The leisurely life of the reborn daddy

It is already the middle of March and almost a month has passed since the resumption of work after the Spring Festival. At the Xuemeng Food Factory, Guan Boyong looked at the number of orders for each sales office and each business unit within the company that was recently counted by his assistant. After comparing the data with the same period last year, he found that the sales volume showed a clear downward trend.

And the decline was more than 15%.

Even if we started working at the beginning of the year because of the Spring Festival, now more than 20 days have passed and sales have not improved. This has nothing to do with the Spring Festival.

In addition to the offline segment, online sales have also been significantly affected.

But their current advertising budget has not decreased much.

Guan Boyong also understood what this situation meant. The market for their products had indeed shrunk.

Now Guan Boyong only hopes that the market will not shrink too seriously. Under the current circumstances, he feels that as long as the sales volume can be tied with last year at the end of the year, let alone surpassing last year, it will be a great success.

There is no way. Special times require special treatment. This is a very normal thing.

After reading the summary report, Guan Boyong thought that he had to report the latest situation to his boss.

At this moment, Guan Boyong was thinking about the last time his boss called him alone and asked him what the differences were between his current shipments and the same period in previous years. At that time, he attributed the problem to the fact that the Spring Festival had just passed. What would he say now?
It is obvious that there is a systemic problem, but he has been in the position of sales manager and his sensitivity is not as good as his boss, which shows that he is not doing his job well.

"I have to find the boss and tell him as soon as possible." Guan Boyong thought to himself.

I couldn't care about anything else at this moment and didn't dare to delay any longer. I took the report and went to Cao Shujie's office.

After coming here, he found that the boss had not come yet, so he went to the boss's assistant He Ruijia and asked her: "Assistant He, is the boss coming today?"

"Manager Guan, I need to call to confirm." He Ruijia said.

Guan Boyong was looking for Cao Shujie this time because he really had something urgent to tell him. He said, "Could you please call and ask me quickly, Assistant He? I really have something urgent to tell you."

He Ruijia didn't dare to be arrogant in front of Guan Boyong. She quickly called Cao Shujie, but Cao Shujie didn't answer the first time.

He Ruijia told Guan Boyong about it, and then made a second call. After Cao Shujie answered the call, He Ruijia told him about the situation here.

After hanging up the phone, she told Guan Boyong: "Manager Guan, the boss said he will be here soon."

"Okay, I'll wait a little longer. If the boss comes over, please ask Assistant He to send me a message to let him know." Guan Boyong took the report and hurried downstairs to his office.

He Ruijia looked at Guan Boyong's impatient look. She understood that Guan Boyong really had something urgent to do this time, but she couldn't figure out what could have made Manager Guan so panicked?
"Could something big have happened in the sales department again?" He Ruijia immediately thought of the incident with the former purchasing manager Xiang Zhengyan. She figured that something like that would not happen again in the sales department.

"If that's the case, the boss will be furious." He Ruijia said to himself.

Her colleague Wang Ting asked her: "Ruijia, what are you talking about? I didn't hear you clearly."

"Tingting, it's okay, just go ahead and do your work, the boss will be here soon." He Ruijia said.

When they heard her say that the boss was coming over, no one dared to chat anymore and everyone got busy.

Cao Shujie arrived very quickly. In addition, the distance from Caojiazhuang to Qingshi Town was not far. In less than 20 minutes, Wang Yueqiang drove him to the company.

Wang Yueqiang thought Cao Shujie would go to his own office, but Cao Shujie did not go there. Instead, he came to the sales department's office area and knocked on the door and entered the office of Guan Boyong, the senior manager of the sales department.

At this time, Guan Boyong looked at the computer screen over and over again, refreshing the computer data.

Cao Shujie pushed the door open and asked him, "Manager Guan, were you looking for me just now?"

When he saw Cao Shujie, Guan Boyong stood up and said, "Boss, I have something to tell you."

"What's the matter? Tell me." Cao Shujie asked him.

He Ruijia had already told him on the phone just now that Guan Boyong had something urgent to worry about, and Cao Shujie also asked Wang Yueqiang to come over as quickly as possible on the way.

Cao Shujie also understood that this matter might not be able to be explained clearly through simple telephone communication, otherwise Guan Boyong would have called him directly.

Sure enough, Guan Boyong handed the report to Cao Shujie first, then turned the computer screen to face Cao Shujie: "Boss, this is what you asked me to pay attention to the recent sales data last time. I just asked my assistant to summarize the data, and there are indeed differences."

"Is it very different from the same period last year?" Cao Shujie asked him directly.

He knew that if the difference wasn't that big, Guan Boyong wouldn't have looked for him.

Sure enough, Guan Boyong pointed to the content in the report and told Cao Shujie that the same period this year had dropped by more than 15% compared with the same period last year.

"Does this difference occur among all customers, or only among major customers or other retailers and wholesalers?" Cao Shujie asked.

Before Guan Boyong could say anything, Cao Shujie asked him another question: "How are online sales now? Has there been a significant drop in sales?"

Guan Boyong nodded, and he told Cao Shujie one by one about the sales decline in several aspects.

Whether it is large chain supermarket customers such as RT-Mart, Walmart, and Jiajiayue Supermarket, or retailers and wholesalers in various regions, sales have declined to varying degrees.

According to Guan Boyong, the decline among major customers is more obvious than the downward trend in retail and wholesale.

Only in the online sales sector, due to frequent promotional activities, the decline in sales was not very obvious. However, Guan Boyong said that Chen Hong also gave him feedback that online sales also showed a clear downward trend compared with the data in the same period.

"So it's all-round, right?" asked Cao Shujie.

Seeing Guan Boyong nod, Cao Shujie pondered for a while and said to him: "Manager Guan, do you have any ideas?"

"Boss, you are right. The situation in all aspects is not good now, and a chain reaction has occurred. In this situation, people's willingness to consume is not strong, especially the willingness to consume snack products is declining rapidly. I think we should cooperate with major customers or retailers and wholesalers in various regions to carry out preferential activities and speed up our product sales." Guan Boyong said.

After saying a lot of things, the key core is just one, which is to lower prices in disguised form through preferential activities to encourage consumers to buy.

Because Guan Boyong also knows that the ultimate victim of a direct price reduction of products is the company, and the company's profits will decrease, creating a passive situation. As a member of the company, they will not benefit from it.

Moreover, if the price of a single product is reduced directly, it will be difficult to raise the price later, which will be a fatal blow to the company.

Xuemeng Food Factory is not like those other food processing companies.

Other companies may purchase inferior or even rotten fruits against their conscience, but Xuemeng Food Factory purchases only the best quality fruit raw materials from the very beginning.

Needless to say, the price of such fruit is much higher. "We can do promotions." Cao Shujie also knows how much damage it will cause to their company if a price war begins.
He didn't dare to ask this question easily, but he also said to Guan Boyong: "Manager Guan, please organize people to discuss how much the product price should be reduced reasonably."

"Boss, you must think twice about lowering the price," Guan Boyong advised him.

Cao Shujie also knows the seriousness of this problem, but he also knows that the company has to survive in the long run.

This was something Guan Boyong had not expected.

"Let's do this. We will first work with customers from all over the country to organize promotions. If that doesn't make any difference, we can then consider reducing the prices of individual products." Cao Shujie concluded.

After coming out of Guan Boyong's office and returning to his own office, He Ruijia saw him coming and told him that Manager Guan from the Sales Department had just come to see him.

"I know. I just came back from Manager Guan. Xiao He, please notify the managers of each department and tell them to hold an emergency meeting at 2 pm." Cao Shujie said to He Ruijia calmly.

He Ruijia nodded and went out to send the notice.

He Ruijia was also wondering whether the boss asking her to send the notice at this time was related to Manager Guan’s visit to the boss?
However, due to her position, He Ruijia does know a lot more things, but when it comes to some details, she doesn't know as much as the managers of various departments.

After arriving at her office, He Ruijia first sent a group email to managers of various departments, informing them that a management meeting would be held in the conference room at 2 pm.

In order to prevent some managers from being absent from their posts and not seeing the information, He Ruijia called them one by one and told them that the boss would call everyone for a meeting at 2 p.m.

……

Cao Shujie was in the office thinking about what Guan Boyong had just told him. He had already had a premonition about the decline in sales.

In fact, he had already realized this problem when Cao Shuju first told him that the shipment volume had decreased year-on-year.

I just didn’t expect the impact to come so quickly. From March to now, it has already declined by about 3%.

This made Cao Shujie feel like he was struck by a mountain of illness.

too fast.

But Cao Shujie knew that this was just the beginning, and there would be more news that would be unfavorable to the market. This year was destined to be turbulent.

As Cao Shujie thought about it, he wrote down the coping strategies he had thought of in his notebook and planned to discuss them with the managers of various departments in the afternoon.

At noon, Cao Shujie went to the primary school to pick up Mengmeng, and they had lunch together in the company cafeteria.

In the afternoon, when Mengmeng woke up, Cao Shujie arranged for Wang Yueqiang to drive her to school, while Cao Shujie himself went to the meeting room.

Seeing him coming, assistant He Ruijia told him that managers from all departments had already arrived.

"Everyone, I have called you all here urgently today because I want to discuss a very important matter with you," said Cao Shujie.

Cao Shujie's opening tone made all the managers from various departments present nervous, and they also felt that the atmosphere was different.

But before they could speak, Cao Shujie continued, "Manager Guan, please tell us the situation so that everyone can know first."

Guan Boyong didn't hesitate. He stood up and took the report to share the key data with all the managers present.

After Guan Boyong finished speaking, everyone including Lian Qijian, Luo Changjin, Xu Cizong, Hu Youcai and others were stunned.

On the contrary, maintenance manager Shen Yongjun and product development manager Tang Jingsong responded even slower to this matter.

But do they all understand what the data that Guan Boyong just mentioned means?
It’s only the beginning of the year and the company’s product sales have already dropped by 15%. Will things get better in the future?
Everyone present here now remembers what Cao Shujie said at the company-wide meeting after the New Year.

“This year is the worst year in the past 10 years, but it is also the best year in the next 10 years.”

When they first heard this sentence, they were not impressed enough, but when Guan Boyong talked about the decline in the company's sales data, everyone present had a deeper understanding.

At the same time, they also have a strong sense of crisis.

"Why did the boss call them over today?" Everyone present began to think about this question.

The next moment, Cao Shujie asked them: "Now I ask everyone present to think about it. If the company's sales continue to decline, what should each department do?"

"Everyone should talk about their own views."

After hearing the question raised by Cao Shujie, managers from various departments present began to ponder over it in their hearts.

Cao Shujie looked at the sales manager Guan Boyong and said to him, "Manager Guan, this matter is directly related to sales. Please tell us first."

Guan Boyong did not refuse. He stood up and told him his idea.

This includes product promotions, some necessary measures the company has taken to address the sluggish market, and even price reductions for individual products.

After Guan Boyong proposed these measures, the atmosphere in the meeting room became tense.

In fact, everyone present understood that they should not discuss lowering product prices lightly. They all understood that this was a very serious matter.

But when Manager Guan mentioned reducing the prices of individual products at this time, it also meant that this was the last resort.

Shi Jingxiu, senior production manager of the production department, stood up and said, "Boss, Manager Guan, I don't think we need to rush to reduce the price of our products. We can compare the quality of our products with that of other brands and focus on promoting the strict production standards and quality control of Xuemeng Food Factory."

Cao Shujie understood what she meant. She wanted to create differentiation and make the products of Xuemeng Food Factory an industry product standard.

But the problem is that when people in all industries begin to experience varying degrees of income declines, and when more people realize that they have to downgrade their consumption in their lives, maintaining high prices will be a joke.

No one will buy so-called high-quality and high-priced products when they are tightening their belts. Even if the price is only one dollar higher, it may have an impact.

However, Xuemeng Food Factory cannot control the overall cost from the purchasing cost, and Cao Shujie will not allow Xuemeng Food Factory to abandon high-quality raw materials and purchase raw materials of lower quality at this time.

This is a really tricky matter.

While Cao Shujie and his friends were discussing this issue, Wang Qinghui was also holding a meeting in Quancheng to discuss the economic issues of the entire Dongshan province. (End of this chapter)