Guru Of Sales

The Celebrity Apprentice 11 (More Food)!

Only 5 left, things will get more interesting.

Speed working, 2 hours to prepare, 2 hours to sell, I think Trace and Stephen did a better job than Hydra, but the smaller number was a factor in their loss.

Here is episode 11 exclusive summery from the blog:

The teams designed sandwiches for Quiznos, and then sold them without calling on any of their high-powered friends. That meant sheer salesmanship and pavement pounding as they couldn’t rely on any big spenders to pay big bucks for a single sandwich. Whoever sold the most sandwiches would win.

At Empresario, Trace stepped up as project manager. Although he has brought in a lot of money for his team during past tasks, he’s yet to earn money for his charity with a win as project manager. At Hydra, it was Lennox’s turn again as team leader. He took the helm with the ever-present Piers offering suggestions at every turn.

When it came time to create their sandwiches, the teams took different tacks. Team Hydra chose to make only a minor modification to Quiznos’ most popular sandwich: a fairly basic turkey and cheese concoction. They named it the Champ Sandwich after, who else, but their resident champ, Lennox. Over at Empresario, Trace came up with something much more original, a unique sirloin creation called the Cowboy Club.

Both teams took to the streets early to promote their sandwiches. At Empresario, they immediately had flyers printed up (featuring both Trace and Stephen in cowboy hats) and were handing them out well before selling time started. Things were rockier at Hydra where the flyers didn’t come through until minutes before the sandwiches were ready to be sold.

Both teams seemed to do a good job drawing people into their restaurants. Hydra used the Lennox star power, promising autographs and photos with the boxer to anyone who bought a sandwich. While Hydra’s Piers was yelling like a carnival barker, over at Empresario Trace had a much more laid-back approach, wooing customers in a calmer, more low-key way.

Although it looked like both teams had a steady stream of customers, in the end Hydra won, selling 313 Champ Sandwiches to Empresario’s 253 Cowboy Clubs. In the boardroom, Trace was willing to take the blame for the loss. “I made every call. I called every shot,” he admitted to Mr. Trump. “The onus is on me completely today.”

But Ivanka pointed out that Trace has consistently raised more money on every other task than Stephen and, when Mr. Trump asked who wanted this more, Trace spoke up and emotionally spoke about how much he wanted to win for his charity. In the end, although Trace was project manager and had led his team to a loss, Mr. Trump felt that his past performance made him more valuable than Stephen, so Stephen was the one to go.

My thoughts:

Keep it simple, listen to your team, and you will be on your way to win.

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The Celebrity Apprentice 10 (Slaughter)!

Episode started at Mr. Trump apartment, one of the best apartments in the world, and his family was there too, he introduced his son Barron, which he thinks that will be a great entrepreneur, I think the kid is very smart for 18 months old and I hope to see him around us soon.

Biggest win in the history of the show, biggest lose as well.

Mr. Trump called it Slaughter, and Omarosa is finally gone.

I never thought she belonged to this season any way, but I did say the Piers have big potential and that he was just misunderstood, that being said, he brought the most amount of cash in one episode, one day, in the history of this show.

Piers did say that he lost his cool and got mad instead of getting even. Well I think that everything in it’s place and the show continues to go on.

Here is episode 10 exclusive summery from the blog:

The teams faced an artistic challenge this week. They each had to pick one artist represented by the Moti Hasson Gallery in New York. The team that made the most money selling works by their artist would win – and they only had one evening to sell.

Omarosa, who got fired because of her performance in a similar project during her previous Apprentice season, claimed the job of project manager at Empresario. She said she had “something to prove.” At Hydra, Piers took the leadership post for a personal reason too – he wanted to destroy Omarosa.

Both teams met with the owner of the Moti Hasson Gallery to select their artists. Hydra picked artist Shirley Shor for a strategic business reason: she was the only artist whose works were available in limited editions. That meant that Hydra could sell multiple copies of her works and have a large inventory to sell, despite the limited wall space in the gallery. Meanwhile, Empresario decided to sell works on paper by David Kramer.

With their artists chosen, both teams started to call their high-profile friends, inviting them to buy artworks. Piers called the British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and other high-rollers, who agreed to come buy art.

As the teams set up their display rooms, Lennox realized that his team would be displaying their works in the back rooms of the gallery, behind Empresario’s display area. It was a big disadvantage. Before buyers could even see Hydra’s wares, they would have to pass through Empresario’s selling area.

As the buyers arrived at the gallery, Omarosa stood at the front door and shuttled people toward her team’s display. When Lennox saw what she was up to, he positioned himself next to her and directed traffic back to his team’s rooms.

A few of Stephen’s contacts showed up – but a lot more of Piers’ did too, and they bought heavily. Things were not going well for Empresario. One of Stephen’s contacts even blew right by him and bought something from Carol on the other team!

When it was time to tally the sales, everyone could sense that Hydra had outsold Empresario by a wide margin. Omarosa looked ashen. Empresario had, in fact, sold only three out of their available 16 paintings, earning only $7,000. In contrast, Hydra sold 14 out of their 20 works, earning a stunning $164,000.

Mr. Trump quickly dubbed the defeat, “The biggest slaughter in the history of the Apprentice.”

Piers gloated about his “personal” defeat of Omarosa. Rhapsodizing over his win, he suggested that Mr. Trump fire two people on the Empresario team because of their staggering defeat.

When the Hydra team left the boardroom, Omarosa immediately began to play the blame game, saying “I am only as good as my sales team.” But Ivanka and Mr. Trump were not buying it. In a last-ditch effort to save her neck, Omarosa then started to attack Piers, saying, “I know some things about him.” When Mr. Trump asked her what those “things” were, she made incredible statements that Piers was gay (”I think he’s in the closet”). As proof, she pointed out that Piers had asked both Trace and Stephen to take their shirts off in previous tasks this season. Mr. Trump then invited Piers back into the room to defend himself. Piers took him up on the offer by dashing into the room, kissing Trace on the cheek, then dashing out again. Piers’ ploy worked well and made Omarosa’s attack on his sexuality seem doubly absurd.

In the wake of the biggest rout ever on the show, Mr. Trump had hardly any choice. He fired Omarosa, the project manager.

My thoughts:

Do not forget the law of supply and demand, I think Hydra won because of that.

When Omarosa said that she “knew some things” about Piers, she was engaging in classic character assassination by implying that she had some “dirt” that she did not wish to reveal. Then when Mr. Trump called her bluff, she fabricated absurd, un-businesslike accusations against Piers – and her political house of cards collapsed around her, sooner or later, lying always gets exposed. When Mr. Trump is in control, it gets exposed even faster. If you don’t play fair, you will eventually get trapped by your own lies.

Also, when Omarosa accused Piers of being gay, she stepped completely outside norms of acceptable business behavior. In business, you cannot discriminate against people on the basis of their race, religion or sexual preference. Let’s get real here!

But Piers was not all nice this week either. He threatened to hit Stephen! Threatening violence against a colleague will get you fired from any job – maybe even locked up. Let that be a lesson.

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The Celebrity Apprentice 9 (Naked Photos)!

I like the task of this episode, which was all about marketing, my favorite subject, it was to market a product in a print ad form, unlike last episode which was a TV ad form.

I thought that Hydra made the best of team work and used all the experience they had without being afraid of taking it to the limits.

Here is episode 9 exclusive summery from the blog:

Only seven celebrities were still in the running as this week’s episode began. They were Omarosa, Stephen, Tito and Trace at team Empresario; and Carol, Lennox and Piers at Hydra.

The teams created ad layouts to be run in Redbook for Dial Nourishing Yogurt Body Wash. Executives from Dial and Redbook would pick the winning ad based on its creativity, brand integration, overall message and content.

At Empresario, Omarosa was doing her best to claim the job of project manager. Then Mr. Trump said, “With a smaller number of you left, the job of project manager is now a lot riskier.” At that point, she turned to Tito and insisted that he take the job - and he did. Meanwhile, Carol became Hydra’s leader. After appearing on the cover of Redbook five times in her modeling career, she was well qualified to lead her team.

Both teams met with the judges to find out what it would take to win. But after their meetings, the teams decided on very different strategies for their ads.

Hydra decided to produce an ad that would appeal to Redbook’s core readership: women with an average age of 37. They planned to have their layout tell the story of a woman who wanted to feel beautiful at key moments in her life: when holding her baby, relaxing in a warm bath and enjoying an intimate moment with her husband. Hydra also decided that Carol should be the model in their ad because she matched the demographic profile of Redbook’s readers.

Empresario had learned from the Redbook editor that the magazine’s readers love country music, so they staged their photos in a Western setting and featured Trace.

When it was time to present their ads to the judges, Piers made a polished pitch that underscored Hydra’s efforts to hit the target demographic. Then Tito presented well for Empresario, though he seemed nervous.

The judges selected Hydra’s ad as the winner because of its engaging story, good targeting and strong theme. The only photo they didn’t like was one that depicted Carol enjoying an intimate moment with a man who was about to bite her shoulder.

In the boardroom for the firing, Mr. Trump asked Tito why he had agreed to become project manager. Tito’s answer, “They pushed it on me,” did little to build his image as a strong leader. George Ross, who was present for the firing, turned to Omarosa and asked, “You’re in marketing . . . why didn’t you step up and be leader?” That got Omarosa scrambling to avoid blame. But in the end, Mr. Trump fired Tito because he bore ultimate responsibility for his team’s loss. After the firing, Mr. Trump praised Tito for his many exceptional qualities and gave him $50,000 to support Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

My thoughts:

Although I don’t understand what Omarosa is still doing in this show, and she should be gone, but I know she played safe business politics, oh well, maybe next time.

Tito was nervous in the presentation, I do not think that he was the right PM and that he should have worked a bit harder for this one.

However, Tito did a great thing at the end which is shaking the drivers hand with a smile (Which I do to every single person I meet or work with), and that tells you to be nice to people no matter who or where you are.

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The Celebrity Apprentice 8 (Clean Play)!

Nothing very exciting about this episode, not after the great episode we had last week, everything was played right and clean, the better team won.

Here is episode 8 exclusive summery from the blog:

The teams produced 10-minute sales segments to be shown on the QVC home shopping network. The team that made the most money selling one product would win.

Things got off to a rocky start when both teams wanted to sell the same product - a combination ladder/handtruck called the LadderKart. So the teams flipped a coin. Empresario lost the toss and had to settle for a rechargeable electric sweeper.

Empresario picked Stephen to lead them this week. Hydra chose Marilu. Then the teams boarded helicopters for a flight to QVC headquarters in Pennsylvania. Lennox napped during the flight because he had been out late partying the night before.

Hydra tapped Marilu to be their on-air presenter because she had sold her own books on QVC in the past. Rick, an experienced product presenter from QVC, would co-present with her during their segment. Meanwhile, Empresario picked Trace to be their on-air spokesman. His partner would be Lisa, a QVC presenter whose Southern accent made her a natural match for Trace.

Both on-air presentations went smoothly, though they were very different in style. Marilu’s enthusiasm was compelling, but she talked too much. Trace, in contrast, was calm as he demonstrated his sweeper’s ability to vacuum up nuts and bolts that he had dropped on the floor. He also offered viewers the option of paying for their sweeper in four installments through QVC’s Easy Pay financing plan.

When sales were counted, Empresario had earned $43,000. Hydra scored a disappointing loss by tallying just $35,135 in sales.

In the boardroom for the firing, Mr. Trump grilled the members of Hydra, asking why they had not learned about QVC’s Easy Pay pricing system, which might have driven more sales. As the pressure intensified to pick someone to fire, Piers accused Lennox of being a “Sleepy Boy” during the task. Marilu also targeted Lennox for not contributing enough. But in the end, Mr. Trump fired Marilu for being in ineffective project leader.

My thoughts:

Research, research, research, learn everything about the business. The knowledge you gain will get you better results.

Marilu did not give 100% on the job that she does best, therefor: Fired!

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The Celebrity Apprentice 7(History made)!

WOW, is all I can say about this episode, one of the most interesting episodes in the history of the show, with even the most odd result ever.

Started with Mr. Trump changing the teams after all the loses (5 out of 6) with a vision to make it equal.

I did not agree on having Omarosa on Piers team, and I strongly disagree on abusing Piers family the way she did, it was nasty, mean and just plain ghetto, plus what is she doing on the show?! She is not even a celebrity.

Here is episode 7 exclusive summery from the blog:

This episode we saw the first Apprentice in history with no firing!

Before the task was announced, Mr. Trump juggled the membership of the teams. For this week, Empresario’s members would be Marilu, Tito, Trace and Stephen; Hydra’s were Carol, Lennox, Omarosa and Piers. Piers made no attempt to hide his anger about being on the same team as Omarosa.

The task this week was to sell rides in horse-drawn cabs in New York’s Central Park. Each team got three cabs, and the team that made the most money selling rides would win. Trace stepped up and became Empresario’s project manager. Meanwhile, Piers took the helm as Hydra’s team leader.

Piers’ first act as leader was to offer a truce to Omarosa by saying, “Let’s have an end to hostilities… I want to win.” She accepted, but in no time at all, the two of them were at each other’s throats and the Hydra team was a battleground. Meanwhile over at Empresario, all the teammates were working beautifully together.

The celebrities on both teams began calling their powerful friends to ask for contributions. Omarosa, a non-celebrity, was at a disadvantage because her teammates had more wealthy contacts to call.

On the day of the event, both teams headed to Central Park South and started selling cab rides. Through the afternoon, Billy Baldwin and other celebrities arrived to help raise money. But when the cash was counted, Empresario had raised $29,673 to Hydra’s $35,184. Empresario, the team with terrific teamwork, had lost!

In the boardroom for the firing, Mr. Trump was at a loss. He really wanted to terminate Piers or Omarosa, but they were safe on the winning team. He asked Marilu, Tito, Trace and Stephen to name the weakest member of their team. They couldn’t. He even asked if any of them wanted to quit. They didn’t. So in a history-making end to the episode, Mr. Trump decided not to fire anyone.

My thoughts:

I think Trace worked a great team and should have brought more at the end, but the fact is he didn’t win.

Mr. Trump changed the rule by not firing any one, instead, I think he should have changed another rule and fired Omarosa from the winning team.

History was made but I think again that Piers was calmed and defended his family the right way, respectfully.

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