Struggle in the Steam Age

After resolving the previously piled-up documents, Lawrence summoned the management staff to summarize the results of the meeting with the tauren. After this negotiation, the tauren side agreed to provide more human resources and further expand the trade exchanges between the two sides. Everyone thinks that the situation is very good. However, everyone was skeptical about what Lawrence later proposed about the tea trade.

After all, black tea is a kind of tea that has never appeared in the world. As affairs officers who have never been in contact with these things, they will naturally take a cautious attitude towards Lawrence's idea of ​​developing the tea industry in the future. Because they are a little worried that this new product will not be accepted.

Fortunately, Lawrence also expressed that not only will he not give up on food planting, but he will still regard food planting as one of the core development goals of the island. Therefore, after discussing the details of the manpower distribution ratio of different industries, everyone agreed to the implementation of this plan.

Of course, it is not just Lawrence's verbal persuasion that can make everyone accept this point of view. The important thing is that after drinking two kinds of clear tea and milk tea brewed with black tea, they realized the value of this emerging beverage. Especially after adding milk and sugar to make milk tea, they think the taste is really amazing.

Just think that even in Lawrence's previous life, drinking tea was considered a behavior of middle-aged and elderly people, and milk tea was still popular all over the world. You can know how attractive this drink is to humans. After all, it is human nature to pursue high-calorie things such as sugar and fat, even if it is another world, the difference is not big.

Watching his subordinates change their views to express their support for him, Lawrence smiled with satisfaction. Although according to customs and regulations, Lawrence, as the local lord, has the highest decision-making power over local development, allowing everyone to act according to their own orders. But he still thinks that this kind of thing is best to persuade others to implement after discussion.

Because compared with forcing subordinates to do what to do, telling them why they should do this and making them realize that this approach is correct requires more energy to prepare. But once the persuasion is successful, it is easy to stimulate everyone's subjective initiative, and it is easier to promote the development of things.

"Now there is a problem." Owen's deputy butler, who is now the highest financial officer of the entire territory, raised his hand, and he stood up when Lawrence asked him to speak. "How should we position this kind of tea? In other words, should we regard this kind of tea as a mass consumer product or a luxury product?"

As the deputy steward who has served the August family for generations, he is also in charge of family procurement. Mr. Owen naturally has some experience in the convenience of buying and selling commodities. And what he is asking Lawrence now is about two completely different development directions of tea plantation.

It is almost impossible for these two directions to coexist, so it must be determined before the preparatory work is fully started. Especially if you want to take the luxury route, then this item must not be related to mass production, otherwise it will not be sold at all.

After all, people who buy luxury goods mainly hope to get a sense of superiority by buying these products with extremely low cost performance. They will never spend a penny on this kind of stuff.

This kind of thing that is regarded as a luxury often needs to have a certain exclusive nature, and the output must not be high. For example, in Lawrence's previous life, when aluminum was first refined, the price of this kind of thing was extremely expensive due to technical problems, so everyone subconsciously thought that it was a very precious metal.

For a time, owning a vessel made of this metal was considered a sign of extreme luxury. Even the then French Emperor Napoleon III made a set of tableware from aluminum to show his noble status. In addition, he cast a series of medals in aluminum.

However, after the electrolysis method was invented, the production of aluminum suddenly increased by hundreds or thousands of times. At the same time, scientists have also discovered that the amount of aluminum that can be mined on the earth is huge, not as small as initially thought. For these reasons, aluminum lost its original noble status and became a mass commodity.

"First of all, I will choose a certain time to spread the concept of black tea. After all, if it is not publicized, no one will want this new product." Because he knew these cases, Lawrence had considered this issue before, and at the same time A decision has been made. "As for the positioning of black tea, I think the black tea on our island is better as a luxury."

On the one hand, he chose to develop in the direction of luxury goods because Lawrence now has favorable conditions. After all, he is the inventor of black tea in the world, and he is also an aristocrat. So he has special pricing power and voice. And the tea on the island tastes good after being tasted by so many people. So in this case, it is not too difficult to hype the black tea on the island as a top luxury.

On the other hand, the island's climate is indeed suitable for tea production and has abundant tea resources. At the same time, the area of ​​the entire island is limited, and it is impossible to produce too much tea. Under the constraints of this condition, if you want to maximize profits, you can only take the boutique route.

"If that's the case, please leave the promotional work to me." Butler Bayer said at this time. Unlike Deputy Butler Owen who usually manages general affairs, Butler Bayer, who has been dealing with nobles all his life, is very concerned about all kinds of luxury goods and those People with noble status have a full understanding of their inner thoughts, so they naturally know how to grasp their psychology and sell these things.

"Of course, this kind of thing needs to be handed over to you." Lawrence said, and the other people present did not have any opinions. After all, there is a specialization in the art industry, so it is natural to leave this kind of matter to professionals. "This matter will be handled solely by you, and you can mobilize various resources without affecting normal activities on the island."

"Does this include you?" Butler Bayer looked at Lawrence seriously and said. "If it's a luxury, the noble's recognition at the beginning is very valuable. So some things may require you and your fiancée to personally promote it. Others cannot replace your role."

The reason why the steward explained it this way was because many traditional nobles could not accept doing business to make money. Although Lawrence is not very similar to those traditional old nobles on weekdays. But as a real noble steward, it is a basic quality not to make decisions on behalf of the master, so he has to ask at this time.

"Of course." Lawrence nodded. This is to make money for himself, and there is nothing inappropriate for him to come forward. After all, he spent most of his two lives as an ordinary person, without the sense of inexplicable pride typical of traditional nobles. "It's just that if you need my cooperation, you'd better remind me in advance."

"Of course, my lord." The butler said after he pressed his right hand on his left chest and gave a slight salute. "I will definitely come to you again when it is convenient for you."

What followed was a series of discussions on the specifics of promotion methods. Obviously, it would be too low-grade to advertise directly for the sale of this product, and it would be better to inadvertently promote the effect better.

After a brief discussion for a few minutes, Lawrence and the others decided to hold a banquet when the rice is ripe in more than a month. Then promote black tea to the surrounding neighbors at the banquet.