The Apprentice Recap from 5/1 Episode

It’s been several weeks since I’ve given my commentary, but it’s not because I haven’t been watching the show. Typically, we record the show and watch it later in the week which delays this blog post, but the last few weeks have been absolutely INSANE. Just as most LCO’s have been busy kicking the season off, I’ve been busy helping a handful of LCO’s kick up their marketing efforts a notch or two.

If you’re not satisfied with the results of your spring marketing efforts, shoot me an email and I’d be happy to spend a few minutes talking about potential solutions.

Anyway, on to my analysis of ‘The Apprentice’.

I don’t know why it is and I constantly wonder when these people will learn, but the whole reason the losing team lost is because of their marketing. Or better yet, their LACK of marketing.

During the first few weeks of the show, I really thought Tarek was a complete numb-skull, but as weeks passed and I saw him step up I changed my thinking. Even to the point where I thought for a while he might be the one to win.

The reason I say that is because he was the only one on the losing team that even suggested having a theme for their event. He asked numerous times, “what’s our theme and what are we promoting to get people in the door?” As is typically the case, he was brushed off and their theme was “A Grand Opening.” Wow. That’ll get people in the door. Not.

On top of their pathetic marketing message, the team was inside stacking shelves when it should have been out spreading the word about their ‘event’. As much as I despise Lee and his cameleon-like persona, he did have a good point with this one when he kept telling Charmaine that they should be out marketing instead of stocking shelves.

Now, I won’t go so far as to say that the winning team did a spectacular job either, but they at least realized the importance of marketing their ‘event’. They were at least out the night before handing out fliers and speaking to passers-bye about the event the next day. We have no way of telling how many people showed up as a result of their efforts, but they at least recognized the importance of doing SOMETHING.

Now that I’ve leveled my criticisms, you’re probably wondering what I would’ve done. Well, for starters I would’ve created a marketing message. I would’ve developed a theme for the event and then created several special offers or packages based on that theme. I would have had several incentives or offers to get people in the door, such as a free shampoo with a cut, or a free neck trim for the guys, or possibly a buy one get one free special on the products.

Next, I would’ve created a discount coupon that I could take to the neighboring businesses and told them they could give it to their customers as a ‘Thank You’. I would have also got a list of people that lived within close proximity and then hired a tele-marketer to call them and tell them about the special offer the next day. If there was time, I would’ve sent a direct mail piece or gone around to several residential neighborhoods to pass out flyers or door hangers mentioning the special offer.

So how does this apply to marketing your lawn care or landscaping business? As it usually does, it comes down to knowing how to market your business. Just like the losing team, you can’t simply open your doors and expect people to show up. You need to create a marketing message, develop a plan for sharing this message with those people most qualified and interested to hear your message, and then go out and execute the plan.

At the end of the day, you’re lucky in that you don’t have to worry about going into a boardroom to face ‘The Donald’, but if your situation’s anything like mine, the boardroom you have to face at home might be a whole lot worse!

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