Volume One, Chapter 15: A Triumphant Beginning

Professor Zhao paced back and forth in his office, hands clasped behind his back.

“Mr. Zhang, as Donna said, one insightful conversation with you is worth more than ten years of reading!”

Zhang Weimin replied modestly, “Professor, you flatter me.”

Professor Zhao nodded and continued, “Alright, that was just some casual talk. Let’s get down to business. Donna mentioned that you came to Shanghai to promote the tapered threaded sleeves produced by your factory?”

“Yes, Professor Zhao. I see a vast market potential for this product, so I persuaded the factory leaders to produce it in large quantities,” Zhang Weimin said earnestly.

“Many factories in our city haven’t paid wages for months. I boasted to the leaders that producing this product would not only improve the lives of our factory workers but also help other factories in our city by providing work and wages for their employees.”

Hearing this, Professor Zhao was deeply moved.

“Mr. Zhang, I didn’t expect you to carry the welfare of all the factory workers in your city in your heart. I must lend you a hand!”

He walked over to his desk, grabbed a pen, and wrote rapidly on a sheet of paper. Handing it to Zhang Weimin, he said, “This is a letter of recommendation I wrote for you. Take it to the major design institutes and construction firms in the city. Most of their chairmen and chief engineers were once my students. They will surely receive you warmly when they see this letter. But whether your product is accepted by the market depends on its competitiveness.”

Zhang Weimin accepted the letter, deeply touched, and bowed sincerely to Professor Zhao.

“Did you bring samples of your product?” the professor asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“Good. You can give the samples to Donna later. We have a laboratory here that can perform all the necessary tests. With a product quality report, your product will have even more credibility.”

“Thank you so much, Professor Zhao.”

“No need for thanks. Next week, the Civil Engineering Society is hosting a new technology promotion conference. You should attend to give your product some exposure.”

“Oh, Professor Zhao, you’ve really thought of everything for me. How can I ever thank you?”

“Don’t mention thanks. I’m not doing this for myself, nor are you doing this for yourself. I’m promoting new technology, and you’re fighting for the livelihood of your workers.”

“You’re right. Great kindness needs no thanks. I’ll think about it— for every set of our product sold, we’ll set aside a fund. Once it accumulates, I’ll donate it to our university, to our civil engineering department. How does that sound?”

“Ha ha ha, if you donate to our university, I won’t have the right to refuse.”

After bidding farewell to Professor Zhao, Zhang Weimin handed the samples to Donna.

Donna put down her work immediately and arranged for all the necessary testing to be done on Zhang’s samples.

The results were satisfactory; all product performance indicators exceeded the relevant national quality standards.

Armed with Professor Zhao’s recommendation letter and the product quality certificate, Zhang Weimin felt much more confident.

He visited various design institutes to discuss cooperation.

Zhang proposed that the design institutes expand the use of tapered threaded sleeves in their future design drawings.

At first, the design institutes were reluctant, concerned that this would increase project costs and might be unpopular with contractors and clients.

Zhang assured them that their product pricing would be highly competitive—50% lower than current market prices—certain to bring the application costs within an acceptable range for all parties.

Simultaneously, Zhang promised that if the design institutes signed an agreement to include the tapered threaded sleeve connection method in their designs, regardless of whether the contractors used products from his factory, his factory would pay the design institutes a technology promotion fee of one cent per sleeve.

Don’t underestimate that one cent; the volume is staggering.

If a design institute’s yearly drawings all incorporated tapered threaded sleeves, Zhang would pay them over a million yuan annually in technology promotion fees.

Using financial incentives to drive technological adoption, Zhang’s strategy was highly effective.

The design institutes agreed to Zhang’s proposal.

Next, Zhang visited construction companies.

The construction firms were quite supportive of extensive application of this technology, as it could accelerate construction progress and improve project quality.

Their greater concern was about the profit margin from using this technology.

Zhang promised that if they used his factory’s products, he would sign a profit guarantee agreement ensuring the construction company’s profit on this item would not fall below 25%. If profits fell short, his factory would cover the difference. The only condition was that the company must purchase all tapered threaded sleeves from his factory for the next three years.

With this, the contractors had no worries.

Zhang’s approach was brilliant; he not only achieved a win-win with the contractors but also locked in their sleeve procurement for three years. Even if competitors flooded the market later, they couldn’t steal his orders.

All business negotiations proceeded smoothly. Zhang roughly estimated that he had secured orders worth at least two to three hundred million yuan during this trip to Shanghai.

With stable orders for three years, he could rest easy.

Even if cutthroat competition arose afterward, it wouldn’t matter. By then, he would have made enough money to move on and seek the next opportunity.

Zhang prepared to return home.

Before leaving, he went to a shopping mall and bought a crystal cup as a farewell gift for Donna.

Donna accompanied him to the train station, her eyes betraying a hint of reluctance.

“You must come to Shanghai often. You said I’m your only friend here. For a friend’s sake, you should visit regularly.”

“I will. Shanghai is where I set sail. I’ll definitely come often. I still have big plans to make here!”

Back at the factory, Zhang was even more exuberant than before because he now had a new status symbol—

A Motorola mobile phone.

He first went to the workshop and shared snacks and cigarettes he brought back from Shanghai with his coworkers, also showing off his new outfit and the gadget in his hand.

His coworkers were stunned.

“Wow! Is that Zhang Weimin? Haven’t seen him for over a month. Has he become a god or something? Look at his clothes, his style…”

Even Hong Danioo’s attitude toward Zhang had become very respectful.

“Hey, isn’t that our Zhang? You’ve made it big now. If you get any chance to make a fortune, don’t forget us brothers here.”

Zhang lit a cigarette, and Hong quickly took out a lighter to help him.

“Don’t worry, this trip to Shanghai brought two or three hundred million yuan in orders for our factory. Get ready to work hard. Soon, your wages and bonuses will double!”