My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 715 Just Ask If It's Okay

Wei Dong has finally accepted this tactic.

The Hong Kong businessmen had originally suggested that the younger generation come and play golf with us last time.

Hong Kong tycoons all talk business while playing golf; if you want to fit into our circle, you have to play this game.

Not to mention that Li Bancheng is known for his love of golf.

But Wei Dong refused.

The mud-footed man from Shangzhou had never played with this before, not even forty years later, and he had no intention of playing with it now.

I heard about this when I was in Pyeongjong.

Wei Dong was quite dismissive of the fact that they couldn't even afford grass to eat.

I don't play it anymore.

Thirty or forty years later, there seems to be a saying that these things are all obedience tests, forcing people to join the circle.

Perhaps in the last two years, Wei Dong's mentality has been changing without him realizing it.

Early in the morning, I took a car with several business managers from various countries to the border crossing. Instead of driving Lao Fang's dual-license plate car, we just took a regular bus to cross the border.

These guys have to go to Hong Kong every day to run business, so Wei Dong dragged Liu Xiaoyong out to work with them.

Li Xuehong clearly wanted to go with them, but she didn't have the necessary paperwork.

This area is still strictly controlled.

They chat and laugh on the way, but when they get on the bus, they're all tense and close their eyes to rest, as if it's a political task for them to go to work and come back every day.

This guy was gesturing wildly as he talked about playing basketball on the deck last night. There were a few pretty good guys who came all the way from the city. I guess they were basketball enthusiasts at their previous workplaces before heading south, maybe even some from the sports team.

But it's still quite a long way for them to make the trip, so Xiaoyong, you should try to make room for a basketball court in the new hotel design.

It really reflects the boss's will; why would a budget hotel need a basketball court?

Surprisingly, Liu Xiaoyong had actually seen it when he was working at Citibank. This was only the level of a motel; many motels did indeed have basketball courts in their parking lots.

Write down the good things carefully.

Wei Dong then went to flirt with several state-owned enterprise cadres: "Come play ball with me today. You guys are always running around on the streets. If you're doing sales, you need to make more connections. Maybe there will be business here too. If you come here empty-handed, I'll cover all the travel costs for today."

Working is really not easy.

Lao Fang wanted to set up an industrial park and a container company, but when it started, even the dock only had a few million yuan in capital, let alone anyone to buy containers. So cadres at all levels went to Hong Kong every day to solicit business. Food and drink were expensive there, so they brought their own dry food and water bottles.

Unlike later on, when high-end multinational corporations would flaunt their high salaries all the time.

Pioneers always suffer the most.

It's also inefficient.

These business managers who travel to and from Hong Kong every day are certainly trustworthy cadres in the government, but they are not business people, much less salespeople who are proficient in business.

Upon hearing this, they all awkwardly replied, "Mr. Rang, your business relationships are different from ours. We also have the task of communicating and exchanging ideas with various foreign companies."

Because they are mostly people transferred from state-owned enterprises and directly affiliated agencies, their ranks are actually quite high.

They are different from those state-owned companies that have been operating in Hong Kong for a long time. They are bold and aggressive, directly approaching various large enterprises and companies to talk, and they dare to take on any job as long as they can revitalize the docks and container factories that are about to go bankrupt.

A true sales tycoon doesn't see it that way: "To put it bluntly, small docks and small metal processing plants are looking for big companies and big brands. First, they can't get any business from them, and second, even if they do get some, it's all delegated to lower-level, troublesome people."

Everyone looked grim but had to admit it was true.

Wei Dong has been dealing with Lao Fang's side for more than half a year, but he has never participated in taking over the work here. He feels that this is not doing business, but fighting a war, or going to work.

They've put in the effort, but their tactics aren't quite right, so it's hard to say for sure.

Old Fang himself relied on his profound skills to secure various collaborations with foreign businesses; these lower-level cadres simply don't have that kind of prestige and status.

For example, people like "Belt Brother" and "Small Target" can talk business with provincial bigwigs, but their real estate salesmen don't have that ability.

We still have to follow the same approach as regular sales representatives.

"If you really want to do business, I suggest adjusting on both ends. On one end, look for our export companies and sell containers to them, even if many of them are renting containers. Buy them from us and exchange them for us. The factory loads them up and brings them over, and the port gives them an empty container to take back. Isn't that much more convenient? There are so many factories, and each factory has two or three containers. The total volume is much larger than if we were to make boarding bridges. How many boarding bridges can we make nationwide? We would have to spend a lot of effort to learn how to make such high-standard stuff."

He taught us step by step: "Even if you're doing business outside the box business, try to find social business opportunities on the streets and alleys. Big orders rely on connections, but for small orders, volume is the key."

They barely listened, and followed along, full of doubts.

You can talk business while playing basketball? Nobody believes that, right?

Upon arriving in Hong Kong, Wei Dong was not allowed to return to his mansion. Instead, he took two taxis directly to a basketball court near the Tsim Sha Tsui pier.

I spent half a month in Shanghai, two or three days in Jiangzhou, and more than half a month in Pengzhou. During this time, the entire basketball stadium was renovated, and the daily games were not missed.

Just getting out of the car to take a look, Liu Xiaoyong couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh, it would be great if we could bring this back to our ship."

Graffiti.

This kind of culture doesn't exist in mainland China yet; at most, people would put up big-character posters. It's been around in Europe and America for a long time.

It doesn't need to be elaborate, but it's about expressing all kinds of unrestrained emotions and enjoying the freedom to express oneself as one pleases.

Basketball themes are even easier to express. Various English fonts are interspersed around the basketball image. There are no experts in drawing people, but drawing some famous jersey numbers is no problem.

Wei Dong observed that Danzi wasn't yet a household name like a superstar. But mainly, he was eager to get in.

There weren't many people in the sliding gate that a forklift could drive through early in the morning, but more than a dozen employees of a sports and culture company and dozens of basketball enthusiasts were busy playing on the wooden basketball court laid out in the center.

Even so, the state cadres secretly sneered: "Why waste such precious time on this and not do anything?!"

This left Wei Dong both amused and exasperated, but he couldn't say anything.

They were so poor, struggling to survive, that they had no time or inclination for such things.

Only when people are well-fed and clothed will they pursue their hobbies.

He only instructed, "You guys relax a bit and don't focus too much on discussing business. I'll remind you later."

These guys don't believe you can make any business by playing ball. What decent person would play ball at this time of day?

In mainland China, apart from school physical education classes and professional sports team training, people can only play for a while in the afternoon or around dinner time.

Of course, there are advantages to bringing them along, as they can mostly speak Cantonese or English.

Because when Wei Dong was brought in, everyone, from the employees to the ball players, crowded around him with beaming smiles, describing the game and the excitement, and handing him bills while waiting to be paid!
It's not a salary, it's the weekly grand prize from the amateur team.

Even with Wei Dong away, various amateur teams would come and sign up for matches every day.

There are two venues, and the winners of the two matches each day at 7 pm will each receive HK$2,000.

The two winners will play one more round to decide the winner and receive another two thousand Hong Kong dollars.

Any team is welcome, and there's no registration fee. You get paid as soon as you finish the match. Even if a dozen or twenty people are divided into several teams to put on a show and earn this little bit of money, that's fine too.

It's basically about spending HK$6,000 to attract attention and maintain popularity.

It will attract young basketball enthusiasts from all over the city to gather here, making it a fashionable and trendy venue.

Thousands of people crowd here every night.

The revenue from selling various drinks, snacks, coffee, and sports equipment in the surrounding tea houses and rest areas alone would be more than that.

But the six winners of the first six days of each week start their battle against each other from Sunday afternoon.

The winners are still 2,000, until the final champion wins 10,000 Hong Kong dollars!
For sports companies, this only costs a few dollars, but in Hong Kong, with a population of several million, no one has ever gathered basketball popularity like this before.

They didn't even need to advertise themselves; they just started generating buzz in the entertainment industry because of Chow Yun-fat's two appearances. After that, they would occasionally show up and present bonuses.

Basketball players from all sorts of remote villages and towns flocked to participate in the competition.

As a result, the two "qualifying matches" at 7 p.m. every night became an opportunity for all teams to compete for, with many teams gathering to fight among themselves from the afternoon onwards.

Not much, just HK$100 to rent a venue for a sparring match. The main expense is the referee fee. There are also two makeshift venues outside that are free for sparring.

In short, they're putting on an air of wealth, as if their basketball culture and sports company isn't in it for the money.

All the previous prize money was paid out immediately upon winning, with the basketball arena's finance department paying in cash. However, the weekly champion, who received HK$10,000, had to be paid by the owner himself.

Because it is very likely that the weekly champions will compete for the grand prize again, or the top players among the weekly champions will gather together to represent Hong Kong in the competition against mainland China and Southeast Asia!
I just want to know how enthusiastic everyone is.

Anyway, Wei Dong went to his private office to change into his jersey and shoes, and then came out to play around as if warming up, surrounded by a bunch of young men from Hong Kong.

The sales staff were a bit dumbfounded. Even a guy selling char siu rice would act all high and mighty when they came to do business, let alone these young roosters who looked like hooligans with blond hair. They all avoided them.

How come you're so successful?

Liu Xiaoyong immediately bought jerseys and shoes out of his own pocket and followed along.

Just trust and do as instructed.

Around noon, the basketball court offers its own light meals, which are actually pre-ordered whole roast goose rice, braised pork rice, chicken breast fitness meals, etc. The large freezer is packed with these, and the counter takes them out, swips them, and sells them for a few dollars more.

The accountant, speaking with a lisp but trying to mix in some Mandarin, jokingly told the boss that they sell thousands of meals every week!
In fact, aside from the cost of the basketball court, the operating staff, salaries, and bonuses are basically self-sufficient.

A dozen or twenty employees would gather nearby to eat, and then a steady stream of young people would arrive.

Various amateur football teams, often referred to as the "Sha Tin Five Tigers" or the "Tuen Mun Football Kings," are full of energy and vitality.

To make matters worse, the boss returned and immediately came over, shamelessly asking for a bonus.

The atmosphere was absolutely fantastic.

Wei Dong didn't rush, and by five or six in the afternoon, it was obvious that all kinds of white-collar workers and laborers had started to gather, probably two or three thousand people crowded around the stadium, especially around the high second-floor stands and tea houses.

He picked up the microphone and stood up: "Does anyone know anyone who makes containers or does metal frame panel processing? I have a container factory and I'm looking for some work. Whoever gets in touch with me and makes a sale will get a commission!"

There was also an assistant nearby providing Cantonese translation.

As soon as he finished speaking, several arms were raised in quick succession: "No problem! Our company wants to order a container!"

"Are you going to install roller shutters?"

"I have some old shipping containers, do you want them recycled?"

"The police force happens to be tendering for a batch of metal protective netting. Do you want to do it?"

The business managers were completely dumbfounded!

This isn't a basketball court; it's clearly a business information forum.

(End of this chapter)