After hanging up the phone, Bao Xu fell into deep thought.
He had to admit that Min Jingchao’s points were quite reasonable. The current business model of Suffering Travel was indeed not very mature—it seemed to miss the mark on both ends.
Perhaps because the first two sessions had mainly consisted of Tenda’s internal employees, with at most a few free spots added through lottery draws, Bao Xu had lost his sharpness in this aspect.
Moreover, since the establishment of Suffering Travel, Bao Xu had focused most of his energy on the daily training and various details during the trips, constantly thinking about how to provide everyone with a better suffering experience. As a result, he had somewhat neglected the business model.
The price of 35,000 yuan per person was already as low as possible in Bao Xu’s mind, but it wasn’t a good pricing strategy.
For ordinary people, they basically wouldn’t have any desire to participate in Suffering Travel. Whether they joined a tour group or traveled independently with that money, they could have a great time without needing to come suffer.
For wealthy people, time was even more precious. In the face of a two-month travel period, the difference between 30,000 and 50,000 wasn’t actually that significant.
The key was whether Suffering Travel could provide them with a unique experience.
This was just like the pricing of Outu Mobile phones back then. When you had a phone packed with premium components at a certain cost, with normal pricing, poor people couldn’t afford it, and rich people weren’t interested—it was awkward.
At that time, under Mr. Pei’s guidance, Chang You had added a lot of additional value to Outu Mobile, which successfully revitalized it.
For Suffering Travel to succeed, it needed to replicate this model.
Although Bao Xu’s primary goal wasn’t to make money, he didn’t want to deliberately lose money either.
If Suffering Travel performed poorly, fewer and fewer people would participate. If the flow of people stopped, wouldn’t the source of joy disappear?
Conversely, if Suffering Travel became popular, they could buy more training bases and continue to expand. In the future, they wouldn’t be limited to just 20 people; it could be 100 people, 200 people, or even more, with operations spreading throughout the country and around the world.
Wouldn’t that multiply the joy?
Of course, it was too early to think about those things. As long as Suffering Travel could become popular and gain enough attention and reputation, there would be no need to worry about making money.
So for Bao Xu, this business model still needed careful consideration.
The key now was to understand one question: What irreplaceable value did Suffering Travel offer?
Apart from the “suffering” label, could anything more valuable be extracted from it?
When Bao Xu initially proposed establishing Suffering Travel, his purpose was simple—to arrange activities for the department heads of Tenda.
But Mr. Pei strongly supported and highly praised this idea.
So Mr. Pei’s purpose obviously wouldn’t be as simple as Bao Xu’s.
In other words, since Mr. Pei had nodded in approval, it meant that the idea of Suffering Travel had the potential for commercial success. It was just that Bao Xu, blinded by hatred, hadn’t yet seen this possibility.
“Following the experience of Outu Mobile, more added value should be incorporated into Suffering Travel.”
“What kind of added value should be added?”
“Hmm… past experience tells me that when in doubt, rely on cross-promotion.”
Bao Xu quickly found the direction.
When Outu Mobile first started, it also had nothing—no resources. But once it cross-promoted with Tenda’s other industries, it gained a lot of added value and showed clear differentiation from other phone brands.
Suffering Travel should obviously follow this path.
Raise the price from 35,000 yuan per person to 50,000 yuan, then through cross-promotion with other industries, give Suffering Travel additional content different from other travel experiences. This would create irreplaceability among consumers with better economic situations.
First establish the brand with high prices, then gradually lower prices to expand the user base—this was a method many brands had used, and it was very effective.
Of course, not everyone could implement this approach. After all, entering the high-end market from the start required abundant funds, strong marketing and promotional capabilities, and unique resources.
Fortunately, the Tenda Group had all of these!
With the backing of Tenda Group as a big tree, having such good resources but not knowing how to use them, only thinking about working independently as a department—only a truly foolish person would do that.
Bao Xu carefully went through the many industries currently under the Tenda Group.
“Suffering Travel should be a very honorable thing. People who complete Suffering Travel are those with firm will, who can endure hardship and strive hard.”
“Just as society should have many preferential policies for soldiers, those who complete Suffering Travel should also receive special treatment within Tenda’s various industries.”
“And these benefits should ideally differ from the benefits of Outu Mobile, without overlap. Otherwise, the value of Suffering Travel wouldn’t be apparent.”
“Outu Mobile’s special treatment mainly consists of various benefits, like discounts at internet cafes and on takeout, plus free movie tickets and such.”
“So Suffering Travel’s benefits should offer a kind of status privilege. Let others see at a glance that this person has participated in Suffering Travel!”
Bao Xu quickly came up with a general idea.
First, in places that require Tenda account login, such as Tenda Games, TPDb website, and Useful APP, those who had participated in Suffering Travel would receive a special title: “Sufferer.”
This title would be extremely precious, available only to those who had participated in Suffering Travel. It would also include detailed information, noting specifically which session of Suffering Travel they had participated in and their final results.
Second, after completing Suffering Travel, each person would receive a customized, limited-edition commemorative medal. It would be large and beautiful, accompanied by a certificate, making it highly collectible.
Third, “Sufferers” would also receive special treatment in Tenda’s other peripheral industries.
For example, Sufferers would automatically gain early access to all new Tenda games;
They would receive priority experience rights at entertainment venues like Terror Lodge, similar to a Fast Pass express lane;
In related industries such as Slackin’ Internet Café, Slackin’ Takeout, and Tuoguan Fitness, customers with “Sufferer” status would receive special care and true VVVIP treatment;
They could bypass certain restrictions, such as not being subject to the one-hour study mode limit when using Rabbit Tail Live Streaming, and so on.
After all, since these people had endured the hellish difficulty of Suffering Travel, it was reasonable for them to enjoy some preferential treatment.
If others weren’t happy about it, they could also come participate in Suffering Travel! Once they participated, they would also enjoy these privileges.
The difference from Outu Mobile’s benefits was that Outu Mobile’s benefits were mainly discounts and economic advantages, while Suffering Travel’s benefits represented a special status that money couldn’t buy.
Finally, Bao Xu felt that the sense of mutual recognition among the “Sufferer” group should be strengthened.
Whether through creating groups, exchanging contact information, or regular official gatherings, the goal was to foster a comrade-like emotional bond among Sufferers from the same session, while also bringing Sufferers from different sessions closer together.
Suppose one day, two members of Suffering Travel met; they might have a conversation like this:
“Hey, you’re a Sufferer too? Which session of Suffering Travel did you participate in?”
“I was in the 19th session. How about you?”
“I’m from the 27th session. You’re a senior! Pleased to meet you!”
“Not at all, not at all. Oh, that medal is only for outstanding members—you’re the impressive one.”
If they could achieve this, then Suffering Travel would possess unique value.
Moreover, with the price increase, the various benefits of Suffering Travel could also be enhanced, including accommodations, training, activity locations, purchased equipment, and commemorative items distributed afterward—all could receive comprehensive updates and improvements.
At the very least, after participating in Suffering Travel, customers shouldn’t feel cheapened at all, but rather experience a sense of high-end exclusivity.
The more Bao Xu thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. A complete plan quickly took shape in his mind.
Of course, to secure these benefits, he would need to communicate with the heads of various departments and gain their support and cooperation.
On this front, Bao Xu was full of confidence.
Who would dare not cooperate? They’d be brought in to experience Suffering Travel on the spot!
Ahem, that wasn’t quite appropriate to say—it made Suffering Travel sound like some kind of secret service organization.
But regardless, Suffering Travel now carried considerable weight within the Tenda Group, and ordinary department heads wouldn’t dare refuse Bao Xu’s requests.
Otherwise, what if they were treated unfairly, and Bao Xu arranged for their entire department to go on Suffering Travel? That would be disastrous!
Moreover, the better Suffering Travel developed and the more tourists it attracted from outside, the relatively safer Tenda’s internal staff would be.
If Suffering Travel couldn’t recruit people from outside, wouldn’t they have to intensify arrangements for Tenda’s internal staff?
This was something no department head wanted to see.
Therefore, this plan should receive full cooperation from other departments.
Of course, Bao Xu hadn’t forgotten the contributions of Min Jingchao and his colleagues at Tianhua Studio.
Proposing such constructive suggestions that comprehensively improved Suffering Travel’s business model deserved major credit.
How to repay them?
Well, since Min Jingchao said that several colleagues at Tianhua Studio were interested in Suffering Travel, he would contact Zhou Muyan another day and offer Tianhua Studio an internal discount.
Too small a discount wouldn’t be appropriate—it would seem stingy. A straight 50% discount, changing the price from 50,000 to 25,000, would be just right.
With this thought, Bao Xu immediately got up excitedly and went to the adjacent rest room to modify the plan on his laptop.
Originally, Suffering Travel’s registration price for external participants was to be announced soon, and the announcement had already been written. But now, an urgent change was needed.
However, it wasn’t a big problem. After all, there was still more than a month before the next session began. He could first revise the announcement, release it next week for people to register, and then arrange the cross-promotional activities with other departments within a month. That would work perfectly!