2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 91 Daily Life at the Exhibition
On April 15, the 98th Export Fair officially began, attracting exhibitors, staff, and businesspeople from all over the world.

This year's exhibition has 250 more booths than the previous one, but due to the optimization of the qualifications of participating companies and the raising of the threshold, the number of participating companies has not shown the trend of increasing year by year as in previous years.

This is probably one of the reasons why Jinpeng Trade was able to successfully secure a booth this year; overall, due to changes in the external environment, this year's exhibition seems to prioritize quality over quantity.

Although the number of exhibitors did not increase, the competition actually became more intense after the entry barriers were lowered.

What about companies that can't get into the main exhibition? It's easy. They can either do what Tan Jincheng did last year or go to a nearby "fake" exhibition. Taking Zhejiang Province as an example, by the end of last year, there were more than 7000 companies with import and export rights and actual performance.

Of these 7000+ companies, most are private and small and medium-sized enterprises. These companies will go to nearby or even surrounding cities to participate in exhibitions similar to the Canton Fair. Some local governments will even organize and publicly support these companies to participate in the exhibitions.

Well, it's similar to buying stocks but not being able to buy the leading stocks, so you buy some stocks that are just riding the wave of a trend. Whether you can make money is another matter, but at least you have a sense of participation and can accumulate some experience.

After some dressing up, Sun Yuming pretended to be an employee of a South Korean company in mainland China and was active in the textile and garment exhibition area. He originally wanted to directly impersonate a merchant, but unfortunately, his height of over 1.8 meters, his accent, and his appearance made it impossible for him to pull it off.

"Damn it, all bosses are heartless, how could they come up with such a terrible idea?" Sun Yuming muttered to himself as he strolled around.

Needless to say, although it was Boss Zhang who asked him to do it, the idea must have come from Boss Tan. Boss Tan is in charge of the company, and he took full control of the exhibition as soon as he arrived, as can be seen from the setup in the past few days.

However, Mr. Tan is indeed capable; a few small changes to the exhibition setup can make it stand out.

Yesterday, Zhang Xupeng approached Sun Yuming and told him that starting today, during the exhibition, he and Lao Liu would take turns wandering around; if they saw clothes similar to their own, they should go up and inquire, pretending to look at samples to get some information, and if there was no patent, they should report it.

Old Liu was Liu Wenbin, one of the two salesmen brought by Jinpeng Trading. At that time, Boss Tan sat next to him, looking at him with a smile as he stared in disbelief.

This is absolutely brilliant. Regardless of whether the other party infringed on any rights, this incident will inevitably have some impact. However, the company itself is making this a major selling point, displaying various patents in the exhibition area.

Hey, you know what, it does look kind of high-end. High-end is what Boss Tan said too, high-class, classy, ​​and sophisticated. Whether it's useful or not doesn't matter, as long as it can impress people.

Other small design elements, such as how to highlight the company's booth location and products, also caught Sun Yuming's eye, who had been involved in the booth setup work. People's ideas are indeed different.

A boss with both ability and ruthlessness like that is bound to get rich. But there are advantages to just loitering around; you don't have to work and Boss Tan even pays you.

While Sun Yuming was strolling around the exhibition, the Jinpeng Trade Zone also welcomed its first wave of guests. Tan Jincheng was earnestly introducing his company's products to the guests, while Liu Wenbin, standing to the side, was equally dumbfounded.

"No wonder Boss Tan said he didn't need a translator. Turns out he could handle it himself. Does this mean he's only 20 years old and didn't go to college?"

Zhang Xupeng was equally astonished. Although he knew Xiao Tan was fluent in English, he had never witnessed him converse so fluently with a foreign friend. A couple of days ago, Xiao Tan had said there was no need for an English translator, and Zhang had been a little apprehensive. However, to Zhang Xupeng's slight regret, although the customer seemed quite satisfied with the company's samples, they ultimately didn't close the deal, only accepting promotional materials and business cards.

"What's the rush? It's only the first day. Customers need to visit several places before placing an order." Seeing Zhang Xupeng's disappointment, Tan Jincheng smiled at him.

When I came here last year, I had the same feeling. We had a great discussion, but I didn't manage to close the deal.

“That’s true, at least it’s a good start. I feel like the foot traffic here is pretty good.” Zhang Xupeng thought for a moment and nodded.

"Yes, the passenger flow is pretty good. Don't panic. Just wait for me to lead you to wealth. When I'm talking to people, you should learn from me and be quick-witted. When you're handing out water or something, just think of yourself as a cruise ship waiter."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xupeng understood. Although he wasn't as fluent as Tan Jincheng, Zhang Xupeng could still speak some English. Moreover, some businessmen would bring their own translators, especially those who spoke less common languages, as they couldn't communicate without a translator.

While receiving guests, Tan Jincheng also looked around. Compared with last year's autumn exhibition, there were indeed many differences. The flow of people was really large, with people coming and going. In addition, Tan Jincheng noticed that e-commerce had made significant progress.

The EasyPass online exhibition service center is ubiquitous, and it has even fully realized the digitization of exhibition drawings and remote network transmission, extending various services to exhibitors online.

Indeed, any advanced technology requires the support of the state, and the state is always the first to apply it. Looking at these new things with a modern perspective, we can understand why online shopping has become so popular.

"See those internet access machines?" Tan Jincheng asked Zhang Xupeng, pointing to the machines standing in the exhibition hall during a break.

Tan Jincheng just tried it out. The design and smoothness are naturally incomparable to the machines that are commonplace in various occasions in later generations, but it is a remarkable thing now.

"I saw it, what happened?"

"That one with internet access and a decent speed is like a small service center; think about it, if this kind of network were used in daily life, wouldn't online shopping be much more convenient?"

Seeing that Zhang Xupeng still had some doubts, Tan Jincheng encouraged him, "Or you can try it out yourself while you have some free time now."

The internet is the future trend, but after I got busy with my new company, I didn't have as much time to guide Zhang Xupeng. This was the first and possibly the only time that I participated in the exhibition with Zhang Xupeng as partners from the same company.

Taking orders is of course the biggest priority, but Tan Jincheng also hopes that Zhang Xupeng can pay more attention to the details of the times’ progress and can guide Zhang Xupeng on how to do business correctly. This can be considered the biggest advantage of a reborn person.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

(End of this chapter)