KC | Chapter 28

Chen Xi lay in bed for a long time, unable to fall asleep.

He realized it might be because of work pressure, which had caused a problem in his mind. He searched online for solutions, and the doctor’s advice was: moderately reduce work pressure, and during rest, he could do some exercise or other things to divert his attention and ease his emotions.

I work in sales, and there are assessments every quarter, so work pressure can’t be reduced. Then I can only relieve it through other things.

So, Chen Xi re-downloaded a certain mobile game竞技 game and lay on the bed playing until late at night.

He wanted to isolate himself from the outside world, wanted everyone to be unable to find him, so that no one would contact him, hurt him, and he would not split into 3 versions of himself.

A moral model could not ruin a superior’s family, could not lower himself to develop a secret affair, his social cognition did not allow him to do this. Chen Xi kept struggling and wavering at the boundary between desire and morality, he controlled himself not to think about anything related to Lin Yiran, but he always remembered it at unexpected moments.

When he thought about important clients, he thought of Lin Yiran, the three little people in his head were discussing Lin Yiran, and the object of last night’s wet dream was still Lin Yiran……

Tossing and turning for most of the night, the next day, Chen Xi went straight to Shanyao with two dark circles under his eyes.

Sun Xingshun’s core need was “private point,” he only cared about money. Ever since Chen Xi had broken this layer of window paper, the signing process had gone much smoother than expected. Sun Xingshun seemed like a different person, especially easy to talk to, and acknowledged signing a yin-yang contract.

Chen Xi followed Lin Yiran’s line of thought and talked with him about rebate policies, wanting to sign a framework agreement. Sun Xingshun changed his face faster than flipping a book, and immediately was unwilling. Chen Xi spent another half hour talking him through the pros and cons, and only then did this guy agree to later rebate, but whenever Chen Xi brought up the ad placement budget, he would go in circles and refused to sign the framework no matter what.

In order to get closer to Sun Xingshun, Chen Xi proactively suggested having lunch together at noon, but who knew this smiling tiger said he had a meeting at noon.

What company held a meeting at noon, he was clearly just unwilling to eat with me. This smiling tiger still had a barrier with me, leaving himself a way out.

Only then did Chen Xi realize that wanting to directly shift all of Shanyao’s budget to Lanhai was almost impossible.

There was no point in building a relationship with a client who only cared about money. If the account operation line was originally high, Shanyao still had the risk of failing at any time. I was too anxious, I was thinking too wildly.

Since that was the case, then the upfront payment for the framework had to be asked for more. Even if they did not cooperate later, this order would still count as contributing to the quarterly assessment.

Shanyao’s account consumption needed time to pick up. Even if consumption became stable later, it still could not fully support this quarter’s performance assessment.

Putting eggs in the same basket was absolutely not a good thing. Before Shanyao’s ad placement in Lanhai had stabilized, it still had to cooperate with other channels. Sun Xingshun knew he could not rely only on Lanhai, and of course Chen Xi also knew that performance could not rely only on Shanyao.

If that smiling tiger changed his mind again, then I’d be done for.

After the contract was signed, Chen Xi stayed in Shanyao and refused to leave for a long time, afraid that Sun Xingshun would not pay. Just as it was almost lunch time, Sun Xingshun told Chen Xi to go back first, saying that the payment would be arranged in the afternoon.

This was clearly an order to leave.

He had not expected such a supposedly nailed-down matter to be this troublesome. I should have been more thorough yesterday, and directly explained every clause of the contract clearly. Then there would not be all these troubles today.

He had thought that once a client on the list signed, he could finally breathe easy, but he had not expected it to be this hard.

Chen Xi did not make a fool of himself and took his worn-out bag back to Lihua.

When Zhang Yuanji saw Chen Xi hanging his head, in order to cheer his good brother up a bit, he took the initiative and suggested, “Come on, I’ll treat you to something good.”

The two of them went to the restaurant downstairs, and Zhang Yuanji ordered three dishes and one soup. Before the dishes even arrived, he started complaining: “These past few days the client side has been tormenting me to death.”

“After Lanhai planned the event, they didn’t send people. Yesterday I helped the client find influencers; after Lanhai finished designing the packaging, they wouldn’t do the production. The day before yesterday I helped the client find a cardboard factory; when Lanhai gave rebates and wanted invoices from the client, the day before the day before yesterday I helped the client scrape together the invoices…… I’m doing KA, not fucking being a nanny for the client!”

Zhang Yuanji’s client side had been introduced through an acquaintance in the tax system. With someone building the bridge for him, it was already hard enough to move a key client, let alone Chen Xi, who had no connections.

Brother, I know you’re saying all this just to vent, not to anger me. But right now, besides Shanyao, I can’t even smell a trace of a key client. You’re gnawing on clients so happily, I really want to pull your client over and gnaw on it too, just to get a taste!

Chen Xi said gloomily, “If I had a key client, let alone letting me be a nanny for him, I’d even be fine being a duck.”

“Yesterday I kindly treated the client side to coffee, and he said he’d been working out lately, so he wanted to switch to sugar-free. I fucking bought another sugar-free one, and then he said his stomach hasn’t been good lately, so he can’t drink cold stuff, fuck, I was really服了, in the middle of summer and I still had to drink hot stuff. In the end I bought the sugar-free hot coffee exactly as he asked, and that guy said after noon he couldn’t drink it, afraid he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.” Zhang Yuanji was so angry he was cursing nonstop, spittle flying everywhere. “A duck can still get paid after it’s done, but I fucking get tossed around back and forth, not a damn cent, not even as good as a duck.”

Zhang Yuanji’s original intention was to make Chen Xi happier a bit, but he had been tormented enough by the client side these past few days, and he couldn’t hold back his complaints: “All day long I’m fucking circling around the client, always doing these trivial things. I’m fucking doing KA, not running errands!”

Relying on connections, Zhang Yuanji could always find key clients. Chen Xi also wanted to experience that kind of being ravaged by clients, but he had no chance.

It really was the dry dying of drought and the flooded drowning of flood.

Chen Xi was afraid of affecting the brotherly relationship, and did not want to continue discussing clients with Zhang Yuanji, so he slightly changed the topic: “Brother Zhang, I’ve always had one question. You’re not short on money either, so why do you do sales?”

Zhang Yuanji’s father was a high-ranking official in the former Yucheng Tax Bureau, and his mother worked in the Education Bureau. The 200-square-meter large flat they bought in the first ring road the year before last, his father only dared move into it this year after retiring. Zhang Yuanji was not short on connections, not short on money, and Chen Xi could not understand why someone like him would do sales.

Chen Xi felt that sales and “labor work” were both the lowest-level jobs. Anyone with a mouth and some strength could do them. He had no love for this job, he just did it for money.

“Ah, me, this is just…… I’m bored and got nothing to do.” The server brought the dishes, Zhang Yuanji cooled down, pushed the two meat dishes toward Chen Xi and said, “How come it feels like you’ve gotten skinny again lately, don’t be polite with me, eat more.”

Chen Xi had not planned to be polite with him, but Shanyao was not paying back money, and Chen Xi had no appetite.

When he was little and ate his mom’s dishes at home, leaving food behind meant getting beaten. Chen Xi had always kept the good habit of cleaning his plate. When he was in college, his dinner plate was always the cleanest, but after he started working, everything changed. After three years of work, Chen Xi had lost 20 jin, and his pants had dropped two sizes. He did not want to be this thin either, but the pressure of sales assessments pressed him so hard he could not breathe, and whatever he ate no longer had the taste it had in childhood.

Chen Xi could not understand why Zhang Yuanji, who clearly was not short on money, still did sales. He also could not understand why Lin Yiran, who wore luxury watches, drove luxury cars, and lived in a grand house, had to pack his work schedule full, like an inexhaustible perpetual motion machine.

He could not guess their reasons for doing sales.

I do sales just for money. If there were any other choice, I absolutely would not do sales.

Sun Xingshun had promised that Shanyao would pay in the afternoon, but he never did. Chen Xi called and the call was not answered, sent WeChat and there was no reply, and he did not know where this guy had died off to. Chen Xi muddled through another day, the whole head full of Lin Yiran being replaced by the whole head full of Sun Xingshun, and the three little people in his brain finally did not appear in his dreams.

KA only did not need training on Monday morning, because on Mondays Lin Yiran came to the company, and Wang Shuang would go block him.

On Wednesday morning, Wang Shuang did the usual training: “Today we’re going to talk about integrated marketing.”

“Integrated marketing means starting from customer needs, and combining the customer’s marketing pain points to formulate targeted solutions.” Wang Shuang turned on the projector and explained item by item according to the content on the PPT. “For startup companies, the advertising marketing plans we provide are mostly infrastructure-based, such as website, public account, Weibo, Douyin account and other enterprise marketing platform construction, etc.; for developing companies, the advertising marketing plans we provide are mostly done in forms like event planning, IP creativity, node marketing, etc. For mature companies, what can we do, does anyone know?”

“We have to make money!” Zhang Yuanji shouted.

“Haha, yes, we have to make money, tell me how to make it more specifically.”

“Provide the client with an integrated marketing plan with extremely strong timeliness.” Liu Xueying answered professionally.

“That’s right. For mature companies with over ten million yuan in annual budget, we must definitely combine customer needs to do integrated marketing, only then can we move more budget.” Wang Shuang nodded.

Chen Xi shook his crossed legs, his face full of disdain.

What the hell is the use of talking about all this theoretical stuff, everyone knows integrated marketing should be done. The problem is there are no clients, so who are you going to do it with? You’re so damn good at theoretical knowledge, why don’t we see you signing key clients?

“When I first joined Lanhai, Yucheng had less than 100 people. General Manager Zhang Guangming gave our batch of new employees the onboarding training.” Lanhai now had 2,000 employees across three provinces, and 400 in Yucheng. Each city had its own training department, and Zhang Guangming would no longer train the grassroots staff.

Recalling the past, Wang Shuang could not help but sigh: “General Manager Zhang talked about the concept of integrated marketing during onboarding. He was afraid we wouldn’t understand, so he didn’t talk too much about professional knowledge, he just told a few stories. The impression I remember the deepest was the ‘old lady buying plums’ story that General Manager Zhang told.”

Compared with boring training, KA naturally preferred listening to stories. The various elites immediately put aside their little distractions and listened attentively.

“There were three stalls selling plums, and after comparing prices, the old lady bought from the third one. On the way back, she passed by the second one. The shop owner said, ‘Mine are rock sugar plums, with sugar content up to 17, dry core, thin skin, thick flesh, they’re just not as cheap as ordinary plums.’ After hearing that, the old lady felt like she wanted to try something fresh, so she also bought plums at the second stall.”

“The old lady carried two bags of plums and walked back past the first stall. The shop owner called out to her, ‘Auntie, who are you buying these plums for to eat?’ The old lady said, ‘My daughter-in-law is pregnant, I’m buying them for her.’ So the shop owner recommended apples, grapes, pomelos, cherries, and autumn pears that help pregnant women eat. The old lady bought all of them.”

“The old lady bought fruit from all three stalls. The third stall won with its price advantage, the second stall focused on the product itself, and the third stall, which made the old lady spend the most, accurately grasped the client’s needs. Although the old lady had already spent money at the third stall, the second stall and the first stall consecutively let her spend even more.”

“The merchants selling plums are just like sales.” Wang Shuang said, “Top sale can only compete on price and effort; Marketing Consultant focuses on combining the product itself to provide clients with solutions; Key Account will, on the basis of deeply understanding client needs, provide highly timely integrated marketing plans.”

Chen Xi immediately stopped shaking his legs, and his eyelids were no longer drooping.

The three levels of sales, which level am I on?

His WeChat rang, and Chen Xi opened it.

「事事顺利666：10W transfer voucher」

「事事顺利666：Manager Chen, happy cooperation.」

「晨曦：Received, happy cooperation!」

Joy surged up from the bottom of his heart and spread to the corners of his eyes. The efforts of these past days had finally gotten a return, and a pure and real smile reached the depths of his soul.

After going through three rounds of negotiations and nearly half a month of game playing, Shanyao finally settled.

A rumbling sounded in his ears, sound wave frequencies shattered the huge stone in his chest, and knocked over the three little people in his brain. Chen Xi could not clearly hear Wang Shuang’s training content, and could only hear the intense heartbeat that came with signing the key client.

The huge joy swept away nearly a month of depression. Chen Xi no longer felt roasted by the scorching heat, and his rotten internal organs regained life from the beginning.

Chen Xi had done sales for three years, and only at this moment did he finally experience the happiness of work. His joy was so full it was about to overflow, all those days of tossing and turning had been only for this moment.

A key client was like a stream in the blazing summer, moistening the self that had been burned by a suffering life. Every negotiation was tempering, honing himself.

Scrap iron is tempered into a dull blade, and only after a dull blade is quenched can it become a sharp edge.

I thought Shanyao was signed beautifully, but this order was only signed because of my effort and the rebate strategy Lin Yiran hinted at. Shanyao itself had advertising placement demand, not a demand I had dug out. I had not combined the product to provide Shanyao with a solution, and I had never provided any client with an integrated marketing plan.

Although I got Lin Yiran’s recognition, although I have my own key client, what I’ve done is still not enough. I want to have enough network resources like Zhang Yuanji, be able to provide the most professional solutions for clients like Liu Xueying, and negotiate like Lin Yiran, with proper advances and retreats, always controlling the client……

So, right now I’m only Top sale.

I’ve only just gone from scrap iron into a dull blade.

The key clients on the list stacked into steep mountains, and I had just taken one step at the foot of the peak, while Lin Yiran stood on the mountaintop, continuously creating one summit after another.

A strong desire surged from the bottom of his heart. One key client was absolutely not enough, he needed more!

I satisfied the client’s needs and also completed my own assessment; I achieved the client’s efficiency creation and also got my own commission. I used negotiation strategies to achieve a win-win for both sides, I did not go against my original intention, I created value for the client, and I was still a good salesperson.

I had to go find the key clients on the list, deeply dig into their needs, combine Lanhai’s products to provide the client side with suitable solutions, and sign more key clients.

I wanted to climb this steep peak, stand at the summit, and stand shoulder to shoulder with Lin Yiran.

This was the reason I did sales!

I want to be a sharp blade, not a dull one.

Author’s note:

Top sale: senior sales representative

Marketing Consultant: marketing consultant

Key Account (KA): key account manager