1. Training HR for
Rural Marketing
- B.V.Raghunandan
National Conference
Alva’s College of Engineering and
Management
February 14-02-2015

2. Misconceptions About
Rural Marketing
-Rural marketing should be delinked from rural production
-Production is different from Marketing
-Coverage is not SMEs
-Coverage is all the products marketed in rural areas, but
produced everywhere, urban or rural
-Engages the study of rural consumers and their psychology

3. HR Training: Nature
-Training in conformity with the socio-
cultural set-up of the trainees
-Men are not produced by machines to
have a standardized behaviour
-Trainees have differing loyalty,
competence, confidence, attitude and
work culture
-Rural consumers are vastly different
from urban consumers

4. Nature of HR Studies
Purely Western
The socio-cultural
background of the West,
particularly the studies in
the US forms the basis
Designed to Extract and
Exploit the maximum
Liberal Hire & Fire Policy

5. Indian HR Practice
Practices followed by Indian Industry
J.N.Tata introduced 8 hours each shift
On the job training
-Life time employment
Regularisation of employees
Fair Treatment of Employees
Facilities to All the Employees
Regarding employees as the
members of family
Training the HR for rural marketing
should be on the lines of Indian HR Practice

6. Rural Consumers: A Profile
 Rural Consumers live both in urban
areas as well as rural areas
 Their profile defines them rather than
their location
 Savings Backed Purchases
 Value for Money Approach
 Expecting Truth from the Salesman
 Loyalty to Product & Inertia for
Change

7. Profile of Rural Consumers
 Relationship Maarketing
 Bargaining is an essential
part
 Essential Products are given
importance
 Luxury Items also sell well
for securing status
 Higher Paying Capacity
 Cash Based Transactions

8. Training to the Salesmen
 Language and Local Dialects
 Blasting the Arrogance out of the
personality of salesmen
 Service has to be efficient as rural
consumers do not have shopping
pleasure or browsing pleasure
 Service has to be personal
 Familiarity is Premium
 After Sales Service Training to Salesmen

9. Language and Local Dialect
 Basis for Communication
 Makes Relationship Marketing Easy
 Can understand the full requirement of
the customers and their families
 Consumer will open up, thus avoiding
consumer frustration
 Better Salesman-Customer Equation

10. Efficient Service
 Rural consumers are less inclined to
browsing or shopping pleasure
 Self-Service Stores are Irrelevant
 Long-lasting products by sending the
feedback to Production Department
 Less Procedures & Less Signatures
 Importance to Festivals & Special Offers

11. Personal Service
 Training to Salesmen to enhance
memory of names
 Acquiring knowledge of families
 Avoiding imposing sales outlets and too
many staff
 Multi-tasking
 Should not terminate the talk
 Respecting the consumer

12. Familiarity Has a Premium
 Familiarity makes the consumer feel
more comfortable
 Advanced Knowledge of the
requirements of the consumers
 Consumer will have a better acceptance
of the salesmen
 Using local customs for enhancing the
sales

13. After Sales Service Training
 The salesmen should be given after
sales service of minor problems
 Product Demonstration by salesmen
 Truthfulness in warranties and
Guarantees
 Prompt service

14. THANK YOU