2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 368 Inhuman Annual Meeting Rewards
What kind of year-end bonus plan is the best to achieve great results with minimal expenditure and generate significant buzz?
"How about we buy a few dozen cars from Zhongtai?" the administrative director asked.

On average, each car costs 40,000 yuan. If you buy 30 to 50 of them, the total cost would be around 2 million yuan, but the sensational effect would be enormous.

Winning a car in a raffle at an annual company party would still be news in 2023.

Tan Jincheng thought about it and agreed that it was a good idea: "This is a good idea. We can get it done for him before the New Year. If some employees with driver's licenses are selected, they can drive home directly."

"The question now is whether only Flashpoint Technology is holding a lottery or whether all its subsidiaries are doing the same?"

“It’s not necessary to do this for all subsidiaries. For example, Bafang Electric is in Suzhou. Are you suggesting that all Bafang employees come to Beicang for the annual meeting? That’s a bit unrealistic.”

"But what you said makes sense. They are all subsidiaries. Let Bafang Electric handle things themselves, and let all the subsidiaries of Beicang participate. Now that we have a headquarters building, let's hold it there so everyone can have a good time."

Holding an annual meeting in the name of the group's headquarters would allow all subsidiaries in Beicang to participate, making the event more lively and engaging. It would also allow the management teams of each company to get to know each other better, preventing a situation where they don't recognize each other's colleagues.

Going out for drinks, getting into a fight, and then finding out during mediation that they all belong to the same group company—it's fine for ordinary employees who don't know each other, but for management, it's a real embarrassment.

"How many cars should we buy?"

Excluding Bafang Electric, there are five other subsidiaries with employees working in Beicang, totaling more than 1000 people. If they were to hold an annual meeting together, it would probably only be this year. Next year, when Jinpeng Trading recruits a large number of lathe operators, the number of employees will increase dramatically, and it will definitely be impossible to hold it all together.

"Let's order 100 cars, and give 15 to Bafang Electric. I'll talk to Mr. Wu from Zhongtai about the cars. You don't need to worry about that. Just take care of the other details for the annual meeting."

At the CCTV Economic Figures Night, Ms. Dong and the CEO of Su Ning each ordered 500 electric cars from Flashcar as prizes for their annual meetings.

In business, it's a give-and-take situation. Since they're so supportive, we'll definitely prioritize choosing prizes from these two companies for our annual meeting. Their products are quite practical, making them perfect for the annual meeting.

With less than a month and a half until the Chinese New Year, the administrative department has a lot of work to do. The first thing is whether the annual meeting can be held smoothly. A large gathering of more than 1000 people involves a lot of details.

Another issue is the return-to-home problem for employees at the Flash Electric Vehicle factory. Currently, Flash Technology alone has nearly 1200 employees in its three factories in Beicang, most of whom are entry-level employees.

In addition, there are several other subsidiaries with a small number of employees, many of whom are from other places. The question of how nearly a thousand employees will be able to go home for the Spring Festival also needs to be addressed.

Chartering minibuses and buying train tickets on behalf of others are much more challenging tasks than last year.

Managing a labor-intensive company is generally fine if you follow the rules, but at the end of the year and the beginning of the new year, there are quite a few small, trivial things to deal with.

After discussing some details with the administrative director, Tan Jincheng asked him to prepare.

He was the only one left in the office; Zeng Jixiang had gone to Shenzhen and hadn't returned yet.

The 31-story Flash Tower is a landmark building in Beicang. The entire 31 floors are Tan Jincheng's office area, which includes his own office, a secretary's office, meeting rooms, and a rest area.

The layout remains Tan Jincheng's preferred simple style, mainly in black and white tones. Standing in front of the window, one can overlook all the buildings in Beicang.

Everything within sight is within view.

Tan Jincheng is somewhat afraid of heights. If the window is open, he definitely wouldn't dare to stand in front of it, as his legs would tremble uncontrollably. However, with the window closed, he feels a sense of security and can manage.

Zhang Xupeng's office is located on the 30th floor, but he's had a tough time. Since the renovation was completed, he's hardly ever been in the office, as he's either on a business trip or on his way to one.

I came back for New Year's Day, and then went back to Wangjiang with Nie Yun. With the expansion of investment, the construction progress of the Wangjiang factory has been incorporated into the planning of the Flash Group along with the electric vehicle industrial park.

No one will dare to interfere or delay the project's progress anymore.

In ten days to two weeks, most of the garment workers from Wangjiang working in Zhili will be going home. The garment factories will start pre-booking garment workers for next year. If nothing unexpected happens, Zhang Xupeng should not return to Beicang before the end of the year.

Zhang Xupeng returned with his parents, Tan Lihua and Tan Lixin, as well as Hu Xiaoyong.

Hu Xiaoyong, who had attended the dealer conference, was lectured by his brother-in-law again. His store was also over 300 square meters, but while the other store could sell two or three thousand electric vehicles, his store could only sell 1500.

On average, the store sells only about 100 vehicles a month. This is only during promotional periods when the store sells more cars. Sales are even worse during the off-season.

Tan Lixin had inquired with Tan Jincheng, and found that shops with similar sizes to theirs generally sold over 2000 vehicles, with the lowest sales being at least 1800.

In other words, compared to other stores of the same size, their sales were at the bottom, which is truly shameful. This brother-in-law is actually quite smart and knows how to do business, but he seems to have some mental issues; his thinking is different from normal people.

She often says that as long as she has enough money, she doesn't need to work so hard. As for talking to him about marriage and having children, he doesn't object, but he's not enthusiastic about it either.

He'd go on blind dates if you asked him to, but nothing ever came of it.

However, after we go back this time, we must urge him to run the store properly and not let it be at the bottom again like this year. The store was opened through connections, and if it keeps coming in last place, it's better to just close it down. It's really embarrassing for my nephew.
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"Mr. Wu, I wish you great success in your business."

"Oh, so you're one of our rising economic figures. What made you think of calling me?"

"Mr. Wu, you're making fun of me. I'm just taking advantage of Mr. Ni. I don't deserve this title."

"Haha, Old Ni is furious about this. He's about to sue the cycling association. That old guy is pretty tough."

Wu Jianzhong on the other end of the phone laughed heartily, quite unkindly. He and Ni Jie both belonged to the Ham City region and often met at the annual business conference.

It's a bit of a pity that Ni Jie was disqualified from being nominated for the Economic Figure award, but we'll still laugh at him if we want to.

Tan Jincheng had also heard about this. Speaking of which, Ni Jie, an unofficial organization, really wasn't afraid of them. However, Lvyuan hadn't been having an easy time lately either. The Philips brand electric vehicles that they had criticized on their official website had also been sued.

In short, it's a tit-for-tat situation where you sue me and I sue you. As a pioneer, it's normal for me to get into some trouble.

"Haha, let's not talk about this today. I need to call Mr. Wu because I need your help with something." Tan Jincheng was too lazy to talk behind people's backs, so he decisively ended the topic.

"President Tan, just let me know if you need anything. I will definitely help if I can."

"Well, our company has been doing quite well this year, so we're planning to make the year-end bonuses a bit bigger. We'd like to order a batch of cars from Mr. Wu as prizes for the year-end bonus raffle. We hope Mr. Wu can help us arrange that."

Although the Zhongtai 2008 model was only sold for eight months in 2006, its sales were extremely strong, with 14,500 units sold and sales revenue reaching 7.25 million yuan, making it a dark horse in the 2006 automobile market.

Zhongtai became an instant hit as a result. The end of the year is also a peak season for car purchases. If you want to buy 100 cars at once before the annual meeting, you really have to find Wu Jianzhong.

"Oh? Mr. Tan, you placed the order yourself and even came to me. It seems the amount is quite large." Wu Jianzhong asked, somewhat surprised and delighted.

"I'd like to order 100 vehicles and have them delivered before February 11th. I'm wondering if there will be any problems."

2. The 11th was the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, which was also a Sunday. The group's annual meeting was scheduled for that day. After the annual meeting, we would have a holiday. There was a snow disaster in 2008, which Tan Jincheng remembers quite well.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, many people will likely be unable to return home for the Lunar New Year next year. Giving employees a couple of days' holiday earlier would be a good idea, allowing them to stay home a couple more days.

"Wow, Mr. Tan, that's quite a generous offer. 100 vehicles, that's no small number."

Damn, young people just don't know how to manage money. Giving away hundreds of cars to employees like that, what will other business owners think?
"We'll give a portion to the factory in Suzhou, and the remaining few dozen cars will be given away in a lottery to over 1000 people in Beicang. If we're going to do this, let's make it a proper one. It'll also help boost our car sales, haha."

"Haha, that's true. Flash Group is different from other companies this year. If we're talking about which company has made the fastest progress, it must be Flash Group. We really should make a big move."

"Don't worry, Mr. Tan, 100 vehicles are no problem. I'll arrange it for you immediately and give you priority in supplying them."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Wu. Please keep a close eye on the quality."

Wu Jianzhong was speechless for a moment. Quality issues had always been an unavoidable problem for their first model. Although they had strengthened quality control, it was still much worse than mature models on the market, which was unavoidable.

"Understood, understood. Mr. Tan will help us boost sales and advertise, so he certainly won't let you down."

Dozens of Zhongtai 2008 cars were parked at the annual meeting. Wu Jianzhong could imagine the sensational effect after it made the news. This was a wave of free advertising resources. If a couple more companies like this came along, he would be laughing all the way to the bank.

Purchasing 100 cars as prizes for the annual meeting in one go, and that's just a single prize, suggests that Flash Motors' investment in this year's annual meeting is at least in the tens of millions of yuan, which is simply outrageous.

Needless to say, once the prizes for Flash's annual meeting were revealed, all the hot news stories would be about him.

However, it's worth it. Spending ten million to advertise for Flash Group and ourselves, and the employees who benefit from it will work even harder. It's a worthwhile deal no matter how you look at it.

(End of this chapter)