April 8th, Friday…
Pei Qian followed Assistant Xin into a high-end gym near the office. It was not far away; it was only a five-minute walk from the office. Of course, it was not far from Handong University either.
The gym occupied a shop space by the road. There was a signboard on the entrance: Bo Sha Gym, Handong University branch. The words looked very artistic, making it look dynamic and modern. Apart from bright and clean full-length windows, there were also dynamic and abstract artworks drawn on either side of the entrance. All the artworks were of people exercising. Some were slam-dunking, some were playing badminton, and some were boxing.
The artworks were separated by lines. Anyone who looked at them would involuntarily think about comics. At the same time, they looked extraordinarily dynamic and youthful.
Pei Qian frowned.
He was quite satisfied with the way the gym had been renovated. After taking over the gym, he would be able to open for business within a short period, without having to waste too much time. However, he was not pleased with the fancy entrance.
It was too eye-catching!
Tengda’s businesses had to be as low-profile as possible.
Still, it was easy to deal with. After taking over the gym, Pei Qian could engage workers to clean the entire entrance and paint a soft color over it instead. Everything would be alright as long as they avoided drawing attention to the gym as much as possible. All of those were small problems.
Upon entering, Assistant Xin briefly introduced the current situation to Boss Pei: “Boss Pei, I’ve sent people to the few gyms in the area. Only three are willing to sell their businesses. This gym is very nicely renovated, and it suits your requirements the best. “Bo Sha Gym is a well-known brand that has chain stores all around the country. It has several branches in Jingzhou as well. It has been expanding very quickly in recent years, but the rapid expansion caused problems for the business.
“Bo Sha Gym’s Handong University branch was intended to be a high-end gym in the vicinity of Handong University. Its target audience was Handong University’s students and the white-collar workers in nearby office buildings. However, a problem soon surfaced.
“There are too many gyms near Handong University. Many small gyms engaged in price wars and sold their memberships at very low prices. Nearly all the people who love exercise in the area have been divided up among them.
“There’s even another Bo Sha Gym just over a kilometer from this place. That exacerbated the problem. The branch manager of this branch had already set his sights on the high-income group, and so the membership was quite expensive.
“It was fine in the beginning. The gym’s environment attracted many high-income people. However, as they sold more and more cards, potential customers dwindled, and the revenue from membership sign-ups and personal training failed to cover the gym’s operating costs. At last, the gym failed to make ends meet and started incurring losses.
“If you like this place, we have two options:
“First, we could buy the entire place as it is, including the gym’s members and coaches. Of course, the branch manager would love it if we could do that, but we could use that as an excuse to negotiate a better price. We could even spend less than we budgeted. “The downside to doing that is that we would earn little to no revenue from membership sign-ups. That would only allow us to ask for a better price from the owners. Of course, we
the existing members and personal training sessions.
“Second, we could buy the shop space, and not retain the members or the coaches. We could even refuse to buy the equipment and ask the owners to empty the place. Then, we can renovate the gym from scratch. Since there’s another Bo Sha Gym nearby, we could ask the owners to transfer the members from this branch to that branch.
“That would ease our burdens, but there are only so many people in the area who have the habit of going to the gym. It could cause us to fail to pull in members from the very start.”
Fail to pull in members?
That’s great!
Pei Qian remained expressionless. “Alright, I understand. I’ll deal with the project from now on. You can focus on the procedural work.”
Assistant Xin nodded. “Alright, Boss Pei.”
Both of them walked towards Bo Sha Gym’s Handong University branch. The moment they entered, what looked like a thirty-year-old man dressed in a suit and leather shoes walked up and welcomed them.
“Boss Pei! How are you? I’m the branch manager of this gym. My surname is Wei.”
Obviously, Assistant Xin had told the branch manager about Pei Qian before. That was probably why he was being so hospitable. There were many heroic buyers in the world, but they could be split into different tiers!
The extremely rich buyers would no longer be referred to as ‘heroic buyers’, but as ‘cash cows’!
Once Branch Manager Wei heard that Tengda Corporation had set its sights on this branch, he beamed with excitement. This branch had been steadily incurring losses. Branch Manager Wei had already decided to transfer all the members to the branch next door, close down, and stop the bleeding.
Now, Tengda Corporation had expressed interest in taking over the shop. Although Branch Manager Wei would still incur losses in the end, the problem would be minimized. Of course, he was over the moon.
“Boss Pei, let me bring you around first.”
Branch Manager Wei led Pei Qian around the gym, letting him see every corner of the area. The area was huge, and the renovations were well done. Among the gyms in Jingzhou, one could say that this gym had a better environment. However, there was no swimming pool, sauna, massages, or other fancy things.
Pei Qian knew very well that, among all the high-end gyms, Bo Sha Gym would only be considered average.
The more facilities there were in a traditional gym, the better. Gyms with fancy facilities like swimming pools and saunas often drew customers in better than other gyms.
The reason was simple. Many noobs had the same mentality when it came to gyms: ‘it’s better to have excess than find myself lacking’. Even if they did not know how to swim, they would plan for the day that they felt like learning.
Thus, if a gym had all the necessary facilities, even if it charged more for membership; people would still be willing to sign up.
While this gym might look bad to others, it looked good to Pei Qian. The gym would look less attractive to others! Obviously, Branch Manager Wei did not tell Pei Qian about this. Instead, he boasted about superficial things like how much they had invested in the gym and how good its potential was.
Pei Qian did not pay much attention to him. Instead, he barely processed Branch Manager Wei’s words. In any case, he could just send Assistant Xin to do the negotiating when the time came for it.
After walking around the gym, Branch Manager Wei called all the gym trainers over. They formed two lines in front of Pei Qian. The gym trainers all had well-sculpted chests, and they looked to be full of energy.
It was not easy to be a gym trainer in this day and age.
If the gym closed down, all the gym trainers would have to apply for jobs in other gyms. Not all of them would succeed. Of course, they had to put on a show in front of someone who was potentially taking over the branch. It would be best if they could convince Boss Pei to retain them as he bought over the gym.
Branch Manager Wei’s intentions were clear. He was not hoping for Boss Pei to retain all the gym trainers. In fact, he would be satisfied if Boss Pei picked a few of the trainers and allowed them to remain in the gym.
“Boss Pei, let me introduce to you a few of our gym’s most popular golden instructors—”.
Pei Qian raised his hand, stopping Branch Manager Wei mid-sentence. Boss Pei trusted his own eyes more than Branch Manager Wei’s recommendations. He scanned the gym trainers at lightning speed and then filtered them one by one.
He could not accept those with bad figures.
Those people probably could only remain in the gym for so long because they could make a lot of sales. They were likely good and quick-thinking liars. If Pei Qian retained such business geniuses, he would possibly end up generating a lot of profit.
He could not accept those whose eyes were filled with hope and who looked to be in a good mental state either.
Such people were probably hard workers who were very enthusiastic in their work and who had probably been brain-washed by several other gyms before. They did not match Pei Qian’s requirements.
Finally, Pei Qian skipped over the few gym trainers in the front row who had bulging muscles. He focused on the humble-looking coach at the back, who stood by the side with his head lowered.
He was not tall, and he had glasses on. From his face, Pei Qian guessed that he was quite old. Since he hid behind the others, Pei Qian could not tell how fit he was.
“You, the man with the spectacles. Step out.”
Pei Qian wagged his finger.
The gym trainers turned around one by one to look at the man with spectacles. He looked up, incredulous and confused, as he pointed to himself.
Pei Qian nodded. “That’s right-it’s you. Step out.”
The man walked through the middle of the front row and stepped in front of Pei Qian, still looking puzzled.
Pei Qian looked at the small-looking man and instinctively thought of a scene in the movie ‘Kung Fu’. The man had looked so short before, and he had looked so unassuming behind the other gym trainers. Pei Qian could not tell that his muscles were so developed.
“What’s your name?” Pei Qian asked.
The personal trainer spoke in a low muffled voice. “Guo Licheng.”
Pei Qian was stunned. “I’m asking for your real name, not your nickname.” Branch Manager Wei quickly explained, “Boss Pei, this trainer is called Guo Licheng. His surname is Guo, and ‘Licheng’ is his name. Licheng means rhetorical and honest.”
Pei Qian, “…I’m sorry, I’m uncultured. However, your name doesn’t sound very motivating to those who want to lose weight.”
Branch Manager Wei walked towards Boss Pei and said, “Hehe, Boss Pei, I need to tell you something first. I’m not saying this trainer isn’t good, but he’s not very smart. He’s not very good at management, and he’s not very sociable either. In fact, he’s the worst at sales in the entire team.
“Of course, if you only want him to be a personal trainer, there’ll be no issue. He’s very professional. However, if you want him to manage the gym, there’ll probably be issues…
“What’s more, Coach Guo has been thinking about quitting the industry for some time.
“I can recommend another man to you. He’s not worse off than Coach Guo, and he’s smart and bright. I promise that you’ll be satisfied!”
Pei Qian shook his head. “There’s no need! I don’t want anyone but him.” “Er… alright.” Branch Manager Wei had intended to try harder at persuading Pei Qian, but he soon recalled that he was not related to the gym trainers in any way. Thus, he decided not to poke his nose into their business.
Branch Manager Wei dismissed all the other trainers and asked Guo Licheng to remain behind and wait for Boss Pei’s instructions.
Pei Qian left Assistant Xin with a few words. “Get rid of all the equipment in the gym. Sell them second-hand to other gyms. We’ll buy new ones.
“Ask them to transfer their members to the other branch as well. We’ll not take them. We’ll only retain Coach Guo. I want to speak to him.
“Pick out some problems and negotiate for a better price. Of course, don’t go overboard; just don’t let the branch manager take us for a ride.”
Assistant Xin nodded and then proceeded to discuss the contract with Branch Manager Wei. At the same time, Pei Qian went to speak to Guo Licheng. Before he could say anything, Guo Licheng spoke. “Boss Pei! I’m very sorry, but I have something to clarify. I thought of leaving the industry for a long time. I apologize, but you’ll have to find another coach.”
Pei Qian remained silent for a moment and then asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to hear how much I’m going to pay you first?”
