New Ladder To Success

For week nine’s task, the remaining nine candidates met with Donald Trump and an Ameriquest executive to learn about their next task. Also joining them were two "true apprentii" Ivanka and Donald Jr. They stepped in as the project overseers instead of George Ross and Carolyn Kepcher.

TEAM SYNERGY:  Allie (project manager), Sean, Tammy, Pepi, Andrea, Roxanne, Brent, and Stacy
TEAM GOLD RUSH:  Michael (previous from Synergy), Tarek, Dan, Bryce, Charmaine, Leslie, Theresa, Lee (project manager), Summer and Lenny

 THE ASSIGNMENT:  This week's task was to create a limited edition Ellis Island souvenir tourist program sponsored by Ameriquest. The teams would take Circle Line boats to Ellis Island, shot photos, then created a souvenir program for the national park. The team that made the most money selling its program to tourists visiting the island in the next day would win. All proceeds would benefit the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation.

THE WINNING TEAM:   Gold Rush

FIRED CANDIDATE:   Andrea

LESSON LEARNED:

1) Selling strategy - Don't be afriad to go after the big order

Lee, Gold Rush’s Project Manager, understood winning this task was about sales volume. He recognized the best way to achieve it was through large bulk sales. Lee assigned other non-mission critical jobs to his teammates. He and Charmaine, an inside-sales expert, worked to generate leads and cold called the local hotels and businesses.

One of Charmaine's sales calls paid off. The next day, a representative from Coldwell Banker agreed to pay $85 for 100 brochures. Total tally of sales for Gold Rush was $1,548.68. While their opponent, Synergy raised $843.40. Lee managed to turn the table after four straight losses.

Note: Ameriquest donated $10,000 in addition to the money raised by Synergy and Gold Rush, because they were impressed by the work of both teams.

2) Pricing, Positioning, Timing and Selling

Lee identified positioning, timing and selling were the main ingredients for success. The presentation of the brochure was only secondary.

On the day of the promotion, Lee roused his team from bed around 5 a.m. and hustled them to the ferry terminal at Battery Park so they could secure the best selling spot and sell their programs to the captive audience (90% of tourists waiting there to ride to Ellis Island.) Synergy showed up later, but there was no more opportunity. Gold Rush dominated the prime location and Synergy had to find an alternate site. Allie decided to go to Ellis Island, but most of those people already purchased a booklet from Gold Rush prior to boarding the ferry.

Well, the result spoke for itself.

3) Don’t over sell yourself - lesson of over promise and under deliver 

Andrea from Synergy boasted about her graphic design background that she was a “graphics specialist”. While Allie (Synergy’s Project Manager) and Tammy were stuck on Ellis Island, Andrea took charge with their graphic designer to create their brochure. When Allie witnessed what Andrea had created, she thought the design was less than acceptable. Upon hearing the criticism, Andrea got up and abandoned her design role, left Allie to rework the design in the minutes leading up to the printing deadline.

When it came to selling, Andrea’s teammates remarked her – never good at sales and never will, weak in sales, she doesn’t know how to sell or how to smooch customers, etc.  All and all, majority of Andrea’s teammates thought she was a terrible salesperson, a difficult team member, and a horrible designer. Andrea was blamed for the team’s loss, because she didn't deliver what she promised. 

4)  A good leader can lead people; a great leader can also be led.

Trump commented a good leader knows how to lead, but a great leader knows how to follow, at least to certain extent. Andrea is someone who can't be lead. Andrea's teammates criticized she was not a team player and was a disruptive influence on the team itself.  Tammy said Andrea questions every decision, creates stress, is disruptive and fails to inspire others. Trump without even calling for Allie to select someone to accompany her to a final boardroom session, decided to fire Andrea.

Trump's Lesson of the Week: "All in the Family"

Trump pointed out family and business are both priorities. If you love your family, love it! If you love your business, love it! But you can love your family and your business, and have a great family and a great business. There is room for other things. Find room to have it all!

Related links:   The Apprentice on NBC, The Apprentice on SirLinksalot.net,The Apprentice Rules, Ellis Island and AmeriCorps