ZS | Chapter 14

After Christmas, Gu Zheng received Lan Hai’s offer.

The young master made a big show of posting on Moments to prove that he finally had a job!

He didn’t know what other companies were like, but Lan Hai’s management was pretty loose. There were no morning meetings, no onboarding training, and not even a newcomer introduction. The vice president directly led him to his desk.

Gu Zheng’s desk faced Chen Xi. Early in the morning, the pretty boy yawned one after another, looking nothing like he was at work. Beside him sat an older man in his forties. The older man kept his head down, secretly gnawing on a corn cob under the desk. On the diagonal opposite sat a fat guy who kept fish. The fat guy asked, “How old are you, kid?”

“25. I’ll be 26 in a few days.”

The fat guy gave a sly smile. “Then you’ll have to call me big bro.”

Chen Xi said, “I’m your big bro too.”

The older man said, “Me too.”

Gu Zheng: “……”

These sales people were really good at digging pits. They hadn’t even introduced themselves yet, and they were already forcing him to认 a bunch of big bros.

How could they bully someone like this!

“I’m Gu Zheng. I don’t really understand the advertising industry. I’ll be counting on all of you seniors to guide me in the future.”

Trying to take advantage of me? No chance!

The fat guy said, “I’m Zhang Yuanji. I not only don’t understand the advertising industry, I also can’t make spreadsheets. I heard little brother graduated from Stanford and is a top student. Can you help your brother put together a spreadsheet?”

Forcing a big bro relationship and still trying to kidnap me into working?

Gu Zheng lied through his teeth, “I just came back to the country two days ago. I’m not very good with the office software here.”

“Hahaha!” The pretty boy showed his little white teeth again.

Gu Zheng shot Chen Xi a sidelong look and vaguely made out mottled red marks on the neck exposed at his collar.

Those damn gay men definitely went on a date for Christmas!

Gu Zheng said unhappily, “Fat bro, the spreadsheet can be done by Xiao Bai... by Manager Chen!”

“Your Brother Chen got tired yesterday. He’s not in good shape.” Zhang Yuanji walked over, opened WPS on Gu Zheng’s desktop, and forced him into it, “Young people do more and get more.”

It wasn’t enough that he didn’t want to do a spreadsheet for him. Why were they acting like bandits?

Huh? Listening to the fat guy’s tone, it sounded like he knew about the pretty boy and the vice president...

Dizzy, it seemed like he had walked into a wolf’s den.

He had come to learn negotiation, but he hadn’t learned negotiation. Instead, he had spent a whole morning making spreadsheets for bandits.

Near noon, Lin Yiran sent him a WeChat message asking to have lunch together. Gu Zheng didn’t have Chen Xi on WeChat, so he asked on enterprise WeChat, “Lunch together at noon?”

“You go eat with Brother Lin. I’m going to accompany the client.” Chen Xi reminded the newly arrived fool, “Enterprise WeChat has monitoring. It’s easy for admin to catch chats.”

“Oh. Then add me on WeChat?” Gu Zheng held up the QR code.

Chen Xi scanned it and said, “Brother Lin should want to ask about client resources. You can first gather friends who have ad-placement needs.”

No, they didn’t teach me anything after I just joined, and they already wanted to squeeze my resources?

Gu Zheng asked, “Lan Hai doesn’t really have any support policies for new employees? Management doesn’t care, so it’s pure free-range?”

As soon as he said that, more than ten KAs at the desks all turned to look at him, their eyes seeming to say, What kind of cold remark are you making?

Chen Xi said, “The onboarding training material is over a hundred pages. If I gave it to you, could you even read it? Lan Hai’s newcomer training teachers have to teach for two weeks. You don’t even know what the advertising industry does, so could you learn anything by following the classes?”

“KA isn’t small or medium. We were facing major clients with advertising budgets over ten million, and sales wasn’t just talk on paper. Practice was far more important than theory.”

“In Lan Hai’s three provinces, the best negotiator was Brother Lin.”

Gu Zheng was left speechless by the rebuttal.

So the vice president was skipping the theory part and taking me straight to practice.

Advertising industry knowledge wasn’t that useful. I was just here to learn negotiation. Practice was good, practice was good!

Gu Zheng trotted downstairs for lunch after the vice president, and Chen Xi sent his man a WeChat message: Gu Zheng questioned your management level and negotiation ability.

Height determined vision, and the leader’s scope was completely different from that bunch of rabble. Gu Zheng felt that the vice president big bro was very good!

Lin Yiran treated him to barbecue. He didn’t ask him for client resources like Chen Xi said, and he didn’t use his identity to take advantage of him. Instead, he first asked whether he needed any help in daily life, then asked about his adjustment to the work environment, and finally cursed out that bunch of salespeople who only knew how to bully people.

Ever since being kicked out of home, Gu Zheng had not felt warmth. Today, seeing that Lin Yiran was a man of temperament, after a few pieces of barbecue, he took the initiative to confess, “Brother Lin, I’ve got a buddy who does medical aesthetics. His family said before that they wanted to invest in ads, but they never found anyone they trusted.”

“Eat slowly, no rush.” Lin Yiran poured him a cup of hot tea, smiling very warmly, “It happens that I’m free this afternoon. After we finish eating, shall we go chat together?”

“Okay!”

Gu Zheng sent Guang Boshi a WeChat message. After lunch, he once again got into the Mercedes S400.

Lin Yiran didn’t drive as recklessly as Chen Xi, nor was he as focused as Zhuo Hang. With the steering wheel in his hand, everything was under control.

Well, not to mention, the vice president big bro did look pretty handsome!

The Mercedes S400 stopped in front of Haitang Plastic Surgery Hospital, and the two of them got out.

Guang Boshi greeted them with a smile. Today his father Guang Wanshu just happened to be there too, so he joined in the discussion.

Gu Zheng introduced him, “This is Lan Hai KA Lin Yiran. He’s been in the advertising industry for more than ten years. We’re here today to take a look at an advertising and marketing plan together.”

Lin Yiran took the initiative to shake hands with the two client representatives, and said modestly, “I came in a hurry today and didn’t prepare any plan. We’re just here to discuss marketing strategy together and help you make more money.”

The four of them entered the conference room. Guang Wanshu got straight to the point. “Haitang has been open in Yucheng for more than ten years and has quite a few repeat customers. By rights, it should have opened branch stores long ago. But I don’t have much ambition, and I don’t want the trouble, so there are only two locations.”

Lin Yiran smiled and said, “Among aesthetic hospitals in Yucheng that have been open for more than ten years, besides the Pu-style ones, only Haitang. I often pass by here on my way to and from work. Your location is good, so you definitely don’t have to worry about customer traffic. Medical aesthetics depends on reputation. Having many repeat customers means our reputation is good. If we’ve got recognition, no shortage of customers, and we can keep old clients, then the money should be yours to make!”

The three straight hits of rainbow praise put Guang Wanshu in a great mood. He laughed, “Actually, in business, nobody has a problem with money. Don’t worry too much. It’s fine if we can make a bit more.”

Lin Yiran thought for a moment and said, “Our shop has many repeat customers, and the loss rate of old customers is low, so using the same marketing budget, the returns from stabilizing old customers will definitely be lower than expanding new customers.”

“The most direct way to make money is to bring in new clients. But what we need to do is not simply bring in new clients, but bring in new clients at specific times.”

“Medical aesthetics is packed during holidays, and there’s definitely no shortage of customers before and after the New Year. Spring and autumn have suitable temperatures, which is good for postoperative recovery, so they’re the peak seasons for the industry. So the best time to bring in new clients is summer.”

In just a few words, Lin Yiran hit Haitang’s marketing pain points directly. Guang Wanshu sat up straight and said, “Boshi, go upstairs and bring down the Da Hong Pao tea I bought in Wuyi Mountain a few days ago.”

Guang Boshi ran upstairs.

Seeing that the visitor was someone who knew the trade, Guang Wanshu asked humbly for advice, “Then what do you think, how should we do this marketing?”

Lin Yiran said, “In recent years, many plastic surgery studios have relied on ad placements and marketing to get customers. Although that can produce immediate results, it’s only a flash in the pan. Rather than doing homogeneous short-term customer acquisition, Haitang should do brand content marketing. With our reputation, we’re definitely going to get twice the result with half the effort.”

“Then what do you think, how should this brand content be done?”

By now, Guang Wanshu was fully immersed in Lin Yiran’s train of thought. He kept asking about the marketing strategy, and he didn’t even notice when his son brought back the tea.

“Whether medical aesthetics is doing creative content or ad marketing, it has to avoid risk points. Our medical equipment, the surgical process, patient testimonials... none of that can be reflected in the marketing, and those are exactly the things consumers care about most.” Lin Yiran sold them a little suspense. “So under the premise of not violating advertising law, what we need to output is creative content that resonates with consumers.”

Lin Yiran stopped there and said no more.

The vendor side said nothing, but the client got anxious.

Guang Wanshu said, “President Lin, Xiao Zheng was someone I watched grow up. Since he introduced you, you definitely won’t be bad! Tell us how you think our marketing should be done, I’ll listen to you!”

Gu Zheng understood: negotiation wasn’t about dumping everything out in one go, but about finding the client’s pain points, cutting in precisely, and stirring emotions.

The vice president big bro hadn’t spoken just now because he was whetting people’s appetite!

Sure enough, once he saw the client take the bait, Lin Yiran said, “Although the ad placement conditions are harsh, it’s not like there’s no way to promote it.”

Lin Yiran walked over to the KT board beside the breast enhancement promotion event and pointed at the client’s before-and-after breast augmentation comparison image. “Take the breast enhancement project, for example. Real before-and-after comparison photos can’t be used in advertising, but they can be output in comic form.”

Guang Boshi said, “Using comics can indeed avoid problems like portrait rights and advertising law, but I’m afraid the promotion effect won’t be good. Breast augmentation surgery is definitely more convincing with real photos.”

Lin Yiran shook his head.

“For example, a real one here is actually this big.” Lin Yiran drew an exaggerated curve on the KT board. “In comics, we can draw one this big!”

The other three men had never expected such a vulgar and explosive marketing method. All three were stunned.

Lin Yiran said unhurriedly, “The ones doing this project are all women, and what they care about most is the postoperative effect. We can draw a few stylish little beauties. The focus isn’t on ‘showing skin,’ but on ‘big’ and ‘perky.’”

Damn, so the man who understood women best was a man!

Gu Zheng was frozen in place for three seconds by this vulgar and precise idea, stunned speechless.

Lin Yiran continued, “In Dream of the Red Chamber, there were the ‘Twelve Beauties of Jinling.’ We can output a ‘Yucheng Three-Four-Five-Six-Seven Beauties.’ However many months of ads you want to run, call it that many beauties.”

First he explored the client’s needs, then combined those needs with industry rules to output a marketing strategy, then started from what users cared about to formulate the marketing plan, and finally set the marketing beats according to the client’s needs.

Badass, the vice president big bro was really badass!

At the end, Lin Yiran said, “I didn’t prepare much today, and everything I just said was only my immature thinking. As for the specific ad placement timing, cost, and effect, Gu Zheng will later make a detailed case. The two of you can discuss it with him.”

The vice president big bro didn’t overpackage anything throughout the whole process, and there was no nonsense either. He was unhurried, stopped at the point, and had clear, effortless logic.

A negotiation that struck straight at the soul was just using the most straightforward words to say exactly what was in the client’s heart.

Gu Zheng admired him to the point of complete awe.

After leaving Haitang, the two of them got into the car.

Lin Yiran lowered the window, lit a cigarette, and asked, “Did I do okay in that talk?”

The young master instantly turned into a little fanboy and started using honorifics. “Super okay, way too okay! You’re even more badass than Roger Dawson!”

Lin Yiran smiled lightly. “Then follow me these next few days. No matter what client I’m talking to, you’ll come with me.”

“Okay, okay, okay.”

After saying that, Gu Zheng reacted. Just now, Lin Yiran helped him close the deal. If the deal went through, Lan Hai would pay him. But if he accompanied Lin Yiran to talk deals, wouldn’t he just be a bag-carrying lackey?

“Brother Lin, I just came to Lan Hai, and I’m not very familiar with our corporate culture. Shouldn’t I first participate in onboarding training?”

“No need.” Lin Yiran started the car and drove off. “KA newcomers just can’t slack off. They need a bit of intensity, otherwise people always say my management is loose.”

Gu Zheng’s heart gave a jolt.

The pretty boy said nothing to his face, but stabbed him in the back behind his back. The vice president big bro stayed expressionless, and after closing the deal, he turned around and set people up.

Salespeople were two-faced and backstabbing, wolves and rats in one nest.

Gu Zheng was frustrated, but his admiration was real too.

In the field of negotiation, Lin Yiran was a peerless master, while he was a newly arrived chivalrous youth. After this battle, he had been pointed to awakening in his negotiation bloodline by a master. From now on, he had to bow and learn from a teacher. Once he had learned the martial arts manual, he definitely could swagger through the negotiation world.

Zhuo Hang didn’t even know how to talk and could still make money. Could I, with a mouth, starve to death?

I wasn’t the young master who could do nothing but EMO and throw tantrums. I wanted to follow Brother Lin and make a name for myself in the field of negotiation, and make those who had looked down on me before look at me in a new light.

In the distant sky, clouds gathered from all directions, turning into a surging tide.

The wind rose, and the cloud tide churned.