Ａ Ｍａｔｔｒｅｓｓ Ｔｅｓｔｅｒ Ｋｎｏｗｓ Ｓｅｃｒｅｔｓ

Ｌｉ　Ｒｕｉｊｕａｎ

In August, 2006, Liu Jing graduated from a vocational school in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui, a landlocked province in eastern China. She and some classmates went to Guangdong Province in southern China. She found a job in a furniture company in Shunde, Chinas largest powerhouse of sofas and mattresses and beds. In Longjiang Town alone, there are now more than 1,000 manufacturers involved in this business. The company where Liu Jing worked was financed and operated by a Hong Kong businessman and was a producer of high-end sofas and mattresses.

Liu Jing knew nothing about mattresses and made a fool of herself on a few occasions, some jokes that are hilarious enough to appear in Readers Digest. But she learned fast. Her job was to wrap mattress bases with an external surface fabric. She was so good at her job that in a few months she was the best worker in the workshop, more efficient than some old hands who had been there for a few years. During this period, Liu Jing also absorbed technical knowledge like a sponge. She managed to learn job-related things inside out.

In early 2007, she found herself transferred to work in the quality control section. The section boss was a relative of the company boss. The quality control approach before Lu Jing was quite simple: the section boss and her two employees gave a visual check over all the products and then sat on them to see if they were comfortable. A product would pass inspection if its appearance was without a fault and if it was comfortable to sit on.

Liu Jing had her own ideas about quality control. She found fault with the products that had passed the quality inspection of her boss and other quality inspectors. She had good explanations: the spring was too weak; the surface material had the lousy ventilation property; the overly thick bed cushion made reading in bed most uncomfortable;

The wife of the company boss soon learned the quality control frictions. The woman had had four-year experience as a quality controller herself and had every reason to discredit the novices feel and judgment on the products. Liu Jing pointed to a spring mattress she had just tried sleeping in and said she could bet that the beautiful mattress would not sell well. The bosss wife wanted to know more, but Liu Jing said mysteriously that it was her feel.

The wife became curious. She brought the young quality controller into the warehouse and asked her to try out all the products there. Liu Jing sat in them one by one and predicted which ones would sell well and which ones wouldnt. The wife didnt take Liu Jing seriously. A few months later, however, Liu Jings predictions turned to be correct.

The boss and his wife felt amazed. Liu Jing didnt think it was a big deal, saying she could feel it when she sat on any spring product. Realizing that the sensitive body feel was rare and valuable, the boss doubled Liu Jings monthly wage and appointed her a full-time product tester.

Liu Jing tested spring products by jumping into them in a sitting position to find out how soft and comfortable a product was. She could feel the differences of filing materials inside a mattress. Designers used her feedback to avoid mistakes and improve products. With Liu Jing testing all the spring products, abstract product standards that aimed to satisfy the needs and wants of the human body became testable. Liu wrote a report after each test, listing defects and making improvement suggestions.

After a mattress passed the first round of tests, Liu Jing would sleep in to test it further. Her satisfaction was the final word for volume production of any mattress product.

In the first half of 2007, the company launched nearly 30 new mattresses and sofas designed and developed under Lius guidance. 95% of them sold extremely well and the sales shot up over 200%. The boss was overjoyed. Liu Jings wage rose to 7,000 yuan a month.

Some people grumbled. Some ugly sentiments and words circulated. Liu Jing felt wronged. The quality control boss complained to the company boss bitterly. The boss called a company meeting and explained: the company chose Liu Jing as the product tester for quality control and product marketability. He explained that big companies in foreign countries have bed testers and products proved by these testers sell well. He went on to say that everyone in the company could benefit from good sales. The hard feelings vanished.

Liu Jing knew she needed to learn more. She read books on the subject. An unexpected blow struck her pretty soon. In October, 2007, the company produced 600 beds worth 3 million yuan. The latest high-end product was developed with tips from Liu Jing. But the beds did not sell well as expected. The boss was greatly frustrated. Liu Jing was puzzled. She made inquiries and found that the product, instead of being put on markets in northern China, was first put into furniture markets in Guangdong Province. Originally designed for heavier and taller customers in the north, the mattress was not fit for short customers in Guangdong Province. Liu Jing reported her investigation to the boss and suggested to have the product move to northern markets. The beds sold out in two months. After that incident, Liu Jing learned to make regional adjustments for target markets.

Liu Jing became the target of head hunts. And she began to moonlight in her spare time for other mattress manufacturers. Sometimes she tested beds for individual consumers for a fee. Her employer was angry. Liu Jing resigned from the company and started her own business. She signed work contracts with five manufacturers in the province. Now and then she flew to other cities and advised rich men to select a best bed.For a month, she earned 40,000 yuan. She realized that she could make big money.

She is planning to set up a brokerage company to train bed testers for manufacturers all over the country. □