Once upon a time, a consumer goods manufacturing
company was holding an exhibition, and due to heavy
rainfall, no visitors turned up that day. The sales staff, with
nothing better to do, were joking among themselves.

Then a single visitor, partially wet and holding an
umbrella, entered the exhibition. The sales staff welcomed
him and offered a tour, of all the products displayed in the
exhibition. It took more than two hours for the visitor to see
all the various types of products. The visitor showed interest
in every product but did not buy any of them.

Finally, the sales staff asked the visitor about the kind of
product that he was actually looking for. The visitor replied
that he was not looking for anything in particular, in fact he
just wanted to spend some time, while the rain stopped.
Since by that time, the rain had stopped, so the visitor
thanked the sales staff and left.

The sales staff felt dejected, as the visitor did not buy
anything. However, they felt good that they had treated him
respectfully and had shown him all the products. They
hoped perhaps later, the visitor may buy their products.

The next day, the visitor came again to the exhibition,
and again he did not buy any products. Nevertheless, he
inquired in details and within few days, bought the
dealership of that company.

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Excerpt from the book “Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories” by Rajen Jani