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Business Rule #13:
Believe in Your Product
December 3, 2004
(PAGE 2 of 3)
You would think that Ivana would have learned something, way back when, on the first task, when she lost to the men’s team dressed alike in “Good Humor” outfits. Uh-uh. Ivana and her team didn’t go with any particular uniform. Sure they were selling wearing M&M T-shirts, but what about their pants? And those T-Shirts—how boring were they? Come on! Where are the M&M mascots? Where are the balloons for the kids if their parents buy a second or third all new delicious M-Azing Bar? You want to know something. Forget about all that. Something even more basic was missing: the smiles.
They simply didn’t look happy to be out there, selling a great product. Kevin immediately gave up and said, “I’m just going to sell them at what ever I can get for them.” You know, Kevin, I really believed in you, man, but you’re starting to let me down. If you believe in a product, you can sell it for practically any price you want! Anybody remember the grilled cheese sandwich that sold on eBay for five figures because it bore a certain likeness to the Virgin Mary?
I mentioned Jennifer’s and Sandy’s legs for a reason—and it’s not to catch a harassment suit. These two women may be damn attractive, but it seemed they were more adept at selling personality than candy. They sold to men who ogled them and families who thought that they were cute. I will repeat that I do not believe that Jennifer and Sandy believed in their product, but they believed in something a little more important and that is themselves.
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They knew that if they came up with a sexy attitude and a sexy look, they could sell and, if you noticed, the first group of people they attacked was men, and construction workers at that. That says to me that they didn’t believe in the product and that what they were really selling was themselves. Nonetheless, they picked up on how to market the product effectively and get it into the hands of eager consumers. At the tune of $5 apiece.
In a true demonstration of word-of-mouth advertising, Ivana hears about it from a passerby, causing her to go into a frenzy. When she then crosses paths with them, she turns livid at how they’re dressed. So what does Ivana do? She offers to drop her skirt for anyone who buys a candy bar from her for twenty bucks.
How absolutely crass! Why not just re-strategize? I completely agree with Trump for firing her. I shudder to think what she would do in a property negotiation that was failing. Would she offer to meet the seller in a dark alleyway when his wife wasn’t around? There’s a word for women like that.
Desperate.
Men were laughing at her when she did it. And then, in the boardroom, she had the nerve to say, “I sold a candy bar for twenty bucks!” Carolyn shot right back, “But you weren’t selling a candy bar—wouldn’t you agree?” Everyone knows that it wasn’t the offer of a great candy bar that got her $20. She looked desperate and, in business, you can’t ever afford to look desperate or lose your cool. If you’re trying to sell something and it’s not working, take your lumps and move on—but never resort to such desperate measures to sell. It will never work.
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Something even more basic was missing: the smiles.
