Humans are by nature very social animals who spend most of the time talking and communicating whether on the phone, through social networks or in person. It could be gossip, facts, progressive, regressive, offloading one’s chest or pure entertainment.
For some, moving the lips and in sync with the vocal box is a full-time job that pays their bills every month and for most of us, talking is purely a tool for getting our intents across to spark a reaction from a receiver.
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to meet up with some school mates and they got to remind me of “Pamakatani.” Now, for those of you who do not remember hearing about this place, “Pamakatani” was a make shift tavern just outside Queen Elizabeth in Blantyre. The stall front was a massive chips and chicken take away while the back store was the tavern selling mostly opaque beer (Naps and Chibagi – The Eleven Lines has no intention of decoding these two names). It was one of the busiest places that attracted not only students from Poly, MCA and Health Science but working class and also some naughty patients from QECH (mostly those on Tuberculosis) treatment.
Now in the late 90s this place introduced The Eleven Lines to one fantastic messenger from one of the banks that was then directly opposite Pamakatani. Standing at just 1.25m, the man was a blessed by all standards. His ability to tell stories both fiction and truth was unique so much so that his contribution to the communal drink was just telling stories. For now I will just call him Abige. Sitting on benches that formed a deformed rectangle, while pumping from one packet shared among ten or so people with only eight possible exclusive out let, one Abige would start his role. When the time for him to buy the round (which was usually one packet) comes, Abige would just pull out the latest story which made everyone to laugh and forget that it was his turn to buy the “round” – It skipped him.
For the two years that I had known him, Abige used this tactic so well that he would only buy once and that would be month end. He made sure that he made enough noise so that every one knows he has coughed his hard earned salary to buy one or two packets.
Besides his ability to share some of his jokes, Abige became more or less a credible source of political stories. He would cook up “yellow” stories that were so interesting that at one point The Eleven Lines was once convinced that yellow was a real deal. Not only did The Eleven Lines get yellow but he also moved his small bank account to Abiges bank. (It should be noted that The Eleven Lines does not and does not intend to have any political connectivity with yellow colleagues – He is very neutral). Whether Abige was also a messenger of the Yellow movement then or just a pure fan, I have over the years cherished his talent of creating the right impressions for his masters through value adding word of mouth.
What do people say about your institution? Usually the answer will be a mixed bag cocktailed with good and bad comments. However, research has shown that most of the consumers walk into any point of purchase not fully decided on what brand to buy. It is the word of mouth that influences the choices made at the point of sale. Usually when the word of mouth comes from an opinion leader or pace setter, it becomes the basis for one’s choice. Things like Mr. X said he likes my shirt usually defines the next purchase decision for Mr. Y “, It is no wonder that in restaurants people usually do the copy and paste“ Inenso mundipatse menyu yomweyo” following the opinion leader.
This same can be adopted in the corporate world where you create positive lines of your product by creating many foot soldiers that propel good word of mouth. The social networks mostly tweeter has the power to create positive mentions about a brand due to their interactive nature.
“If there is nothing good to talk about your brand, chances are that your brand is just not good enough. In the Long term it makes the brand irrelevant and extinction is just around the corner”The Eleven Lines 2019. ffffff
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