Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Entertain them! Humor is among the most powerful ways, and also among the hardest to accomplish, and very high risk (e.g. of making a fool of oneself, worse, of offending people).

That having been duly noted, I venture to make comments about the humorous approach.

1) A large poster behind you, which stops people dead in their tracks and makes them laugh, is one possibility. Better is to have a series of posters, changing them two or three times a day. First, that lets you test which ones work best. Second, if they are good, people will pass by again to see what the new one is like.

The multiple poster approach requires cooperation with a poster shop. You might need to upgrade your "mineral water " vendor license to "poster seller" license. Naturally the poster shop should be willing to make that investment for you.

2) Any kind of performing art, from magic tricks, sidewalk painting, etc. could work. If you don´t have any performing skills yourself, look to team up with someone who does. If appropriate in your culture, team up with an attractive woman.

Below follows a New York City type of example. New York has a hard, street-smart culture that is very dangerous to try to imitate for use elsewhere. The example is only to give you some food for thought, not to mirror!

The charming, energetic, bubbly and fun woman builds into her performance a water break. "Are you thirsty yet? Now my show is free. I am not like all those other greedy street performers, who beg you for tips. Why, some of them even pass around a hat for you to throw money into. Shameful!"

"No, no, I would never do anything like that. All I ask is, if you´re thirsty -- and by now you should be -- buy one of our XXX bottles of water. You are getting the best possible water for your health, I promise you. Let me explain.

"You should know that the water our esteemed competitors sell is fresh lake and mountain stream water, absolutely pure. Ours, however, comes straight out of the faucet. After our familiies and we drink up the water that is in the bottles to begin with, we then fill it up with faucet water to re-sell it to you. That is good for two reasons."

"First, all the dirt in it helps build up your resistance to disease. That useless pure water our competitors sell does absolutely nothing to challenge your immune system, trust me."

"Second, and much more important, is that it makes for a HUGE profit margin. So when you finish your water, please return the bottle."

Regards, James Hamilton

If everyone is selling the same product at the same price, then it has to be about you. Can you bring a musician or other entertainer to help draw a crowd around you?