The meeting was interrupted by a tea break.
Fengtian Machine Tool is a state-owned enterprise, and state-owned enterprises have their own set of operating models. For example, the negotiation process must involve collective participation to ensure fairness and rationality.
After the negotiation, the results must be reported to the superiors for approval, and the company has no final say.
So Cai Jianzhong, Wang Yong and other company executives immediately went to the small room next door to discuss the matter.
Cai Jianzhong looked at Li Guoliang, the head of the technical center.
"Old Li, Lingnan Hall is proposing to package up all our machine tools and purchase our production line. What do you think?"
Li Guoliang pushed up his glasses and then clapped his hands excitedly:
"Mr. Cai, this is good news. Our Fengtian Machine Tool was once a glorious company, but now it's in such a difficult situation. Why? It's not because our technology is outdated, but because our inventory was too large.
The large inventory and unsold machine tools have tied up most of our funds, preventing us from developing new machine tools. If this continues for a long time, the gap between us and our domestic and foreign counterparts will only widen."
The executives in the room all nodded slightly.
More than 2,000 machine tools cannot be sold, which is the heaviest burden of the enterprise. As long as this burden is not resolved, Fengtian Machine Tool will not get the trust and support of its superiors.
The superiors are also on guard. The finances are already difficult. If Fengtian Machine Tool is a bottomless pit, the superiors will not pour money into it without limit.
If an enterprise cannot obtain funding from higher authorities and cannot obtain bank financing, and loses its capital chain, who will die if not just the enterprise?
Therefore, if we want to get support from superiors and banks, clearing out more than 2,000 machine tools is the top priority.
Moreover, they cannot be sold at a low price. Selling at a low price means the loss of state-owned assets, which is a serious crime and may even result in imprisonment. This is why the leadership of Fengtian Machine Tool would rather let the machines rot in the warehouse than sell them at a low price.
Li Guoliang continued to express his opinions:
"So we must sell machine tools, but how to sell them can be divided into two steps. First, the latest machine tools can only be sold at market prices, with a small discount at most. This is the principle we must stick to.
But those old machine tools, I just looked at the list, are 10, 20 years old. These machines are already outdated and will definitely not sell in the market. We can give a huge discount to show our sincerity."
Cai Jianzhong and Wang Yong looked at each other:
"Lao Wang, what do you think of this price proposal?"
Vice President Wang paused for a moment and expressed his opinion:
"I think it's possible. The prices of machine tools on the market are now open and transparent. I believe Lingnantang Company must have done relevant research, so there is no need for us to play tricks on the price. Southerners are smart.
Our Fengtian Machine Tool is not their only option, so if we want to keep this large order, we have to win on price. Fortunately, most of the machines they want are outdated, so we can offer a big discount. If they want five-axis machines, we will be in trouble.
As soon as these words were spoken, several executives began to discuss it.
"Yes, yes. Machine tools from ten or twenty years ago don't have much value to begin with. After a few years, they'll just be sold as scrap."
"We need to let our superiors know our difficulties. In order to promote advanced machine tools, we have no choice but to use outdated machine tools as a bonus."
"As young people say, there are group buying discounts when taking packages, so we have good reasons to do so."
After hearing this, Cai Jianzhong made the final decision:
"Okay, we'll make some concessions on price, but we can't cross the line. And if this batch of machine tools can be successfully exported to Africa, it will also help our products gain popularity."
Li Guoliang then added:
"While we maintain our bottom line for price, I think we can treat second-hand machine tool production lines, including all product information, as free gifts and we won't charge for them.
"Our superiors are watching to see if there's anything fishy about our machine tool sales and whether it's causing the loss of state-owned assets. However, they don't care about second-hand production lines or outdated machine tool information, and they probably wouldn't mind giving them away as gifts."
At this time, a vice president laughed and said:
"Old Li is right. My family sold a second-hand house a few days ago. At that time, our main negotiation was the price. As long as both parties were satisfied with the price, any second-hand furniture and appliances in the house were considered gifts and were given directly to the buyer. No one would care."
"That's right, haha."
"If we give away the second-hand production line, we will have a negotiating advantage on the price of the machine tools."
"How about we consult our superiors first, report our negotiation strategy to them, and then make temporary adjustments based on their instructions."
Seeing that the team leaders had the same opinion, Cai Jianzhong quickly took out his mobile phone and walked aside to report.
The people from Fengtian Machine Tool were discussing the final negotiation results, while Lin Sanqi, Yin Lianyi and other people from Lingnan Hall were more relaxed, happily enjoying the fruits and cakes brought to them by the Fengtian Machine Tool staff.
The people who came to Lingnan Hall this time were all young people. Young people are more interested in sweets and are more open-minded.
"Mmm, try this cake, it's delicious!"
"And this grape, this is Qing Wang, I heard it's imported from Japan."
"Wow, they even have milk tea. Fengtian Machine Tool is really thoughtful."
This is the advantage of state-owned enterprises. They don't think about products all day long, but focus on people. The reception service is as good as it can be, three times more meticulous than the Imperial Household Department back then.
While tasting the cake, Yin Lianyi asked her boyfriend curiously:
"Are you really planning to export this batch of machine tools to Africa? Africans are only good at fighting wars and not at economic development."
Lin Sanqi ate cherries and said indifferently:
"What if they just enjoy the purchase process? They buy it and then tear it apart for fun, who cares?"
At this point, Lin Sanqi deliberately said mysteriously:
"Weapons production definitely requires a lathe. How can you be so sure they'll just leave it there? We're business people, so we shouldn't worry about that. As long as we can make money from this round trip, that's all we need."
Yin Lianyi actually had thousands of questions in her mind, but a smart woman knew that it was best not to ask some things. After all, exporting machine tools was not an illegal business, and the company could afford the loss even if the money was wasted.
Look, this is the confidence of being rich.
In fact, what Yin Lianyi didn’t know was that Lin Sanqi had no intention of getting paid for “exporting” these machine tools. Instead, he was cheated by African foreign businessmen and lost all his money, causing huge losses for Lingnantang Group.
Half an hour later, the two sides continued the negotiations, and this round began with price negotiations.
In front of the curtain in the center of the conference room, Sales Manager Xie Yujun was presenting a quote to a southern client using a PowerPoint presentation:
"Mr. Lin, this is our quotation list, which contains the individual quotes for all lathes. Mr. Lin is a straightforward person. Our General Manager Cai has instructed us to offer the most favorable price and strive to satisfy you.
So you see, we're selling all machine tools before 2008 at 70% off the quoted price. Lathes from 2008 to 2012 are being sold in six-piece lots.
As for lathes and five-axis machine tools produced after 2012, our discounts cannot be too large; we can only offer a 10% discount on the factory price. Mr. Lin, you know that our state-owned enterprise system doesn't allow managers to set prices at will.
But don't worry, based on the discounts for these three batches, our total discount is still very large, and we can also give you the production lines that were eliminated before 2008, production drawings, product specifications and other information free of charge."
Lin Sanqi was a medical student and didn't have a strong understanding of economics. He just tilted his head and glanced at Yin Lianyi.
Yin Lianyi did a simple calculation based on the list and the number of machine tools, and wrote a few words on a piece of paper:
"Good deal."
Lin Sanqi understood what was going on, so he turned around and said with a smile, "Boss Cai, I have no problem with this discount."
Cai Jianzhong felt relieved when he heard this. After all, they were the passive party now, and the southern merchants were the active party.
At the negotiation table, the passive party often has no say and will be severely ripped off. It is rare to find such generous merchants as Lingnan Tang.
In fact, Mr. Cai had no idea that when Lin Sanqi heard that the production line and machine tool information before 2008 were given to him free of charge, he knew that he had made a huge profit in this business.
The machine tool is just the "fish," while the production line and data are the "fishing equipment." (End of this chapter)
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