Chapter 305: Work Deployment, Manager Jiang Is Generous!
In the capital city’s Pingchang District.
ICBC Longze Branch, Deputy Branch Manager’s office.
“Xiao Fang, this is a very rare opportunity, and I hope you can grasp it well.”
“Completing the monthly target, to say it’s difficult, is actually not difficult.”
“If it’s really not enough, you can ask friends and family around you to help, and you can also gather a part of it.”
“As long as you meet the target for three consecutive months, you can transfer to the Wealth Management Department.”
“You should be aware of the salaries of colleagues in the Wealth Management Department; they are much higher than those in your service department.”
“Work hard, I have high hopes for you.”
Deputy Branch Manager Ren Jianjun looked at Fang Qi, who was standing in front of his desk, with a kind smile.
Ren Jianjun’s daughter is around the same age as Fang Qi, but she has already moved abroad for the Spring Festival and doesn’t stay in China for more than a few days a year.
Fang Qi has been at the branch for over two months, and her work has been consistently good, diligent, and responsible.
Ren Jianjun noticed all this, which is why he wanted to promote this girl.
Of course, he gave Fang Qi the opportunity, but whether Fang Qi can seize it depends on her own abilities.
At the Longze Branch, the base salary in the Wealth Management Department is 7,000 yuan per month, with a 1.5% performance commission.
A monthly sales target of at least 600,000 yuan is required to meet the standard.
In other words, at least 600,000 yuan in wealth management products must be sold each month to meet the department’s minimum requirement.
Failing to meet the target for two consecutive months will result in a deduction of some bonus and performance pay.
If the target is not met for three consecutive months, it indicates that your business ability does not meet the department’s requirements, and you will be transferred to another department.
The reason Fang Qi has the opportunity to intern in the Wealth Management Department now is that an employee failed to meet the target for three consecutive months and was transferred to another department.
“Thank you, Branch Manager Ren, for giving me this opportunity. I will definitely work hard and strive not to disappoint your high expectations!”
Fang Qi also knew this was a very rare opportunity and thanked Ren Jianjun sincerely.
However…
Thinking about the 600,000 yuan monthly target.
Besides her joy, Fang Qi felt immensely troubled.
In some web novels about rich protagonists, 600,000 yuan isn’t enough for the main character to buy a watch or a car.
But in reality, selling 600,000 yuan worth of wealth management products each month is quite difficult!
Due to various historical reasons.
When people talk about bank wealth management products, they think of scams targeting the elderly’s retirement money and deem them unreliable.
Ordinary people have no concept of wealth management and are unwilling to take risks; most of them just deposit money in the bank to earn interest.
The large-denomination certificates of deposit in the savings department offer good interest and are a guaranteed profit with no risk.
Isn’t buying a large-denomination certificate of deposit more appealing?
Why take risks to buy your wealth management products?
Therefore, to meet the department’s sales target, it’s difficult to succeed without a few high-net-worth clients or close friends and family.
Some wealth management managers even resort to using their charm to meet their monthly targets.
It is an open secret among us that a sales champion at the Longze Branch has inappropriate relationships with several clients.
Fang Qi stayed in Ren Jianjun’s office until around 10 o’clock before heading to her new office.
Sitting at her new workstation, Fang Qi took out a stack of documents to familiarize herself with the wealth management products her department was selling.
These products have risk levels ranging from R1 to R5.
These correspond to cautious, stable, balanced, enterprising, and aggressive types, respectively.
The lower the risk of a wealth management product, the lower the holding yield, and the lower the commission Fang Qi receives.
The higher the risk of a wealth management product, the higher the holding yield, and the higher the commission Fang Qi receives.
As an employee with six or seven years of experience in the bank, Fang Qi is familiar with the tactics of bank wealth management products.
The advertised yields for these products on sale are much higher than those for fixed deposits, but they are all estimations of the most ideal returns.
The final actual return depends on the profit ultimately received.
One wealth management product states an annualized return between 4% and 7%,
but the actual return received might only be 2%, or even lower!
There is also a very small probability of negative returns, meaning a loss.
Although this situation is not common, no one can guarantee that there will be no loss.
Even those wealth management products that market themselves as stable carry the risk of loss.
“600,000 yuan in sales…”
“My parents’ retirement money, it’s best not to touch it if possible.”
Even Fang Qi wasn’t entirely confident in her own bank’s wealth management products.
Her parents’ savings have always been in 5-year large-denomination certificates of deposit, and this year is only the third year.
If she were to withdraw that money to offset her performance, the loss would be quite significant.
For the first half of the month, Fang Qi still preferred to complete her sales target through her own efforts.
If she wanted to stay in this department long-term, she couldn’t always rely on her parents’ help, could she?
Suddenly, the image of her cousin’s husband, who had come to the bank to conduct business yesterday, flashed in Fang Qi’s mind.
“The one from Lili’s family, he looked like a man of considerable means!”
“If I could get some sales from him…”
Fang Qi thought of the LV casual wear Jiang Tao was wearing yesterday, and her eyes immediately lit up.
After Jiang Tao left yesterday, Fang Qi had privately searched for a matching set of his outfit on her mobile phone.
A set of clothes and shoes cost over 50,000 yuan!
What an ordinary person earns in a year isn’t enough to buy that outfit.
Jiang Tao is the quintessential high-net-worth individual within the banking system!
However…
Upon further thought, Fang Qi felt a bit apprehensive.
She had only been close to Xu Li when she was a child.
As they grew up, one lived in the rural area and the other in the capital city, worlds apart.
Xu Li’s life was largely dedicated to her daughter, Jiang Xue, focusing on parenting.
Fang Qi’s energy was directed towards work and entertainment.
Their interactions became fewer and fewer, and their relationship was far from as close as it was in childhood.
But they were still sisters for many years, so their relationship was certainly better than that between ordinary people.
“I should find an opportunity to visit Lili’s cousin’s place and maintain this relationship properly.”
Ring ring ring—
Just as Fang Qi was thinking about rekindling her relationship with her cousin Xu Li, her mobile phone, which was on the desk, rang.
Seeing the caller’s name displayed on her phone, Fang Qi couldn’t help but be taken aback.
“Cousin Lili.”
“What a coincidence!”
After seeing Xu Li’s call, Fang Qi was stunned for a few seconds before picking up her phone.
“Hello, Lili, do you think we have telepathy?”
“I was just thinking of coming over to your place for dinner tonight, and your call came through.”
“Hehe, it’s been a while since we last saw each other, I missed you~”
“No, I’m a single woman of a certain age, I’ll probably never get married.”
“I’m ready to live a lonely old age; being alone is quite good, and one person eating is enough to feed the whole family.”
“My parents have long since come to terms with it and no longer rush me.”
“The old couple now spends the whole year traveling and visiting tourist spots across the country after retiring.”
“Alright, alright, then I won’t eat lunch today, I’ll come to your place for a big meal tonight!”
“…”
Fang Qi and Xu Li chatted on the phone for over ten minutes before hanging up.
The phone call also brought their relationship even closer.
…
East of Xiao Shahe Village.
Jiang Tao and Liu Yuan walked side-by-side along the fields, discussing project development.
A large number of machines and workers had already begun arriving on site.
The previously overgrown wasteland was starting to resemble cultivated farmland.
“The cost of light steel sunshine greenhouses is about 65% higher than ordinary plastic film greenhouses.”
“Manager Jiang, we’re starting with such high-end facilities; regarding the funds…”
Liu Yuan looked at Jiang Tao with a mix of surprise and concern.
After listening to her comparison between ordinary plastic film greenhouses and light steel sunshine greenhouses, Jiang Tao decisively chose the latter.
However, this meant the originally planned investment scale needed to be increased by about 65%, which was not a small amount for this agricultural project.
“Don’t worry about the funds. Just submit a report for whatever you need; we have plenty of funds.”
Jiang’s Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. is a joint venture between Jiang Tao and Yuan Mengqi.
They can utilize Yuan Mengqi’s exclusive consumption fund of 180 million yuan.
With hundreds of millions in reserve funds, investing twenty to thirty million in a project is no pressure for Jiang Tao.
Moreover, this project is indispensable for Jiang Tao.
The raw material issue must be resolved to mass-produce Jiang’s Delicious Barbecue Sauce.
Once the raw material issue is resolved, the profitability of Jiang’s Delicious Barbecue Sauce will also be greatly enhanced.
It might even break even within a year, or even half a year, and the rest will be pure profit!
“Manager Jiang is generous! Since you’ve said so, I’ll proceed with full confidence.”
Liu Yuan had advised him as much as she could. Seeing that Jiang Tao was set on his decision, she had no choice but to execute according to Jiang Tao’s plan.
Jiang Tao continued to ask, “How long do we expect this project to take to start planting, and how long to start harvesting?”
“If things go quickly, it’s expected to be completed and begin production in 2 months, with the first batch of products harvested in about 4 months.”
Liu Yuan walked alongside Jiang Tao, reporting her estimated construction period and product delivery times.
Jiang Tao pressed further, “Can it be faster?”
Liu Yuan replied, “The current construction period is the most economical. If we want to shorten it, the investment will increase by about 8%.”
Jiang Tao asked, “How much time can be reduced at most?”
Liu Yuan said, “To ensure the quality of the project, it can be shortened to about 3 months.”
Jiang Tao replied, “3 months… can’t it be any faster?”
Liu Yuan nodded, “It can’t be faster; otherwise, quality cannot be guaranteed.”
“Then 3 months. The shorter the construction period, the better. It doesn’t matter if it costs a bit more money.”
After hearing Liu Yuan’s report, Jiang Tao unhesitatingly chose to spend more money to shorten the construction period.
Compared to the profit from starting production and sales of Jiang’s Delicious Barbecue Sauce earlier,
the small cost required to shorten the construction period was negligible.
Liu Yuan finally nodded and said,
“Then I’ll follow your instructions! I’ll go talk to the construction party later and have them bring in more equipment.”
Jiang Tao said, “I’ll leave this to you; if you don’t have enough manpower, just recruit as many as you need.”
Liu Yuan smiled, “I was just about to mention that to you; I really don’t have enough manpower.”
“Don’t bother telling me about minor matters like recruiting people from now on; just handle it as you see fit.”
Jiang Tao trusted Liu Yuan greatly and gave her a lot of authority.
“By the way, how are the strawberries I gave you to cultivate coming along?”
After discussing agricultural development, Jiang Tao changed the subject to the strawberries he had previously given Liu Yuan to cultivate.
According to the system’s intelligence, that strawberry was a highly valuable mutated variety.
In the future, once that variety begins large-scale cultivation and production, it can also generate considerable profit.
When Jiang Tao first obtained that strawberry, he considered selling it to the Academy of Agricultural Sciences for cash.
After all, according to the system’s intelligence, the Academy of Agricultural Sciences offered millions for it.
However, as Jiang Tao’s assets began to expand rapidly, he started to look down on those millions.
He decided to keep the mutated strawberry for himself to cultivate and have Liu Yuan develop this new variety.
When this rainbow strawberry is successfully cultivated and comes to market in large quantities,
it will undoubtedly become a featured product for Jiang’s Agricultural Company due to its unique appearance.
At that time, the rainbow strawberry will greatly promote the company’s development and publicity.
“All 38 plants are growing very well, and they are expected to bear fruit in about half a month.”
“Manager Jiang, what’s so special about our strawberries?”
To date, Liu Yuan, the person fully responsible for strawberry cultivation, hasn’t found anything special about the strawberries she’s cultivating.
After all, the plants are still in the growth phase and haven’t started bearing fruit.
They look exactly like ordinary strawberries, with no difference at all!
Jiang Tao smiled, “I’ll keep it a surprise for now. You’ll know what’s special about them when they bear fruit.”
“Alright, I’ll look forward to it!”
Seeing that Jiang Tao was keeping his lips sealed, Liu Yuan didn’t ask further.
She had already asked Jiang Tao this question more than five times, and the answer was always the same.
Her curiosity had been piqued by Jiang Tao to a very high level.
The first thing she did every day after work was to observe the strawberries she was cultivating.
She took better care of those strawberries than she would a child.
Jiang Tao and Liu Yuan chatted as they walked along the fields, and by the time they reached the roadside where the car was parked, it was past 10 AM.
Ring ring ring—
Just as Jiang Tao was about to bid farewell to Liu Yuan, his phone rang again.
He took out his phone and saw that the caller ID was the same unknown number he had rejected twice already.
This time, Jiang Tao swiped his finger and answered the call.
“Hello, is this Mr. Jiang?”
“My name is Ma Jinsong, a top lecturer from Xingdong Education. We met yesterday.”
The moment the call connected, Ma Jinsong’s polite voice came through, completely lacking the arrogance he had shown yesterday.
“Who is Ma Jinsong? Have we met?”
Jiang Tao put on a teasing smile and pretended not to recognize Ma Jinsong.
“Ahem, yesterday at Black Ox Barbecue, we…”
Although Ma Jinsong knew that Jiang Tao was toying with him, he dared not get angry and patiently tried to help Jiang Tao recall their meeting.
Jiang Tao asked knowingly, “Oh, so it’s Lecturer Ma. What can I do for you?”
“It’s like this, Manager Jiang. First, regarding yesterday’s matter, I sincerely apologize to you…”
Ma Jinsong started apologizing without any preamble.
