Standing in rapt attention for endless hours, he prides himself to be the only vocal salesperson his employer can accommodate – though he is lucky to have been employed at this fragile hour of crisis.
His job is to stand at a
particular point with a placard in hand demonstrating his marketing skills,
though he exemplifies as a static lamppost. I have been seeing him on my way to
office for quite some time now, though his posture sometimes changes and so
does his dress, but the placard and the umbrella he so famously embellishes
remain as an Einstein’s constant. A certitude in his characteristic glance enamor
your conscience to speak to him which I did whilst I took the liberty to steer
my car towards the “Arrow” which is displays all the time. He is a salesman to
a local clothes vendor in a Delhi mart – The clothes range from all sorts of Ladies,
gents and children wear – be it jeans, trousers, ladies’ tees etc., all are
fixed priced with no haggling scope for the approaching customer.
Last Sunday, we took the liberty
to approach the famous “Rs 500” shop as marketed by this gentleman – before I entered
the lane, I asked him his name – the reply came as “Rohit”. As I parked my car,
he soon turned out to be a valet parker, assisting me to place my car in a
comfortable parking space informally reserved for his customers. Before I could
thank him for his gesture, I saw him quickly going back and standing at the
same point as he always does, probably he didn’t want any opportunity to be
missed to attract his prospective customers which pass by
Let me make you aware that Rohit
stands almost on the main road pedestal and showcases his visibility to all
passersby. I have seen him inching towards the main road whilst he see herd of
cars approaching by – his key marketing skill which he has so famously acquired
whilst he learnt this trick standing on the road for endless hours!
After shopping for some wannabe clothes, I asked his employer who was at helm of affairs at the billing desk as to why Rohit is being asked to position himself almost punishingly on the road, come what may; the answer was that he has self-prophesied this no frills marketing strategy and it has been no compulsion for him to be harsh to himself – instead he joined as a salesman in the shop but seeing low customer turnout, he leaped into the idea of caricaturing himself as a visible sales lamppost to attract passersby – He intrigued this idea whilst he observed that this shop was towards the interior of the market and it would be pound foolish to be sitting and waiting for the customer footfall and believe me, according to his employer, his decision is paying dividends as he has some very good customer handling skills he attracts customers with his famously jotted one liners – also he converts himself to valet parking assistant and also comes inside of shop whilst he see’s that there are lot of customers who are being left unattended!
The silver lining to this marketing strategy came out when I got to know that Rohit was almost illiterate and was a son of a roadside sweeper who happened to pass away few years back not before introducing his son to the Shopkeeper for employment. As according to Rohit’s father, he did studied till class 6th before he was forced to quit studies citing family’s economic turbulence!
Hearing about Rohit’s story, I started
to revere him as a true gentleman who inspite of his hard existence has been a
source of inspiration to many – he is still optimistic and positive about life
and is using his full acumen to be of use to his employer at this time of crisis.
As we came out of the “Rs 500
Shop” – I said Adieu to the budding marketing genius and internally prophesized
that one day he becomes an owner of such a shop, and I be his everlasting customer.
Till then, I would be complacent to see him regularly with his everyday
penchant – an umbrella and a Placard; two famous visibilities defining his job
roles!!!
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