Oct
30
超級業務員種茶變百大青農
Filed Under CH
Super car salesman Peter Su has changed his profession by going back to his hometown to be a tea farmer. Relying on sound tea production techniques, creative packaging and his marketing and sales experience, Su has opened up a market and become quite successful, and this year he was selected as one of the Council of Agriculture’s 100 great young farmers.
Su, who is 39 years old, comes from Pinglin in New Taipei. Originally, he was head of sales for northern Taiwan with a well-known car firm and became a super salesman for his company. Later, however, he ran up against an economic downturn that caused sales to keep going downhill. Then he remembered how, while on an inspection tour in China, he had discovered that the sales price for Pinglin tea in China was several times higher than in Taiwan, so he got the idea of going back home to plant tea for export and setting up a business that way.
Su says that the techniques involved in planting and producing tea can be learned, but the hardest thing for him was communicating with his parents, especially about his wish to make changes and innovate. When he insisted on safe use of agricultural chemicals, his father doubted whether he could ensure the quality of tealeaves, saying, “Tree plantations have always used agricultural chemicals this way, otherwise the tea leaves would not look so good.” As to the little packages that Su’s wife Monica Lin designed, his father’s opinion was, “The packing has always been this way and it sold very well, so why spend more money on it?”
After experts from New Taipei’s Agriculture Department and the Tea Research and Extension Station helped Su to communicate his ideas, his father gradually changed his point of view and things got better. Only when he started getting regular orders did his father believe that tea could be sold this way, and only then did the two men’s formerly tense relations start to relax.
(Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
1. change one’s profession v. phr.
轉行 (zhuan3 hang2)
例: Jasmine has changed her profession from dentistry to hairdressing.
(賈思敏從牙醫轉行為理髮業。)
2. sound adj.
扎實 (zha1 shi2)
例: This kind of work requires a sound grounding in mathematics.
(這種工作需要扎實的數學基礎。)
3. communicate v.
溝通 (gou1 tong1)
例: Deaf people can communicate using sign language.
(聾人可以用手語溝通。)
超級賣車業務員蘇育裕轉行回鄉當茶農，靠著扎實的製茶技術、創意的包裝及業務行銷經驗，打開市場，闖出一片天，今年獲選農委會百大青農。
卅九歲的蘇育裕是新北市坪林人，原本擔任知名汽車的北部業務主任，成為公司的超級業務員；後來碰到經濟蕭條，銷售每況愈下，他想起在中國考察時，發現坪林茶在中國的售價比在台灣多好幾倍，興起了回鄉種茶外銷、開創事業的念頭。
蘇育裕說，種茶、製茶技術可以學，最難的是與父母的溝通，尤其是他想要改變、創新，堅持安全用藥，受到父親「以前茶園都這樣用藥，茶葉才會漂亮」，質疑他能保證茶葉品質嗎？老婆林奕慧著手設計小包裝，父親認為「包裝一直都這樣，就賣很好，幹嘛還要花錢？」
在新北農業局、茶業改良場的專家協助溝通後，父親慢慢改變觀念，情況好轉，一直到有穩定的訂單，父親才相信茶葉也可以這樣賣，兩人緊張的關係才改善。
(自由時報記者何玉華)
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