Chen Kangtuo still hesitated.
Anyone could see that this was not just “a small token” of appreciation.
If the Thriller Lodge project became popular, the profit from selling merchandise would be extremely considerable.
At present, most domestic theme parks are still in the early stages of developing derivative products and other profit channels. Ticket sales remained the absolute majority of their profit composition.
But looking at the revenue proportions of internationally renowned theme parks, in a mature model, the ratios of tickets, shopping, and other income were roughly one-third each.
Among these, food and beverage, accommodation, commercial partnerships within the tourist area, commercial sponsorships of scenic festivals, and tourism-oriented real estate development in the scenic area could all be considered other income.
Now, Mr. Li and the other investors decided to give Tenda half of all the merchandise sales income from the entire Thriller Lodge project, which was a very generous concession.
Seeing Chen Kangtuo’s hesitation, Li Shi smiled slightly: “Young Chen, no need to be too polite.”
“Thriller Lodge was originally Mr. Pei’s project. With Tenda’s financial resources, Mr. Pei could have taken all the benefits of Thriller Lodge merchandise for himself, but he didn’t do that. Instead, he gave a considerable portion of the profit to us, which is already very generous.”
“Now that all our interests are tied together, rising and falling as one, we can’t have any sectarian bias. The market that my partners and I are jointly funding the construction of is also a kind of response to Mr. Pei’s generosity.”
“If young Chen feels uncomfortable about it, just make Thriller Lodge better and more popular, which would be a good way to repay our goodwill.”
After long consideration, seeing Mr. Li’s resolute attitude and sincere hospitality, Chen Kangtuo nodded silently: “Alright, then I’ll thank everyone on behalf of Mr. Pei.”
Mr. Li smiled slightly: “I have already prepared the contract. Young Chen, please take a look, and if there are no issues, please come up with a plan and start construction as soon as possible. Time waits for no one.”
…
After leaving Chen Kangtuo’s office, Mr. Li felt refreshed.
Much more reassured!
Recently, Li Shi had been overseeing the renovation work of his restaurant near Thriller Lodge. Although the project was progressing smoothly, he always felt uneasy.
This feeling of uneasiness had been lingering in his mind for a long time.
After carefully recalling his previous experiences working with Mr. Pei, Mr. Li suddenly realized where this uneasiness came from.
The investors’ interests weren’t bound tightly enough to Mr. Pei’s wagon!
That is to say, there was still a risk of failure.
When investing in Shared Study Master before, Mr. Pei first shook everyone’s confidence, persuading a batch of investors to withdraw, and then used a small trick to exclude all shareholders, keeping the greatest benefit for himself.
After analyzing it afterward, Li Shi realized that the situation occurred because everyone hadn’t stuck close enough.
In business terms, Mr. Pei always put Tenda’s interests first in commercial matters.
In Mr. Li’s view, Mr. Pei’s attitude toward investors had always been: if you want to come along for some soup, come along, but don’t expect to eat meat—all the meat in the pot belongs to Tenda.
If people were to leave the dinner table in a certain order, Tenda would be the last to eat.
So Mr. Li’s thought was that they must firmly tie Mr. Pei to the same wagon of common interests, or they might be inexplicably thrown off halfway!
This concession was the result of his careful consideration, seemingly generous but somewhat shrewd.
The restaurants, hotels, and other facilities opened by Mr. Li and others were supporting facilities around Thriller Lodge. Compared to ticket revenue, they might be less profitable, but equally stable.
With Mr. Pei’s foresight, he would want to build Thriller Lodge into a world-class theme park in China or even globally. Then the profit structure of this place would eventually converge with world-class theme parks, that is, tickets, shopping, and other income each accounting for one-third.
Among these, ticket sales would go entirely to Tenda, other income would be shared by Tenda and the investors, and the shopping revenue cake remained undivided.
After Thriller Lodge officially opened, there would be two possible scenarios:
One was the typical situation of domestic theme parks, where tickets made money but merchandise didn’t.
The other was that both tickets and merchandise were profitable.
If it was the former, merchandise sales wouldn’t make money anyway, so what did it matter if they gave Tenda a 50% share?
If it were the latter, everyone would make money together. Tenda would gain substantial profit from merchandise, naturally motivating them to make it even better.
Therefore, Mr. Li discussed with the investors to use this concession to firmly bind Mr. Pei to their wagon of interests. Everyone would advance and retreat together. With these profits, Mr. Pei would put more effort into merchandise, which would naturally be better for the development of the entire Thriller Lodge.
Up until now, although all the investors trusted Mr. Pei very much, whether the Thriller Lodge project could succeed was still unknown.
So they could only continue to raise the stakes, betting that Mr. Pei’s business genius would create another miracle.
Li Shi left Chen Kangtuo’s office, planning to take another look at the restaurant’s renovation before driving back to his own office.
However, just at that moment, his phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number.
“Hello, Mr. Li. I’m Wu Bin from Tenda’s Human Resources Department.”
“I’m currently collecting some material about Mr. Pei. I wonder if you have time to briefly share your thoughts?”
Li Shi was surprised, as this call was unexpected.
But since it was Mr. Pei’s person, he could certainly do this favor.
Moreover, he was also curious about what kind of material the other party was collecting.
“Sure, let’s meet at the Slackin’ Internet Café near Handong University.”
…
In the Slackin’ Internet Café, Li Shi, Wu Bin, and Cui Gen each ordered a cup of coffee.
Wu Bin had already explained his intentions to Li Shi, and the content about the Tenda Spirit aroused Li Shi’s strong interest.
As everyone knew, Mr. Pei managed his subordinates effectively.
Every employee in the entire Tenda Group could stand on their own and completely follow orders without question, obeying Mr. Pei’s every word.
Whether at Slackin’ Internet Café, Dream Realization Investment, or Thriller Lodge, when dealing with Mr. Pei’s subordinates, Li Shi could feel a special admiration these people had for Mr. Pei.
So, what exactly was this Tenda Spirit? And how did it work?
If one could learn this spirit, would the employees of Fuhui Capital also become like Tenda’s employees?
Mastering this spiritual weapon would be extremely useful for an entrepreneur.
Li Shi sipped his coffee: “No problem, ask whatever you want. I just have one requirement: after the Tenda Spirit manual is completed, please send me a copy.”
Wu Bin hesitated for a moment.
Because the Tenda Spirit was also a secret within Tenda, circulating only privately among employees, not to be spread on internal forums or the internet.
This interpretation of the Tenda Spirit wasn’t something any employee could provide.
Li Shi saw Wu Bin’s thoughts and smiled slightly: “Don’t worry, I absolutely won’t share it externally.”
“Such a good thing is best known by as few people as possible.”
“Moreover, Fuhui Capital and Tenda Group have no conflict of interest and have always been close partners.”
Wu Bin thought about it and realized it made sense.
The Tenda Spirit was a spiritual summary, not a business secret. The reason for keeping it confidential was mainly to ensure that not just any random person could pass the Tenda Spirit compatibility test, while also ensuring that employees would continue to contemplate and study the Tenda Spirit without becoming lazy.
As Mr. Li said, he had no reason to spread it around.
Since Mr. Li had made great contributions to the completion of this Tenda Spirit interpretation, and it wouldn’t affect the confidentiality of the Tenda Spirit, giving Mr. Li a copy seemed harmless.
With this in mind, Wu Bin nodded: “Alright, Mr. Li, let’s complete this interpretation of the Tenda Spirit together.”
“I’d like to ask, what is your impression of Mr. Pei?”
“Mr. Pei presents different images internally and externally.”
“As employees, we can only see one side of Mr. Pei.”
“While you, as a partner, can see another side of Mr. Pei, which is crucial for interpreting the Tenda Spirit.”
Li Shi took a sip of coffee, thought for a moment, and said: “From my perspective, Mr. Pei’s first impression is of someone very calm, even cold.”
“This calmness allows Mr. Pei, in any situation, to think about problems objectively and rationally, driving him to make the most correct decisions.”
“Combined with his business wisdom far surpassing ordinary people, it manifests in four words: commanding the situation.”
“When dealing with business matters, he always puts Tenda’s interests first. Any company that affects Tenda’s interests will face resolute measures from Mr. Pei, making them lose badly.”
“And in the process of cooperation, for Tenda’s interests, Mr. Pei is also prepared to kick others off the wagon at any time. Of course, Mr. Pei never uses any conspiracies, always employing aboveboard business methods, which is the most admirable point.”
“From another perspective, Mr. Pei is also a very tolerant and kind person.”
“He has his unique understanding of cooperation.”
“He only cooperates with partners who trust him. Before cooperation, he will arrange various tests by all means, persuading those with unsteady will to withdraw.”
“And for those who persist to the end or even take the initiative to concede benefits, Mr. Pei has always been very generous.”
“These two seemingly contradictory characteristics are perfectly integrated in Mr. Pei, allowing me to see both the cunning of an old fox and the idealism of a young man, which is very amazing.”
“Perhaps a business genius like Mr. Pei was born for business success.”
Wu Bin recorded all of Li Shi’s words with a voice recorder and sighed: “Thank you very much, Mr. Li. This perspective is very enlightening for me!”
Cui Gen, sitting on the side, was already thinking about how to find a suitable angle to incorporate these insights.
Wu Bin continued: “So, Mr. Li, could you describe your experiences working with Mr. Pei, and the specific manifestations of Mr. Pei’s character?”
Li Shi held his coffee cup, falling into recollection: “To begin with, it started with the Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store.”
“At that time, I accidentally discovered a quiet internet café. Although quiet, it showed endless potential. So, I wanted to invest in it…”
Wu Bin listened attentively as a more complete character image, a more three-dimensional Mr. Pei, appeared in his mind.