Signal Bites

Traffic Signal !!!
The word itself brings a kind of irritation and restlessness in mind.

I used to obey the traffic rules with utmost unwillingness and my stare was always fixed at the signal…. Scolding it, cursing it for having turned red …. and willing for it to turn green immediately. But alas it never happened and I ended up spending odd 3 mins staring at the unyielding signal.

It dawned upon me one day that I spent 180 secs at regular intervals staring at a signal doing nothing productive except getting myself worked up unnecessarily. Well I might as well use the short span of time to relax and collect my thought and get ready for another round of maneuvering between vehicles, people and animals on the road.

The thought was no less than enlightenment for me…it was like I had discovered some mantra to peaceful living :) .. a bit or rather exaggerated but yes.. I started seeing the world around the traffic signal and came across quite a few interesting things.

I saw a man picking his nose…. eeewww ……. A child inside a car playing with his balloon offering me to catch it, a newly married couple stealing glances at each other.. a lady fixing up her make up.. . a father looking back to check on his child sitting on the scooter holding onto him tightly with both hands…

And between the array of vehicles there were a group of small children.. begging, selling some toys, cloth, glasses, balloons, earbuds etc. No one was buying from them.. which is quite natural.. there’s no guarantee on the products, no packaging, and you never know whether you are over paying or not. After watching Traffic signal, Slumdog Millionaire and listening to stories of billionaire beggars I personally have lost faith in charity at signals.

Amidst all this a small child caught my attention. He did something different. I don’t know if it is followed elsewhere but it was my first experience in Bangalore. He took a small cloth and started wiping the dirty two wheelers… the rider was taken aback.. he did not know what to do. The child cleaned the scooter. Though he did not do a thorough job yet there was a smile on the face of the rider and he took out some money and gave it to the child. I don’t know whether it was knowingly or unknowingly the child ignored the car beside the scooter and went on to the next bike.. and the same result followed.. I could not follow him again.. after all the signal was for only 2 mins not the whole day :)

But the incident left me thinking.

Even a small child realized that to earn money he needed to do something different. Something other than what his peers were doing. He did not crib about limited resources but made the full use of what he had. He used the small piece of cloth innovatively to provide a service (cleaning) of use to his customer and in turn earned his money rather than simply begging and failing.
Another point which I found amazing was the power of direct contact. While cleaning a two wheeler he came in direct contact with the owner and could touch and talk to him…and cajole him to roll out some coins but in case of a car with the closed windows he could never get in direct contact with the user.

His acute sense of time management also impressed me. The time required to clean a car would be more than a two wheeler. So the number of vehicles covered would be less if he went for the cars whereas the amount he would get from the owners would be more or less the same as the scooters. Hence his income was directly proportional to the number of vehicles than the number of wheels in the vehicle. So two wheelers were his ideal target and he concentrated only on them.

A small child who never went to school and I doubt whether he could afford a proper meal a day exhibited some of the most important aspects of marketing

1. Customize / Package your product to suit the requirement of your consumer
2. Innovate
3. Maintain customer relationship. Direct contact and interaction is the best way to build customer loyalty and satisfaction
4. Identifying your target audience correctly
5. Time management to ensure proper service to your customers


Inspirations / ideas are all around us… we just need to keep our eyes and minds open… even amidst traffic jams / signals :)


Signing off for now...
Sony
http://www.adwize.in