I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 557 Slow, you guys are too slow!
“Right now, the only companies that can rival Alibaba are the other two BAT companies, Baidu and Tencent,” Bai Ou said.

“Baidu will also enter the fray and fight in the food delivery market,” Fang Qingye said.

"Huh?!" Bai Ou was stunned.

"As far as I know, Baidu is in talks with Nuomi.com, preparing to acquire the latter in its entirety. Don't you think Nuomi.com is just the next Meituan?"

“Yes, Nuomi.com is also a well-known group-buying website. If it wants to transform, it will be like Meituan. Then the competition in the food delivery industry will be even more intense.” A trace of worry appeared on Bai Ou’s face.

"When two armies meet on a narrow path, the brave shall prevail. Let's do it!" Fang Qingye said, "Let's eat. The noodles are getting cold."

The next morning, Fang Qingye got up, went for a run in the neighborhood, and then returned to the villa. Bai Ou had already gone to work, and Fang Qingye ate breakfast alone, which was just bread and milk, very simple.

He was preparing to return to Nanxin, but before leaving, he made a phone call to Wang Chenyang.

"Chenyang, are you still in contact with Lin Haifeng from Tencent?"

“We exchange greetings occasionally during holidays, but we don’t keep in touch otherwise,” Wang Chenyang answered truthfully on the other end of the phone. “Chairman Fang, is Ele.me planning to seek funding from Tencent this time? I can talk to Lin Haifeng first.”

"Don't rush, finish the financing report first."

"OK."

Fang Qingye did not rush to leave the city immediately, but drove to the Pudong branch of the bank on Yinzhou Street in Lujiazui to inspect the preparatory work. At noon, he had lunch with Chen Danlu and Wei Hang, the main responsible persons who had already taken office, and returned to Nanxin in the afternoon.

Because of the National Day holiday, we work on Tuesdays this week, but we don't get a day off on Saturdays. On Saturday night, Fang Qingye received emails from Zhang Xuhao and others, containing plans related to their respective business segments.

Fang Qingye immediately went to her study, turned on her computer, and started working on each document carefully.

White lotus root has returned from Shanghai.

To ease her fatigue from driving, Fang Qingye hired a female driver for her on behalf of Tuofang Technology. So even though she had a day off tomorrow, Bai Ou still rushed back from Shanghai to reunite with her husband.

I'm doing yoga at the gym right now.

To stay fit and in good shape, Bai Ou has decorated two villas, one in Shanghai and the other in Nanxin, with a gym, and she exercises every day after get off work.

Fang Qingye wasn't really interested in this thing. She felt that going for a run in the morning or playing badminton when she had time was much better than being on a treadmill.

After Bai Ou finished her yoga and exercised on the treadmill for a while, she worked up a sweat and then went to the bathroom to take a shower. After drying her hair and changing into her pajamas, she came out and originally wanted to take Fang Qingye with her to the living room to watch TV. However, when she entered the study, she found her husband looking at the computer screen with a furrowed brow.

"Ye Zi, what are you looking at?" Bai Ou asked curiously.

"Take a look at Zhang Xuhao and the others' planning proposal," Fang Qingye said.

Bai Ou walked over and examined it closely.

"Expanding Ele.me to all prefecture-level cities and above across the country within two years, and more than half of the county-level cities... Yezi, that's quite an expansion speed," Bai Ou said.

"Too slow." Fang Qingye shook her head.

"Ah, still slow?!" Bai Ou exclaimed in surprise.

"As of now, excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, there are a total of 32 municipalities and provincial capitals in China, 333 prefecture-level cities including those with independent planning status, and 2843 county-level administrative regions. I demand that all cities above the prefecture level be covered within one year, and at least two-thirds of the county-level cities!"

"Huh?!" Bai Ou was shocked once again.

"With one year remaining, we will cover the remaining counties and begin to cover townships, starting with economically developed areas. The plan is to cover townships in economically developed areas within three years!"

Bai Ou stood there stunned behind Fang Qingye, opening her mouth but not knowing what to say. After a while, she came to her senses: "Yezi, this is a huge leap forward! Not to mention the immense pressure Deng Ye will face, there's also the huge challenge that Kang Jia is in charge of personnel training, Wang Chenyang is in charge of finance, and Wang Yuan and his team are facing with their back-end management system!"

“Yes, it’s a challenge for everyone!” Fang Qingye said calmly. “At their speed, they can’t beat Meituan.”

White lotus root fell silent once again.

“I’m going to Shanghai on Monday,” Fang Qingye said.

Bai Ou didn't answer. She knew in her heart that her husband's visit to Ele.me would cause another huge uproar.

On Monday, Fang Qingye once again drove to Shanghai to convene a board meeting in the afternoon.

Unlike last week, when Fang Qingye had a calm expression during the meeting, today she looked very serious.

"Everyone, I've read all the departmental plans you sent out. Do you know how I felt after reading them?" Fang Qingye said, her gaze slowly sweeping across everyone's faces.

"How do you feel?" Wang Chenyang provided excellent straight man response.

One word: Slow!

"Deng Ye, your market promotion is too slow! Kang Jia, your personnel training is too slow! Wang Yuan, your NAPOS system expansion is too slow!"

Fang Qingye uttered the word "slow" three times in a row, leaving the people present somewhat bewildered. After a moment, they reacted, and Deng Ye was the first to jump out and protest:
"Chairman Fang, expanding Ele.me to all prefecture-level cities and more than half of the county-level cities nationwide within two years means that I've expanded to 182 prefecture-level cities and about 1200 county-level cities in those two years. Is that slow?!"

“If Meituan hadn’t come along, I think your speed would have been just right, but now that Meituan is here, it seems slow,” Fang Qingye replied calmly.

"Chairman Fang, you're giving Meituan way too much credit. They're human, not gods."

Deng Ye's words immediately resonated with the group, and they began to discuss them.

Only Wang Chenyang looked at Fang Qingye with a worried expression.

If Ele.me cannot fully convince Deng Ye and the other three, its execution efforts will be greatly reduced.

If even the CEO, COO, CMO, and CTO harbor resentment, how can the people below them work?
"Alright then, I'll see how Meituan operates when it comes to competing in the group-buying website market." Fang Qingye said with a faint smile, "Have you heard of Meituan's 'iron army of ground sales'?"

"Ground sales iron army"?
The group looked at each other and shook their heads.

"This is a team that Alibaba Vice President Gan Jiawei built after joining Meituan. They have a standardized negotiation manual: each page is printed with 'Three Questions for Merchants'."

"Do you know which three questions?"

1. How many more orders can be sold through online exposure? 2. How can we guarantee profits at group-buying prices? 3. How much lower is Meituan's commission rate compared to its competitors?

“They all have standard answers, and even the rhythm of their speech is carefully considered: first calculate the offline rental costs, then present competitor cases, and finally pull out a calculator to demonstrate the ROI of group buying for traffic generation.”

"Their ground sales team has an iron discipline: they must visit 15 new businesses every day, and the signing rate is included in their performance evaluation. One ground sales team once spent a week squatting at the door of a popular rice noodle shop in Shanghai, helping the owner clear bowls and wipe tables, using their 'hard work' to secure an exclusive partnership; there are many similar cases, such as helping the children of husband-and-wife shop owners with their homework, which is commonplace for them."

"I ask you, can our Ele.me sales staff do that?!"

The group looked at each other, bewildered.

Deng Ye's face turned ashen.

(End of this chapter)