The Sanzer Rebbe, who told this story with amazement, was a close friend of Rabbi Shalom of Kaminka. Both studied together under Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz. While the Sanzer Rebbe inherited his teacher's leadership quality, Rabbi Shalom took on Rabbi Naftali's witty sense of humor. For this reason, even when they "acted out" the roles of Rebbe and chasid (as some tzaddikim did during their travels), Rabbi Shalom would remain the chasid while the Sanzer Rebbe played the role of the Rebbe.
From this, we can learn that to move a person from their initial place and comfort zone, one needs to be clever and humorous... Of course, one can speak and persuade - but for speech to be effective, sometimes a person like Rabbi Shalom is needed: a person who knows how to turn the miser's life into a joke, and also make him laugh along with it...
