« Yanik's "UnderGround" Seminar - It's Now or Never! | Main | Could you write just 5-pages each day? »
January 20, 2005
Round 1 Goes To The "Street Smarts"
It's 10 PM Eastern time, and I've just spent the last 1.5 hrs working
in front of the Apprentice season premiere.
Think what you want of Donald Trump, but the mix between Trump and Mark Burnett is a match made in business heaven.
There's more education in 1 episode than in most $10,000 seminars.
Here's the takeaway from tonight's Apprentice:
1. The product you choose does matter. The "book smart" team chose
a hamburger they thought was interesting, the "street smart" team
chose a hamburger they new their market would want.
2. Get involved with your business. Don't sit on the sidelines, you
need to know what's going on every step of the way - until you setup
a system that is running by itself.
3. Pick a business where you DON'T NEED EMPLOYEES!! Any episode of
the Apprentice gives you an inside look at the bickering, pettiness
and politics involved in the smallest of teams. Avoid it if you can
by choosing a business - like infoproduct development - that lets you
run with few, if any, employees.
4. Understand what your market wants. In tonight's episode, the challenge
was to sell a new burger by taking over a Burger King franchise in
NYC. Customers want fast, efficient service - attractive products
that don't offend and time is of the essence. By not recognizing this
need - and not training enough cashiers, the "book smarts" made the
fatal flaw of NOT understanding the primary requirements of their
market.
If you missed tonight's episode, haven't been watching the Apprentice,
but still want to succeed in business - think again. Start watching,
it's the least expensive business training you will ever get!
By the way - let me know if I missed anything.
Jeff
Posted by jbsmith at January 20, 2005 10:00 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/cgi-bin/m-type/mt-tb.cgi/3
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Round 1 Goes To The "Street Smarts":
» herbal viagra from herbal viagra
Please visit some relevant information dedicated to viagra cheap phentermine [Read More]
Tracked on November 20, 2005 11:57 PM
» viagra from viagra
cartridges!hierarchy Eccles:trimmer,Debra Sunday adipex http://www.great-doctor.com/adipex.html [Read More]
Tracked on November 21, 2005 07:42 AM
Comments
Hey Jeff, I agree with you 150%. I actually have the whole First season on DVD and have watched it numerous times. Its the best training out there even Donald Trump says that in his books
BTW.... The project manager got FIRED on the First Episode of the 3rd season. Its the first time this has happened since the APPRENTICE begin.
Posted by: Ali Zain at January 21, 2005 02:08 AM
Your observations on managing teams is astute.
It has been a prevalent theme in the first two seasons of the show. Over 250,000 people have applied to be on that show, and they have shown us now about 50 who are the "best of the best".
How many would you actually hire? Maybe a dozen. Out of a quarter million.
No wonder its so easy to get rich in America. The masses are so damn ordinary, anyone who TRIES usually gets ahead.
Keep up these posts. I will be here every week to absorb your musings! Great job.
Posted by: Forex Ninja at January 21, 2005 10:24 AM
Hi Jeff,
What stood out most to me was the "street smarts" decision to choose the easiest product to market. Knowing that time was of the essence that made a smart "positioning" move by selecting a product that already had a place in their customers mind - they didn't have to sell and explain what it was.
"Wanted Dead or Alive" = Western Theme
"Triple Play" = What? Baseball?
Ultimately, I'm sure this played a part in the imagination of the consumer and cut down on the need for explaination about what the product was (thus speeding customer service).
Great show.
Best wishes, John
Posted by: John Barker at January 21, 2005 01:57 PM
