Huzhou, Changxin County, Economic and Technological Development Zone.
Located in the northern part of Zhe Province, it's about a three-hour drive from Beicang, and a little further west enters Wan Province.
Two cars, a total of seven people.
Besides Zhang Xupeng who was just tagging along, Tan Jincheng brought Sun Yuming, Lin Yumin, and Wu Zhenping, along with two other ordinary sales representatives.
In terms of social etiquette, Lin Yumin and Wu Zhenping were much stronger than Tan Jincheng, but when it came to vision and market insights, the two, having always been confined to a small city, were definitely not as good as Tan Jincheng.
The two complemented each other.
The strategy for this visit and negotiation was for Tan Jincheng to control the overall situation, while Lin Yumin and Wu Zhenping would handle some details that he might overlook.
As for Sun Yuming, after Tan Jincheng learned of his interest in the marketing department, he also brought him along to learn and gain experience.
This was agreed upon when he previously lobbied Sun Yuming to work with him: during the initial setup, Sun Yuming would work as his assistant for a period, and later, if he had something he wanted to do or a department he wanted to go to, Tan Jincheng would give him the opportunity.
"Is this the right road?"
Zhang Xupeng asked, poking his head out of the car window, as Tan Jincheng suddenly stopped his car, and he followed suit.
"It should be, I'll make a call to confirm."
Although car navigation systems had city electronic map service systems back then, they were all offline download service models, and maps couldn't be updated in time.
Kailide even charged money for it!
So, driving in an unfamiliar city relying entirely on maps was unrealistic; making wrong turns was common.
When Tan Jincheng drove for business trips before, he often made wrong turns on city roads.
After confirming on the phone that they hadn't taken a wrong turn, the two cars continued forward.
Soon, they arrived at the entrance of a factory building occupying a very large area.
The decoration at the entrance was simple: an electric gate with a half-height wall.
On the wall were written "Boxu Environmental Power," and next to it was a guardhouse, almost identical in specifications to Shanchi Vehicle Industry.
Sun Yuming got out of the car and walked towards the guardhouse.
Soon, the electric gate slowly opened, and at the same time, a man who looked to be about 30 years old, smiling, slowly walked towards the car with Sun Yuming.
Seeing the BMW door open and Tan Jincheng already preparing to get out, the middle-aged man quickly stepped forward:
"You must be General Manager Tan Jincheng, right? Hello, I'm General Manager Sun's secretary, my name is Ma Xiangfeng."
"Hello, Secretary Ma, I'm Tan Jincheng,"
Tan Jincheng said, extending his hand.
"General Manager Tan can drive the car into the factory area, I'll lead the way,"
Ma Xiangfeng replied with a smile.
Tan Jincheng said "okay" and instructed Sun Yuming to follow Ma Xiangfeng.
Then he got back into the car, and the two vehicles slowly drove through the main gate.
What came into view were rows of factory buildings.
The factory area was very quiet, with workers in factory uniforms occasionally passing by, pushing small forklifts.
"Hmm, we don't seem to have factory uniforms yet. We can have Zhang Haiping find someone to produce a batch. It really seems necessary to have factory uniforms, it looks much more formal."
Actually, Tan Jincheng wasn't particularly fond of factory uniforms.
When he was a student, he especially hated wearing school uniforms.
Everyone wore the same clothes, which looked particularly ugly, and the main thing was that they were incredibly expensive.
Tan Jincheng still remembered that even though his family's financial situation wasn't bad, the first time he bought really expensive clothes was his junior high school uniform.
In an era where clothes generally cost around 10 to 30 yuan, a set of school uniforms cost 65 yuan at the time.
When the clothes were brought home, Zhang Suzhi was shocked after feeling the fabric.
That winter, Tan Lihua bought Tan Jincheng a fur-lined jacket, which was brought over by someone from the Northeast, and it cost less than 40 yuan.
A set of spring school uniforms costing 65 yuan was his first high-priced purchase in life.
Although the material for factory uniforms didn't need to be excellent, and production was custom-ordered from a manufacturer, it wasn't particularly expensive aside from the design, but it was truly ugly.
After the cars stopped, Ma Xiangfeng first led Tan Jincheng and his group to their company's meeting room, where their manager was waiting for Tan Jincheng and the others.
The main person responsible for reception was likely a production manager or a professional manager.
His surname was also Zhang.
The Zhang surname truly lived up to its reputation as a major surname.
Ever since he started doing business, he had seen no shortage of Zhang-surname bosses, big and small, and now another Manager Zhang had arrived.
Inside the office, Zhang Yunhua, who was chatting with a subordinate, heard Ma Xiangfeng talking to someone outside.
He quickly stood up and leaned out to look, seeing Ma Xiangfeng walking and introducing someone to a young man at the head of the group.
A group of eight people, a mighty procession, walked towards the office.
"So many people came?"
Zhang Yunhua was a little surprised.
When the itinerary was confirmed last Saturday, Zhang Yunhua was the one who made contact.
At that time, the other party didn't say how many people there would be.
Now seeing a total of seven people, it seemed the other party attached great importance to this visit.
In fact, Tan Jincheng brought so many people out this time not just for this trip to Boneng.
This business trip was to finalize all suppliers, and if there were only one or two people, it would be somewhat chaotic.
Additionally, after Boneng was settled, Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng would part ways here; Zhang Xupeng was going to Zhili, and the two sales representatives brought along were to assist him.
The sales team members of Shanchi Vehicle Industry were carefully selected by Lin Yumin and Wu Zhenping.
Their remuneration was also better than the current market price, with a much higher basic salary, so their abilities were certainly not lacking.
"You must be General Manager Tan, right? Hello, I'm Zhang Yunhua."
Although Zhang Yunhua felt the other party's entourage was a bit grand, he quickly reacted and came out of the office to greet them.
However, this general manager was truly too young.
Although he had a strong aura, it was still hard to conceal his youthful face.
"Hello, Manager Zhang. We apologize for our unannounced visit and the inconvenience."
Zhang Yunhua said with a smile,
"Not at all, it's our honor. We hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with your esteemed company."
After entering the office, both sides exchanged pleasantries and engaged in some commercial flattery.
Then, they discussed the current state of the lead-acid battery and e-scooter industries.
E-scooters were booming across the country, and batteries naturally had no trouble selling.
Tan Jincheng was well aware of this; it was merely a negotiation tactic.
Although his reputation was not prominent, his products certainly weren't hard to sell.
However, Tan Jincheng also realized one fact: although 72V batteries were in use, they were not mainstream in the market, and very few e-scooters were equipped with 72V batteries.
Currently, most e-scooters on the market were mainly 48V, with many 20V ones, offering generally limited range.
Due to limited application, the production capacity for 72V was naturally restricted, and there wasn't much room for price adjustments either.
Tan Jincheng naturally knew what market mainstream e-scooters used from previous research.
He originally wanted to take a single step to upgrade the battery to 72V, plus a selling price exceeding 2000 yuan, to achieve a "dimensionality reduction attack" on the market and quickly seize market share.
Now it seemed, without 72V, using 60V might also achieve this effect?
If so, then temporarily he wouldn't use 72V.
Anyway, the battery compartment had three design options: 72V, 60V, and 48V.
The mold only needed an insert change to become a brand new product.
Tan Jincheng quickly adjusted his plan internally: 72V was not out of the question.
When the market mainstream shifts from 48V to 60V in a few years, then he would introduce 72V.
This way, he would always be one step ahead of the market, and the brand effect would be established.
And once lithium battery technology matured, he could also use lithium batteries.
At that time, it would be perfect to research lithium battery technology on e-scooters, establish a batch of related professional projects, and even create a design institute like Old Ma.
Alright, it's settled.
Start with 60V and 48V to reduce costs!
Having made up his mind, Tan Jincheng smiled at Zhang Yunhua and said,
"I wonder if we could visit your company's workshop?"
"Of course, I've already prepared for it,"
Zhang Yunhua replied with a smile.
Visiting the factory was part of the itinerary, so Zhang Yunhua naturally wouldn't refuse.
However, Zhang Yunhua had originally intended for Ma Xiangfeng to lead the tour.
But since the other party attached so much importance and so many people came, showing full sincerity for cooperation, Zhang Yunhua didn't mind putting aside his work to accompany them.
Who could refuse a contracting party with a designed annual production capacity of 36,000 e-scooters?
Moreover, during the conversation, Zhang Yunhua vaguely felt that this company's annual production capacity of 36,000 units was just the beginning.
Tan Jincheng hadn't revealed this information, it was merely Zhang Yunhua's intuition.
He sensed it from Tan Jincheng's demeanor, temperament, and eyes.
It must be said that sometimes a man's sixth sense is quite accurate.
"If the other party's production capacity continues to expand later, then the next time their general manager visits, it will have to be my own boss receiving them,"
Zhang Yunhua thought to himself as he walked.
"General Manager Tan looks very young. May I ask your age this year?"
Zhang Yunhua probed.
"How old do you think I am, General Manager Zhang?"
Tan Jincheng did not answer directly.
"I guess not more than 25. General Manager Tan looks very young, and it's as if I've seen you somewhere before, but I'm quite sure this is the first time we've met."
At this point, Ma Xiangfeng whispered something in Zhang Yunhua's ear, and Zhang Yunhua suddenly understood.
"Oh, yes, yes, Yang Guo, Yang Guo, haha, you really do look a bit like him, just the hairstyle isn't right."
Ma Xiangfeng had been thinking about this question all along the way.
This person really looked a bit like Bai Gu; if he had that classic Hong Kong star hairstyle and some makeup, he would look even more alike.
Tan Jincheng didn't answer, turning sideways to raise an eyebrow at Zhang Xupeng, who responded with a pout.
When they were in school, classmates often said that Xiao Tan looked somewhat like Bai Gu, but Zhang Xupeng vehemently denied it, declaring that he at most resembled Shanjī.
As for himself, he compared himself to Yicheng's Chen Haonan.
Sometimes, a boss's appearance is also a company's facade.
Either they have an unusual appearance like Old Ma, making them easily memorable.
Among current internet companies, Baidu's Li is one; this guy looks quite good.
This Fitch-rated company had been declining since the advent of the mobile internet era, but before his rebirth, Tan Jincheng knew that this company delved deep into artificial intelligence, and its attitude towards AI was relatively firm among internet companies.
Sun Yuming glanced at Tan Jincheng, seeing his boss winking at Manager Zhang, unsure why.
But to break the silence, he quickly reacted:
"Our General Manager Tan is not yet 20 years old."
Zhang Yunhua, upon hearing this, was stunned.
(End of Chapter)
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