Chapter 443 - 265: Training the New Shop Assistants
Yi Ya Hang guessed it right, Zhao Minghua also wants to make the creams and perfumes from Qingyan Pavilion.
As soon as he arrived, he heard about this profitable and mysterious shop.
After his observation and analysis, he confirmed one fact: his wife must be involved behind the scenes.
After all, no one else in the world could make such good products but his wife.
That’s right, Zhao Minghua is that confident!
His wife is extremely talented in making medicated pills.
The Xiao Family’s pills he sold quite well in Shuzhou.
For various reasons, they couldn’t be sent to the Capital to sell.
Who is Zhao Minghua?
The person who, at the age of twelve, dared to secretly lease the Changzhou Tea House without telling his family, possessing exceptional acuity.
Being an Imperial Merchant is a status, and if used well, can earn you enormous wealth.
So while providing those precious creams to the nobility, he also wants to offer similar products to the noble ladies in the Capital.
The most troublesome thing for Zhao Minghua is training these newcomers again.
Seeing Qingsheng idle by his side, Zhao Minghua had a bright idea: let Qingsheng train them.
"Young master, how can someone like me do it?"
"You can’t?"
Zhao Minghua raised his eyebrows and asked.
Qingsheng...no one can be more sarcastic than the young master.
Fine, fine, why can’t I?
Train them based on the model of the Changzhou Women’s Tea House.
He might not have other skills, but his memory is astonishing.
He vividly remembers how the young master taught those girls back then and personally witnessed how a few maids who used to serve the ladies became skilled at entertaining guests at the women’s tea house within just two months, understanding that women should not be underestimated.
There is a feeling that given them a chance, they would perform no worse than men!
The few maids were originally girls from ordinary families. Since Zhao Minghua bought them, they were given new names.
He is quite lazy and was inspired by Chun Nuan, who liked to use herbal names for maids, so he simply named the four maids Almond, Bai Ren, Barley, and Lotus Seed.
Since Bai Ren was the oldest at sixteen and taller than the other three, Zhao Minghua made her the head maid, also managing the other three.
Qingsheng was reluctantly entrusted with the heavy responsibility by the young master and had to teach them day by day.
"Remember, being a clerk in the shop and being a maid in the house are two different concepts, who is the master in the shop?"
The four thought, isn’t the master still the young master?
"Wrong, it’s the customer. Customers are your bread and butter, you should try your best to meet any reasonable demands."
"When a customer enters the store, you must observe and assess their needs and recommend suitable products to them."
"When a customer comes in once, and then again, you should know who they are, calling Miss Zhang, Mrs. Li by name..."
"As a shop clerk, you must be quick-eyed and nimble, must notice everything, and be aware of everything. If there’s a conflict between customers, you must mediate in time..."
Fortunately, I have been with the young master for almost twenty years, Qingsheng learned Zhao Minghua’s business tactics thoroughly, even emulating some of his actions.
The few maids initially thought their master was from far away and had a bit of disdain in their hearts, after all, people from the Capital are born superior.
Who knew, after several days of training by Qingsheng, they realized they were just naive; this is how a shop clerk is trained.
From walking to speaking to all kinds of responses, they learned very seriously.
After all, as maids in the inner residence, they were absolutely not allowed to express their opinions.
But as shop clerks, they must talk more, and even bring the dead back to life through conversation.
"Remember, there’s no unsellable product, only clerks who can’t sell." Qingsheng spoke enthusiastically, saliva flying: "Do you know the benefits of being a shop clerk?"
The four knew being a shop clerk was good, but not exactly how much.
"As a head maid in the inner residence, the monthly silver is two taels."
With food, housing, and seasonal clothing, getting two taels a month was already excellent for them.
After all, their parents couldn’t earn much silver in a year, which was why they directly sold themselves, letting them sell themselves.
"As a shop clerk, the monthly wage is one tael of silver, and there’s a commission on sales, selling one hundred taels allows you to earn one tael. If you can sell three to five hundred taels a month, what do you think your monthly silver would be?"
The few had learned arithmetic and could immediately calculate how much their monthly silver would be, but what would they sell? Selling three to five hundred taels in a month?
Just felt that Qingsheng was bragging, deceiving them.
Until twenty days of training ended, and the four were taken by Qingsheng to the shop, seeing the exquisite porcelain bottles with marked prices, they were dumbfounded.
"Twenty taels of silver for a bottle of cream? For the face?"
Bai Ren cautiously wanted to reach out and grab it but thought better of it and quickly pulled back: if it was broken, selling herself again wouldn’t cover the cost.
"It’s not your fault you haven’t seen much." Qingsheng said: "If you truly served as maids in a wealthy household, you’ll know this twenty-tael per bottle face cream isn’t expensive, after all, one bottle lasts two months, and with the cream’s effects as I’ve told you, do you think those madams would find it expensive?"
Bai Ren muttered to herself: is it really that magical?
Will it turn a wrinkled face into something smooth and tender?
A thought emerged: maybe those madams would return to accuse them of being swindlers if it didn’t work.
"Bai Ren, tell me about this cream’s uses." Qingsheng said: "Pretend I’m a customer and I’m here to buy cream for my wife, what’s your goal?"
Bai Ren thought, during training, the main goal emphasized was to get customers to spend silver on goods.
She recited all the uses of the cream she could remember.
"Sir, think about it, twenty taels of silver in a purse is just a dead object, but spending twenty taels to buy this cream for your wife, imagine how happy she’d be, she’d pamper you to no end..."
All done, Bai Ren couldn’t embellish further, while the other three looked on, secretly amused.
Qingsheng shook his head.
"As clerks like this, don’t dream of selling even one bottle."
Seems like without pressure, there’s no motivation.
Qingsheng brought out a trump card.
"The young master has a requirement: if you can’t sell a bottle in a month, there will be no monthly silver; if you haven’t sold one in three months, it means you can’t do this job and will need to find other masters."
The implication is to be sold elsewhere.
Upon these words, the four’s expressions changed drastically.
Yes, although these twenty days were training, the days were quite comfortable, and they noticed this master was different, if sold elsewhere who knows what kind of situation awaits?
"Brother Qingsheng, we will work hard."
"Best to work hard." Qingsheng said coldly: "Opportunities are only for the prepared, whether you seize it is up to each of you, take care of yourselves."