Rebirth of a Farmer's Dad

As it turned out, Luo Feng's chosen marketing strategy was very successful. Perhaps feeling that simply promoting his products in the store wasn't enough, Luo Feng specifically asked his second son to find several students at the county high school. This time, there were no special requirements; male or female students were fine, but they had to be articulate and eloquent.

The purpose of hiring these people was clear: to use them as shills to further increase the brand awareness of the store's dried fruit and jam. Luo Feng knew that older people were generally reluctant to part with their products, but if younger people and children accepted them, then selling a batch of products wouldn't be difficult.

I made arrangements with a few people well in advance, asking them to chat with people throughout the county during their free time. The goal was to let people taste the store's newly launched dried fruit and jam series as quickly as possible. As for the pay, it's ten yuan per person per day, which I believe is quite attractive to young students, since they don't have to do any dirty or strenuous work; they just need to talk, and the money will be in their hands.

"Hey, what's that you're holding?" one girl asked, pointing to a jar held by another girl.

"You mean this? This is the jam I just bought, it tastes pretty good." The girl said, deliberately waving the jar in her hand.

“Oh, it’s jam. Everyone makes that, what’s so special about it? I’ll ask my mom to make some for me later,” said the girl who asked the first question.

"I'm not bragging, but your mom might not be able to make this taste. The owner said it's his secret recipe, and he doesn't usually tell just anyone."

"Really? Let me try it." He then tried to snatch the jar from the other person's hand.

"Don't rush, be careful, don't spill it."

"Hmm, this tastes really unique. Where did you buy this? I want to buy some to take home too."

"Isn't it delicious? Let me tell you, this is Luo Ji's latest product. The boss said that he only has the last batch left. If you want to buy it, you have to hurry up or you don't know when the next batch will be available."

"Really? Then I'll go buy it after school today."

"Yes, you should go quickly, or they'll be gone. I've heard their dried fruit is also very delicious. You can buy some to try."

......

The same scene played out in several lively places in the county. This was also at Luo Feng's behest. He believed that since money had been spent, they should find a way to maximize the publicity effect, otherwise the money would be wasted!

Luo Feng had spent a lot of time and effort on this matter these past few days, but the result was obvious: at least now people were starting to come to the store to inquire about the prices of dried fruit and jam. This made Luo Feng both happy and helpless.

I'm happy that my efforts these past few days have finally paid off, but I'm also frustrated that I can't just quote a price arbitrarily. I need to discuss this with everyone; if I overlook this step, who knows what they might be saying behind my back?

Thinking of this, Luo Feng suddenly realized that the village chief and the others had been back for several days and should be returning soon. Luo Feng was incredibly anxious; he really wanted to call back and ask, but unfortunately, no one in the village had a telephone, so the only call he could make was to the small shop in town. The backward communication system of this era made Luo Feng extremely nostalgic for the future internet age, where at least he wouldn't have to anxiously wait for news like he was now.

Fortunately, fate didn't play any tricks on Luo Feng. The next day, the village chief led several young men from the village back to the shop.

"Fengzi, you did a great job this time. We specifically inquired in the county before we came, and now quite a few people there know about our dried fruit and jam." The village chief was very satisfied with Luo Feng's performance these past few days. At this moment, he seemed to have forgotten that he was the one who had strongly opposed Luo Feng doing this in the first place.

"Brother Feng, we've brought back another batch of goods this time. They're all freshly made, guaranteed to be fresh, and we're sure to get a good price for them," said a young man from the village.

"We'll talk about this later. You've come at the right time. I do have something to discuss with you right now," Luo Feng said, leading them upstairs.

"What is it? Just tell me, don't keep me in suspense." The village chief got straight to the point as soon as he arrived. If he were to beat around the bush with Luo Feng, it would probably take forever.

"We're not having any trouble selling our products. In the past few days, people have been coming to the store to ask about prices, but I don't know what price range would be appropriate. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Of course, the more expensive the better. Who doesn't want to earn more?" Before the village chief could speak, the young man next to him couldn't help but chime in.

"Alright, shut up, kid! Are you stupid? You're charging too much. People need to be able to afford it. If we can't sell it because the price is too high, we'll starve!" She slapped him. This kid doesn't use his brain at all!

“That makes sense. After all, we’re not selling necessities that people can’t live without.” The village chief nodded, agreeing with Luo Feng’s point of view.

"So what price should we set? If it's too high, I'm afraid they won't accept it; if it's too low, we won't make any profit," Luo Feng asked the village chief.

"We've never done this before, and we don't know how to decide right now!" The village chief was also a bit embarrassed and habitually took out his pipe.

"The key issue is that the cost of this stuff is hard to determine. The fruits and everything else are wild, and we haven't done anything about them except for picking them. If we're talking about the biggest cost, it's packaging and labor. But packaging costs are easy to calculate, but how do we figure out the labor costs?" Luo Feng muttered to himself.

"Why don't we go and ask around, see what price they're willing to accept?" The young man from the village who had just interrupted suddenly had a brilliant idea.

"Are you stupid? You actually believe what they say? They'd love for us to give it away for free," another young man interrupted him.

"No, wait a minute, although there are some problems with what you said, the approach is right!" Luo Feng suddenly thought of something, slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

"Fengzi, what are you yelling about? You scared me." The village chief rolled his eyes at him, then continued smoking.

"I've got an idea. We can price them separately. Jam is more complicated to make and has a longer production cycle, so we can raise its price appropriately. As for dried fruit, it's just a regular snack, so we can price it according to the market price of other snacks." Luo Feng had figured it out. No matter how delicious dried fruit is, it's just a snack and can't be sold at a high price. But jam is different. With a little packaging, it can definitely be sold at a higher price.

"Let me tell you, you can do this: in the next few days, go to various shops in the county and ask around to see which gifts people usually buy for the New Year, and what their prices are. Once you figure this out, we'll have something to refer to. But you must remember that you must split up and do this separately, otherwise it will be troublesome if someone finds out."

The group of people had all grown up in the village and were not very knowledgeable, so they naturally listened to Luo Feng's words without question. Putting everything else aside, so far, Luo Feng's methods had always produced the best results, and they believed that this time would be no different.

A few days later, Luo Feng finally finalized the prices of the goods he had. The dried fruit came in two types: small packets for 20 cents each, three packets for 50 cents, and large packets for one yuan each. Of course, the quantity varied. The jam came in even more varieties: small jars, large jars, and gift sets. This basically met the needs of families with children and for gift-giving. The prices also varied: small jars for two yuan each, large jars for five yuan each, and gift sets for ten yuan for two jars. Naturally, there were discounts for bulk purchases. In short, there were buy-one-get-one-free offers; the more you bought, the more you got freebies.

Having prepared everything, Luo Feng started selling dried fruit and jam in his shop while also having the village chief take people back to secure his supply. Luo Feng planned to sell a batch in the county first, and then expand his sales to the city when the time was right.