During the exhibition, we faced a lot of troubles, but it was Fruitful at the end!
Here is the story!
This time we chose to go out on the Patri(side walk) in the main market of Sector 14 Gurgaon, and we set up our first stall on 23 rd January, 2021, Saturday as an attempt of brand promotion, and promoting desi lifestyle! Sales were not in my mind for the first time. I just wanted to talk to people. Dude, that takes out a lot of energy! The job was risky because what we did was practically illegal, MCD could have arrived anytime and ask us to wind up! However, we took the risk, keeping in mind , there are 300 other vendors selling toys, winter clothings etc.
So we decided to pay the rent to a shop owner, to set up the stall, and he agreed, and said, ” rent will be xxx amount, and I don’t need any mess around here”! This happened on Friday evening. After we finished booking the stall, the next thought I had in mind was what will sell here best.
I came home, made a list, booked a table, and reached the spot on Saturday when the Sun was about to set. I slowly started taking out products from the box and I could sense a good number of eyes turning towards the stall. Fun part was, I only finished 30% of my showcase, and Cling! We made our first sale.
And I was like, okay! I sensed something good was about to happen.
Anyway, we finished setting up the stall, and that evening I remember, I spoke continuously for 5-6 hours. Man, that was exhausting! And so were my products, We sold almost 60% of our stock and made 5 new regular clients. Of course! I slept well that day.
Sunday, we decided, that we will reach there early, to have more interactions and give even a better performance than yesterday. To our shock, as we reached there, the owner came to us and said ” I didn’t know that you were selling these, the gift gallery is also selling copper bottles and he doesn’t like you guys to be selling here, so you need to pack up! I mean, that gift gallery guy is just selling one plain copper bottle, there is no way he can compare our designs. Our model is total different and Desi, he is just running a gift gallery where he sells his merchandise at more than 150% margins. Anyway, he played his politics and we played ours and got the space for the Sunday as our last day in Sector 14! We were charged even more, and 24th January, 2020 is logged as highest walkin face to face sales in 6 hours of time, in the history of The Amrit Life.
We were happy, but we din’t have a space for the next weekend! But it was too late now, the hangover of the stall exhibit was all over my mind and body, I wanted a stall so bad for the next weekend.
I thought, may we be can move our location and find good people in other sectors, who can respect our products. So we went on search for a stall space and soon found one in Sector 31 Gurgaon. This area is not as happening as Sector 14, but sometimes something is better than nothing.
Amid all this, something magical happened! I have a regular client, Kapil Ji, he owns Superfine dry cleaners shop in Sector 14 Gurgaon, and he bought Earthen washable tea cups from our shop in Sector 11. Apparently he visited the store on Wednesday, to buy a copper bottle for their maid, and I narrated this incident to him! And he just mentioned, Pagle, why didn’t you tell me? Apparently, it didn’t strike my mind. I mean, I am genuinely very nice to people, that is a nature that my father gave me in inheritance, I never thought that would pay off like this!
Long story short, we have a regular weekend space in Sector 14 Main market Gurgaon, where sales are sure shot and now I am looking for a trustworthy person who can be there for 5-6 hours and make people desi! Of course, you will make a lot of money.
Moral of story? You tell me in the comments section!
With Love,
Nishant Raheja
Founder
The Amrit Life
www.theamritlife.com
