Chapter 672: Little Feet, Still Want a Look? The First Step to Winning Over 100,000 Merchants

So, under the guidance of his seasoned mentor, Xu Xiangguo, the two took a bus to Chuansha Commercial Street. From there, they walked down the road from an intersection and entered a mid-range hotel called “Star Dream.”

Just inside the main gate was an outdoor swimming pool with six lanes. Lounge areas flanked both sides, and directly ahead stood two small, four-story buildings.

“Don’t underestimate this hotel. It may not have an official star rating, but its sales volume on Ctrip is nothing to sneeze at. I did some research: it has 931 reviews, with 11 neutral and only 7 negative, giving it a 98% positive rating. If we can land this account, the commission from the first month alone will be over ten thousand yuan.”

Xu Xiangguo explained as they walked.

For hotels like Star Dream that had previously worked exclusively with Ctrip, if a field manager signed them up, they would receive 30% of the hotel’s first-month commission as a bonus.

According to the new commission policy, Kuai Pao’s commission rate for hotels was about 8% to 12%. Therefore, the actual first-month bonus for the manager was 2.4% to 3.6% of the total order value.

If Star Dream’s monthly revenue exceeded 300,000 yuan, the commission would be between 7,200 and 10,800 yuan.

The commission rate would drop to 10% in the second month, but an additional tiered bonus for incremental revenue would be introduced.

For example, if a merchant’s month-on-month revenue grew by 10% to 20%, the commission rate on the growth portion would increase to 15%. If the growth rate exceeded 30%, the commission would rise to 20%.

Of course, this was a special incentive policy designed to compete with Ctrip; such high commission bonuses weren’t available on a normal day.

“Brother Xu, why don’t we try to talk to places like Rujia or Jinjiang Star?” Li Zijie asked curiously.

“Those are reserved for the regional and city managers. Don’t even think about it. At our level, we probably wouldn’t even get to meet the person in charge.”

Xu Xiangguo said, shaking his head.

Everyone knew that big brands like Rujia, Han Court, and Jinjiang Star had high revenue and offered bigger commissions.

But the catch was that you had to actually be able to close a deal with them.

They were chain hotels. The owner of a single franchise couldn’t make the final call; decisions had to be reported up through multiple levels of management before the online channel pricing could be determined.

An ordinary field manager couldn’t possibly handle that.

“Oh, I see,” Li Zijie said with a nod, a wave of disappointment washing over him.

“You’ve got a big appetite, kid. If you can help me land Star Dream today, I’ll treat you to a foot massage tonight,” Xu Xiangguo said with a sly chuckle.

“Brother Xu, you get foot massages every day. Aren’t you afraid of your wife finding out?” Li Zijie asked in a low voice.

Xu Xiangguo’s expression stiffened. He snapped irritably, “It’s a foot massage, not a full-body bath! What’s there to be afraid of!”

After getting to know each other well, the two often bantered back and forth.

It was just over a hundred meters from the main gate to the hotel lobby, and Xu Xiangguo and Li Zijie soon found themselves in front of the reception desk.

“Excuse me, could you please let your President Wang know that Xu Xiangguo, a Business Manager from Kuai Pao, is here to see him? We have an appointment from yesterday to discuss an onboarding partnership with Kuai Pao.”

Xu Xiangguo said calmly to the young woman at the front desk.

In reality, he didn’t even have the phone number for Wang Haifeng, the owner of Star Dream. How could he have possibly contacted him?

But he had to do this; otherwise, he wouldn’t even get past the front desk.

If Wang Haifeng agreed to see him, it meant he was also looking to expand his sales channels. If not, they would just come back another time.

After all, people’s minds can change. Unwillingness to cooperate today didn’t mean they’d feel the same way tomorrow.

Xu Xiangguo was in his early thirties, dressed in a sharp suit, and looked mature and reliable. This, combined with his perfectly natural expression, easily bluffed the front desk receptionist.

“Of course, Manager Xu. Please wait a moment.” The young woman at the desk didn’t suspect a thing. She instinctively picked up the landline on the desk and called Wang Haifeng’s office.

“President Wang, there’s a Business Manager from Kuai Pao on the first floor. He says he had an appointment with you yesterday. He’s at the front desk now.”

The receptionist explained.

‘Kuai Pao?’

‘A Business Manager?’

‘When the hell did I schedule a meeting with him?’

‘It’s probably just a sales tactic from one of Kuai Pao’s field agents!’

Wang Haifeng was about to refuse, but he caught himself just as the words were about to leave his mouth.

Over the past year, Kuai Pao’s growth had been explosive. Setting aside its food delivery, grocery, dining, and entertainment sectors, its market share in the hotel and travel category alone was quickly catching up to Ctrip, leaving platforms like Qunar and Tongcheng far behind.

‘Hotel owners like us are no different from merchants on an e-commerce platform. Only a fool would stubbornly stick to a single channel.’

‘One more sales channel means more revenue. He understood a simple principle like that.’

‘The reason he had rejected Kuai Pao’s representative six months ago was twofold: back then, Kuai Pao’s hotel and travel division was just getting started, and second, his Ctrip account manager had threatened him that if Star Dream dared to list on Kuai Pao, they would increase his commission rate by 5%.’

Although Wang Haifeng had been furious, he had been helpless to do anything about it.

At that time, Ctrip controlled the lion’s share of the online travel market.

‘For the sake of his own hotel’s business, he’d had no choice but to cave!’

“Bring him to my office,” Wang Haifeng said after a moment of thought.

He had also heard whispers about the competition between Senlian Capital, Ctrip, and Qian Du.

‘Star Dream’s commission rate for Ctrip was 15%. Since Senlian Capital wanted to poach their clients, they’d have to show some real sincerity, right?’

Wang Haifeng mused to himself.

Three minutes later, the receptionist led Xu Xiangguo and Li Zijie to the door and knocked. After hearing Wang Haifeng’s reply from inside, she gently turned the handle and gestured for the two men to enter.

Wang Haifeng sat in his executive chair, sizing up the two men.

One was in his early thirties, sharply dressed in a suit; the other, in his early twenties, wore casual clothes.

“Please, have a seat. How should I address you?” Wang Haifeng grinned as the two men drew closer. He motioned for them to sit, retrieved two bottles of mineral water from a small fridge, and placed them on the table before asking.