The only thing they had in common was that they were all under the Meredith Group. And the current leader of the Meredith Group was none other than Baldwin, the eldest son of the Meredith family.
Today’s meeting was a monthly business report.
At one minute to nine, there was a sound of leather shoes outside the conference room.
The people who were whispering suddenly quieted down because they knew who it was.
Baldwin walked into the conference room wearing a handsome white suit and took his seat at the head of an oval conference table on the east side of the room.
He reached out and touched a spot on the table, causing it to automatically open up and reveal a laptop computer in front of each attendee slowly rising up from within it.
Just as Baldwin was about to speak, a fat man wearing navy blue suit stood up from his position and looked at Baldwin with some nervousness. “Mr. Meredith, please take a look at my monthly sales report.”
This fat man’s name was Blake Wallace, Willa Cosmetics’ general manager.
“Blake, it’s rare to see you so proactive. Willa Cosmetics’ sales for this month wouldn’t be at the bottom of all the subsidiaries again, would they?” a guy who didn’t get along well with Blake taunted.
“Lenny’s right. You can save your bottom-of-the-barrel sales for the last report to Mr. Meredith,” someone immediately chimed in, following the trend of mockery.
Although the attendees were in charge of companies belonging to the Meredith Group, wherever there are people, there will be power struggles. After all, the opportunity to show up in front of Baldwin was limited, and if they wanted to get more chances for themselves, they had to bring others down.
Blake’s forehead couldn’t control the sweat that was starting to appear. He quickly said, “Mr. Meredith, don’t listen to their nonsense. There are special circumstances this time, so it’s necessary for you to look at Willa Cosmetics’ sales report first.”
If there was one person who was least favored in this conference room, it was basically Blake. Therefore, when faced with Baldwin, he couldn’t help but feel nervous.
Whether Blake can continue in the position of general manager depended on Baldwin’s word.
Baldwin glanced at Blake and smiled faintly, “Mr. Wallace, it’s not your fault that the sales were poor for Leo&Rose Cosmetics’ Beautiful Visage last month due to my personal reasons.”
In Baldwin’s view, it must be the poor sales of Beautiful Visage that resulted in a decrease in Willa Cosmetics’ sales compared to the previous month, which made Blake so nervous.
Blake wiped the sweat off his forehead and stuttered, “Mr. Meredith, Mr. Meredith, it’s not… not that…”
“What is it then?” Baldwin didn’t like the hesitant way of speaking. “You better not tell me that Willa Cosmetics lost money last month!”
Since Baldwin took over the company group, none of its subsidiaries had ever lost money.
If Willa Cosmetics made a loss last month, it would be a disgrace for Baldwin.
Seeing Baldwin’s face darken, Blake quickly said, “Mr. Meredith, it’s not a loss. I… I can’t explain it well for a moment. You’d better take a look at it on the computer yourself.”
Baldwin couldn’t understand why the usually composed Blake would be so flustered today. Frowning, he reached out and clicked on the screen, opening the sales report for Willa Cosmetics.
When he saw the sales data for the first week, Baldwin’s face showed an expression of “I knew it.”
Beautiful Visage, as the flagship product of Willa Cosmetics last month, had a sales figure of only five million in the first week, despite the significant advertising costs invested. This amount was basically just the promotional cost.
According to Willa Cosmetics’ usual experience, for a flagship product, the sales figure in the first week should be around ten million to be considered normal.
Continuing to read further, the sales figure for the second week looked a bit better, around twenty million, but still fell significantly short of expectations.
Then, looking at the sales figure for the third week…
Baldwin couldn’t help but pause for a moment.
Because the sales figure for Beautiful Visage in the third week suddenly skyrocketed to eighty million!
In Baldwin’s impression, the best-selling product of Willa Cosmetics usually had a monthly sales figure of around eighty million.
Finally, looking at the fourth week, Baldwin couldn’t help but open his mouth wide, with an expression of astonishment on his face.
The sales figure for the fourth week had skyrocketed to an unprecedented two hundred million!
Baldwin thought he was seeing things and closed his eyes, pressing on his nose bridge a couple of times before looking again.
This time, he confirmed that he hadn’t misread it. It was indeed two hundred million.
Since the establishment of Willa Cosmetics, this was the first time they had achieved such a sales figure.
Before Baldwin granted access, others couldn’t see sales reports of companies other than their own on their computers.
So when everyone saw the astonished expression on Baldwin’s face, they thought that Willa Cosmetics had incurred massive losses.
“Mr. Meredith, Willa Cosmetics has always been a drag, please don’t get angry. Your health is more important.”
“Mr. Meredith, why don’t you take a look at the sales report of our Dragon Radiance Corporation? We should be able to make up for the losses of Willa Cosmetics.”
“Mr. Meredith, Willa Cosmetics has always been at the bottom. There’s no need to have high expectations for it…”
Ignoring the “consolations” of the others, Baldwin kept his gaze fixed on Blake’s face. “Is the data accurate? Have you verified it?”
At this moment, Baldwin finally understood why Blake had been acting so strangely today.
The exaggerated and abnormal sales trend of Willa Cosmetics last month had never occurred since he took over the company.
Blake hurriedly replied, “Mr. Meredith, at first, I thought there was a mistake too, so I had the finance department verify it three times, and the results showed that the data is completely accurate without any errors.”
“I’ve been working at Willa Cosmetics for so many years, and this is the first time I’ve seen such an exaggerated trend. It’s truly unbelievable,” Blake said, taking out a tissue and wiping the sweat off his forehead.
As he spoke, Blake operated his computer in front of him and sent another Excel spreadsheet to Baldwin.
“Mr. Meredith, the data I’m sending you is up until midnight on Thursday. In just four days, we’ve achieved a turnover of nearly three hundred million. If it weren’t for the product being sold out, the turnover would have been even more impressive.”
Opening the spreadsheet that Blake sent, Baldwin widened his mouth in astonishment when he saw the solid data on it.
“Oh, Leo, I really underestimated you!” Baldwin exclaimed to himself.
Rosemary had told Baldwin that Leo was the one who developed the formula for Beautiful Visage.
In the conference room, the general managers of each subsidiary finally understood what was going on, and their faces showed expressions of shock and disbelief.
Willa Cosmetics had truly pulled off an amazing turnaround!
Of course, the main factor behind it was the skincare product they recently started distributing called “Beautiful Visage.”