Chapter 124: Advertising

"We are hiring a manager for the company, not finding you a wife. Why are you so worked up?"

After mocking Li Ping'an, Su Mu turned back to the headhunter manager and asked, "Her resume looks impressive, but can she handle managing my company? She has mainly worked in sales; that’s a far cry from management, isn’t it?"

"Well... before she resigned, she was in charge of more than half of Boeing’s sales team. I had someone verify this; it is true."

The implication was clear: if she could reach an executive position at a giant like Boeing, a small firm like Penguin Company would be a breeze.

Su Mu, being self-aware, didn't press further. He said, "I will arrange an interview when I have time. If we are satisfied, we will hire her."

Li Ping'an chimed in again, "I’m already very satisfied."

"Shut your mouth. If you do that again, I’ll kick you out of the company and send you home to keep getting beaten by your father!"

"...Fine, you win."

The manager gave a wry smile. "I understand. How about this evening? You two can arrange the meeting place yourselves. If you aren't satisfied, I can help you find someone else for your company. But Leon, believe me, if you can overlook her lack of an advanced degree, she is truly excellent. Miss Black is strong-willed and very calm—she is best suited for a management role."

"I’ll consider your advice after we meet. Please help me get in touch with her. Let’s set the location at Farilane Restaurant, around seven or eight tonight."

Su Mu then continued, "I didn't come here just for that. The company needs promotion staff—at least eighty of them. As long as they are talented in sales and don't mind long-term travel, the more the better. The compensation has changed slightly since last time; the sales commission is raised to thirty percent today, which should easily attract them."

"Are you trying to emulate those pharmaceutical companies?"

The manager’s comment was a jab at the major drug companies that were aggressively recruiting sales reps to push their products. Recently, many of these firms had sparked controversy by claiming they could cure the newly emerged AIDS virus, giving patients hope only to leave them in despair later.

Su Mu replied, "The market is too vast, and my sales force is too small. If we don’t seize the opportunity to capture the market, we’ll be handing the profits away for nothing."

"Besides that, I also want to hire some handymen—about five for manual labor. The only requirement is that they must know how to drive. People with strange personalities or those who are difficult to manage are not welcome. A group of the last batch we hired left and even started a company similar to Penguin, attempting to steal our market share."

"My God! That’s terrible! Remember to give me their names; I’ll add them to the blacklist so all my peers can see it. Jobs are scarce right now, so I can find you sales staff very quickly. The fee will be the same as last time. As your company grows, I can even help you poach more suitable management talent—I could even poach the Chairman of the Federal Reserve if you’re prepared to pay enough!"

Headhunting firms are not charities, and Su Mu had to pay for their services. The cost for ordinary workers was low; even hiring a hundred would only cost about three thousand dollars, and the firm could even make money on the recruitment side from the applicants themselves.

After finishing the expansion plans, he and Li Ping'an took a taxi back.

Su Mu looked forward to a future where his company’s sales representatives would conduct business all across the United States. Both Penguin Company and FunBuy, the second supermarket he was preparing to launch, were moving in a positive direction, making him feel that he could set his goals even higher.

...

"Ping'an, did you ask about the advertising?"

"Yeah, I called. Different formats have different prices; the better the placement, the higher the cost. The Los Angeles Times is more expensive than the San Francisco Chronicle."

New media hadn't emerged yet, and the ways people advertised products were repetitive: newspapers, magazines, television, posters, brochures, and so on. Someone once used an airship for advertising, but after it exploded, they were banned. Others set their sights on movies, leading to a period where films were cluttered with countless product placements—everything the leads ate, drank, lived in, or wore was an advertisement. Things hadn't been much better lately.

Whether it was the Los Angeles Times or the San Francisco Chronicle, they were among the most widely circulated and famous newspapers in the United States. Su Mu felt that small-scale efforts were pointless; if he was going to advertise, he should aim for high circulation. Since Michael Dell had already set a precedent, it proved that advertising in newspapers was a viable strategy.

Su Mu nodded in understanding. "I’m meeting that lady tonight. With the company’s staff constantly increasing, and since neither you nor I have management experience, it’s better to hire a professional. I’ll make time tomorrow to head to the San Francisco Chronicle headquarters to discuss the ads. With Christmas approaching, the end of the year is a peak sales season. We must seize the opportunity. The number of companies and schools purchasing computers will only decrease, while the number of private consumers is slowly growing. It’s time to start marketing computers to individuals."

"I'm going with you!"

Li Ping'an’s tone was firm. His personality wasn’t suited for managing a company; he lacked the ability, the tactics, and the vision. Usually, when Su Mu mapped out the company’s development plans, Li Ping'an mostly just went along for the ride. The employees at Penguin Company knew Li Ping'an held shares, but nobody looked at him as a boss; his presence was very low. If everything went according to plan, once the company was on the right track, he could just sit at home and wait for the money to roll in. Compared to the more ambitious boss Han Yu, they had different personalities and wouldn't fall out over business matters.

"Don't cause trouble for me. Wait at home. There are beautiful women everywhere on the street; do you have to invite them to our company? This is serious business. If we don't pick the right person, our Penguin Company will likely be in trouble. Think about how much money that is!"

For a kid from a poor family, anything involving money was a major event, so he didn't bicker or cause trouble for Su Mu.

Li Ping'an asked, "Wood, do you think Du Niang will be angry or hold a grudge since we didn't bring him along when we started this company? I talked to him on the phone yesterday and told him we were making money, and he seemed pretty annoyed, telling me to pay back the eighty dollars I owe him first."

That was a good question. Su Mu hadn't thought about it before, but now he began to consider it. Having grown up with both of them, he didn't want their relationship to be affected by money.

He looked troubled as he replied, "I don't think so. His family is quite wealthy; Du Zhong isn't that kind of person."

It was just by chance that Li Ping'an had come to Silicon Valley with Su Mu to do business, while Du Zhong remained in Los Angeles for school. It wasn't as if they had intentionally left him out.

"That's true. If he wanted to, he could drop out and join us; I’d even give him half my shares. Remember, Wood, when we first told him we were starting a company, he laughed at us and said we’d definitely end up losing everything and going back to Los Angeles with nothing but the shirts on our backs..."