Sail across the sea

Chapter 487 Maybe Things Aren't So Bad

Gao Fan also knew that it would be difficult to implement his idea in such a large state-owned enterprise.

His own father was the general manager of a large state-owned enterprise, and he always took his suggestions very seriously. However, Gao Fan often had to personally handle the implementation of these suggestions. When it was delegated to subordinates, the results were usually only half as good, and it was common for a good thing to be turned into a bad one.

State-owned enterprises of this era truly lack market awareness and experience. Asking them to engage in market operations is tantamount to asking a liberal arts student like Qi Honghuang to figure out what supercalcium phosphate and ammonium phosphate are.

However, Wu Zhefu explained to him that Hu Dongming was also his roommate, and he would offer some suggestions, which was considered to be doing his best and leaving the rest to fate.

“Once we have the experimental results, we can use them to find the right users. Whether it’s large farms in Northeast China or rural areas in North China, we need to find the right agricultural technicians, promote the results to them, and then let them influence the farmers,” Gao Fan said.

"It's just like when you sent Xiao Ba to various schools to sell socks," Hu Dongming said with a smile.

"That's about right," Gao Fan said. "Actually, all the township enterprises in Shuainan do sales like this, reaching every nerve ending. To support this sales model, you need a flexible sales commission mechanism. They stipulate that 5% of the sales revenue from the sale of heavy calcium carbonate can be extracted as commission for the salesperson. Do you believe they would even climb Mount Everest to put up a small advertisement?"

"It's another impossible task," Hu Dongming said with a wry smile.

Implementing a sales commission system in state-owned enterprises would be a complete disaster. The sheer number of envious people filing complaints would be enough to give the company leadership a run for their money. Who would dare set such a precedent?

Gao Fan smiled and continued, "Media promotion also needs to keep up. We need to do advertising and publish advertorials to let more people know about calcium carbonate. In fact, when American diammonium phosphate entered the Chinese market in the 80s, they did the same thing. I read an article that said the fertilizer effect of diammonium phosphate was particularly magical, and farmers even made up a jingle: 'First, it depends on policy; second, it depends on the weather; third, it depends on American diammonium phosphate.'"

"Anyone with a little experience in advertorials and public relations knows that these kinds of rhymes are definitely not made up by farmers. They are either press releases written by manufacturers or come up with by journalists on a whim. If it is the latter, the travel expenses paid by manufacturers will be at least three times higher."

Hu Dongming said, "You mean, we should also make up a catchy rhyme, like 'Planting heavy calcium in vegetables saves money and makes them sell well'?"

"Awesome!" Gao Fan gave a thumbs up and praised sincerely, "Old Hu, it's a waste of your talent that you're not the editor-in-chief of a newspaper."

Hu Dongming scoffed, “We’ve seen this kind of tactic countless times in the reports we receive from below. When lower-level leaders want to boast but are too embarrassed to do so, they say it’s some kind of rhyme made up by farmers or the masses. I’ve heard of people making rhymes to curse in the streets, but I’ve never seen anyone make a rhyme to praise the county magistrate.”

Gao Fan said, "This can also be considered traditional culture. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, children often sing, something like, 'The emperor is not an emperor, the king is not a king, a thousand chariots and ten thousand horsemen go to the northern suburbs.' Everyone understands it."

Hu Dongming said, "We need to find someone to write promotional articles for heavy calcium carbonate and then find a newspaper to publish them. In the end, if farmers accept heavy calcium carbonate, it won't just be Fanlin Group that benefits; other companies involved in heavy calcium carbonate will also benefit. Fanlin might not be willing to do this kind of thing."

Gao Fan sneered, "If no one wants to do it, then let's all perish together. The whole industry is about to collapse, and everyone's still fighting amongst themselves. They really don't know what's good for them."

Hu Dongming shrugged; he couldn't really respond to that. That was just the reality, something he couldn't change.

"That's all we can do. Marketing, marketing, and more marketing."

Gao Fan thought for a moment and felt there was nothing to add, so he summarized it this way.

There is a market for superphosphate; with proper marketing, it can definitely be sold. If the product sells, the project isn't a failure. Once some farmers develop a habit of using it and recognize its benefits, there will be stable demand, and the company will survive. However, if marketing falls short, given the current market acceptance, Fanlin's 62 tons of superphosphate might end up stuck in inventory.

With an investment of 23 billion, the annual interest alone amounts to hundreds of millions. If the heavy calcium carbonate can't be sold, the company will face severe losses, which will likely cause the finance department a major headache.

“I understand what you mean,” Hu Dongming said. “I will pass your message on to the relevant departments. However, I can’t guarantee whether Fan Lin will listen to your opinion.”

“Maybe the situation isn’t so bad,” Gao Fan said. “There are companies in China that produce heavy calcium carbonate, and they can sell it. There’s no reason why you can’t.”

"Haha, I hope so." Hu Dongming accepted Gao Fan's words with a smile.

He knew Gao Fan was trying to smooth things over. After all, he was there to attend the project's completion ceremony. It would be incredibly disrespectful to predict that someone's products would be unsaleable before they even started production.

The two were chatting as they walked into the venue. Gao Fan glanced back unintentionally and spotted a familiar face. He then shook off Hu Dongming and walked a few steps toward the acquaintance.

"Xiao Biao, Yin Xiao Biao!"

Gao Fan shouted at the man.

Hearing Gao Fan's shout, the other person turned around, and it was indeed Yin Xiaobiao. Seeing Gao Fan, he showed some joy on his face and quickly came over to greet him.

"Gao Fan, what are you doing here?"

"I came here with leaders from the Ministry of Chemical Industry to attend the completion ceremony. What are you doing here?"

"I've always been here, for several years now," Yin Xiaobiao said cheerfully.

At this moment, Hu Dongming also came over. Looking at the two of them, he asked Gao Fan with some curiosity, "How do you know President Yin? Has he also done projects for you?"

Gao Fan, in turn, asked Hu Dongming with surprise, "I should be asking you, how do you know Xiao Biao? Xiao Biao and I were classmates in high school, and we were even deskmates."

"What a coincidence!" Hu Dongming exclaimed. "President Yin has done a lot of projects in our province. He has a very professional demolition team that specializes in demolishing old equipment. For the Fanjiawan project, all the demolition work was handled by President Yin's company."

"However, my acquaintance with President Yin is not because of these demolition projects, but because President Yin has donated money to Project Hope in our Muyang Province many times, which has helped us solve our urgent financial problems on several occasions."

"Director Hu, you're too kind," Yin Xiaobiao said with a smile. "It's just a rule in our company that no matter where we do a project, we have to set aside a certain percentage of the profits for charity. The few times Director Hu mentioned, we didn't actually contribute much. I remember the largest amount was only 15 yuan, right? The business that Director Hu gave us, the profits were far more than 15 yuan."

(End of this chapter)