Physician's Odyssey

Chapter 867 - Expanding the Marketing Channels

The balcony was covered with autumn dew the next morning. The district that Gu Rushan was living in might be old, but the greening was done well. Donned in his sportswear, Su Tao ran a lap around the apartment before he slowed down and began strolling.

He stood by and watched a middle-aged woman feeding carps in the artificial pond. When she saw how handsome Su Tao looked, she smiled and handed some food over to Su Tao. Su Tao squatted down and started scattering the fish food around the pond. The carps were fat, measuring at 20 centimeters long. They were all lured over by the fish food, rolling around in the pond as they ate.

After a while, Su Tao returned the fish food to the middle-aged woman. However, that middle-aged woman did not want Su Tao to leave so quickly. With a smile, she inquired how old Su Tao was and if he had a girlfriend.

With a shy smile, Su Tao replied to her, half true and half false. When the middle-aged man heard that Su Tao had no girlfriend, she couldn’t help looking somewhat disappointed. She said sourly, “Yeah. How can a handsome lad like you have no girlfriend?”

Su Tao smiled awkwardly and bid his farewell with the middle-aged man.

Song Sichen and Dou Fanggang had returned to their hometowns after the National Healer Team’s meeting came to an end. Su Tao stayed in Beijing because he had some other matters that needed to be handled. Yue Zun introduced him to several medicine sales channels, which Su Tao could look for when the Three Flavour Medicine’s medicine went on the market.

Furthermore, Su Tao also needed to help Tosca Pharmaceutical Conglomerate seize the empty pie that Cambell Pharmaceutical Company left behind.

He made an appointment with Yan Peng to meet in the afternoon. Yue Zun had personally given Yan Peng a call to explain Su Tao’s needs. So Yan Peng had treated Su Tao with great importance.

After visiting the Three Flavour Hall, Su Tao rushed over to the restaurant. Yan Peng wore a navy-blue suit that made him look dignified. His complexion had also gotten much better compared to their last meeting. The medicine that Yue Zun prescribed him was taking effect.

“Hello, Mr. Su!” Yan Peng shook hands with Su Tao.

Su Tao never imagined that Yan Peng would arrive in advance and smiled, “I’m sorry to keep you waiting!”

Waving his hand, Yan Peng smiled, “There’s still ten minutes before our appointment, and you’ve already come early. This is just a personal habit of mine to be ahead of schedule.”

“That shows your dedication to your work!” Su Tao smiled.

Yan Peng recalled something interesting and shared, “If we’re in India, this personality of mine will probably kill me. There was once when I invited an Indian businessman to dinner. The dinner was set at 7 p.m., but when I called at 9 p.m., he still hadn’t left the house. In the end, he arrived at 11 p.m. nearly midnight!”

“This is probably something related to the county’s culture. I have also once heard of a joke. Trains in India were famous, and they would break down often. So it’s normal for them to be late. If the distance is far enough, they might even be late for a day or two!” Su Tao smiled.

“But the reason why India has such a strong advantage in medicine export is all due to their uniqueness in imitating. India was heavily influenced by colonization in the past, and they also received education from the west. So they have an advantage when it comes to medical research. If our county wants to show competitiveness in the global medical industry, we can redesign the strategy and start from Chinese medicine.”

Seeing that Su Tao had finally gone into the topic, his expression became solemn, “There are many Chinese medicine factories in the country, but it has a higher cost compared to western medicine. Furthermore, the effects aren’t as quick as western medicine.”

Su Tao smiled, “Mr. Yan, your views are somewhat outdated. Firstly, the medicine produced by the Three Flavour Medicine will definitely take effect faster than western medicine, not to mention that there are no side effects. Secondly, the reason why Chinese medicine is expensive is due to the cost of ingredients. But once any market is raised to a certain extent, more people will be willing to invest in upstreaming the ingredients. The cost will drop once the cost goes up. So the cost and price will drop if we keep promoting the sales of Chinese medicine.”

The first batch of products from the Three Flavour Hall was cheap. If the cost were removed, they would only be making a small profit. Many employees in the company had sounded their doubt for this strategy, but they were all rejected by Su Tao.

Because the cost of ingredients could decline, but it would limit the number of people who could afford it if you set the medicine at a high price in the beginning. As a result, lesser patients wouldn’t be able to experience medicine for themselves.

Looking at Su Tao, Yan Peng smiled, “You’re skillful when it comes to persuasion. I’m a cautious person, so I’m afraid that I will only open a sales channel to 50 hospitals for you. But I’ll increase my investment if the results are good.”

“Then I’ll have to trouble Mr. Yan for this matter.” Su Tao smiled, seeing how Yan Peng agreed to it straightforwardly.

“You don’t have to thank me. There’s a huge potential in this business. We have also represented many Chinese medicines, but the quality is only average. There’s a huge difference compared to Japan and South Korea, not to mention that the prices are high. So the hospitals couldn’t promote it even if they wanted. This is the reason why many people would rather pay a high price to import it instead of buying those made by factories in the country.”

Su Tao sighed out in relief when he heard Yan Peng’s analysis. Because Yan Peng’s words meant that he understood this market, and only cooperating with someone like him could achieve the desired results. He promised, confidently, “I believe Mr. Yan will increase the order quantity with us in three months.”

Su Tao’s cooperation with Yan Peng was equivalent to representation. The Three Flavour Medicine would be responsible for supplying, while Yan Peng and his team would help them sell. In reality, it wouldn’t cost Yan Peng too much capital. Su Tao promised that the first batch of products would not require any payment in advance or deposit from Yan Peng. It was the same as letting Yan Peng test the medicine in the market for free. So Yan Peng would naturally not refuse this request.

“Now, let’s move on to getting Tosca Pharmaceutical Conglomerate into the domestic market.” Yan Peng smiled. He was actually more interested in this piece of cake. The medical equipment in the country made significant progress in recent years. But aside from low-end medical equipment, there was still a huge gap in high-end medical equipment because foreign technology was leading by a decade.

Importing medical equipment had high demand and profit in China. If a hospital wanted to import high-end equipment, the profits alone could reach hundreds of thousands. The reason why the Cambell Pharmaceutical Company could stand firm in China’s medical market for such a long time wasn’t only because of their marketing team, but the quality of their products. After all, German’s industrial manufacturing was top-rated in the world.

Su Tao had also expected that Yan Peng would mention this and replied, “According to Tosca Pharmaceutical Conglomerate’s thoughts, they intend to set up a foreign venture company. For that company, they will recruit some partners to represent their products as agents.”

“They’re pretty cunning! If they set up a foreign venture company, there would not be any profit dividend in China. It’s the same as hiring people to work for them. As for the money, partners can make from representing their products; it’s all decided by them.” Yan Peng frowned.

“Then again, the method can be discussed again. If you’re interested in it, I can recommend you to them.” Su Tao smiled.

“Then I’ll have to trouble you to make the connections.” Yan Peng smiled straightforwardly.

The conversation with Yan Peng had gone smoothly. On the other hand, Fei Mingyang, who was introduced to him by Sun Changle, was a complete joke.

Every industry has its own rules. It wasn’t the case where anyone could enter if they wanted. Sun Changle might have the resources and connections in the National Healer Team, but did he think that he could support Fei Mingyang to become a giant in the industry?

Yan Peng’s experience was something that he had accumulated over the years. The reach of his marketing team had reached the various major hospitals in the nation like a cobweb, from officials who were responsible for the medicine to doctors. All of them had a close relationship with Yan Peng. It wasn’t something that could be built overnight. So cooperating with Yan Peng was more reliable compared to Fei Mingyang.

Then again, Sun Changle wasn’t serious about providing a sales channel for Su Tao by introducing Fei Mingyang. He only wanted to use Fei Mingyang to bribe Yue Zun’s circle of friends, using it as a bargaining chip to deal with Yue Zun. But in the end, Sun Changle failed under Su Tao’s scheme. As for Fei Mingyang, he was just a passerby now.

The two of them had a casual talk, but they knew that each other was sincere. They discussed some details and also the person responsible before the profit splitting and even signed a contract.

When they ended their meeting, Yan Peng sat for a long time before giving a call to a good friend. He needed to inquire about Three Flavour Medicine’s situation with the military-affiliated hospitals. As an experienced businessman in this industry, he wouldn’t be fooled by Su Tao easily. He needed conclusive news.

Half an hour later, a friend of his that works in Xiangnan Province’s military-affiliated hospital called back, “I just checked. Those medicines are well-received. It’s effective and works quickly. It has now been placed in the first-class drugs by the hospital.”

Yan Peng knew the meaning of ‘first-classed drugs’. Doctors would usually prescribe first-classed drugs to the patient, and they will also ensure the source of those medications. They would get exclusive rights from the supplier, and those medications wouldn’t be released publically into the market. This was also the reason why some medications could only be bought in hospitals. Hospitals needed to control the supply of some special drugs to ensure their competitiveness.

Yan Peng sighed when he heard that. He now knew why Su Tao was so confident in his medicines. So it turned out that the market has already acknowledged those medications. The opportunity wouldn’t wait for anyone. He immediately gave a call to his subordinate and got him to handle the comprehensive cooperation with the Three Flavour Medicine.