Lessons Learned

• The Good:

  • Pulling the team together. Tammy wisely identified early on that it would be difficult for her team to operate collaboratively when Allie and Roxanne were still trying to nail Sean for sticking up for Andrea in last week's task. As project manager, she recognized the importance and responsibility to put out the fires. She smartly focused on trying to mend the problem so her team could operate at its maximum potential.

  • A marketing plan. Tammy put together an effective marketing plan by blanketing fliers the evening before the grand opening through neighborhood restaurants, bars and shops. This team also did a great job of cross selling the hair salon products to customers waiting for haircuts. These efforts stand in stark contrast to Gold Rush's lame last-minute attempt to market by putting fliers on car windows.
     

• The Bad:

  • Wishy-washy leadership. Charmaine went back and forth on a key decision about having a theme. First she said she wasn't using consensus and then quickly retracted saying if that was the way the rest of her team wanted it -- she would have to use consensus. A team will not follow leaders who are weak, uncertain or lacking in resolve. Leaders who give confusing directions will likewise be confusing to follow.

  • Listen to your team. Charmaine failed to listen to her teammates when, A) they pleaded that she identify a theme for the event (she insisted grand opening was a theme), and B) they wanted to market the event vs. restock shelves. She ignored them, arguing that she was the boss and failed the task as a result. When you have talented, smart people, it pays to listen to them and be open to their ideas.

  • Priorities in the wrong place. Charmaine wasted much of her team's valuable time and energy stocking shelves (five hours by Lee's account) and put almost no time or effort toward marketing or a sales plan. Project managers need to put a plan together that capitalizes of getting the most bang for their resource buck. She should have had her smart team members on marketing activities instead of restocking hair product in the salon.
     

• The Ugly: 

  • Getting your own needs met at the expense of the task. With no customers and three hours remaining in the task, what was Charmaine doing? Getting her hair done at the salon. Later she tried to defend her action saying she was experiencing what made the salon unique. Give me a break; at this point getting people into the empty salon should have been her priority.

  • Trump's over-the-top flirtation. Is anyone else out there tired of watching Trump ogle the female candidates? This week it was all about Charmaine, who he told in the boardroom, "I think you are very, very attractive." How many times do we have to watch him shamelessly flirt with the candidates? He went so far as to call Tarek a "schmuck" for not taking advantage of Charmaine's desire for everyone to "love each other." The message Trump is sending the impressionable young future business leaders of America is simply wrong. Look out; next week it's cheerleaders.
     

• Respect is the bottom line: Neither Charmaine nor Tarek demonstrated respect for the other. Their childish fight in the boardroom was embarrassing and highly disrespectful. Having mutual respect, and trust, is vital for any successful team and leadership relationship. Charmaine was frustrated because she believed that Tarek wasn't giving her the respect owed to her as project manager. The problem here is the belief that respect is a right that comes along with a job title. Respect is earned.

  The bottom line:  To get respect as a leader demonstrate your competency, lead by example (honesty, integrity), give clear direction and be decisive, protect your people be open to the influence of your team, and inspire, support and encourage your team.
   

• First Things First: Charmaine's problem as project manager was that even though she clearly had more experience with hair salons than the three men on the team, she did a poor job of prioritizing tasks in preparation for the grand opening event. The night before, when Synergy was out distributing promotional fliers, Charmaine had all the members of the Gold Rush team in the salon stacking shelves. Lee correctly pointed out to her that there should have been some sales effort going on, and that stocking could be done later in the wee hours of the morning. In addition, the opening day tactic for generating in-store traffic consisted mainly of Lee and Tarek placing fliers on parked cars. Lee noted that the tactic would have limited effectiveness because there was no face-to-face contact with potential customers.

  The bottom line: Charmaine seemed to miss the main point of the task, which was to get people into a Hair Cuttery salon and have them spend money. As a result, she placed greater emphasis on shelf displays than on the promotion of the grand opening event. Personal contact with sales prospects was crucial and Gold Rush simply didn't have it.
   

• The Importance of Step-Up Selling: One thing that Tammy understood was that at a hair salon, it's important to try and sell more than hair styling. As a result, she and her teammates pushed the sale of shampoo, conditioner and other products. These items generate additional sales and profits. A $15 haircut can easily turn into a $25 to $30 total sale or more if styling customers also take home hair care products from the salon instead of buying them somewhere else.

  The bottom line: "How about a bottle of shampoo to take home?" "Can I recommend a tie to go with that shirt?" "Would you like fries with that burger?" No matter what the category, step-up suggestive selling is a great way to capitalize on a customer's positive inclination to purchase.

Rankings

After the departure of Charmaine and Tarek, there is some reshuffling of the remaining six candidates. Here is the new ranking of the candidates, based on the likelihood that they will eventually be hired by Trump.

1. Lee (Gold Rush): He continues to impress with his insight of sales situations, plus he is still the only remaining candidate with two wins as a project manager.

2. Michael (Gold Rush): He moves up to the number two position, mainly because he made some good arguments in the boardroom that resonated with Trump. However, he was criticized for being a bit too "micro" in his work on this week's task.

3. Sean (Synergy): He drops a slot to number three. He really had a tough time justifying his defense of Andrea in the previous week's boardroom. He still has one victory as a project manager.

4. Tammy (Synergy): She needed a victory as a project manager and got it this week, so she's now batting .500 in that role.

Tammy also gets a gold star this week for understanding the importance of product sales as well as selling styling appointments.

5. Roxanne (Synergy): She still has one victory as a project manager, but there's some doubt about what she really brings to the table.

6. Allie (Synergy): Like Tammy, she also has one victory and one loss as a project manager, but she appears to be marking time.

Commentary

When Sean came to Andrea's defense in last week's boardroom, he pitted himself squarely against Allie and Roxanne. All three of them had engaged in a lot of mutual flirting in previous episodes. After Allie and Roxanne confronted Sean and demanded a justification for his defense of Andrea, it was clear that his relationship with Allie and Roxanne had cooled. This week, he turned his attention to Tammy, worked with her closely on the task, took her out for pizza in a "date" of sorts, and gushed about how wonderful and beautiful she was. Tammy, for her part, seemed to enjoy the attention and to return the feelings.  As always, the blossoming of these types of relationships is understandable, but if Sean is eventually pitted against Tammy, the tension will be even greater than it would normally be.