A Lesson in Sales, Delhi Airport

You step off the plane, you collect your bag, and just past the sliding doors you make the one mistake.

You listen to a taxi driver for five seconds.

That's all it takes.

He can see the tiredness on you. He can see the luggage. And he knows where you want to be: a hotel, a quiet room, something cold to drink.

„No problem, Sir. Everything you wish, Sir.“

He talks. Calmly, warmly. About his family. About a hotel that is better than the one you booked. About what a pleasant person you seem to be.

By the time you've formed an opinion about him, he has you.

Do you really want the hotel you booked? Those people are crooks, Sir. And the taxi cannot get there anyway, the lanes are far too narrow. Dangerous, even. He knows a better place. No extra charge.

To reach your own hotel you need nerves of steel. Because by then you would also be sending him home empty-handed, to his wife, and to the children he has mentioned twice.

If you want to know how selling works, fly to Delhi and listen to a taxi driver. He has every trick there is, and he will use all of them on you inside a minute.

If you only want to get to your hotel, use Uber. Works fine.