Gulfstream-Aerospace-Corporation is one of the world's leading manufacturers of luxury and large business jets.

Compared with the grand occasion of billionaires from all over the world queuing up to buy Gulfstream business jets three or four years ago, in 2008, Gulfstream's sales have also entered a harsh winter.

In the first quarter of 2007, Gulfstream's G550 backlog was enough for 36 months of production, but less than half a year later, 85 percent of the orders were cancelled.

If it is not canceled, it is not that it does not want to be canceled, but it has entered the production and assembly stage, and it can no longer be canceled.

Basically, customers who propose to cancel their orders will lose $3 million in deposits and $5 million or even $7 million in deposits, but the big customers who have always been very face-saving still cancel their orders categorically.

The reason is simple, the global economic winter has arrived, and there is no time for spring to return.

Even if the fat person is thick, the main consideration at this time is to store food for the winter, rather than buying gorgeous clothes sewn from silk.

As for Gulfstream, they are a large company with a good reputation, not a leather bag company that does a hammer deal, and Gulfstream's customers are ultra-high-net-worth individuals from all over the world, and these customers are rare and valuable.

Ordering an aircraft that has not yet entered the production and assembly sequence and only exists on paper will cost 500 or even 7 million US dollars, although it is fully in line with the agreement of the contract signed by the two parties, but it also seems to be a little too ruthless.

Gulfstream didn't want to leave a greedy impression and lose these customers forever, so they used some clever ways to return a small part of the deposit to the customers who canceled the order, and gained the goodwill and friendship of the customers.

On the other hand, for aircraft that have already been assembled, Gulfstream is looking for new buyers.

Unfortunately, in the context of the global economic crisis, private jets are not a high-quality consumer product.

At this moment, Youdao Group's purchase intention was sent to the sales department of Gulfstream.

After a brief investigation, Gulfstream determined the strength of Youdao Group and the need for Bian Xuedao to fly - this young Chinese billionaire with a winery in France, an airport in Germany, a luxury house in Hong Kong, and a diligent traveler to the United States is an obvious potential customer.

As a result, Gulfstream sent a "luxury sales team" consisting of Scott-Neal, the marketing director of the Asia-Pacific region, the assistant director, the senior product engineer, and the marketing specialist, to fly to China.

In this "luxury sales team", one person was personally named by the senior vice president of Asia Pacific.

Named because this person's resume introduced that she had crossed paths with Bian Xuedao.

This person's name is Su Zhemei.

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Su Zhemei, a native of Shanghai.

He graduated from Fudan University with a bachelor's degree and studied business management economics at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.

The Economics and Management program at Paris University is one of the best in France and is highly recognized throughout Europe, and graduates of this program are very competitive in the job market.

When she was studying at Paris University, Su Zhemei was a student of Shen Ya'an, and participated in the whole process of the acquisition of Pahim International Airport by "Triumph Sky Investment Company", and was one of the "7-member advisory group".

After graduating from graduate school, Su Zhemei wanted to develop in the United States, submitted a lot of resumes, and unexpectedly joined Gulfstream.

The reason why Gulfstream recruited Su Zhemei is because Gulfstream's sales in the Asia-Pacific region have increased year by year in recent years, and the Oriental face is helpful in expanding the market. In addition, Su Zhemei participated in the acquisition of Pahim International Airport, which is somewhat related to the field of flying, and this experience has added points to her.

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Songjiang, Changping Airport.

Gulfstream came to a regional director, and Youdao Group could not be rude and sent Fu Caining, deputy general manager of the Strategic Development Division, to the airport to pick up the plane.

in the airport.

Fu Caining held the hand of Su Zhemei, who was tall and thin and intellectual, and said, "Mr. Shen is on a business trip and is not in Songjiang. Before I came, my immediate boss Hong Chengfu Hong Boss specially instructed me to take care of Miss Su, saying that you are comrades-in-arms who have fought together. ”

It's the truth.

When Pahim International Airport was acquired, Hong Chengfu was also one of the members of the "7-member advisory group", and the 7 people stayed up late with Zhu Zhichun.

in the hotel.

Hong Chengfu, who presided over the reception, first exchanged a few words with Scott-Neal, and then he looked at Su Zhemei and said in Chinese: "I haven't seen you for two years, Xiaomei is more beautiful." ”

Su Zhemei also said in Chinese: "If I knew that Teacher Shen and Teacher Hong are all in Youdao, I will come to join after graduation, and with you two here, I don't have to work so hard." ”

Hong Chengfu said with a smile: "It's good to work hard when you're young, and endure hardships when you're young, so that you can bear the ups and downs of wealth and wealth." ”

Scott-Neal, the marketing director of the Asia Pacific region, the senior product engineer and the marketing specialist, who were sitting on the side, saw Su Zhemei and the executives of Youdao Group smiling and smiling, and they breathed a sigh of relief at the same time - "This business has a door!"

On the third day of their arrival in Songjiang, the four-member "sales team" finally met the person who wanted to buy the plane -- Bian Xuedao, chairman of the Youdao Group.

In the small conference room on the 12th floor of Youdao Building, the marketing commissioner and senior product engineer of Gulfstream successively used PPT and video materials to introduce the advantages and strengths of several main models of Gulfstream to Bian Xuedao.

Of course, the two mainly introduced the models that the company had in stock.

After listening to the introduction, Bian Xuedao looked at Su Zhemei and asked with a smile: "Originally, I wanted to buy G550, but after listening to the introduction, I think G450 is not bad, which model do you think I should buy?"

In fact, Bian Xuedao had already made a decision in his heart, he wanted to see how professional the employees of Gulfstream Company were through this question.

Glancing at Scott-Neal, the marketing director, Su Zhemei pressed the microphone and said: "In terms of business jet types, G450 is a medium-sized business jet, and G550 is a large business jet. ”

Bian Xuedao leaned back in his chair and said, "Be specific." ”

Su Zhemei glanced at the senior product engineer sitting on the right-hand side and said, "As Chris-Paul has just introduced, compared with the G550, the advantage of the G450 is that the price is about $8 million cheaper. Compared with the G450, the advantage of the G550 is that the cabin length, cabin volume, and number of passengers have been improved, in addition, the main advantage is reflected in the cruising mileage, the maximum range of the G550 reached 11600 km, an increase of 49.6% compared to the 7754 km range of the G450. ”

Bian Xuedao listened, nodded slightly, and then motioned for Su Zhemei to continue.

Su continued: "There is no significant difference between the Gulfstream G450 and G550 in terms of ride comfort and applicability. The only difference is that the G550 is a business jet with an ultra-long range of more than 10,000 kilometers, and users who fly non-stop from Asia to the central and eastern parts of the United States will need it. ”

"In addition, the G550 has an hourly operating cost of $4,450 and the G450 has an hourly operating cost of $4,432, and the difference between the two is not very big in terms of the cost per hour of use and maintenance. However, due to the use of a more efficient engine, although the G550 is larger than the G450, the fuel cost of the G550 is slightly lower than that of the G450, so the intercontinental flight G550 has an advantage. The G450 is a good choice for users who do not have high range requirements and only need to fly domestically, or fly from Asia to Europe. ”

Bian Xuedao asked: "If I buy a G550, can I fly from Yanjing to New York?"

Su Zhemei thought for a while and said: "The maximum range of the G550 on paper is 11,600 kilometers, which is the maximum mileage that can be flown under the optimal flight situation. ”

Bian Xuedao said: "Give me your recommendation." ”

"If you often fly from China to Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities on the west coast of the United States, in most cases, the G550 can easily reach these cities without stops, and if you buy the G450, you need at least one intermediate stop, at this time, the benefits of choosing the G550 are reflected, so I recommend the G550." ”

After listening to this, Bian Xuedao touched the teacup and asked, "Can I register the plane overseas?"

Su Zhemei nodded and said: "Of course you can, but I have a suggestion, if this aircraft is mainly used in China, it is best to register it in China, and it will be less troublesome to use it in the future." And if the aircraft is mainly used abroad, this is a different story. ”

At this point, Scott-Neal and Chris-Paul were a little depressed.

Su Zhemei and Bian Xuedao had been talking in Chinese, they couldn't understand anything, and they sat next to them like fools.

But fortunately, there is a live recording, and someone can be found to translate after the meeting, as a regular employee of the company, Su Zhemei should not dare to turn her elbow outward.

There was silence in the conference room for a few seconds, and Bian Xuedao suddenly said: "If I buy two planes, one G550 and one G450, how much discount can your company give me?"

When Su Zhemei heard this, she asked with a surprised face: "Do you want to buy two?"

Bian Xuedao nodded and said, "Yes, I am going to put one in China and one abroad." ”

At the same time......

Zhu Tianyang's private jet, Dassault Falcon 7X, flew to Songjiang.

Before the plane landed, Zhu Tianyang was not sure about the purpose of his trip, Zhu Zhichun said a little worriedly: "Second uncle, this person is proud of his appearance, and the fourth uncle just sent him two bullets, don't mess with him." ”

Glancing at Zhu Zhichun, Zhu Tianyang said with a smile: "Don't worry, this time I will come, not to talk about differences, only about common ground." ”