Cui Pengfei: Full Enthusiasm for Sales

After graduating with a bachelor's degree from China University of Petroleum in 2006, Cui Pengfei joined PetroChina Lubricant Company and became a proud sales representative for 'Kunlun' automotive lubricants. In nearly nine years of grassroots sales work, with the sense of responsibility and conviction of a young Communist Party member and the diligence and enthusiasm of a grassroots PetroChina salesperson, he has embodied the corporate spirit of 'patriotism, entrepreneurship, truth-seeking and dedication' of PetroChina people.
Diligent and meticulous, loyal to the cause
While serving as a territorial sales representative, Comrade Cui Pengfei visited almost all the lubricant outlets and auto repair shops in the counties, districts and townships of the area under his responsibility. In less than a year he filled four thick sales notebooks and wore out several pairs of leather shoes; wherever there was a sales opportunity, he was there. At the only auto repair shop in a mountain township of Yuzhou City, Xuchang, the owner was suspicious of Comrade Cui Pengfei, who arrived dusty from his motorcycle ride: 'Would a manufacturer representative of PetroChina really come all the way here to sell engine oil?' Comrade Cui Pengfei's warm and sincere attitude deeply touched the owner's heart, and years later, after the owner moved his business from the township to the urban area of Yuzhou, he still used Kunlun lubricants as before.
This diligence has stayed with him. Outside working hours or during holidays, he is often seen in the office. Some friends and classmates have advised him, 'How much overtime pay can you get? The work will never be finished.' He is very calm about it, and he knows well that sales work has no strict time boundaries. What he thinks about more is that he is a sales representative of PetroChina and, more than that, a proud Communist Party member: when facing a tangle of business tasks, the only option is to press on, and there is no excuse for avoiding them. So on the title page of every year's work notebook he writes neatly, 'Act at once, do it now.'
Forging ahead and innovating in sales
Comrade Cui Pengfei is enterprising and strives for perfection in his business work. The Zhengzhou market he oversees has grown into a flagship market for Kunlun automotive oil. He summed up the development history and operating practice of the Zhengzhou market in the report 'Introduction to the Market Experience of Zhengzhou Guowei Trading Co., Ltd.', which provides a reference for the market practice of regional distributors and was promoted nationwide by the Lubricant Company. With the support of the leaders of the Central-South Branch, Comrade Cui Pengfei organized the establishment of the Kunlun Lubricant Henan Distributors Association in 2007, drew up the 'Association Charter' and the 'Self-discipline Convention', and produced anti-counterfeiting labels specially for the Henan region, which had a good effect in standardizing market management. Using the association platform, he organizes an annual meeting of distributors from the whole region every year, guiding distributors to broaden their thinking, strengthen end-user development and channel building, and has cultivated a group of loyal core distributors.
Optimizing the structure and rising to the challenge
In 2014 the lubricant industry encountered some difficulties: social-channel distributors had trouble with cash flow, overdue receivables increased, staff turnover rose and profit margins shrank. Comrade Cui Pengfei led his team in actively exploring and refocusing on adjusting the channel structure and product mix, achieving good results.
First, the promotion of premium gasoline engine oils produced notable results. With strong support from the Lubricant Company and the sales branch, Comrade Cui Pengfei organized Zhengzhou sales representatives and distributors to carry out a detailed survey of passenger car repair shops in Zhengzhou, drew up a highly feasible premium oil promotion plan, planned a series of launch events for the new Tianrun, and paid attention to collecting feedback from channels at all levels so as to adjust promotion measures promptly and effectively. By the end of 2014, Zhengzhou had 275 premium gasoline engine oil sales outlets, with sales rising from 23 tons in 2013 to 150 tons this year.
Second, the optimization of the sales channel structure laid a good foundation for later sales. In recent years, Henan's economy-product sales channels were dominated by provincial-level distributors; as the industry segmented and the market changed, the provincial agency model, while contributing volume, also revealed many weaknesses in sales management. In 2014, affected by the economic environment, provincial agents' sales fell sharply. After research and analysis, the Henan area decided to move channels downward and optimize the channel structure. Comrade Cui Pengfei organized a three-person channel development team, clarified the development approach and drew up a development plan, then spent nearly three months surveying and visiting more than 100 lubricant distributors in the province, initially identifying new economy-product distributors in 12 regions and laying a good foundation for channel sales of economy products in 2015.
Third, he actively used the resources of the provincial company to develop institutional users. With the assistance of the Zhengzhou branch of the Henan sales company, in 2014 Kunlun successfully expanded into the gas engine oil project of the Zhengzhou bus company, with single-product sales reaching 167 tons.