Beleaguered Byju's Cuts Product Prices, Revamps Sales Strategy

Cash-strapped Byju's has turned to slashing the costs of its products and introducing a new sales strategy for its staff as it aims to scale revenue amid mounting losses and myriad legal issues.

The company has cut the prices of its products by at least 30%, according to developments at a townhall meeting at Byju's.

Byju's Learning App now charges an annual subscription of Rs 12,000, while it charges Rs 24,000 and Rs 36,000 for its offline classes and tuition centres, respectively, for a full year of classes.

In a meeting with 1,500 sales associates and managers, Byju Raveendran informed employees that there would be no strict call quotas or tracking of the number of hours spent on calls.

This is a transition from the company's earlier aggressive sales strategy, where managers and associates were given strict targets, putting pressure on parents to buy expensive supplementary tuition.

Raveendran also asked managers to act as mentors and encouraged employees to report any ill-treatment or forced-sales tactics.

The new sales model won't be push-based, but rather a pull-based sales model, Byju told employees, adding that the four-week experiment model, which NDTV Profit reported on earlier, might become a "forever model."

The number of free users on its products has grown to 25 crore, Raveendran said, as he asked current employees to onboard more sales associates. A 50,000-strong sales force within the next year is possible at edtech, he said.

This comes less than a month after Raveendran returned to the helm of the edtech after its Chief Executive Officer, Arjun Mohan, stepped down about six months after taking up the role.