Chapter 160 Contrast

Hearing the sarcastic remarks from the crowd around him, Zhang Wei's expression remained completely unchanged. With a two-million-yuan deposit already secured for Chen Jiansheng’s deal, that transaction was essentially a done deal. Backed by nearly a million yuan in sales performance, Zhang Wei simply did not care what others were whispering about.

Of course, deep down, Zhang Wei still felt somewhat uncomfortable. Aside from Li Lin, who possessed solid competence, Wang Jianfa and Guo Bing had only average business skills, while Liu Cheng and Li Mengfei were complete newcomers to the industry. This combination was the reason their team had only closed a single deal during the first half of the month.

Liu Zhenguo’s team had closed 2 sales and 7 rental transactions in the first half of the month. This not only demonstrated the strong capability of Liu as a store manager, but also highlighted the superior professional skills of the agents in his group—a point that Zhang Wei greatly envied.

"Bang, bang, bang..." Xu Ming hammered heavily on the table, his face sinking as he shouted angrily, "Quiet! Let me see who dares to start a ruckus over there again!"

Seeing Xu Ming slamming the table and cursing, the agents in the conference room fell silent one by one. Even if they felt a sense of unfairness, none of them dared to openly cause a scene in front of Xu Ming. However, they held even greater contempt for Zhang Wei as a store manager, believing that he had only climbed to his position by sucking up to Xu Ming.

"Just now, the various store managers reported their performance figures for the first half of the month. Liu Zhenguo’s team achieved the highest sales, reaching four hundred thousand yuan. I want to commend Manager Liu and the sales agents in his group for this. Let's give them a round of applause!" Xu Ming praised loudly.

"Clap, clap, clap..."

"Manager Liu, well done!"

" Lao Liu, keep pushing and strive to break the one-million mark this month!"

The real estate brokerage industry was a harsh and realistic place; if you had ability, everyone would respect you. Therefore, the majority of the agents present applauded while offering congratulations to Liu Zhenguo.

"Alright, everyone settle down now," Xu Ming said, pressing his hands downward in a calming gesture. "Those with high performance should be encouraged. Similarly, those with low performance must be criticized. Zhang Wei’s team had the lowest performance, standing at only eight thousand yuan. I must criticize Zhang Wei and the agents in his group, but I also hope you can feel shame and turn it into strength, creating good results in the second half of the month."

"Heh, in my opinion, they just need to change the store manager. Otherwise, they have no hope for the second half of the month either."

"Exactly, even I would make a better store manager than him." A few agents muttered softly among themselves, their tones full of gloating satisfaction.

"I just calculated, and so far the total performance across all stores comes out to 980,000 yuan. This performance isn't terrible, but it's nothing to write home about either. I hope everyone will continue to work hard in the second half of the month," Xu Ming said.

"Brother Xu, don't worry, we will definitely work hard."

"That's right, our store will strive to double our performance."

"Yes, we'll aim to keep pace with Liu Zhenguo's store." Several store managers took the lead in shouting out, effectively responding to Xu Ming's call to action.

"Good, since you all have such confidence, stop making a fuss down there. Based on the situation in your respective stores, give me your sales targets for the end of the month," Xu Ming capitalized on the momentum.

"Starting from left to right, one by one in order!" Xu Ming pointed at Song Min on the extreme left and said, "What are you dazing for, Song Min? You're first!"

"Oh, our store's performance for the first half of the month is fifty-eight thousand yuan. Although the current figure is a bit low, we will strive to reach one hundred and fifty thousand yuan by the end of the month."

"Our store will strive to reach a monthly target of two hundred thousand yuan by the end of the month," said the second store manager on the left.

"Our store will also strive to reach two hundred thousand yuan by the end of the month," said the third store manager on the left.

"Our store will strive to reach three hundred thousand yuan by the end of the month," Su Ning declared without showing any weakness.

"Our store will strive to reach five hundred thousand yuan by the end of the month," Liu Zhenguo said.

Liu Zhenguo’s store had already achieved four hundred thousand yuan. Even if they didn't close a single deal in the second half of the month, he estimated his store would still have the highest performance. Therefore, there was no need to set his sales target too high; setting it too high and failing to achieve it could backfire.

"Manager Liu is really low-key, only reporting a target of five hundred thousand."

"Exactly, they've already done four hundred thousand in sales, which is higher than the end-of-month targets of the preceding stores."

"Manager Liu is just trying to save some face for Zhang Wei, afraid that if he set his own target too high, Zhang Wei wouldn't even be able to speak up after him."

Hearing Liu Zhenguo's quoted figure, the crowd began to whisper again, and they didn't forget to throw some sarcastic remarks at Zhang Wei.

"What do you guys think Zhang Wei's performance target will be?"

"Five thousand should be about right, right?"

"I think reaching three thousand wouldn't be bad either."

"Who knows, before the end of the month, his position as store manager might even get stripped away!"

"Alright, stop whispering nonsense down there and keep yourselves quiet!" Xu Ming's face darkened as he shouted, "Zhang Wei, report your store's target performance."

"Our store strives to reach a performance of one million yuan by the end of the month!" Zhang Wei said resolutely and forcefully.

"How much? One million yuan?"

"Did I hear that right? You can't just boast so outrageously!"

"That's right, your performance in the first half of the month was less than ten thousand, how on earth could you possibly reach over a million in the second half?"

"Is this Manager Zhang losing his mind from anger?"

Upon hearing Zhang Wei's quoted target, everyone's first reaction was that Zhang Wei was lying, or simply trying to attract attention through sensationalism. Many showed mocking expressions on their faces.

"Zhang Wei, you see it too; people are somewhat untrusting of your words. On what grounds do you claim you can pull off one million in performance by the end of the month?" Xu Ming asked.

"Our team received a client with a million-yuan commission, and we've already signed a deposit contract for two million yuan. We'll be able to officially sign the final contract in the next couple of days, so we will definitely hit the million-yuan performance mark by the end of the month," Zhang Wei stated.

"Good grief, a million-yuan commission? What a massive stroke of luck! Wouldn't that instantly surpass the performance of all other stores combined?"

"Ha, is that real or fake? Two million just in deposits? That really is a huge deal!"

"Yeah, if a two-million deposit was genuinely paid, it's probably true that they could hit a million in performance by the end of the month."

"No wonder Manager Zhang was sitting so securely like an old monk on a fishing rock all this time! Turns out he had a steady anchor in his heart."

Upon hearing Zhang Wei's words, the surrounding agents couldn't help exclaiming out loud, their expressions shifting dramatically. Just moments ago, they were mocking his team's poor performance; now that his team had secured a million-yuan target, they suddenly felt like pathetic clowns jumping around on stage.

The contrast was simply too stark. Not only were those regular agents astonished, but all the store managers except for Su Ning were equally shocked. A moment ago, Zhang Wei's team was ranked dead last in performance, but now they were about to surpass Liu Zhenguo's team and take the number one spot.

Seeing how everyone had been ostracizing Zhang Wei earlier, the employees from the Yayuan store had felt a sense of injustice on his behalf. They knew that Zhang Wei had already signed the villa purchase deposit contract and were well aware that his team's performance would reach at least a million.

Li Mengfei, in particular, felt extremely aggrieved. He possessed a naturally strong-willed personality and could not bear hearing others speak ill of him. Now that all the surrounding agents were talking about his team's poor performance, he was boiling with rage inside.

Just at that moment, Li Mengfei stood up and said, "Didn't you all say that Yayuan Team One has the worst performance? Right now, our team's end-of-month target performance is one million yuan. Which team dares to compete with us!"

After Li Mengfei roared this out, not a single sales agent dared to talk back. Their store managers had just reported their target performances, which fell vastly short of one million yuan. Who would dare to court humiliation now?

"Store Manager Liu Zhenguo, doesn't your team currently have the highest performance? Do you dare to compete with our team to see whose sales performance is higher by the end of the month!" Li Mengfei turned around, staring fixedly at Liu Zhenguo nearby, and asked in a loud voice.

"I don't have Brother Zhang's good fortune, nor can I land such major clients. I can't compare to your team's performance," Liu Zhenguo glanced at Zhang Wei and said with a sour tone.

"Store Manager Song, your team's performance isn't low either. Do you dare to compete with our team to see whose sales performance is higher by the end of the month?" Li Mengfei asked.

"Brother Zhang is surrounded by major clients; I can't compare," Song Min said with a somewhat sheepish look on his face.

"Store Manager Wang..." Li Mengfei cornered the store managers one by one, demanding to know if they dared to compete with Yayuan Team One regarding the end-of-month performance, yet not a single one dared to accept the challenge.

With each store manager Li Mengfei interrogated, the momentum of Zhang Wei's team grew a fraction stronger. In the end, none of the six store managers dared to answer the challenge, and Zhang Wei's prestige increased invisibly by a wide margin.

Zhang Wei thoroughly appreciated Li Mengfei's method of putting them on the spot. The surrounding sales agents were subordinates of those store managers, yet when they were mocking his team, none of those managers had stepped in to stop them. That had deeply annoyed Zhang Wei, and utilizing this method now served as a form of sweet revenge.

The meeting ultimately ended on a high note. Li Mengfei's successive challenges to the six store managers allowed Zhang Wei to completely overshadow every other manager in terms of presence and authority. Furthermore, since Zhang Wei was Xu Ming's trusted right-hand man, this outcome indirectly solidified Xu Ming's position as well.

This miraculous reversal of fortune significantly elevated Zhang Wei's prestige. At the very least, those ordinary agents no longer dared to harbor fantasies of replacing Zhang Wei as store manager, and the managers of other branches no longer dared to look down upon him.

Upon returning to the Yayuan branch, the employees eagerly threw themselves back into their fast-paced work, while Zhang Wei once again found himself with some leisure time. He rested his upper body on the desk, half-closing his eyes as he pondered the prospect of opening his own real estate brokerage firm.

"Zhang Wei." Just as Zhang Wei was racking his brain to figure out whom he could appoint as the store manager for his future agency, Wang Jianfa softly called out his name.

"What's up?" Zhang Wei asked.

Zhang Wei had previously considered whether he could have Wang Jianfa take on the role of store manager if he opened his own agency. After some deliberation, however, he had dismissed the idea. Although Wang Jianfa was fiercely loyal to him, his professional competence was still too weak, and he lacked the current capability to manage an entire branch.

"Zhang Wei, the housing listing in Lecheng Mansion that you asked me to look for—I found it. It was posted on an online property forum," Wang Jianfa said.

"Give me the phone number; I'll call to inquire about the property's details," Zhang Wei said.

The listing in Lecheng Mansion was requested by Chen Sixuan. After becoming store manager, Zhang Wei had been too lazy to search for listings personally, so he had transferred this task to Wang Jianfa's name, instructing him specifically to find a two-bedroom apartment around the 30th floor.