Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 162 Gift Giving and Credit

This season, the Northeast is much more comfortable than Jianye. Yan Hui landed at the airport in Harbin and took a few deep breaths of the cool air after exiting the station.

call…

Throughout the journey, Yan Hui kept thinking about the gift-giving. On the plane, he held a book about interpersonal relationships and was reading it carefully.

The book provides a detailed analysis of a well-known character—Grandma Liu from "Dream of the Red Chamber".

She visited the Rongguo Mansion three times, transforming from a poor relative into a benefactor of the Jia family. On her first visit, she gained Wang Xifeng's help through humor and humility, and later she provided crucial assistance at critical moments. Seemingly a vulgar character, she was insightful and adept at navigating between wealthy families and the lower classes.

Yan Hui only understood the importance of "gift-giving" after reading many books, and that choosing the right gift is essential.

The core purpose of gift-giving is to strengthen relationships or maintain affection, and different methods should be used for different situations.

Some people prioritize profit above all else, so gift-giving becomes an exchange of benefits. They want to deliver the gift directly to the right person, down to the "line" – this is the most basic approach. For example, if a project is hard to secure but offers substantial profits, and the person responsible for allocating the project holds a decisive position, they might even leave the vast majority of the profits to the recipient.

This is the simplest form of gift-giving. Whether it's exchanging money for an anonymous card or sending money to a related person, it's not difficult. All gift-giving for the sake of exchanging benefits is very simple because the recipient's purpose is also very simple.

When Yan Hui was working for his second brother, who was moving timber, his brother asked him to give gifts to Boss Wang at the construction site. That was the situation. Boss Wang controlled the resources, but his second brother was unwilling to share most of the profits, so the business deal fell through.

It's hard to say the second brother was wrong; after all, it's understandable that he wouldn't want to do it with such low profits. But if Yan Hui were doing it, he would definitely be willing to maintain that cash flow.

Actually, the more troublesome gifts are those related to maintaining relationships.

If you think that giving expensive gifts can solve all problems, that not only doesn't make sense in business, but more importantly, the recipient might not even be willing to accept it.

Sometimes, some leaders are really unwilling to accept gifts. In that case, the gifts you exchange should not exceed the limits that friends should have. Sometimes a cup of milk tea is better than a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes. The former is a friendly gesture, while the latter is something the person simply doesn't want.

For a leader like this, all you should do is get things done.

...

This is where you can see the difference between Yan Hui and his cousin.

My cousin's logic is simple: it's about exchanging benefits. This is an unchanging rule in business, since mutual benefit is the core element for maintaining relationships.

But Yan Hui felt that his cousin had oversimplified the concept of "profit".

The benefits Yan Hui gave to President Teng were far greater than the "gifts" his cousin gave when negotiating business deals.

For example, this time Yan Hui reduced the price of timber by 50 yuan per cubic meter, and the price difference for more than 200 cubic meters reached more than 1 yuan.

It should be noted that Yan Hui had already signed a contract for the original price of 670 yuan, so this extra 1 yuan was essentially a gift to President Teng.

If Huang Tianhong were smart, he should come and apologize to Yan Hui. If Huang Tianhong actually whispers something in President Teng's ear, that would be the outcome Yan Hui really wants.

Huang Tianhong's attempt to compete with Yan Hui for business at this point would inevitably result in losses, which is not only pointless but would also make it difficult to return to normal prices later. Of course, President Teng would never tell him the acquisition price.

In short, if Huang Tianhong tries to sow discord between Yan Hui and President Teng, he will inevitably be the one to lose. The concept of "face" between people can be quite subtle sometimes.

If Huang Tianhong and President Teng have any disagreements within half a month, then even if the price is the same, President Teng will definitely only go to Yan Hui in the future.

Let's go back to Wang Hongjun.

Wang Hongjun is bold, meticulous, and decisive. If Yan Hui gives him a very expensive gift, Wang Hongjun will be wary. If Yan Hui gives him a lavish gift worth five or six thousand yuan and then asks for eighty or ninety thousand yuan worth of goods to stock up, Wang Hongjun will resolutely refuse.

Although only four months have passed, Yan Hui is no longer the same person he was before. Previously, he and Wang Hongjun were complete strangers, and he could claim to be a "hostage" and pledge himself to Wang Hongjun to gain the latter's trust. Now, it's impossible for him to do that because the cooperation between the two has changed.

Simply put, Yan Hui's current status means he can no longer be used as collateral, and Wang Hongjun wouldn't dare to use him either. After all, Yan Hui has gained some fame in the industry, and if Wang Hongjun were to use Yan Hui as collateral, other businessmen would only think that Wang Hongjun is too domineering.

Given these multiple factors, the best course of action for Yan Hui would be to reach a normal inventory agreement. Therefore, when giving gifts, it's crucial to be mindful, thoughtful, and free from ulterior motives.

In business, it's perfectly normal for people to hold inventory without paying upfront; this relies on commercial trust. Gift-giving, on the other hand, is simply a matter of friendship.

Trying to maintain business credibility by giving gifts worth a few thousand yuan might actually make the other party doubt your business reputation.

Take the present situation as an example. If you rashly offer a bag of cash to the wrong person, no one will dare to accept it. The other party will assume that you have recording or secretly recording devices. Regardless of whether you actually have them or not, the other party will assume that you have them. This will not only result in rejection, but also make it impossible to do business with them in the future.

Yan Hui took a taxi back to Bingcheng city, bought some food, and took the train back to Yichun in the afternoon. He will return to Tangwanghe early the next morning.

Yan Hui had a bad experience staying at the previous hotel, but since it was the cheapest and closest, he had no choice but to choose this place again. He even told the owner that his wife would be coming over at night and not to disturb him, and the owner said he understood.

No one knocked on the door all night, and Yan Hui slept soundly until the next day.

Upon returning to Tangwanghe, Yan Hui immediately went to see Wang Hongjun and showed him his order.

"Red pine?" Wang Hongjun smiled after looking at it. "I told you last month that the red pine from Yichun is really good! You've finally secured an order for red pine! I have a lot of red pine stock left over, so this is the price I can offer you this time."

Wang Hongjun extended a hand gesture.

Yan Hui nodded upon seeing this, but was secretly overjoyed.

This truckload of just 60 cubic meters of red pine planks can bring Yan Hui an astonishing profit of nearly 20,000 yuan!

When Yan Hui called General Manager Teng before, he mentioned that the sharp drop in larch prices was due to the forest farm's cash flow problems, which forced them to clear out inventory. Unexpectedly, there was no inventory of larch, but rather that of red pine.

"That's wonderful!" Yan Hui beamed. "Brother Jun, I've already paid you over 3 yuan. I still need three more train cars of goods, and I want them shipped all at once. The total amount I've paid you should be around 13 yuan, but I only have about 6 yuan in cash left. I considered this before I came, and I realized I don't have enough funds. I was planning to discuss it with you. Considering this train of larch lumber that's ready to be shipped right now, I need to ship four train cars in total. I'll ship them two at a time, and I'll ask you to hold onto some stock so I can ship all four at once?"

“What are you waiting for? Your order is right here, that’s a good thing! Train transport takes more than ten days, so of course we’ll send it out in four wagons at once!” Wang Hongjun offered the answer proactively.

At this moment, Yan Hui has not yet given his gift.

(The next chapter should be fine before evening)

(End of this chapter)