"Boss, you specifically asked us to find some street vendors who sell needles, jeans, and canvas shoes. What's there to talk about with these small vendors?"
Lei Baoguo asked Chen Yang. He couldn't understand why Chen Yang, who was already such a big boss, would want to understand how small street vendors do business.
"Baoguo, you don't understand. Often, people's abilities may vary, but their potential is boundless."
"Don't underestimate them. As the first to dare, their courage and insight are beyond ordinary people. Moreover, their thinking may not necessarily lag behind ours."
"Baoguo, have you noticed a characteristic about them?"
Chen Yang smiled at Lei Baoguo. In fact, Lei Baoguo had become quite mature among Chen Yang's bodyguards. Although he lacked business acumen, his perspective on many matters was very clear.
"They have quite a few characteristics. Most of them are from Wenzhou. Their business volume isn't large, they can endure hardship, and they travel around carrying two snakeskin bags. They don't mind earning a penny or two, and they can also sell items for a dollar or two."
"They are tight-lipped. You can't find out where they get their goods from. They are very united. I heard they've even gotten into fights to snatch business, daring to fight a group with just a few of them."
Lei Baoguo didn't make a fool of himself. When Chen Yang asked them to find these small vendors, he had already had a brief chat with them. However, these details alone weren't enough to capture Chen Yang's attention.
"That's a good summary, but you only know they are united and easily don't tell others their profit channels. Baoguo, have you ever looked into the relationships among these Wenzhou people?"
"Do they have relatives among them, or is there a leader among this group of vendors? Is there any overlap in their goods, or is it an upstream and downstream industrial chain?"
Chen Yang had heard a lot about how shrewd Wenzhou people were in business in his previous life, but he hadn't delved into the specifics of their success.
He had just opened ten production lines and was short on cash. If he and a limited number of people like Zhang Weiyang were to develop the Zhenhua Electrical Appliance Factory, it would take him one or two years to complete the overall construction plan.
Therefore, Chen Yang set his sights on these Wenzhou people. In his previous life, Wenzhou people had been doing business secretly since 1978. In this life, with Chen Yang's butterfly effect, the number of people doing business had increased, but Wenzhou people remained very prominent.
It's just that many people didn't pay attention. Only someone like Chen Yang, with his experience from his previous life, would deliberately focus on the characteristics of Wenzhou people's business practices.
"Boss, I really haven't paid attention to that. What exactly is an upstream and downstream industrial chain?"
Lei Baoguo became a little interested as he listened to Chen Yang.
"An upstream and downstream industrial chain means that this product is nested within the sales segment of other products. It's like our distiller's grains fish factory. Don't we have distillery products, glass jar factories, and packaging factories, as well as logistics companies?"
"For these Wenzhou vendors, it means whether they sell needles and threads, and then whether they sell clothes and shoes. If clothes and shoes get damaged, do they need needles and threads to mend them? And then, do they sell cotton and cloth?"
Chen Yang continued to smile at Lei Baoguo. As one of his most trusted individuals, Chen Yang had high expectations for Lei Baoguo.
Chen Yang wasn't asking questions out of boredom or to show off his superiority to Lei Baoguo. It was because Chen Yang wanted to guide Lei Baoguo more, so that even if he couldn't handle everything independently, he could still share some of the burden.
For example, with the task of finding small vendors, Lei Baoguo had already helped him collect a lot of information, which saved him time and effort and allowed him to receive the desired information quickly.
"Alright, please invite them up. I'll chat with them, and you can listen by the side."
Chen Yang didn't ask any more questions. Learning wasn't an overnight process, and Lei Baoguo needed some time to think for himself.
"Okay, I'll go invite them up."
Lei Baoguo was efficient. He went down and returned in less than two minutes with seven or eight Wenzhou businessmen, whom he brought to the conference room.
Zhenhua Electrical Appliance Factory had prioritized building a three-story building as its headquarters. The space in this building was quite tight, including this conference room, Chen Yang's office, and the finance, dispatch, and sales departments.
"Hello, everyone. Let me introduce myself first. I am the boss of Zhenhua Electrical Appliance Factory. My name is Chen Yang. I've invited you all here today to have a chat."
"There's an old saying in Wenzhou, isn't there? 'If there's money, we'll all make it together, and if there's profit, we'll all get rich.' If I can make six dollars out of ten, I'll let others make the remaining four, right?"
Chen Yang glanced at the Wenzhou businessmen Lei Baoguo had invited. The Wenzhou people at this time were not as formidable as they would become later. Judging by their clothing, they even looked a bit shabby.
"Boss Chen, you're joking. How dare we call ourselves bosses with our small businesses."
"A business of ten dollars is a huge deal. We might not be willing to give away four dollars to others."
A man in his fifties chuckled. However, as soon as he spoke, Chen Yang could tell that he was likely the leader of this group.
"Then let's put it another way. If I were to make you agents for my Zhenhua Electrical Appliance Factory, how would you go about selling the products?"
"I don't just have televisions here. We also produce radios and electric fans. In the future, we might even produce air conditioners and refrigerators."
Chen Yang smiled faintly. He hadn't invited these Wenzhou people just for fun. Chen Yang intended to develop distributors.
Previously, setting up directly managed stores in each location was for easier management and to firmly grasp sales channels.
However, plans couldn't keep up with changes. Now, he needed to convert production capacity into cash flow as quickly as possible so that he could recover funds and build the factories and production lines.
Time was of the essence. Panasonic had already begun to enter the domestic market, and Chen Yang felt a sense of pressure. If he didn't hurry to occupy the market and establish the brand awareness of Zhenhua Electrical Appliances, he might easily be defeated by the powerful Panasonic. At that time, the domestic appliance market would repeat the same mistake as in his previous life.
There was no other way. After the television production line was built, he still needed to build production lines for air conditioners and refrigerators, as well as radios and electric fans, and so on.
All of these required money, so Chen Yang couldn't be too concerned about controlling the sales channels anymore. He had to expand his sales scope as quickly as possible and build up the brand awareness of Zhenhua Electrical Appliances.
When everyone around you is buying something, then when people want to buy the same type of product, they will unconsciously think of that product. This is brand effect.
Zhenhua's current development needed the Wenzhou people to ignite a spark and sell its products across the country as quickly as possible. Chen Yang was willing to give the Wenzhou people four points of profit. As long as they could sell, now was the time to fight with the Japanese and fight for the market. Chen Yang couldn't hesitate.