Since Xu Nuo was assigned to the marketing department, Jiang Youyou met her only once a week in the office. She looked in high spirits. It seemed that she really did a very good job.
“How can you still stay at the reception desk? A month has past.” Xu Nuo thought there was a gap between them indeed.
“I don’t know. Maybe over some time I can be back to the office work after I become a regular worker.” Jiang Youyou looked at her pink dress, “And how are you getting on now?”
“I’ve been a deputy manager of the marketing department, because recently I’ve pitched a product to a super big client for our company.” Xu Nuo thought of herself as a sales genius.
Pak Ae-hi, that super big client, was a middle-aged Korean woman. The salesmen of marketing department all returned very frustrated. She was quite dissatisfied with the company’s mini car refrigerator products after she had observed some dozens of varieties until finally she directly refused to meet any of the salesman from OSY Company.
The marketing department manager Song Ruyi talked to her for quite a long time and finally Pak Ae-hi promised to spare some time to meet Xu Nuo, but with no favorable words, “I’ll return home in a week, so this is the last chance I can give to you.”
When Song Ruyi talked about this to Xu Nuo, she saw her lacking in confidence, she said, “The face-to-face time that the salesmen can really meet the clients is very limited because even if you have the time, the clients don’t. In fact you should spend most of your time in preparation of the sales. But, in real activity, our sales staff tend to neglect the preparation, which often leads to the failure of the sales. So only when you are well prepared can you have an effective visit to your clients and realize their requirement before you sell your products and help you rapidly grasp the selling point so that you can save your valuable time and make a practicable and effective sales plan. Surely you can do it. Do believe in me, you have the ball at your feet.”
Xu Nuo knew the company must have to employ the unusual means to clutch at straws by pushing a new comer who had no experience in marketing at all to the front line.
In the reference room, Xu Nuo had a whole heap of colorful leaflets about the company’s mini refrigerator rejected by the Korean client, with all varieties. She read them carefully and wondered what on earth the problem was. What on earth was she dissatisfied with?
She’d better get to know her first. Xu Nuo thought. Song Ruyi once said, we had to deal with extraordinary people with extraordinary means.
Xu Nuo decided to fight tooth and nail to get the order. She knocked herself in the office to analyze the customer information. It showed when Pak Ae-hi was in China, her life routine was to stroll in the busy pedestrian streets nearby during eight to nine in the evening after dinner.
When Xu Nuo followed her, she saw Pak Ae-hi was really a carbon copy of her photo. With eyelids a little drooping after cosmetic surgery, a high nose bridge and lips as like as two peas in Korean TV plays. She walked slowly and she didn’t go into every shop, instead, she picked something here and chose a gadget there at her leisure.
By and by, Xu Nuo had an idea in her mind. Then she gave a phone call to Song Ruyi, “MS Director, I’m going to the factory tomorrow, please help me to get the car and a technician ready, please.”
After three-day’s preparation, Xu Nuo intentionally put on the casual clothes she bought at a discount when she was traveling in South Korea last year before she went to pay a visit to Pak Ae-hi, with a fairly new LG mobile phone she picked in her father’s spare phones in the drawer and a small gift box for Pak Ae-hi.
Pak Ae-hi felt somewhat surprised at Xu Nuo’s coming. She dressed differently from other sales staff of OSY Company. This girl named Xu Nuo obviously made very good preparation. She reeled off the Korean refrigerator market with good knowledge, even always nitpicking Pak Ae-hi had a smile on her face. What was more, her mobile phone was very lovely.
She could speak Chinese very fluently. There were too many companies to choose from in this batch of mini refrigerators purchase in China and she met up so many marketing representatives until becoming mind-numbing. Yet she didn’t find a specially good one to choose, so she was going to cancel the order. If there was nothing good, she’d rather have none.
“Miss Xu Nuo, I really admire you for your good knowledge of the market. But do you know what kind of fridge we need?” Pak Ae-hi gracefully picked up the cup of black tea. The place for their meeting was very quiet. Xu Nuo had chosen a good place.
“I can’t answer your question, because you yourself don’t know the answer to the question, do you?” Xu Nuo smiled at her, seeing through her.
“Before I have your suggestion I want to know where you bought the clothes you are wearing now, in South Korea or in local shop?
“Oh, this casual clothes of Thursday Island of mine was bought when I was traveling in South Korea. I feel very comfortable in it. You won’t think it impolite of me to wear it, will you?”
Immediately Pak Ae-hi’s eyes turned kind, “No, I won’t. My daughter also like the clothes of this brand and she has a large pile at home.”
Xu Nuo handed her a gift box and said, “Ms Pak, I appreciate you very much for giving us an opportunity to introduce our products to you. Whether you choose our products or not, I feel you are a very kind and amiable lady. This is a gift for you.”
“What is it?” Pak Ae-hi slowly unpacked the box and opened it. It was actually a Zhang Guorong’s DVD of limited edition. Heavens above! How could she know her mind?
“This DVD is a collection of all the works that Brother Zhang Guorong made for Hong Kong and Taiwan from the years of 1970s to 2000. As a fan of his, you deserve to have it, I suppose.” On that day when Pak Ae-hi passed the video store but left without anything, Xu Nuo went in and then got to know what she was looking for.
“Thank you very much, Miss Xu. I’ve been looking for this DVD for a long time. How can I express my thanks to you?” Pak Ae-hi liked Zhang Guorong, but this DVD is a limited edition, even in Hong Kong it was hard to find any trace of it. One of Xu Nuo’s friends was also a super fan of Zhang Guorong who happened to have bought two of the DVD, she had no choice but to part with her cherished possessions and give it to Xu Nuo.
“You’re welcome. This is what we should do for the client. Now please allow me to recommend our latest products to you.” Xu Nuo turned on her laptop. What she was going to promote was a new product that had not yet begun to produce in the factory but already had the design drawing and detailed production plan, a fridge for Korean pickles.
“This mini pickle fridge you’re watching now is the one and only in Korean market, and all products from foreign producers must have a design of a pickle pot if they want to enter the Korean market, and yet there are patent standards for the pickle pot which is in the hands of Korean refrigerator Enterprises. However the mini pickle fridge we produce has our own patent. Now please look here, the fridge has a storage room with one side opening in its shell that is made of foam materials inserted between inner shells. Inside the storage room a cooler to produce cold air and the main body of a ripening heater to produce the temperature required for ripening pickles are installed inside. Also there is a storage room door which is hinged with the opening part of the main body and can open and close the storage room of the main body. The doors of the storage rooms above-mentioned include the first door, one side of which is hinged with the opening part of the main body with movable guide rail that is combined with the door to open and close it, and the second storage room door, which can be moved independently to open and close the rest part of the storage room, so that you only need to open the first door when accessing small containers and food with only a little part of the storage room exposed. Therefore, the loss of cold air can be reduced and the cooling efficiency improved.” Xu Nuo spoke a little fast but she soon eased the pace of her speech. “I suppose you must need this kind of mini car refrigerator, which can keep your kimchi fresh and delicious at any time even in your car. We have also launched a limited edition of the fridge panel with precious pattern design to arouse market hunger and thirst. In this way our products can be sold like hot cakes.”
Song Ruyi was praying to God when the phone rang, Xu Nuo said, “Come here quickly to sign the contract.”
That’s how Xu Nuo got the unexpected promotion. After hearing the ins and outs of the event, Jiang Youyou gaped as if in a dream. When would she have such a good opportunity? Jiang Youyou thought.
Jiang Youyou gazed at her distant receding figure and felt a bit jealous. Standing at the reception desk and mechanically repeated the same words every day to every customer with “Good morning! Welcome to OSY Company! What can I do for you?”
Come on, Jiang Youyou!