Chapter 102: The Three Brothers Fighting Tigers

From the moment Zhang Ao arrived in Europe, Lu Chao saw everything that happened in the European office. Zhang Ao wasn't professionally trained, and his style wasn't the kind of conventional one. Zhang Ao acted with a wild, rough, and unconventional style, but it was precisely this unconventional style that held off Ximen' pressure and gave Ximen a heavy punch, truly staging a scene of "wild punches beating the master to death"!

As for the changes in Rodelia, Joseph, and others in the sales department, they were even greater. Lu Chao witnessed their transformation with his own eyes. It was truly the dollar that made a person confident, mature, and stimulated their fighting spirit and ability, letting people see how a top sales person is cultivated.

"This reward will continue. All sales teams must continue to sell Shenzhou phones with all their might and not give the opponent any chance to fight back!"

Zhang Ao shouted loudly to Rodelia, Joseph, and others. He wasn't prepared to give Ximen any chance to fight back. "One should use the remaining courage to pursue the fleeing enemy."

"One must not be greedy for fame and learn from Xiang Yu" was Zhang Ao's method of dealing with enemies; he would never give the other side even the slightest chance.

"Next month, Shenzhou will hold a party at the Hilton Hotel. Important news will be announced then. Everyone must be present!" Zhang Ao pointed his finger at the crowd below and smiled.

Rodelia and Joseph, now supervisors in the sales department, looked at each other, and expressions of worry appeared on their faces. They already had some anticipation of what Zhang Ao was going to say.

Returning to the office, Zhang Ao picked up a fast-food meal and wolfed it down. He had been too busy during this period. Affairs in Europe were basically decided and handled by him, and he also had to fly all over Europe to handle affairs in various places. Sometimes he couldn't even find time to eat.

"This is the sales figure calculated today. Shenzhou's daily sales in Europe have broken 101,000 units!"

After taking a look at the report handed over by Lu Chao, Zhang Ao threw it aside. This scene of selling 100,000 units a day wouldn't last too long. Future sales would sooner or later decline and then stabilize. This was what Li Dongling told him during their call. Shenzhou just wanted to take advantage of this period to desperately sell more units.

"Ximen should have no more tricks left, only the path of price reduction!"

Zhang Ao said with a smile. Ximen had already run out of tricks. That Franker was clearly panicked. He was talking about malicious competition and wanting to sue Shenzhou phones, and he also found celebrities and football stars to endorse, but facing Shenzhou, which had already gained momentum, these were of no use.

"Ximen wants to reduce prices?!"

Lu Chao couldn't help but shout. In the past, whether it was companies in the mainland or Hong Kong, when facing overseas giant companies like Ximen and Sony, what they could take out was price reduction—using low prices to exchange for sales. Although they weren't willing to do so, it was an undeniable fact that Asian companies were at a disadvantage when facing European and American brands.

But if Ximen reduced prices, it would be forced by Shenzhou to fight a price war. It could be considered setting a precedent for mainland brands facing European brands, giving Lu Chao a feeling of "living long enough to see everything."

"Besides this move, what other moves can Ximen use?!"

After finishing a meal, Zhang Ao opened another one. Although he was in Europe, he held cross-ocean telephone meetings every day with Li Dongling, Ren Yuefeng, Hu Zixian, and others to analyze Ximen' moves and Shenzhou's next steps.

Ximen had basically used all the tricks it could use now. When brand influence no longer existed and the aura on its body couldn't influence users, and the product performance itself wasn't much stronger than Shenzhou's, and the functions weren't as many as Shenzhou phones, the only path left to continue fighting was price reduction.

Li Dongling dared to be sure that Ximen would definitely reduce prices, forcing Shenzhou to fight a price war. In this way, Shenzhou's profits would decrease. If they gave sales personnel a 30 USD commission per unit again, Shenzhou wouldn't earn much money selling one unit!

Once Ximen fought a price war, it could both increase sales and break Shenzhou's high-commission sales strategy. This was also Franker's only method of self-rescue. Besides this, Li Dongling, Ren Yuefeng, and Zhang Ao couldn't think of any other way Franker had!

Hearing this, Lu Chao thought for a moment and really couldn't think of any other way Franker had. He asked Zhang Ao with some worry, "Then should we follow suit and reduce prices!"

"What do you think?!" Zhang Ao asked Lu Chao back.

Lu Chao shook his head. Ximen' move of price reduction was indeed a bit difficult for Shenzhou phones to deal with. Following wasn't good, and not following wasn't good either. "I... I don't know!"

"Li Ge already has a plan!"

Seeing Lu Chao's puzzled expression, Zhang Ao asked Lu Chao to sit down. Zhang Ao was the sales manager of Dongling High-Tech, responsible for the sales of the entire Dongling High-Tech. He couldn't stay in Europe forever, and the affairs in Europe would sooner or later be handed over to Lu Chao.

"Shenzhou will not reduce prices," Zhang Ao signaled him to listen after seeing Lu Chao's expression. "Following Ximen to reduce prices is too passive. If we follow this time, if next time other brands of digital cordless phones also come over to fight a price war, then should Shenzhou follow or not?!"

"Li Ge is preparing to launch two more OEM phone products. One is Coolpad, positioning itself in the mid-end digital cordless phone market, always at the same price as Ximen. Another is launching a low-end phone brand, Simon, priced lower than Ximen!"

Zhang Ao looked at his watch. "At the latest tomorrow, the first batch of Coolpad and Simon brand goods will be sent to the European warehouse. If Franker doesn't let Ximen reduce prices, that's fine. If he really wants to reduce prices, we'll send him a big gift!"

Shenzhou digital cordless phones were designed and produced by Dongling High-Tech itself, mastering the full set of processes. For Dongling High-Tech, sticking two new brands just required designing two new phone shells. Regarding design, Li Dongling expressed that he still had some confidence. Was his ten-plus years as a mechanical bureau designer in his previous life for nothing?!

Launching two brands, Coolpad and Simon—one focusing on the mid-end market, one snatching the low-end market—while Shenzhou's pricing remained unchanged.

For Ximen, if they didn't reduce prices, that was fine. Once they reduced prices, they completely lost the hope of challenging Shenzhou. They lowered the price themselves, and Shenzhou didn't. How would users see it? Naturally, they would feel that Ximen wasn't as good as Shenzhou. Otherwise, why would it reduce prices?

For some users, they might not care much about the brand, but there would be countless users who naturally believed in high-end brands. Even if the high-end brand price was expensive, they would still choose to buy it, just because they believed in that sentence: "Good goods aren't cheap!"

Once Ximen gave up the high-end market, Shenzhou almost sat still and automatically became a high-end brand, continuing to maintain the current price and high commission. Facing the price-reducing Ximen and Shenzhou, which continued to have high dollar commissions, whether it was those stores or ordinary sales personnel, who would they be more willing to promote?

Even if Ximen reduced prices, Shenzhou would use Coolpad to benchmark it. Even if it sold better than Coolpad, so what? Anyway, they didn't expect Coolpad to be better than Ximen. Just biting the bullet and pricing it the same, forcing people to feel that Coolpad was a product of the same level, was enough. Perhaps Shenzhou could cultivate another new brand...

As for Simon phones, that was mainly to disgust Ximen. No matter how much it reduced prices, Simon phones would always be a big chunk cheaper than it. Now Dongling High-Tech had pressed the cost of digital cordless phones to about 45 USD. At worst, Simon would sell units at cost. Would Ximen dare to sell at this price? The main point was to make it fight internally!

Coolpad had the value of brand cultivation. As for Simon, there was no need at all. It didn't matter if it was used up. At worst, they would launch another low-end brand and continue to fight internally!

Lu Chao was stunned. He hadn't seen Li Dongling or other executives of Dongling High-Tech, but now he couldn't help but mourn for Franker. If he encountered that group of people from Dongling High-Tech who didn't follow the rules, if Franker really played that price reduction trick, then he was truly close to rolling out of Ximen.

"The two brands, Coolpad and Simon, will be operated by you, using the same sales channels as Shenzhou, but you must grasp the measure and don't affect Shenzhou. In the future, the affairs in Europe will be taken over by you!" Zhang Ao said to Lu Chao.

Since contacting Lu Chao during this period, Zhang Ao had basically figured out Lu Chao's character and personality. Lu Chao's ability was very solid. He wasn't like Zhang Ao, who acted with great openness and closing. After all, he was an apprentice brought out by Ren Yuefeng, acting very steadily and doing things without any leaks.

Before Zhang Ao came, letting him fight Ximen was like putting a duck on the shelf. It was truly difficult for Lu Chao. Charging into battle and opening up territory wasn't something Lu Chao was good at, but in the current situation, letting Lu Chao maintain it and develop according to the direction planned by Dongling High-Tech headquarters was something Lu Chao could handle.

"Boss, are you leaving Europe?" Lu Chao asked anxiously when he heard this. He called Zhang Ao "Boss" (Lao Da) willingly. Although he hadn't been with Zhang Ao for long, he was truly convinced by Zhang Ao now.

Zhang Ao didn't deny it. He hammered Lu Chao on the shoulder. "Sooner or later. There's still a mess in Hanxi, and Shenzhou phones also have to enter the American and North American markets. I, this sales manager, can't hide in the back, right? By then, maybe I'll have to borrow a few people from you!"

"President Su Bile, I will solve the Ximen phone matter immediately!"

At Ximen headquarters, Franker stood in President Su Bile's office for a full ten minutes. Su Bile was bowing his head to deal with documents and didn't even look at him, which made sweat break out on Franker's forehead.

Sighing, Su Bile finally spoke. It was still the same as usual, speaking slowly and methodically, without any hint of anger, but this sigh made the cold sweat on Franker's forehead flow directly down.

"You disappointed me, Franker. Ximen is becoming an object of ridicule by peers. Next month, a global communication conference related to 2G will be held in Barcelona. Ximen is also invited, and I am also invited as a conference speaker. Do you think I can still attend?!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 103 =====