Marketing Tip

There are no better places to observe the sea of humanity than Indian temples and Indian railway stations. My preference is clearly with the latter. Lately, I deliberately shun other modes of transport, as much as possible. However, if your tastes lie in observing seas of inhumanity then city or town bus stations and public urinals would be better choices, in that order.

Some days back, a circumstantial need made me visit the ISKON temple in Bangalore. My religious inclination is best described as agnostic. In simple words – don’t really bother myself with anything to do with god. God is as inconsequential to me as my Orkut friend’s status. Having said that, note that the word ain’t atheist. So now and then I do venture into temples of fame. My time is spent in photographing the temple architecture, reading whatever I can lay my eyes to and observing people, apart from waiting for my troupe to finish their diligent prayers. This routine was again adhered to when I visited ISKON.

As explained in the obligatory introduction above, I have very little comments to offer on the ‘core competence’ of ISKON. I noticed many individuals completely immersed in a self realization of happiness, completely unaware of my prying eyes, so I guess it’s a great place for the religiously bent. But you would be sure if I have ventured to write a blog on my experience, there must be something about ISKON that impressed me. Very true, I was.

ISKON is very very well organized. They almost treat the line of devotees as an assembly line. As the line progresses, services are offered at intervals, without necessarily ebbing the movement of people. That’s critical. This ‘assembly line’ begins at the entrance then come, in order – shoes stall, legs cleaning by walking on flowing water, first temple, second temple, final temple darshan, book stall, charity donations self help kiosks, godly merchandise, life story of Srila Prabhupada ISKON founder in charts, upcoming ISKON project, employment desk, food!, more godly merchandise, exemplary ISKONians names engraved on walls, Prasad distribution, restaurant, shoe stall, exit. You can do this parikrama without having to spend undue time at any pit stop. Neat, isn’t it?

However, as is suggestive of this blog post’s title, what really bowled be over was an ingenious marketing concept. Notice I mentioned above the book stall. Suppose you were given a task of making the book stall sales skyrocket. How would you do that? Listen to what these guys do!, something which I would loosely fit in the 3rd P in the 4Ps of marketing. Promotion.

As the assembly line begins, the first stop is the shoe stall. Here, a polished English speaking devotee volunteer culls out English friendly constituents in the assembly line. I presume he does this by looking at the dressing sense and a cursory sense of wealthiness. Then he explains that to avoid the mad rush, one can pay Rs 108 and get a special pass. This wild card enables faster moving line, special darshan along with aarti, Prasad and Rs 20 off on any purchase made in the book stall. For most upper middle class, the opportunity cost (rubbing bodies with men, women and inhaling sweat + fart combine) of that Rs 108 is prohibitively expensive. I was no exception. Without blinking an eyelid I bought the special pass.

That’s the ingenuity! By bundling the Rs 20 off with the blanket special pass instead of offering the discount on the book stall per se, ISKON has achieved a remarkable marketing coup. Its human tendency to utilize that discount (which in reality is not a discount since you have paid for it!) when your assembly line winds up its way to the book stall. The rush at the book stall was in equal concentration with the main temple darshan. I saw all sorts of books in all sorts of Indian languages getting sold like hot cakes. At no other place of religious worship, have I seen this.

This helps ISKCON in two ways. One is, off course, the revenue. The other, perhaps more important than money, is their overarching vision of increasing awareness. Super.