Confessions of a Salesman

Chapter 574 Joseph Smith

Shi Shi's movie was not shot in our restaurant, not because I didn't agree, but because his movie was postponed indefinitely, because the subject matter of his movie involves sensitive subjects, and the three views are not correct, and it is being rectified.

Mr. Dong's guest arrived as scheduled, and Mr. Dong and I waited for a group of people to greet him at the gate in person.

His name is Joseph.Smith is an American of Middle Eastern descent living in Europe.

I don’t know where Dong Zong found such a person. I have never heard of it. Although I don’t pay much attention to overseas markets, I have some understanding of these large and small foreign distributors. The old man Newen came to our company before. , I know that he is capable, and I still remember that his daughter Jona, Smith's wife, is still very warm to me.

Joseph is not like the old man Nevin, who came to China alone. His team is so huge that two Ivecos can only sit in it. The people who got off were all in suits and formal clothes. I only saw one Asian face, not sure if she is Chinese.

When Joseph saw Mr. Dong, he warmly hugged Mr. Dong and shook hands with me. I thought to myself, this is the way men and women greet each other, isn’t it the same?It was later discovered that he shook hands with everyone, only Dong Zong gave him a hug.After thinking about it, I think it should be a question of level.

After the two parties were seated, Dong Zong’s assistant briefly introduced Joseph’s team to us. Joseph’s company has one or two large supermarkets in every European country. His supermarkets are very large, ranging from food and vegetables to Daily necessities are now ready to sell household appliances in supermarkets.The people he brought here this time, in addition to his two assistants, the translator, the financial director, the sales director, and the directors of several larger supermarkets.

Then, the translator brought by Joseph compared the lists we gave and introduced us to them.

Or because she didn't do her homework, she couldn't match many people, so we had no choice but to call their names and just raise our hands, just like a school class teacher rolls a roll.

When the meeting officially started, Joseph expressed his love for Wanzhong's products. He said that he saw Wanzhong's products in a small electrical appliance store one day, bought them novelty and found them very useful, and then he followed them closely. I found out that Wanzhong is a very big brand in China. After doing some research, I think that Wanzhong’s products can open up the market in Europe and be sold in large quantities, which has a very good prospect.And his supermarket is also expanding. Almost every supermarket has a very large space, which has been vacant for a long time. It is better to sell some household appliances.Therefore, I contacted Mr. Dong directly, and Mr. Dong responded quickly, inviting Joseph to visit Wanzhong. He was very grateful to Mr. Dong for his kind invitation. He hoped that everyone could reach a consensus and sign a cooperation agreement this time.

Dong Zong welcomes Joseph and his team to China and to Wanzhong, and is looking forward to the products of Wanzhong entering the European market. He hopes that everyone will have a pleasant cooperation this time with a fair and just attitude.

Afterwards, Joseph's business assistant took out a stack of thick documents and handed them to Mr. Dong, but Mr. Dong didn't answer them. I asked Ai Wen to bring them over. They were all written in dense English. His business assistant said: " These are some terms and conditions of the manufacturers stationed in our supermarket, I hope you can read them carefully."

I put down the stack of documents and said: "We will read them carefully. I also have a copy here. If you want to be our agent, you might as well study it first." An equally thick stack of Chinese documents was handed over.

Joseph's business assistant frowned and took it, handing it to the translator.

All of a sudden, both sides were left in the cold, waiting for the translators from both sides to translate this document.

Of course, Aiwen is familiar with the road, and the English terms are not difficult for her, but Joseph's translation is much more difficult. She is not Chinese, not even Asian, white-skinned Caucasian, they The only Asian European in the team is not Chinese, nor is their translator, but a Korean, who knows nothing about Chinese.

Soon, Aiwen translated and printed out their terms and distributed them to us. I read it carefully, and then whispered to Mr. Dong beside me: "This foreign devil is not as kind as he imagined? Selling our products and using their trademarks, we have become OEM manufacturers, and the OEM labels have been pasted to our homes."

Dong Zong smiled and said: "This must be their ideal idea. How can the world be as good as you want? I thought about it a long time ago. When doing business, you must bargain. Wait for them to read our terms and see what they say. reaction?"

But his translator was sweating profusely, looking up dictionaries and documents, and everyone in the room was waiting for her. She was also a little flustered, and Joseph's patience was finally exhausted by her.

He said very angrily: "Okay, let's ask the Chinese staff to translate for you!"

Relieved, the translator hurriedly took the document with a smile, and walked up to Ai Wen. Ai Wen handed it over with a questioning look. I smiled and said, "Go and get the English version, just give it to her!"

Ai Wen nodded, typed an English version on the computer, and gave it to the translator.

The members of Joseph's team were very angry, and the translator asked me directly: "Since you have an English version, why don't you just give us the English version, aren't you kidding us?"

I shook my head and said with a smile: "I really didn't mean that. The Chinese version I just gave you is our terms for all agents. We treat domestic and foreign agents equally. Our Chinese version is given to you to show our sincerity. If it is translated by us, there may be deviations. I don’t want to cause any misunderstandings in this regard, so I give you this version. This is what we took out With the greatest sincerity, I don’t know your side, can’t even translate such a basic Chinese clause?”

The translator said in blunt Chinese: "You are returning to the other side in the same way, because we gave you the English version, and you were not satisfied, so you gave us a Chinese version. Don't you know that Chinese is the most popular language in the world? Is it the most difficult text to understand? English is the international language commonly used in the world, and you should give me the English version as soon as possible.”

I don't think there is any need to continue arguing about this. After all, everyone is here to discuss cooperation, so I apologized: "I didn't think carefully and overestimated your translation ability. I only gave it to you out of respect for you. I apologize for the original version, I don’t think we need to entangle in this matter anymore, can the negotiation continue?”

Joseph made a stop gesture and began to read our terms carefully. It can be seen that Joseph kept frowning while reading the terms, which seemed to be very dissatisfied with our terms.

Before he saw half of it, he stopped and slammed the articles on the table, waiting for others to finish reading, while he closed his eyes and meditated.

After reading everything, no one dared to disturb Joseph, just quietly waiting for Joseph to open his eyes.

But this Joseph seemed to be asleep, the room was already silent, and he still didn't open his eyes.

I was a little impatient, and when I was about to speak, President Dong stopped me, asking me to wait a little longer.

I could only hold down the fire, tap my fingers on the table, and wait for Joseph to wake up.

After a while, Joseph slowly opened his eyes, his eyes became sharper, and he said directly to Mr. Dong: "If you want to enter the European market, please show your sincerity. I can assure you No European agent will agree to such terms, and your wish to enter the European market is simply wishful thinking!"

Dong Zong didn't speak, but looked at me, meaning that he wanted me to fire.

I looked at Joseph with the same sharp eyes, and said: "Whether you can enter the European market or not is not up to one person to decide. We have countless opportunities to enter the European market, and the European market we have already entered is just a matter of going to the European market." It’s a bit slower, but we’re not in a hurry. We can speed up our pace. Of course we want it, but if it’s achieved by damaging our interests and losing our principles, we’ll just settle for the next best thing and just develop steadily. We’re not in a hurry! Those who are anxious are those who want to be the agent of our products. We will open the market sooner or later. This is determined by the unchanging market law. As long as there are good products and reasonable prices, there will always be someone who will do it and make money. I don't believe that no one will do business!"

After listening to the translator, Joseph almost stood up, and then said to Mr. Dong: "Ms. Dong, I am here to negotiate with you. Why don't you speak? Who is he? Can he represent you? Can he Does it represent the multitude?"

Mr. Dong smiled and replied: "You probably didn't listen carefully to the introduction you translated. This Mr. Chen is now the general manager of our Wanzhong Group. He handles all matters big and small. Of course he can represent me. , can represent all people!"

Only then did Joseph look at me seriously, and then asked me: "I think you seem to be full of hostility towards me, or maybe you don't welcome us? Why is this? If it was because of my negligence before Please forgive me!"

I hurriedly shook my head and said: "You think too much, I welcome you very much, and it's the first time I personally see you, how could I be hostile to you? Do you do business, there must be exchanges, Regarding the terms we proposed, if you have any questions, you can bring them up, and the two parties need to negotiate, but I hope you can put your attitude right, we are here to cooperate, not me begging you, or you begging me, we only have one common The goal is to achieve a win-win situation for both parties.”

Joseph nodded and said, "That's great. I like working with cheerful people. Let's discuss your terms now!"

Next, their sales director began to veto our agency terms one by one.

It is not a gentleman to come and not go. Since people have raised doubts, we naturally have to give answers.

Yun Manni explained one by one, what is the significance of our clauses, and why we set up clauses like this.

There are countless rounds of back and forth between the two sides, and basically none of them can reach a consensus.

I asked Mr. Dong next to me: "If this goes on like this, it won't be finished in a month. They are sincerely cooperating, but their conditions are more stringent than ours. What's the matter?"

Dong Zong spread his hands and said: "This is something you need to solve. You can ask me. I have found an agent for you. The following is what you should do!"

I rolled my eyes and said, "Then I'll find it for you next time, and you handle it. Besides, it was someone who came to find you, not you!"

President Dong glared at me and said: "Is it useful to say this at this time? Let me tell you, this Joseph is indeed the best opportunity for us to enter the overseas market. Although he is rigorous, he does not do things sloppily. The customer flow of our supermarket is definitely one of the best, and we will open many more in the country in the future, the sooner we enter their supermarket, the better for us, don't miss this opportunity!"

I said dissatisfied: "Then you can't sell the country and seek glory? If you want to do OEM, why bother to find them? Who can't you? Besides, if foreign policies are more tolerant than domestic ones, our agents must not call me a traitor?" It must be better to your own family than to outsiders!"

Dong Zong said heavily: "Treat them differently!"

One noon, a cooperation intention was not finalized, and Joseph said impatiently: "It seems that there are huge differences between our two sides in terms of cooperation, so let's take a break in the afternoon and go back to discuss it ourselves. It's not about cooperating with your company, I will ask my assistant to let you know if I can continue tomorrow!"

Mr. Dong nodded, and asked me again, and I said, "Okay, Mr. Joseph, let's think about it, how about this, since we have come to China, we will do our best as landlords and lead you around in the afternoon. Turn around, let’s have a taste of Chinese food culture, of course, if you don’t bother me. There’s a saying in China that ‘buying and selling can’t make a benevolent person’, it’s a pleasure to have friends come from afar, we can still be friends!”

It is estimated that the last two translations have not been heard, or they do not know how to translate. Joseph only heard what I said before, so he nodded and smiled: "This is the best, but I don't eat some things, I call my assistant You don’t mind if I write it to you? For example, dog meat!”

I laughed and said, "How could it be? This is very good. Also, let me tell you that most Chinese people don't eat dog meat. This is because China has experienced countless disasters. Everything in the stomach has to be stuffed into the stomach. Today, Chinese people still have requirements for food. There are some things that may be your misunderstanding of our Chinese food culture. There are many delicacies that don’t look very good and smell It’s not very good, but it will give you endless aftertaste!”

(End of this chapter)