novelonline Chapter 1522 Beer Girl?
Chapter 1522 Beer Girl?
Chapter 1522 Beer Girl?
In a simple, damp, and dark rented room, the air was filled with the musty smell of a room that hadn't been ventilated for a long time. The walls were mottled and yellowed, and there were faint water stains in the corners. The cramped space could only fit a hard bed, a paint-chipped wardrobe, and a dilapidated desk. A few wrinkled shirts were scattered on the floor, revealing the plight of a working-class person.
At 8:30 a.m., only a few rays of sunlight could penetrate the densely packed buildings in the urban village.
Qin Hao was awakened by his phone ringing. The sharp, piercing sound echoed through the cramped, damp rented room, like a dull saw cutting into his nerves. He rolled over, fumbled around on the bedside table for a while, and finally pulled his phone out from a pile of clutter.
"Hello, who is it?" He answered the phone, his throat as dry as sandpaper.
"Old Qin, you're not still in bed, are you?" The voice on the other end of the phone was practically burning with anxiety: "It's Junxin's proposal presentation today, Director Lü and Junxin's team will be here soon, what are we going to do..."
Before he could finish speaking, a wave of dizziness washed over him. Countless unfamiliar memories flooded his mind like a burst dam.
2015. Guangzhou. Star Consulting. Analyst.
On the other end of the phone was his college classmate, Yao Xiaohui. Both of them graduated from prestigious 985 universities and joined this consulting firm two years ago. This morning at nine o'clock, they were to give a presentation to a major client.
The client is Junxin Wedding Dress, a leader in the industry with over 300 stores nationwide. The original owner's design… Qin Hao closed his eyes, searching his memories, and frowned.
"Could you help me mop this up for a bit? I'm on my way." He said as he pulled back the blanket and stepped barefoot onto the cold cement floor.
Yao Xiaohui chuckled wryly on the phone: "I'll try my best, you'd better hurry. If we mess up today, we'll both be out of a job."
After hanging up the phone, Qin Hao didn't rush out the door. Instead, he found his laptop, pulled up the optimization plan created by the original owner, and quickly browsed through it.
After hanging up the phone, Qin Hao didn't rush out. Instead, he picked up his laptop and looked at the enterprise optimization plan that the original owner had made.
In the world of "The First Half of My Life," Qin Hao was quite familiar with the consulting industry. To put it simply, consulting firms help companies solve problems. Most companies wouldn't think of spending money to hire a consulting firm unless they encountered difficulties, and Junxin was obviously no exception.
Junxin is a large wedding dress chain company with more than 300 stores in mainland China, making it a top player in the industry. However, it has recently encountered a development bottleneck, with sales stagnating and industry competition intensifying. Therefore, it approached the original owner's company and offered optimization solutions.
The optimization plan that the original owner designed for Junxin was to reduce costs and increase efficiency. However, the focus was on reducing costs, which involved layoffs and cost reduction. The measures to increase efficiency were unremarkable and lacked any highlights.
Such an optimization plan is unlikely to be approved by Junxin. According to the original owner's memories, his superior, Director Lü, has given a strict order: if Qin Hao can win over this client, he will be promoted to department head immediately; but if he fails, he will be fired, along with Yao Xiaohui, the deputy team leader. No wonder Yao Xiaohui is in such a hurry.
Qin Hao glanced at the time: 8:35. The briefing was starting at 9:00, and it would take him about half an hour to get to the company.
I straightened my suit, stuffed my laptop into my backpack, closed the door to my rented apartment, and strode towards the elevator.
The elevator was the old-fashioned kind, creaking and groaning, and the walls were covered with small advertisements. Qin Hao stepped out of the building, took a deep breath of the mixed smells of the urban village air, and strode towards the subway station.
He stopped as he passed a breakfast shop.
"Boss, two steamed buns, please." He took out his change.
A cheerful voice suddenly came from behind: "Boss, two servings of rice noodle rolls and two cups of soy milk, no need to pack them up, just eat them here."
Qin Hao subconsciously glanced back.
Two young women stood behind him, dressed in identical uniforms—black skirts, white shirts, and scarves tied at the collar. The logo on their chests read "GST." They appeared to be alcohol promoters, similar to beer girls.
However, "Gross" seems to be a relatively high-end spirits company.
Seemingly noticing his gaze, one of the girls with curly hair glared at him fiercely: "What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a beautiful woman before?"
Qin Hao was taken aback for a moment, then shrugged: "How do you know I'm looking at you if you're not looking at me?"
The curly-haired girl raised her eyebrows, about to explode, but was pulled back by the short-haired girl next to her: "Alright, alright, what's wrong with someone taking a curious look? It's not like it'll hurt you. In our line of work, are you afraid of people looking?"
Qin Hao took the steamed buns from the shopkeeper, thought for a moment, and then explained, "Actually, the reason I was curious is because Guster seems to be a client of our company."
The curly-haired girl looked him over suspiciously: "Your company sells alcohol too?"
"I don't sell alcohol." Qin Hao smiled. "I work at a consulting firm."
"Consulting firm? What do they do?"
"People need doctors when they are sick, and companies need doctors too." Qin Hao tried to explain in simple terms: "When a company encounters problems in its development, or feels confused about its future, it needs a consulting firm to help it clarify its development direction and formulate development strategies."
The curly-haired girl pursed her lips: "I don't understand. Speaking in such a refined manner makes you seem knowledgeable, right?"
The short-haired girl quietly tugged at her and smiled apologetically at Qin Hao: "Sorry, that's just her personality. Hello handsome, my name is Zhao Mei, and her name is Liang Danning. We are sales promoters for Guster."
Qin Hao nodded: "Qin Hao, an analyst at Starry Sky Consulting."
As they were talking, the shop owner had already packed the steamed buns and handed them to him. Qin Hao took the buns, nodded to the two of them, and said, "I'm in a hurry to get to work. See you again sometime."
"What? You've taken a fancy to her?" Liang Danning nudged Zhao Mei with her elbow.
Zhao Mei stumbled from the push and turned to retaliate. Liang Danning quickly begged for mercy, "I was wrong, I was wrong, okay?"
The two joked around at the breakfast stall for a while before sitting down to eat rice noodle rolls.
While eating, Liang Danning said, "But to be honest, he's really quite handsome. If you like him, go for it."
Zhao Mei rolled her eyes at her, annoyed: "Go ahead and chase after any handsome guy. Do you think I can keep up with him?" She poked at the rice noodle roll with her chopsticks: "Besides, can't you think of anything else in your head?"
"What else is there?" Liang Danning asked, her mouth full of rice noodle rolls.
Zhao Mei put down her chopsticks and analyzed seriously, "Look, he works at a consulting firm and has business dealings with our company, which means it's a big company, right? He speaks very politely, so his education level must be quite high, right? Building a good relationship with such a promising person might come in handy in the future."
Liang Danning gave her a "you're hopeless" look, shaking her head and saying, "I'm telling you, Zhao Mei, you're really something. People like us low-level sales promoters, who knows how long we can keep this up? You're thinking way too far ahead."
"Being a low-level sales promoter doesn't stop me from building valuable connections," Zhao Mei said nonchalantly, continuing to eat her rice noodle rolls. "And don't always feel like it's an offense when someone looks at you. Wearing clothes like these and looking so pretty, isn't it normal to attract the attention of the opposite sex?"
“Yes—you’re right, you have lofty ambitions, okay?” Liang Danning rolled her eyes.
The two chatted and laughed, quickly finished their breakfast, and walked towards their rented room in the urban village in their high heels.
Meanwhile, Qin Hao had already gotten into the back seat of the taxi, opened his laptop, and started modifying the original owner's optimization plan.
By the time he got off the bus, the optimization plan was almost finished.
As soon as they arrived at the company's floor and the elevator doors opened, Yao Xiaohui rushed up and pulled Qin Hao aside.
"My goodness, you've finally arrived!" Yao Xiaohui was covered in sweat and his face was pale. "Director Lü and Junxin's people are in the conference room. Director Lü told me to wait for you here, so hurry up!"
Qin Hao was pulled forward by him, and patted him on the shoulder: "Good things come to those who wait, just wait for your promotion."
"A promotion?" Yao Xiaohui smiled wryly. "I'd be happy if I didn't get fired. Lao Qin, you better not mess things up! Our livelihoods are in your hands."
Qin Hao didn't say anything, but quickened his pace.
The conference room was at the end of the corridor. The glass door was closed, but you could vaguely see a few people sitting inside. Director Lü stood at the door, and as soon as he saw Qin Hao, he immediately forced a smile and went to greet him.
"Little Qin, you've finally arrived." He reached out and patted Qin Hao's shoulder, leaning closer and whispering, his voice extremely low: "If you lose this client today, be prepared to pack your bags and leave."
Qin Hao subtly shrugged his shoulder, shook off his hand, and pushed open the conference room door.
"I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting." He walked to the conference table and nodded to the people present: "Last night I had some new ideas for Junxin's proposal and kept revising it until the early hours of the morning, so I'm a little late."
The Junxin team consists of four people. The person sitting in the main seat is a middle-aged man around forty years old, with a refined and scholarly air; this must be President Liang. Beside him sits a young female assistant, who is looking through some documents.
President Liang looked up, glanced at Qin Hao, and smiled, "It's alright, good things come to those who wait. But if your proposal doesn't satisfy us, don't blame me for being impolite!"
Qin Hao smiled calmly, walked to the screen, and connected his laptop to the projector.
Yao Xiaohui stood in the corner, clutching the original proposal tightly in her hand, ready to hand it over at any moment. Director Lü sat down behind Qin Hao, his eyes fixed on the screen, a formulaic smile on his face.
The next second, Yao Xiaohui broke out in a cold sweat. This plan was completely different from the previous one. It didn't include any cost reduction measures at all; the whole thing was about increasing efficiency.
Junxin's team was also full of surprise: "Director Lü's proposal is completely different from the one you gave us before."
Director Lü panicked and walked up to Qin Hao, gritting his teeth: "What are you up to? What happened to the previous plan?"
Qin Hao completely ignored this guy and continued to explain to Junxin's team: "Layoffs are indeed the fastest way to reduce costs and make the company's financial statements look good, but if I may be frank, this is a choice the company has made when it has no other options."
Director Lü was so angry that his face turned green: "Do you even know what you're saying?!"
However, General Manager Liang of Junxin became interested in Qin Hao's proposal: "However, you should know that it is already difficult for Junxin to expand further based on its current market positioning. Tell me, how can we make the company's financial statements look better without laying off employees?"
Qin Hao slowly pressed the next slide of the slide: "Junxin has always been positioned as a high-end wedding dress brand, with a single dress costing tens of thousands of yuan. It is indeed not suitable for entering the lower-end market. Not only would it lower the brand's image, but it would also be difficult to make a profit. Therefore, we need to focus on the existing high-end market."
"I'm sure you've all heard the advertising slogan: 'A diamond is forever!'"
General Manager Liang nodded, signaling him to continue.
Qin Hao continued playing the slideshow: "Linking diamonds with love is absolutely the most brilliant idea in the advertising industry, bar none."
"However, as long as you have money, you can buy as many diamond rings as you want, especially in today's fast-paced life, where second and third marriages are common, and some people can't even count the number of times they get married in their lifetime."
"So, at this point, can a diamond ring still represent love?"
The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.
Mr. Liang exchanged a glance with his assistant and said, "But what do you mean by all this? What does it have to do with Junxin Wedding Dresses?"
"If diamonds can't represent love, then what can?" Qin Hao countered.
Mr. Liang tapped his fingers lightly on the conference table and pondered, "You wouldn't be thinking of using a wedding dress to represent love, would you?"
Qin Hao pressed the remote control to switch to the next slide.
Several lines of text appeared on the screen:
"An ordinary wedding dress certainly cannot represent love."
"but--"
What if a person could only buy one wedding dress in their lifetime?
There was silence in the conference room.
Mr. Liang leaned forward slightly, his eyes fixed on the curtain.
"A wedding dress that a person can only buy once in their lifetime?" he repeated slowly.
“That’s right.” Qin Hao’s voice was steady and strong: “From now on, anyone who buys a wedding dress at Junxin will have to register with their real name, and the record will be saved forever and cannot be deleted.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the conference room erupted in chaos.
The Junxin team members looked at each other in bewilderment, and one of them couldn't help but question, "But wouldn't this shut out all our repeat customers?"
Director Lü's lips twitched, his face showing a "this guy's gone mad" expression. Yao Xiaohui's face turned deathly pale; in his view, this plan was tantamount to suicide—pushing clients away, wasn't that cutting off their own source of income?
Qin Hao calmly pulled up a data chart.
“According to our company’s statistics, Junxin Wedding Dress’s repurchase rate is less than two per thousand.” He pointed to the curve on the chart: “Of these two per thousand customers, many are still there for derivative services such as photography and wedding planning. The number of people who actually repurchase wedding dresses is less than one per thousand.”
He put down the remote control, looked at the people present, and said, word by word, "Therefore, Junxin's target customers have never been repeat customers. Rather, they are young customers who are entering marriage for the first time and yearning for perfect love."
He pressed the remote control and switched to the last page.
"Therefore, I specially designed an advertising slogan for Junxin: Love only one person in a lifetime, and be devoted to only one person in a lifetime!"
Mr. Liang's eyes lit up, but he raised another question: "But a diamond ring is a man's promise of love, and a wedding dress becomes a woman's promise of love. Can customers accept that?"
Qin Hao smiled calmly: "President Liang seems to have forgotten that wedding dresses are basically paid for by men."
The meeting room was so quiet you could hear the air conditioner humming.
Mr. Liang stared at the words, his eyes growing brighter. The other two people from Junxin exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.
For a full ten seconds, no one spoke.
Then, General Manager Liang suddenly stood up and clapped his hands vigorously.
"Great!" His voice was tinged with excitement. "This is the best advertising slogan I've ever seen! Xiao Qin, your proposal is truly amazing!"
He walked around the conference table, stood in front of Qin Hao, grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously: "I knew I hadn't misjudged you."
Qin Hao smiled and nodded: "Mr. Liang, you flatter me."
Director Lü paused for a second, then immediately reacted, forcing a smile as he went to greet him: "I'm so glad Mr. Liang is satisfied! We at Xingchen Consulting have always been client-oriented, and we've been refining Xiao Qin's proposal for a long time..."
Qin Hao glanced at him but didn't say anything.
What followed was perfectly logical. Mr. Liang immediately approved and signed a two-year consulting contract worth five million. Director Lü beamed from ear to ear, personally escorting Mr. Liang and his entourage to the elevator, showering them with compliments and flattery along the way.
After seeing the client off, he returned to the conference room and, completely changing his previous demeanor, showered Qin Hao with praise.
"Xiao Qin, I knew you could do it!" He patted Qin Hao's shoulder hard: "Starting today, you're the department head! Your salary and benefits will be increased according to company regulations, and the official appointment document will be issued this afternoon!"
Qin Hao nodded expressionlessly: "Thank you, Director Lü."
"No need to thank me, you deserve it!" Director Lü said with a beaming smile. "I'll treat everyone tonight, let's have a good celebration! Xiao Yao, you should come too, you deserve a lot of credit this time!"
Yao Xiaohui forced a smile and said, "Thank you, Director Lü."
Director Lü said a few more polite words before leaving, satisfied.
Only Qin Hao and Yao Xiaohui remained in the conference room.
Yao Xiaohui stood by the window, gazing at the tall buildings outside, remaining silent for a long time. Then he turned around, looking at Qin Hao, who was tidying up his computer, his expression complex.
"Old Qin," he said, his voice a little hoarse, "we joined the company together, right?"
Qin Hao paused in his actions and looked up at him.
“It’s been two years.” Yao Xiaohui smiled, a bitter smile. “We were college classmates for four years, came to Guangzhou together, and joined Xingchen together. You’ve always been one step ahead of me. I used to resent it, always thinking you were just lucky. But today I realized… you were deliberately hiding your abilities before, to avoid embarrassing me, right?”
Qin Hao was both amused and exasperated. This Yao Xiaohui was really good at making connections! He put his laptop in his backpack, walked over to him, and patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't overthink it. Let's have dinner together tonight."
Yao Xiaohui looked at him, wanting to say something, but in the end just nodded.
Qin Hao walked out of the conference room and through the office area. Several colleagues greeted him along the way, their eyes filled with a mixture of envy and ingratiation. He responded to each of them with a polite smile.
Back in his office, Qin Hao slumped into his chair, contemplating staying at the company a little longer to accumulate enough initial capital to make his first fortune before leaving.