Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 73 Innovation (Bonus Chapter 210 for Elbow Who Speaks for the Silver Alliance)

After saying goodbye to Lao Song and the other man, Yan Hui prepared to go to Uncle Glasses' place.

Yan Hui still doesn't know Uncle Glasses' real name, even though he met him as soon as he arrived. Shan Ge and the others call Uncle Glasses "Four Eyes," but Yan Hui doesn't dare call him that. He always calls him "Uncle," and in private, he calls him Uncle Glasses.

"Xiao Yan? My goodness, are you alright? I've been a little worried about you these past few days!" Uncle Glasses said, taking a packet of yogurt out of the house. "Here, have some of this."

"It's alright, Uncle. I got drunk last time and then I heard I drank all the stock you had. Sigh, I was so silly." Yan Hui sighed and took it.

"Everyone has their youth, it's alright, it's alright," Uncle Glasses said with a smile, not at all worried about customers buying too much.

"Yeah, I was just asking, has Lao Guo settled all the bills?"

"It's settled."

"That's good," Yan Hui nodded, bought a pack of cigarettes and some daily necessities, and then said goodbye to Uncle Glasses.

Just as Yan Hui stepped out, he ran into Mr. Lin from next door. Since his mind wasn't on Mr. Lin, he just casually greeted him.

"Xiao Yan, I heard you left Second Brother's place and started your own business," Boss Lin said, noticing that Yan Hui seemed a little distracted. "Please take care of my business in the future."

Yan Hui had worked with Boss Lin before. A client had specifically requested Boss Lin's shop, but Yan Hui had difficulty negotiating with him and ultimately only made five yuan there.

"Boss Lin, please take good care of me in the future and give me a slightly better price," Yan Hui said politely.

“You can’t say that. Xiao Yan, you’re a middleman. You don’t have any costs. I can’t just look at the purchase price. There’s also labor and utilities. We retail, so our costs are much higher than their wholesale costs.” Boss Lin looked pained.

"I understand, I understand." Yan Hui simply didn't want to talk anymore, said a polite word, and left.

After walking several dozen meters, Yan Hui looked back, intending to check if there were any customers around, but he happened to see Da Kai go into Boss Lin's shop. From this distance, if Da Kai hadn't been so tall, Yan Hui wouldn't have been able to tell.

This made Yan Hui wary.

Since Boss Lin and Brother Shan have known each other for many years, Boss Lin can be said to know Yan Hui very well. Moreover, Boss Lin has also cooperated with Yan Hui before, so he has a clear understanding of Yan Hui's "business model".

How did these two get together?
After thinking about it, Yan Hui roughly understood.

Da Kai used to work at the train station and here, pulling carts and doing odd jobs for Xiao Bao. Generally speaking, retail stores like Boss Lin's definitely need carts, so this collaboration is normal.

So, it turns out that Boss Lin leaked his business model to Da Kai and the others?

It's really possible!
Knowing Mr. Lin's personality, he was willing to betray others as long as it was profitable. By sharing this information with Da Kai and the others, he was certain he could obtain some shipping discounts and also attract more customers from Da Kai's side.

Thinking about this, Yan Hui suddenly realized that people like Da Kai who worked in transportation teams were indeed suited for this business, since the job did allow them to come into contact with customers and merchants.

When Yan Hui went home for Chinese New Year this year, he came up with the concept of "business competition" and talked about it with his uncle.

Grandpa told Yan Hui about his uncle's decision to retire from the battlefield at the height of his career, which deeply moved Yan Hui. Later, when he talked to his uncle, he heard a lot more inside stories.

No business model can generate consistent and stable profits without a particularly strong competitive advantage. The term "competitive advantage" has no fixed definition. It could be a policy, a patent, or even someone providing protection. In short, something is needed to prevent others from entering the market and competing, in order to thrive in the long run.

However, businesses don't necessarily have to pursue long-term profits; they can also continuously innovate and break through barriers. If a solution is copied by someone else and you are unable to change it, don't waste time on it. What you should do is seize the opportunity to break through and continue to stay ahead of others.

After careful consideration, it's not time to retreat yet. Yan Hui can compete with Da Kai and the others. However, once a third or fourth wave of people arrives, it's really unnecessary. It's better to quickly switch to the next track.

Having figured these issues out, Yan Hui started looking for clients everywhere again.

This time, they were lucky. They were able to talk to the first customer they met. The customer needed two pieces of ash wood. Yan Hui first asked the customer about his price range and, finding no problem with it, took him to No. 35 in the East District.

This shop is right next to Second Brother's shop. It always has a stock of ash wood, and it also knows Yan Hui.

The deal was quickly closed, and Yan Hui earned 45 yuan from it.

Making money wasn't the most exciting thing; what made Yan Hui happy today was using his latest strategy—offering cigarettes!

I learned this from my cousin when I went home for Chinese New Year this year. When you're out and about, it's always a good idea to offer someone a cigarette while chatting, regardless of whether they smoke or not. It doesn't matter if they don't accept it; it's always polite to offer one.

Back then, there were no rumors about counterfeit cigarettes on the market, so people generally dared to accept cigarettes offered to them, and the effect was quite good!

Yan Hui didn't tell anyone about this innovation; he planned to try it out himself first. After closing this deal, he immediately went to find new clients. By late evening, Yan Hui had given out most of a pack of cigarettes and had actually secured three clients, earning 130 yuan.

The fact that such a small change had such a big effect greatly excited Yan Hui. Without telling anyone, he went straight to Uncle Glasses' shop and bought a pack of cigarettes.

In the days that followed, Yan Hui continued to use this trick, and he always used good cigarettes that cost more than five yuan, which proved to be very effective.

If you offer cigarettes to 20 clients, at least 5 of them will accept. Of those 5, you can close a deal with at least one or two! Moreover, Yan Hui doesn't just offer one cigarette; he offers them to everyone he sees, including the person on the way to the meeting and the owner of the lumber shop.

Boss Lin used to mock him for having "no costs," but now that Yan Hui has costs, he's actually making more money.

Yan Hui did his own statistics. On average, for every pack of cigarettes he handed out, he could usually close a deal with two clients. After all, many people who are very wary or don't want to communicate at all simply won't accept the cigarettes, and those who do accept them can usually have a few words with them.

It's okay if we can't reach an agreement; we can still be friends.

Old Song and Song Zhiyuan also discovered Yan Hui's plan, but they felt that the cigarettes Yan Hui bought were too expensive. Old Song thought it was unnecessary, and Song Zhiyuan felt reluctant to spend the money, so recently only Yan Hui has been working on this plan.

But Yan Hui felt more and more energetic as he worked, so he simply bought a big bag of matches and would give a box of matches worth one cent to any suitable customer he met.

After that, Yan Hui bought a large bag of small measuring tapes from a wholesale store and gave them away to customers whenever he encountered them.

As his success rate increased, Yan Hui didn't tell anyone about it, nor did he mention how much money he could make.

He knew this kind of innovation couldn't last, but he didn't care; he just wanted to make money first!

(End of this chapter)