Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

The next day, a group of market promoters for Fast Taxi appeared in Terminal 3 of Yanjing Airport.

”Hey driver, you got a smartphone?”

Hong Jun saw his chance and walked up to a taxi driver to strike up a conversation. Before he could even finish his sentence, the driver offered him a Yuxi cigarette.

The driver hadn’t wanted to bother with him, but for the sake of the cigarette, he replied nonchalantly, ”Of course I do. What era are we in? Who doesn’t have a smartphone these days?”

Despite what he said, smartphone shipments in 2011 were just over 80 million units. In reality, there were fewer than 300 million smartphone users nationwide, a penetration rate of less than 22%.

Hong Jun rolled his eyes inwardly, ignoring the driver’s posturing. He launched into his pitch, ”I work for Fast Taxi. Hey man, want to give our product a try? Once you install it, you can get online requests from the tens of thousands of passengers at Yanjing Airport every day. You’ll get so many ride requests your hands will go numb, and you’ll make so much money your legs will turn to jelly.”

”Bullshit! Who are you trying to fool? It’s just a taxi app. It’s not like I haven’t used one before. You get a dozen-or-so rides a day, the GPS is inaccurate, and it’s total garbage.”

The driver pursed his lips, his face full of disdain.

”That’s because you haven’t used Fast Taxi! Ever heard of Gaode Map? It’s got the same boss as Fast Taxi. It syncs with the latest traffic information nationwide every day, so the positioning is super accurate.”

Hong Jun, now with a cigarette dangling from his own lips, shot the breeze with the driver.

”For real? Didn’t the boss of Orange Technology buy Gaode Map? Look at my phone—it’s the latest Orange D1!” the driver said, pulling out his phone with a grin.

Ever since Gaode Map went free, this group of drivers had almost always used it for navigation when they encountered unfamiliar roads.

”Fast Taxi, Gaode Map, and Orange Mobile Phone all have the same boss. Right now, new drivers get 14 days commission-free when they sign up. Plus, you get an extra 2-yuan subsidy for every ride you complete. How about it, man? Want to download it?” Hong Jun explained fluently.

’Fourteen days commission-free?’

’And a 2-yuan subsidy per ride?’

DiDi Dache definitely didn’t have a deal that good.

Hearing about these incentives, the driver readily opened the Orange Application Mall, then downloaded and installed Fast Taxi.

’Nailed it!’

Hong Jun was delighted and moved on to find his next target.

「Meanwhile.」

Cheng Weixing, holding the authorization documents from the Transportation Association that Huake Investment Attraction had procured, walked into Yanjing’s largest taxi company and knocked on the door of the general manager’s office.

”Another taxi app? Didn’t I tell you? No official documents, no discussion,” Wang Baofeng, the general manager of Xinyue Taxi Company, waved his hand impatiently.

”President Wang, these are the authorization documents from the Transportation Association. Please take a look.”

Cheng Weixing sat down with a swagger, his assistant standing behind him.

This display of confidence made Wang Baofeng hesitant to underestimate him.

After all, someone who could get their hands on official authorization documents might not have much money, but in a place like Yanjing, their connections had to be terrifyingly strong.

When he saw a check tucked inside the documents, Wang Baofeng suppressed a smile and deliberately put on a stern face. ”Boss Cheng, what is the meaning of this?”

”I’m asking your company to promote my software. Isn’t it only reasonable to pay a promotion fee?” Cheng Weixing shrugged, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

”No problem. Since the Transportation Association has approved it, we at Xinyue will naturally offer our full support,” Wang Baofeng readily agreed, and the check silently found its way into his pocket.

Cheng Weixing saw it happen but deliberately played dumb.

In any case, the other party would handle the compliance procedures themselves. As far as he was concerned, this money was a legitimate promotion fee.

Once the deal was settled, Cheng Weixing left a colleague from the Market Department behind to handle the subsequent software installation and driver training.

With his two-pronged approach of authorization documents and promotion fees, Cheng Weixing secured deals with three taxi companies in less than a day.