Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 364 Team Preparation
"As for the plywood business, besides me, there's probably no one else who can handle the overall operations," Wang Yongjun said after calming down. He began to carefully consider the company's situation. "I currently have 11 salespeople, and 4 of them have been with me for a long time. Among these 4, there are two team leaders. Together, they can still handle some of the business."

"Give them both a raise of two thousand each, and officially promote them to vice president. You'll dedicate one-third of your energy to the plywood business, and the rest to working with me on steel," Yan Hui said directly.

"Huh?" Wang Yongjun didn't expect President Yan to be so decisive. You have to understand that the two of them originally earned only around 3000, so this is almost double.

"There's a lot of bidding involved in the steel business, and I've had Zhou Ping help me with the tender documents these past few days, but he's still finding it a bit difficult. You're familiar with plywood bidding, and you're also familiar with the overall construction site business. Come over here, and I'll arrange a vice president position for you. You'll still get your share of the profits from the plywood company, and we'll pay your salary here. We'll start with 5000 a month, and you'll get commission as things go. What do you think?"

"Of course I'd love to come, Mr. Yan! I'll tell them when I get back, and they'll be overjoyed!" Wang Yongjun exclaimed.

He's no longer the salesman he used to be. He gets a monthly bonus from the plywood business, about 30,000 yuan a month, which is an average person's annual income.

Wang Yongjun used to live apart from his wife and children. Although he earned three or four times more than the average person, it was still difficult for him to live comfortably in Jinan. Since becoming a boss, he has brought his wife and children to Jinan, bought a large house here with a loan, and even bought a car worth over 20 yuan. His life has been completely changed.

"Of the four people who have been with you for a while, besides these two group leaders, how are the other two doing?" Yan Hui then asked.

His company grew too fast, and the lack of personnel became a core problem. "It's easy to find a thousand soldiers, but hard to find a good general"—this is a saying only a successful business owner can truly understand.

"Of these two, one isn't very serious, but he's still capable, so I've kept him. The other one is very conscientious, but he lacks ability and doesn't understand management at all," Wang Yongjun said truthfully.

"Are you lacking in ability?" Yan Hui countered.

"It's not a matter of his professional skills; he's just a bit lacking in interpersonal skills. I think he's the kind of person who's a bit stubborn. It's a struggle for him to maintain relationships or get someone to go out to eat with him. But he's quite responsible when it comes to his work."

"How old is this person? Are they married?"

"I'm 30, I already have a child, and I used to be a soldier."

“Alright, how about this? Let’s arrange a dinner tomorrow night. You’ve already brought your family members over, right? Invite your family members, and also invite this person and his family to have dinner together.” Yan Hui made the decision.

Steel trading companies don't require a large number of employees, but documents such as tenders need to be kept highly confidential.

Wang Yongjun can't handle everything alone, so Yan Hui needs a reliable person. Currently, they can't spare anyone from the chemical plant, so they have to draw people from Wang Yongjun's team. When getting to know someone temporarily, it's better to consider the family aspect as well.

“Okay, I understand.” Wang Yongjun was not mentally prepared at all.

Before coming here today, he had no idea what Yan Hui was doing. In fact, only a handful of people around Yan Hui, such as Zhou Ping, the office staff, and the driver, knew about the steel business. If Chen Jian hadn't also been a shareholder, he wouldn't have known either.

"It's settled then. We'll just have dinner tomorrow night. Don't mention anything else. I'll just check on the people. As for the steel bidding, you can just follow me for now. You don't need to transfer your connections yet." After saying this, Yan Hui handed some materials to Wang Yongjun, telling him to go back and take a look, and then went to attend to other matters. While Wang Yongjun was busy with his work, Yan Hui also had countless things to do.

Startups absolutely cannot function without their bosses; it's no exaggeration to call them "employees number one." For the upcoming bidding process, Yan Hui calculated and weighed the options, settling on the most suitable price and compressing the profit margin to 1%.

He himself is a first-tier distributor with relatively low purchase prices. After squeezing the profit margin down to 1%, no one else can possibly have a price advantage.

In addition, Yan Hui can provide flexible supply methods. Although your construction site requires steel to be prepared within four months, I can prepare it for you in a single month, as long as you have the funds and space to store it.

Finally, Yan Hui was willing to advance the full amount of funds, without requiring the bidding party to provide any upfront deposit or other funds.

Yan Hui had certainly looked into Jian'an Group's project; its cash flow was very healthy, and there was no possibility of problems with the initial steel supply.

It's important to understand that construction site funding problems usually occur after the building is topped out. If there are funding issues in the early stages, the construction site won't even start.

Bidding is mainly divided into two categories: one is bidding by construction companies, and the other is government bidding.

The main way society operates is through local governments collecting money through taxes and other means, and then spending that money through infrastructure projects, poverty alleviation, and other initiatives. Therefore, the richest entity is undoubtedly the government.

Although both may adopt basic forms such as open bidding or invited bidding, and include core steps such as document preparation, bidding, bid opening, bid evaluation, and bid awarding, their underlying rule systems and implementation standards are different.

This kind of corporate bidding is relatively more casual. Yan Hui directly brought up the price. In addition, Yan Hui also has a say in Jian'an Group. He is definitely a dark horse in this bidding.

Yan Hui's main purpose wasn't these small-scale projects; he wanted to participate in genuine government bidding. In recent years, whether it's transportation construction, road and bridge building, or the construction of various venues, these projects often require tens of thousands of tons of steel. Even if the profit per ton is only a couple hundred yuan, that amounts to tens of millions of yuan in cash revenue.

In order to secure such a project, Yan Hui had to do a good job on the previous routine projects, which would add to the company's resume.

The following evening, Wang Yongjun arrived with his wife, children, and the families of his employees. Wang Yongjun's wife was pregnant again, carrying their third child. She looked very happy and content.

Wang Yongjun's subordinate, Hu Fenglin, had served in the army for four or five years and still looked quite capable. His wife was a local, a primary school teacher.

Yan Hui warmly welcomed both families and prepared gifts for them.

After a simple meal, Yan Hui felt relieved. He hadn't drunk much alcohol that day; the three of them only drank one bottle of baijiu (Chinese liquor). After the meal, Yan Hui called Wang Yongjun and Hu Fenglin to a tea room to discuss the upcoming arrangements.

(End of this chapter)