Hardy took Taylor back to the hotel. As soon as he entered the lobby, he was stopped by the lobby manager, "Mr. Hardy, someone left a message for you."

"Oh, who is it?"

Hardy was a little surprised who was looking for him. Could it be Mrs. Lauder?

"It's Mr. Johnny Fontaine." The manager said respectfully.

Johnny Fonteyn?

How did he know I was in New York?

No one would have thought that things would be so coincidental. He met Mrs. Lauder, who asked about his situation, and the news reached Judy Garland, who then told Johnny Fontaine.

Hardy originally planned to come to New York for two days, accompany Taylor and then go back. He did not intend to alarm others, but by chance, people in New York knew his whereabouts.

Hardy called back the number left, and Fang Ting's voice came from there, with excitement and respect in his voice, "Mr. Hardy, I didn't expect you to come to New York. I just went to the hotel, and the hotel said you were out, so I had to leave a message."

"Judy Garland and I are going to host a small party at my little villa. You are invited to attend and please come and enjoy it."

Hardy thought about it.

He smiled and said, "Okay, can I bring someone with me?"

"Of course no problem, I'll pick you up later." Johnny Fontaine said happily.

......

And at Mrs. Lauder's house.

The couple is discussing the acquisition of Hardy.

"Joseph, do you think we should agree to Mr. Hardy's acquisition? Will we lose Estee Lauder?" Mrs. Lauder asked worriedly.

"From your tone, I can tell you're interested?" the husband asked.

Mrs. Lauder nodded in distress: "Mr. Hardy is a multimillionaire. If he can invest in our business, I believe the company will make a huge leap in a short period of time. With our little accumulation, it will probably take many years to get better."

"Think about our experience of entering Fifth Avenue this year. We used a lot of connections and spent all our money to get a counter. How difficult would it be to promote Estee Lauder and even make it an international brand?"

Joseph sighed slightly. This year, the couple had put in a lot of effort to open this counter and finally succeeded.

"How many shares do you think are appropriate to sell? The other party wants to invest, and I'm afraid they are coming for the major shareholder." Joseph said.

Mrs. Lauder hesitated again.

She wanted Estee Lauder to rise quickly, but was also afraid that she would lose it after it rose, and she was worried and anxious.

"What do you think of 30 percent?" Mrs. Lauder asked tentatively.

The husband shook his head.

Mrs. Lauder also knew that what she gave was too little. After all, the other party was such a wealthy man and he would definitely not look down on such a small amount of shares.

"Sixty percent, that's my bottom line, but I want the decision-making power." Mrs. Lauder said through gritted teeth.

Joseph thought for a moment and said, "How about we go talk to Mr. Hardy and find out what he thinks before making a decision?"

Mrs. Lauder immediately decided to see Hardy.

But when they drove to the St. Regis Hotel, they saw Hardy and Taylor walking out of the hotel with a few people beside them. The two looked at each other and hurried to greet them.

"Mr. Hardy, do you remember me?" Mrs. Lauder asked with a smile.

"Oh, of course I remember, Mrs. Lauder. I didn't expect you to come so soon. I was just about to go to a party." Hardy pointed to Johnny Fontaine and Judy Garland next to him.

Mrs. Lauder was shocked when she saw the two people clearly at this moment. Johnny Fontaine and Judy Garland, these two are real big stars.

At this moment he no longer had any doubts about Hardy's identity.

"I'm so sorry to bother you." Mrs. Landay stepped back two steps shyly to make way.

Mrs. Lauder at that time was not yet the head of an international brand in the future, but just the owner of a small company producing cosmetics.

Hardy looked at Mrs. Lauder and her husband and said with a smile, "How about this, let's go to the party together?"

“Ah~~!”

Mrs. Lauder was very surprised to hear this, as she had never attended such a gathering of big stars before, and she became very excited.

"Is this appropriate?" Mrs. Landay asked with false reserve.

Johnny Fontaine next to them also invited the two of them to the party. Hardy was the guest of honor of the party, so Johnny would naturally try his best to invite the people he invited.

A group drove to Johnny's villa.

There were already twenty or thirty people in Johnny's villa, all of them were from the entertainment industry. When Hardy and Taylor walked into the villa, they all stood up and applauded to welcome them.

The party was lively, with people laughing, drinking and chatting. They were all people from the entertainment industry and had a common language. Hardy was the owner of a film company, and these people were very fawning towards him. Whenever they got the chance, they would come up and chat with him.

Mrs. Lauder and her husband sat in a corner, looking at Mr. Hardy who was like the moon surrounded by stars, and thought that Mr. Hardy might not have time to pay attention to her tonight.

Mrs. Lauder looked at the other stars again, wondering if she should go up and chat with them, get to know them, and expand her network to lay the foundation for the future.

Just then Hardy came over.

"I'm sorry to bring you here even though I know you're not familiar with them," said Hardy.

"Oh, no, no, it's our honor to attend this party." Mrs. Lauder said quickly.

Hardy sat down and said, "Mrs. Lauder, what do you think of my proposal this day? Are you willing to accept my acquisition?"

"I wonder how Mr. Hardy plans to acquire it?" asked Mrs. Landy.

"I will invest and purchase some shares, and Estee Lauder will continue to be run by you," said Hardy.

Hearing what Hardy said, Mrs. Lander felt a little relieved. At least the other party did not want to swallow her up completely. The only thing left was the question of how many shares she would have.

Hardy is optimistic about Estee Lauder, but actually he is optimistic about Mrs. Lauder as a person. There are so many cosmetics brands, but why are only a few successful in the end? It all comes down to the difference in the abilities of managers.

Time magazine once selected the 20 most influential business wizards of the 20th century, among which was Mrs. Estée Lauder, and Mrs. Lauder was the only woman among the 20.

It takes a lot of hardships to grow a small business worth tens of thousands of dollars into a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but Mrs. Lauder succeeded, which is enough to show her ability.

"So how much shares does Mr. Hardy intend to own?" Joseph asked.

"I hope it's 80%. However, I can hand over the management rights to you. This can be written into the agreement. As long as it is not a major matter that threatens the survival of the company, everything in the company will be in charge of by the two of you," said Hardy.

When they heard the 80 percent figure, the couple's hearts sank. They thought they had guessed right, and the other party was really asking for too much.

"You ask for too much. I'm afraid we can't agree to it," said Mrs. Landay.

Hadi smiled and stopped talking about the shares. Instead, he changed the subject and said, "I want to hear how you will run the business from now on."

Mrs. Lauder glanced at her husband and said, "We now have four main products: cleansing oil, face cream, lotion, and all-in-one moisturizing essence. We are going to vigorously promote these four products and advertise in newspapers to increase their popularity."

"Once I have funds, I plan to open a counter in high-end shopping malls in every city. After sales increase, I will continue to develop new products, expand product categories, and expand production capacity."

"Once I have enough funds, I would like to hire celebrities to endorse my products and make Estee Lauder a star product. My ultimate goal is to make Estee Lauder an international brand like L'Oreal."

Hardy nodded from time to time as he listened to Mrs. Lauder's explanation.

"When do you think you can complete these ideas if you want to run the business on your own?" Hardy asked again.

Mrs. Landay was silent.

"This, I'm afraid, will take a long time," said Mrs. Landay.

Hardy smiled.

"Would Mrs. Lauder like to hear my plans for Estee Lauder?"

"Of course." Mrs. Lauder perked up immediately.

"The management method you just mentioned is correct in direction, but unfortunately the speed is too slow. Why is it slow? The reason is that your basic strength is insufficient and you can only develop little by little. If you want to develop quickly, you must raise funds."

"Mrs. Lauder helps customers with makeup in shopping malls. This kind of experiential service is really helpful in exploring customers. This model should be retained in the future. When we open counters in various places, each counter in a shopping mall should be equipped with one or two makeup artists."

"You can also make some samples, and when customers come, give them one or two packs of samples. These customers will take the samples home and try them out. If they feel the effects are good, you may be able to develop them into customers."

Sample.

The idea shocked Mrs. Lauder.

She was sure it was a great idea.

People love to get a bargain, so if you give women some samples, they will definitely go back and try them, and maybe become Estee Lauder customers.

"Mrs. Lauder's idea of ​​advertising to increase brand value is very correct. A company must have brand awareness. My idea is to advertise on a large scale in newspapers, magazines, and even on television and movies to increase the brand awareness of Estee Lauder."

"I'd choose a major newspaper like the New York Times. For magazines, I can have Playboy have a page. Beauty and cosmetics always complement each other. Television commercials are very popular now. As for movies, I can make insert ads, for example, have the heroine use Estee Lauder products while putting on makeup."

"I can even make a movie about it in the future, like Breakfast with Estee Lauder or Estee Lauder Angels."

Mrs. Lander swallowed hard.

The idea of ​​using the brand to make a movie completely shocked Mrs. Lauder.

If Estee Lauder is really promoted as Mr. Hardy said, it will become a well-known brand in a short time.

But if you think about it, you will know that with such advertising investment, the advertising fee will be an astronomical figure.

She had asked about advertising in newspapers before. A tabloid would cost several thousand dollars a year, while a major newspaper like the New York Times would cost tens of thousands of dollars a year. This is also the reason why Estee Lauder has not advertised to this day. Tabloids are useless, major newspapers are too expensive, and there is no money.

Hardy continued to fool around.

"Mrs. Lauder's suggestion to hire celebrities as spokespersons is a correct idea. The celebrity effect is the best promotional tool. Mrs. Lauder, take a look at the celebrities at the party today and think about how much reputation they will bring to Estee Lauder if they are the spokespersons."

"Ava Gardner is one of my artists and she is very popular right now. I can definitely make her the exclusive spokesperson for Estee Lauder."

"In the future, we will invite any popular celebrity."

Estee Lauder thought to herself, "I know it's a good idea to hire the most popular brand," but the endorsement fee is probably a figure she dare not even think about.

"Barbie now has counters in major cities across the United States. I remember there are 78 in total. If Estee Lauder wants to open counters in all these cities, how much money will it need? I'm afraid it will be no less than 400,000 or 500,000 US dollars."

It's another waste of money.

If I had money I would do the same.

Mrs. Lan Dai secretly complained in her heart.

Unfortunately, what she lacks is money.

"After the Estee Lauder brand is established, it will go global and dominate the European market. Mrs. Lauder said that she wanted to make Estee Lauder a brand that is on par with L'Oréal."

Mrs. Lauder used to think of this as just a slogan, but now she knows how difficult it will be to achieve this goal.

"As sales increase, we will naturally build a larger modern cosmetics production enterprise and a specialized cosmetics laboratory. My idea is that Estee Lauder will produce all the cosmetics that women can use."

"There are probably thousands of products, including lotions, essences, face creams, eye creams, lipsticks, perfumes, eye shadows, foundation creams, makeup cases, eyeliners, essential oils, and so on."

"This is not enough. We also want to acquire and purchase other cosmetics brands to increase the brand ladder. We want to form second-tier, first-tier, and top-tier brands to meet the needs of different customer groups."

Mrs. Landay swallowed her saliva when she heard this.

If what Mr. Hardy said is true, this company will probably have to invest an astronomical amount of money. Estee Lauder is still just a workshop-style enterprise and cannot afford it at all.

Hardy felt that Mrs. Lauder was a little confused by what he said, and said with a smile.

"Mrs. Lauder, to be honest, if I run the business as I said above, I would not choose Estee Lauder, but any other cosmetics company, and I could quickly expand the company, quickly occupy the market, and become a well-known brand. What do you think?"

Hardy looked at Mrs. Lauder and said.

Mrs. Lauder looked a little panicked. She was a smart woman and naturally knew that the method Hardy mentioned was simply too powerful.

It was the most complete and effective development plan she had ever heard of.

It can even be applied to many companies.

You can run any business successfully.

What does Estee Lauder have?

She only has four products that she developed herself, and now she feels that they are not impressive enough and that any cosmetics company could have developed the same.

Mrs. Landay gritted her teeth.

"Mr. Hardy, we are willing to sell 75% of the shares."

As expected of Mrs. Lauder, she is decisive and makes decisions quickly when she sees opportunities and crises.

Hardy smiled.

In fact, he just asked for 80%, and he was just asking for a sky-high price, waiting for Mrs. Lauder to bargain. If the management party has too few shares and lacks motivation, then the investment money will be wasted.

His bottom line is 60%.

I didn't expect it to be 75%.

You're welcome.

"Okay, tomorrow we will discuss the funding and publicity issues in detail and then sign the agreement. Now I will take you to meet these New York stars. Maybe they will be useful when we meet them in the future." Hardy said.

Mrs. Landay was delighted.

He immediately stood up and followed behind.

This is also one of the reasons why she is willing to join Mr. Hardy, because Mr. Hardy not only has money and resources, but also has a huge network of contacts that is incomparable to her.

She doesn't know any random celebrity, but in front of Hardy, these people would only speak respectfully.

Now that she has become Mr. Hardy's partner, her status has immediately leapt to a new level.