Chapter 363 – The after-effects of the award ceremony

In this era, there were no accurate measures of TV ratings. In simpler terms, many places could receive CCTV channels 1 and 2. People were still using aerial antennas to receive TV signals.

The provincial TV stations seldom have exciting programs. It can be said that the Award Ceremony had achieved almost 100% viewership.

Many people only knew that this special program was an award ceremony when they watched it. But all of them still enjoyed the program.

Those award winners and nominees were envied by everybody. They were able to show their faces on CCTV. That means everyone in China knew who they were.

Oh, these people were the ones that had made considerable contributions to China. China’s industrial and agriculture were catching up with the rest of the world. These people were the pride of China!

It was not the performances or the winners that had left deep impressions with the TV audiences. It was the live audiences’ placards and cheers.

The TV audiences not only remembered the slogans. They also remembered the workers’ uniforms.

If the TV audiences were to rate the group of workers in the live audiences that had left the deepest impression, it would be Lehaha, and their cartoon figure cut out. Even Tian Peng Pig Farm had lost to them.

This increased Lehaha’s sales after this program. The distributors all over China had called Lehaha’s sales office to increase their orders.

Few people may notice Lehaha’s usual TV advertisements. It was because there were still many households in China that do not have TV at home. But this was a CCTV special program. Those without TV would go to their friends or relatives houses to watch this program.

The distributors in different regions noticed this and immediately increased their orders. People would be looking for Lehaha’s products during this period, and it was the best opportunity to earn money.

Once again, Zhong Qingxian was deeply impressed with Feng Yu’s foresight. It was because Feng Yu had asked Tai Hua trading stocked up Lehaha’s liquid supplements one week before. This was to prevent Tai Hua Trading from running out of stocks after becoming famous. Lehaha’s factory was now running at full capacity. Their workers had to work 3 shifts, running at 24 hours to cope with the sudden surge in demand!

When Zhong Qingxian heard his sales manager’s report, he regretted not listening to Feng Yu. If he had set up the new factory earlier, it would be in operations by now.

But now, his factory could not cope with the demands. They had to stop taking orders. It was like money flying out of his hand. The new factory’s construction should be completed soon and should be in operation after the Lunar New Year. All the machines in the new factory were ordered from the Soviet Union by Feng Yu.

……

Li Mingde had called Feng Yu to tell him the good news. The Machinery Company had received a lot of orders for their agriculture machinery. This year’s profits will be at least 30% more than they estimated previously. They can now be compared to those national standard agriculture machines’ factories. Their target next year was to be China’s number one farming equipment manufacturing company. They want to beat those established big brands like Dongfang Hong!

Dongfang Hong was a state-owned factory and had the support of the government. Even with the government support, their technologies were outdated compared to the Machinery Company. They had been losing market share. Feng Yu was glad that the Machinery Company could be China’s number one within the next 2 years.

Feng Yu instructs Li Mingde to listen to the requirements of those old farmers to produce equipment that suits the markets. The Machinery Company must also upgrade their technologies regarding their efficiency and durability. Feng Yu also wanted their tractors to have different classes based on their capacity.

Now, there were only two types of tractors. The 55 horsepower Dongfang Hong tractor and the 12 horsepower smaller tractors. There were no midrange tractors and had to be imported. Feng Yu wanted to capture this market segment. This would be the future mainstream tractor segment. Of course, Feng Yu also wanted to produce higher horsepower tractors too. High horsepower tractors were also selling well in the future. Tractors can not only be used for plowing and seedings at farms. They can also be used to transport goods with there was a trailer attached.

Trailers were good. All the Gaz trucks owned by Wind and Rain Logistics had trailers attached. The traffic police at this time do not care about this. There were very few vehicles on the road. Wind and Rain logistics frequently need to transport big items. It takes up lots of space. By attaching a trailer to their trucks, they can double their load!

Wind and Rain Logistic was using this method temporary. There was no need to increase their truck fleet. When the Machinery Company starts to produce their own trucks, then Wind and Rain Logistics will expand their fleet.

During the award ceremony, many people noticed that Songjiang Motorcycles belongs to Bing City’s Machinery Company. They tried calling the Machinery Company to order Songjiang Motorcycles but were told that Tai Hua Trading was in charge of the motorcycles’ sales.

……

When Wu Zhigang returned to Bing City, he saw his company was in a mess. If it weren’t for Li Shiqiang and the Wind and Rain Logistics staffs there, he would have thought that there was a break-in!

“Manager Li, what happens to our office?” Wu Zhigang asked.

“Hrmph!” Li Shiqiang growled: “All of you had enjoyed yourselves. You don’t even leave one person at your office, and you asked me to help taking care of the company. Do you know how many phone calls we had helped you receive these few days? We don’t even have time for lunch! We also do not know how much you are selling your products. We had helped to take down their contact numbers. Since you are back, you can settle it yourselves.”

As they were talking, the phone rang. Wu Zhigang smiled and went to pick up the call: “Hello, Tai Hua Trading. Yes, it’s our company. Oh, I’m sorry. We have a distributor there. We cannot sell it to you. You want to be a distributor too? No. We had signed a contract with our distributors. You can contact our distributors. Thank you. We will contact you if we need you.”

A few weeks ago, Feng Yu had told Wu Zhigang that after New Year, Tai Hua Trading’s products will increase their prices. He asked Wu Zhigang to inform the distributors to stock up before the New Year. Wu Zhigang had already done that. They had also completed the last trade of the year with the Soviet Union. He thought that there was no more work and that’s why he brought all of Tai Hua Trading’s staffs to Beijing. At the same time, take a short holiday there.

Feng Yu had told him that this trip was considered to be the workers’ reward for this year. In the future, Tai Hua Trading will have annual company trip. Each staff can bring one family member along!

Wu Zhigang thought that since there was not much work to do, he asked Li Shiqiang to help him look after for a few days. Wu Zhigang had forgotten that there will be people calling asking to be their distributors.

Luckily, they had returned on the second day of the New Year and came straight to the company from the airport.

Wu Zhigang sighed in his heart. This award ceremony was more effective than advertising on CCTV. How did Manager Feng thought of this idea?