"But marketing in a credit domain?"
"Have you really decided to go for this?”
These were the questions which came up to my mind, trying to sideline the fun, experience and learning which were lined up for me. But I decided to give it a shot and explore a small part of the world of sales and marketing, in a diverse domain, as much as I can in these two months.
I did my internship in CreditMonk as a Marketing Intern. Marketing revolves around the premise of satisfying the demand of the customer through the offered value proposition. Keeping this in mind, Ms. Ridhi Doongursee (founder and CEO of CreditMonk) found that close to 98% of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) reported giving credit and about 97% of the lenders faced late payments issues. This is a huge problem as most of the hapless entrepreneurs spent much of their valuable time following up on payments in the fear of not getting paid. Hence, to solve this problem faced by the target market comprising of SMEs and MSMEs, CreditMonk came into existence. CreditMonk enables businesses to review and rate payment habits of clients and other businesses that they have dealt with.
We were 9 recruits from our institute who got the opportunity to work with CreditMonk. The first week was about getting acquainted with the work CreditMonk is doing. During our initial meetings, we got to know our target segment and how to approach them. Our main task was to spread awareness about our concept and getting more people registered and reviewed on our website as it is a young start-up.
We were divided into teams and were allotted the tasks. Our team’s task was to create awareness among the SMEs and MSMEs. Initially, it seemed to be an uphill task to meet SMEs and MSMEs to convey our idea in the notoriously sweltering heat of Mumbai, which was expected to make our job more difficult. A lot of strategies which we painstakingly made in our meetings were shattered in a matter of seconds when it came to implementation on ground.
Where we went wrong?
How could such clients be dealt in a better way?
These were some of the questions which we kept on asking ourselves at the end of the day.
But things started to turn around gradually, as more number of SMEs and MSMEs I was meeting, the better I became in handling the clients. We started to improvise our strategies on the go as we had to pitch our idea in different ways to different people. We met with many associations of SMEs and MSMEs and discussed with them about the possibility of creating awareness of our concept among their members through their association. We got an overwhelming response from them.
Meanwhile, we started getting reviews and registrations from the manufacturers and distributors which ultimately led to the expansion of the database on our website adding to the credibility factor of our platform. Our mentor was very supportive and helped us in every possible manner. My colleagues were fun to be around. Mumbai is a vibrant city; we got a chance to explore some fine restaurants (especially a famous biriyani speciality restaurant near Marine Lines) and places by having a spin on weekends.
Networking plays a key role in businesses as it leads to form business relationships and to recognise create, or act upon business opportunities, share information and seek potential partners for ventures. During our internship, we attended a conference on SMEs and MSMEs where we interacted with many business tycoons and got thrilled with their ideas and thinking.
To sum up, I would say that there were many ups and downs, stones and pebbles on my way but the Internship was overall an enriching experience. Despite the fact that I had to travel a lot in sizzling hot summer of Mumbai and meeting a diverse set of people, it ultimately paid off. I committed a lot of mistakes but I learnt from them. You can never attain expertise without touching every cornerstone of that field. My scepticism has now turned into deep interest for marketing. It was my first work experience, though it was just a brief stint, yet, I can say it as a work “experience” – the experience referring to the knowledge gathered.
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