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The marketeer

 In a recent train travel, the coffee vendor was saying "If you dont like the taste of the coffee, dont pay, pay only if you like it". And in the return journey, I heard the same thing. Turned out, it wasnt the same vendor,  it was something that the agency running the catering for the train had figured. 

Food in Indian trains has never been great. Indeed, bereft of all nostalgia, food has been pathetic. Sure, there are exceptions in some trains, at some railway stations, but it has mostly been low quality. Now if you need to people to try it, there has to be a hook - hence this one. 

Cut to the sandwich seller. The vendor (all catering staff) came with the sandwich and repeated the same spiel. And he actually waited till someone tasted one sandwich, said the taste was good before accepting payment. He did that for the dhokla as well. 

And he did not stop at that. The bag had a few rose petals on it as well. Mind you this was an evening train. And he said, well, I live in Ujjain and do puja of Mahakaal and then sprinkle the flowers before my duty. Clearly this man is a consummate marketeer. And in a blink of an eye, he had managed to sell 6 sandwiches and a few dholkas as well. 

So, what. It is one thing to know the consumer pain point (train food is bad), it is one thing to decide to tackle it with a hook (pay only if taste is good) - but it is takes a little  extra bit of empathy to make that extra connect to the customer (anyone who comes to Ujjain has a high likelihood of being a devotee of Mahakaal). 


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