All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

In addition to this, he is willing to pay for two sets of work clothes with Thunder Electric Appliances for each repair shop technician. Besides this benefit, each repair shop can also purchase Thunder Electric Fans at an internal price.

This internal price is only slightly more expensive than the purchase price of those shopping malls, giving it an absolute price advantage in the retail market.

In fact, this behavior was not in compliance with regulations, but Lei Dongbao still implemented this benefit. When Lei Dongbao was thinking about how to attract repairmen, he suddenly came up with this idea: aren't these repairmen the best salespeople?

Of course, these repairmen are not qualified to sell electric fans, but they can use the pretext of buying and selling used electric fans to sell them to relatives and friends, and friends of friends. They sell them for 159 in shopping malls, but for 139 in acquaintances. China is a society based on personal connections, so what a great idea!

This can be considered the first generation of micro-business owners, who only make money from their family. This internal benefit did attract a large number of technicians with repair skills, successfully solving the problem of Leiting Electric Appliances' repair points.

Lei Dongbao also wanted to make Leiting Electric Appliance Repair Shop more standardized, but there was really no way. The current strength of Xiaolei Family was just like this. Although there were still millions in the account, Lei Dongbao didn't know how long this money could last, because there were too many places where he would need to spend money in the future.

In those days, sales channels were extremely limited. When people wanted to buy electrical appliances, their first thought was to go to an appliance store, unlike in later years when there was a wide variety of products available everywhere.

Therefore, advertising in this era is really effective. In addition to the three guarantees service, Lei Dongbao plans to increase its advertising investment this year.

Currently, Xiao Lei's family has over 1.4 million yuan in cash on hand, and a 1 million yuan loan has been received. Apart from paying some of the parts factory fees, Xiao Lei's family is now very well-off.

However, this amount of money is far from enough. Lei Dongbao expects to stock up on electric fans worth more than one million yuan, or even more than two million yuan, before May this year. As for where to raise so much money, he can only make empty promises for now.

Last year, the cooperation with various newspapers and magazines in Jinzhou went smoothly, but wining and dining couldn't solve the problem in the end. This year, he plans to directly place advertisements in the newspapers and magazines.

Last year, the Thunder Fan ads in the Golden State newspapers were mostly soft-sell advertisements embedded in social news. This year, however, Lei Dongbao directly approached the Golden State Daily, the largest newspaper in Golden State, to discuss advertising cooperation.

When the Jinzhou Daily heard Lei Dongbao's request for cooperation, they were hesitant for a moment. In the 1970s and early 1980s, there were really no newspaper advertisements. It wasn't until 1983 and 1984 that commercial advertising was fully developed. In 1981, Lei Dongbao was considered a pioneer in Jinzhou in discussing commercial advertising cooperation.

However, since the reform and opening up has begun, the authorities are not very strict about this matter anymore. Besides, the Thunder Fan advertisement is not a prohibited item. Most importantly, the price offered by Lei Dongbao is simply too tempting.

Lei Dongbao offered a sky-high price of 500 yuan for a quarter-page ad with a picture, and offered to sign a long-term cooperation agreement. In 1981, Leiting Electric Fan would have at least 50,000 yuan worth of advertising space in various newspapers and magazines of the Jinzhou Daily.

In those days, although newspapers were still the mainstream source of information and Jinzhou Daily was a large organization, the staff of the newspaper was bloated and the salary and benefits were actually not as good as some state-owned enterprises with good performance. With this 50,000 yuan, how much welfare could be given to everyone?

After the editor-in-chief of Jinzhou Daily reported the matter to the president, Jinzhou Daily held a meeting to discuss it and finally agreed to Lei Dongbao's advertising cooperation. The two parties signed the contract happily.

Of course, the 50,000 yuan wasn't given all at once. Lei Dongbao first gave a 5,000 yuan deposit. The advertising period was from May 1st to August 1st, a three-month advertising period with an income of 50,000 yuan in three months. It was too good to pass up, so Jinzhou Newspaper signed the cooperation contract without hesitation.

Lei Dongbao didn't really hide the fact that he was planning to advertise in the newspaper; it's just that nobody really understood it.

Lei Dongbao spent 50,000 yuan on an advertisement in a newspaper, which shocked many people, and even many villagers in Xiaolei Village did not understand it, thinking that Lei Dongbao was now wasting money.

Lei Dongbao ignored the discussions of others and spent money like water. In addition to the Jinzhou Daily, he began to place advertisements in newspapers in the thirteen prefecture-level cities under Anyun Province.

Besides prefecture-level cities, Lei Dongbao also reached out to county-level channels. He wanted to make sure that tens of millions of people throughout Anhui Province knew about the Leiting brand electric fan this year.

As a result, the million-dollar sum in Xiao Lei's account was decreasing at an almost visible rate. The sales season for electric fans wouldn't start until May, but before May, Lei Dongbao had already signed nearly one million newspaper and magazine advertising contracts with various newspapers in 95 counties and cities across Anyun Province.

Xiao Lei's family now owes more than one million yuan in spare parts debt, and their warehouse is piled high with electric fans.

Moreover, Lei Dongbao ordered Leiting Electric Appliance Factory to expand its recruitment once again. Now, more than 200 young people of working age in the village are basically working at the factory. But Lei Dongbao was still not satisfied and ordered Lei Shigen and other village cadres to continue recruiting employees from surrounding villages.

If he had taken such a bold step, Lei Dongbao would have been caught in a storm once again, and Lao Xu would have been under even more pressure. However, Lei Dongbao had already gone his own way and, apart from explaining to Lao Xu, he hadn't really cared about anyone else.

As for Xiao Lei Jia, although many people did not understand him, the village leaders of Lei Shigen were determined to implement Lei Dongbao's plan because they believed that Lei Dongbao would bring them a miracle.

Lei Dongbao himself believed that the advertising investment of one million yuan this year would definitely not disappoint him. Thunder Electric Fans would become the true electric fan hegemon in Anyun Province. Starting next year, Anyun Province would be Thunder Electric Fans' headquarters. With this headquarters, Xiao Lei's Electric Appliance Factory would be able to move forward or backward with ease.

Chapter 37: Thunder Madman

Lei Dongbao's bold advertising investment this year is also out of necessity. This year, there are hundreds of electric fan manufacturers competing in the entire Anyun Province. Leiting Electric Fans actually has no advantage over these electric fan manufacturers.

Seeing the great success of village-run enterprises like Xiao Lei's, more than a dozen similar village brigades in Anyun Province also set up electric fan factories, ready to get a share of the pie. Lei Dongbao didn't take these village-run electric fan factories seriously.

Not every village has a Lei Dongbao!

Not every county has an Old Xu who supports it 100%!

This year, Thunder Fan's real competitors are those large state-owned factories with thousands of employees. They can occupy department store counters without any reason because they are local enterprises and the local government must support them.

Local protectionism has existed since ancient times, so if Xiao Lei's Thunder Fan wants to stand out from those other stores, it must find a different way.

In Lei Dongbao's view, newspaper advertising is the best way.

In one province, advertising was placed in dozens of the best-selling local newspapers for three months, costing a total of just over one million yuan. To Lei Dongbao, this price was like getting it for free.

State-owned enterprises have their advantages, but their biggest problem is rigidity, especially in the early 1980s.

From the Lunar New Year to the end of April, although the electric fan sales season had not yet begun, Lei Dongbao had been busy for nearly three months, traveling all over the counties and cities of Anyun Province.

The newly recruited sales team of over two hundred people underwent simple training and then entered these counties and cities to negotiate entry issues with shopping malls, while I went to local newspapers to discuss advertising cooperation.

Often, when local shopping malls couldn't reach an agreement and were unwilling to let Leiting fans into their stores, Lei Dongbao would use advertising as a bargaining chip, asking local newspapers to help contact the mall managers. In short, as long as the price was within his expected range, Lei Dongbao would readily negotiate a deal.

In short, I can only advertise in your newspaper if I have a sales outlet in your area.

With the reform and opening up, the smell of money has become increasingly strong, and the role of money has become increasingly important. The goods in department stores in almost every county and city have become more and more abundant year by year.

Once the sales outlets, such as local department stores, were secured, Lei Dongbao would start renting warehouses in the area to stock the products and appoint a young salesperson as the sales manager for Leiting Electric Appliances. These individuals would receive a base salary plus bonuses.

Lei Dongbao is gradually expanding this initial sales network. Although there are only two or three salespeople in each county, these people are like seeds. Whether they can sprout and grow into towering trees in the next few years is anyone's guess.

These sales staff stationed in the counties and cities below have a complicated job. They have to maintain the inventory flow of various department stores, maintain the maintenance of repair points, and finally, if any new department stores open in the area, they must contact the headquarters in a timely manner.

Yes, Lei Dongbao has now established the headquarters of Leiting Electric Appliances, located in Jinzhou City. He has rented a four-story building for office use. By the end of April, the sales channels for Leiting electric fans had successfully entered 91 counties and cities in Anyun Province. Overall, Leiting Electric Appliances now has a sales channel covering the entire province.

In the entire Anyun province, only four counties lack sales channels. The main reason is that two or even three or more electric fan factories were established in the area this year, with a lot of money poured in. Local leaders were afraid that the investment would only make a splash, so they had no choice but to take this drastic measure: prohibiting any electric fan factories from other places from entering local department stores.

However, Lei Dongbao didn't care. These small places couldn't stop the general trend. Last year, Leiting brand electric fans dominated the Jinzhou electric fan market. This year, the goal is to go beyond Jinzhou and stir up a storm in Anyun Province.

These costs are hard for ordinary people to understand. They cost the Lei family more than one million yuan in cash, and they also owed more than two million yuan in debt. They owed hundreds of thousands of yuan to various newspapers and more than one million yuan to the parts factory.

At Lei Dongbao's request, the parts factories in Xiaolei Village are now operating at full capacity to produce parts for Xiaolei Village. Lei Dongbao has only paid part of the money for these parts, and he has even only paid part of the wages for the workers at Leiting Electric Factory. It has become the norm for Leiting Electric Factory to owe two months' wages. Even so, people who want to work at the factory are still coming in droves.

Lei Dongbao is taking too big a step now. If the Thunder Fans become unsaleable, the Lei family will be doomed, and Lei Dongbao will instantly become a sinner.

In just three months, Xiao Lei's family went from having 1.4 million yuan in cash to being nearly 2 million yuan in debt. Now that the leaders of Jinling County know about this, no one is going to challenge Lei Dongbao for the position of Party Secretary anymore; they are all waiting to see what happens.

Many people were getting impatient. Lao Xu had been calling frequently to inquire about the progress. Lei Dongbao had explained all about his sales channels and advertising contracts. Lao Xu expressed his approval of Lei Dongbao on the phone, but remained silent for a long time after each call.

Lei Dongbao has been walking a tightrope from last year to this year. Old Xu always felt that this was not the township enterprise he wanted. If all township enterprises in the country were this bold, then probably no leader would dare to support them like this.

But why did I initially choose Lei Dongbao?

Old Xu was also completely baffled, but now that things had come to this point, he had no choice but to risk his political life to accompany Lei Dongbao.

The Xiaolei family has now gained the attention of the entire Anyun Province. Every step forward the Xiaolei family takes is not only an honor for Lei Dongbao, but also an achievement for Lao Xu himself. However, if problems arise in the Xiaolei family, Lao Xu will have to take the blame. Even if he has a powerful background, he cannot escape the responsibility for dereliction of duty.

At this point, Lao Xu could only grit his teeth and support Lei Dongbao to continue, and try his best to help Xiaolei Village go further within his capabilities.

Old Xu's worries didn't bother Lei Dongbao at all. With May 1st just around the corner, the Thunder Fan would officially enter the battlefield this month, but his initial tension suddenly eased.

He originally thought that with hundreds of electric fan factories entering the market this year, there would be fierce competition, but he found that he was overthinking it.

These electric fans have indeed entered major department stores, but that's all. Some far-sighted factories, like Thunder Electric Fans last year, have put up posters in some places for promotion, but that's all they do.

For example, those electric fan factories in Jinzhou try to get their electric fans into the counters of major department stores. As for the rest, they just wait for the department stores to sell out before they come to them to restock.

As for other advertising, after-sales service, and promotion, they did none of it. This was unbelievable to Lei Dongbao, because there were hundreds of electric fan factories in Anyun Province this year. Didn't they know that fierce competition would occur?

Do they really not know?

They definitely know, but they won't do it because they are a state-owned factory. State-owned factories just produce goods and then sell them in department stores. As for how much they sell for and how much they can make back, that's the leaders' concern. What does it have to do with us workers?

For decades, state-owned factories have been subject to centralized purchase and exclusive sales of their products. The idea that factories produce what stores sell has become their fixed way of thinking.

However, with the reform and opening up, people's ideological awareness suddenly became lower, and they had the right to choose goods. The old-fashioned and poor-quality goods were gradually disliked by everyone. At this time, the mindset of state-owned enterprises had not changed, and they were eventually eliminated by the market.

Small township enterprises like Xiaolei Village, whose thinking was not yet rigid, produced and sold their own products. At that time, they had to cater to the market and produce the most popular products. This is why township enterprises were able to rise in just a few years.

Lei Dongbao breathed a sigh of relief because he discovered that although there were hundreds of electric fan manufacturers competing in Anyun Province this year, none of them could compete. The electric fan factories in Jinzhou basically sold their products in Jinzhou, and the same was true for electric fans in other counties and cities, which were mostly sold in local shopping malls. This made Lei Dongbao both amused and exasperated.

Of course, most of his peers knew about Lei Dongbao's efforts to establish sales channels, place newspaper advertisements in various counties and cities, and even provide free warranty services, but no one dared to follow his lead.

Investing millions without seeing any returns, and even incurring debts of over two million, was a suicidal act that everyone considered crazy. As a result, Lei Dongbao gradually earned a nickname among the leaders of Anyun Province.

"Crazy Lei!"

Everyone was waiting to see Lei Dongbao make a fool of himself. To be honest, Lei Dongbao's radical development was indeed somewhat out of step with the times in the early 1980s, and it was normal for it to cause controversy.

However, Lei Dongbao didn't take any of this seriously. May was approaching, and the advertising contracts for Leiting electric fans would all take effect on May 1st.

Lei Dongbao really wanted to shout on this day, "Everyone, see you on the battlefield!"

Chapter 38: I am Lei Dongbao

On May 1st, in all 91 counties and cities of Anyun Province, including Jinzhou, the best-selling local newspapers published a quarter-page advertisement for Thunder Electric Fans with pictures in different sections.

This advertisement features six different fan styles, ranging from table fans to floor fans, all with uniform heights. Below the images are the words "Quality Guarantee - Thunder Electric Fan" in large bold letters.

Finally, below is an advertisement for Thunder electric fans.

In this day and age, people still prefer simple and unadorned language and text in advertisements. The advertisement started with an experiment last year at Jinzhou No. 1 Department Store, where two Thunder electric fans ran continuously for 5040 hours. The advertisement slowly introduced Thunder electric fans in about 300 words.

In short, the message conveyed is that Thunder Fans started with quality, and quality is the foundation of Thunder Fans' survival.

Finally, we added, "No matter how good the advertisement is, it's not as good as practical action. To better serve our customers, Thunder Fans pioneered the 'Three Guarantees' service: refund, replacement, and repair!"

They also reiterated the contents of the three guarantees service and added a sentence at the end: "Please let the people of the whole country supervise the quality and service of Leiting electric fans!"

Finally, the crowd was told that if they needed to buy Thunder brand electric fans, they could go to the local department store to purchase them, and their phone number and department store address were provided.

In Lei Dongbao's view, the entire advertisement was unremarkable and lacked any highlights, but he still chose this advertising method in the end.

Because this was his final consideration. People in this era tend to believe in sincere language more. While young people may like fancy language, most people are more likely to accept such introductions.

On May 1st, Lei Dongbao sat in his office at the Jinzhou headquarters, waiting for reports from various counties and cities. Although the weather was not very hot on May 1st, the advertising coverage was so extensive that there must have been sales in various places. He had already instructed all sales personnel in the counties and cities to be on duty at various shopping malls and department stores today to check the actual effect of the advertising.

If the advertisement doesn't perform well, he plans to completely change it before the peak sales season in June, using a more flashy approach to attract customers.

Although he was quite certain that Thunder fans would continue to be as popular as last year, with such a large investment, it was impossible not to feel nervous at this point.

He waited until 11:30, when he started to feel hungry. Just as he stood up to leave, the phone on his desk rang. He paused for a moment, then answered the phone and heard an excited voice on the other end.

"Secretary Lei, I am Zhang Minghui, the person in charge of Leiting Electric Appliances in Liujiang County. So far, our two sales outlets in the county have sold 22 electric fans, and I expect to sell about 50 more today!"

Upon hearing that a county had sold more than 22 units in one morning, Lei Dongbao instantly perked up. At that moment, he had only one thought: this advertisement was a great success!

Lei Dongbao quickly encouraged Zhang Minghui, saying that the fact that this young man was the first to call showed that he was quick-witted and clearly a young man who was not content with being ordinary. Sure enough, Zhang Minghui continued.

"Secretary Lei, I have something to report to you. I've seen several brands similar to Leiting electric fans in the department stores in our county. This can easily mislead customers. Could you please put a statement in the newspaper ad saying that our brand is Leiting, not some other brand like Leimu or Leiming? This would make it easier for customers to remember our brand!"

Lei Dongbao quickly agreed that it was a good idea and praised Zhang Minghui again, encouraging him to work hard and promising to promote and raise him next year!

Although Lei Dongbao had no recollection of Zhang Minghui's appearance, this young man had indeed made him remember the name. He would try to pay more attention to Liujiang County in the future. Liujiang County seemed to be a large county with a population of nearly one million, so this sales volume was reasonable.

Zhang Minghui's suggestion was timely, and Lei Dongbao immediately had it noted down. The revised advertisements had to include Zhang Minghui's suggestion: the issue of counterfeiting is worth considering. Although it's completely unavoidable, it must be taken seriously. How many well-known brands will fall victim to counterfeiting in the future?