"The boss who listens most to advice" saves the umbrella factory by brushing up the comment section


　　"Uncle, I want an umbrella that can rain." "I'm afraid of the dark when walking at night, so I want an umbrella that lights up." Lei Penglin, 38, is the owner of a small umbrella factory. He often collects Such an imaginative "make a wish" message.

He turned the comment area into a design department and successively launched unexpected products such as "laser reflective umbrella", "fan umbrella" and "fishing umbrella". Therefore, he was called the "humanoid wishing pool" and "the most obedient boss". Recently, he posted a short message The video platform exploded.

He helped 90 netizens realize their wishes a year, gained a large number of young customers, and solved the slow-selling crisis faced by the umbrella factory. In 2023, more than 1.2 million umbrellas were sold in total.

Recently, he has also successfully entered the "two-dimensional" circle, participated in major comic exhibitions, and was crazy "asked for an umbrella".

In an interview with a reporter from Ziniu News of the Yangtze Evening News, Lei Penglin said, "In the most difficult time, I almost went bankrupt and went bankrupt. I groped my way through it all the way. To sum up, I can just listen to others and have enough to eat. One more netizen will 'make a wish' , the factory will have more hope.”

　　Ziniu News reporter Wan Huijuan

　　"Arrange! Arrange as soon as possible!" The boss of the umbrella factory turned into a "humanoid wishing fountain"

　　Recently, an umbrella factory owner took the internet by storm with his "silent movie-style" video of selling umbrellas.

In the video, he looked serious and silent, vigorously shaking the umbrella up and down to show its quality, which was very magical.

Later, he took turns to show off his "imaginative" umbrellas: a laser umbrella that reflects light, a fan umbrella for summer, a double umbrella designed for couples, a rain protection umbrella with a hanging curtain, and a fishing umbrella that is convenient for anglers. …

　　The man in the video is Lei Penglin, the owner of the umbrella factory.

His comment section is particularly wonderful, like a "wishing fountain."

Many netizens left messages describing their favorite umbrellas, and some even attached drawings, hoping that the umbrella factory could make the umbrella of their imagination.

Lei Penglin often turns on the "fan fan" mode and quickly responds: "Arrange it as soon as possible!"

　　He posted 90 creative umbrella videos on social platforms based on the opinions of netizens.

In this regard, some netizens ridiculed, "I treat the comment area as the design department" and "the main focus is to respond to requests."

Lei Penglin told the Ziniu News reporter that he would spare one or two hours every day to read netizens’ comments and reply to messages. “Try to be responsive to requests. If a netizen’s ‘wishes’ have a lot of likes, we will do it. If there are 100,000 likes, I will make 10,000 to test the water first. If there are 1,000 likes, I will make 300. If there are few likes, I will try to do it. You can do pre-sales to avoid the problem of slow sales. One more netizen will make a wish ', the factory will have more hope."

　　After becoming popular on the Internet because of "listening to advice," Lei Penglin responded with a smile: "Listen to people's advice and eat enough. We will do whatever the netizens want." The recent period is the off-season for the industry. Due to the sudden popularity, the umbrella factory Thousands of orders were sold in one day, and his social account gained tens of thousands of fans.

　　I worked my way from worker to manager in 10 years, but unexpectedly encountered difficulties in starting my business and almost went bankrupt.

　　Lei Penglin is from Luoyang, Henan. After graduating from junior high school, she learned to make steamed buns. After being introduced by a friend, she went to work in an umbrella factory in Zhejiang.

In 10 years, he went from ordinary worker in the workshop to workshop supervisor, production director, to gold medal salesman and company manager.

　　"When I was 18 years old, I went to an umbrella factory to learn skills. If you hold any umbrella in your hand and weigh it, you will know the craftsmanship, material and cost." In 2014, Lei Penglin left her job to start a business and opened Feilian Umbrella Factory. For foreign trade and supplying goods to small merchants, business was once good, with thousands of orders being placed a day.

Due to fierce market competition and other reasons, the daily output of his umbrella factory dropped by 70%. "At the most difficult time, it almost went bankrupt." Lei Penglin had to start looking for a new way out.

　　By chance, he smelled a business opportunity from the popular "Peppa Pig" bracelet that became popular through short videos.

"This kind of small thing is very simple for factories to produce. The difficulty is that we don't know that customers like this and don't know how to produce it." He felt that this was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

In 2019, he registered a short video account, hired people to do live broadcasts, and began to lead the team to "test the waters" of e-commerce.

　　It was not smooth at the beginning. The anchors invited did not know the product well enough and the words used in the introduction were not accurate enough.

"When I saw that this was not going to work, no one was watching, and no one was buying, I decided to appear on the show in person. After all, if the boss introduces it in person, the sense of trust will be stronger, but there are still only one or two people in the live broadcast room." Lei Penglin He said that despite this, he still insisted on live broadcasting and introduced in detail the density of umbrella cloth, the number of vinyl layers, the number of strands of the umbrella frame and other professional content, but the sales volume was average.

Occasionally there are more people in the live broadcast room, but there are still people in the comment area who think he "talks too much and doesn't know whether to watch with his eyes or listen with his ears."

　　A netizen left a message to let him see business opportunities, and he spent half a year developing an "umbrella that can rain".

　　Lei Penglin recalled that one day he accidentally came across a short video recommending napkins on the Internet. The anchor did not say a word during the whole process, but showed all the advantages of napkins in a few actions, and the video received a particularly high number of likes.

When he thought about it, this method was quite good.

So he stopped talking and used large body movements to demonstrate the performance of the umbrella.

At the beginning, Lei Penglin opened the umbrella and shook it vigorously up and down, allowing netizens to intuitively see the quality of the umbrella.

Someone asked in the comment area: "Can two people use it?" It was simple. He pulled a colleague and stood under the umbrella.

Someone else asked: "Does the umbrella surface dry quickly after it is wet with water?" He took a basin of water and poured it directly on the umbrella surface, rotated the umbrella a few times to shake off the water droplets, and then put dry paper towels on the umbrella. On the face, with a blow, the paper towel was blown to the ground.

　　"Is it wind-resistant?" "Is the lever smooth?" A lot of questions came one after another.

Therefore, Lei Penglin filmed all the answers into intuitive video displays.

The video quickly went viral, with nearly 2 million likes.

Some netizens commented, "There is not a single superfluous action" and "I like such a no-nonsense business."

　　Lei Penglin told reporters that "listening to netizens' advice" originated in May 2022. He saw a message in the comment area - "Uncle, I am afraid of being hit by a car when walking at night, and I want a laser reflective umbrella." That message had a lot of likes, and I knew as soon as I saw it that this thing is not difficult and can be made." So he immediately arranged for factory production and sold 70,000 units as soon as it was put on the shelves.

"This generation of young people puts more emphasis on individuality and has many novel ideas. He thinks it's cool to take out umbrellas like this. This is a business opportunity." Lei Penglin said with a smile.

　　After that, his comment section became a "wishing fountain."

Based on comments from netizens, he launched some umbrellas that were rated as "even though I can't understand them, but I was shocked", such as the "Umbrella that blooms when exposed to water" and "Full Body Umbrella", etc., and gained more than two million fans on the short video platform. .

　　Lei Penglin said that the most unexpected message for him was "I want an umbrella that can rain."

"I couldn't figure it out at first. After thinking about it, I can understand. It's quite comfortable to go out with a parasol on a hot day. If it rains a little, it will be quite comfortable." He told reporters that this "umbrella that can rain" "The research and development cost is the highest. Several sets of molds are used, and the cheapest mold costs more than 20,000 yuan.

It took half a year to finally make this umbrella, which is now in mass production.

　　Lei Penglin’s company has dedicated designers, and he will also participate in research and development. “Actually, our design of such a product subverts industry perceptions, but once we understood the logic, we knew that this umbrella would definitely have a market. "When talking about the cost of producing these special umbrellas, Lei Penglin said that by counting the number of possible purchases through netizens' messages, "you will not lose money" if you produce based on this data.

　　Now more than 1.2 million umbrellas are sold a year, seeking breakthroughs to enter the "second dimension" circle

　　Lei Penglin's umbrella factory has attracted more and more people's attention, and the factory's sales have also greatly increased.

He admitted frankly that 2023 will be the best sales year for the umbrella factory, with more than 1.2 million umbrellas sold and sales increasing 10 times.

He helped 90 netizens realize their wishes a year and gained a large number of young customers.

　　Lei Penglin told reporters that most of his fans are students aged 18-24. "I was wondering what they would like, and I thought of 'two dimensions'." In August 2023, Lei Penglin participated in the comic for the first time. Zhan met many fans. Some asked him to "make an appointment for an umbrella", while others urged him "when can my umbrella be made?"

Since then, he has often visited comic exhibitions. “Only by joining them and understanding their needs can we make an umbrella that satisfies them.”

　　Lei Penglin said that in addition to some fanciful wishes, the vast majority of netizens' messages were related to various games and animations.

In order not to violate copyright, he needs to spend a lot of time communicating with the officials to ensure that the umbrella can be produced normally.

"There is an umbrella related to a very popular animation. There are many people who like it, and the umbrella has been made. Because the copyright has been unable to be negotiated, it is a pity that there is no way to sell it."

　　He also learned that different groups of people have different needs. For example, young ladies who like to wear Hanfu prefer antique-style umbrellas.

"A fan bought 9 umbrellas from me. She uses them as decorations. Different umbrellas match different clothes." Recently, several Chinese-style umbrellas they designed are very popular, such as those with Peking Opera masks printed on them. , Tang suit beauties’ umbrellas were sold out as soon as they were put on the shelves.

　　Lei Penglin lamented that they had come all the way from a small family-run factory to an enterprise with more than 200 workers during the peak season.

Next, he will actively understand the preferences of young fans and produce more umbrellas in the field of domestic fashion and "two-dimensional".