Chapter 46: Who’s Provoking Who?
Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Who’s Provoking Who?
"So, what do you do for fun? Like to read? Play golf?"
He tried to imagine Chen Xiao as having more refined tastes.
Chen Xiao said, "Nah, none of that. I just play video games, and after that, I admire beautiful women!"
’Admire beautiful women? Play video games?’
Cha Lan froze. ’Is he just going to say that out loud? Can you really admit to hobbies like that in public?’
’And Xu Wu is sitting right there! Aren’t you worried about what she’ll think? Or are all young people this wild these days?’
After a moment, Cha Lan forced a laugh and said, "My friend, that’s... a good hobby. A very down-to-earth hobby!"
"Oh, so President Cha also plays video games often?"
Cha Lan gave a dry laugh. ’At my age? I wouldn’t dare. You overdo it and you turn to dust!’
Xu Wu sat beside them without interjecting, but she felt their conversation was strange. It was as if they were talking past each other.
Deciding to steer the conversation back on track, Cha Lan looked at Chen Xiao and said, "My friend, I heard from President Xu that the base salary at your company is about to drop to 4,000. That’s way too low!"
’Yeah, that is too low. But my salary wasn’t cut to 4,000.’ Chen Xiao didn’t bother to explain, simply nodding.
"My goodness, especially for young people these days. The pressure to buy a house, get married, buy a car... it’s all immense. With a base salary of 4,000, if you don’t have very high commission earnings, it’s hard to even make ends meet."
He added, "You must be under a lot of pressure, right, my friend?"
Chen Xiao shook his head. "I’m doing all right."
Cha Lan’s expression turned serious. "How could that be? My friend, don’t just look at all the orders you’ve landed recently. On the one hand, it’s because you’re outstanding, but on the other, there’s also an element of luck involved."
"You can’t keep getting orders like this forever. Sometimes, you might go half a year without landing a single deal."
Chen Xiao had to admit that was true, so he nodded again.
Cha Lan continued, "That’s why a base salary is your financial security! Look at our company. Take President Xu, for example. Her base salary is over 20,000!"
Chen Xiao fell silent. ’A 20,000 base salary and a 3% commission... even if she got a decent number of orders, Xu Wu’s income wouldn’t be much better than a salesperson at Dr. Feng’s Robot.’
’Of course, that’s a different story if you’re just living off the base salary without any orders. But could you even keep your job if you never brought in any deals?’
Cha Lan assumed Chen Xiao was stunned by the mention of Xu Wu’s 20,000-plus base salary.
He decided to strike while the iron was hot. "My friend, we’re all out here to make money. Let’s talk about you. You’ll need to buy a house eventually, right? The cheapest properties in Jiangzhou are 30,000 per square meter. The pressure to buy a house must be huge working at Dr. Feng’s Robot."
"Not really. I already have one."
Cha Lan froze, then figured that, like many young people, his family must have paid the down payment for him.
"Then the mortgage payments must still be a lot of pressure!"
"I paid in full. No mortgage."
"Er..." Cha Lan hesitated. "Well, my friend, a car is another big expense. And you’ve got to buy that yourself, right? Can’t keep relying on family."
"I have cars, too. Two of them."
’...What the hell? Are you just trying to mess with me? If you have everything, why are you even working?’
After a moment, Cha Lan tried again. "My friend, what do you think of my company? Any suggestions for me?"
Chen Xiao thought for a moment, then said with a straight face, "Not enough recreational facilities! And the bonuses and commissions are too low!"
Cha Lan’s heart skipped a beat. ’The lack of recreational facilities is an easy fix, but if he thinks the bonuses and commissions are low, he’s got a problem with my incentive structure. Forget recruiting him; we might not even be able to work together in the future!’
"My friend, what’s your sales commission percentage?"
Upon learning that Chen Xiao’s commission was 5%, Cha Lan acted generously. He made a swift decision to raise the commission for all of Chen Xiao’s deals with Zhi Fei Aerospace to 6%, and even to back-pay the difference for the first two!
This raised Chen Xiao’s opinion of him considerably. After all, the man was practically handing him free money.
Xu Wu went out to fill out a request form. Then, right in front of Chen Xiao, Cha Lan signed it and told the finance department to process the payment.
"My goodness, thank you for your suggestions, my friend. We really must show more care for our employees in the future. When it comes to compensation, we have to outperform our competitors!"
As Xu Wu went to find the finance department, Cha Lan lowered his voice. "My friend, I really admire your skills. Are you interested in coming to work for me? I have a Vice President of Sales position open and waiting for the right person."
’I knew you had ulterior motives!’
Chen Xiao sighed and put on a regretful expression. "Thank you for the high praise, President Cha, but unfortunately, I think I’ll stay at Dr. Feng’s Robot. But you can rest assured about one thing: any future business that’s a good fit for you, I’ll still bring it your way."
’I don’t want your leftovers, I want all of your business!’
He thought for a moment. ’I heard the boss of Dr. Feng’s Robot is a great beauty, and didn’t Chen Xiao just say his hobby is admiring beautiful women?’
’We have a beauty like President Xu right here. Aren’t you tempted?’
"My friend, our company doesn’t prohibit office romances, you know!"
’What the hell? Zhao Xiangjun doesn’t work at your company. What do I care if you prohibit it or not!’
Cha Lan made several more attempts to probe, but finally confirmed that Chen Xiao had no intention of leaving his job for the time being. He settled for the next best thing: strengthening their current relationship and waiting for him to change his mind.
"My friend, come hang out here whenever you’re free. Treat this place like your own home, don’t be a stranger!"
’I definitely won’t be a stranger. After all, you guys are refreshingly quick with your payments.’
He had already received a notification on his phone.
"DING! You have received a sales commission bonus of 210,000 yuan from Zhi Fei Aerospace!"
"DING! Host has received a sales commission bonus of 210,000 yuan from Zhi Fei Aerospace. Awarding Diligence Reward of 3,150,000 yuan!"
’Brother Cha, making money for a house isn’t so hard after all. A single signature from you is worth a whole apartment.’ He gave Cha Lan a strange look.
’Suddenly, the face he’d found so incredibly ugly now seemed kind and approachable.’
Cha Lan had Chen Xiao stay for lunch. As he was seeing him out, he kept repeating, "Come hang out whenever you’re free! It’ll be a good chance for you to give me more suggestions!"
"With a big brother like you, President Cha, and a beauty like President Xu here, I’ll definitely be back often!" he said with a playful smile.
As he watched Chen Xiao get into his Mercedes-Benz CLS, Cha Lan turned to Xu Wu. "President Xu, this Chen Xiao really has some substance."
His words were a double entendre, referring to both Chen Xiao’s financial resources and his professional skills.
Chen Xiao didn’t return to the office. As a great "worker bee" of a salesman, he had always believed his true battlefield was the client’s office.
If you didn’t go out and talk to clients, you’d never get any orders. Take the major deal with Central Inspection, for instance. If he hadn’t taken the initiative, he never would have landed it.
He headed to the Jiangzhou Design Institute. Bai Lu would be in this afternoon.
As the influential assistant who had taken Chen Xiao’s "first time"—his first big sale—Bai Lu’s importance was self-evident.
When he entered Bai Lu’s office, she was sitting at her computer, seemingly focused on her work.
But based on his first impression of her, Chen Xiao figured she was just putting on a show. ’Someone who slacks off during work hours to go to a beauty salon is still completely focused on work when a client shows up?’
’Performance: 100/100.’
"Chen Xiao, you’re here! Have a seat." Bai Lu offered a smile. Since they had closed two deals together, they were now on friendly terms.
Chen Xiao, one to make himself at home, grabbed Bai Lu’s tea leaves and started making a cup for himself.
His behavior, not treating himself like a guest at all, actually made Bai Lu find him more endearing.