Reborn in 1999: Starting as a black marketeer

At the beginning of 2000, a base salary of $800 was definitely considered high in Moscow.

Therefore, after the job posting was sent out, those who dared to apply were basically high-caliber elites. These five candidates who made it to the interview stage today, regardless of anything else, can be considered beauties among beauties just by their appearance.

"Tell me about your basic information. I see that your resume says you're single..." Wang Feiyang asked with some curiosity.

Anna's resume states she is 29 years old, but she is still unmarried.

Anna reached out and smoothed the hair that was hanging by her ear, and smiled faintly, "I haven't met a suitable marriage partner yet, so I'm single. I don't think this will affect my work."

"That's true. If you were to become the company's sales director, wouldn't you have some ideas on how to promote the company's products? Oh, let me first introduce the company's basic information to you. Our products are..." Wang Feiyang got to the point and spoke seriously.

He didn't hide anything and told the truth directly. After all, it was impossible to keep such things from the company employees, and they needed to be informed in advance.

Of course, this is also a screening process during the interview. If someone can't accept the company selling "fake designer goods," there's no need to force them. Before they officially start working, it's best to part ways.

Anna pondered for a moment, then sighed softly, as if lamenting why she had fallen to this point, having to sell counterfeit goods after leaving a big company.

However, she wasn't a conservative person, and having seen so many absurd things over the years, she was used to it. What was selling counterfeit goods, as long as the salary was high!

"There's really no need to worry about that. There's no specific organization handling this kind of thing right now, so we only need to focus on one issue: how to sell the product. While I was waiting, I saw the samples displayed in the lobby, and the quality is truly exceptional. I've bought genuine Levi's products from official stores before, and they're almost identical; I couldn't tell the difference. Therefore, when promoting our products, we can subtly guide customers to believe that our products are genuine Levi's, just not authorized by the brand..."

When it came to her job, Anna immediately got into the swing of things and started talking non-stop, clearly showing that her years of experience in large companies had paid off.

Wang Feiyang listened and nodded. In fact, Anna's core idea was similar to his: they couldn't directly claim that they were selling genuine Levi's products, but they also had to make customers believe that they were buying Levi's products...

"So we still need to invest some money in advertising in the early stages, like placing ads in professional fashion magazines. By the way, what price do we plan to offer for wholesale?" Anna was already starting to think about things from the perspective of a sales director.

Instead of answering directly, Wang Feiyang asked in return, "How do you think such a product should be priced?"

Anna furrowed her brows and thought for a moment. She couldn't answer this question casually; product pricing was a core issue for any company.

"We need to determine the retail price first, which is the uniform selling price at the sales terminals. I think... 1,000 rubles would be appropriate. That way, even if the terminals offer a 20% or 30% discount during promotions, there will still be a profit margin. As for our selling price, let's set it at 50% of the retail price. That's pretty much the industry rule."

Her approach is to operate based on brands, which is how most big brands operate.

As for the production cost of the product, it's almost negligible, because compared to the costs in other sales stages, production costs are often the least significant, especially for big-name products...

Of course, Wang Feiyang's jeans can't be called a big brand yet; Anna is just managing them like a big brand.

The retail price is 1,000 rubles, and the selling price is 500 rubles. Since it's a cash transaction, there's no tax to pay. Without considering other expenses, it's equivalent to getting 500 rubles for each pair of jeans wholesale, which is about 20 US dollars, or 170 RMB...

With a cost of forty yuan per piece and a profit of three times, Wang Feiyang thought it was alright.

Because this doesn't even include transportation and customs clearance costs, office space costs, personnel expenses, and the time to call in trouble...

In the end, it would be good if we could make a solid profit of 100%. However, Wang Feiyang was not too greedy and thought Anna's suggestion was good and could be implemented.

Without hesitation, he smiled and extended his hand, saying, "Welcome to our company. If you have no objections, you can start working from this moment on. We are going to recruit two more business managers, and you, as the business director, will be the one to interview them, since you are the one selecting your subordinates."

In fact, after the phone conversation and resume screening, Wang Feiyang was pretty much ready to choose Anna. The reason he made her the first to come in for the interview was precisely this: once the business director was selected, the subsequent interviews would be about choosing the business manager, which Anna could handle.

Anna was clearly a little surprised. She hadn't expected Wang Feiyang to settle things so decisively. It was too fast!

However, she was no longer a naive young woman fresh out of school, and she quickly regained her composure, smiling slightly to reveal a row of pearly white teeth. "It's my honor, General Manager... I'm still unsure how to address you?"

As she spoke, she stretched out her slender arm and clasped Wang Feiyang's hand tightly.

"Just call me Misha, that's my Russian name," Wang Feiyang said casually. This name wasn't just made up; it was his Russian name in his previous life, so he might as well keep it now.

…………

Once the business director was selected, things proceeded much faster.

Anna immediately got to work, directly interviewing the remaining candidates in place of Wang Feiyang, and selected two business managers, both young women under 24 years old, with beautiful appearances and outgoing personalities.

One was named Sofia and the other Vera. Both had just graduated from university. Job opportunities in Moscow were scarce these days, and high salaries were even rarer. So even though Wang Feiyang's company was small, the fact that it could offer such high salaries, and that it was located in a place like the Alpha Hotel, meant that no one doubted the company's strength.

The sales manager's salary was not as high as that of the sales director, but Wang Feiyang was not stingy and still offered a base salary of five hundred US dollars, along with sales commissions.

This is about the same salary as those professors at Wuhan University, although of course, their social status and influence are incomparable to those of the professors.

That is because he offered such a high salary, all three candidates were the best of the best. Although the company does not have many people, everyone there is an elite!

The company has just started up, and schools have also started, so Wang Feiyang still has to deal with some things.

Life is never peaceful these days...