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At this moment, Su Ning stood in front of the Shanghai Lanyang Insurance Building, looking up at the more than 20-story glass curtain wall building. The sunlight danced on the mirror surface, making him squint.

The system has been getting more and more unpredictable lately. I just finished working as a "male nanny," and now I've been assigned to be an insurance salesman.

In reality, there is not much difference between insurance salespeople and pyramid schemes; in the eyes of ordinary people, they are no different from swindlers who cheat people out of money.

They all do everything they can for the little money in their pockets, and insurance salespeople's clients are all relatives and friends.

Having a relative or friend who is an insurance salesperson is a truly painful experience for anyone.

Thinking of this, Su Ning gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, and straightened the collar of her bespoke suit.

Although he is just a young man who has graduated from university, he is unwilling to compromise his quality of life.

Anyway, this suit doesn't have any luxury brand logos, so I doubt anyone would know where it came from.

The four gilded characters of "Lanyang Insurance" gleamed in the sunlight.

Su Ning glanced down at his mechanical watch; it was 8:45, fifteen minutes earlier than the agreed time.

He didn't want to give the impression of being unpunctual on his first day, even though he seemed somewhat dismissive of the job.

The elevator was packed with office workers, and the incredibly handsome Suning was squeezed into a corner, surrounded by the smells of various perfumes, hairsprays, and breakfasts.

Suning felt that many girls in the elevator were pushing and shoving at him, as if they felt safer and more comfortable around him.

Su Ning stared at the floor numbers above the elevator buttons as they changed, her heart racing because the women around her were all so enthusiastic.

Soon they arrived at their destination, and Su Ning breathed a sigh of relief, but the working ladies seemed a little reluctant to leave.

18th floor, the Human Resources Department of Lanyang Insurance.

"Hello! My name is Su Ning! I'm here to complete my onboarding process at Lanyang."

The receptionist looked up at him, her eyes lighting up. She tapped a few keys on the keyboard: "Suning? A new sales representative, right? Just a moment, I'll go and inform Specialist Lin for you."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome! We'll be colleagues from now on."

"May I ask your surname, beautiful lady?"

"My surname is Wang! I am Wang Li."

Hello! I hope to take care of you in the future.

"Definitely! It's rare for Lanyang to have such a handsome guy join their company."

During the few minutes of waiting, Suning stood in the reception area, his fingers unconsciously stroking the edge of his briefcase. The casual conversation with the receptionist next to him was quite pleasant.

He noticed that the wall was covered with awards the company had received and photos of the team, with everyone smiling broadly in the pictures.

Su Ning suddenly felt a chill run down her spine, wondering if she would appear in such a photo.

“Suning?” A young woman with a ponytail walked out of the corridor, smiling and extending her hand to him. “I’m Lin Xiaorui from the Human Resources Department. I’m in charge of your onboarding process.”

This Lin Xiaorui looks only a few years older than my body, and her friendly smile might make me feel less nervous.

Then Su Ning shook the other person's hand: "Hello, Commissioner Lin."

"Just call me Xiaorui," Lin Xiaorui said, perhaps because of Su Ning's good image, as she led Su Ning through the corridor. "Today we mainly need to fill out some forms, apply for access cards and system accounts, and then Manager Wang from the sales department wants to talk to you."

The process of filling out the form was more complicated than Suning had imagined.

Employment contracts, confidentiality agreements, performance appraisal standards...

Each document needs to be carefully read and signed.

His handwriting appeared stiffer than usual due to nervousness.

"Huh? The base salary is only 2500?" Su Ning couldn't help but be surprised by the figure on the labor contract, which was much lower than he had expected.

Keep in mind that this is Shanghai, the Pearl of the Orient, a city with a long history of foreign trade. This amount of money might not even be enough to rent a toilet.

Lin Xiaorui, however, gave an understanding look and explained, "Insurance agents mainly rely on commissions; if you do well, your income can be quite substantial. Of course, the first few months might be a bit tough."

Then she deliberately moved closer to Suning and lowered her voice to say, "However, the company provides a protection period for new employees. Even if you don't meet the targets in the first three months, you won't be fired."

Suning nodded, forcefully blocking out the scent of the other person's perfume, and continued filling out the form.

2500 yuan is simply not enough to survive in Shanghai; this forces salespeople to achieve sales targets as quickly as possible.

Therefore, this industry is a wolf-like company that is full of energy and everyone here is frantically trying to sell products.

After completing the formalities, Lin Xiaorui gave him a tour of the company, where the open-plan office area was divided into several team areas.

Each area has a whiteboard and a performance leaderboard; the break room has a coffee machine and a microwave; at the far end are several meeting rooms, through which training sessions can be seen taking place.

“Suning, this is your workstation.” Lin Xiaorui pointed to an empty cubicle in Sales Section 2. “Team Leader Zhao from the Eagle Team will guide you, but before that, Manager Wang wants to see you.”

The sales manager's office door has a nameplate that reads "Wang Yong".

Lin Xiaorui knocked gently on the door, and a deep male voice came from inside: "Come in."

Wang Yong looked to be in his forties, with his hair neatly combed back, and his sharp eyes scrutinized Su Ning from behind his gold-rimmed glasses.

Several documents and a laptop were neatly arranged on the desk, while the bookshelf behind it displayed various sales-related books and trophies.

"Sit down," Wang Yong said, pointing to the chair opposite him.

"Thank you."

As Su Ning sat down, she noticed a framed photo on the table, which contained a picture of Wang Yong and a boy.

"Su Ning, 22 years old, a recent graduate from Shanghai University majoring in Marketing, with no experience in the insurance industry." Wang Yong flipped through his resume, stating it calmly, "Why did you choose insurance sales?"

"I believe that insurance is an industry that helps people, and the sales work is challenging and can quickly improve one's personal abilities."

Wang Yong's lips curled slightly upwards, whether it was a smile or sarcasm was hard to tell: "Very well-received! But I have to tell you the truth, insurance sales is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Every day you face countless rejections and endure enormous pressure. 90% of newcomers give up in the first six months."

Then he took a document from the drawer and pushed it to Suning: "These are your performance indicators. You have a three-month probation period and must achieve 30 yuan in premiums. After you become a full-time employee, the minimum is 15 yuan per month. If you can't do it, you're fired."

Su Ning took the document, her brows furrowing slightly. She hadn't expected to be the person she disliked the most.

30 means he needs to sell at least 60 basic insurance products with a premium of 5000 yuan each, or find several customers who want to buy large policies.

"Any more questions?" Wang Yong stared at him.

"no problem."

"Very good." Wang Zhenguo stood up, indicating the end of the conversation. "Zhao Zhiqiang will show you around the business. Remember! Here, only performance matters."

"clear."

As Su Ning walked out of the manager's office, the worry on her face deepened.

Lin Xiaorui waited for him at the door, seemingly reading something from his expression.

“Don’t worry too much,” she whispered. “Every newcomer goes through this. Manager Wang may have a sharp tongue, but he’s actually a nice person.”

Then she led Suning to the Eagle team's office area. Seven or eight salespeople were making phone calls or organizing documents at their respective workstations, while a man in his thirties with a robust build was writing something in front of a whiteboard.

“Team Leader Zhao,” Lin Xiaorui greeted, “this is your team’s newest member, Su Ning.”

Zhao Zhiqiang turned around, looked Su Ning up and down, and nodded with satisfaction: "Okay, I understand."

He then said to Suning, "The team will have a morning meeting at 9:30. Go to the IT department to get your computer first, and then come back to attend."

"clear."

There was no welcome, no self-introduction, and Suning felt a little disappointed, but still nodded in agreement.

Lin Xiaorui seemed to notice his mood and whispered before leaving, "Captain Zhao is one of the company's top sales performers for three consecutive years. You can learn a lot from him. He's just not very good at expressing himself, or rather, he's reserved his expressions for the customers."

When Suning returned to his workstation after collecting his computer, he noticed a woman in her twenties sitting next to him, touching up her lipstick in front of a small mirror.

Seeing him approach, she smiled warmly: "New here? I'm Liu Na."

"Suning, I just started working here today," he said with a smile, putting down his laptop bag.

“Welcome to hell,” Liu Na said half-jokingly, lowering her voice. “But don’t worry too much, everyone’s in the same boat for the first few months. If you don’t understand anything, you can ask me. Of course, only during working hours. I’m not obligated to be a free tutor after get off work.”

"..."

Before Su Ning could even express his gratitude, Zhao Zhiqiang's voice came from the center of the team area: "Everyone, get to the meeting room within five minutes for the morning meeting!"

The members of the Eagles team entered a small conference room one after another.

Suning found a corner to sit down and observed his future colleagues.

There were friendly-looking people like Liu Na, a few who ignored him, and a middle-aged man who scrutinized him with a critical eye from the moment he entered.

Zhao Zhiqiang stood at the front and clicked the remote control to turn on the projector: "First of all, welcome our new member, Su Ning."

Sparse applause broke out. "As is customary, the newcomers will now introduce themselves."

Then Su Ning stood up, feeling everyone's eyes on him: "Hello everyone, I am Su Ning, 22 years old, and a graduate of Shanghai University majoring in Marketing. I am honored to join the Eagle Team and hope to learn from everyone and work together."

“Another college student,” the middle-aged man muttered, but loud enough for those around him to hear. “The last one didn’t last two months.”

Zhao Zhiqiang pretended not to hear: "Next is the performance review. Last month, our team completed 320 million yuan in premiums, which is 80 yuan short of the target."

He looked at the middle-aged man and asked, "Li Wen, what's the deal with your 30 yuan shortfall?"

Li Wen, the one who had been muttering earlier, looked very grim: "Team leader, a few orders have fallen through at the last minute. We'll make sure to make up for them this month."

“That would be for the best,” Zhao Zhiqiang said coldly. “I’ll give you another month. If you can’t do it, you’re out.”

He turned to the others, saying, "Liu Na did a good job, achieving 120% of her personal goal."

Liu Na smiled, while the others cast envious or jealous glances at her.

Suning realized that in this team, performance was everything.

The second half of the meeting was a training session on sales techniques for the new product, "Lanyang Ankang Whole Life Insurance".

Suning took careful notes, trying to understand the professional terminology and sales techniques.

When the meeting was about to end, Zhao Zhiqiang called him back.

"Suning, what customer resources do you have?"

Suning was taken aback: "I'm just starting out, and I haven't built up a customer base yet."

Zhao Zhiqiang frowned: "Don't you have any relatives or friends to sell to? Or college classmates?"

"I can try contacting my classmates..." she said somewhat uncertainly.

“Listen,” Zhao Zhiqiang’s tone turned stern, “the most important thing in insurance sales is connections. Without client resources, you won’t even last three months. By this afternoon, I want to see your list of at least 50 potential clients and their contact information.”

Su Ning opened her mouth in surprise, but couldn't say a word.

50? He didn't know if he had even ten close friends.

"Any more questions?" Zhao Zhiqiang asked casually.

"no problem."

Back at his workstation, Suning stared blankly at the computer screen.

Liu Na slid over in her chair: "Were you scared? Captain Zhao is like that with everyone, especially the newcomers."

Suning smiled wryly at the "50 potential customers" question, "I can't even think of 5."

Liu Na looked at him sympathetically: "Go through your contacts. List your college classmates, people you know from clubs, even your neighbors. The first time is just to get it over with; it might not actually close a deal." She paused, "But honestly, if you don't have connections, this line of work will be very difficult."

Suning opened his contacts and began to recall and record the names one by one.

Suddenly, I realized that I had not entered an ordinary office job, but a brutal survival game about networking, communication skills, and resilience.

At noon, Suning sat alone in a corner of the company cafeteria, slowly chewing on his bland meal.

The surrounding conversations and laughter seemed to have no effect on him.

Looking up, I saw Liu Na and a female colleague walking towards me and sitting directly opposite Suning.

“The first day is always the hardest for a newcomer,” she put down her plate. “But don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. This afternoon I’ll take you to meet a client so you can see what actual sales is like.”

Su Ning looked up in surprise and saw Liu Na's sincere smile.

Perhaps he thought the job wouldn't be as bad as he imagined.

"Liu Na, my problem right now is that I can't come up with a list of potential clients."

"how come?"

"My college classmates have all just graduated! Most of them are in similar situations to me, and I don't want to bother them."

"Then you're in for some trouble."

"..."

“Suning, I can help you solve this first problem, but you have to do me a favor too.”

"You tell me first."

“I have a female client who’s very difficult to deal with. I’ll have dinner with her with her later.”

"Eating is fine! But nothing else is allowed."

"Don't worry! At most, female customers will just touch you a couple of times."

"..."

...(End of chapter)