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The Apprentice Series 9 Episode 10 - 9pm BBC1 - Stall to Shop (03/07/13)


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Old 05-07-2013, 02:52
thenetworkbabe
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Myles seemed a nice bloke and he may be good at his job - expensive product branding - but he totally lost his way in the last two tasks .By sheer good fortune he didn't get fired last week, poor Alex got the chop even though Myles came up with the concept and design of the snack food, and this week he picked the wrong products. Ceramics? People buy ceramics in Shoreditch? You're more likely to buy a ditch in Shoreditch than a ceramic glove and notepad.

The men picked the wrong products, priced them too high, couldn't display them correctly and the women picked the right products, priced them right and displayed them well. The men were embarrassingly bad compared to the women. And for that reason Myles had to go! Monaco is quite warm this time of the year so I'm sure he'll recover from his firing.
Add to which it was a selling task when his proposal was to do with selling. And his proposal was to sell high end products when his team picked the wrong high end products. He might argue his plan was not to sell those high end products to those people , but that effiectively fatally undermined his case to win .
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Old 05-07-2013, 09:36
slouchingthatch
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Add to which it was a selling task when his proposal was to do with selling. And his proposal was to sell high end products when his team picked the wrong high end products. He might argue his plan was not to sell those high end products to those people , but that effiectively fatally undermined his case to win .
Not really. The products they were selling on this task would have had nothing to do with the kind of properly high-end products and brands Myles deals with. I would assume we're talking Swarovski and Rolex, not £200 vases by some little-known potter.

Having said that, he did unravel a lot during the last 2-3 weeks, so no argument that he deserved to go. Did his business idea sound convincing? No, based on a small soundbite - but that's not to say it wouldn't have been a sound plan if we were able to see the detail of it. We'll never know.
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Old 05-07-2013, 10:03
lammtarra
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[Myles] did unravel a lot during the last 2-3 weeks, so no argument that he deserved to go.
Unravel? Myles was never ravelled. The very first task saw him sweeten the lucky cats deal with batteries he did not have (rather than simply knock a notional amount off the price) so wasted time sourcing, then even more time installing batteries (and in doing so, arguably devalued the product).

In the beer task, he saw nothing wrong in sending the trade team with no samples, and in Dubai he wasted time watching a flag being made.

The guy was living on borrowed time from day one. Even when not making mistakes, he never shone. At the caravan show, his schmoozing nauseated Nick and failed to win over the vendors; nor did he shift a caravan despite his claimed experience of selling high value goods.

And if he were a woman, he'd have been attacked for repeatedly flashing his booty to kick-start a TV career as a Z-list celebrity.
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Old 05-07-2013, 10:27
heiker
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I liked Ade Adepitan on You're Fired, I remember him on kids TV a few years ago. He should be on TV a lot more
Ade Adepitan...the most useless presenter of all time. He's always been out of his depth in front of the camera...not entirely his fault, that's down to the BBC PC ticking all the boxes appointment bias.

I can remember him from his CBBC Xchange days...the only art he perfected was at fluffing his lines.
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Old 05-07-2013, 11:11
slouchingthatch
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Unravel? Myles was never ravelled. The very first task saw him sweeten the lucky cats deal with batteries he did not have (rather than simply knock a notional amount off the price) so wasted time sourcing, then even more time installing batteries (and in doing so, arguably devalued the product).

In the beer task, he saw nothing wrong in sending the trade team with no samples, and in Dubai he wasted time watching a flag being made.

The guy was living on borrowed time from day one. Even when not making mistakes, he never shone. At the caravan show, his schmoozing nauseated Nick and failed to win over the vendors; nor did he shift a caravan despite his claimed experience of selling high value goods.

And if he were a woman, he'd have been attacked for repeatedly flashing his booty to kick-start a TV career as a Z-list celebrity.
Fair comment. He did make errors in early tasks too, but he was also relatively calm, pitched well, got on well with teammates and generally avoided being a total numpty - which is more than enough to get you through to the latter stages. I'm not saying he was brilliant in this process, but he was OK and he seemed to be likeable. I'd happily spend an hour with him in the pub (it would probably have to be somewhere a bit mroe sophisticated, though).

As it happens, I disagree with Nick about the caravan task. Schmoozing was much more what was required - it's basically what Jason did - but where Myles went wrong (initially) was to spend time with time-wasters.

As for the repeated Myles Mordaunt Underwear Moments, I've been poking fun at them in my weekly recaps since the beginning ...
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Old 07-07-2013, 00:33
thenetworkbabe
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Not really. The products they were selling on this task would have had nothing to do with the kind of properly high-end products and brands Myles deals with. I would assume we're talking Swarovski and Rolex, not £200 vases by some little-known potter.

Having said that, he did unravel a lot during the last 2-3 weeks, so no argument that he deserved to go. Did his business idea sound convincing? No, based on a small soundbite - but that's not to say it wouldn't have been a sound plan if we were able to see the detail of it. We'll never know.
True , but if you claim to be a great salesman in the Sugarverse you need to sell, and show the ability to pick the right things to sell. His Lordship, I think, sees it as a skill thats widely applicable. The argument but I can sell, just not what you asked me to sell doesn't work with him. The nearest test of Myles' proposal was probably the Dubai task - where he also turned in an uninspiring performance on the purchasing and negotiating, and dealing with foreign suppliers, and organising, fronts. The other two in that boardroom had shown more ability all around.

He's also got the problem that, if he makes the, valid, point you did, Lord Sugar is going to note even more that he's in the business of selling luxury goods to the rich elite - which would be as popular a business to be seen getting into as Jade's call centre.
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Old 07-07-2013, 07:20
lammtarra
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There may be an alternative universe in which the boys win. Jordan told Lord Sugar that Shoreditch is cool. What the boys missed -- because, unlike us, they do not have Monkseal who has looked at the Evening Standard to date the task to 30 and 31 October, or Tuesday and Wednesday -- is that the affluent, young and trendy customers they targeted were at work during the day.

We know from the girls' shop that for those customers around during the day, a tenner is about the limit for an impulse purchase. The boys' lowest price was higher. It is significant that Neil finally shifted some overpriced, kitsch ceramics towards the end of the first day, presumably to better-off customers wending their way home.

The other problem the boys had was taste. But the vase might have sold, had they held their nerve.

What was not remarked, even on You're Fired, is that Jordan appeared to working on a quite different task from his erstwhile colleagues. Myles and Neil were selling homeware (albeit their own peculiar take on that concept) in a market while Jordan walked between newsagents, hawking greetings cards to the trade.
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Old 07-07-2013, 10:56
george.millman
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There may be an alternative universe in which the boys win. Jordan told Lord Sugar that Shoreditch is cool. What the boys missed -- because, unlike us, they do not have Monkseal who has looked at the Evening Standard to date the task to 30 and 31 October, or Tuesday and Wednesday -- is that the affluent, young and trendy customers they targeted were at work during the day.

We know from the girls' shop that for those customers around during the day, a tenner is about the limit for an impulse purchase. The boys' lowest price was higher. It is significant that Neil finally shifted some overpriced, kitsch ceramics towards the end of the first day, presumably to better-off customers wending their way home.

The other problem the boys had was taste. But the vase might have sold, had they held their nerve.

What was not remarked, even on You're Fired, is that Jordan appeared to working on a quite different task from his erstwhile colleagues. Myles and Neil were selling homeware (albeit their own peculiar take on that concept) in a market while Jordan walked between newsagents, hawking greetings cards to the trade.
Well, someone on You're Fired! (I think it was Hugh Dennis) said the way to win a task is to watch Karren. If she's pulling funny faces at the things you're doing, you're obviously getting it wrong.
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Old 07-07-2013, 11:19
lammtarra
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Well, someone on You're Fired! (I think it was Hugh Dennis) said the way to win a task is to watch Karren. If she's pulling funny faces at the things you're doing, you're obviously getting it wrong.
It did used to be observed that teams followed by Margaret generally beat those followed by Nick, owing presumably to her facial expressions giving teams running feedback.
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Old 07-07-2013, 21:13
Maxatoria
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When i saw they was selling earthenware pottery for that sort of prices i knew they was in for trouble as they was using probably £1 including the glaze when made at any quantity as its the same stuff they make the cheap thick mugs from and when i saw that final slip glazed 'flower' thing i was thinking back to what i did when i was in the infant school making smaller but similar stuff

OK i know its london and not the potteries but the lads really did get done over with the ceramics

now the women went for what women know about...fashion and at cheap prices and nailed it as you are hardly able to smell what sells when you're shifting one china ornament every few hours and none of them have any idea of interior design
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Old 07-07-2013, 23:43
thenetworkbabe
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There may be an alternative universe in which the boys win. Jordan told Lord Sugar that Shoreditch is cool. What the boys missed -- because, unlike us, they do not have Monkseal who has looked at the Evening Standard to date the task to 30 and 31 October, or Tuesday and Wednesday -- is that the affluent, young and trendy customers they targeted were at work during the day.

We know from the girls' shop that for those customers around during the day, a tenner is about the limit for an impulse purchase. The boys' lowest price was higher. It is significant that Neil finally shifted some overpriced, kitsch ceramics towards the end of the first day, presumably to better-off customers wending their way home.

The other problem the boys had was taste. But the vase might have sold, had they held their nerve.

What was not remarked, even on You're Fired, is that Jordan appeared to working on a quite different task from his erstwhile colleagues. Myles and Neil were selling homeware (albeit their own peculiar take on that concept) in a market while Jordan walked between newsagents, hawking greetings cards to the trade.
Indeed the task intoduction said they were meant to set up a business, the business was a shop, the shops were located in one place with a particular market in mind. . It wasn't meant to be to sell anything anywhere to anyone using someone who was meant to be resupplying the shop. It needed clearer rules.
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Old 08-07-2013, 15:19
lammtarra
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now the women went for what women know about...fashion and at cheap prices and nailed it as you are hardly able to smell what sells when you're shifting one china ornament every few hours and none of them have any idea of interior design
That is right.

It may have been luck on the women's side that they chose fashion because they were familiar with it but I think Luisa (perhaps with input from Leah and Francesca) understood the task and Myles and the boys were clueless.

In order to smell what sells, you need actually to be selling, and selling a variety of things. If your seed capital is only £150, that points you pretty firmly towards cheap items, otherwise you cannot buy enough stock.

If you are selling in a market on a weekday, and are there for only a day, you need to be selling at prices low enough to qualify as an impulse purchase. If the buyer needs to think about it overnight, you won't be there when she comes back.

The third thing Luisa got right is that she listened to Francesca's market research. And note that Francesca established what was already selling. She did not ask a bunch of numpties about purely hypothetical purchasing decisions. (This might be the only proper use of market research in Apprentice history!) Francesca also relayed price information, so Luisa could judge markup and so profit margins when selecting clothes from the wholesaler.

The girl (or girls) done good.
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