Sunday, March 19, 2017

Vigorous marketing.

There's a couple - a lady and her first cousin - who are ardent fans of a food supplement made by a certain company. They try to palm off expensive stuff with their glib talk and marketing overkill. The lady had befriended me during the recent celebrations of my grandfather's 108th birthday and after coming to know that I was residing at Guruvayur, had promised to visit us here.

Meanwhile, her cousin had called me up and spoken for almost an hour regarding the company and its products, guaranteeing that the intake of the food supplement would enhance my vigour and vitality(Wonder who told him that these aspects were flagging in me?) And yes, this could be had along with the medicines, if any, that I was having! I heard him out patiently and gave him my cell phone number - on his persistence - which I was gonna regret soon after because within no time, he'd pumped in a host of brochures and other related information about the company and its products, on my What'sApp address, which I must confess I'd deleted without even reading any of them!

In the evening, I'd spoken to the two that I wouldn't be taking the supplements from them, immediately, till my doctor friend from Chicago gave me the clearance. Despite my telling so, the lady had fetched up with a pack of the supplement @ Rs.3,200/- I'd to use all my persuasive powers, diplomacy and tact to avoid buying it. She, then, said that she was expecting to get its remuneration from me to buy her return ticket to Thiruvananthapuram. I, then, gave her Rs.500/- to facilitate her return journey and that was that, hoping that it was the last that I was gonna hear about the food supplement!

The difficulty to say 'nyet' in this case were the following reasons:-

     (a) Her assertion that she was one of the volunteers of the Kerala Library Movement and was
           liked by my grandfather for her work.
     (b) She contributes her mite to the Foundation and its activities.

*Note. The recommended dosage is for 90 days, which means one will have to buy four such packets
            as each packet contains 25 portions(Two portions daily). The total expenses would be
            Rs.12,000/-! It's not the money really but one would end up spending on something that one
            didn't require at all, perhaps!! 


Tailpiece.

Reminded me about the 'Amway' and its marketing, that I'd heard about earlier. My uncle and aunt - at Paravur - were the scapegoats but I'd intervened in time to make sure that they weren't taken for a ride! Be wary of such people!!

No comments:

Post a Comment