Chapter 216 - 184: Isn’t This Cursing Someone?

Dan Biao was stunned. "Zhang Li, if you say that, aren’t you just tricking them? How are you going to explain this when payday comes next month?"

"Hurry up and hire more people. It’s better they quit next month than right now. If they all walk out on me now, I won’t have anyone to even watch the store."

Dan Biao frowned. "This will ruin our operations department’s reputation. Besides, won’t the new people you hire next month just face the same problem? Are you still going to make them sign a high-stakes performance agreement?"

Zhang Li said in frustration, "I don’t know what else to do. I’m just trying to get through this month. We’ll figure something out later."

This mentality of just taking things one day at a time wasn’t unique to Zhang Li; Dan Biao had it too. In fact, everyone at Futong Commerce thought this way. That’s why, aside from raising the issue, Dan Biao had no better solution to offer.

"But this month is going to be tough to get through. Look at the state of the staff now, and they don’t even know they’re going to be fined. If they found out, would our sales numbers even be worth looking at?"

While they were discussing the NLB Store’s performance, Han Chao arrived at a Xinyue Square in Sanyang City. Sanyang City’s GDP was second only to Qingzhou’s in Qingjiang Province. The city had two Xinyue Squares, which were also the two best commercial plazas in the area.

Han Chao went to the first Xinyue Square and had scheduled a meeting with the vice president of business operations. He was invited into the office for some small talk, but when he brought up securing a location for an NLB store, he noticed the VP was clearly surprised.

"President Han, I thought you were here today about other brands. I didn’t expect you to bring up NLB. I’ll be honest with you—we already have a location set for NLB, but our partner definitely won’t be Futong Commerce. You’ve probably seen the sales report from the NLB store at the first Xinyue Square that all of our Xinyue Group employees have been forwarding for the past two days. Their operational management is genuinely excellent. That’s the kind of partner we’re looking to work with.

"Futong Commerce, on the other hand, is different. You rely completely on the brand’s momentum and the mall’s foot traffic, but your store-level operations are just too weak. I heard that the NLB stores you manage don’t even make 400,000 a month, which is less than what Yanghe Commerce did in just three days."

Han Chao felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. He had failed before he’d even gotten started at the very first mall. He could already picture Li Yang’s explosive anger. He wanted to try and plead his case, but the vice president cut him off directly. "President Han, if this is about NLB, then there’s nothing more to discuss. I believe your company’s top priority right now isn’t opening new stores, but getting a handle on your operational fundamentals. Otherwise, any new store you open will perform poorly, and that’s a loss for both you and us."

Next, he went to the other Xinyue Square in Sanyang, only to encounter the exact same situation as the first. He started to panic.

Xinyue Square accepted the NLB brand, but because Futong Commerce’s operations were poor, they all chose to partner with Yanghe Commerce instead. This was his understanding of the situation, and he reported it to Li Yang immediately, shifting all the blame onto the operations department.

He presented the view that Xinyue Square had originally intended to work with Futong Commerce, but the gap in operational quality was so vast that the individual stores were now strongly demanding to partner with Yanghe Commerce. This explanation was easy for Li Yang to accept, as the general manager of the Qingzhou Xinyue Square Second Store, whom he had personally called, had said the same thing. This narrative also cleared the channel development department of any responsibility, pinning the failure to open new stores primarily on the operations department.

Li Yang accepted this explanation internally, but he wouldn’t admit it out loud. "Xiaohan, you damn well better get your ass to every single one of those stores and talk to them. Poor operations is the operations department’s problem. If you can’t open the stores, you’ll be held responsible no matter the reason. Get to the next city, now."

He was worried that if Han Chao simply blamed the operations department, he would stop trying. Therefore, if the stores couldn’t be opened, the channel development department would still face punishment. After hanging up, Han Chao cursed, "Son of a bitch."

Futong Trading Company

Now Li Yang was truly panicking. The Qingzhou Xinyue Square Second Store was like this, and now both Xinyue Squares in Sanyang were the same. The decisions of these malls would definitely influence other Xinyue Square projects, since they were all part of the same corporate system.

He snatched up his phone and called President Tian. The call connected after a moment.

"President Tian, hello! It’s Li Yang. I was wondering if you’ve been free lately? We should get a couple of drinks together again."

President Tian replied coolly, "President Li, I’m swamped with group affairs. Thanks for the offer, but if you have something to say, just say it over the phone."

Li Yang had no choice but to continue, "President Tian, it’s about the NLB brand partnership I reported on when we had dinner last time. We’ve contacted several stores, and they all say they’re partnering with Yanghe Commerce. I don’t think this is the right move for the stores. Yanghe Commerce is just a small, newly founded company. They can’t compare to us in terms of financial strength, talent, or anything else. Partnering with them definitely won’t be as stable as partnering with us."

He heard what sounded like a scoff from President Tian on the other end of the line, followed by his voice. "President Li, they did 490,000 in sales in the first three days. I even asked the NLB brand headquarters about it—that performance is number one in the entire country. And it’s true that their store operation level is on a completely different plane than yours. The difference is, they’re the model everyone is trying to learn from, while our mall’s operations managers have reported multiple times that your stores’ management is dead last.

"President Li, you really need to get a grip on your operations, okay? If this continues, I’m starting to think your other brands might do better with someone else in charge."

After the call ended, a sliver of terror gripped Li Yang. ’This is it,’ he thought. ’President Tian is starting to give up on me.’