The panhandler's secret of Turkish ice cream seller

This post came as a follow-up to yesterdays post: Turkish Ice Cream guy in Fengchia Nightmarket in Taichung - a pure genius , I wanted to expand the topic, since Andres, made a comment, on it saying that:

i've seen this in various nightmarkets across taiwan, certainly entertaining and eye catching but personally i would not buy in fears of being embarrassed.

Still, I would not agree, and for this, I need to share a really today's one of the brightest minds on marketing on planet, what Seth Godin says about relationships before sell in his recent post:

When there were old-school parking meters in New York, quarters were precious.

One day, I'm walking down the street and a guy comes up to me and says, "Do you have a dollar for four quarters?" He held out his hand with four quarters in it.

Curious, I engaged with him. I took out a dollar bill and took the four quarters.

Then he turned to me and said, "can you spare a quarter?"

What a fascinating interaction.

First, he engaged me. A fair trade, one that perhaps even benefited me, not him.

Now, we have a relationship. Now, he knows I have a quarter (in my hand, even). So his next request is much more difficult to turn down. If he had just walked up to me and said, "can you spare a quarter," he would have been invisible.

Too often, we close the sale before we even open it.

Interact first, sell second.

That's what in fact the Turkish guy does. And does in perfectly. Do you call loudspeakers and other shrieks from various vendors engaging? Nope, they are invisible. Turkish guy is purple cow of Fengchia Night market, and this is how you survive in harsh competition. I wish him luck, indeed.