Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 435: Focusing on the Shortcomings of Our Phones
Terminal Chinese Web Author Training Class.
At noon, the authors sat around a long table, eating Moyu Delivery. Everyone was paying attention to the information on their phones, occasionally typing out replies.
They were all looking at the same group chat: Terminal Chinese Web Author Training Class (Main Group)!
There were more than sixty people in the group, and almost all of them were online at the moment, closely watching the data for Cui Geng's new book.
"It's already at 8,000? Brother Cui is amazing! Absolutely unbeatable!"
"He's simply a role model for our generation!"
"At this rate, breaking 10,000 first subscriptions is basically guaranteed. The real question is whether he can push it to 15,000 and set a whole new record!"
"When will I ever reach even half of Brother Cui's level…"
Most of the messages were just praise, but some people were seriously discussing things—like analyzing why Cui Geng's book had become so popular, and whether there were writing techniques worth learning from.
The scene looked a bit absurd, because most of the people chatting in the group were actually sitting in the same room…
Of course, there was a reason for that.
The training class had now reached its second session, and the list of participating authors had changed somewhat.
This time, the selection process for the second session was particularly difficult, with unprecedented competition.
Ma Yiqun had been quite troubled.
On one hand, authors with good performance seemed like they should attend the training class—to identify their weaknesses, improve further, and help guide the less experienced authors.
On the other hand, authors with poorer performance also clearly needed to attend—to make a push and improve in a short period of time.
In short, it seemed like every author at Terminal Chinese Web should go through this training class at least once…
Caught between these two considerations, Ma Yiqun spent a great deal of effort selecting the list for the second session. He also had to comfort those who weren't selected, assuring them that they had already been scheduled for the third session.
At the same time, some authors who had participated in the first session continued on into the second.
Ma Yiqun hoped this would create a "veterans guiding newcomers" effect. With one-on-one mentoring, it would be easier to grasp the spirit of Tengda Group and adapt to the pace of the training class.
Therefore, many members of the first training session—including Cui Geng—were not present. If everyone wanted to follow Cui Geng's real-time progress, they could only do so through the group chat.
One of the authors asked curiously, "Ming Yu, what was Brother Cui like back in the training class? How did he improve so quickly? You were there, can you tell us in detail?"
The other authors also turned to look at Ming Yu.
"Yeah, Ming Yu, tell us what happened!"
"I heard Brother Cui even got some kind of 'observer' position and went to Tengda Group for research?"
Most of those asking were new authors.
They hadn't participated in the previous session, so they only knew that Cui Geng had some kind of breakthrough during the training class and that his results had skyrocketed, but they didn't know exactly how it happened.
This was the perfect chance to find out from someone who knew.
Ming Yu put down his chopsticks, paused for a moment, and said, "Well… it's a long story. But the most important part was probably President Pei's visit that day…"
He kept it brief, recounting the situation.
At first, everyone had been locked in a "small dark room," writing non-stop, competing over who could produce more words. Although their output increased, there wasn't any real qualitative improvement.
Then, President Pei showed up.
He immediately recognized that there was a problem with this approach, so he set a rule: the author who wrote the most would get a day off, while the one who wrote the least would undergo Tengda Group's "spiritual education."
This simple rule actually carried deeper meaning.
After going through the Tengda Group's philosophy training, the misguided trend of valuing quantity over quality was promptly corrected.
Authors who were once lost found their direction;
Laid-back authors became full of motivation;
Authors who had been obsessed with quantity finally calmed down and started polishing their plots;
Authors without planning began to seriously organize their outlines…
The atmosphere of the training class was completely transformed in an instant!
Finally, Ming Yu concluded:
"In this kind of environment, Brother Cui being able to write a hit like The Butterfly Game may seem to be due to his personal talent, effort, and the excellent material provided by Tengda Group—with a bit of luck involved."
"But even if Brother Cui hadn't written The Butterfly Game, sooner or later another hit would have emerged. That's because the overall standard of the platform is constantly improving. As the tide rises, all boats rise—this is inevitable!"
"In the end, it all comes down to President Pei giving a light nudge in the right direction, instantly turning this massive ship around and setting it on the correct course!"
The authors listened attentively, their faces filled with longing. A few of them even forgot to eat the food they had already picked up with their chopsticks.
Was it really that magical?
It seemed unbelievable!
One of the authors couldn't help but raise his hand and ask, "So, Ming Yu, what exactly is the 'Tengda Group spirit'? Does it really have such miraculous power?"
Ming Yu smiled slightly. "Heh, it's not just about turning decay into something magical—it can turn the magical into something even more magical!"
"But it's something that can only be understood, not explained. Everyone is different, so each person's understanding of the Tengda Group spirit will vary."
"If you really want to know, then go to Tengda Group headquarters yourself and see what your own version of the Tengda Group spirit looks like!"
…
…
Arriving at the company entrance, Pei Qian took a deep breath and adjusted his emotions before stepping inside.
For some reason, it felt like the first day of school after summer vacation—he felt an intense resistance.
On the way to work, Pei Qian had already been dealt a blow, as if things were off to a bad start.
But he didn't have time to worry about Cui Geng right now, because he had a pile of tasks on his hands.
Lin Wan had already sent several messages saying that BE QUIET had been fully developed and needed him to finalize the early-stage promotional strategy.
On He Desheng's side, Dream Fulfillment Ventures had earned over ten million from selling the Top Student, Come Quickly project. He wanted to know what to do with the money—after all, for an investment company, letting money sit idle in the account felt like a disgrace.
Chang You, meanwhile, wanted to confirm details about holding a product launch event.
Other matters could be postponed, but these three absolutely couldn't. If any one of them was mishandled, the consequences could be serious.
So Pei Qian had no choice but to come to the office and make decisions on these matters.
He scheduled times with the three of them: Chang You from 2 to 3 PM, He Desheng from 3 to 4 PM, and Lin Wan from 4 to 5 PM.
Perfect—everything handled in one afternoon, rather hastily.
…
At exactly 2 PM, Chang You arrived on time.
"President Pei, I wanted to confirm the overall direction of the launch event. Once we settle on the direction, we can proceed with preparing the presentation slides…"
Pei Qian waved his hand. "I understand. First, tell me what you're planning for the launch event."
Thinking President Pei was pressed for time, Chang You quickly got to the key points:
"The main questions are where to hold the event, the scale of it, what aspects of the phone to highlight in the presentation, and whether we should invite a spokesperson."
"My thinking is that since we're not selling many phones and it's a new brand, renting a venue that's too large would be wasteful. But it also can't be too modest, or it might give off a 'cheap' impression."
"So, for the launch event, we could consider holding it in the capital or in Shanghai—just find a decent venue and invite more tech review media."
"Also, I suggest we could do a bit of 'riding on the hype' of Shenhua or Pineapple phones. After all, our phone is packed with hardware, and in many aspects it actually surpasses their flagship models."
"This is also a common tactic for smaller phone manufacturers—to leverage bigger brands and gain attention."
"As for a spokesperson… that'll cost money, so President Pei, you'll have to make the call."
Pei Qian fell into silence.
To have such an explosive question right from the start—it really put his abilities to the test.
But these issues weren't actually that hard to resolve.
As for a launch event, it definitely had to be done on a grand scale!
After all, the initial investment in the OTTO phone was only a few million. They had only mass-produced a total of 1,000 units, and it wasn't even certain how many would sell.
Renting a large venue alone would already burn through a good chunk of money.
And they definitely couldn't hold it in places like the capital or Shanghai.
It had to be in Jingzhou!
Invite those tech media outlets, reimburse their train and flight tickets, cover their food and lodging—there's another chunk of expenses.
As for regular attendees, just give away tickets locally in Jingzhou for free—no charge at all.
Besides, even if the launch event were bigger and attracted more attention, so what? When the time comes, people will just say "no thanks." Just because they know about the product doesn't mean they'll actually buy it.
As for "riding on hype," that was absolutely out of the question. President Pei couldn't afford the embarrassment and didn't want that kind of attention.
Not only would they avoid it, they would instead emphasize the phone's shortcomings at the launch!
Other companies use launch events to sell their products; OTTO Technology would use theirs to talk people out of buying—giving countless reasons not to purchase the phone.
As for a spokesperson…
It didn't seem necessary.
While hiring one would definitely spend more money, what if the spokesperson had too many die-hard fans?
After all, there were only 1,000 phones. If a bunch of irrational fans rushed in and bought them all instantly, that would be awkward.
If they sold out but didn't continue production, the system definitely wouldn't allow it.
But then again, there aren't that many celebrities with such huge fanbases… maybe they could find one with very few fans?
After thinking it over, Pei Qian carefully chose his words and began answering Chang You's questions one by one:
"The launch event will be held in Jingzhou. Choose the largest venue, invite tech media, cover all their expenses, and give out tickets for free. Moyu Internet Café, Against the Wind Logistics Stations, Moyu Delivery—any customer who's interested gets a ticket."
"Make the event visually impressive, with some cool large-scale effects. Also prepare some small gifts for all attendees."
"For the presentation slides, we are not going to 'ride on the hype' of any other manufacturers. You need to get rid of those bad habits from Hongcheng Technology!"
"We'll only talk about ourselves. However much content we have, we present it—finish early and wrap up early!"
"When presenting the slides, there needs to be some technique. For anything our phone does well, just mention it briefly. As for its shortcomings—focus on those."
"We must give consumers full transparency. Absolutely no wordplay or marketing tricks!"
"As for the spokesperson… I haven't decided yet. If it's not urgent, let's wait a couple more days."
Pei Qian resolved all the issues at lightning speed.
Chang You blinked, completely bewildered.
"President Pei… did you really just say, 'focus on our phone's shortcomings'???"
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