Chapter 14

"The money in the factory is already running low; there's no money left for advertising or promotion, and there aren't enough funds to set up a sales department either!"

Zhang Xiaocheng said with annoyance. He now wished he could split every penny in two to spend it, but that hundred-thousand-plus was flowing away like water and was about to hit rock bottom. Now that he needed to form a sales team and do promotions, there were simply no funds left.

"Mass advertising for satellite dishes might not be effective. Let Zhang Ao and the others handle the sales!"

Along with Li Dongling and Zhou Wenyang, there were also several well-connected individuals like Zhang Ao who had come here. Although those connections were unreliable in terms of technology, that didn't mean they were completely useless.

Zhang Ao had connections at the Pingyang Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and the others had their own respective connections as well, along with many fair-weather friends. They might be useless for other things, but when it came to pulling strings and handling favors, they were the most adept.

"The ex-factory price of the Guanxing satellite dish is three hundred yuan. For every satellite dish you sell, you can get a commission of twenty yuan!"

Li Dongling looked at Zhang Ao and the others who had been called over. "As long as you can sell the satellite dish and collect the three hundred yuan, the commission will be paid out immediately. As for whether you sell them yourselves or find others to sell them, or what price you sell them at, that's for you to decide—as long as you can sell them, that's all that matters!"

Having been suddenly called over, Zhang Ao and the others were initially somewhat dissatisfied, but now they were all interested. Fan Xugang, who had connections at the Forestry Bureau, spoke up and asked, "If we really sell one satellite dish, you'll give us a twenty-yuan commission?!"

"As long as it's sold and the payment is received, the commission will be paid!" Li Dongling said affirmatively.

Zhang Ao, Fan Xugang, and the others exchanged glances, all eager to try. Their monthly salary was only one or two hundred yuan; selling ten satellite dishes would earn them a month's salary in commission. They knew for a fact that these satellite dishes would definitely sell.

The well-connected people of today, even if they had connections, were equally worried about money. Not to mention the small-time connections, even the big-time ones in the provincial capital and Yanjing, ever since they couldn't resell approval documents, it hadn't been easy to get money, and they had all started looking for other ways.

"I'll take five satellite dishes first—no, ten!" Fan Xugang said.

Many employees at the Forestry Bureau worked night shifts deep in the mountains where there was basically no signal. A satellite dish placed there was a necessity, and he was confident he could sell them!

"I'll take fifty satellite dishes first," Zhang Ao thought for a moment and said. He planned to use his connections at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to sell these dishes.

Zhang Ao, Fan Xugang, and the others all took away a portion of the satellite dishes to sell. Added to the portion taken to the business hall under the Pingyang TV station as samples, the number of satellite dishes produced in the warehouse suddenly dropped by more than two hundred.

The current channels for selling Guanxing satellite receivers were mainly TV business halls, supply and marketing cooperatives, and well-connected people like Zhang Ao. It remained to be seen how many could be sold.

"Can this really work?!"

Watching the satellite dishes in the warehouse being constantly hauled away, Zhang Xiaocheng felt uneasy. He always felt that Zhang Ao and the others were somewhat unreliable. Letting TV station business halls and supply and marketing cooperatives sell satellite dishes for the Component Factory gave him an absurd feeling.

Li Dongling shook his head. "Whether they are reliable or not doesn't matter, as long as the money is reliable!"

"Uncle Yang!"

Fan Xugang used a tricycle to haul a satellite dish to the doorstep of Yang Guofeng, the person in charge of the Logistics Department of the Forestry Bureau.

Seeing the pile of things Fan Xugang had hauled over, Yang Guofeng frowned deeply. "What kind of trouble are you causing again, kid?!"

Fan Xugang was a dependent of the Forestry Bureau. By rights, after starting work, he should have entered the Forestry Bureau, but Fan Xugang was notoriously restless; he couldn't stand the rules of the Forestry Bureau and ran outside to fool around.

"Uncle Yang, you're wronging me here. What I've brought you today is good stuff."

As he spoke, without waiting for Yang Guofeng to say anything, he began to assemble the satellite dish. After more than half an hour, Fan Xugang skillfully tuned the satellite dish and connected it to the TV in Yang Guofeng's home.

When he saw so many TV channels appearing on the TV, a look of astonishment appeared on Yang Guofeng's face. He hadn't expected that this pot-like thing would be much more effective than the antenna set up on the roof.

Seeing the look on Yang Guofeng's face, Fan Xugang took the opportunity to say, "Uncle Yang, I bought this satellite dish for you and Auntie. Didn't I hear Auntie say a while ago that the signal at home wasn't good!"

"You kid can be this kind-hearted?!"

Yang Guofeng glanced at him sideways. "How much does this satellite dish cost? I'll pay you. If you have something to say, spit it out!"

Fan Xugang sat down with a grin and poured himself a glass of water as if he were at home. "Uncle Yang, I was just thinking that our Forestry Bureau employees have to go up the mountain for night shifts every day, and there's not even a signal on the mountain. If we purchase these satellite dishes, it could let everyone relax a bit at night, right!"

Hearing this, Yang Guofeng didn't refute it immediately; instead, he fell into deep thought. The conditions on the mountain were quite arduous now. The more than two thousand employees of the Pingyang Forestry Bureau all had to take turns going into the mountains to log timber. Sometimes when the tasks were heavy, they had to stay on the mountain for ten days or half a month at a time. Being able to watch TV could also alleviate everyone's mood and boost morale.

"How much is this satellite dish?!" Yang Guofeng asked.

"One satellite dish is 320 yuan!"

"You kid is trying to earn a kickback from me, right?!" As someone who worked in logistics, how could Yang Guofeng not know the tricks of the trade?

Fan Xugang complained bitterly, "Uncle Yang, you're really wronging me here. I only managed to get a few of these satellite dish units after pulling strings with great difficulty. I'm really not earning a single penny. This is a high-tech product; can it not be expensive?!"

Yang Guofeng shook his head. "Three hundred and twenty is too expensive. How about this: three hundred yuan per satellite dish. I'll ask the employees in our bureau to see how many need this satellite dish. If we can get a hundred units, if you're willing, I'll go ask for you now. If you're not willing, forget it!"

Although the work at the Forestry Bureau was hard, the income wasn't low. Many were dual-income families who could afford to buy a satellite dish. After all, they had already bought a TV; if there were no programs to watch, wouldn't it just become a piece of furniture in the house?

Fan Xugang looked embarrassed, but in his heart, he couldn't help but want to laugh out loud. For one hundred satellite dishes, he could earn two thousand yuan in commission!

"Alright then, Uncle Yang, I'll take a small loss. Who told us all to be our own people!"

Yang Guofeng didn't talk nonsense and went out to call people directly. Before long, many Forestry Bureau employees came upon hearing the news and ran to Yang Guofeng's house to see the novelty. In the end, the list Fan Xugang tallied exceeded one hundred and ten units.

While busy recording the names, Fan Xugang said, "Three days—no, within two days, I guarantee everyone will have them installed. You just need to have the money ready!"

This was two thousand yuan, equivalent to his annual salary. How could Fan Xugang not be proactive? He had been coveting Zhang Ao's motorcycle for a long time. By selling a few more units, he felt he could also buy a motorcycle!

A man walked into a TV station business hall in a town under Pingyang City. Zhou Xia, a clerk belonging to this business hall, immediately went up to greet him.

In the past, clerks like Zhou Xia in TV business halls, banks, post offices, or telephone and supply and marketing cooperatives would never have been this proactive. When they saw customers coming, they would look down their noses at them. If they were in a bad mood, it was common for them not to process business, and complaints were useless. Even the person complaining would end up having to apologize, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get anything done at all!

But today was different. Zhou Xia was unusually warm to the customers who came in. She invited them in and even poured them a glass of hot water. This posture of showing concern made the man who entered feel somewhat flattered.

He had heard that this TV business hall in town was notoriously difficult to talk to. If you wanted to handle cable TV business, you couldn't get it done without running back and forth three or five times and waiting for ten days or half a month. He hadn't expected that coming in today would be completely different from the rumors.

"You're here to handle TV business, right?!" Zhou Xia asked the man.

"Yes, I want to handle cable TV. We just bought a color TV at home..."

Just as the man said this, Zhou Xia said directly, "Then I'm sorry, the technician who handles cable TV is out. You should sign up first and see if we can fill the quota next month. We'll submit the names for cable TV together. We can't just run a line specifically for your family, right?"

The man was dumbfounded. To handle TV business, he had to wait until next month. By the time it was finally done, who knew how long it would take. He now knew why so many people didn't handle cable TV business but went to buy TV antennas instead. It was truly paying money to find trouble for oneself.

Seeing the man looking displeased and preparing to leave, Zhou Xia immediately said again, "Besides cable TV, we are now also acting as agents for another product. This is a newly developed high-tech product, a satellite receiver—the Guanxing brand satellite dish.

The price is a bit expensive, but it can receive more than a dozen TV stations, no fewer channels than cable TV. The signal is much better than ordinary antennas, and there is a one-year warranty. If there's a problem, our business hall technician will come to your door for repairs immediately, guaranteeing it won't affect your family watching TV dramas at night!"

Subsequently, Zhou Xia demonstrated the TV channels the satellite dish could receive to the man. The man was clearly somewhat tempted. "How much is this satellite dish?!"

"Three hundred and fifty yuan, plus a fifteen-yuan installation fee. This money is a one-time payment; there's no need to pay any more fees in the future. It's absolutely worth it. There's only one of these satellite dishes left. If you don't buy it now, it will be bought by someone else, and if you want it again, who knows when you'll have to wait!"

"I'll buy it!"

Hearing this, although the man felt it was a bit expensive, he paid on the spot and then waited for the business hall to deliver and install it.

Zhou Xia counted the money and locked it in the drawer, which already contained quite a few bills. Then she recorded another entry on a sales form. There were already seven names on the list above, meaning that just today, Zhou Xia had sold eight satellite dishes!

For clerks like Zhou Xia in the business hall to be so proactive, there must be money to be made. The TV station set the bottom price for the satellite dish for them at three hundred yuan. If she sold one satellite dish for three hundred yuan, she could get a ten-yuan commission. The higher the selling price, the higher the commission Zhou Xia would get.

If a satellite dish sold for three hundred and fifty yuan, Zhou Xia could get a twenty-yuan commission. In one day today, she earned a commission of one hundred and sixty yuan, which was higher than her monthly salary. Sitting here in the past, she earned a fixed salary, and she got paid whether she worked or not, so why would she work herself to death? Now, she could get a twenty-yuan commission for selling one satellite dish, and she could earn a month's salary in a day, so how could she not be diligent!

Just like her, there was also the maintenance technician in the business hall. In the past, whenever a TV user had a problem and looked for him to work, he couldn't be found without being asked ten or eight times.

But today, he rode that tricycle everywhere to deliver and install goods, running dozens of miles in the villages around the town, and he didn't feel tired at all. He didn't even have time to eat a bite of food and had to keep working, because for installing one satellite dish, he could earn fifteen yuan. In addition, the Shangguan Town Component Factory that produced the satellite dishes also subsidized him a sum of money every month. Calculating it, his commission and subsidies were several times higher than his past salary!