In the past, I have said I am a fan of reality television shows and one of my favorites is the Celebrity Apprentice. Author's note here - I met Donald Trump and spoke with him regarding the formation of one of what turned out to be a failed business venture, Trump Mortgage. One of the selling points of the mortgage company was the name Trump as a brand.
So you can see that Mr. Trump is big on salesmanship and that is reflected in many of the tasks he has assigned in the past seasons of the show, as well as the recent first week of the new season.
Now, obviously, directors edit the show in the way to make it more interesting as well as throw the viewers a swerve or two. As part of the judging process, Mr. Trump had Joan Rivers visit both businesses (raising money for charity through competing diners) and her view that the women's team had a better business gave them an extra $10,000 to their total.
Yet, even with the extra money, the men's team still trounced women in total money raised, and it came down to salesmanship. In my view the women, whose on the street marketing person was Carol Leifer, maybe did too good of a job.
Brian Sacks, in his columns has said find a niche and stick to it, don't try to be everything to everybody. The women's team did look to serve everyone. Ms. Leifer brought in too much business, with the result being there were people who might have been more apropos customers to raising money being left on the sidewalk unable to enter.
In the scenes involving the men's teams business, Sinbad is shown talking with people leaving the diner complaining the prices were too high. Sometimes you have to set aside the clients who don't fit your niche, as Mr. Sacks has said.
In his Tel-E-Sales e-mail tip, Art Sobczak, the president of Omaha, Neb.-based Business By Phone Inc., agrees. In talking about the men's high prices, he commented, "The sales reps in companies who consistently have the largest average order size are the ones selling the higher priced and higher margin items, and selling at full price. No revelation there, right? They go after the bigger orders. What are you gong after?"
He also commented that the women "were so busy with the small customers they did not have time to sell to the bigger, more profitable ones."
At the end of the show, Ms. Leifer (mostly at the whim of her teammates) was fired, although she did not draw up the overall strategy of selling to the mass market instead of a niche. Sometimes it pays to be a little less successful and handling a few clients, then handling all types and finding yourself stretched too thin.
