TOIGC 76

Chapter 76 …

A Unique Sales Pitch (2)

“An easy solution? What’s that?”

Yoongi curled his index and middle fingers together.

“You just give them more money than they can possibly refuse. It’s a very simple logic.”

Choi Chul-gyu’s expression, however, remained skeptical.

“I don’t know… It’s hard to believe those kinds of reporters haven’t been targeted with money before…”

Yet Yoongi shook his head once again.

“That’s only because nobody has ever given them ‘enough’ money. Think about it carefully. Do you really believe the military regime ever offered those reporters proper, substantial sums? They probably relied mostly on intimidation or tossed them pocket change at best.”

“Hmm, I suppose you have a point there. But will reporters who didn’t flinch under the regime’s threats really cave in for money? No matter how much cash is on the table?”

“Don’t worry. There are multiple ways to hand out money.”

Choi Chul-gyu’s curiosity only deepened, but Yoongi didn’t spill the details right away.

A sales profession.

To the average person, jobs involving mobile phones, cars, or insurance usually get labeled as sales, but those aren’t truly sales in the truest sense. Fundamentally, a real sales role is about expanding a company’s business accounts and client base.

Sellers of mobile phones, cars, and insurance policies rarely see their customers again after a single transaction, so they try to squeeze as much profit out of that one-time sale as possible. Real sales work completely differently.

The goal of a corporate sales position is to maintain long-term business relationships with clients, which requires the sales representative themselves to possess genuine personal charm.

[Why didn’t that person come by today?] [What? They quit?] [Hey, Manager Kim. Why on earth did you leave that company?] [Wait, you changed firms? And you want us to transfer our business to your new company? Of course we will!]

In short, that is precisely what happens when a capable sales representative walks out the door.

Because corporate transactions are ultimately built on human connections, a certain amount of entertainment and hospitality is inevitable. Minimizing the costs spent on that hospitality is yet another core duty of a sales professional. No matter how much money a company pours into client relations, if the employee handling them has a miserable attitude, it won’t yield any results at all.

Yoongi’s thought process is genuinely fascinating.

Choi Deok-bae was observing a truly rare interview scene unfold before his eyes.

It was a massive company-wide dinner party.

Renting out a sprawling vacant lot, the staff and crew of Yaikai Department Store were holding an outdoor banquet that felt nothing short of a festival. All across the grounds stood barbecue grills, with beef and pork provided in endless, unlimited quantities for anyone who asked.

The meat wasn’t some cheap scrap, either—it was beef and pork slaughtered just days prior, sourced directly through a special contract with a local livestock farm specifically for this celebration. Piled alongside it were crates packed tight with ice and overflowing with drinks.

Since employees were even permitted to bring their families along, the head count at the gathering easily topped a thousand people. Granted, given that Yaikai’s workforce was still mostly made up of construction laborers, a fair number of them were single, so the actual number of family members present wasn’t quite as astronomical, but the scale was massive nonetheless.

“President Ryu, thank you so much! Once this department store is finished and you guys start building another project somewhere else, I’m definitely following you there!”

Hearing the thoroughly inebriated words of a construction worker in his forties, Ryu Geun-tae hurried over, grabbed a paper cup, and poured him a fresh glass of beer.

“Be sure to come back when we do. I’ll be waiting.”

“Well, look at that—does that mean you’re already planning a second branch?”

Instead of giving a direct answer, Ryu Geun-tae flashed an enigmatic, knowing smile, but the workers took the construction of a second branch as an absolute certainty, cheering and clinking their glasses together in response.

“Kuh, a cold beer after a hard day’s work hits the spot like nothing else. Ice-cold beer washing down a body heated by the blazing sun at a construction site all day!”

“Man, our President Ryu really knows what the grueling laborer life is all about! Since you’re handing out popsicles, how about throwing us some cold beer after quitting time from now on?”

“I’d love nothing more, but if an accident happens because of that, we’ll have to shut down construction entirely. You’ll just have to bear with me on that one.”

At Ryu Geun-tae’s mock-doleful plea, the workers burst into laughter again and drifted back to their respective drinking circles.

The exact same lively atmosphere permeated among Yaikai’s regular employees as well. From the office staff attached to the construction headquarters to the people working directly under Ryu Geun-tae and Choi Chul-gyu, everyone was mingling freely and throwing a massive booze-fueled party.

On a typical construction site, pulling off something like this would be completely out of the question. However, because Yaikai’s construction site maintained an exceptionally high worker retention rate alongside meticulously logged personnel records, an event of this scale was entirely feasible.

Passersby walking past the vacant lot occasionally stopped to ask what was going on, but no one chased them away harshly. Though the seating area was somewhat organized, they were generously handing out food and drinks to anyone who dropped by.

First, people asked what kind of place this was; then, they asked who the president was and showered him with praise; and finally, they ended up singing the praises of Yaikai Department Store itself.

“You really have to hand it to our Chairman—the man’s got deep pockets and a massive heart.”

Pike mumbled happily as he ripped into a massive beef steak while wearing heavy cotton work gloves. Next to him, Aaron, who was busy gnawing on a roasted chicken leg, nodded in agreement.

“I feel the same way. At first, I was disappointed because the base salary wasn’t all that high, but with the bonuses rolling in consistently and housing provided, I’m actually saving way more money here than when I worked back in the States.”

“Same here. Ever since I started wiring money back home to my mom, she sends me a letter every single day. She never used to write letters, but the moment my first paycheck remittance hit, the letters started flying in just a few days later.”

“Man, I’m jealous. I wire money home too, but I don’t get any letters. Think I should ask her to write me one?”

“Give it a try. You miss home anyway, don’t you?”

“I miss it, sure, but this place isn’t bad either. Still plenty of things to learn.”

“True. Plus, I don’t have to eat chicken every day, so I’m living the dream. Not that my mom’s chicken is bad, but eating it every single day gets old fast.”

Taking another massive bite of his steak, Pike chewed his beef and tossed a playful jab at Aaron.

“Why are you eating cheap chicken anyway? Man, just looking at poultry makes me want to throw up. Eat some good beef.”

“I’m actually sick of beef. South America has tons of cheap beef, you know. So chicken is actually a treat for me. Honestly, I don’t get you at all.”

Pike and Aaron burst out laughing as they traded playful glares.

“By the way, where did the Chairman go?”

Aaron asked, glancing around the surroundings.

“Didn’t he head toward the inner area with President Ryu a while ago? We’re way out on the perimeter here.”

True to Aaron’s words, Yoongi was trailing alongside Ryu Geun-tae, inspecting the various groups scattered across the gathering.

Spot anybody promising yet? ‘Still looking. There are plenty of folks who pass the preliminary round, but finding someone who clears the main tournament is proving tough.’ What’s the difference between the preliminaries and the main round? ‘The preliminaries are for people who are better at listening to others than talking about themselves.’ Oh?

Fundamentally, sales is a profession that represents the absolute pinnacle of emotional labor. After all, you have to flatter other people’s egos to drive up your sales numbers. Most people love showing off, and the chances of anyone enjoying the company of someone who talks nonstop about themselves are virtually zero. With that in mind, Yoongi was thoroughly filtering out anyone who spent the evening boasting about their own achievements at the party tables.

Instead, he began keeping a mental note of the people who knew how to listen to others.

What about people who don’t brag, but actually make others feel entertained? ‘That’s not a bad trait either. But sales is better suited for someone who entertains others by listening rather than by talking. The former runs a much higher risk of making a slip-of-the-tongue mistake. Plus, they tend to overestimate their own abilities.’ ‘Hmm, so talking too much is a bad thing?’ ‘Well, both types clear the preliminary round, at least.’ So what makes someone pass the main round? ‘Someone who doesn’t just listen passively, but listens reactively and engagingly. You know the type—people who toss in the right interjections and cues while someone else is speaking. Those are the absolute ideal candidates for sales.’

Yoongi cast his mind back to his days as a day laborer.

Come to think of it, back in those days, there were so many guys who only ever wanted to talk about themselves.

They were just day laborers working on a construction site, after all. Aside from the skilled tradesmen, among the general handymen there were plenty of guys who wasted breath bragging about things that didn’t matter. They’d claim they used to run massive businesses before getting scammed and going bankrupt, or boast about dropping ten million won in a single night at a high-end bar back in their glory days.

Veracity aside, men who boasted like that made everyone around them deeply uncomfortable because their inflated egos gave them a hair-trigger aggressiveness toward others.

Yet, there were always a few guys who managed to get along even with people like that.

Not by simply zoning out and listening, but by knowing how to subtly manage and handle those kinds of personalities. Rather than holding a formal, public interview process, Yoongi wanted to scout ahead of time to see if an individual with that exact natural temperament already existed among Yaikai’s current personnel.

After all, the primary task for the people he was hiring this time wasn’t driving direct merchandise sales.

If a journalist even thinks to themselves, “Writing a hit piece on this guy makes me feel a little guilty…”

That alone was an absolute pass.

The employees selected for sales roles this time would be exclusively managing 100-percent pure journalists, so Yoongi had decided that even down in the absolute trenches, he’d prefer someone who could win people over through likability rather than someone who tried to exploit others.

If someone possessed truly stellar social and interpersonal skills in the first place, they wouldn’t end up scraping the bottom of the barrel—unless under extraordinary circumstances.

Throughout the banquet, which stretched from broad daylight right up until an hour before the curfew, Yoongi managed to spot a single diamond in the rough.

“No way, seriously?!”

A young man in his early twenties stared wide-eyed at a man in his late forties, letting out a rapid-fire series of awestruck exclamations.

“I’m telling you! Let me tell you just how many Viet Cong I blasted away back in Vietnam…”

Flushed with alcohol, the boozy man was surrounded by a cluster of people, with the young man sitting front and center. It wasn’t because the drunk guy’s stories were genuinely riveting, of course. Everything boiled down to the young man sitting right beside him, tossing in enthusiastic cues and reactions.

“That is genuinely incredible, though. How on earth did you manage to survive that?”

“Survive what?! You take a single rifle and march right into the Vietnamese jungle… Wait, my glass is empty. Min-gwan, pour me another.”

“Oh man, your story was so engrossing I completely forgot to pour your drink.”

Prompted by Son Min-gwan’s remark, the man grew even more animated and launched right back into his tales, while Son Min-gwan turned to address the others around the table.

“Fellas, isn’t this seriously amazing? He fought his way out of a jungle like that.”

“Damn, Kim really is something else. If it were me, I’d be dead ten times over.”

“True. Kim’s a true patriot, through and through.”

Encouraged by the chorus of agreement, Kim puffed out his chest with glee and geared up to launch into a second story, but Son Min-gwan’s voice beat him to the punch.

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say Yong-shik hyung almost died right before liberation? You’ve got to tell us the details of that story.”

Lined up right beside Son Min-gwan were numerous other people waiting for their turn. They were individuals who had gathered solely for a chance to tell their stories to Son Min-gwan—staring at him with eager anticipation, waiting hungrily for their turn in the spotlight.

Yoongi couldn’t possibly let a talent like that slip past him, and as soon as the company dinner wrapped up, he gave Ryu Geun-tae a direct instruction.

“You know that guy whose name I asked about earlier? Set up a meeting with him.”