Ms. Annie Yap, founder of AYP Group was invited as a guest speaker hosted by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Asia to give her thoughts about entrepreneurship, and how she runs her business. The students who were present were aspiring entrepreneurs, and those interested in pursuing a career in Human Resources (HR). The purpose of her talk was to inspire and motivate the students, as well as to advise them on the correct direction they should take to get a head-start.
In the sharing session, she mentioned she split her play-to-win strategy into two parts which were used both during and after the Circuit Breaker period. The first part focuses on improving sales and brand awareness. This was done by changing the little things in sales, people, finances, and products based on changes in the needs of the market. In the sales component, brand awareness and conversion rates were focused on, innovative pricing strategies were analysed. Increasing sales volume was investigated through tactical and cross selling. When it came to the people within the company, bi-weekly employee surveys were carried out to monitor progression and wellbeing of employees working from home. E-Learning and communication were stepped up. Finances were monitored monthly and budgets revised. Returns in foreign exchange were maximised by treasury function. Products were also consistently investigated and upgraded.
Part two of the play-to-win strategy was carried out post-Circuit Breaker. It focused on three components: defence, offense, and coach. The defence strategy focused on enhanced customer service and sustaining balance. The offense strategy focused on brand awareness campaigns, value selling and meeting software certification standards. The coaching strategy involves re-assessing strategies periodically.
Throughout her years of entrepreneurship, Annie has learnt five valuable lessons:
Firstly, that failure is the key ingredient to success. Secondly, that one should always begin a task with the end in mind. Thirdly, it is important to start the day with rest. Fourthly, take one day at a time, one step at a time. Finally, believe and go all in. Annie shared that building a visionary company requires 1% vision and 99% alignment.
We believe that the talk hosted by Annie was both informative and engaging for the students, and hope that it has helped give them an additional push in working towards their goals and aspirations.
