Trail Blazers academy is a coaching academy, providing training, coaching, and counselling services for students. Their primary revenue source is from the coaching they do for medical and JEE. Established a decade ago, it is now a well-known brand, but faces sever competition from the crowded market of the coaching space. The quality of the students passing out are well known and many candidates are able to crack the JEE and medical exams. However, in the last couple of years, the company has tried to expand using the franchise model. This was possibly the best model available. But with tremendous amount of competition happening online and offline, the pricing model of the academy has changed. The fees for the course are on the brochure but is charged variably. There are no standardizations followed. Many of the franchisee's charge

whatever they want to, essentially to maintain a minimum threshold of students flowing

into the organisation. Sometimes the centre heads of the franchise, encourage existing students to bring in new candidates, there by incentivizing them. Some of the hard negotiators are able to settle down at a lower price point that what others are paying. In many cases, students were allowed just with a token money with more than the usual EMIs. Everything seems to be as per the flexibility of the centre managers. While some of the franchises are happy, others are not. The location of the centre, number of enrolments drive the pricing. The parents are unhappy with this mechanism and there are complaints floating in the social media about Trail Blazers.

How will you build a renowned 'Trail Blazer' brand? (5 Marks)

How will you deal with your complaining customers?