Donald Trump’s The Celebrity Apprentice Fires Gene Simmons

Every Thursday night I watch Donald Trumps’ The Apprentice.  I enjoy both its entertainment value and the business lessons it demonstrates.

This season is called the Celebrity Apprentice. The celebrities are not vying for a $100,000 job with Donald Trump, they are raising money for their favorite charities.

In this episode, Gene Simmons, from KISS fame, happily moved over from the all men team, Hydra, to the women’s team called Empresario.  The task was to raise awareness of how Kodak’s new inkjet printing system saves consumers up to 50 percent on everything they print.

Surprisingly, the team that won did not produce the best packaging or slick promotional material, but focused on the goal of the client.

With coffee-ruined laptops, last-minute promotional material, sloppy set-up, and a sub-par layout, Hydra was singularly focused on making sure each prospect understood the new Kodak inkjet system would save printing cost money.  Empresario, with the “benovelent dictactor” Gene Simmons, decided to go the route of big picture highly stylized and flashy vision of it’s a “Kodak World.”

What I learned from this episode is that promotional material is important.  However, having a focused understanding of what your product or service can provide and effectively communicate that knowledge in a clear, concise way is of greater importance and can be done more cost-effectively than any expensive 4-color fluff piece.

If Empresario was able to just tweak Gene Simmons fantastic promotion to explain how it could save the printer ink buying public more time and money they would have won.  In relation to real estate, this could be equal to having a great product, in a good location, but not being able to deliver in terms for financing.  It is important to understand the entire picture, yet focus on the point that will get a unique product, service, or concept sold will ultimately solve a client’s “heartburn” issue.

If you miss the mark on what your unique service proposition should be you will ultimately hear the words that Gene Simmons did from Donald Trump, “You’re fired!”