2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 116 Team Building

Gu Qingqing could hardly believe that the unshaven, disheveled boy in front of her was the same person who had been dressed smartly just half a month ago.

And this BMW, covered in dust, is unrecognizable from what it looked like half a month ago, except for the license plate.

"Um, Mr. Tan, what happened? How did things get like this?"

The usually impeccably dressed Boss Tan is now so unkempt, which is truly beyond Gu Qingqing's imagination.

"I was away on a business trip for half a month and just got back to Ningbo. I look a bit disheveled, don't I?" Tan Jincheng replied with a smile.

Looking at Tan Jincheng's exhausted face, Gu Qingqing felt a pang of heartache for no reason. It seemed that making money wasn't so easy after all.

It is better to travel thousands of miles than to read thousands of books.

If you want to find talent that matches your preferences, it's obviously not enough to limit yourself to Beicang or Ningbo.

After sending his two elderly fathers back to Yicheng, Tan Jincheng began his business trips, visiting major production bases across the country and cities where electric scooters were selling well.

This included finding suppliers for Jinyi Industrial's export products, as well as poaching talent to recruit technicians for Shanchi Automotive. A BMW that had only been delivered recently was made to look like an old car that had been driven for many years.

Without anyone you can trust, you have to do it yourself. You've been kicked out by security guards and rejected by people who think you're a scammer. Only you know how hard it was.

Fortunately, there were some gains. During the business trip, I learned about the main production and sales areas of electric scooters, and also recruited a few people. In addition, the selection of products and suppliers for Jinyi Industrial's exports have been finalized.

The sales team—my dad also poached a few disillusioned middle-aged people from their company, and lured by high salaries and benefits, they've already set off for Ningbo; of course, the old hands haven't resigned yet, they're just saying they're going to take a look.

Just like when he returned from Hong Kong last time, in order to save time, Tan Jincheng came directly to see Gu Qingqing again. This time, it wasn't to bring any gifts, but to take photos of the clothing for the three newly opened Taobao stores.

Besides Gu Qingqing, there were also one male and one female model. Gu Qingqing arrived earlier, and after all three of them arrived, Tan Jincheng took them to Beicang for the shoot. There were quite a few extra spaces on the first floor of the office in Shanchi Auto Industry.

Tan Jincheng asked Zhang Xupeng to help set up a small photography studio, so that some simple shoots could be completed there this year without having to pay extra for the venue.

This is a good use of resources. In addition, customer service and shipping staff have been recruited. Four customer service staff will work in shifts day and night to be responsible for three stores, and there are two employees for shipping.

“Your friend said a few days ago that we could film, but my classmate was hesitant to go because it was her first time and she hadn’t met the boss yet, so it was delayed for a few days,” Gu Qingqing said somewhat apologetically.

"I understand, it's okay to wait a few days. Would you like a coffee? I'll go buy it for you."

"No need, my classmates will be here soon. They just texted me."

A little while later, two other classmates came over, greeted each other, and got on the bus. The two, especially the other female classmate, looked at Tan Jincheng with a strange expression.

Tan Jincheng smiled. That's understandable. A man who's on long business trips won't care about his appearance. He'd be lucky to take a shower every day.

"Gu has already told you about the pay, right? It's 200 yuan a day. We're shooting summer clothes now. If you can't accept the clothes, you can just say so, and we won't shoot them. Also, the photos uploaded online won't show your face, so don't worry about that."

Judging from their clothing and demeanor, these two are probably genuine part-time workers who want to earn money. There are quite a few students at Ningda University with good family backgrounds like Gu Qingqing, but not every family is like that.

Tan Jincheng didn't know that these two were in the same year as Gu Qingqing, but if they were in the same year, then they would be juniors next semester, and it would be normal for them to be doing part-time jobs.

The college students were both naive and foolish. Before long, Tan Jincheng managed to extract information from them, which was not much different from what he had imagined. They were only after the 200 yuan. In particular, the boy had heard that there were many men's clothing photoshoots and that he could probably earn more than a thousand yuan this time. He had begged Gu Qingqing for a long time.

The three college students, all around the same age, quickly became acquainted after a few words, and the conversation was not awkward at all. During their conversation, they learned that the male student's name was Zhao Xianbo, and he was from northern Jiangsu; the female student was Qin Siyu, and she was from Lishui, Zhejiang Province.

After getting to know each other better, Qin Siyu boldly asked, "Boss Tan seems to have said something different from what Qingqing said."

"What's the difference?"

"Qingqing and her roommates said that Boss Tan was dressed very well and quite handsome, but now he seems a bit different," Qin Siyu said bluntly.

"Huh? Your roommates? When did they see me?" Tan Jincheng asked Gu Qingqing in the passenger seat after hearing the key information.

"Um, well, it was last time, when they were secretly observing me with my phone," Gu Qingqing said somewhat embarrassedly, while also feeling a little annoyed and ashamed of Qin Siyu's directness.

I had heard from my classmates that she was a warm-hearted person who liked to stand up for the weak, but unfortunately she only had a mouth. Now it seems that this is indeed true.

"Oh, let me talk about my appearance, haha. I was on a business trip for half a month, traveling to several cities from north to south. The fact that I don't smell bad now is the greatest respect I can show you. Don't worry about it. I'll change my clothes and shave when I get back."

"Oh, I see. No wonder this car was covered in dust, it looked like it was picked up from the ground."

They hurried to Shanchi Automotive, where the photographer was waiting for the three of them with a bored expression. Tan Jincheng handed the three of them over to the photographer and left. What this Miss Qin said was right; their current appearance was a bit lacking. They still had to meet some salespeople that their father had introduced them to, so they needed to go back, take a shower, and change their clothes so as not to embarrass their father.

"You guys keep filming, I'm going back to change my clothes. If you don't understand anything, ask Qingqing. If Qingqing doesn't know anything, ask the guy next to her surnamed Zhang. I'll be back in a bit." "Where are you going?" Gu Qingqing blurted out. It was clear that Tan Jincheng was leaving for another unfamiliar environment, and she seemed a little nervous.

The other two didn't care about any of that. They often did part-time jobs and had seen a lot of different people. This was nothing to them. To be honest, this photography studio looked quite novel. It was their first time experiencing this kind of part-time job.

"I'll go back, take a shower, change my clothes, and be back in a bit."

"Oh fine."

"Okay, Pengya, take care of these guys. Don't force them if they don't want to film," Tan Jincheng called out to Zhang Xupeng, who was watching the commotion from the side.

"Okay, go back and shave. You look like you just got out. Also, wash the car. You've ruined it."

"Have you ever seen anyone released with as much hair as me?"

"Get lost, I'll treat you to dinner tonight." Zhang Xupeng waved his hand dismissively.

The friendship between men is so strange. Zhang Xupeng was clearly concerned about Tan Jincheng, but the way he said it made it sound like he couldn't stand Tan Jincheng's current state and wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

Less than two hours later, Tan Jincheng reappeared before everyone, once again regaining his previous image, giving Gu Qingqing a feeling of being moist and jade-like.

"Why aren't you taking pictures?" Zhang Xupeng had just told me that Gu Qingqing had no intention of taking pictures.

"I've taken a look, and there aren't many women's costumes this time. Let's give them to Qin Siyu so she can shoot for a couple more days," Gu Qingqing said with a smile.

Tan Jincheng nodded, understanding. Anyway, you're not short of money, and I guess you won't be doing this fashion model job for much longer.

"In that case, would you like to come to my office for a while?"

"Won't this affect you? I heard from your friend that you have to interview a few people who came from your hometown later."

"Why does this guy say everything? What impact will it have on the interview? You can just sit there and not say anything. It's not like you're talking about anything confidential."

"He also said you opened a QQ lingerie Taobao store, is that the lingerie store you told me about last time?" Gu Qingqing said hesitantly.

Damn, Zhang Xupeng is such a blabbermouth, I really want to slap him. He keeps spreading this around to everyone he meets.

Needless to say, although they were doing legitimate business, Zhang Xupeng considered this incident a stain on Xiao Tan's life.

“This is a legitimate business. Your business atmosphere is so strong, why do you share the same views as others? Let me tell you, this business will be better than the legitimate women's clothing business in the future,” Tan Jincheng said with a serious expression.

For product categories with almost zero return rates, hire a few shills to take some buyer reviews with pictures and comments, and then hire some online trolls to promote them in QQ groups, forums, and Tieba. When these people see this, even if they don't buy anything, they'll still contribute a lot of traffic, and business will be booming.

There's still a long time before lingerie products can be reviewed with pictures. As one of the first to try this, Tan Jincheng knows all too well the interests of these perverts.

"I didn't say you couldn't do it. I just didn't expect you to be involved in this product category, and now you've even opened a factory. Isn't this getting a bit too complicated?"

“From now on, I’ll focus my main energy on the factory. The Taobao store will be registered under my dad’s name; it’s just something I did on the side. By the way, are you interested in managing these three Taobao stores?”

"Huh? I don't know how to do this," Gu Qingqing said, somewhat surprised.

"You can learn if you don't know how. It's almost summer vacation, and you don't have much to do. You'll be a junior next semester, and your classes won't be as busy. How about it? Think it over?"

It's not realistic to have my dad manage these three Taobao stores right now, but we can't find a suitable person for the time being, and the stores can't be left unattended for long. I've been in contact with Gu Qingqing for more than half a year, and she's a pretty good girl. Getting her to work for me for the summer is a good option.

"Am I capable? Can I learn it?" Gu Qingqing was somewhat tempted by the summer job.

"There's nothing wrong with it. Nobody's born knowing how to do this. There's still some time before summer vacation. Go back and learn about this first, then give me an answer. I really can't find a suitable candidate here."

Taobao operations sounds prestigious and involve a wide range of tasks, but in reality, the core is nothing more than traffic generation, which means attracting traffic to your store. Having some shopping experience from the past might not be considered a game-changing skill now, but it's certainly a significant advantage.

Share these experiences with Gu Qingqing and let her implement them. These three stores should have a very good traffic pool, and upgrading their star rating and diamond rating will be much faster.

"Then I'll go back and think about it." Gu Qingqing nodded and said that finding a place to intern during the summer vacation was not bad, but this place was too far away from the school.

Just as Gu Qingqing was about to raise this question, Zhang Xupeng entered with two middle-aged men, so she had to swallow her words and decide to talk about it later.

Zhang Xupeng looked at Gu Qingqing with some confusion. What was she doing here? Why did Xiao Tan bring her in?
But now is not the time to talk about that. Let's introduce Xiao Tan first.

These two were recruited by Uncle Tan from his hometown. Whether he can win them over and help Xiao Tan expand the market depends on his own efforts.

(End of this chapter)