Pei Qian’s slightly trembling hand picked up the red wine from the table. He took a sip to calm himself.
Hmm, why did he have this feeling of “as expected”…?
Being hit with sudden bad news during meals had happened more than once or twice; he seemed to have developed some resistance to it.
But the battle-hardened Mr. Pei would certainly not give up resistance like this.
If Mr. Pei didn’t approve of this matter, then there was still room for turning things around!
Pei Qian put down his wine glass: “Are you sure you want to cooperate with those furniture brands and real estate companies?”
“Don’t you want to reconsider?”
“This idea doesn’t seem very complete.”
As for what specifically needed consideration, Pei Qian himself wasn’t very clear. In any case, he was considering how to earn less money or even no money at all, but he just couldn’t find a suitable excuse.
When Mr. Pei couldn’t think of anything, he needed to make reverse use of the employees’ overinterpretation effect.
Song Kai paused, then nodded: “Yes, Mr. Pei, why not?”
“Real estate companies are famously wealthy!”
“As for furniture companies, although many brands aren’t well-known, they have high profits and great room for price reductions. We can help customers get lower prices while taking a commission ourselves. What’s not to like?”
Pei Qian’s face darkened.
Would I not know that real estate companies are famously wealthy?
Would I not know that many furniture brands have high profits?
If you keep emphasizing this, I’ll be even less inclined to agree!
Song Kai looked bewildered, and Liang Qingfan also fell into deep thought.
The situation became somewhat awkward for a moment.
Pei Qian felt it wasn’t good to keep the silence going, so he thought of sending them back to eat first, putting this matter aside temporarily for slow consideration.
After all, the longer the consideration, the later the money-making, so it was better to delay as much as possible.
But just then, Lü Mingliang, who had been quietly listening on the side, spoke up.
He sighed softly: “You two have newly joined Tenda, so your working style hasn’t yet aligned with the Tenda Spirit. No wonder you can’t hear the deeper meaning in Mr. Pei’s words.”
Song Kai and Liang Qingfan were stunned, then showed expressions of humble willingness to learn: “Could Mr. Lü give us some guidance?”
Pei Qian also looked at Lü Mingliang, with a question mark floating above his head.
?
I invited you all just to eat and make up numbers, don’t give me your random interpretations!
Oh, it’s Lü Mingliang. That’s fine then.
If it were people like Lin Wan, Huang Sibo, or Bao Xu, Pei Qian might consider interrupting them to prevent them from continuing.
Because when these people interpreted, something often went wrong!
But Lü Mingliang’s words still had Mr. Pei’s trust, so he could be allowed to say a bit more.
Lü Mingliang organized his thoughts and said, “Actually, when I first heard about this profit model, I was also surprised. It was indeed unexpected.”
“But after thinking carefully, I realized an issue. The profit model you’re thinking of now might only be a small part of what Mr. Pei originally conceived.”
Pei Qian: “…”
Liang Qingfan and Song Kai listened more attentively, with newfound respect.
Lü Mingliang continued: “Congratulations to both of you. You’ve entered Mr. Pei’s realm of thinking, recognizing the Tenda Group’s currently second most valuable asset: trust.”
“Tenda has long insisted on honest operations, never resorting to falsehoods, established a good reputation among customers. So, even when entering a new industry, customers tend to trust us.”
“‘Tenda’s products might be expensive, might have a slightly lower cost-performance ratio, but will never scam people.’ This is customers’ trust in Tenda, and also our second most valuable asset.”
Song Kai cautiously raised his hand and asked: “Excuse me for interrupting, but our most valuable asset is…?”
Lü Mingliang felt somewhat perplexed, thinking, Do I need to spell this out?
But when he found that Song Kai hadn’t guessed it, he had to explain with some resignation: “Of course it’s Mr. Pei’s mind.”
Song Kai suddenly understood, nodding vigorously.
Right, how could I not think of such a simple question!
Pei Qian: “…”
He didn’t know what to say for a moment.
Lü Mingliang continued: “It’s precisely because customers trust in Tenda that Tenda can succeed in all new fields. So this trust itself is valuable. Using the Sloth Apartments brand to cooperate with other furniture manufacturers and real estate companies is essentially using customers’ trust in us to endorse these companies.”
“Under ideal conditions, this is indeed a win-win situation: we act as intermediaries, helping build a bridge of mutual trust between consumers and manufacturers. Manufacturers earn less per item but sell more, consumers get good deals, and we also gain benefits.”
“But the question is, how do we ensure that this cooperation always remains under ideal conditions? What if manufacturers cooperate well with us at first, but gradually discover that making money this way is easy, and that by cutting corners just a little, they can gain huge profits, while consumers can hardly detect it…”
“Then, how do we guarantee that the companies cooperating with us don’t deteriorate?”
“Once such a thing is exposed, it would be like polluting Tenda’s water source, shaking the cornerstone of Tenda’s foundation. The loss would outweigh the gain.”
“Don’t believe these companies have a conscience like Tenda. The lesson of Homestead Group’s Safe Houses was just a few days ago, wasn’t it?”
Liang Qingfan and Song Kai suddenly realized.
This was indeed a huge hidden danger!
They had both more or less realized some aspects of this problem, but on one hand, it was because they were currently only at the advocacy stage of cooperation and hadn’t formally reached an agreement; on the other hand, they had thought of it but hadn’t given it enough importance, thinking other companies were too benevolent, so they hadn’t deeply considered this point.
But now, hearing Lü Mingliang’s words, the two were instantly awakened.
So that’s what Mr. Pei was worried about!
They couldn’t help but look at Mr. Pei and found him holding his wine glass in thought, with a profound and mysterious appearance.
They couldn’t help but show even more respect.
However, Pei Qian was thinking about another issue.
When he heard “shaking the cornerstone of Tenda’s foundation,” he was slightly tempted.
It sounded like doing this might easily cost money!
Restricted by the system, Pei Qian’s own businesses absolutely could not engage in deception, passing off inferior goods as superior to fool consumers. But if it were a situation where Pei Qian was unaware, and other companies cooperating with Tenda exhibited such behavior, the system seemed to have no clear regulations.
In other words, this seemed to be a loophole…
But this thought only flashed briefly before Pei Qian completely suppressed it.
I only lose money, I don’t lose my conscience.
Letting those companies that pass off inferior goods as superior use my name to commit fraud? That’s unacceptable!
Let them get as far away as possible!
However, after listening to Lü Mingliang’s speech, Pei Qian suddenly thought of a new idea.
Since Liang Qingfan and Song Kai had expanded new business areas for Sloth Apartments, I should turn around and fleece you a bit too!
Just like when ROF Computer Assembly was being set up, Zhang Yuan had originally planned to use the Slackin’ Internet Café’s brand effect to create a computer assembly brand to make money, but Pei Qian had turned it around to use ROF Computer Assembly to create a Programmer’s Day on October 24th, achieving the goal of urgent spending.
Of course, what happened afterward doesn’t need to be mentioned.
At least in the circumstances at that time, this decision was very successful!
He could just follow up on the issue Lü Mingliang had raised to elaborate.
According to the system’s unwritten rules, when an industry can establish a good reputation, the system would greatly relax the profit requirements for that industry, just like Upwind Logistics.
With this in mind, Pei Qian said, “Sloth Apartments can consider cooperating with home decoration brands and real estate companies, but there must be very strict requirements.”
Specifically, recruit people to form an inspection team. Before cooperation, thoroughly investigate the actual situation of various brands, understanding their actual profits and operational status.”
“The inspection team must regularly rotate their responsible areas to prevent corruption.”
“All expenses for the inspection team’s field visits, including food, accommodation, and transportation, are to be borne by us, and they absolutely cannot reveal their identities.”
“Even after cooperation is established, the inspection team should regularly conduct random anonymous checks. We also welcome customers to actively report issues. Once we find any situation that doesn’t meet standards, we’ll immediately terminate the contract, hold them accountable, and bear all customer losses.”
“All clauses must be written into the contract at the beginning of cooperation. If they don’t accept these clauses, they are not allowed to cooperate with Tenda.”
“If any problems arise from the cooperation, it’s your responsibility, you two.”
Liang Qingfan and Song Kai’s expressions became serious: “Yes, Mr. Pei!”
Obviously, with such a standard, the furniture brands and real estate companies that would cooperate with Tenda would likely become few and far between, perhaps not even one in ten.
Who would sign a contract with so many terms and conditions?
These home decoration brands and real estate companies were making money lying down anyway. Having Sloth Apartments’ brand was good, but without it, it wouldn’t affect their profits.
Now, just to use Sloth Apartments as a brand, they would have to accept all kinds of supervision, and if problems were found, they would be responsible for compensation. Why would they agree?
But Liang Qingfan and Song Kai felt that Mr. Pei’s requirements were very reasonable, because without signing such contracts, there was no way to ensure these cooperating companies would keep their promises.
In this world, companies like Tenda that could consistently and firmly forgo immediate benefits for long-term benefits were extremely rare.
But this was precisely what made Tenda most respectable.
Lü Mingliang couldn’t help but nod slightly. Good, these two managers were gradually feeling the true meaning of the Tenda Spirit!
Pei Qian took a sip of red wine to calm himself, never imagining that Sloth Apartments would create such a big issue.
He had originally thought this was a project that would fail, but now it seemed that he had lacked a bit of imagination.
Or… was the imagination of this world too abundant?
So the question came: should Sloth Apartments continue to operate?
From the current situation, Sloth Apartments could indeed burn money, because buying buildings could immediately incur a large amount of debt, which couldn’t be recovered quickly.
But the Sloth Apartments model also carried great risks, just like today. If a business suddenly expanded, it could reveal another undiscovered huge market, with profits slapped directly in its face.
Pei Qian couldn’t help but feel conflicted.
“Oh, by the way, Mr. Pei. I have something here to pass to you.” Song Kai suddenly remembered something, took a letter from his pocket, and handed it to Pei Qian.
Pei Qian was stunned for a moment, then reached out to accept it.
Without stamps or signatures, just a simple envelope containing a thank-you letter.
“Hello.”
“I am a victim of ‘formaldehyde housing.’ Even before Sloth Apartments appeared, I had been fighting against ‘formaldehyde housing’ for a long time, spending a lot of time and energy, but with little effect.”
“There’s no way around it, the voice of ordinary people is still too small.”
“I am very grateful to the kind-hearted people on the internet who speak out for this issue; at the same time, I also thank Sloth Apartments for providing me with a more worry-free and reassuring solution. I don’t need to argue with Homestead Group or fight for my rights anymore, I just need to abandon Homestead Group and choose Sloth Apartments instead.”
“I sincerely hope that Sloth Apartments can leave Jingzhou soon, so that tenants across the country can rent safe houses!”
There was no signature, so naturally it was impossible to know who had written it.
Pei Qian was silent for a moment, then folded the letter, put it back in the envelope, and handed it back to Song Kai.
“Keep this letter safe, don’t lose it.”
“Sloth Apartments will strive to let all tenants rent safe houses!”