Soon after the New Year’s Day, the Spring Festival is around the corner and the homing people were swarming into train stations, wharfs and airports.
But Yang Yijun, the head of Zhejiang Ruian Jiangnan Packaging Machinery Co., Ltd., just set his foot on the land of the major pharmaceutical market-Guangdong that was far away from his home. As he jokingly said, “I am here to solicit clients and give early Spring-festival greetings to the “God””. Just like the old saying goes, “plan your year in spring and your day in dawn”, Yang Yijun resolved to have a head start in the beginning of a new year, while others might be in the flight to home right now, with a view to make sound preparations for the company’s entering into a new development stage.
Advanced performance,cheap favored
It was not easy to imagine why he did this until we were informed with the insuppressibly strong demand of the first roller-type Blister Packing Machine that came into market three years ago. More than 100 sets of the products, preferred by the pharmaceutical industry for its advanced performance and favorable price, had been sold last year but the market was still short of supply. The beginning of the year had witnessed a steady flow of orders that started to backlog to the second quarter.
To Yang’s surprise, although the pharmaceutical factories in Guangzhou where the pharmaceutical industry was in the leading position of reform and opening-up possessed such a large quantity of foreign exchanges that enabled them afford any advanced and expensive equipment from foreign countries, they still resolutely chose “Jianghua” Blister Packing Machine, which indeed registered the client’s trust in the company that greatly moved and gratified Yang. He well understood that the rise of his newly-founded company could not do without the sales and after-sale services as well as public relation that all had equal importance with the performance and quality of product. Therefore, however busy he was, he never forgot sparing some time to visit the clients all over the country in the Spring Festival.
Unlike other people that used to bring gifts when paying a new-year call, Yang came here with empty hands. “How can you pay a visit to your God in the Spring Festival with nothing as a gift?” I asked. Yang pointed to the technician next to him and answered my question in a humorous manner, “Well, I have already brought him-the best technician in my company that can offer on-site repairing and maintenance for my clients to ensure their equipment in the best condition, to increase the production and the quality, and, most importantly, bring about favorable economic benefits in return! Isn’t him the best-fit, the most precious and the most meaningful gift than anything else?”
Later on, Yang and his technician headed for Jiahe Pharmaceutical which just purchased a newest “Jianghua” Blister Packing Machine and were engaged in the installation and trial run just then. No sooner than they arrived at the factory had they assisted in the trial run which didn’t take long before the machine started to output products. After sending the first “new year gift”, they instantly went to Huacheng Pharmaceutical in the outer suburbs of Guangzhou for the giving-out of the second “gift”. Despite the reality that Huacheng was one of the regular clients and the machines there were seldom caught in running fault, Yang still insisted in going there. To save time for next client, Yang went to Huacheng by taxi which took him more than 300 yuan. When it was the time for them to leave the factory, the head was still sorry for the cost but Yang’s replay was, “It is really a bargain if you can be harvest reputation with over 300 yuan!”
During their visit in Guangzhou, they had visited more than 10 clients in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and other cities. Wherever they went, they received the heartfelt praise, and the “God” never hesitated to pay back their sincere services and their best-fit “gift”…
(Excerpted from the assay published in China Pharmaceutical News on January 17, 1993 and written by Huang Meiyu, Head of Guangzhou Reporter Station, China Pharmaceutical News, who was invited to accompany Yang for interview)