After the banquet at their district, Feng Yu returned to Bing City. There were lots of things for him to settle at the company. For example, he needs to look for a new office location, the company needs a new person in charge, and he needs to check if these fridges require any changes.
First, he must rent a new office. He cannot keep borrowing the Motor Factory’s conference room. There was a 3-story building near their warehouse, and it belongs to the Railway Department. Tai Hua Trading uses freight to transport their goods most of the time. Although they always use Kirilenko’s military carriages, they also worked with the Railway Department frequently.
Feng Yu wanted to buy that building, but this was rejected. How could the department sell its fixed a.s.sets? So. Feng Yu request to rent the building but the rent was not cheap, and the tenure was 30 years. The total amounted to over 1 million RMB. This amount was about the same if he bought a similar building at that location.
After bargaining, they settled at 20 years tenure, and the total rental amount would be 1 million RMB. If the building was to be demolished during the tenure, the Railway Department needs to compensate Tai Hua Trading based on the market rate at that time.
Feng Yu was pleased with the contract. Within 5 years, the rental for this area will increase by at least 3 times. Also, 10 years later, his company would have shifted to a high-rise building, and he can sublet this building out and earn back a few times more.
Tai Hua Trading had too few people to occupy the whole 3 story office building. So, Feng Yu rented out the 2nd floor to Wind and Rain Logistics at a low price. This was to prevent them from operating in that cold warehouse.
The building was cleaned up, and all the furniture were changed. This was completed in 2 days by Wu Zhigang and the rest of the staffs. The sound of firecrackers announced the opening of the new office. At the entrance, the signage of Tai Hua Trading was hung on the left side, and the banners, awards, and plaques which were given to them by the various government bodies were hung on the 1st-floor wall. These will be the first thing visitors see when they enter the building.
“Today the meeting agenda is to talk about the development plans of our company for this year. First, the Sino-Soviet trade will continue. All of you still need to look for cheaper and better suppliers. It will be the same as before. If any of you can find cheaper suppliers, you will be rewarded.
Secondly, Tai Hua Food Processing Factory’s products like soybean oil and sugar must continue to expand into the South. Most importantly, animal feeds. You all should target those big pig farms. Animal feed’s profits are the highest and much higher than soybean oil.
Thirdly, you all must also still in touch with the electrical appliances dealers to understand the market changes. Our company will introduce over 1,000 2 door fridges soon. These refrigerators are bigger, more expensive and consume more electricity. Bing City’s market is too small, and you all should sell these fridges to the other provinces in the Northeast region.
Fourth, the orders for humidifiers are getting lesser. Imitations are appearing on the market. But don’t worry. We will introduce the 2nd generation humidifier, which no one can imitate, to the market soon. You all can reveal this news to those dealers. Ask them if they still want to order Wind and Rain fans. Tell they the prices for plastics had dropped and our supplier prices for them will be lowered by 5 RMB.
Fifth, continue to contact those big factories and find out what type of facilities they need and what is their budget. This will be our focus for this year.
Lastly, my brother-in-law had set up his own logistics company, and most of the time, I am busy with other matters. So, we need a deputy manager. Anyone of you wants to volunteer for this position?”
Wu Zhigang and the rest gasped in surprised. Volunteer for this position? Shouldn’t Feng Yu be asking who does not want to be in this position? Tai Hua Trading was very famous and even other provinces had heard of this company because of Wind and Rain fans and humidifiers. This Deputy General Manager position was very prestigious!
Swish, Swish, Swish ~~~
Everyone raised their hands and looked excitedly at Feng Yu, hoping Feng Yu will choose them.
“Everyone wants to be the Deputy Manager? This is tough. How about this? All of you tell me how you will sell this batch of refrigerators and still guarantee the highest profits.”
Feng Yu still had not thought of how to market these fridges yet. He felt that he was the first one to introduce 2-door refrigerators but these 2-door fridges were already launched 2 years ago. However, because of the market’s weak response to these fridges, they were discontinued. He should have manufactured freezers instead. With his compressors, he could make big freezers and could sell those to the hotels.
Everyone looked at each other. They were used to follow Feng Yu’s instructions and did not expect Feng Yu to text them on this.
Wu Zhigang thought for a while and raised his hands: “Director Feng, I have an idea.”
At least the floor was totally quiet. Feng Yu nodded: “Tell me about it.”
“Our humidifiers have 2 types of models, n.o.ble and Prestige. Why can’t we position our refrigerators as luxury fridges? The exterior of our fridges is beautiful, and although it is not the Wind and Rain brand, it is still from Tai Hua Trading. We can announce that this Tai Hua brand refrigerator is from the same family as Wind and Rain brand. The fridges now are too small and only suitable for a family of 3. Those fridges are too small for bigger families and not suitable for storing food. We can say that our fridges are designed for bigger families……”
Wu Zhigang continued for almost 10 mins and got more and more excited. Feng Yu could tell that he did think about this seriously. Feng Yu was not sure if Wu Zhigang’s plan would work as he does not have much experience in sales. The things he sold earlier were different, and he had used unorthodox methods to market them. Feng Yu was not so confident about these fridges.
But the costs of these fridges were very cheap and even much cheaper than any refrigerators manufacturers in the country. The differences in prices of the most crucial component of the refrigerator, the compressor, had significantly lowered Feng Yu’s cost and create this differences in the manufacturing costs. Worse come to worse, Feng Yu can sell off these fridges at low prices, and he will still not suffer any losses.
“Anyone else has other ideas?”
The rest shook their heads. Wu Zhigang had said everything they could think of. What else can they say?
“Since there are no other ideas, then I will appoint Wu Zhigang as the Deputy General Manager of Tai Hua Trading. His salary will be doubled, and the rest of you will get a salary increment of 20%.”
Feng Yu had also wanted to promote Wu Zhigang in the first place. Wu Zhigang was very smart and more flexible than the rest. Also, he could get in touch with some factories’ leaders because of his uncle. Furthermore, Wu Zhigang had gotten beaten up for Feng Yu in the past, and he did not reveal this matter to anyone, including his family.
Wu Zhigang was also the one who found out that a machinery factory in Shen City wanted to buy a high-temperature steel furnace. Of course, he heard it from his uncle, and this news was confirmed.
The rest had also gotten news of factories wanting to buy new machinery, but those were just smaller machines which had not many technical contents. They will not be able to earn much from those. The higher the machines’ technical content, the higher the profits.
The prices Brother Ki gave Feng Yu were mostly half price, and for something that can be sold for 1 million, Feng Yu can make 200,000 to 300,000 profits. If the item were sold for 10 million, his earnings would be 2 to 3 million. Can this be the same? The high-temperature steel furnace can be sold for at least 10 million Rubles, and Feng Yu’s profit was at least 2 to 3 million Rubles.
After the meeting, Feng Yu went to Wind and Rain Logistics. He was helping his brother-in-law who had gone on his honeymoon with his sister. The hospital had given his sister 2 weeks marriage leave.
Feng Yu sighed. There was too much work. Seems like his plans to hire more managers must be put forth.