All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

Jinzhou No. 2 Machinery Factory originally had a sales team with a considerable number of people. In the past two years, it has expanded several times over and now has a team of nearly 300 people.

On his first day in office, Lei Dongbao disbanded this motley crew. In Lei Dongbao's eyes, this rabble was a bunch of good-for-nothings, a waste of resources to keep around.

After understanding their sales tactics, Lei Dongbao did not hesitate to order the disbandment of this incompetent team.

In previous years, their only sales channel was to go to major shopping malls and supply and marketing cooperatives to sell their products. However, with the reform and opening up, there are now more and more varieties and categories of goods, as well as goods produced by township enterprises that have sprung up in various places. These goods are cheap and good-looking, so why would people choose your styles from the 1960s and 70s?

Just because you are a state-owned enterprise, you have an inherent advantage.

Bullshit!

Lei Dongbao inspected the pots and pans produced by the Second Machinery Factory. The quality was indeed acceptable, but in terms of style and price, they were almost uncompetitive in the market.

Aside from some nostalgic older people who still like it, which young person these days isn't chasing the latest trends?

The day after Lei Dongbao disbanded the sales team, he posted a recruitment notice at the factory gate, seeking 500 marketing and sales personnel. The notice explicitly stated that these were temporary jobs with no permanent positions.

Furthermore, an elimination system will be adopted, eliminating the bottom 20% of performers each month. That is to say, 100 people will be eliminated every month, and 100 people will be recruited every month, so that the sales team will always be maintained at a size of 500 people.

The job posting clearly states that sales staff do not have a base salary; all wages are linked to sales revenue, meaning everyone earns their living on commission.

When this job posting was published, everyone was stunned. There was no base salary, the positions were temporary, and one-fifth of the employees would be laid off every month. Was this some kind of joke?

However, Lei Dongbao was not in a hurry at all, because he quickly recruited nearly 300 people. The reason why such a large group of people could suddenly appear was because they were all former sales staff of Xiao Lei's family!

There are naturally two reasons why they all ran away.

First, they were trained by Lei Dongbao himself, and working under Lei Dongbao allowed them to do many outrageous things.

Secondly, the current Xiaolei family only has an advertising budget of one million this year, and that's for the market in four provinces. Isn't that ridiculous?

As for why they chose to continue working with Lei Dongbao, it's naturally because they had confidence in him!

This is personal charisma—a man who went from nothing to creating tens of millions in revenue!

Chapter 49: That son of a bitch Lei Dongbao

The company has nearly 40 million yuan in bank debts, its factory is operating at half capacity, and its inventory is overflowing.

The problems at Jinzhou No. 2 Machinery Factory are far more complex than they appear at first glance. It is burdened by triangular debts, chaotic management, and many older workers are reaching retirement age. They have various demands, such as medical care, pensions, and requests for their children to take over the business. It's a complete mess.

Ultimately, it all came down to a lack of money. After joining the company, Lei Dongbao quickly organized his thoughts, and the first step was naturally to clear out the inventory. Having funds to operate was the next priority.

But who would buy all those outdated pots and pans? This has left many people scratching their heads.

After Lei Dongbao posted the recruitment notice, apart from the original 300 employees of Leiting Electric Appliances, the remaining 200 positions took several days to fill, and even fewer than 50 people applied.

Finding a job is really difficult these days, especially with recent issues like the return of educated youth to the cities. There are plenty of young people looking for work on the streets, so why isn't anyone applying?

The reason is simple: the bottom-ranking elimination system, coupled with temporary workers and no base salary, makes everyone think, "Am I going to be treated like a monkey after I go in?"

In the end, not only would I not earn a single penny, but I would also lose face if I had to work for someone else for free for a month before leaving.

So it's perfectly normal that no one signed up. Of those who did, apart from a few bold individuals who wanted to achieve something, most were just looking to take advantage of the situation and maybe succeed.

To revitalize the Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory, a powerful sales team is essential.

Moreover, it's essential to ensure that people can make a profit so that everyone's enthusiasm for sales will soar. There are no unsellable goods, only salespeople who don't know how to sell. After thinking for two days, Lei Dongbao decided to develop a new sales system.

Lei Dongbao disregarded whether he could recruit more people and began assigning tasks to the current sales team of over three hundred people.

Most of these 300-plus people were veteran salespeople who had worked under Lei Dongbao and were very familiar with the counties and cities of Anyun Province. Leiting Electric Appliances used to have its own way of doing things, and now it has its own way of doing things.

Lei Dongbao took out a map of Anyun Province and divided the more than 300 people into regional maps, basically assigning them their positions according to their previous responsibilities.

This time, Lei Dongbao officially established a new sales agency system at the Second Machinery Factory.

They are divided into county-level agents, city-level agents, and provincial-level agents, with the general agent being the last.

The purchase price varies for each level of distributor. This time, Lei Dongbao will no longer allow Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory to directly connect with the sales channels in various counties and cities. Instead, he will have these distributors directly connect with the sales channels. In short, Lei Dongbao is subconsciously cultivating them to become distributors of Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory.

Everyone competes from the county-level agents, goes through assessments, and is eventually selected as a city-level agent, and then a provincial-level agent.

The dealer model only became popular in the late 1980s. Implementing this model in this day and age carries certain risks, but in order to stimulate sales and enable Jinzhou No. 2 Machinery Factory to go further, Lei Dongbao had to continue it.

Of course, they currently present themselves as sales personnel from Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory, and will not act as distributors when dealing with those channels.

The gist is that these agents get their goods from Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory and then find their own sales channels in their own territories. No matter what methods they use to sell these goods, Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory will only charge them according to their agent level.

Of course, if you want to sell goods, you need to use your own money to purchase them first.

These people lacked capital, so to encourage them to sell more products, Lei Dongbao personally guaranteed that they could purchase goods from Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory at twice the actual purchase amount. For example, if you pay 100 yuan, you can take 200 yuan worth of goods from here to sell, and then pay the remaining amount for the first purchase when you make your next purchase.

Lei Dongbao also encouraged them and, at an internal meeting, frankly told them that the Chinese consumer market would expand rapidly in the future, and sales would become the most important department of a company. He said, "If you work with me, Lei Dongbao, as long as you have the ability, you may be able to earn 10,000 or even 100,000 a month. I will give you every penny on the spot. I guarantee that in ten years, you will all be millionaires!"

Lei Dongbao's words caused a burst of laughter from the audience. Apart from the few dozen people who arrived earlier and thought Lei Dongbao was bragging, the remaining three hundred or so people smiled knowingly. They had always believed in Lei Dongbao's promises without a doubt.

After Lei Dongbao formulated new sales rules, the sales team, which originally had more than 350 people, quickly dwindled to 320 people, with the remaining 30 people quitting.

I'll help you sell things, and wow, you still want me to pay the initial investment?

Are you crazy?

Lei Dongbao was unaffected and began to proceed according to his plan.

These 300-plus people all had some savings. They had worked at Leiting Electric Factory for so long that many of them had earned two or three thousand yuan, and even the least earned several hundred yuan. Although not everyone agreed with Lei Dongbao, most of them still believed in him and started purchasing goods from the Second Machinery Factory.

The warehouse of Jinzhou No. 2 Machinery Factory has dozens of types of inventory, including pots and pans, picks and shovels. Because they are inventory, Lei Dongbao personally approved that all inventory items be priced according to the year of production.

For example, electric fans produced last year were sold at the factory price, while pots and pans produced five or six years ago were sold at 80% or even 70% of the factory price. After all, it was still a state-owned factory, and Lei Dongbao didn't dare to be too extravagant. Otherwise, given Lei Dongbao's personality, he would have made a profit even if he sold those scrap metal at half price.

To encourage them to purchase more goods and sell more, Lei Dongbao also taught them some sales techniques, such as low profit margins and high sales volume, targeting different sales groups, and cooperating with local township retail stores to wholesale and distribute some outdated products.

Although Lei Dongbao appeared confident, he was actually quite unsure of himself. In reality, he had no interest in those scrap metal products, unlike the electric fans from Leiting Electric Factory, which were still high-tech and a sunrise industry in this era.

You know what, Lei Dongbao's persuasion led to the sales team of over 300 people purchasing more than 130,000 yuan worth of goods in their first batch. Although the average purchase amount per person was only three or four hundred yuan, and most of the goods were samples, it was still a good start, wasn't it?

After securing the sales team, Lei Dongbao's second step was to eliminate the factory's sunset industry projects. What are sunset industry projects? In short, they are outdated and unprofitable projects. Cut them as much as possible.

For example, Lei Dongbao plans to cut those projects one by one, such as pots and pans, pickaxes and hammers. In the future, Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory will start with a lighter load and plan to upgrade its industry.

Of course, Lei Dongbao didn't dare to make a big splash as a new official and burn all these projects down. In fact, the Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory is still struggling to survive because of these projects.

Some projects, though not profitable, are related to people's livelihoods, such as the production of agricultural machinery. These projects have annual production targets, and Lei Dongbao can only try to retain them. However, Lei Dongbao plans to divest these assets and establish several tertiary industry companies to completely divest these industries.

Lei Dongbao had been busy for a week but still hadn't figured out the factory's projects. But even if he couldn't figure them out, he had to keep trying. As the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning.

Lei Dongbao has been paying close attention to the situation in Xiaolei Village. It seems that Xiaolei Village is developing better and better. Lei Dongbao often sees Xiaolei Village's achievements in provincial and municipal newspapers.

By the end of March, the six-lane highway had opened to traffic, and by early April, the construction of Xiaolei New Village was basically complete, just waiting for decoration. Those brand-new villas made people all over the country envious.

In mid-April, the Angora rabbit breeding base was also completed. The plan is to expand the scale of Angora rabbit breeding in Xiaolei to 10,000 in the first phase, and to develop the scale of Angora rabbit breeding in Xiaolei to 200,000 in the next five years, making Xiaolei Village and Jinling County a key county for Angora rabbit breeding.

These are relatively small projects for Xiao Lei's family. The real highlight is Leiting Electric Appliance Factory. By the end of April, Leiting Electric Appliance Factory had stocked more than 100,000 electric fans of various types, just waiting for sales to begin in May.

The Hongyun fan project has been operating quietly, but it has already completed the first batch of 5,000 trial production units. Clearly, this year Xiaoleijia's focus is not on the Hongyun fan, but on putting all its funds and burdens on metal electric fans.

The departure of those sales staff did not significantly impact Thunder Electric Appliances Factory. A major overhaul was quickly undertaken, and a new sales team was assembled in a very short time. As stated in a previous internal meeting at Thunder Electric Appliances Factory, the world doesn't stop turning just because someone leaves.

Perhaps the departure of these salespeople bearing Lei Dongbao's name is a good thing in some people's eyes. Nowadays, every industry in Xiaolei Village is a lucrative job, especially in sales, where countless people are vying for positions.

Thunder brand electric fans are now a well-known brand in Anhui Province. Everyone knows how much profit is involved. Let me give you a very small example to illustrate this.

Last year, those repair shops got their hands on Thunder brand electric fans at internal prices and sold them on the market. Every repairman at those shops made a fortune.

After Lei Dongbao left, the higher-ups did not cancel the internal pricing policy. Perhaps they knew that this was a good way to win over those repairmen.

However, the repairmen pocketed all the profits, which naturally displeased everyone. So, after several meetings this year, the higher-ups decided to extend this policy to the entire Xiaoleijia Appliance Factory. All ordinary employees can now purchase goods at internal prices and resell them themselves – a nationwide micro-business opportunity!

Perhaps some people think that this policy will definitely lead to a surge in sales, benefiting everyone and boosting sales for Leiting Electric Appliances Factory – a win-win situation!

But this brilliant idea almost completely destroyed Thunder Electric Factory!

Lei Dongbao knew so much because Lei Shigen and others would call him to report on the situation almost every week. In addition to Lei Shigen, there were also many young people who thought highly of Lei Dongbao and would often tell him news.

However, as the authorities gained more and more control over Xiaolei Village, fewer and fewer people contacted Lei Dongbao, as if everyone was deliberately downplaying Lei Dongbao's influence on Xiaolei Village.

Even many villagers in Xiaolei Village now subconsciously feel that everything they enjoy now has little to do with Lei Dongbao. Lei Dongbao's defeat in Jinzhou was just due to good luck. If it weren't for the strong support from above, Xiaolei Village wouldn't be where it is today.

As Lei Dongbao gradually banned the raising of Angora rabbits, the women in the village gradually went from being grateful to him to feeling resentful and even hostile towards him.

Everyone knows that raising Angora rabbits is profitable, but Lei Dongbao does not allow the expansion of the breeding scale. He even made it clear that once the new village of Xiaoleijia is built, breeding will be completely banned. This is obviously because he does not want everyone to make more money.

Rumors about Lei Dongbao, spread by those with ulterior motives, quickly tarnished his reputation in Xiaolei Village. Some even suggested canceling all welfare benefits for Lei Dongbao's family, arguing that since he earns so much money, why should he want a villa?

Those rumors were widespread, and some of the most widespread rumors were that the reason for banning the breeding of Angora rabbits was that Lei Dongbao couldn't make much money from it, so it was forbidden.

Leiting Electric Factory makes so much money, but the village only has less than three million in its accounts. Where did all that money go?

That damned Lei Dongbao ran away after getting a sum of money from the Lei family.

Dog day!

Chapter 50: A clearance sale at a loss, only for five days!

Lei Dongbao ignored the rumors. His reputation had never been very good. Although he had led Xiaolei Village to its current heights, his style of doing things had always been domineering, and he made all the decisions in the village by his own hand.

It would be a lie to say that Lei Dongbao wasn't disappointed, after all, he also shared the surname Lei. But his strong soul made him very clear that this was human nature; in this world, most people would follow whoever offered them the most benefits!

Although he wasn't very optimistic about Xiaoleijia's future, he didn't want Xiaoleijia to suffer too much.

He originally wanted to bring his mother to Jinzhou as well, but she absolutely refused, as she couldn't bear to give up the current benefits of the Xiaolei family.

Besides, a new village is under construction, and every household will be allocated a villa. If none of my family members live in Xiao Lei's house, what if someone takes our share? That would be terrible.

Lei Dongbao could only smile wryly and ask Lei Shigen and others to help take care of him.

Although the Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory was like a quagmire, Lei Dongbao was working hard to turn it into a walkable dirt road, and finally build a bright road on it.

Lei Dongbao made his fortune with electric fans, and he won't abandon his old profession.

Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory will naturally be a part of this year's electric fan war.

Last year, the electric fans produced by Jinzhou No. 2 Machinery Factory were branded as Leiguang, and the brand logo was two white lightning bolts.

Does this look familiar? Yes, it's a copycat brand called Thunder. Unfortunately, it's become a hodgepodge, with an outdated design and limited functionality. To save costs, most of it is made of iron, and this kind of electric fan will rust sooner or later, so its lifespan won't be very long.

To make the electric fan project a success, we must say goodbye to inferior counterfeit products. After clearing out the warehouse at cost price, the new electric fan factory will adopt new technologies and purchase new parts.

In fact, apart from the motor, Jinzhou No. 2 Machinery Factory can produce all other parts for electric fans itself. This is the advantage of a large factory.

After Lei Dongbao joined Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory, he started working on the electric fan project. He already had a vague idea of ​​what the future of Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory would look like.

Even a dead camel is bigger than a horse. Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory is just such a dying camel. Its equipment and technology are many levels higher than Leijia's Thunder Electric Factory. This factory also has many technical talents like Gao Shengnan.