In the constantly evolving digital world, education on Information Communication and Technology [ICT] has grown to become a MUST HAVE knowledge. Acknowledging its importance, in the academic year 2014, the UK government mandated its inclusion in the national curriculum for students of all key stages (refer primary to high school level). ICT education involves learning numerous programming languages, syntax, formats, etc which students usually despise. To make ICT education, especially coding, interesting and innovative for students and helpful for teachers, our client has developed an IT education system which helps in learning coding of various languages (like ANSI C++, Java, Microsoft VB, Pascal, etc) with a user-friendly GUI (Graphical User Interface). This system is also helpful for teachers as it integrates the programming logic and documentation for easy reference.
This project required performing telemarketing activity with schools & colleges based in UK to share information on the IT system and set appointments with essential ICT Education personnel for the client team to visit and provide a demonstration of the education system.
This task involved identification of relevant contacts at schools & colleges to conduct marketing and appointment setting activities. These activities were conducted in the following order:
- Online research was conducted for sourcing relevant contact personnel like Head of ICT Education, ICT Teacher, Principal or Asst. Principal, etc.
- Engagements with relevant personnel were initiated to develop knowledge of decision maker(s) for procurement of Education system. Post sharing initial marketing details about the education system with decision makers, their potential interest in buying the education system was captured.
- Once a respondent confirmed interest in viewing a LIVE demo of the education system, a meeting was scheduled at the interested institute’s premises for the same. The demo provider team also answered direct queries to close the sales activity.
Principal / Asst. Principal/ ICT Head / Teachers are usually unavailable for discussion during scheduled lectures. The switchboard operators usually do not prefer transferring marketing or sales calls to teachers, hence multiple follow-up calls were required to confirm identify and engage with decision maker(s). The hierarchical procedures additionally contributed in delay of responses.
- After marketing and engagement activity, the product was well endorsed by many UK based education institutions&t gained the image of a “real time” IT education system.
- We were able to successfully schedule 5 appointments in 3 weeks, as per client’s need.
- Some respondents provided valuable feedback to enhance the utility of the product which was soon implemented by the client to provide a customized education system.
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