It was 4am when I left my friends’ apartment in the West Village so I decided to cab it home to Brooklyn.
The driver was this tiny man and as soon as I got in his cab, he threw a handful of bangles at me and exclaimed “Try them on, see which ones fit!” And then started blasting Bollywood.
And I was thinking… oh dear, this man is a wee bit nutty.
He proceeded to serenade me while driving like a maniac through lower Manhattan.
And then, right as he got on the bridge, he started waving around a fist full of snakes. SNAKES!!
And then I was thinking… WHAT THE HALE IS GOING ON?? This man is absolutely nuts. I might die in this cab.
It took me half way across the bridge to realize the snakes were wooden. (seriously, they looked real!)
When we got off the bridge, his insanity continued. Including attempting to peddle his wooden snakes out the window while we were stopped at a red light and yelling at me for talking on my cell phone.
I made it home in one piece and as flabbergasted as I was by the whole thing, on my way out of the cab, I bought an insanely overpriced $10 snake from him.
I mean, I had to… RIGHT??!!
This is the snake.
Before this experience, I had zero interest in wooden snakes. But $10 was a small price to pay for a commemorative keepsake of tiny man’s wild ride. I probably would have even paid $20.
Had this been a completely normal, quiet and respectful cab ride that ended with him asking if I wanted to buy a snake, the answer probably would have been no.
But because he spent the entire time I was in the cab setting up the sale by adding a value to the snake with his performance, he turned a normally meaningless dollar store toy into a treasured keepsake. There’s a lot we can learn about branding, marketing and sales from this guy’s antics.
He took something common and whatever, a cab ride, and transformed it into a unique and memorable experience just by adding his own breed of flair to it. And because of it, was able to tack an extra $10 onto his fare.
This approach can be applied to any business.
What aspects of your personality can you bring into your biz that would get your clients buying anything you wave infront of their face?
Tell me in the comments below or over on Facebook
(Acting like a crazy person is optional but if that’s your thing – totally rock it!)
If you’re wondering how to take YOUR wooden snake from EH to OUTRAGEOUS, sign-up for a Bring Out Your Weird! Session where we’ll get you seeing value where you’ve never seen it before.
My treat! (yes, that means it won’t cost you anything!)
