KC | Chapter 91

Chapter 102 “We are one family.”

Most of the salespeople in the advertising industry, like Chen Xi, had no connections. Anyone with even a little network would have gone straight to work for the client side. If they were not especially short on money or unable to find any other job, who in their right mind would do sales?

In the advertising circle, 95% of salespeople had no connections, and among them, 85% spent every day making calls to find client-side leads, this group was the traditional telesales team.

There was also another 10% who looked for clients in industries that relied extremely heavily on advertising. In these industries, they had accumulated anywhere from 3 to 5 years at the shortest, to 10 to 20 years at the longest, becoming industry experts and providing client-side customers with highly timely integrated marketing services, prying open advertising budgets through unmatched professionalism. For example: the real estate industry needed to place large amounts of advertising whenever a new development went on sale, the automotive industry needed advertising when new models launched, and foods like mooncakes and hairy crabs would place ads at specific marketing nodes…

This 10% of industry experts would sign an endless stream of key clients within specific industries, and they were KA.

The difference between KA and regular sales lay in two things, their recognition in a specific industry and the scale of the clients they signed. If KA wanted to get large advertising budgets from clients, first they looked for customers in industries that relied extremely heavily on advertising, and second they directly found key clients who had budgets.

Most KA were experts in opening new industries, and the key clients within specific industries were an important source of their performance and income. There was also a small portion who relied on connections, directly signing key clients with budgets through circle-based connections.

Only 5% of salespeople in the advertising circle had connections, and most of these people either used those connections to set up their own companies or worked under another company while hanging their name there. Very few would do frontline sales work.

Salespeople with connections were absolutely rare in the advertising circle. They were destined to stand at the top of KA, becoming industry benchmarks that all salespeople looked up to and chased after.

Among the KA in the three provinces of Lanhai, only Lin Yiran did circle-based work, while everyone else did opening-up work.

Circle-based work not only had requirements for KA’s connections, it also tested comprehensive ability and expertise across different industries. In Yucheng’s advertising circle, one Lin Yiran came out only once in ten years.

「小白兔：林哥，我也想做圈层(*^▽^*)」

The corners of Lin Yiran’s lips lifted slightly. He thought, Earlier you insisted on signing Gulin. I was afraid you’d get crushed by the client and lose confidence, so I praised you as a hexagonal warrior. Did I praise you so much that you didn’t know your place anymore? You are all puffed up on the outside but empty inside now, your professionalism is not enough, your planning ability is not strong, and your negotiation level is average. What are you using to circle clients?

「易燃易爆：Sure, circle-based work suits you, this is much easier than opening new industries. The most important thing in circle-based work is “to cater to someone’s preferences,” for example, as soon as you take your clothes off, I get hooked. You circle me properly, and I’ll go help you circle key clients, wouldn’t the performance be there then.」

「小白兔：Haha, I’ll take them off at night! Muah muah(′‵)Ｉ L」

After the training ended, Chen Xi went back to his workstation, turned on the computer, and carefully studied Olai’s bid.

During the Double Festival, Olai had 2 advertising-related tenders, one for event execution and one for advertising placement. When Chen Xi visited Olai over the weekend, he had already felt that Olai’s marketing was done well. Because the planning team was its own team, the tender requirements did not mention “advertising planning or event planning.” Olai treated suppliers as media rather than as advertising companies, so the bidding method was not “comprehensive evaluation” but “lowest price wins.” Because the suppliers’ sources of advertising were not unique, three-party price comparison had to be done.

Olai, unlike clients like Gulin who talked about marketing strategy, was more like Pinsheng, a client that only looked at price.

Chen Xi used the landline to call the person in charge of the tender. Perhaps because they were afraid of someone fishing for evidence, the other side answered all of Chen Xi’s questions very officially.

It seemed he could not get anything out on the phone, he still had to make a trip to Olai.

Because the journey was quite far, by the time Chen Xi arrived at Olai it was almost lunch time. He followed the route from memory and went straight to Olai’s office, using the same way he had squatted for Xu Dongxu to squat at the door for Planning Department director Jiang Jingwen.

Perhaps because the planning department was not a performance-assessment department, Jiang Jingwen was not as dedicated as Xu Dongxu, and she came out of the office right on lunch break. She looked exactly the same as her work photo on Enterprise WeChat, and Chen Xi recognized her at a glance. He stepped forward and greeted her, “Hello, Director Jiang, I am Chen Xi from Lanhai KA, mainly responsible for commercial real estate advertising placement. I want to talk to you about the Double Festival advertising tender at Olai. I won’t take up too much of your time.”

Jiang Jingwen smiled and said, “Since Manager Chen can see the advertising tender in our OA system, he should also be able to see the specific tender requirements. You can just submit online according to our requirements.”

“I just don’t quite understand the tender requirements, so I came to ask for guidance,” Chen Xi scratched his head and put on a foolish expression. “I saw the requirement says ‘lowest price wins,’ so I just wanted to ask how much counts as the ‘lowest price’?”

Jiang Jingwen was still smiling, “Olai’s tender is handled by a third-party company. Suppliers submit in the system, and the third-party company opens the bids at the bid-opening time. As for the ‘lowest price’ you’re asking about, I really don’t know. How about you wait a bit longer, and you’ll know on the bid-opening day.”

Heh, I just wanted to ask what the other suppliers’ bottom prices were, and if I waited until the bid-opening day, wouldn’t that just be hindsight after the fact!

Chen Xi continued pretending he did not understand. “Uh, then do you think if I want to participate in the bid, there are any special things I need to pay attention to when submitting the bid?”

Jiang Jingwen was still smiling, and that damn smile seemed welded to her face. “The bid-opening time and the bid-closing time are not the same, oh. Just don’t miss the bid-closing time, that’s all.”

Chen Xi nodded and said, “Thank you, Director Jiang. Would it be convenient for you to add me on WeChat? When making the bid document, I still need to ask you about things I don’t understand.”

Jiang Jingwen said, “I just said the tender is managed by the third-party company, oh. If you don’t know how to write a bid document, you can find a ghostwriting agency. If you are not clear about the requirements, just call the tender person in charge, that’s all.”

“Oh, okay. Director Jiang, go eat lunch quickly. I disturbed your time today too.”

You little planning department tea queen, just eat more so you don’t starve to death.

Chen Xi watched Jiang Jingwen leave, then went downstairs and sat on a bench in the dining area to call Wang Xin, “Bro, can your OA backend see suppliers’ bidding quotes?”

“I can’t. My leader’s system can, but what we look at are all the quotes from the investment promotion side. If you want to see advertising suppliers’, you’ll still need to access the planning department leader’s backend.”

Heh, Jiang Jingwen could see the suppliers’ quotes but deliberately did not tell me. Just now she answered every question without getting stained by oil or salt, so watertight, such a damn tea b*tch.

“Ah, bro, are you at work today? Let’s grab a meal together?”

Wang Xin: “I’m not at work. We work weekends by exchanging days off on weekdays. Let’s get together another day.”

Chen Xi chatted a few more simple sentences with him. After hanging up, he felt very irritated and had no mind to eat. A pair of leather shoes appeared in front of him. Chen Xi looked up and saw a middle-aged man standing before him.

The man wore a Rolex wristwatch and a suit, with a respectable bearing. Looking at his face, he seemed around 40. Chen Xi did not think he had ever seen this person before, but from how he looked it was obvious he had something to say.

“Do you know me?”

“Nope, I just heard you say you wanted to participate in the bid, so I figured I’d come over and exchange resources.” The newcomer smiled with a roguish air and took the initiative to extend his hand. “I’m Zhang Yanrong from Ochuang.”

“Ah, Ochuang!” Chen Xi knew Ochuang, because two months ago when he was looking for a job, he had submitted his resume to Ochuang.

“I’m Chen Xi from Lanhai KA.” Chen Xi shook his hand and handed him a business card.

Zhang Yanrong took the business card and said, “Oh, you’re with Old Lin then.”

Old Lin?

Chen Xi was first stunned, then reacted, “Yes, yes, I’m with Brother Lin.”

I’m in the same company as Brother Lin, but if you say we’re one family, that’s not wrong either.

Hehe, we really do live in one family(*^▽^*)

Zhang Yanrong asked, “This time for Olai’s Double Festival group allocation, the marketing budget was more than three times higher than usual. Why didn’t Old Lin come?”

Chen Xi replied, “Brother Lin should have some other case on hand.”

Wow, there was money to make at Olai, it looked like he really had hit a lucky break this time!

“For event execution, Lanhai’s price comparison definitely won’t be lower than Ochuang’s, so don’t submit that bid. For advertising placement, I can help you check the bottom price, but even if you know the bottom price, you’re still not likely to win.” Zhang Yanrong spoke very directly, first explaining the areas Ochuang was good at, then saying what information he could help Chen Xi get. His speaking logic was very clear.

Chen Xi guessed, “Olai’s bid needs to get Li Ying settled while being low in price, right?”

That Pi Xiu of a boss at Olai was definitely not easy to deal with.

Zhang Yanrong shook his head. “Li Ying only takes kickbacks when settling accounts. The bidding is all handled by the third-party company. She doesn’t dare to operate behind the scenes.”

“Then…” Chen Xi was a little confused.

“I heard Old Lin mention you before. Since he let you come, I’ll say a few more words.” Zhang Yanrong sat down beside Chen Xi and lowered his voice. “For advertising business, the only person who can see quotes is Planning Director Jiang Jingwen’s backend. Even if I ask for the bottom price right now, that would still be the ‘current’ bottom price, not the final ‘bottom price.’ You know how when the current bottom price is submitted in the backend, once Jiang Jingwen sees the quote, she will synchronize the change of the bottom price with one of the suppliers, and that supplier’s quote will always be the lowest.”

Chen Xi’s mouth fell open. “Isn’t that cheating!”

Zhang Yanrong chuckled softly. “Compared to Old Lin, you’re still too inexperienced. How many tender bids are really open and aboveboard?”

“Jiang Jingwen’s husband runs an advertising company. Every time Olai has a bid, it goes to their family.”

Chen Xi: …

Jiang Jingwen worked as marketing director at Olai, and her husband ate up Olai’s advertising budget. The two of them worked together from inside and outside to circle Olai’s money, and indeed, water did not flow to outsiders.

This was even worse than Gulin’s “aunt and nephew relationship,” it was completely a “community of destiny.”

He had been happy for nothing. No matter how much budget Olai had, what use was there if a single cent would not be given out!

Chen Xi drooped his head, like a deflated ball.

Zhang Yanrong said, “It’s not like there is no way. Since Old Lin let you come, that means he has a plan. Go back and ask him how to handle it, wouldn’t that be enough.”

When Chen Xi heard this, he suddenly looked up and smiled, “Okay, thank you, Director Zhang.”

Nothing could stump Brother Lin, he definitely had a way!

“Hey, don’t call me Director Zhang, just call me Brother Zhang.” Zhang Yanrong smiled and said, “If there are any event execution jobs in the future, think of your brother more. Don’t worry, the commission is definitely more than the salary you earn at Lanhai.”

Haha, so that was why he took the initiative to strike up conversation with me, he had been waiting for me here.

“Don’t worry, bro,” Chen Xi said. “A few days ago, Pinsheng had an event execution job. If I had known you earlier, I would have thrown it to you.”

Event execution was exhausting and did not make money. Thinking of Shen Papi all of a sudden, Chen Xi still felt lingering fear.

“Isn’t Pinsheng Old Lin’s client?”

“Ah?” Chen Xi was completely baffled. “Brother Lin did help me talk to Pinsheng, but I really was the one who first connected with Shen Yue-sheng.”

Chen Xi was afraid Zhang Yanrong would not believe him, so he opened Shen Yue-sheng’s WeChat and showed him the chat records.

Zhang Yanrong said thoughtfully, “So it was a resale deal, no wonder he didn’t let me contact the one with the surname Shen.”

Only then did Chen Xi finally catch on. “Brother Lin recently handed the Pinsheng job over to you?”

Zhang Yanrong nodded.

Lin Yiran had used Lanhai’s name to take on the work and pass it to Zhang Yanrong. He did not let Zhang Yanrong contact Shen Yue-sheng because he was afraid the matter would be exposed.

Using my key client to split the difference, and I even thought you were helping me talk to Pinsheng, foolishly waiting here for performance.

PUA’ing me, sleeping with me, and poaching my key client! Lin the old bastard dogε＝ε＝ε＝(#>д