I was forced to start the second round because I was raised in poverty

Chapter 229 Sense of Boundaries

Early the next morning.

Ye Li drove to Shengyue for a meeting.

She didn't dare to go through the main entrance, but drove her car directly to the underground parking garage before taking out her employee ID and using Shengyue's private elevator to go upstairs.

Ye Li did this because she was afraid of running into her parents.

She barely slept last night, spending two or three in the morning working on the jigsaw puzzle.

Inspired by the puzzle, Ye Li quickly produced another business plan.

By the time she finished all that, it was already four or five o'clock. She slept for less than two hours before washing up, changing clothes, and rushing to the company.

Today is the final decision-making meeting for the Du Juan case. If there are no further questions, the plan will be submitted to headquarters.

Therefore, she absolutely must be present today to present her proposal for everyone to discuss.

Ye Li's motivation wasn't utilitarian; she simply felt this version of the plan was more suitable and better than the one Lin Lin had created.

To be honest, it's not really about being pragmatic.

She's about to leave her job, where else can she go to pursue personal gain?

Won't Lin Lin be promoted to deputy manager by then?

As soon as Ye Li stepped out of the elevator, she bumped into Lin Lin, and the two greeted each other.

"Hey, Team Leader Ye, you're so late today."

"Hmm, I'm not late, am I?"

"No, no, just in time. I was just about to go to the meeting room."

"That's fine, that's fine."

"Shall we go together?"

"Okay."

Lin Lin observed that Ye Li was not in good spirits and looked very haggard.

Ye Li didn't wear makeup today, but instead applied a BB cream, but even that couldn't hide her pale complexion.

Her voice was also hoarse, as if she was indeed sick.

Lin Lin asked Ye Li with concern what illness she had.

Ye Li knew that Su Cheng had called in sick leave for her, so she readily accepted Lin Lin's words.

Actually.

She had been under too much mental stress these past few days, and had also suffered from severe sleep deprivation last night, so Lin Lin mistakenly thought she was really sick.

The two of them went to the conference room together.

All members of the joint team, except for Su Cheng, had arrived at the meeting room early and were waiting.

The meeting begins.

"Excuse me, Team Leader Harlin, I'd like to talk about an idea I came up with yesterday."

"Sure, Team Leader Ye, feel free to speak your mind."

Ye Li then took out the proposal she had been working on the night before.

The appeal of the Dujuan case is to increase sales of the three products: A2, B1, and C8.

They spent a month conducting on-site inspections of the factory in Yuzhou and found no issues with the quality. In fact, compared to similar products, Dujuan's baking products were quite competitive.

Their investigation revealed that the repurchase rate for these three products was not high.

to be honest.

There are no repeat customers.

This is the difficult point in the case.

Lin Lin's plan is to increase publicity points and create selling points; the core essence is marketing.

However, this is a temporary solution that does not address the root cause of the problem.

Ye Li's idea was to shorten the steps and processes of the assembly line.

After listening to Ye Li's initial introduction, everyone present couldn't help but frown.

"I can explain the underlying logic of this version of the plan in more detail."

Ye Li continued to explain to everyone with a haggard face and a hoarse voice.

The quality and taste of the three semi-finished baking products, Azalea A2, B1, and C8, are all excellent.

However, only B1 achieved the industry average repurchase rate.

Ye Li grasped the underlying logic.

That means B1 requires far fewer steps to produce than A2 and C8.

In other words, with the B1 product, customers need to take more steps to do it themselves after purchasing it.

The operation steps for A2 and C8 are much fewer.

Simply put it in the microwave and heat it for a few minutes.

Is this a semi-finished product?

Yes.

But Ye Li prefers to call it: fast food products.

It's like frozen dumplings, frozen buns, and frozen steamed buns.

By the standards of "fast food," this product is perfect.

But since they are baked goods, they cannot be categorized as "fast food".

First of all, who would buy these semi-finished baking products?

The majority of customers are female, especially housewives.

Making baked cakes requires a lot of complicated steps.

Even housewives with money and time will find it troublesome.

But since they bought the A2 and C8, they didn't need to do much work.

This would mean losing a core element of baking: a sense of accomplishment.

These housewives would think that they didn't make this.

They neither felt the sense of accomplishment from doing it themselves, nor did they have to spend money or effort.

You might as well just buy it ready-made from a store.

There's no way to showcase my "baking skills," nor can I post them on social media.

It is possible to send it.

However, it contains some deceptive elements, and even I might not be able to get past my own conscience about it.

and so.

The core issue behind the low repurchase rate of A2 and C8 lies here.

Ye Li's solution was to cut some steps on the assembly line and delegate these manual tasks to the customers.

The specific amount to delete, how to delete it, and whether the deletion will change the overall taste and quality of the product are issues that require discussion and deliberation.

This came to her mind last night while she was playing with the jigsaw puzzle that Su Cheng had given her.

Combining the IKEA effect is a kind of alternative extension.

IKEA furniture, like Gundam models and puzzles, is assembled from scratch.

If we take this 100% benchmark...

The issue regarding semi-finished product cases related to azalea baking is as follows:
How many steps need to be removed to ensure that customers can have the sense of accomplishment of doing it themselves, but it's not too troublesome?

Let's take last night's jigsaw puzzle as an example.

Even with a quarter of the Mona Lisa already completed and a third of the Truman Show already finished, she still felt a sense of accomplishment of over 90% after completing them.

Even after completing more than half of the Forrest Gump puzzle, Ye Li still felt a 70% to 80% sense of accomplishment after finishing it.

However, this may not be accurate enough.

Because she had already tried it twice, there was an anchor point.

Due to time constraints, she did not conduct much research.

This version of the plan still needs to be discussed and consulted with the team members to determine the boundaries of Dujuan's baking products in this regard.

But it's not a big problem.

Ye Li has already solved the most crucial part.

The next step is to spend a few more days conducting research and experiments on this issue.

It doesn't need to be perfectly accurate; just get a general idea.

Lin Lin was greatly surprised after listening to Ye Li's entire introduction.

Ye Li's solution not only perfectly addressed Du Juan's core needs but also unexpectedly saved her costs. After all, eliminating a step in the process can reduce labor costs.

Lin Lin looked at Ye Li with a surprised expression.

All the issues that Yuan Xinhao had previously reminded her about, such as Su Cheng leaking the plan and making them share the results... were completely unnecessary!
When Lin Lin made the plan public a few days ago, Ye Li didn't react much.

What a stunning achievement today!

No, sis...

Are you holding back a big surprise?

Did you come up with this last night?

Ye Li's solution directly addresses the core of the problem.

Once this plan was presented, no one had any objections.

Their solution is far superior to theirs!
Qin Fen and Zhang Yangwen secretly rejoiced.

Yuan Xinhao's face gradually darkened.

Mu Xueping's eyes lit up.

She originally thought that Ye Li had given up competing with Lin Lin because she hadn't shown up for so many days and hadn't expressed any constructive opinions or ideas.

Even Su Cheng didn't care or ask about it.

Unexpectedly, Ye Li came up with such a brilliant solution.

Du Juan is a large international company. Such large companies usually don't sign revenue-sharing contracts with consulting firms, but they do offer a lot of money upfront!
Even if calculated at a fixed amount, each of them could earn several hundred thousand.

Ye Li could potentially earn several million based on this proposal.

Mu Xueping was unsure of the exact percentage, but it was possible that it would exceed eight figures.

Mu Xueping was initially not convinced by Ye Li's appointment as group leader, and she even confronted Ye Li for a few days because of it.

Because she did not acknowledge Ye Li's abilities.

But the Du Juan case has caused everyone a great deal of headache, and could even be classified as a "difficult case".

Even Lin Lin's proposed solution did not completely resolve Du Juan's problem.

But Ye Li's explanation was not only logically clear, but also hit the core of the case.

Only then did Mu Xueping completely change her feelings and opinions about Ye Li.

Everyone had already tacitly agreed that Ye Li's version was the most suitable solution, and Mu Xueping had already started calculating the cost.

Everyone's attitude was the same, so Lin Lin had nothing to say.

Compared to Ye Li's plan, theirs was like a roadside dump.

"In that case, shall we report this to headquarters first?"

Lin Lin's words were tantamount to her admitting defeat.

There's no way to avoid admitting defeat.

This isn't something that can be achieved simply by who puts in more effort or dedication.

It's like everyone solving an equation.

You spent a month working on it and only solved the first sub-question, so you only get the points for the first sub-question.

They spent an entire night solving the second and third questions, which accounted for a large portion of the marks, so they definitely got full marks.

Lin Lin felt that her version didn't need to be reported to headquarters; she only needed to report Ye Li's plan.

Her proposal was useless; it was just a foil for Ye Li.

After Ye Li's proposal was approved, she felt a long-lost excitement.

"Team Leader Lin, shall we first discuss the minor issue of which steps to cut?"

"We can discuss this in the afternoon meeting. Let's submit the proposal at noon first, as headquarters and the client are pressing us for it."

Lin Lin praised Ye Li.

"Team Leader Ye, your version of the plan is very well done. Headquarters should be very satisfied."

"Okay, I agree."

After the meeting.

Ye Li asked Lin Lin to stay behind alone so he could explain to her why he had suddenly come up with a plan.

She didn't do it on purpose; the inspiration really came to her last night.

She wasn't apologizing to Lin Lin; there was nothing to apologize for. Ye Li was simply offering an explanation to avoid any misunderstanding.

This version of the plan truly made Lin Lin work for nothing for several days.

If she had taken it out earlier, Lin Lin wouldn't have had to work so hard for so many days; she could have just left it to rot.

"Oh, it's okay."

"Actually, I should thank you, Team Leader Ye."

Lin Lin was actually not satisfied with her own version of the plan, and she knew that the plan could not completely solve Du Juan's problem.

But the headquarters and the client were pressing for it, so I had no choice but to submit hers first.

Lin Lin was already mentally prepared to accept criticism from headquarters, and didn't dare to think about awards or deputy supervisor positions anymore.

Ye Li's plan was, in a way, a way of saving her.

"That way, at least our joint team won't get scolded by headquarters."

Lin Lin quite likes Ye Li.

They said it wasn't an apology, just an explanation.

Lin Lin felt there was nothing to apologize for, and not even an explanation was necessary.

If it were her, she definitely wouldn't explain, because there's no need.

Ye Li even went to her specifically to explain that this attitude towards people was both gentle and firm, leaving no room for criticism.

"Team Leader Ye, would you like to have lunch together?" Lin Lin extended a friendly invitation.

Before Ye Li could give an answer, Xiao Lan from the administration department rushed over.

"Team Leader Ye... are you still busy?"

"Uh, I just finished. Xiao Lan, did you need to see Team Leader Ye? I'll go eat by myself then, Team Leader Ye. Let's meet again next time."

Ye Li hadn't actually intended to agree to Lin Lin's request. Her main concern was running into her parents at the restaurant. She was still thinking about how to politely decline without offending Lin Lin when Xiao Lan happened to come over, saving her the trouble of answering.

"I'll treat you next time!"

"Hahaha, okay."

After Lin Lin left, Xiao Lan closed the meeting room door.

Ye Li suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Hmm? Xiao Lan, what's up?"

"Team Leader Ye, it seems your parents have come to our company."

Ye Li: ???
The elderly couple did indeed come to the company.

She had expected this long ago.

"What's the specific situation?"

Xiao Lan recounted to Ye Li what had happened to several of her colleagues that day. Basically, the elderly couple were asking around to see if they knew Ye Li, which floor she worked on, and which company she worked for.

Ye Li nodded thoughtfully.

Last time Su Cheng's father came to cause trouble, Sheng Yue internally issued a "stranger rule" that required everyone to say they didn't know anything about him.

"Anyway, Team Leader Ye, if you need the company's help, you can let us know."

"It's alright, it's alright, I can handle it myself." Ye Li said with a wry smile, "Thank you, Xiao Lan, for coming up here to tell me about this."

"You're too kind, Team Leader Ye. That's what our administration department does."

Xiao Lan knew that Ye Li was strong-willed, so she didn't delve any deeper into the matter with him, nor did she actively inquire about the specifics of what happened. She knew that he was unlikely to want to talk about his family affairs.

After Xiao Lan left, Ye Li took a few deep breaths in the conference room before walking out of the room.

Ye Li walked straight to the door of a large office and took the initiative to find Su Cheng.

"Hey? Sister Chestnut? You're at the company today?"

Su Cheng was somewhat surprised; he had no idea Ye Li was at the company today.

"Yes, I arrived this morning. I didn't go to my workstation; I went straight to the conference room and had a meeting all morning."

"Has Du Juan's case been resolved?"

Ye Li didn't answer, but looked directly into Su Cheng's eyes and asked directly:

"Didn't you see the problem with Du Juan's case a long time ago?"

(End of this chapter)