2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 174 Fengchi's Positioning and Pricing
Export processing zone, FlashTech workshop.

On a nearly 60-meter-long assembly line for electric scooters, 50 workers in overalls are busy back and forth, marking frames, installing wiring harnesses, headlights, tires, gauges, and conducting inspections.
After 14 steps and about 5 minutes, a brand new electric scooter was ready to roll off the production line.

"This efficiency is impressive. One unit every 5 minutes, or 10 units per hour. One production line can produce at least 200 units per day. With 5 production lines, the monthly capacity is over 3 units, and the annual output is over 40 units."

Including the old factory in Xiapu Industrial Zone, the two factories have an annual production capacity of about 50 units.

"Yes, that's really efficient. Once you get more skilled, it can probably be even faster. The annual output of the five production lines should be between 43 and 45. Including your old factory, Mr. Tan, the annual production capacity of 50 units is not a problem."

Hey, with a production capacity of 50 units a year, if all of them are sold, the sales revenue would be at least 8 million yuan per year. Does this mean that you have completed your five-year plan ahead of schedule?

Not bad.

"So, Mr. Tan, do you think it's feasible to set up the next few production lines?"

Tan Jincheng nodded and said, "Okay, that's fine. Let's arrange the installation from here on out."

It has been tested for a week, and the assembly workers, who were transferred from the old factory, are now skilled. Tan Jincheng is very satisfied with the results achieved after a week. The fastest installation speed of the electric scooter should be less than one minute, but the current technology seems to be not quite mature yet.

Technological progress has never involved shortcuts; it can only be achieved step by step. Nowadays, being able to produce a small electric scooter within 5 minutes is already considered quite good.

"Okay, I'll contact the company and arrange for them to ship the goods as soon as possible."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work, Mr. Lin. I'll definitely need to trouble you again later."

"This is what we should do."

"Let's go eat first."

With five new production lines, Tan Jincheng naturally dared not introduce them all at once. It was necessary to install one first and conduct thorough testing. Judging from the test results over the past week, they basically met the manufacturer's claims.

Given this, there shouldn't be any problem with arranging the subsequent four production lines. The sooner they are installed, the sooner profits can be generated.

"Brother Sun, I'm leaving the rest to you. I'm going back to the old factory now."

"Okay, boss."

After treating the other party's technical team to lunch, Tan Jincheng handed over the remaining tasks to Sun Yuming. These technicians would be staying here for a long time, and Tan Jincheng couldn't accompany them all the time. However, if the boss showed up occasionally and treated them to a meal, their service attitude would be much better.

Sun Yuming is also under a lot of pressure. The new factory is different in scale and requirements from the old factory. The planning of the factory area needs to be more standardized, which are all things he has never dealt with before.

Zhang Xuhui, who was helping him, also had an assistant job and couldn't follow him around all the time. In fact, the only people he could use were those from the purchasing department. Fortunately, the purchasing department was responsible for this area, so it wasn't really asking his subordinates to do extra work.

Working during the day and studying at night has become Sun Yuming's daily routine recently. Even during the National Day holiday, while others were on vacation, he stayed at home studying.

It has to be said that the working class in this era is really lucky. They actually believe any promise or empty promise made by their leaders. They are much easier to "fool" than they were more than 10 years later.

Of course, there is no deception with Tan Jincheng; he will provide all the due benefits and try his best to keep his promises.

Tan Jincheng, who had just returned to the company after driving all the way, was about to go to the R&D department to check on the development progress when Zhang Xuhui stopped him.

"Boss, Liu Yifei responded and said we can talk."

"Oh? That wasn't easy. You finally got in touch. What do you say?"

There was no other way; big stars have tight schedules and their work is always packed. In order to secure the endorsement deal, Flash had no choice but to cooperate.

That's how the capital market works. When we were negotiating with Chun Ge's team during the top ten competition, Flash had a lot of leverage. But when it came to popular female stars, the effect wasn't so obvious. To put it bluntly, they have capital behind them and their careers are well-organized. They don't really need your endorsement.

They said they'd ask us to send them a quote contract first before deciding.

"Alright, go contact Attorney Zhou and have her draft a few contracts based on the last endorsement deal with Brother Chun. The endorsement periods are two years, five years, and ten years. As for the price, I'll think about it first; don't fill it in yet."

The lawyer Zhou is the same lawyer Zhou Biyu who went to Shanghai with Tan Jincheng last time. She is quite knowledgeable about this area.

"Okay, I'll go right away."

After Zhang Xuhui left, Tan Jincheng decided not to rush to the R&D department. The important thing was to finalize the endorsement deal beforehand, and he also needed to write a new advertising plan.

Advertising and promotion are crucial for brand promotion. Tan Jincheng is unwilling to delegate tasks like planning to others, even if the writing is poor, requiring multiple revisions, and even meticulous modifications during filming. This isn't due to confidence, but rather to maintain secrecy; leaking the promotional plan beforehand would be disastrous.

As for the endorsement fee, it goes without saying that it's 300 million yuan for two years of endorsement, with no premium whatsoever.

However, endorsement fees for five or ten years require a certain premium. You have to take into account the lifespan of a celebrity's popularity, otherwise it would be disrespectful to them.

"How much should I give?" Tan Jincheng pondered, stroking his chin.

After some thought, Tan Jincheng decided that a premium of 40% to 50% on a five-year contract would be about right, so he set the price at 1050 million yuan for five years.

As for a ten-year contract, it wouldn't really matter if we offered a 100% premium. Signing Liu Yifei for 10 years for 3000 million yuan is a huge profit. After capital enters the market, it might not even be possible to sign her for a year.

Of course, the first offer couldn't be 3000 million, otherwise there would be no room for negotiation. 3000 million was Tan Jincheng's target price. Any higher and he wouldn't want to sign a ten-year contract. A five-year contract would be about right.

Actually, signing Liu Yifei at this time was not a particularly good time. Liu Yifei's most popular years were only these few years. After that, she switched to the big screen, but her movies were all flopped. It seems that she also went on to release an album.

Speaking of her career planning, it was truly awful. With her core business in the mainland market, she went to work in the Hong Kong entertainment industry when it was about to decline, and then went to release records when the record market was about to collapse. And she even went to the "Little Life" label. It's a miracle she was able to adapt.

This plan is no different from entering the palace as a eunuch in 1911. It's a complete waste of her prime years. It's just that the reputation she's built up over the years and the image she has in TV dramas are too deep. If it were a female star with an average image, she would have been completely forgotten long ago.

“代言费的话2年填300万，5年填1050万元，10年填2700万元。”决定之后檀锦程便给张旭辉打去电话。

I hope you can sign a ten-year contract. You're being incredibly generous, aren't you? A ten-year endorsement deal! Without God's perspective, which celebrity would dare say they can stay popular for ten years? Why not take advantage of this opportunity to cash in while others are signing?
Next, Tan Jincheng's task was to write advertising plans for the Fengchi series.

Fengchi takes the "light luxury" route, focusing on white-collar workers and office workers as its target consumer group. It focuses on color and design, so Tan Jincheng did not plan to launch any 60V models in the early stage, but only 48V models.

Most white-collar workers don't cycle very far, so 48V is perfectly adequate for them these days. Even 10 years from now, a 48V battery will still be sufficient for city use.

Costs should be controlled wherever possible, in order to avoid wasting performance.

Just like mobile phones in later generations, in Tan Jincheng's view, competing on hardware performance without any principles is actually a waste. Ordinary people pay high prices for features they don't need, which is of no use except to fill the pockets of merchants.

According to Tan Jincheng, the Fengchi series focuses more on promotion than the Shanchi series, relying on celebrity endorsements to gain popularity, coupled with advertising slogans, and achieving sales breakthroughs through channel expansion.

Flashcar's advertising slogan is: "Stars shine, spring breezes soar; Flashcar electric vehicles!"

So what kind of slogan should Fengchi have? Tan Jincheng pondered this as he returned to his office from the R&D department and prepared to write an advertising plan.

Advertising slogans don't need to be too complicated; the simpler they are, the easier they are to remember.

"No gifts this holiday season, except for Brain Gold."

"Afraid of getting a sore throat? Drink Wanglaoji!"

Listen to that, such a vulgar and simple advertising slogan, yet it leaves a deep impression.

After thinking for a while, Tan Jincheng decided to start with the appearance of the Fengchi: "Lightweight and flexible, making travel more convenient, Fengchi electric vehicle!"

Great, great, let's use this one. We'll promote it aggressively and make sure the market remembers it. From now on, the Fengchi series will be synonymous with lightness and agility in the electric scooter market, making it easy to navigate the city.

If you hear a truism repeatedly over and over again, it will eventually become a classic.

After defining the positioning, the next step is pricing. The highest price for the Flash series is 2299 yuan. Since it takes the "light luxury" route, the price of the Flash series will naturally be higher.

The expected color options for the Windspeed are much richer than those for the Flashspeed. Since the main focus is on appearance, it cannot use spray painting technology like the Flashspeed; it must adopt baking paint technology.

The most obvious difference between baking paint and spray paint is that baking paint produces a smooth and glossy surface, like a mirror, and it also looks sturdy, while spray paint cannot achieve this effect.

The process is more complex, and the requirements for the working environment are naturally higher. Baking requires entering a dust-free baking room to avoid contamination from dust and other pollutants, which also requires higher technical skills.

This can also be used for promotion, just make it look high-end. Lei Jun's Xiaomi promoted ordinary 304 stainless steel as austenitic 304, making it look high-end. We can learn from that.

With my amazing craftsmanship, selling it for 2599 yuan isn't unreasonable, is it?
Perhaps we could sell it for a higher price? As long as it doesn't exceed 3000 yuan, that's fine. Most mainstream electric vehicles on the market are around 3000 yuan, so lower would be acceptable.

(End of this chapter)