That night, my wife still slept in the bedroom while I took the sofa.
On one hand, she had just undergone a miscarriage surgery, so we absolutely couldn't share the bed; on the other hand, I was suffering from insomnia and didn't want to disturb her.
Lying on the sofa, well into the late night, I still couldn't fall asleep.
I kept smoking, lost in my thoughts, and unconsciously finished all the cigarettes.
The ashtray in front of me was filled with cigarette butts, yet I remained wide awake.
Damn it, if this keeps up, I won't be able to perform well at work. Now that I had just become the sales manager, the pressure was really intense.
At that moment, I suddenly remembered the sleeping pills my wife had bought at the hospital not long ago.
Generally speaking, only someone under great mental stress would suffer from insomnia. Suddenly, I realized that my wife also had her own worries.
But during all this time, she never told me a single word, which made me feel very strange.
Could it be that she didn't trust me at all?
If that were true, then why did she marry me in the first place?
In the middle of the night, I didn't have the heart to think any further—I just wanted to take the sleeping pills and get a good rest.
After searching for a while, I finally found the bottle of sleeping pills in a drawer below the TV cabinet.
Although I knew clearly that sleeping pills could make the body dependent on them, I didn't care anymore.
After taking two pills, drowsiness soon overcame me.
That night was the best sleep I had in many days. In the morning, it was my wife who woke me up.
She looked at me and said, "Zhao Jian, you seem abnormal today. How come you slept so deeply?"
I smiled without saying anything because I didn't want her to worry.
Then she said, "Get up and freshen up; I already made breakfast for you."
I shook my head a little, picked up my phone, and saw it was seven o'clock in the morning.
Although I had only slept five hours, the quality of that sleep was excellent, and I felt energized all over.
After a quick wash in the bathroom, I began to enjoy the breakfast my wife had prepared.
At that moment, I seemed to have forgotten all the unpleasant things from the past.
With such a happy mood, I rushed to the company.
Walking through the office, I suddenly noticed the looks every employee in the sales department gave me had changed.
I realized now that my first step in establishing authority had clearly taken hold.
I unconsciously glanced toward Xiang Qiufeng's office—the guy I had fired yesterday—and saw that his desk was already completely cleared.
When I sat down in the manager's chair, I felt an unprecedented sense of ease—that is the feeling power brings.
Though it was only a small amount of power, the feeling was really great.
I thought to myself, no wonder some people are addicted to power—this must be the reason.
Around eight o'clock in the morning, a knock sounded suddenly outside my office.
After I gave permission, the administrative staff Shen Xue entered.
"Manager Zhao, everyone is ready. Please start the morning meeting." Even Shen Xue's tone was especially respectful.
I thought for a moment and said, "Tell everyone to wait ten minutes. I'll be there soon."
Shen Xue said, "Okay, I'll notify them." After speaking, she left and closed the office door behind her.
The reason I did this was, first, to show everyone the authority of their manager; second, to carefully consider the content of today's meeting.
If I wanted to achieve results, I had to reform the sales department. But doing so would undoubtedly offend many people.
So I needed to figure out who would truly be my opponents and who would stand firmly by my side.
I imagined Zhang Zhiyuan would be one of those I needed.
The key now was to cut off the sales department's chain of vested interests. Too many people like Xiang Qiufeng were harming the company's interests.
However, I couldn't find this chain of benefits yet, as I was still a rookie in sales.
Though everyone superficially showed respect, secretly, who knew what plans they had.
After thinking for a while, I couldn't find a suitable solution.
Forget it, I'd just go to the meeting. Anyway, I could use the authority of my superiors to pressure them.
As I entered the conference room, everyone stood up and greeted me, "Hello, Manager."
Even Liu Jing, that woman, was very respectful.
I knew this was all just on the surface. To stand firm in this company, I had to deliver results.
Today's meeting, Liu Jing did not dare to preside anymore and voluntarily handed it over to me.
To save time, the first thing I asked everyone to do was to compile all the customer information they managed into written documents and submit them to me.
At this point, no one dared to object to such a demand.
But I saw that the few salespeople beside Liu Jing looked unhappy, clearly unwilling to cooperate.
However, considering what happened with Xiang Qiufeng, if anyone opposed me now, it would be suicide.
Then I asked Liu Jing to report the detailed situation of several customers needing products this week.
She knew very well that I wanted to take over those customers.
But now she had no choice but to report one by one.
The administrative assistant, Shen Xue, recorded everything said in the meeting word for word.
I told Shen Xue, "After the meeting, please prepare a timeline of the customers Manager Liu mentioned."
She replied, "Okay, Manager Zhao. I'll get the materials to you as soon as possible."
Next, salesman Ding Xiaozhou said, "Manager Zhao, we recently developed a new client and plan to sign the contract today."
I paid close attention to every business move in the sales department because I realized this was the lifeblood of the company.
I asked, "Is the client's demand large?"
Ding Xiaozhou shook his head, "Not really. This business was introduced by a classmate of mine. I heard it's a small-scale decoration company."
Hearing that, I felt a bit pleased and asked, "When is the contract signing scheduled?"
He replied, "We agreed on 2 p.m., but the final decision lies with their lady boss."
In my view, women are usually easier to deal with than men. After all, I considered myself quite a handsome guy!
I said to Ding Xiaozhou, "Good. I'll go with you in the afternoon."
Ding Xiaozhou looked surprised because he felt I was very different as a manager.
The previous manager never bothered to follow up on such small deals.
That had allowed salespeople below to take advantage since the pricing at Xingchang Company was chaotic.
Ding Xiaozhou wanted to close this deal to earn some extra profit.
But if I went personally, and prices were transparent, there wouldn't be any extra profit for him.
Then I asked, "Xiang Qiufeng left; who will take over his clients?"
Scanning the sales department, no one spoke.
To break the deadlock, Liu Jing said, "Manager Zhao, you may not know, but all the clients we handle were developed by ourselves. We don't even know much about the clients Xiang Qiufeng had."
I immediately realized that Xiang Qiufeng's clients might have already been lost.
But if customers needed products, they would still come to our company.
After thinking for a moment, I announced that everything had been covered and naturally ended the meeting.
Back in the office, I started familiarizing myself with the company's sales system—knowledge a sales manager should have.
Time passed quickly, and at lunch, I suddenly saw the security guard come to our sales department.
Obviously, he was looking for Ren Tingting.
The guard wore a big smile, trying to curry favor with her.
I noticed he had packed food for Ren Tingting.
I knew the standard of meals in the cafeteria well. Recently, Zhang Zhiyuan's finances were tight, so the meals wouldn't be great.
But this guy had brought his own food, and from the packaging, it looked very sumptuous.
However, just as he placed the food boxes in front of Ren Tingting, her expression changed.
"Fang Wei, I already told you we've broken up. Don't bring me these things."
Right after she said that, she threw all the food containers into the trash.
Seeing the carefully prepared food treated so disrespectfully, Fang Wei couldn't hold back anymore. He widened his eyes and glared at Ren Tingting, demanding, "Have you set your eyes on some pretty boy? Have you changed your heart?"
I secretly chuckled.
Of course, Ren Tingting wouldn't tell the truth; she said, "I've been thinking carefully lately. I don't think we are suitable. I want to be alone for a while."
Women are always like this—secretly having a new lover but claiming incompatibility. What were they doing before?
Fang Wei still wouldn't give up. He said, "Tingting, you know how good I've been to you. If you don't want me, I won't be able to live."
Honestly, I really dislike men who act like they'd die over a woman. Usually, such men are the most useless.
At this moment, my attention turned to Fu Xin.
That kid probably felt guilty and had slipped away early.
From this, I judged that he was probably just playing around with Ren Tingting and never gave true feelings.
I recalled what happened that night—it was probably me whom Ren Tingting tried to seduce!
Then Ren Tingting shouted sharply at the security guard.
"Fang Wei, this is the sales department. I'm asking you to leave."
My guess was right; a woman's mood can change rapidly, and once she loses interest, she becomes especially ruthless.
Fang Wei wanted to say something, but Ren Tingting suddenly said, "If you don't leave now, I'll ask Manager Zhao to handle this."
Fang Wei's face fell drastically. He glanced at my office and silently left.
Looks like my reputation still works pretty well.