Social marriage product

From my experience of conducting executive training workshops on selling automobiles, I can genuinely empathise with the tension salespersons go through. In India, the world's most heterogeneous society, not a single customer buys a car in one visit.

Multiple visits are made to dealerships to determine the purchase decision. Customers go to competing dealerships as well as to competing automobile brands. It's a spectacular show when joint families come to buy a car. Without the whole family's approval, there's no question of a purchase. The younger brother will never buy a vehicle more expensive than his older brother's one, unless the latter gives him permission. The salesperson is hard pressed to check the eye movement and determine the body language of different family members. They are all influencers to his achieving the sale. Suddenly a sister-in-law may say the headlamp's no good, a nephew the wheel rim ugly, his mother may find the horn sound very jarring. Already they've visited this showroom seven-eight times, and visited other brands too. This showroom's salesperson is at his wit's end to convince them by meeting everybody's needs and desire. At the last moment, just when the purchase is about to materialise, a family member can declare that his friend says the mileage this car gives is too low. So everything dissolves to naught. In selling a mass car, you can imagine what a genius the salesperson has to be to address his heterogeneous customers in India.

Our socially arranged marriages happen in more or less the same way, but with more discipline. The bridegroom is always in a position of power, to squeeze the bride's family all the way. Carrying that mentality, the boy's side go bride hunting to even 20 different homes, and they're entertained everywhere. His has two regiments, the men's group for investigating the bride's wealth; the women's group for examining the bride as product quality. In general, the criteria determining man-woman compatibility include matching of horoscopes, family reputation, religion, caste, vegetarian or non-veg diet, skin colour, fecundity. The groom's profession commands the dowry price. The highest weightage goes to IPS/IAS officers, followed by doctors, then others.

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