Chapter 56: The Difficult Problem

  In the next few days, Ning Qing said that he had broken his tongue and had transferred two office buildings again. The remaining five connected rooms could not be negotiated at all.

  If it's not transferred out, I'm afraid it will fall below 150,000. At that time, not only won't we make money, but we'll also lose the principal. Ning Qingming knew that at first, there was a verbal agreement with Cheng Jianjun, and no matter whether he made or lost money, each room would have to be returned to him for 150,000 yuan. In a hurry, he called Du Huajia's phone to ask for some experience.

  "Hmm, if it's one or two units, then it's definitely profitable. But with nine units, it's a bit hard to say. Although some people are looking for office space, business owners aren't fools and know that this month is the peak season for clothing sales. The location isn't easy to find, and the price will definitely be high. Some businesses will wait until next month to buy, at which point they can see how the mall performs during the off-season and make a judgment about its potential. And because it's the off-season, the prices of storefronts will definitely drop, so they can take advantage of the low prices then.

  On the other hand, you've already agreed with Cheng Jianjun that he'll get 150,000 yuan per unit, regardless of whether you make more or less profit. This amount can't be reduced by a single cent."

  Ning Qing's eyes widened in surprise, and she stood there stunned. No wonder Cheng Jianjun was so eager to let her sign the office building! It turned out that after deducting his own profit of 150,000 yuan from each unit, her actual gain was not much, but she could take the opportunity to repay a favor.

  Jing Qingming didn't say a word, Du Hua's family let out a "hmm" and continued to say: "However, one of the rooms in Cheng Jianjun will be signed over to you at the original price, without any additional fees, which is also considered as extra care for you."

  "That's right, no matter what, I've made a profit of one room!" Ning Qing found her balance point and was slightly more cheerful.

  "But you told me, and I can guarantee that you'll make a million dollars as originally planned." Du Hua said lightly, as if it was a trivial matter. "There's a large manufacturer in Dongguan who attends the trade fair every year. Because the new Wangpai wholesale market is close to the trade fair, he originally wanted to set up a sample exhibition department in this market. However, the area of each office building in the market is too small and cannot meet his requirements. The office buildings you currently own are rare in that there are five adjacent ones that can be combined into one large space. Even if the price is a bit expensive, he won't mind. Now, as long as someone accidentally leaks the message to him, he'll rush over to sign those five adjacent offices, and you'll make a profit. Of course, the person who will leak the message is currently on the phone with you."

  "Ah, Director Du, thank you!" Ning Qing couldn't help but cheer up this time, despite her usual calmness.

  However, buying a sample and doing business is not the ultimate solution to prevent counterfeiting. The sample has been ordered by someone, and even if it's just an additional order, in the eyes of other merchants, it's already a real market survey that confirms market demand. Merchants know there are profits to be made, no matter how tightly you guard it, they'll find a way to produce similar samples.

  Du Hujia seemed to have changed his sitting posture before continuing: "You need to register your trademark and obtain patent rights!"

  "How could I have not thought of that?" Ning Qing muttered to herself, feeling that even with her extra years of life, she still lacked the depth and breadth of others' thinking.

  "There's another way, which is to monopolize the market and sign long-term contracts with stable customers. Of course, you have to offer them extremely favorable conditions in order to attract them to sign the contract. You may earn a bit less at first, but in the long run, it's still beneficial, at least you don't have to worry about competitors poaching your clients." Du Hujia said slowly, allowing Ning Qing to understand the meaning of each sentence.

  It's true. Can't make a fortune before competitors imitate good products. Can only register trademarks or sign long-term contracts with customers at a discount. This is the business philosophy that Du Huajun taught himself. Ning Qing was so touched that she didn't know what to say.

  "Thanks a lot, Du!" Qing said with a sigh of relief. "I really borrowed your little aunt's aura. Luckily I look a bit like her!"

  "Actually, after being in contact with you for a long time, I don't think you and my little aunt are that similar! Your personalities are completely different." Du Huajia smiled lightly and hung up the phone.

  After a few days, the Saudi customer's 20,000 pieces of goods arrived. Ning Qingming led Zhang Yu and Zhang Ruili, and also called in several porters to check them on the square for half a day.

  Each style's color and size had been pre-inspected. Only after verifying that there were no issues did they allow the packers to package them up. It was a busy scene. Zhang Yu picked up one of the styles and handed it to Ning Qingmian, saying anxiously: "Boss, this style's size isn't quite right. The inspection results show that more than 2% of the medium-sized ones are short by one centimeter."

  Ning Qingmin quickly pulled out a few more to measure. The flat dimensions were indeed a little short. Knitted fabrics have elasticity, and pulling them would meet the size requirements. However, Ms. Tian was not easy to fool around with. She couldn't help but frown. At the time of signing the contract, it was stated that the error could only be three centimeters longer, but not shorter. She remembered that last time when delivering goods, other merchants had their products shortened by one centimeter and were deducted 10 yuan per piece. Now, this batch of medium-sized products has 3,000 pieces. If they deduct 10 yuan each, that would be a deduction of 30,000 yuan. The loss is too great. If they immediately let people pick out the ones with short sizes, there wouldn't be enough time. Today is the last day of the delivery period. If they miss the delivery date, they will have to take responsibility for the entire batch of goods themselves. Ning Qingmin thought about this and couldn't help but wrinkle her brow as she made a phone call to the factory to explain the situation.

  "Mr. Ning, a one-centimeter deviation in the knitting product is normal because it's harder to control the size when shrinking compared to woven products." The manufacturer explained on the other end of the line, "In the contract you faxed over last time, it clearly stated that there would be some deviation in size, and we acknowledge that this time we rushed the shipment and had poor control over the shrinkage rate, which resulted in a one-centimeter difference. How about this: whatever amount the customer wants to deduct, our factory will cover it."

  "What I'm afraid of now is not the deduction of money, but being refused to receive a whole batch of goods because of this reason." Ning Qing was slightly annoyed, as he had used the client's deposit to buy a house and the office building in his hands had not been sold yet. If delivery didn't go smoothly at this time, it would be a big headache.

  "Mr. Ning, try your best to think of a solution, if it really doesn't work out then we'll talk about it later!" The factory also had no other choice but to indicate that they would take responsibility for the problem.

  "This shipment is of good quality, being one centimeter short doesn't matter!" An older porter nearby who was packing up overheard Ning Qingming's phone call and loudly said: "Last time I delivered to the third floor with someone else, it was also Miss Tian, she handled the relationship well, both shipments were short but didn't deduct any money. Actually, the client knows that being one or two centimeters short is normal for knitwear, but Miss Tian wants to show her loyalty to the client and won't let this merchant off, insisting that there can't be any mistakes at all. Sometimes when she's in a good mood, she's not so strict and will just accept it without issue."

  What to do? Ning Qingmin sighed and waved her hand to let the porters pack up the opened goods first.