I said it – albeit a little censored. This is a polite blog, you know. True talent does seem to be pretty scarce at Apprentice Towers, and common sense seems to be in short supply too. I promised someone I’d be briefer in my report this week, so here goes.
The Teams: Empire – James PM, Ben, Debra, Yasmina. Ignite – Lorraine PM, Howard, Kate. Four versus three, how could Empire lose?
The Task: To choose 2 preferred items from a pre-selected list, and sell them on a demonstration stand at a baby and maternity fair at Earl’s Court. How hard could it be? The stand is booked, thousands of customers are coming. All you need to do, in this instance, is sell more than your competitors. In my experience, and in order to make it worthwhile, given the cost of setting up these fairs, getting a stand, and staff costs, you really need to sell at least £3,000 of goods, to generate even a minimal profit. Based on that, and the expected potential customers, they needed to select products accordingly. I didn’t see anyone discussing who the customers might be, and how to structure their day. On the strong recommendation of Debra, James went for the £1,700 rocking horse, and the £70 inflatable birthing pool. This was despite knowing that only 2% of women go for home births, and even then not always in a paddling pool. I suspect Debra saw something of a family resemblance in that horse. Lorraine (mother of two) decided to plump for the most complicated pushchair, (£135) and the Thud Caps (£15). Oddly, the pram sold well, despite being severely undercut by another retailer. They did need a man though, to demonstrate to Lorraine how it worked. I’ve certainly had to do just this, for her indoors, for each of three children. Whilst they may have struck lucky, it was a very long shot that the rocking horses were going to sell on the day, at those extortionate prices. Father of one, James, really got into his stride selling the birthing pool, and demonstrated a startling gynaecological knowledge of the process. The pools sold well, but the horses were a distraction on the stand. Equally, Lorraine’s tam mainly sold the buggies in good numbers, and at good enough price point to rack up the revenues. Frankly, the teams chose poorly, and did not go beyond their respective stands to really generate interest. Why wasn’t anyone going beyond the confines of their stand, to bring in more active customers? Why didn’t they negotiate better prices from suppliers? And why did they waste their time on horses and baby helmets?
The Boardroom: As James pointed out, his backside was making buttons over this. And rightly so, as His team sold only £722, against £1,665 in sales by Lorraine’s team. Ignite had one less Apprentice, but sold more than twice as much. Lorraine’s form is looking very good here, as is Kate’s. For Empire, James gave Yasmina a deserved pass, and brought the remaining two back for the hairdryer treatment. When asked to defend himself, Ben instantly plays the Sandhurst card, but is cut short by Sir Alan “I was in the Jewish Lads Brigade, Stanford Hill Division, Trainee Bugler!” In my book, James is a star, Debra is an irritating asset, and Sir Alan was absolutely correct in telling Ben “You’re Fired!”
Stay tuned here, where later in the week, I shall review the relative merits of the remaining candidates.
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