Chapter 14: Chapter 14: A Winning Start
Time flies.
In the blink of an eye, the Mid-Autumn Festival was over.
September 28th.
The first-floor conference hall at headquarters.
The company’s month-end summary meeting was being held here.
Li Zhou, the interim head of the sales department, was the first to take the stage and report on the month’s eel fry sales.
"Chairman, colleagues, good morning. I’ll briefly report on this month’s sales."
"We have sold approximately 7.48 million of the eel fry from our farm’s inventory, for a total of 19,828,300 yuan, with an average price of 2.65 yuan per fry."
"We sold 26 tons of special glass eel feed for a total of 224,400 yuan, at an average price of 10 yuan per kilogram."
"This month’s total revenue comes to 20,052,700 yuan."
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP... Jiang Miao himself began to applaud.
The other employees also applauded enthusiastically.
Next up was Zhang Xinyi, the head of the online store department. It was possibly her first time facing dozens of people, and she was so nervous that she stammered as she spoke:
"Good morning, everyone... I’m Zhang Xinyi, from the online store department. I’m here to report... on this month’s sales."
"Because... because the company isn’t well-known enough, we haven’t had any customers for our online eel fry sales. As for canned eel, we sold 273 cans this month, for a total revenue of 4,095 yuan, with an average price of 15 yuan per can."
Obviously, the online store department’s performance didn’t even amount to a fraction of the sales department’s, which made Zhang Xinyi feel rather awkward.
Jiang Miao, however, didn’t blame her. He smiled and said, "The online store department should keep up the good work, but don’t put too much pressure on yourselves. After all, the company only has a few products right now. Eel fry and special feed aren’t suited for online sales, and relying solely on canned eel is a bit of a weak spot. But we’ll definitely improve things gradually in the future."
"Thank you for your understanding, Boss." Zhang Xinyi looked as if she’d been granted a pardon and quickly returned to her seat.
Jiang Miao then took the stage and encouraged everyone to continue their hard work.
Next, he announced the decision to expand. No one objected. It was clear they all understood that the company had to grow as quickly as possible to claim the biggest piece of the pie before competitors could develop copycat technologies.
He didn’t reveal the detailed expansion plan, however.
Jiang Miao looked at the crowd and continued:
"You’ve all worked hard these past few months, so I won’t just offer empty promises. The first group of employees will each receive a one-month bonus. The second group will get a half-month bonus. Keep up the good work, and we’ll get at least a three-month bonus at year-end!"
"The boss is so generous!"
"Long live the boss!"
"WHOOOO!"
The conference room instantly erupted with passion, becoming as noisy as a chaotic marketplace.
Although Hailufeng Company had only recently been founded, Jiang Miao placed great importance on its internal policies. Over the past few months, he had been establishing and refining them.
The company currently divides its employees into five major tiers: D, C, B, A, and S.
Each major tier is further divided into four sub-levels.
This creates a total of 20 ranks, from D1 to S4.
Currently, all employees are at D Level. A D1 employee has a monthly salary of 3,500 yuan, D2 is 4,500 yuan, D3 is 5,500 yuan, and D4 is 6,500 yuan.
The sales and online store departments earn commissions ranging from 0.1% to 2% of sales revenue. The exact commission percentage is tied to an employee’s Employee Level.
For example, as the head of the sales department, Li Zhou was the top performer this month, personally responsible for 8.36 million yuan in sales. His Employee Level is D3, so his commission was 0.3% of 8.36 million, totaling 25,080 yuan.
Adding his D3 base salary, Li Zhou’s take-home pay for September would be around 30,000 yuan.
In addition to the sales and online store departments, the factory and farm also had performance-based bonuses.
To be precise, every department had performance metrics, but the standards varied.
The factory and farm’s were based on total product revenue.
Other departments were evaluated based on their specific operations.
In the current weak economic climate, for Hailufeng Company to buck the market trend and offer such salaries was actually quite impressive.
A starting salary of 3,500 yuan was mid-range in Hailufeng, though it certainly couldn’t compare to the Pearl River Delta.
But Jiang Miao couldn’t just offer starting salaries of over 10,000 yuan right away, so he focused on providing excellent accommodations and food instead.
He also leveraged the company’s initial successful profits to give out bonuses, which boosted morale and strengthened company loyalty.
After the general assembly, it was time for a smaller meeting.
Jiang Miao summoned his brother-in-law, Li Xinhua (head of the canned eel factory), Li Zhou, Wang Feng, Jiang Haibo (legal and HR), and Ye Meijing to the chairman’s office on the second floor.
"Have a seat."
Once everyone was seated, Jiang Miao got straight to the point.
"We’re expanding the eel farm. The principle is proximity, so we’ll acquire as many fishponds in Salt Town Village as possible. Manager Zhang, you’ll be in charge of this."
"Leave it to me." His brother-in-law nodded.
Jiang Miao continued, "Haibo, besides drafting contracts, you also need to handle recruitment. We need to expand our staff, especially for the sales department and the farm. We’ll definitely be short-handed soon. Check with the other departments as well to see if they need more people."
"Okay, I’m on it." Jiang Haibo agreed.
Jiang Miao then turned to the deeply tanned Li Zhou. "Ah Zhou, you’ll now be the Sales Manager. Your department will need at least ten people. We’ll assign territories based on our eel farm locations, and for now, we’ll split sales into two offices: Domestic Sales and International Sales."
"International? Boss, are we entering the international market so soon?" Li Zhou asked, surprised.
Jiang Miao nodded. "That’s right. And we have to be fast. We can’t give other fry cultivation companies time to react. The core of the international eel farming market is in East Japan, so the HR department needs to find two salespeople who speak Japanese."
Jiang Haibo jotted it down in his notebook.
"Furthermore, we’ll divide the domestic market into regions. The initial divisions will be: Lingnan District, Min Nan District, Qiongzhou, Guinan District, Zedong District, Ryukyu District, and the Online Region. Each physical region will be assigned two to three salespeople, who can also act as procurement agents. The Online Region will fall under the online store department."
Speaking of procurement, Jiang Miao turned to Wang Feng. "Ah Feng, your purchasing department will also need more people. In addition, those domestic salespeople will need to coordinate their activities with your department."
"Understood," Wang Feng replied quickly.
"Meijing, you’re in charge of the Finance Department. You probably can’t handle it all on your own, so go ahead and add two more people."
"Yes, sir!" Ye Meijing breathed a private sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Jiang Haibo noted down each of the staffing requirements.
Next, Jiang Miao turned to Li Xinhua. "Manager Li, the cannery will likely be operating at low capacity for the better part of the coming year. You need to manage the inventory carefully."
"Understood." Li Xinhua had managed a cannery before, so he knew the ropes. He took the opportunity to make a suggestion:
"Boss, while the cannery’s management is already excellent, we still need proper sanitation and cleaning zones. Why don’t we take advantage of the low operating rate over the next few months to gradually build them out?"
Jiang Miao considered this for a moment. He knew that adding these facilities to the cannery was essential, so he nodded. "Alright. Write up a proposal and submit it to me."
"Of course." Li Xinhua let out another private sigh of relief. ’At least the boss is willing to improve the factory’s facilities,’ he thought. ’He’s not like some small factory owners who cut every corner they can, even the ones they shouldn’t.’
Previously, Li Xinhua had worked for several small-time bosses who were all the type to do anything for money, with no moral bottom line. He had quit those jobs one after another because his conscience couldn’t bear it.
Jiang Miao had heard Li Xinhua’s stories before. ’It’s a good thing to have a manager who prioritizes production safety and hygiene,’ he mused.
