I stopped at a toll-plaza on my way from Hubli to Ranibennur. A kid with little cone packets of dry chickpeas – flavored with turmeric powder – approached me and offered a couple of packets saying it was prasad. I ignored his words.
He immediately changed his tack, held out his hand with a few chickpeas and said, "Sample".
I instinctively put the peas in my mouth and asked in the same breath, "How much?"
"3 packets for 5(Rs)", he said.
I held out a 5-Rupee coin; the sale completed.
This boy had a window of 7-10 seconds. He had a commonplace product. The packets he gave to me wouldn't cost more than 50 paise. But he was prepared to let me taste it, whet my appetite and then decide. Most importantly he had the words (or, let me say, the word) to make me do all that in those few seconds.
Of course, buying a few packets of chickpeas isn't that great an idea. But popping a few on the go isn't a bad idea either.
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