MAHA MANDI
 |
| Dr. Prasad Teegallapelly |
Let's start by segregating the words in the Title.
Maha means Big and Mandi means a market.
Collectively - A Big Market
In one of the best B-School of India, NITIE, also known as mecca of Supply Chain, we learn the Business Communication in a very unique way. Maha Mandi is a brain child Dr. Prasad. In 2015, on August 8, it saw its 11th edition.
The Concept:
Maha Mandi focuses on two way development. It's a way how students at NITIE studies Business Communication. And at the same time, a noble cause is catered, as the revenue generated by it will be used for education of underprivileged kids.
So, Who am I?
I study in NITIE, Mumbai, which is one of the best B-School of India and also known as mecca of Supply Chain.
So next question would be,how is Maha Mandi, NITIE and Business Communication connected.
Wait I tell you what we did in the class.
We did this..!!
And this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HIqT8vIAi8&feature=youtu.be
Confused???
Let me connect the dots.
The Learning
From the very first lecture, we were flooded with the products. We were asked to explore the products and come up with a value proposition. With products as naive as tanagram and number balance, we came up with engineering concepts and taught them using that.
Learning number-1)
The value of the product is what you propose and not what others think. Market it in such a way that buyer feels it is the best product he/she can buy for that price.
We had our classrooms in hostel basement and sitting on the floor of the classroom and the weirdest possible way you can imagine. But every time we did one thing. We learned the real concepts.
We came up with an ideal sales pitch for every product.
The Sharing of Idea
One of the key learning of MBA is cross-interaction and cross-learning. So to spread the word, all the FB posts of NITIE students flooded with amazing posters to spread the word. the word reached hundreds of students across Mumbai and everyone were eager to come down and express themselves on the D-Day. The only thing needed was train them equally as NITIE students were. So it was time to flood the youtube now. Videos about how to sell the product went viral and students across other BSchools and Engineering colleges saw that video.
The D-Day
This part will tell you about my more personalized experience. So starting about how to do dhandha, first learning is where to do dhandha. We decided to select a place where we wont have to move but more people will come and buy the products. We went to Juhu Beach.
We were a team of 4. But at the same time we didn't wanted to miss the cross - learninf opportunity. We had a team from KJ Somaiya with. So this is our team.
The selection of the place, lessened our our work.
So initial analysis was lets target the affluent. They will definitely buy.
And we sold to these people.
They immediately bought it. So we kept on targeting the easy customers. But soon, we couldn't find such people anymore.
So till now we were experiencing monopoly at the place. At the same time other volunteers slowly started coming in at that place and we had competition. It slowly went to oligopoly and till evening it was Perfect market.
So now what to do. We then targeted people who could buy to gift some relative and have cousin or brothers. And we were succesful again. We sold to these people.
But suddenly, one oddly dressed person came to us and asked, do you have anything for me. Around 70-80 Rs. And we thought we did a big mistake by targeting affluent customrs. We broke our believes and then we sold to foreigners and kids and dada and aunty and who not.?
We sold it to all the income group, all the age group, people from diverse places and people with different education background.
The Satisfying Part
We learned many things , but the most satisfying part was helping few people lighten their house. We gifted them a solar torch, which was one of the products and the happiness they showed was amazing.
The Reporting
Finally after becoming more wiser that day, we went back to college and we found the Man standing there. We shared with him the story, and he beautifully carved and explained us the learning we had in the process. May it be boosting our confidence, improving communication skills, letting go our fears, and the most important learning of MBA, know your customer.
The Begining
This is an ignition, which we want to convert into a huge fire. It's just the beginning.
The idea has no limits. If you liked the idea and you want that such events happen in your city, or in your country just give us a message on Marketing Interest Group, NITIE. on FB Page.
https://www.facebook.com/mig.nitie?fref=ts
Or gives us a call on +918527189810. We will do it every year in first week of August.
