPACE: Please ensure that teachers have access to the resources they need to successfully implement “Fun with Phonics.” Please refer to page _____ of the manual for a list of all the material teachers will require to conduct the activities. Please support teachers if they need to move furniture around, take children outdoors, or use the A/V system.

Benefits of the program

Tips for Supporting Teachers

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Illustration: Report that can be shared with the owner for tracking of implementation


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Illustration: Branding activities and material being used by solution providers at APSs (1/3)


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Hoardings of the provider Awards given to model school owners by provider

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Walls at a school painted with the provider’s logos

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Cards with markers of quality that can be shared with parents

Pamphlet for parents showing benefits of the product

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Appendix




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Teacher engagement

How to design an effective teacher training session Rationale

Conduct group trainings in tranches (e.g., training on different days for different grades)

Schools would need to declare a holiday if all pre-primary teachers need to be sent for the training at one time

By conducting training in tranches, the school is able to combine classes (e.g., Nursery and Junior KG) and conduct sessions with fewer teachers

Keep training duration under 4-5 hours on a given day, and budget for adequate breaks

PIPE observed that trainings conducted for longer than 5 hours led to a lack of energy, and teachers struggled to remain attentive

Stagger the training sessions by conducting some part of the training after teachers have begun implementation (e.g., if the initial teacher training is 7 days long, there can be a gap after 4 days, during which teachers can practice some of the techniques taught in the classroom)

Teachers feel more confident in implementing the program if they have had an opportunity to practice the techniques in a live classroom environment

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Begin with a reflection session where the teachers are asked to think about expected learning outcomes for the day, and end the session with another reflection session and discussion to check which of these expectations were met

Keep initial teacher training brief, and cover only the content which teachers would use in the first 4-6 weeks of implementation, while remaining content and concepts should be covered in the 1st follow-up training

Difficult for teachers to absorb too much content and new concepts in the initial training

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Teacher engagement

What content to cover in the training session Rationale

Include an explanation of the assessments that would be done through the year – Trainers should provide an overview of learning outcomes

being tested in student assessments, as well as an explanation of how to conduct and grade assessments

PIPE’s observations of teacher trainings showed that most trainers did not explain the assessment calendar and process

Provide an idea of the effort required from teachers and benefits of the same. For example, some teachers like the fact that these products are more fun, kids learn better through these, their job is less repetitive, etc.

Create an atmosphere where teachers feel comfortable asking questions – Pose questions frequently to check whether teachers are

following the concepts which are being taught

PIPE’s observations of teacher trainings showed that APS teachers are often reluctant to ask questions, even when they are struggling to follow the concepts which are being taught

Emphasize the importance of conducting various activities as demonstrated, and of adhering to the order mentioned in the manuals/ lesson plans

Teachers often view these activities as “fun”, and do not realize their importance in terms of learning; they often implement these incorrectly

Provide teachers clear action items in terms of planning a lesson (e.g., maintaining a lesson plan notebook), and supporting collateral (e.g., template to plan lessons)

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Illustration: Videos that can be used during trainings to illustrate how the pedagogy is implemented in the classroom

Teacher engagement 5a

Please click here and wait for a few minutes to allow the video to load

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW6gJfJiLM8

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5a Best practices for conducting classroom observations and feedback

Teacher engagement

Best practices Rationale Share feedback and common learnings with all teachers:

While trainers may observe only a sample of teachers in a large school, they should share feedback from the session and common learnings with all teachers

Provide an in-class demo (where the trainer conducts the

activities and the teacher observes) for activities where most teachers are struggling

Share feedback immediately after the observation, and

outside the classroom, rather than in front of the student Recap the plan for the next few weeks during the feedback

sessions Lay out the engagement plan for teachers during the first

session

In large schools, it may be difficult to observe all teachers individually

However, sharing feedback with everyone ensures that all teachers learn from the common errors that are being made

Teachers are able to visualize the correct manner in which to conduct activities when they observe a live demo

Teachers are able to remember what happened in the class more accurately if the feedback is shared immediately after class

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Appendix




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Illustration: Showcase event conducted by a solution provider

Parent engagement 6a

In this picture, you can see that students have set up 3-4 different tasks for parents to engage in during the showcase session. The featured group leads the math station where the parent can come and buy vegetables. There are multiple concepts being showcased here: Children know the names of the vegetables Children have to measure the quantity which parents ask for, showcasing their understanding of weight

concepts Children have to calculate the amount that needs to be paid by the parent, based on quantity and price,

showcasing efficiency in mathematical operations Children have to accept “fake money” and return change, showcasing their understanding of money

concepts

Picture of a showcase session being organized by a solution provider at the end of 1st grade

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Illustration: Parent Teacher Meeting being conducted by a school to showcase the benefits of the program to parents


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PTM for an Art program

Video 1

Video 2



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxqWatXKp-w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OLrozcF-Ns

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Illustration: Simple home-work activities that parents can do with children


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Appendix




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7c

Monitoring

Questionnaire for the school owner Questionnaire for the teacher

Illustration: Feedback questionnaire

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