Adjust and start updating, let me share first:
The online car-hailing driver who took me to the airport yesterday was very talkative. We chatted for more than 2 hours. One of the words of the driver really impressed me from the bottom of my heart.
The driver is a Chaoshan person. His ancestors went to Southeast Asia, that is, Malaysia, three generations ago, around 1920. This driver friend used to do trade in Singapore, but as time went by, the dividends of the times passed, and the business was not doing well, so he came back to do online car-hailing.
We talked about a topic, and this friend's concept really made me respect him.
Talking about the economic environment in recent years, this friend said that the bad economy in recent years has led to less business in online car-hailing, and less profit, but when there are more people during the holidays, it is easy to be too busy. It's very simple. The change in the supply and demand relationship in the market, if an industry is overall poor, then the reduction in the supply relationship will lead to a demand shortage in the sudden market increment period, resulting in a poor experience.
Speaking of more business during the holidays, I said that I can add money, increase my unit price, and make more money. In fact, this is very normal in China. But this friend replied to me: I won't raise the price, because I'm doing service, not business.
I was very surprised. Is there a difference between business and service? This is very normal in China. Service prices will also increase according to market supply and demand.
He explained to me that if I'm busy and a customer offers me a high price for service, I won't accept it because I've already promised other customers and I won't give up my promise for money. This is the first point. Second, service is service, which means using my labor to make money. This is service, not business, so I won't increase the price just because the business is busy. Business is different. For business, I will increase the cost according to market conditions.
Although it is a simple sentence, it really makes me admire him. In his cognition, he clearly distinguishes between service and business, and his definition of his service is labor in exchange for profit. Once he sets a price for his service, he will not easily change his price because of changes in market supply and demand. This shows that he has his own independent business philosophy, and it also shows the principle of this person's business from another perspective.
I don’t know if this is the traditional business culture of Chaoshan merchant families, nor do I know if it is just an isolated case that happened to this driver friend. However, from what I gained from the conversation, this spirit of contract and this principle in doing business are indeed worth learning from.
Just a sharing on the journey, preparing for today's update.