E-Ladies: Navigating the Wired World
Chapter 136: Episode 136: The First Long-Distance Signing

Chapter 136: Episode 136: The First Long-Distance Signing

"Last year’s sales performance wasn’t great... so we couldn’t even enjoy the New Year properly," Ning Lei muttered under his breath.

"Fine, have your leader make this call. This is our company’s general manager’s number, her name is Zhou Xueyin. She can offer a plan for the Huanan Sales District..." Kang Siyin handed Ning Lei Zhou Xueyin’s business card, "Alright, that’s it, I’m going upstairs to play games. Bye, bye, bye..."

Taking advantage of the fact that her cousin and mother weren’t paying attention, Kang Siyin quickly escaped the teahouse and hurried upstairs.

"This child, her cousin, you must be amused. Xiaoying is just like this, she doesn’t like interacting with people..." Kang’s mother awkwardly smiled, then went to pay at the front desk and also headed back.

In the following days, Kang Siyin locked herself in her room, having her mother reject anyone who called about a blind date.

Just after the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, she couldn’t wait to buy a ticket back to Beijing. She didn’t inform her family, although they could have had a vacation until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month...

However, even back in Beijing, the house was empty, but this suited her just fine. She enjoyed a surprisingly relaxing time only with her cats.

This was relaxation, this was a vacation!

Because Wei Jingzhu had to return to work on the eighth, Zhou Xueyin also went back to Beijing with him. He was very surprised to see Kang Siyin, not expecting her to return so early.

"Why didn’t you stay home a bit longer? We were off until the fifteenth of the first month..."

"Don’t even mention it, as long as I was home, they pushed me to go on blind dates. I was so annoyed I could die..." Kang Siyin said helplessly to Zhou Xueyin.

"Did you meet anyone?" Zhou Xueyin curiously asked her.

"I met one, turns out he’s Ni Lanya’s sales assistant for the Huanan District." Kang Siyin mentioned casually, "But that guy is too shy, totally not suitable for sales."

"Ni Lanya, huh? It would be nice to make that connection..." Zhou Xueyin still said enviously.

After all, it’s a big brand, also one they had failed to negotiate with before because the Huabei District’s head distributor looked down on their company. That head distributor always felt that forum-style websites were too degrading and could tarnish the brand image.

Although Li Jiniang had contact with them during negotiations, they often brought up the issue of kickbacks, presumably wanting some, but their side didn’t want to give any, so they never successfully partnered.

"I doubt it, the person I met asked a question for every answer he gave—if you don’t ask, he won’t speak... It felt like he has social anxiety just like me..." Kang Siyin pursed her lips and shook her head, "But, I gave him your card. If they need anything, they’ll contact you."

"We’ll see, hopefully they will contact... not getting my hopes up!" Zhou Xueyin stretched lazily.

Rather than relying on unreliable people for uncertain matters, it’s better to think of ways to enhance company value and brand image.

However, unexpectedly, after the fifteenth of the month when work resumed fully, a call from Guangzhou reached Zhou Xueyin’s phone.

At first, she thought it was a scam and hesitated for a long while before picking up: "Hello? Yes?"

"May I speak to Ms. Zhou Xueyin?" the other party asked politely.

"Speaking, please go on..." It didn’t sound like a scam call.

"I’m the sales director for Ni Lanya’s Southeast District regional head distributor, my name is Zhang Hengbin," the other party introduced himself and also explained his reason for calling, "My assistant gave me your number. I’ve looked at your website and I’d like to discuss advertising with you!"

"Oh? That’s great!" Turns out it was an unexpected luck. A company she hadn’t hoped for was proactively seeking to collaborate?

If this deal goes through, wouldn’t it be a great start?

"Shall I introduce our forum first?" Zhou Xueyin tentatively asked, not sure how much the other side knew about her company.

"No worries, Xiaoning has done the research already. Your data is completely genuine, not like some websites that exaggerate just to get ad revenues." Zhang Hengbin was definitely not one to judge by appearances!

Cooperating with someone like him should be very easy.

"Is there anything else you’d like to know? Ask me anything, I have answers to everything!"

"Actually, no need, we’ve prepared the ad banners and posters already, just give us a slot for the ads and that’s OK!" the other side said easily, also very promptly with his request, "For the ad fee, it’s 10,000 yuan per month, just find a place to hang it up."

"OK, no problem! I’ll draft the contract and courier it over to you. Wait, how do we calculate the ad period? Is it continuous hanging? Monthly settlement? Or?" It’s necessary to ask for clarification where things are unclear.

While drafting the contract, Zhou Xueyin seriously inquired about the counterpart’s specific requirements to make sure the cooperation was flawless.

"Let’s do a monthly settlement, long-term. Regularly change the ad content, is that okay?" Zhang Hengbin confirmed.

"No problem, no problem!" This kind of order was both simple and easy to handle, although not big in amount, but requiring no extra effort, just like casting a wide net to expand brand influence, and Zhou Xueyin’s platform was just in the coverage area.

After drafting the contract, Zhou Xueyin first sent it to Zhang Hengbin for confirmation. After both parties confirmed there were no issues, she couriered the mutually agreed contract to Guangzhou.

After a long wait, the contract took effect and Ni Lanya’s advertisement finally hung on their website.

Zhou Xueyin’s wish was also fulfilled. A big client she coveted was finally advertising on her website, which was also a recognition of her forum!

Yet a month later, Zhou Xueyin was completely caught off guard when someone from Ni Lanya’s Beijing Branch in the Huabei District approached her, "The advertisement hanging on your website has been phased out, why are you still using it?"

"These are images sent from the Guangzhou District... isn’t it supposed to be whatever you send, we hang up?" Zhou Xueyin was also perplexed. Isn’t the advertisement supposed to be uniform across the country?

"Guangzhou District? Zhang Hengbin, right? That guy has poor taste!" the person from the Beijing District complained right off the bat, "For the sake of our company’s brand image, I’ll send you a new set of images this afternoon, just switch to those."

"Wait, what do I do if Zhang Hengbin asks why I changed the images? Should I have him contact you or will you contact him?" Zhou Xueyin dared not change the advertisement images easily, since they were provided by the client and randomly changing them might breach the contract.

"I’ll talk with him. You guys signed for monthly settlements, right? Just change the advertisement content when it’s time!" the counterpart was quite understanding.

Nowadays, with everything networked, checking anything on a company’s main server is easy.

The development of the internet has also reduced the cost of communication between the north and the south, making everyday work more convenient and efficient.

On June 29, 2007, Apple released a groundbreaking new product, the iPhone, which completely revolutionized people’s views on the internet and their habits in using smartphones.