“Manager Li, do you think the commercial Feng Yu created would be effective? Is he really confident that he will be able to sell at least 130,000 motorcycles in a year?”
“Hrmp! You think it is possible? Although these bikes look beautiful, the performance was only slightly better than Honda 125. Don’t forget about the pricing. We had discussed it. The retail price would be 19,800 RMB and the lowest supplier price at 15,000 RMB. Just look at our Longjiang Province. 30 million population and there are only so few motorcycles. There are more cars than motorcycles. There is about 1 billion population in China and how many motorcycles can he sell? Even if the sales are better in the South, the most he could hit is about 100,000 units in a year. Don’t forget about how much salaries we are getting!” Li Mingde said with a smirked.
If Feng Yu could not deliver, he would have to pay back the advertising fees to the Machinery Company. This would be free advertising for the Machinery Company. Li Mingde was feeling pleased.
Feng Yu, Feng Yu, you are still too young. Do you think that this is the same as those humidifiers? How much does one humidifier cost? An average worker could also afford one if they save for a few months. How much does a motorcycle cost? How many could afford it and how many are willing to spend on it?
“Manager Li is so smart. This is the end for Feng Yu. Both he and his father are the same. They thought that having some shares of the company could let them do whatever they want? Don’t they know that everybody got to listen to Manager Li here?” The Office Director said.
“Eh~~~ what do you everybody got to listen to me. We are democratic. All decisions could only be approved by the City Government after discussion. I am only a representative.” Even though Li Mingde said that, he was very satisfied with what the Office Director said. Well said. It was worth promoting him.
When they were still talking, a deputy manager came in and happily said to Li Mingde: “Manager Li, I had sent my men to ask around. Now many people are talking about Songjiang Motorcycles and where to buy one. I estimate that when launch, we can sell at least 100 bikes in Bing City!”
Li Mingde frowned: “Are you sure?”
The Deputy Manager was puzzled. What’s wrong with Manager Li? He seems to be unhappy when he heard that the motorcycles will be selling well.
“Of course, someone from my wife’s unit also asked if he could get one now. They can’t wait to ride our bikes.”
Although the average salaries of the people were still meager, there were lots of wealthy people too. Just the distributors of their agriculture equipment could earn tens of thousands in a year!
They could even afford a car, why can’t they afford another bike?
……
“Manager Feng, we had run out of posters. Do we need to reprint?” Wu Zhigang asked.
Feng Yu took a sip of his hot tea and slowly waving his hands: “There’s no hurry. Have you reserve the tickets?”
“Yes, it’s done. It’s a night ticket for a bed seat. I have also bought the return ticket for the day after tomorrow.”
“Hrmm. The posters can wait until we are back. Have you contacted the distributors? How many of them are interested?”
The reprinted posters were not for the streets and alleyways. They were for the distributors to paste outside their shops to attract customers.
“Right now, there are 7 distributors. They are all old customers, and they guaranteed that they could handle the sales for their provinces. The rest were still considering, but I think they would give us an answer in 2 days.”
At first, Wu Zhigang was thinking about where to look for distributors. Feng Yu told him to call those home appliances distributors and ask them if they are interested in being the distributors.
The distributors at this time were all very smart. They would never stick to one type of products. They will sell whatever products that were popular as long as there were profits!
Just look at Tai Hua Food Processing Factory’s animal feed. Some of those home appliances distributors also got the distribution rights for the animal feeds. Now the animal feeds were selling in the 3 Northeast provinces, and it was expanding towards the south.
Furthermore, Feng Yu’s distribution fees were quite high this time. They would make at least 500 RMB for every motorcycle sold. If 200 units were sold in a month, that would be 100000 RMB profit!
Feng Yu nodded: “Ask our men to chase them. Our reputation is also at stake here. We had never made any losses before, and those that work with us also profited.”
“I know. I will get them to follow up.”
That night, Feng Yu and Wu Zhigang traveled to Beijing CCTV station to look for Cheng Baojun to tell him about changing their commercial.
After Cheng Baojun watched the commercial and the photocopied doc.u.ments of the motorcycle, he nodded and reported to his leaders. The paperwork was all in place, but he got to seek the approval from his leaders.
That evening, Feng Yu treat Cheng Baojun to dinner again, and the next day afternoon, Feng Yu received a call from Cheng Baojun in his hotel room. His leaders had approved!
From New Year until May, the 4 parts commercials will be aired during the primetime slots. It will be according to the order of the commercials given by Feng Yu.
Initially, Feng Yu had wanted to air 1 commercial per month, but it was too troublesome to change the commercial. That’s why Feng Yu chose to air all the commercials together. Anyway, this commercial can be used for 2 to 3 years. Maybe he would have better ideas for ads next year.
Feng Yu asked Cheng Baojun if he could extend the advertising contract. He wanted to get 1 more year. But Cheng Baojun replied Feng Yu got to wait till March after their meeting. But he promised that he would inform Feng Yu about the outcome first.
……
“Eh, have you watch CCTV yesterday? Hehe, Zhu Simao’s sliding stop was so cool!”
“That’s right. He was so handsome when he took off his helmet!”
“No~~~ Liu Daqing is prettier. I was mesmerized when she removes her scarf!”
“It was so interesting to see Liu Daqing asked Zhu Simao in return, ‘Do you want a ride, sir?’”
“I love the final scene when the both of them rode the bikes away.”
“No way. The scene when Zhu Simao riding with Liu Daqing as pillion was the best. Liu Daqing had her arms around Zhu Simao’s waist and leaning against his back. If I had a bike like this, there would be lots of girls willing to ride with me!”
“Talk after you get a bike. That bike is so beautiful. Is it available in Bing City? I am guessing that it is an imported bike from either US or j.a.pan.”
“No, I guess the bike is from Europe or the Soviet Union!”
“Hahaha, this bunch of morons. Can you see what is this?” A young man was holding on to a poster, showing to everybody.
“That’s Liu Daqing’s poster. You had shown it to use a few times.”
“No, I am talking about this motorcycle. Don’t you think that it is familiar? Can you see the words written on small fronts here? Songjiang Motorcycles.”
“What does it mean?” Everyone was curious.
“My cousin from my third uncle had a cla.s.smate whose uncle is working at the Machinery Company. This Songjiang motorcycle is manufactured by Bing City’s Machinery Factory. Do you still think that it will not be available in Bing City? Today is the product launch, and the first sales location is at Dongli there. Want to go there to take a look?”
……
“Give me one unit. I have brought cash.”
“I am here first. Give me 1 bike!”
“I want a bike too. Red color and the red helmets too. Hurry up!”
When these few young men reach the sales location, they discovered that it was full of people. Many people were shouting that they want to buy a motorcycle. A row of motorcycles was on display. Every bike was so cool, and they also want to get one if they got the money!
……
“Manager Li, Manager Li, today’s sales figures are out!”
Li Mingde raised his head and asked anxiously: “How many units are sold?”
Translator Notes: Let’s guess how many.