America 1979

Chapter 125 The Founder of Love Travel

Wednesday, August [-]th.

At the entrance of the Wyndham Days Hotel in Santa Clara County, Bill, who was dressed in formal attire, walked in with Sophia, who was also in professional attire.

"The evil intermediary, my second enemy in this life is the intermediary."

To find a competent general manager, it is natural to find the most powerful headhunting company. Heidrick Struggles, headquartered in Chicago, became the best choice for Mr. Ferrari.

After several rounds of negotiations, Heidrick & Struggles has fully understood the client's needs. According to the company, they have completed the first three steps of Heidrick & Struggles' nine-step process. Today's meeting is to sign a formal contract. Simultaneously screening candidates.

The headhunting company only accepts the company's money. Sophia felt that the boss's statement was wrong, but due to the identities of both parties, she did not speak out to correct the boss's mistake.

There is no way, a top brawny man with a firm will and always saying the same thing is too oppressive.

The meeting took place in a small conference room at the Days Inn by Wyndham. When Bill arrived, two consultants from Heidrick & Struggles had been waiting for a long time.

At the age of 40, they still have a strong figure, full of big white teeth, well-groomed hair, and full-textured and stylish clothing. Every detail of these two consultants demonstrates their successful management of their own image.

Judging by the appearance alone, these two are quite professional.

Before the meeting, it was naturally a routine courtesy of business people. Among the two consultants, the bearded one was named Bernardo, and the other bespectacled man was named Dario.

"In terms of fees, I believe that Mr. Ferrari has already understood. We at Heidrick & Struggles are similar to other colleagues. According to your needs, we tentatively set a hiring fee of [-] US dollars, and the final fee is [-]/[-] of the annual salary of the general manager. One. Today is the day to sign the contract, and we will charge one-third of fifteen thousand first, and if there is no problem, we can sign the contract."

Dario, the man with glasses, explained the charging principle to the customer again. They had discussed this topic repeatedly on the phone before, and there was no room for negotiation.

According to the usual practice of this headhunting company, one-third of the employment fee will be collected when the contract is formally signed, and one-third will be collected each for No. 30 days and No. 60 days. If the annual salary of the hired president and executives is If the original budget is exceeded, the client has to make up the remaining employment fee.

Bernardo pushed the proposed contract to the client. Bill had already understood the terms above, and after staring at the items charged, he asked Sofia to read it again.

"How many candidates have you selected? Which companies do you work for? Tell me about it, so I have the urge to sign."

While the assistant was looking at the contract, Bill tried to ask if he could ask something.

Dario and his companions looked at each other. After Bernardo nodded, the glasses man Dario said, "Mr. Ferrari, we have found five managers who are suitable for the general manager position of Under Armour. Supplies company, you're most likely to be interested in someone from Adidas USA, but we'd most like to recommend a woman from Reebok."

The consultants were smart enough to throw out the bait vaguely and wait until the client had signed the contract before moving on to the candidate screening process.

Bill didn't speak after listening, and waited quietly for Sophia to read all the terms. The assistant signed the contract after confirming that it was correct, and wrote his name on the check.

"Congratulations, Mr. Ferrari, our cooperation has been completed 90.00% nine."

After taking the order, the two consultants touted the client again before getting down to business.

"The first candidate was Charlie Denson, the head of marketing for Nike shoes and apparel. He came in third on our list, and the reason why he was the first to mention him was because he was cheap. In the latter part of the last decade, This person has participated in the marketing of Nike's running shoes for many times and has eight years of working experience in the sporting goods industry. For a start-up company like Under Armour, a marketer like Charlie Danson can quickly open up the situation. Getting the company to make a name for itself with the first lead product was the main reason for his selection."

Bill was moved by the first person Dario recommended. Nike has never set up its own factory, but has spent a lot of money on product development and marketing.

"I heard that Nike is on the rise. Will he give up his job there and come to Under Armor?" Bill asked, pointing to the information sheets collected by Heidrick & Struggles.

Bernardo explained to the client, "It's like this. Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, went on a long-term trip to a big eastern country, and aerobic sports are on the rise. However, Bob Wood, the current actual manager of Nike They are still sticking to the direction of jogging, mainly developing and selling running shoes and basketball shoes. They may have a large area of ​​losses this year. Naturally, someone needs to take responsibility for the decline in sales. Inside Nike, Charlie Denson is not like Bob. Power, that’s why we got it.”

Nike's current flagship product is Forrest Gump shoes. It used to be named aztec Asics in the 60s. It was officially named cortez after winning a lawsuit with the Japanese company Onitsuka Tiger in 70. This shoe was so popular in the [-]s. It has been selected as the best running shoe of the year for many years in a row.

In the 90s movie "Forrest Gump", Forrest Gump's girlfriend Jenny gave him a pair of cortez, and this pair of classic running shoes was named Forrest Gump shoes by the Chinese network.

"How many pairs of their current running shoes can they sell in a year, that is, the round-toed and round-headed shoes, do you have 100 million pairs?" Mr. Ferrari suddenly became interested and asked about Nike's main profitable products.

Bernardo touched his beard, then stretched out his right hand, showing three fingers, "It should be in this order of magnitude, they can sell 300 million pairs of running shoes a year."

A pair of running shoes is priced at forty or fifty dollars, and the sales of this one item can exceed [-] million.In terms of running shoes, Nike has made a lot of money, and other shoes and sports equipment should be losing money.

Bill asked again: "Where are their basketball shoes? Compared with Converse?"

He wants to fully understand his main competitors.

Bernardo couldn't answer such a detailed question, "Sir, this is their internal secret, but Converse's basketball shoes can sell about 100 million pairs a year. In this segmented track, Nike's market share It is far inferior to Converse, I guess it is between [-] to [-] pairs to [-] pairs, and their price is also on the high side, about $[-] to $[-] for a pair of shoes.”

The current sales of basketball shoes mainly rely on spokespersons, and most of the top stars in the NBA are signed by Converse, and even Adidas can't compete with Converse, which is in the limelight.

"Let's take a look at the second candidate! I'll get a rough idea first and then choose slowly."

Mr Ferrari gestured to the two advisers to introduce the next candidate.

"Clark, director of the retail department of Adidas US division, is ranked second in our recommendation list. Our company thinks he may be the general manager you are most interested in. This person has been deeply involved in the apparel industry for many years, and not only has work experience related to the supply chain , also spent three years in Douglas's R&D department. It can be said that Mr. Clark is fully familiar with the industry, and we think he is the most suitable for the start-up Under Armour."

PS: Ask for a recommendation ticket and ask for a monthly ticket.

(End of this chapter)