Xiaomi Heavy Industry, its first entrepreneurial venture!

Chapter 463 Let's throw a rock down first! (First update!)

Wow!

The sound of glass shattering on the ground rang out. Lin Bin, who was making tea next to the water dispenser, looked up blankly. After a couple of seconds, he realized that everyone was looking at him, and then he suddenly remembered that he was making tea.

Looking down, I saw that the tea in the glass had splashed everywhere and was lying on the floor, steaming slightly.

He quickly went to the coffee table next to him, tore off two sheets of toilet paper, returned to the broken glass, picked up the glass shards, and wrapped them in the paper.

Go out.

Before long, he returned with a broom, shovel, and mop and cleaned the floor.

It took me about 10 minutes to finally tidy everything up before I returned to the water dispenser, brewed a few more cups of tea, and started serving tea and water.

The last cup of tea was offered to Lei Jun.

As he handed over the tea, Lin Bin casually nudged Lei Jun with his elbow.
"Are you crazy?"

“He’s not crazy!” Lei Jun waved the documents in his hand and handed them to Lin Bin: “Take a look, you’ll understand once you see them.”

With a mixture of disbelief and skepticism, Lin Bin swallowed hard, composed himself, and opened the document, his gaze immediately landing on the final total price.

Upon seeing the price, he abruptly lowered his hands, his eyes widened, and stared intently at Lei Jun. After two seconds, realizing he had the wrong person, he turned his gaze to Lin Yi.
"Mr. Lin, this price..."

Lin Bin wanted to say that this was cutting corners, but then he glanced at the chip prices in the table, which were the same as theirs, with no difference.

The difference lies in those small electronic components.

Each one is cheaper than the parts they find to be manufactured by others. Some of these parts are a few cents cheaper, some are a few dimes cheaper, and at most they are only two or three dollars cheaper.

However, when all these parts are put together, the overall price advantage becomes apparent.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Bin cautiously asked, "Mr. Lin, these companies..."

He didn't ask the rest of the question. He really wanted to ask these companies if they could continue to supply goods at this price, but Lin Yi had already said that they settled accounts with these companies in cash and also provided technical support.

They can get lower prices than others.

These questions don't need to be asked; the question that needs to be asked is whether the cooperation can last.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Bin cautiously asked what was on his mind: "Mr. Lin, what if... I mean, what if!"

“As the company in the industry chain became more well-known, other manufacturers came over and poached them with higher prices.”

"So, what's next..."

This time, Lin Bin still didn't finish his sentence.

Because Lin Yi, who was opposite him, raised his right hand halfway through his sentence, extended his slender index finger, and gently waved it in front of him:

"Don't worry about that!"

“We can provide technical and financial support, and we can cut off technical and financial support.”

"Moreover, for the same type of manufacturer, we usually support three."

“When selecting goods, we will choose two companies, but for the third company, as long as there are no problems or messes during the sample production, we will find other similar business orders for them to produce.”

"Doing this will ensure the factory's continued survival."

"Competitors can poach one or two suppliers, but poaching three at the same time is only possible if they're out of their minds."

"It doesn't matter if we dig them all up!"

His words were confident and composed. If it were someone else, or someone who had never met Lin Yi and didn't know what this guy was up to, Lin Bin would have continued to be suspicious. But he was well aware of the power Lin Yi wielded. Hearing this, he nodded decisively and chose not to dwell on the matter any longer.

He put down the documents, pushed a chair over from the side, then walked to the sofa, took a notebook from his briefcase, and sat down opposite Lin Yu, his gaze fixed on Lei Jun:

"The prototype is out now, and you've also set the approximate price."

"Now we need to prepare the distribution channels. How do you plan to do that?"

When asked about the distribution channels, Lei Jun instinctively thought of answering online direct sales and then shipping via express delivery.

But the words caught in his throat, and he turned to look at Lin Yi instead:

"Mr. Lin, I remember..."

"Stop!" Lin Yi raised his hand, interrupting him, and then, under the gaze of Lin Bin and Lin Yi, began to take out his phone to make a call:
"Liu Yongqiang, come to my office!"

"Gao Jin, come to my office!"

About ten minutes later, Liu Yongqiang and Gao Jin arrived. As soon as they entered, Lin Yi raised his hand to introduce them to each other:

"These two, Mr. Lin and Mr. Lei from Xiaomi Group, have already produced prototype phones, and the overall price is also relatively clear."

"Now we need to clarify the distribution channels."

"You two explain this to them!"

Turning his head, he looked at Lin Bin and Lei Jun: "These two are Liu Yongqiang from the Public Relations Department of Xiaomi Heavy Industry Group and Gao Jin from the Sales Department."

"Our advertising, public relations, and crisis management are all handled by General Manager Liu Yongqiang."

"The stores of home appliance brands, as well as overseas channels in Japan, are mainly managed by Mr. Gao Jin."

After the introductions, he looked at Liu Yongqiang and Gao Jin: "Old Liu, Old Gao!"

“These two are our partners, and we can grant them access to our store.”

After clarifying the positions and responsibilities of these two individuals, Lin Bin gave Lin Yi a thumbs-up without hesitation: "President Lin is indeed magnanimous!"

Turning his head, he first looked at Gao Jin: "Mr. Gao, could you tell us about the current store situation of Xiaomi Heavy Industry?"

Lin Yi had already granted him the permissions, so Gao Jin wasn't surprised to hear Lin Bin's question.

He didn't answer immediately, but instead said "Wait a moment," and then turned and walked out of Lin Yi's office.

About 10 minutes later, he reappeared at the door, this time with a map in his left hand and a pile of documents in his right.

Upon seeing what was in his hand, Liu Yongqiang quickly cleared the coffee table next to him, took the map, and spread it out on the table.

Gao Jin also pressed those documents onto the map.

Lin Bin and his companion leaned closer, about to ask a question, when Gao Jin preemptively placed his hand on the map and answered their questions:
"As of the beginning of this year, there were 283 prefecture-level cities and 368 county-level cities in China."

"And our stores have already opened in these 283 prefecture-level cities."

"Cities marked in green on the map mean that the stores have opened and are in normal operation."

"The yellow area means that the store has been opened, but it is still in the trial operation stage. We need to use some advertising methods to increase brand awareness in these areas."

"The red areas are where we have already rented suitable locations and are currently transforming them into stores."

"Our General Manager Lin just said that you can have all the permissions for these stores granted to you."

"If Mr. Lei wants, I can contact all the stores right now and have them, whether they are already completed or are currently under renovation, urgently install a batch of counters."

"As long as Mr. Lei's phones are shipped, they can be delivered directly to these counters through our transportation channels." "Then you can achieve simultaneous online and offline sales."

"And those who want to buy after seeing your press conference don't have to wait too long; they can pick up their goods directly at the store."

Gao Jin's words made Lei Jun turn his head to look at the map.

The map covering the coffee table was divided into three distinct areas.

Red, yellow, and green.

The areas marked in green are mainly concentrated along the coast and in the central and eastern regions.

The areas marked in yellow are the Midwest, North Central, and Northeast.

The area marked in red is the western region.

The 283 prefecture-level cities cover the entire country. Even for county towns, the distance to these prefecture-level cities, except for the vast western regions, is only a few dozen kilometers or an hour or two.

At this point, driving dozens of kilometers and spending an hour or two to buy a phone that is cheaper than others but has similar functions and performance is actually worthwhile in the eyes of most people.

With online channels and these physical stores, Lei Jun suddenly felt that everything was on his side.

He took a deep breath and took Gao Jin's right hand with both hands: "Mr. Gao, then I'll trouble you to add a counter for me in these stores."

"Um……"

"If possible, we'll need to trouble your employees to help sell the goods."

Faced with his request, Gao Jin slyly glanced at Lin Yi out of the corner of his eye.

Looking at Lin Yi, who was calmly drinking tea, Gao Jin immediately made a decision.

The two sides were not far apart, and Lei Jun did not deliberately lower his voice when he spoke, so his boss must have heard him.

But he made no comment.

That means he agrees with this.

Looking away from his eyes, he warmly pulled Lei Jun aside and said, "It's nothing, it's all nothing."

"However, our counter design habits may be different from yours. Mr. Lei, you'll have to trouble your people to come up with a counter design as soon as possible so I can make the necessary arrangements."

"Okay, okay!" Lei Jun said repeatedly, then turned to Lin Bin and said:

"You make the arrangements."

"I know!" Lin Bin nodded, first noting the matter down in his notebook, then, fiddling with his pen, said to Gao Jin:
"There's one more thing I need to trouble you with, Mr. Hai: the location and size of the store's counters. With these two things, we can design the counters much faster."

Gao Jin made an OK sign with his right hand and added, "I'll give you the data together later!"

"Thank you so much!" After finishing his conversation with Gao Jin, Lin Bin turned around, sat down opposite Liu Yongqiang, and gave him a smile. "Mr. Liu, um... regarding the relevant publicity, as a senior colleague, I wonder if you could offer some advice?"

Faced with Lin Bin's question, Liu Yongqiang scratched his head slightly, looking somewhat embarrassed.

The main tasks of the public relations department are marketing and handling public relations crises.

In comparison, handling a public relations crisis is easier because the problem has already emerged, there is a clear direction, and you just need to follow that direction to deal with it.

While marketing can offer specific directions, during execution, even a small factor can reverse the overall marketing outcome, leading to a public relations crisis.

This situation is most likely to occur when product manufacturers haven't figured out their own positioning.

Xiaomi Group is on the verge of this situation.

Offering advice at this time is very likely to backfire.

He really didn't want to make that suggestion.

But it was clear that Lin Bin didn't want to let him off the hook. This Mr. Lin put down his notebook, moved behind Liu Yongqiang, and placed his hands on Liu Yongqiang's shoulders, gently massaging them.

The technique was quite skillful.

After enjoying the shoulder massage for a while, Liu Yongqiang slowly raised his head and whispered:
"If I had to do it, I would choose to focus on the price!"

There are two ways to play the price game.

"The first type is very straightforward, directly telling the other party about the product's performance and corresponding price."

"For example, if you plan to sell it for 1600, then you can directly state 1600 during the pre-sale period. As long as it is purchased from your store or official website, it will be 1600. There are no other fees."

"Make the price clear, finish the pre-sale event, and then start selling!"

"Once the first batch of people who receive the equipment start using it, we can establish an image of honesty and integrity among them."

"This image is very important for anyone who wants to develop a brand."

"The second method is to raise expectations and then feign indifference to lure the prey."

"Your product design is excellent, and with our strong OEM capabilities, the product performance will definitely be far superior to that of our competitors."

"The first thing we need to do is to create posters featuring the appearance and performance parameters of our phones."

"If we have enough money, we can do it like a scratch-off lottery ticket, releasing one performance parameter each day, and finally announcing the price."

"But this price cannot be a fixed price."

"For example, if you plan to sell it for 2299, ignore the last three digits and replace the first digit with a question mark. This way, people will see an uncertain price before they see the skill parameter table."

"They will subconsciously feel that your prices are about the same as others."

"But when you announce a lower price at the press conference, they will find that the price is lower than they expected, much lower."

"Same performance, lower price, and decent quality—that's just another form of advertising."

"They'll definitely buy it!"

"My advice on marketing is to do it sooner rather than later. Anyway, the prototype is already out, so let's be optimistic and it can be launched in one or two months."

"By releasing this news now, you are essentially throwing stones at your competitors."

"In order to avoid being vandalized, they will definitely try to cause trouble. When that happens, if we seize on what they have done, it will generate another wave of news traffic."

"Once the news traffic comes out, they will definitely get anxious. Once they get anxious, something will happen, and once something happens, there will be entertainment."

"We can generate news traffic just by watching this and having a good laugh."

"As long as the manufacturers cooperate, we only need to spend a small amount of money to keep the topic in the news."

"This is a case of getting a lot done with a little money!"

Liu Yongqiang's analysis was logical and well-reasoned. Lin Bin didn't dwell on it too much. He wrote down the details, checked them again to make sure there were no problems, and then extended his right hand to Lei Jun.

"money!"

(End of this chapter)