Chapter 329: If you want to advertise a product, you should think it through first

March 6th was the third day since Zhou Ming had set about selling financial products for the insurance company. Although the students in the finance class had all been assigned to various banks, they had not had much success.

On the evening of the 6th, after Zhou Ming had finished showering in his dorm room, Chen Shu, the monitor, came knocking on the door. He was accompanied by Li Yang and Ye Ning, who had been discharged from the hospital. Chen Shu had a stack of documents in his hands. After getting permission from Zhou Ming to come in, he reported to him: 'Teacher, the statistics for today are in. A total of three insurance wealth management products were sold today, for a total of $10,000.'

'$10,000, and only three sales? That's even less than yesterday,' Zhou Ming said.

Chen Shu nodded and said apologetically, 'Yes, teacher, yesterday we at least had sales of $50,000, but today it's dropped by 80% compared to yesterday. It's all because we didn't do a good job of sales and promotion.'

Zhou Ming did not speak hastily, but first waved his hand to lead them to sit on the sofa in the room, and then said, 'Chen Shu, you are the monitor of our finance class, and all of our classmates in the finance class are destined to become business elites in the future. Please don't say things like that again. Although I appreciate your attitude of admitting your mistakes, what we need more is the ability to identify problems and solve them.'

Chen Shu subconsciously opened his mouth to say sorry, but in the end he remembered Zhou Ming's words and held his tongue.

Zhou Ming knew that this was a habit within the system and it would not be easy to change overnight, but it was already very rare for him to be able to do so. Zhou Ming then asked, 'Since sales have decreased so much, have you analysed the reasons?'

'Of course we did,' said the quick-witted Li Yang first. 'The day after the company's press conference, our news appeared on the front pages of major newspapers, and even Brighton TV broadcasted the footage of the press conference. So people would be familiar with the name Wharton Insurance and would buy it if they had any money left. But since yesterday, as newspapers and news have not broadcasted it again, our company's popularity has dropped, which directly affected sales.'

Li Yang finished speaking and Ye Ning added, 'Teacher, I think the reason Li Yang mentioned for the lack of awareness is only part of the reason. There is another more important reason, which is people's lack of understanding and trust in this insurance financial product.'

Ye Ning said, taking a quick peek at Zhou Ming, and continued, 'Teacher, because your ideas are so unique, most Americans have never heard of such products, so they don't understand what insurance financial management is. And because they don't understand, they are afraid to blindly invest their money in it... Of course, maybe those wealthy people with vision will, but we are not in a position to reach them yet.'

'No, I don't think those really rich people will buy it,' Zhou Ming refuted Ye Ning's guess, "the really rich people, their money should be invested, not used to buy insurance. Our real customer base should be selected from the middle class. First, they have the money to buy it, and second, they also hope that their assets can grow steadily without taking any risks.'

'But teacher, those who refuse to buy now are the middle class you mentioned," Li Yang carefully reminded Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and said, 'How about this, tomorrow I will go with you to take a look and see what the situation is really like, and then we will figure something out.'

The next morning, Zhou Ming and Chen Shuyu drove to the Tang Dynasty Bank together, which was one of the banks that they had agreed to station sales representatives at after negotiation.

Chen Shu introduced Zhou Ming and said, "Teacher, since this is a Chinese-owned bank, it does not have such a big prejudice against us Chinese people as compared to other places, and our business is also the best here.'

Zhou Ming said with a nod, "Let's take a look first.'

Chen Shu then introduced Zhou Ming to the lobby manager. Zhou Ming sat in the lobby while Chen Shu and Ye Ning began promoting insurance and wealth management products to the people coming into the bank. However, as they had said before, the results were not good.

Chen Shu first approached an elderly woman who had come to deposit money: 'Hello, auntie, I'm from Wharton Insurance Company. I'd like to recommend to you a new insurance and wealth management product that my company has just launched.'

'Wharton Insurance Company? I'm sorry, I've never heard of this company. Is it a newly established Chinese insurance company? I would definitely support a fellow Chinese insurance company, but unfortunately I just bought new insurance not long ago, whether it's car insurance or medical insurance, even my dog is insured. You know, those American insurance companies are always overbearing.' The middle-aged woman said.

Ye Ning over there approached a bald middle-aged white man: 'Uncle, would you like to buy an insurance policy? I'm from Wharton Insurance Company, and we've just launched a brand new insurance financial product.'

The middle-aged man looked Ye Ning up and down and said, 'I can think about it. How much is your insurance?'

'There are different shares, from one thousand to ten thousand US dollars, and each price point has different insurance and benefits for each price point. If you purchase this product for five thousand US dollars, you will not only get a health and accident insurance policy worth fifty thousand US dollars, but also a return of up to seven percent interest per annum. In other words, when the contract expires, if you have not made a claim, then you can come to my company with your insurance policy...'

Ye Ning patiently explained to the middle-aged man, but the middle-aged man was clearly not interested. He impatiently waved his hand to interrupt Ye Ning.

'You don't need to explain this to me. A pretty girl like you is definitely irresistible when she sells to me. I can buy your $5,000 insurance policy, but I just want to know if I buy it, will I get some other benefits, like being able to go out with you for dinner?' The middle-aged man said to Ye Ning, while deliberately raising one eyebrow at her.

Ye Ning took a step back and frowned, saying, 'I'm sorry, sir, but this is serious insurance business!'

The middle-aged man laughed, 'What serious insurance business? If it were really that serious, would there be any need for a profit? Besides, don't you yellow-skinned little bitches like to do this kind of seductive work the most? Don't be shy, I'll show you what it means to be in ecstasy...'

As he said this, the middle-aged man stepped forward to grab Ye Ning's hand, but before he could touch her, he was blocked by Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming had been paying attention to the situation, and he was unwilling to see his student suffer in front of him. So when he saw the middle-aged man acting inappropriately, he ran over to stand in front of Ye Ning as soon as possible, and said sternly to the middle-aged man, 'Sir, please show some respect. She is only selling insurance and wealth management products, and she is still just a student.'

The middle-aged man looked disdainful: 'So what if she's a student? The yellow-skinned little bitches I've played with are basically students. Aren't you Chinese people just so cheap? And you, yellow-skinned dog, what are you barking at here? Get out of here...ah!'

Before he could finish his sentence, Zhou Ming punched him in the face, and the man let out a pig-like scream. Zhou Ming walked up to him, grabbed his hair and said to him, 'I did hit you today, and this punch is to teach you how to behave and speak properly on behalf of your parents. We Chinese people are not so easily bullied. By the way, if you want to sue me, you are welcome to do so at any time, but now please get out of here immediately, otherwise I'm not sure what else I will do.'

The middle-aged man was about to say something, but when he looked up and saw Zhou Ming's fierce eyes, he immediately cowered and ran out of the bank in a panic.

'Thank you, teacher. If it wasn't for you, I don't know what I would have done,' Ye Ning cried as she hugged Zhou Ming's arm.

At this time, Chen Shu saw the commotion and rushed over: 'Teacher, what happened here?'

'A white man tried to take advantage of Ye Ning, but I chased him away. Do you often encounter this kind of situation here?'

Facing Zhou Ming's question, Chen Shu did not answer. Zhou Ming saw him like this and sighed, saying, 'It seems that the situation is really not optimistic.'

Zhou Ming did not say this casually. Zhou Ming was very clear that what happened today was definitely not just a coincidence. Perhaps Chen Shu and Ye Ning did not deliberately choose to show themselves the most realistic situation, but at the Chinese bank, everyone's attitude towards Chinese people would definitely be much better than in other places. However, if something like this still happened, then what about other places? Zhou Ming could not imagine.

Thinking about this, Zhou Ming said to Chen Shu and Ye Ning, 'Okay, that's enough work for today. Let's go back and figure something out. After all, this is the situation, and it's not going to get better if we keep going.'

Chen Shu and Ye Ning listened to Zhou Ming very much, and they then went back to their dormitory at Harvard University.

'From what I have seen today and what you have told me, I think the biggest problem is still with the publicity. First, Americans are naturally xenophobic and racism is serious, so many people instinctively don't want to buy insurance products from Chinese people when they hear about it. Second, insurance and financial management are concepts that many people don't have. They only think of insurance as insurance and financial management as financial management, and they would never think of combining the two.'

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and then said, 'Of course there may also be a Brook's reason in there, but in any case, if we want to open up the market, we must first dispel these ideas, so I have to think of a way to come up with a marketing campaign.'

Chen Shu and Ye Ning did not have any objections to Zhou Ming's proposal. As students at Harvard Business School, they knew very well that advertising and marketing were the only way to make any product successful.

'Advertising is necessary, but teacher, what kind of advertisement do we want to make? Do we need to invite a celebrity? How widely do we need to broadcast it? What is the budget?' Chen Shu asked.

Facing Chen Shu's questions, Zhou Ming did not give a direct answer, but first asked Ye Ning, "How much money is left in the company account?'

Ye Ning answered apologetically, "Teacher, due to the previous launch event and the fees paid to Alan the lawyer, as well as the cost of renovating the dormitory convenience store, there is currently only 60,000 US dollars left in the company account.'

This is a bit of a problem, but I don't lack money. But do I really have to use my own funds? But then the meaning of starting a business would be lost, and I would be back on the track of living off my past achievements, which is not what Zhou Ming wants.

Zhou Ming frowned and thought to himself, but just then, Zhou Ming's phone suddenly rang. Zhou Ming answered, and it was Li Yang calling, excitedly reporting a piece of news.

'Teacher, I'm at the hospital right now. I've got the inspection report for all the employees of that company, and I've found out that Brooker really did introduce us to business. Except for a very few of his employees who don't meet the criteria for renewal and need to sign a new insurance contract, the rest are completely fine. We can sign the 800,000 insurance contract at any time!'

Zhou Ming put down the phone and said to Chen Shuhe and Ye Ning with a smile, 'Thank the old Congressman Brooker, our advertising fees are covered.'