Chapter 98: The Shift of Offense and Defense

Joseph, standing among the crowd of sales personnel, looked at that small mountain of money and, for the first time in his life, felt a sense of longing.

The sales staff recruited by Lu Chao could certainly not be called sales elites. Joseph, in particular, had never done sales before; he had been a clerk at a small company, and after that company went bankrupt, he happened to run into the recruitment drive for the European branch of Dongling High-Tech and joined.

Joseph's life had basically been routine; from university to work, it had always been unremarkable, and he had never thought about getting rich. But this time, facing the mountain of money before him, he wavered!

It wasn't just Joseph. The sales staff present, although from various European countries, currently had monthly salaries of only about 1,500 USD in major European nations like Britain, Germany, Italy, and Falanxi. Average wages are one thing, but the income of ordinary people in most countries cannot keep up with the local average wage; this is the same all over the world.

When a mountain of money exceeding one million USD was truly placed before them, for people in Europe and North America who generally don't have savings and rely mostly on credit cards for turnover, the visual impact was simply too strong!

Whether in Europe or North America, it is a money-driven society. The role and influence of money here are infinitely magnified. When there is a real opportunity to earn 500,000 USD in a month, what kind of reaction would there be?!

Lu Chao, standing beside Zhang Ao, could clearly feel that the group of people who had been listless just a moment ago now had wolf-like gazes in their eyes.

"Is what you said true?!" asked Rodelia, a middle-aged man from Bulgaria in Eastern Europe, his voice trembling as he spoke to Zhang Ao.

Ever since the Mao Xiong collapsed, the Eastern European region had been in constant turmoil. Many people began fleeing to Western Europe to make a living. Those skilled engineers, teachers, and academics found it easy to find work in Western Europe, but middle-aged men like Rodelia were not so lucky.

Being recruited into Dongling High-Tech's European office was already considered good luck for Rodelia. Many of his fellow countrymen couldn't find work at all and had to rely on relief food to barely survive, and sometimes they couldn't even get that.

"You can find a lawyer to notarize it. The 500,000 bonus will be deposited in the bank and paid out upon maturity!"

Hearing Zhang Ao's words, the thirty-plus sales staff no longer had any doubts, their eyes filled with a craving for money. A 500,000 bonus was far more useful than any amount of chicken soup for the soul.

"So, no matter who it is, as long as they sell a Shenzhou phone, they can get a commission, right?!" another person in the crowd asked.

"It must be reasonable and legal, making the user willingly shell out 150 USD to buy a unit," Zhang Ao emphasized specifically. "On this basis, whether you sell it yourselves or find others to help you sell it, as long as the unit is sold and the payment is collected, the commission will be paid immediately!"

Hearing Zhang Ao's emphasized words triggered a burst of laughter below, but it also got many people thinking. How many phones could one person sell if they worked themselves to death? If they mobilized relatives and friends to sell, not only could they get commissions, but they might also get the 500,000 USD bonus!

"This... is it useful?!" Lu Chao asked Zhang Ao, watching the sales staff leave one after another. He really had no confidence in whether this motley crew of unconventional sales staff could beat Ximen' experienced professional sales team.

"Do you have a better way?"

Zhang Ao glanced at him sideways and said. Lu Chao was left speechless. He now understood Ren Yuefeng's feelings at the time; the methods of this group from the mainland were truly too wild, not following the rules at all!

In the morning, Franker woke up in his small villa and came to the living room in his pajamas. Milk and bread were already prepared there.

As usual, Franker opened the television while eating. He first turned to the sports channel. Germans love football, and Franker was no exception. Even if he didn't have time to play, he would go to watch matches live when he could, or at the very least, follow the daily sports news to know the latest developments in European football.

Just after taking a bite of bread, Franker heard a name he detested.

"In last night's Eredivisie match, Eindhoven faced the defending champion Ajax. 18-year-old striker Ronaldo, playing for Eindhoven, scored a hat-trick. Eindhoven defeated the defending champion 5-1!"

"Ronaldo had a superstar moment in this match. His performance last night broke all doubts and let people know he is truly worth the 8 million USD endorsement fee!"

Franker stared dumbfounded at the highlights of Ronaldo on the pitch being played on TV. It was simply a slaughter; he had poured all his fury onto the Ajax team. Perhaps Ajax had been completely stunned; their defensive line was almost pierced by Ronaldo alone.

Ronaldo displayed his "death pendulum" dribbling to the world for the first time. From players to the goalkeeper, Ajax was dribbled past by Ronaldo one by one.

In this match, Ronaldo pulled out his entire arsenal and used it all, especially when facing the encirclement of four Ajax players; a long-range shot broke through the entire defensive line, directly igniting the stadium.

The viewership rating for last night's match hit a new historical high for the Eredivisie in years, making those media outlets and fans who had previously intended to watch for fun go completely crazy, with many even becoming his fans directly.

And when he saw Ronaldo perform the "making a phone call" celebration after every goal, Franker's eyelids couldn't help but twitch a few times. This was advertising for Shenzhou phones!

"Damn it!"

Franker couldn't care about eating anymore and hurriedly picked up the phone to call out. He didn't know how the Shenzhou phone side had found a player like Ronaldo. He hadn't been that famous before, so how did he explode in last night's match? He couldn't help but curse under his breath, thinking Shenzhou phones had just gotten lucky.

After making several calls and hearing that European retail giants like Carrefour and Metro hadn't let Shenzhou phones enter their stores, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. With Ronaldo's performance last night, if Metro and other malls had stocked Shenzhou phones today, Franker wouldn't have dared to imagine the consequences.

But now, no malls were willing to stock Shenzhou phones. Even if Ronaldo influenced many viewers, making them interested in Shenzhou phones, if they had no chance to buy them, the advertising was in vain.

"Notify the retailers again. Ximen can offer them another 2% in profit margins, but they absolutely must not stock Shenzhou phones!"

After returning to Ximen, Franker called over the head of the marketing department and gave the instruction again, feeling uneasy. He didn't want to give Shenzhou phones even the slightest chance.

Shenzhou and Ximen' digital cordless phones were released on the same day. However, Shenzhou was released simultaneously in the mainland, Southeast Asia, and Europe, while Ximen focused mainly on Europe. But in the European market, if one walked into chain retail stores like Metro, Carrefour, or Media, they would see Ximen digital cordless phones on the counters and shelves. As for Shenzhou's units, they were nowhere to be seen!

"Technically, Shenzhou's units are indeed independently developed by them. The stability might not be as good as ours, and the call range is also smaller than ours."

"But it has message functions, caller ID, call rejection, number identification, time display, alarms, etc. It really has quite a few more functions than ours!"

The engineers at Ximen had dismantled a Shenzhou phone they had managed to buy from a small mall.

After dismantling it, one Ximen engineer was quite surprised after looking at the Shenzhou phone. The technology of the Shenzhou digital cordless phone couldn't be called very advanced and certainly didn't exceed Ximen', but the craftsmanship was very solid, and there were several designs that made this Ximen engineer's eyes light up.

As for the functions, the Shenzhou cordless phone actually had quite a few more than Ximen'. There was one more point the engineer didn't say: although he wasn't a professional designer, looking at the white Shenzhou unit, it seemed to be a bit more pleasing to the eye than their own black unit...

Franker's face didn't look very good. Ximen actually hadn't led Shenzhou by much in terms of technology. He snorted coldly, "Users need a phone to make calls, they don't need so many bells and whistles!"

"What about patents? Did Shenzhou phones use our patents?!" Franker asked the question he cared about most.

The engineer shook his head. "More detailed dismantling and testing need to be done in the laboratory, but from what I see now, there might be some technical disputes between Shenzhou and Ximen regarding some components, but there shouldn't be any intentional infringement of Ximen patents!"

Franker's face changed slightly, and he said with a cold face, "Keep dismantling!"

Inside the Yanjing Business Daily, when Feng Miaoyu passed an editor's workstation, she saw several editors gathered together discussing something. She hadn't paid attention at first, but when she heard the words "Shenzhou, Ximen, crushing defeat," she couldn't help but stop.

"What happened?" Feng Miaoyu couldn't help but ask.

This editor was responsible for editing news reports from Europe. He took out an unpublished draft, handed it to Feng Miaoyu, and said with regret, "Shenzhou phones, crushed in Europe!"

"Professional data statistics agencies in Europe have announced the first-day sales situation for Shenzhou and Ximen in Europe. Ximen sold 5,500 units yesterday, with sales exceeding one million USD. As for Shenzhou... first-day sales in Europe were less than 500 units. It's almost a crushing defeat!"

A ten-fold difference in sales on the first day—if this wasn't a crushing defeat, what was? Feng Miaoyu looked at the draft in her hand and could only sigh.

After the first day of sales, Dongling High-Tech hadn't announced the sales figures yet, but nosy media outlets had already reported that Shenzhou phones sold nearly 4,200 units on the first day!

It seemed like a lot, but nearly 3,700 Shenzhou digital cordless phones were sold in the mainland and Southeast Asia. The European market only sold 500 units, and even that might be inflated, because Shenzhou phones in Europe were mostly sold in small malls, so the sales statistics weren't accurate.

"Shenzhou phones, crushed in Europe, Dongling High-Tech encounters a Waterloo in its overseas expansion!"

After Yanjing Business Daily and other media outlets began reporting, soon the economic channels of domestic TV stations, newspapers, and magazines all began reporting. In fact, the outside world wasn't surprised by this result, and had even anticipated it, but the defeat was so miserable, with a nearly ten-fold gap compared to Ximen in the European market, that it still made people sigh.

Once this news came out, many people jumped out to attack Dongling High-Tech relentlessly, including those who had been slapped in the face because electronic pets were selling well abroad and had been forced to lie low; they also jumped out now.

"I said long ago that domestic companies shouldn't be overly ambitious. A momentary fluke is not a reason for success. Facts have once again proven my point. It's a pity for Shenzhou phones, but helplessly, when Ximen' digital cordless phones start selling overseas, that will be the time for Shenzhou phones to collapse!"

"Facts have proven that domestic brands are indeed not yet comparable to the products of world-renowned giant companies. Of course, Tiancheng Trading Company is very willing to become an agent for Ximen phones, allowing domestic users to enjoy the experience brought by world-class high-end products!"

Wang Tianan, the boss of Yanjing Tiancheng Trading Company, appeared before the media again, expressing his regret for Shenzhou phones and even hinting that his Tiancheng Trading Company would introduce Ximen digital cordless phones to the mainland.

After Wang Tianan, another media commentator, Yan Lixiang, who had criticized him and Dongling High-Tech heavily after Li Dongling accepted an exclusive interview, also published his commentary in the newspaper again.

"Eight million USD in foreign exchange, gone down the drain overnight. How many shirts, how much leather do we need to sell to earn it back?!"

"Even if this was earned by Dongling High-Tech itself, can foreign exchange be wasted so casually? How much advanced technology and equipment could this foreign exchange have purchased? Shouldn't there be reflection on spending it on an advertising spokesperson like this?"

"The failure was even faster and more violent than I expected. Dongling High-Tech's management has been blinded by a success that shouldn't have belonged to them. I think Dongling High-Tech's management should reflect, and even some key people in charge should step down to cool off!"

"At the current stage, domestic companies should learn, humbly learn from overseas companies like those in Japan in all aspects. If necessary, Dongling High-Tech should introduce foreign investors to facilitate the introduction of advanced foreign management systems and experience, rather than unrealistically opposing foreign brand companies!"

Yan Lixiang's criticism was very sharp, even pointing directly at Li Dongling, claiming that Dongling High-Tech was just a makeshift team that had luckily stumbled into success twice and then started jumping around without knowing the height of the sky. As a result, after encountering a real opponent, they were beaten back to their original form in one go.

Yan Lixiang's suggestion was for Li Dongling, the founder, and the executives of Dongling High-Tech to leave quickly and stop harming Dongling High-Tech. It would be best to introduce foreign companies to lead Dongling High-Tech onto the right path!

If it were before, no one would care about such comments from Yan Lixiang. But now, facing the crushing defeat by Ximen, the little bit of confidence that many people had finally built up about competing with foreign brands was beaten back. The rhetoric that domestic brands were hopeless became rampant again, and his proposal actually received the agreement and support of many people.

For a time, a strange rhetoric arose in the country. Clearly, Dongling High-Tech was still making money, and the Bai Yin mouse was still the standard configuration for domestic computers, with an estimated annual shipment of over 300,000 units.

Clearly, electronic pets were in short supply both at home and abroad, contributing a large amount of foreign exchange and revenue to Dongling High-Tech every day.

Clearly, Shenzhou digital cordless phones sold over 4,200 units on the first day, with revenue exceeding 630,000 USD, equivalent to over 5 million RMB. How many companies in the country could have daily revenue exceeding 5 million RMB?!

Yet in this public opinion, Dongling High-Tech seemed to have suffered a crushing defeat and was about to go under. If Li Dongling didn't leave Dongling High-Tech, if Dongling High-Tech didn't introduce foreign investment and hand over management to foreign companies, it seemed there was no hope at all!

Looking at the overwhelming reports in the media and the criticism of Dongling High-Tech from all angles, Li Dongling even saw that some media outlets had begun to summarize the failure of this Shenzhou phone overseas battle, as if the defeat was already set in stone and there was no possibility of a comeback.

Seeing these public opinions, Li Dongling shook his head. Perhaps this was the trend of this era. When successful, whether it was the media or society, there would be countless praises and flowers, capable of lifting a person to the sky.

But when failing, it would also make one experience what hell feels like; countless insults and curses would come sweeping in.

People of this era were too eager to be recognized, yet carried a lack of confidence, and were even sensitive, especially when facing foreign companies, celebrities, and culture; they infinitely magnified this emotion. The more they had praised Dongling High-Tech for being powerful before, the more violently they were belittling it now.

"Don't care about those voices in the media; they don't know the truth at all..."

The surging public opinion caused Dongling High-Tech's phones to be called incessantly by the media. Yao Luoying was worried and ran over, saying to Li Dongling with concern.

Li Dongling smiled, "The game isn't over yet. Why worry? This game is far from the time to end!"

Yao Luoying looked at Li Dongling in surprise, not knowing what he meant, but looking at Li Dongling's appearance, it seemed he wasn't prepared to give up the European market!

Public opinion outside was raging. Media in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and other places also began to report on this "asymmetric" war between Shenzhou phones and Ximen in Europe.

However, bad publicity is still publicity. Although media opinion was constant, in the Southeast Asian region, the brand awareness of Shenzhou was completely established.

But Dongling High-Tech didn't respond at all, continuing to promote and increase the production capacity of Shenzhou phones, and even began to ship units to Europe regularly.

Joseph rang the doorbell of a house. A young woman came out. Seeing this, Joseph immediately said, "Excuse me, miss, I am a salesperson for Shenzhou phones, recommending this..."

"Bang!"

Before he could finish speaking, the door was closed. This was the umpteenth time Joseph had been shut out in three days. At first, he had felt disappointed, frustrated, and helpless, but now these emotions had disappeared.

After being shut out, regardless of whether the person inside heard him or not, Joseph still said to the door, "If you decide to buy a Shenzhou phone or need after-sales service, you can call our company's number. We guarantee to resolve any faults caused by the phone within 48 hours!"

After saying this, Joseph left. Since Shenzhou phones went on sale, Joseph had been running out to sell them. He could certainly have chosen not to, but seeing others sell units and get commissions, and even get 5,000 or 10,000 USD bonuses a day, who could remain indifferent and just watch?!

Zhang Ao hadn't broken his promise; he was truly paying bonuses. Over the past three days, it was that Rodelia who sold the most phones every day. In three days, not counting the commissions from selling phones, Rodelia had received 35,000 USD in bonuses alone, almost equivalent to two years of income for a middle-class family in Britain!

Joseph saw that Rodelia was like a mad dog, selling Shenzhou phones door-to-door in the streets and alleys of London every day, and even had his family and dozens of ethnic Bulgarians follow along to promote them!

For that group of people who came to London from Bulgaria, there was simply no suitable decent work. Even jobs like washing dishes or doing manual labor weren't necessarily their turn. At this time, being able to earn commissions by selling Shenzhou phones—what was a cold face? What was being shut out? What was having sore legs? Could it be more desperate than starving and watching their families starve?

Even if they only sold one Shenzhou phone a day, they could get a 30 USD commission, which could feed a family for a day. For Rodelia's ethnic group, that was enough.

Ximen' salespeople were promoting for wages and performance, but for Rodelia's ethnic group, selling Shenzhou phones was related to whether their families could eat. The concepts of the two were completely different; the latter was truly fighting for their lives!

After leaving this house, Joseph rang another doorbell. The person who opened the door was a big man covered in tattoos. Seeing the big man, who was more than a head taller than him and covered in muscles, Joseph couldn't help but feel nervous.

"What is it?!" the tattooed big man asked Joseph impatiently.

Joseph felt a burst of nervousness but bit the bullet and said, "I am from the Shenzhou Phone Company, recommending a..."

"Come in!" Hearing Joseph finish, the tattooed big man tilted his head, letting Joseph enter the house.

After going in, Joseph saw that the scene inside wasn't what he had imagined—a group of big men with guns, smoking prohibited items, etc. On the contrary, the place was kept very clean, and the photos hanging on the walls were all of the tattooed man participating in competitions.

"Are you a rugby player?!" Joseph couldn't help but ask the man.

"Yes!"

The tattooed man showed a proud expression on his face, clearly very proud of his profession, and then asked Joseph, "Can this thing really let me answer the phone while I'm having a barbecue in the backyard?!"

"Yes, I guarantee that as long as you are within a 350-meter range, you can receive the signal. Our Shenzhou digital cordless phone has specially designed call privacy features, making it much more secure and private than ordinary landlines, mobile phones, and other equipment!"

"Install one for me!"

Hearing that someone wanted to buy and install a unit, Joseph was momentarily stunned and didn't react.

"What, is there a problem?!" the tattooed man asked, frowning when he saw Joseph's expression.

"No, no, I'll install it right now!" Joseph took a Shenzhou phone out of the bag he was carrying and began to install it.

More than half an hour later, Joseph walked out of the house, looking at the money in his hand as if he were dreaming. In just this short while, he had earned a thirty-dollar commission. He had to remember that when he worked at that small company before, his daily wage was only about fifty dollars!

Looking back once, Joseph walked firmly toward the next house.

And it wasn't just Luo Delia and a group of sales staff from the Dongling Gao Ke London office who were selling Shenzhou phones as hard as Joseph.

If you went to some universities in London, you would see that after class, many people were carrying the same backpacks as Joseph, wearing jackets printed with the Shenzhou phone logo, and starting to promote Shenzhou phones.

At first, it was only students from the mainland studying in England who did sales after class, but soon, students of other ethnicities also started doing Shenzhou phone sales. Because doing this really paid better than washing dishes! How many dishes would you have to wash, and how many times would your hands have to get chapped, to earn thirty dollars? But selling Shenzhou phones—if you were lucky, you could earn more than thirty dollars a day, and doubling that was even possible!

The first people to adopt Shenzhou phones were the families of lecturers, professors, and other school staff at various London universities, because there were so many people trying to sell them Shenzhou phones that it was hard not to install one.

One week after Shenzhou phones went on sale, the number of units shipped from the mainland to Europe suddenly began to increase frequently. First, they were transported by ship across the ocean, and then, due to urgent demand, they began to be shipped directly by air!

At this time, Shenzhou phones still hadn't been stocked in large shopping malls like Carrefour or Metro, but in London and many other English cities, the sales volume of Shenzhou phones suddenly began to increase.

The same scene was quietly playing out not only in England, but also in Falanxi, Italy, the Netherlands, and even Germany, the home base of Ximen.

It all started from local universities, where the number of users installing Shenzhou digital cordless phones suddenly increased, and then it continued to spread to every corner of the cities!

"We need to define our target sales demographic, place advertisements precisely, and have our sales team reach cooperation agreements with more clients..."

In the conference room of the Ximen phone division, Franker was listening to the head of the advertising department lay out a promotion plan.

Franker was in a very good mood. In the half-month since the launch, the sales volume of Ximen digital cordless phones had continuously hit new highs, with daily sales rising to 9,300 units. Breaking the 10,000-unit daily sales mark was just around the corner.

By then, a monthly sales volume exceeding 300,000 units would mean that Ximen' digital cordless phone sales would begin to enter a peak period!

In these past few days, Ximen' stock price had risen, which had a lot to do with the sales of Ximen phones. Clearly, investment institutions recognized the sales volume of Ximen digital cordless phones, which made Franker look very good in front of Su Bile and the Ximen board of directors.

While the meeting was in progress, an assistant hurried in and whispered something in Franker's ear. Franker didn't seem to hear clearly and subconsciously asked back, "What did you say?"

The assistant glanced at the people in the conference room and helplessly said to Franker, "A third-party data statistics company has issued an announcement: the daily sales volume of Shenzhou phones in various European countries has exceeded 5,000 units!"

"How is this possible?!"

Franker hurriedly ended the meeting, leaving only a few executives behind. Beyond his annoyance and anger, he felt a sense of panic at being backstabbed. He asked his assistant, "Which shopping mall started cooperating with Shenzhou phones?!"

Franker thought it was a large shopping mall like Metro, Carrefour, or Media that had started cooperating with Shenzhou phones.

"It's not a large shopping mall. Shenzhou phones are still relying on small and medium-sized stores for sales, and there are also offline field promotion personnel conducting marketing. Shenzhou phones are also bundled with electronic pet machines; as long as you buy a Shenzhou phone, you get an electronic pet machine for free!"

Hearing this, Franker, beyond his annoyance, felt like he had heard a joke. "Fuck, field promotion, door-to-door sales?!"

Field promotion wasn't anything new. Companies in various European countries and America had used this stuff in years past, and it still existed now, but it was no longer the mainstream promotion model and had long been abandoned by large companies like Ximen.

This was because the efficiency of door-to-door sales was somewhat lower compared to the new generation of television advertising and telephone sales. Of course, there was also the most important point: the cost of field promotion and door-to-door marketing was extremely high. Supporting so many sales personnel meant that just paying their salaries every month was a huge expense.

Large companies in Europe and North America were all profit-driven; they wanted to earn every single cent. Giving large amounts of money to field promotion personnel was more painful for large companies than killing them. Wouldn't it be better to keep that money for the board of directors to distribute as dividends?!

"How many sales personnel do they have, and how many can they afford to support?!" Franker felt his brain was a mess at this moment. More importantly, he was now feeling somewhat panicked; he didn't dare to imagine what it would look like if Ximen phones really lost to Shenzhou.

"I don't know!"

The assistant shook his head and said. Seeing Franker's glaring eyes, he hurriedly added, "I really don't know. Besides professional sales personnel, Shenzhou phones have also hired many part-time sales staff, especially international students in university towns, and there are also many immigrants from Eastern Europe!"

"They aren't paying these part-time personnel a fixed salary, but rather bonuses. For every unit sold, they give a thirty-dollar commission, and... I heard that Shenzhou is also implementing sales bonuses in England, Italy, and even here in Germany. The person with the highest daily sales can get five thousand dollars, and the sales champion who sells the most Shenzhou phones in a month can get a reward of five hundred thousand dollars..."

"A thirty-dollar commission? Are they crazy?!"

Franker was dumbfounded. A thirty-dollar commission per unit and a five-hundred-thousand-dollar bonus for the monthly sales champion—this really felt too crazy to him. Shenzhou and Ximen phones were priced similarly, but the cost of Shenzhou was much lower, mainly due to labor. Now, Shenzhou was actually giving a thirty-dollar commission for every unit sold; this was far beyond Franker's expectations.

Hearing this news, the executives of the Ximen digital cordless phone division also became anxious. One executive said to Franker, "Should we also increase our commissions and hire more sales personnel..."

Halfway through, he couldn't continue. No matter what, Ximen couldn't possibly give people selling their machines a thirty-dollar commission per unit. If Franker dared to say this to Su Bile, he would be fired immediately, because he wouldn't be able to explain it to the board of directors—that was all money belonging to the Ximen board!

"We have the most professional sales team; can we really not beat a bunch of sales rookies?!"

Franker said, biting the bullet, also trying to boost his own morale. "Increase the intensity of our advertising, and give a portion of the profits to the retail stores so they increase their promotion of Ximen!"

Humans have always been willing to chase hot news, but few people are willing to pay attention to the follow-up of hot news. A fish's memory is only seven seconds, and the duration of human attention to a piece of news lasts at most for half a month of heat.

Shenzhou phones' first-day sales in Europe were less than 500 units. After the media reported overwhelmingly on the crushing defeat of Dongling Gao Ke and Shenzhou in Europe, there were no more reports.

However, a European market research and consulting firm, Kona Shi, became interested in this war between Shenzhou and Ximen in the digital cordless phone field.

"Shenzhou digital cordless phones have exceeded 5,000 units in daily sales across five European countries, including England, Italy, Falanxi, the Netherlands, and Germany!"

This sales statistic from Kona Shi attracted the attention of some European media that had previously reported on the Shenzhou and Ronaldo news, but it was only a slight notice, and they didn't pay much attention yet.

But from that day on, the Kona Shi consulting firm reported the daily sales of Shenzhou and Ximen, and even spared no effort to send a large number of personnel to count Shenzhou's sales.

On the nineteenth day of Shenzhou's launch, Kona Shi announced, "The daily sales of Shenzhou digital cordless phones yesterday have exceeded 6,500 units, and the gap in daily sales between them and Ximen has narrowed to less than 3,000 units!"

On the twentieth day, "Today, Saturn Electrical City reached a cooperation agreement with Shenzhou phones. This is the first time a large chain electrical appliance mall in the European market has reached a cooperation agreement with Shenzhou phones. Shenzhou phone sales have exceeded 7,800 units!"

"Shenzhou phone daily sales have exceeded 9,000 units. In the European market, Shenzhou phones have begun to enter an explosive state. Because of their excellent sales team and after-sales maintenance team, Shenzhou phones' popularity has begun to exceed Ximen in cities other than London, Paris, and Rome!"

"Shenzhou phones in Europe have become the first to break 11,000 units in daily sales, surpassing Ximen. Global sales have broken 17,000 units, and daily sales revenue has broken 2.55 million dollars!"

When Kona Shi reported again that Shenzhou phones' daily sales in Europe had begun to overtake Ximen, it finally attracted the attention of various European media.

"Ximen is losing the market of 197 million European households!"

The London Financial Times suddenly reported with a sensational headline, "Before Shenzhou phones, all companies in Europe believed that sales methods like field promotion and door-to-door sales no longer had a market, but Shenzhou phones have proven with facts that this set of methods is still not outdated!

Shenzhou phones are using high commissions to build a powerful sales team, from professional sales personnel to international students, from unemployed people at home to Eastern European immigrants, and even including housewives. Promotion among acquaintances is also becoming Shenzhou's most important promotion method.

In places Ximen hasn't noticed, the European offline market has begun to be occupied by Shenzhou phones. If Ximen fails, this will be a classic case study recorded in MBA business schools: never underestimate any opponent before they have fallen!"

"Now we can finally announce that Ronaldo is not an advertising poison; Shenzhou phone sales have surpassed Ximen!"

Dutch newspapers and other football media also reprinted these reports. After the first-day sales of Shenzhou phones were released, Ronaldo was blasted as an advertising poison and a brand killer, saying that whoever asked him to endorse a brand would collapse. Even though Ronaldo's performance on the field was heroic, it made other companies afraid to ask Ronaldo for endorsements. But now, these rumors seem to be about to be broken.

When various media began to report that Shenzhou phones had surpassed Ximen, large European chain malls or professional electrical malls like Metro, Carrefour, Wandecheng, and Media finally couldn't hold back. The commissions given by Shenzhou phones were really too high, and now the sales volume had also surpassed Ximen. Selling Shenzhou was much more profitable than selling Ximen phones!

After Wandecheng couldn't hold back and cooperated with Shenzhou phones, the others—Metro, Carrefour, and Media—couldn't care less about how Ximen would feel and announced that they would stock Shenzhou phones for sale. If they really let Shenzhou occupy the European digital cordless phone market, this was a market of 197 million households! How many Shenzhou phones would have to be sold, and how much commission and profit would they get? Who would be willing to miss out!

"Shenzhou phone daily sales have broken 30,000 units, setting a new high for daily sales since the sale of digital cordless phones!"

"Ximen accuses Shenzhou phones of malicious marketing, bundling Shenzhou phones with electronic pet machines!"

And the German Bild newspaper also exclaimed, "Shenzhou phone daily sales in Germany have broken 10,000 units, setting the top of the German electrical appliance daily sales list. White goods from Asia are sweeping Germany!"

When the German Bild newspaper, in Ximen' home base, reported that Shenzhou phones were selling like crazy in Germany, the offensive and defensive positions of Shenzhou and Ximen in the digital cordless phone field had begun to change. The entire Shenzhou phone presence in Europe began to show a prairie fire trend!

Several major European chain malls began to stock Shenzhou phones, coupled with a constantly growing offline sales team and the sales strategy of buying a Shenzhou phone and getting an electronic pet machine. Ronaldo kept performing stunning goals on the field, and every time he scored, he would make a phone-calling celebration gesture to advertise for Shenzhou. When all these things were superimposed together, what was displayed was that Shenzhou phones began to sell explosively in Europe!

"Shenzhou phones have officially entered the markets of many European countries, setting a record of over 50,000 units in daily sales and over 7.5 million in daily sales revenue in the European market, surpassing Ximen and other brands to become the preferred phone brand for European families!"

The European Times also began to report on Shenzhou phones, "There are also rumors that the Ximen board of directors is very dissatisfied with the sales of Ximen phones. Because Ximen phone sales are lower than market expectations, Ximen' stock price has fallen, and Franker may face being stepped down!"

Mainland media's reports on Shenzhou, although still critical of Dongling Gao Ke and Shenzhou, had already toned down.

But just at this time, a recruitment advertisement published in the Hanxi Pingyang Daily, after being reported by many media outlets such as the Hanxi Provincial Daily, the Huashang Daily, and the Hanxi Metropolitan Daily, suddenly began to go viral domestically: "Shenzhou is publicly recruiting personnel for overseas offices in Europe and America!"

And immediately following that was another piece of news: "Shenzhou phone monthly sales in Europe have exceeded 240,000 units, with sales revenue breaking 36 million dollars, setting the best sales record for Chinese electrical appliances in Europe!"

(End of this chapter)