Just make a request, pay a deposit, and buy the luxury car you want online without leaving home? This is the service provided by the protagonist of this article, what happened between him from a "Shanghai drift" who did not graduate from junior high school to a "car gangster" who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Let's take a look at his story.
Hello everyone, this is the 01st issue of "General Please Come to the Table", and the protagonist of today's seat is my reader, Cookies.
The main business of biscuits is the ultra-luxury car business, with a turnover of about 300-500 million, doing such a big business, in fact, his team has less than 10 people. Most of his customers are rich second generation, entrepreneurs and entertainers in the entertainment industry, and the biggest customers spend 30 million a year on him; 95% of his customers are introduced by acquaintances, and 80% of his customers have never met, just netizens in the circle of friends.
Maybe you think that the person who does this kind of business has some personal background at home, and the cookie can indeed be called the "rich second generation", but his business has not received any help from the family. In his view, he is just an unemployed young man in a small town, a "Shanghai drifter" who has not even graduated from junior high school.
* The above information comes from the dictation of the respondent, and the official account is not responsible for its authenticity.
In 2021, Cookie lost 8 figures in investment overnight.
Nine years ago, a first-class ticket brought cookies from Liupanshui to Shanghai. Sitting on the plane to Shanghai, he silently told himself: "The hard days are about to begin." ”
At that time, cookies could not dream that they could lose 8 figures overnight.
01 Bone-like ultra-luxurious ideals — "The dark night before dawn, the darkness makes people panic"
Before coming to Shanghai, biscuits have always been a typical "poor student" in everyone's eyes. I did not finish the transfer of junior high school five times, and became the "fish that slipped through the net" for exam-oriented education. At the time, his daily life was playing, eating and sleeping. It was not until he was sent to the army, after several years of tempering in the barracks life, that the inertia of the past was washed away and replaced by resilience.
The biscuit family is well-off in the local area, has its own small family business, and is also a rich second generation in a small city. But the days of "lying flat" every day gradually made him feel a sense of crisis. In his own words, he lived a life of "having little money to spend but not being free."
"Not willing to live a life where you can see the head at a glance in a small city, I decided to go to a big city to try hard, and if I fail, it is also part of my life experience, in the words of the army, 'right is called exercise, wrong is called tempering'," Biscuit said.
It can be said that before the age of 25, Cookies did not have any expectations for the world. Until, he came to Shanghai. Until, that is, he started the business of ultra-luxury cars.
When he first arrived in Shanghai, he threw out hundreds of resumes, all of which were related to the automotive industry. Because there is no relevant experience, almost all resumes are in the sea. "I went to Audi for interviews three times and didn't ask me." Cookies said.
Before the "bullet ran out", the biscuits were taken in by a small leather car dealership with only a few people, which was so small that it did not even have a show car, but the biscuits were still satisfied. On the day he got his job, he felt that the smell of sweat mixed with flower dew in the Shanghai Internet café was not so bad.
From the duplex building of more than 200 square meters in his hometown, to the shared house of less than 10 square meters, Biscuit began his own Shanghai drift life. To get to work, you have to take the subway and take the bus, and the time on the road every day takes three hours. From the work life of food and clothing to the calculation of expenses, the strong sense of gap made him feel very uncomfortable. When squeezing the bus, he often remembered that the family's sports car might have fallen to ashes.
In this way, cookies entered the car circle. After drying for a while, biscuits finally jumped from the leather bag dealership to a regular 4S store.
After coming to the 4S store, the professional ability of cookies has been recognized by many customers. But recognition is recognition, sales and professional ability are not the same thing. The tedious 4S process made him very uncomfortable, plus it consumed too much energy outside of work. Biscuit soon jumped from a 4S shop to a second-hand car company, started a car "upside down", and gradually accumulated some contacts.
The work is on the right track, but Biscuit's heart is shrouded in great uneasiness. He said, "Only do car scalping and resale, I will always be just a 'car intermediary', not that it is not bad to do this, but others are doing it, the competition is too fierce, too unsafe." ”
A coincidence, a friend in his hometown wanted to buy a luxury car, but he couldn't buy it in his hometown, and he heard that the dealer in Shanghai controlled the car source situation in the national primary market, and entrusted him to help find it. Seeing that the opportunity came, the biscuits were not in stock. In order to find the car, he exhausted the connections he had accumulated. Cookie still remembers it as a Mercedes, it was cool.
After finding the car, the friend told Biscuit that he did not have time in Shanghai and asked him to help "mail" the car back to his hometown. In this way, without meeting, the first luxury car business of cookies was completed.
This business not only made the cookies money, but also made him smell the business opportunities. Cookies found that time is more important than money for high net worth clients. If the car can also be bought online, it can be ordered without meeting.
He has worked in the 4S store very clearly, the regular 4S store sales are front-end personnel, can only help customers solve the problem of buying a car, after the use of the problem, you go to them, they can not help you. Buy a car in a 4S shop, you have to choose one by one, and it is very troublesome to pick up the car after sales.
At that time, Cookie was thinking: "Since it is so troublesome to buy a car offline, can I sell it directly online?" As long as the customer puts forward the demand for buying a car, how to buy it, where to buy it, I will solve it, so that the customer can receive the car without leaving home? ”
Biscuit was very excited, and immediately took a look at the resources in hand, he had connections, sold cars, and knew how to change cars. Opponents are selling ordinary cars, no one thinks they can sell ultra-luxury cars, no one thinks that ultra-luxury cars can be sold online, it is really "less wolf meat more". In addition, the function of WeChat circle of friends has gradually improved, and more and more people are using it. He decided it could be done!
He began to post information about the sale of ultra-luxury cars in the circle of friends. When buying a car in a biscuit, the customer only needs to raise the demand, pay the deposit, and receive the car at home without going out. Although it sounds like a good business, at first, everyone was not optimistic about super luxury selling online. Biscuits can only sell a car for a few months, the family's savings are gradually hollowed out, and Cookies can only be raised by his girlfriend (now Mrs. Cookie).
Seeing my friends in my hometown getting married and having children one by one, and living happily ever after, I didn't even know where this month's living expenses were. Whenever someone asks Cookie why he is not married, he always replies with no concern, "I haven't played enough, I want to be free for a few more years!" In fact, he didn't dare to think about getting married.
But if he gives up the luxury car business because of the pressure in front of him, he is really not willing. Biscuit said that during that time, he felt that the night in Shanghai was particularly long, and it was always impossible to survive the dawn. Especially the night before dawn, like splashing ink, was so black that people were panicked.
That year, biscuits in their early twenties had nearly a third of their hair white.
02 The luxury car business rushes out of chaos - "If even I don't make money, what kind of difference will this market be?"
It was not until 2014, when a mysterious brother looked for biscuits to do vehicle modifications, that the bleak business of biscuits took a turn.
This guest wants to change the wheels of the car, change the color, headlights, but also change the middle net, bumper, basically in addition to the car structure does not change, other must be changed. It was a nuisance, and when he took the order, the cookies didn't make much money, but he took it anyway.
Biscuit only charged a little modification fee, advanced money to help him modify the vehicle, promised to finish the change and then give money.
Once, he sent a message to the cookie at one o'clock in the morning: "Is there a need to change the engine power?" Less than ten minutes after the question was sent, Cookie answered his question, in another sleepless night at Cookie's.
After the vehicle modification was completed, the brother sent a circle of friends advertisement for the cookie like a powder head, to the effect that I had never enjoyed such a careful and thoughtful car service, the biscuit was stable and very reliable, and everyone came to him after buying a car, and pasted the WeChat QR code of the cookie.
That day, Cookie suddenly received dozens of requests from friends to add, and these people came with the need to buy a car. Although they have never met, they are the character of the biscuit, and they also said that their friend is very picky, and the person who can impress him must not be wrong.
Among the people who added him, there was also a first-line artist, Biscuit did not know the identity of the other party at that time, the two people chatted about the car very speculatively, in the absence of meeting, he gave Biscuit a one-time call of several million, entrusted Biscuit to help him buy a car. The A-list celebrity even introduced his friends in the entertainment industry to Cookies.
"He (the mysterious brother) helped me open up the entertainment circle and business circles. We are now very good friends. "The cookies were a little moved.
After the business started, Biscuit has been thinking about one thing, there are not many people who can afford luxury cars, they can afford ultra-luxury cars, and even fewer people can find themselves to buy. How to make the business bigger? This became a thorn in the heart of the cookie.
Until the friend who introduced him to many customers came to him to buy a new car. He wanted to buy a new car at Cookie and commission Cookie to sell the modified car. He said, "No one else believes it, they only believe in your cookies."
Hearing the needs of friends, Cookies has a new understanding of the ultra-luxurious business. This business seems to be selling cars, but it is actually selling trust.
"My biggest advantage is not the car resources, but this batch of ultra-high net worth customers!" As long as you get the trust of customers, you can sell cars, buy cars, and change cars! I have already sold used cars, and this set of business is easy to do.
Find friends in the circle and do the modification business together. Then build an after-sales service group, customers can carry out vehicle maintenance without leaving home. In this way, customers can buy cars, sell cars, and change cars with one-stop service, and previously they could only make one money from a customer, and if you expand it, you can make three money from a customer.
The idea is tempting, but how do you win the trust of your customers? Friends told cookies that peers will provide customers with a wealth of small gifts, there will be many times a year of deep cleaning services, he will polish the customer's crystal lights.
After listening to the cookie, I thought it was just a gimmick. Customers choose you because you are professional enough, not because you can help people clean for free. Biscuit said that he had not done such a service before and would not do it in the future.
His positioning for himself is that the "automotive product manager" updates the circle of friends as a car frontier information magazine, and even sets a strict content schedule.
When in contact with dealers or 4S stores, cookies will pay attention to observe the changes in the car, and will also ask them to dig some industry insiders. Usually, he will absorb a lot of knowledge from overseas auto media. In the past, the biscuits that hated textbooks the most were soaked on overseas websites every day, and foreign language materials were nibbled until two or three o'clock in the morning.
After collecting the first-hand original information, the biscuits are not directly transported to the circle of friends, but combined with the situation in the Chinese market, the information is analyzed and evaluated, and their own understanding is given.
There is no second person in the industry who can do this. Peers will even copy and paste the content of the cookie circle of friends directly into their own circle of friends.
"The news released by the automotive industry, I will write it out from my point of view for the first time, so that customers can understand the product, understand the economic trend behind this car, and judge whether this model will rise or fall in the future." I do a financial analysis of automotive products, which allows me to sell more cars. ”
Picture | cookie circle of friends
A few years ago, 8 million Cullinan fell to 6 million, and the horns of decline rose and fell. But the cookie judged that inflation was coming and that its price would bottom out and rebound. Taking advantage of the cold winter, he helped three entertainment circle friends and two entrepreneurs to copy five Cullinan at the lowest price on the market, and not long after the purchase, the price of each car rose by more than 1 million.
"Most 4S stores don't have that many subdivided models of cars to test drive, and a lot of customers don't know what they need. I analyze the car from the customer's needs, not as 4S store sales do, just to complete the sales KPI, simply and rudely sell the car to them. So my advice, the client feels very important. "The cookies look proud.
Last year, Cookie's ultra-luxury car turnover reached 300-500 million, but the team had less than 10 people. Moreover, 95% of customers are introduced by acquaintances, and 80% of customers have never met. 10% of customers contribute 90% of sales.
In the highest record, a customer replaced 5 cars with biscuits in one year, and spent more than 30 million yuan on him in one year.
For a while, biscuits even started a famous watch business by the way, and the customers who originally looked for him to buy a car were also very crisp to buy a watch for him. "There is trust between us, whether I sell cars, watches, or later I sell wealth management products, they will come to me."
He even said somewhat conceitedly: "If even I don't make money, the market will be worse." ”
03 Break through the ceiling of making money - "the car circle knows the most about investment, and the most knowledgeable about cars in investment"
After the luxury car business stabilized, Biscuit occasionally met with friends and big customers of the dealership, and most of the leisure time would be playing games at home to relax, eating and chatting with his wife and watching movies, and living a plain and happy life.
But the smooth life gradually became boring. Cookie is once again in anxiety: in the luxury car business track, the ceiling is getting closer and closer, and if you want to make a bigger breakthrough, you must transform.
Cookie knew my job was to do strategic consulting for the business, so he called and asked, how should he break through next? I suggested that he incubate automotive self-media.
I'm not giving advice in a hot head. Luxury cars naturally have traffic, if he does a luxury car self-media, not only can afford to buy luxury cars customers are willing to watch, ordinary people who yearn to drive luxury cars also love to see, traffic is both accurate and large-scale. And since the media has done a good job, the income is not necessarily lower than selling luxury cars.
Cookie people are handsome, good mouth, and many cars from the media car but no car is different, cookies have a lot of friends in the circle, in the car source secondment naturally has an advantage. And he is a real expert, not a pseudo-Internet celebrity who rubs luxury traffic.
Cookies have been thinking about it for half a year, but they still don't want to expose themselves to the public. He said that he has a lot of Internet celebrity friends, lives in front of the public every day, looks glamorous, and actually does not have a happy life, and many people have depression. "This kind of thing is not for me."
During the pandemic, no one can go out, so Cookie often chats with his customers online. Most of this group of people have spare money on hand, and the topic naturally often turns to stock investment.
"Can I make an investment?" Biscuit suddenly came up with the idea, "After all, there is a ceiling on the income of the real economy, but if the investment is done well, there is no upper limit to the income." I've had some savings over the years, so I can try it. However, although I knew about cars, I didn't know anything about investment at that time. ”
Biscuit recalled that when he first stepped into the automotive industry, he bought a car, sold a car, and changed almost all the car-related sectors, and tried it again to establish a model cognition of the luxury car business.
"I thought that investing was the same as making luxury cars, and I could step on the pit first and then find a way to make money that suited me." Biscuit began to participate in the activities of the investment circle, and friends will still be a small white he pulled into various investment communities. At the beginning, cookies invested millions in U.S. stocks and A shares.
The wife thinks that his approach is too radical, it is possible to lose all the family money, and biscuits feel that making investment is the same as making a car, you must first know what to make money, what not to make money, and first suffer losses before you can win later.
After losing some money, Cookie found that U.S. stocks and blockchain were more suitable for him.
When the NFT was at its hottest, the biscuits purchased 2 faucet NFTs, one was Cool cats, which cost more than 200,000 yuan to buy, and the other was Punks, which cost more than 200,000 US dollars. With these 2 NFTs, when the cookie enters the chat room, everyone can see the NFT he owns through his purchase history, and every time he enters the chat room, everyone will enviously shout "The big guy is coming"!
Cookie said: "They are like virtual Ferraris, which are important symbols for me in the virtual world and the metaverse world, can reduce social costs, and are the same logic as luxury cars." ”
At the beginning of this year, Cookie decided to put most of the money into the blockchain, based on 5 years, to see how it earns.
Cookies have also been bloodied. The worst loss, the book evaporated 8 figures overnight. The money is not a small amount for cookies, but he says that in the long run, a temporary rise is not worth mentioning.
Now, the income of biscuits on investment has surpassed the luxury car business. And, since making the investment, his understanding of the auto business has taken to a new level.
"Now I'll tell from the semiconductor's share price in overseas that the car is out of stock or in sufficient supply." Because a large number of semiconductor chips are needed to make cars, the supply of chips will affect the supply of automobiles. If the stock price of Asmai, the world's top high-end lithography machine company, falls, it means that supply and demand are in balance and automobile production capacity is sufficient. ”
"I am now probably the most investment-aware in the car circle, and the most knowledgeable in the investment circle." Cookies said.
Recalling the day he stepped into Shanghai, Biscuit said that the building was dark and dark, and a beam of light fell at his feet.
04 General reviews
In my opinion, Cookie is a hard-working and enterprising young man who strives to embrace the freedom of wealth. His history of his fortune is a history of cognitive iteration.
Biscuit is more than 90% of people who are entitled to choose to lie flat, but he does not stop tossing, starting from the dust, and through continuous learning, doing what others think he can't do.
#专栏作家 #
This article was originally published by everyone who is a product manager, and reproduction without permission is prohibited
The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol