Reborn since 1993

Chapter 365 Money moves people’s hearts

In the conference room of Pingyang Cigarette Factory, a meeting had just ended. Xu Boen, the marketing director of Pingyang Cigarette Factory, looked at the documents distributed at the meeting and shook his head helplessly.

Wei Minghui, the production manager standing nearby, saw this and said to Xu Boen with a smile, "Why, Old Xu, do you have any thoughts about this document?"

"How dare I? You can't just say that!"

"But..."

Xu Boen suppressed his temper and didn't say the word "nonsense". "We don't have to worry about selling the cigarettes in our Pingyang Cigarette Factory. But the Pingyang Municipal Government asked us to cooperate with Torch Group and subscribe to 500,000 lighters. It would be better for us to directly sponsor 500,000 to Torch Group!"

Over the years, Xu Boen has been in charge of the market publicity and promotion of Pingyang Cigarette Factory. The response to several new cigarettes launched by Pingyang Cigarette Factory has been quite good. Although they have not been sold to southern provinces and cities, the sales in Hanxi Province and surrounding provinces are quite good.

Now, it wants to cooperate with Torch Group, under the pretext of increasing sales by selling Pingyang Cigarette Factory's Golden Monkey and other brands of cigarettes together with Torch Group's lighters.

In this regard, Xu Bowen, a veteran, was somewhat disdainful. He did not believe that this cooperation would increase sales much.

"Who made Torch Group the apple of Pingyang City Government and the provincial government's eye? In the past few days, many leaders from the provincial capital went to inspect Torch Group. I heard that there were also people from Yanjing!"

Xu Bowen snorted, his words were filled with dissatisfaction and a bit of disdain. Pingyang Cigarette Factory was a major taxpayer in Pingyang, and now it had to cooperate with Torch Group. Xu Bowen knew that this was mainly because Torch Group could provide far more jobs than Pingyang Cigarette Factory.

After all, the Pingyang Cigarette Factory makes a lot of money, but it can only provide more than 2,000 jobs, and that's even after cramming a lot of people in there.

As soon as the Torch Group started trial production, the number of employees has soared to four or five thousand. If all of them start production and the production capacity is increased, the number of employees can soar to fifty or sixty thousand. The salary level of the Torch Group cannot be compared with that of the cigarette factory, but the upstream and downstream industrial chain of lighters can accommodate too many people!

"Don't forget Dongling Hi-Tech. Dongling Hi-Tech is the largest shareholder of Torch Group. The city, the province, and even Beijing have to give face to the Buddha!"

Wei Minghui shook his head and said that he also felt that the lighter advertising demonstration cooperation project issued by Pingyang Municipal Government at the previous meeting to create Pingyang Cigarette Factory and Torch Group was actually giving money to Torch Group.

However, this cooperation is related to the jobs provided by Torch Group. Also, because of Dongling Hi-Tech, the largest local tyrant, Pingyang Cigarette Factory will definitely subscribe to and promote these 500,000 lighters.

Xu Bowen sighed, muttered something like "what nonsense", picked up the teacup on the table, and walked outside with his hands behind his back. He had no hope at all for the cooperation between Pingyang Cigarette Factory and Torch Group.

……

As the Torch Group's lighter transport vehicles arrived in Hanxi and surrounding provinces and cities, lighters began to appear prominently on the counters of supply and marketing cooperatives, and then in shopping malls, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, small supermarkets at train stations, and elsewhere.

In a county supermarket under Shangzhong City, Qiao Caidan was arranging the shelves. This supermarket was a husband-and-wife shop run by Qiao Caidan and her husband. Her husband was responsible for purchasing and transporting goods, while she was responsible for counting money and settling bills.

This supermarket was built up bit by bit by the couple. In the early days, the husband relied on the tricycle to transport goods, and sometimes he had to go to other cities. Later, he got a motorcycle, and just changed it to a van this year.

Because we transport the goods ourselves and have good cost control, our business is quite good. Compared with other supermarkets, especially for food and some daily necessities, we have price advantages, and we have accumulated some regular customers.

"Get a pack of cigarettes!"

Just as she had put the dishes that her man had brought back on display, Qiao Caidan heard someone buying cigarettes.

Seeing the visitor, she found out that he was an old customer of Qiao Caidan's. Without him saying anything, Qiao Caidan knew what kind of cigarettes he wanted.

Nowadays, the prices of different brands of cigarettes can differ by several times. For example, the Monkey King cigarettes produced by Pingyang Cigarette Factory cost three yuan, five yuan, and even a higher-end one costs seven yuan. They are usually bought when there are weddings or funerals at home, or when entertaining guests. Of course, those with high incomes don't care about these things.

But if many people smoke by themselves, they will choose some small brands of cigarettes, which cost about 1.5 yuan, or even lower.

Most of the people who came to Qiao Caidan to buy cigarettes today had bought cigarettes that cost 1.5 yuan before, and sometimes they also bought a pack of matches worth a few cents to light the cigarettes.

As usual, Qiao Caidan took out a pack of RMB 20 cigarettes, and then saw on the table the lighter that her husband had brought back today. Qiao Caidan didn’t pay attention to which company the lighter was from, but her husband told her that for every lighter sold, their supermarket would get a % commission, and the more lighters they sold, the higher the commission would be!

"Would you like to change your flavor? There's a promotion going on at Monkey King Cigarettes today. Buy a pack of Golden Monkey cigarettes for five dollars and get a lighter for free. This lighter costs more than one dollar when sold separately!" Qiao Caidan said to the visitor with a smile, then picked up a lighter and pressed it.

Looking at the flames that appear, the people who come to buy cigarettes, then look at the matches next to them, and instantly feel that they are not fragrant. Which smoker can refuse a lighter?
In my previous life, when I was having a meal with friends and family, the lighter in my pocket might have disappeared and ended up in someone else’s pocket!
"This lighter is one dollar?" The man couldn't help asking as he looked at the flame of the lighter.

The cheapest lighters available today cost five or six dollars, not to mention the metal lighters imported from Japan, Germany, and America, which can now be sold for more than a thousand dollars at counters at Pacific Department Store and other places.

"If sold in retail, the lighter costs one dollar!" Qiao Caidan glanced at the purchase order under the table and resisted the urge to raise the price. She felt that even if she increased the price by a few cents or even one dollar, the lighter might still be sold. However, her store does business with old customers, and she might lose a regular customer for a little profit, so Qiao Caidan couldn't help it.

"Give me a pack of Golden Monkey cookies!" The man didn't hesitate and took out five yuan.

After leaving the supermarket, the man pressed the lighter and looked at the flame. He played with the lighter for a while before he remembered to light a cigarette. When he put the lighter away, he saw an advertisement on the lighter. It turned out to be an advertisement for a newly opened restaurant in the county. It said that if you go to the restaurant to eat with the advertisement on the lighter, you can enjoy a 20% discount. The man didn't pay much attention to the advertisement.

In the county town where Qiao Caidan lives, a newly opened restaurant officially opened after a burst of firecrackers. The restaurant owner Qi Minghai couldn't help but look outside nervously, wondering how business would be today.

Qi Minghai's restaurant is quite large. He has invested all his accumulated income over the years into this restaurant. If the business is not good, all his efforts over the years will go to waste.

Qi Minghai put a lot of thought into opening this restaurant. He placed advertisements in the county newspapers and distributed a lot of flyers.

But after the commotion, no one came over. It would be a lie to say that he wasn't angry. After Qi Minghai sat down, he saw the box containing the lighter on the cash register. He remembered that a few days ago, someone from the advertising department of Torch Group came to him for cooperation.

Qi Minghai also spent several thousand yuan to buy a batch of lighters to give away to customers who ate there. He also advertised through the Torch Group. He didn't know whether this money would be wasted.

After a whole morning, Qi Minghai's mouth was already foaming with anxiety. He had been pacing around the door for countless times, but still no one came in.

It was already past noon when the sun went down. Qi Minghai was no longer in a hurry. He felt a little hopeless and thought that the money he invested in the restaurant would be wasted.

Just when Qi Minghai was getting ready and asking the kitchen staff and the waiters to take a rest, three men walked in together.

Looking at the decoration of the restaurant, the three seemed quite satisfied. One of them took out a lighter from his pocket and took a look at it, then said to Qi Minghai, "Give us some of your signature dishes!"

"No problem. Our chef is an expert in Qin and Sichuan cuisine. You will know once you try it!"

Qi Minghai invited a few people in, and then the whole restaurant suddenly became busy.

Finally someone came in and Qi Minghai breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could do so, people behind him started to arrive.

Qi Minghai was so busy that he didn't relax until the store closed in the evening and the last table was sent away. After the store closed, Qi Minghai began to count the bills.

But halfway through the calculation, Qi Minghai suddenly looked at the empty box on the cash register where the lighter was originally placed, and then he seemed to remember something.

Without bothering to settle the bill, Qi Minghai hurriedly picked up the phone, found a number, and called it regardless of the time.

"Which one?"

As soon as he heard the call was connected, Qi Minghai hurriedly said to the other end, "Give me the hotel. Invest in lighter advertising for another month, no, three months!"

Qi Minghai asked the customers who came to eat today how they heard about his restaurant. Some knew about it from advertisements in newspapers, and some just passed by. But what Qi Minghai heard most about, from more than half of them, was that they saw the advertisement on lighters and saw the advertisement saying his restaurant was offering a 20% discount, so they all came over to try the food.

And the batch of lighters he bought for the restaurant were also given away cleanly when others finished their meal and left today!

In this case, is there any need for Qi Minghai to know which type of advertising is most effective and can attract the most customers?
……

Inside the Torch Group, Zhang Xiaocheng had been unable to sleep almost all night since the distribution of the products began yesterday afternoon. Not only him, but also people from the Pingyang Municipal Government, the Hanxi Provincial Government, and the Provincial Industry Department were all waiting in the conference room, waiting for the lighter sales statistics to be released from various places.

Every time the phone rang, except for Li Dongling who was working on the electronic dictionary and repeater, everyone else immediately looked eagerly at the person who answered the phone.

"Jingle Bell"

The phone on the table rang again, and the sales manager of Torch Group answered the call immediately. Then his expression changed and he said to the other party, "The sales volume has not been counted yet. We will report to you as soon as there is a result!"

After hanging up the phone, the manager said to everyone in the conference room, "It's the Yanjing Economic and Trade Commission calling!"

Li Dongling put down the pen in his hand, stretched his waist, looked at the time, and prepared to go for dinner. He had been waiting here for quite some time today, and Li Dongling was feeling a little hungry.

Just as Li Dongling stood up, the phone on the table rang again. The sales manager who answered the phone was surprised, "What? The lighters at the Yingshi Supply and Marketing Cooperative are sold out?"

(End of this chapter)