Sales Internship at Happy Beverages and Foods Pvt. Ltd. – Aniket from WeSchool
About the Author: Aniket Anurao, from Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WeSchool), takes us through his internship journey as a sales intern at Happy Beverages and Foods Pvt. Ltd.
Being a fresher, I was applying to all the companies that were coming to college for summer recruitments. I intended for a sales profile with a startup for a great learning opportunity. Happy Beverages and Foods Pvt. Ltd., Pune (with their first product as ‘woohoo doodh’) popped into my mail account by our college’s career management cell (CMC). I was shortlisted along with 6 others from my college. The company was based in Pune, so a telephonic interview was the first round of selection. I was asked about why I opted for sales, to which I replied, ‘Sales is what I have done all my life – right from selling rangoli packets, cups, and saucers in my school days to selling stall tickets at the engineering! This was followed by a couple of other questions, after which I was called me to Pune for a personal interview. I was asked to research on India’s milk industry, study and analyze the ‘Amul’ model, analyze the milk buying behavior of 30 people, and present it on the day of the interview. I started researching accordingly, prepared a questionnaire and instead of putting it online I randomly took responses of 30 different people that were from different backgrounds, ages, and gender. I was very surprised to know about the Indian milk industry’s opportunities; India being called the oyster of milk production in the world has an organized market of just 19%!
After a week full of nervousness, the wait was finally over! One evening, I got a call confirming my selection. In the month of February, I was called for a 4-day induction program. Here I was – in a new city, with new people, new colleagues, and my first ever workplace! Me, along with the seven other interns. were then introduced to our CEO, COO, Business Development Manager, Operations and Distribution Head, and the Design head. Thus began the deep journey of ‘woohoo’, its idea, its vision, and so on.
Soon, we were taken to the woohoo farms in Ranjhangaon, which is about 50 kms away from Pune city. We met our farmers, our cows (happy cows they say), our doctors who used to take care of our cattle and processes in Ranjhangoan. We were briefed about the cattle, their breeds, milking practices, Indian scenario, and condition. At the processing plant, we were explained the milking, pasteurizing, homogenizing, chilling, and packaging. By the end of the induction, I was updated on woohoo’s USP, dedication, and aspirations of the core team.
I joined the company in the month of April when I got done with my exams. My internship journey started with getting permissions from societies for scheduling events at their venue. I explored the allotted sales area (Hinjewadi, Wakad, Baner), met society managers, located fitness centres, clubs, joggers parks, looked up for festivals etc. We were divided into teams of 2 and were given the target of getting 150 litres (per day) deliveries. The same week, we were given an another project of designing a referral program for woohoo. We started working on it by researching on the existing referral programs of companies like Haldirams, Grofers, Ola, Uber, Lenskart, Golds Gym and many more. We came up with a lot of ideas and regularly discussed them with our COO. We also managed to arrange a meeting with ViralMint, a Pune-based digital marketing startup who designed referral programs for Lenskart, Rush hours etc. This was the first breakthrough of my internship journey, because the meeting was successful! Within 3 days, woohoo got more than 250 leads and more than 20 subscriptions.
We used to leave at 3am for newspaper inserts at various depots, pitch people in the morning when they usually used to go to buy milk. Alongside, I also ran a prototype of a referral program where I selected 2 routes and implemented 2 different ideas to increase sales. This was the time when I was the only intern left, as the others had completed their internship period. I had 20 days to make a difference. My enthusiasm for work never let me down.
By the end of my internship, I executed kiosks, door to door, posters, pamphlet distributions in 22 societies, 4 fitness centers, a joggers park, Infosys Pune, 6 festivals, five late night newspaper inserts. dURING MY 9-week internship, I interacted with more than 1000 people which included businessmen, military and government officials, servants, milk vendors, shopkeepers etc. My public involvement helped me to achieve other breakthroughs like a distribution deal, sales and promotions deal with Impetus promoters. I still remember the final presentation, where my CEO appreciated me for my work and contribution to the company’s growth. My day was made when they offered me a place in their team!
This was the moment for me – the day I got my first job and the day my internship ended. It was an unforgettable experience that filled with memories, confidence, and a new me!
Editor’s Note – Kick-start your career by applying to these awesome sales internships.
