A foreign visitor came to the factory. There is a Turkish translator with him. I don’t know who is he. I know only that he has a company.
In such cases, the organizational disorder has occurred from time to time and they did not inform me beforehand.
We met in the meeting room, there is the boss, I am there, there is another friend from the workplace, a Turkish translator and a foreign person.
The man is an American of French descent. He owned a company.
The boss asks a few things, I am asking. Why did he come, does he think to make business with us? We are curious about how many products he wants, but he is more after a conversation.
The Turkish interpreter was disabled, and even went outside the meeting room when he was out of business.
We are talking about common things. Sometimes the boss came out too.
Meanwhile, I asked about his turnover. I always ask, whether he says it or not. He tells when he is a foreigner and not when he is Turkish. Especially Turkish little company owners.
No, it is an obsession, it is because it is not an eye.
Anyway, the man said without hesitation. 2 billion dollars.
Yes, the man’s turnover was 2 billion dollars.
I was going to approach with a little skepticism, but the man is talking about having two factories in the USA, 1 in France, and now I don’t know where.
A man with a turnover of 2 billion dollars is beside me with blood alive.
He has a shirt on it, pants like jeans. These clothes do not look like a luxury at all. The man is very relaxed. Don’t be nervous, don’t talk fancy. In fact, I almost felt like a Turk would put his hand on my knee. He has an expensive watch only as a luxury.
I told the friend what the man says he has a turnover of 2 billion. He confused, abd he couldn’t even comment.
Of course, I did not stop, I continue to ask. How did you start the company?
This guy had not didn’t build the company. He got into a small company when he was young as an engineer.
When the business progressed, his boss gave it a partnership.
After a while, the boss stopped coming to work.
He was already old and sold his own shares to this.
Then, the business has grown more, I don’t know where it opened the second factory in the USA. Then he established a factory in France to be close to the European market.
etc. etc. In Turkey, the man without stakes, as a success story that can not be done without the threat of blackmail.
The man who talks about them is actually old, but not very old.
A fidgety old man.
It is very sincere.
I said OK. Congratulations. How did you make this a great success story?
Is there any secret to this business?
I’m just waiting for something that he will say “I worked very hard.”
Everybody says, “I worked day and night. I worked without make vacation on weekends. ”
He didn’t say that.
It will say something so simple that something will come out, I will say to myself “why didn’t I think about it?” Of course, it’s a joke. But it is certain that I am eagerly awaiting.
There are always pieces on the meeting tables that you do not remember what the products produced by the company and you do not remember why they came there.
There was also in ours.
He reached out and took a machining piece.
It’s a small piece.
He asked. How long it takes to produce this part?
I don’t even remember what the piece was.
If I try to ask inside, the subject will cold.
But I’m not going to leave it unanswered, I said 22 seconds.
He said that “I produce this piece in 7.5 seconds.”
That was enough, but it continued.
Labor costs are low in your country, but I produce this product much faster and cost less than you.
Let’s say the selling price of this product is 50 cents. I produce millions of this product and I produce hundreds of parts like this.
At that moment the boss came in and we stopped talking.
I learned my lesson.
The man came to us why we were unable to remove a lot of time, but I know that two years later opened a factory in Turkey as well.
Therefore, I thought afterward that it was to smell the market and solve the situation of rival companies.