Business Management Lessons from the Street
Often management theory requires taught-techniques for its application. Still, the art itself uses the manager’s human talents and his/her own experiences to achieve grand purposes. It is our strive to understand the world a little better.
I learnt some business management lessons from three simple street vendors — concepts that I could not relate to when I was in B-school. I want to share five of these, what we may call, life-cum-management lessons. Some were new to me, and some were re-iterating.
When life gives you bananas, make a milkshake!
My first story is of this juice-walla (vendor) from our college days — near Delhi University, Student Residential Area. Aside from juices, he used to sell fruits, tea, and coffee. We were his regular visitors. One day, instead of my usual order, I asked him for a banana-shake. He said he did not sell milkshakes and also didn’t know how to prepare them. Then I pointed out that he had bananas, milk, and a juicer and blender in his shop, so how he did not know of such a preparation. He offered to learn the process from us so that he could add it to the menu. We gave him tips, along with the calculated price-per-glass. Now, his big glass was a standard small glass in the ‘banana milkshake market’, and his small glass (otherwise meant for large coffee) was like a mini shot, no one else was selling the mini banana shake servings then. We suggested ₹5 for the mini banana milkshake shots.
The next time we visited his shop, there was a 200% increase in his customer base. The ₹5 rated banana shake was super hit and became his best-selling product.
Key learnings:
#1. Listen to customer needs. We are sometimes in a position to offer more than we think. If we are open to customer suggestions, we could tap into a business opportunity.
#2. We have heard that necessity is the mother of invention. Here, there is a twist. Sometimes your limitations are your differentiating factor in the market. Every other juice-wala was selling the same menu for the same standard price, but the prices based on serving mini banana-shake shots at ₹5 had its “differentiating” charm. Mind you; it was Y2K time. I was one of those customers who was always looking for pocket-friendly and tummy-pleasing servings. Looks like I was not alone.
Later, our successful juice-walla stopped taking money from us as a token of gratitude since we were the catalyst to double his sales. We had to insist that we pay or had to leave the money at his sales-counter. He then adopted an alternate approach to intentionally serve us in a much larger glass than what we had ordered, making an excuse that it was a mistake and could go to waste if we did not have it.
#3. His gesture was sweet. Even though our marketing strategy was purely accidental, his ways to show his thankfulness were something special. We should always acknowledge, appreciate, and, if possible, reward all those who have helped us shape our life and business.
The seller is seldom the buyer!
My second story is from a small grocery store at ‘atta market’ in Noida. One day, I bought a bottle of Del Monte Prunes from this shop. The helper at the shop approached me very courteously and asked me about the prunes I purchased. What it looks like, how it tastes, whether it has seeds or not, its nutritional value, he enquired it all. His curiosity to know the product he was selling was terrific. How conveniently descriptive he was while displaying the products he is selling to his customers. I wondered how he gathered such detailed information about the products he sold.
#4. My learning here is that you do not need to be the user of the product or the service you are offering. These products or services are often off-limit, but you need to know your product and service as the user. In B-school, we learnt to put ourselves in the customer’s shoes and serve them better, but I learnt how to do it here.
May I assist you?
My third and last story is about a subji-walla (vegetable vendor), Mumbai. There were three mobile numbers in our household from which we used to place our orders for home delivery of different vegetables. This vegetable vendor never used to mix up the delivery addresses of the various customers she served. She already knew which place we were calling from, the number we used for placing our order. Secondly, she was thorough with our ordering pattern, reminding us of all the other items we didn’t include in our list but was delivered in the past. And for 80% of these items, we used to say ‘yes’ as we did need them but had forgotten to enlist them.
#5. The learning here was how she used the most uncomplicated predictive modelling to understand customer details and needs, entirely extending her role to be a partner, a helper in our buying activity. My customer delight score was high, and she was selling more by actively participating in the process by inducing customized offers. Is this not what our high-tech devices are doing? Using sophisticated location and demographic data, keeping a tab on our google search, following our buying habits, and then offering related products just in time. The only difference I feel is that they are quite sneaky-peaky, whereas my vegetable vendor was relatively straightforward.
I absorb a bit from each of my juice-walla, grocery store helper and vegetable-walla in my daily life, in one way or another. I hope to continue my learning and unlearning journey with my added power of observation. It is paying and satisfying!
