To see more of our latest collection, visit our site http://www.lexuscollection.com
Adjay Southi explains ... It all started off early May 2018, email received from Andy Murray - Boundless productions TV. With over 7 million views on The Apprentice it was an opportunity that could not be turned down. A long 6 months where we had to keep hush hush.
Raring to go, we divided our teams into two with our; Creative Director 'Saki Southi' and model 'Bonita Southi' who attended the Neverland location with Team Typhoon whilst Designer Consultant 'Paulo Pinto' and Sales & Marketing Executive 'Adjay Southi' attended the Loop Nightclub in Mayfair with Team Collaborative.
During the show, with Team Collaborative it was evident some stir was caused due to Jasmine spending a lot of her time with Paulo & Adjay, trying to close a deal. Lexus being creative innovators in design by our award-winning Director 'Saki Southi', where we design, manufacture, and distribute our own brand 'LEXUS', it was a challenge the Apprentices had, in attempting to tackle and sell their chosen designed shoe to us, which was an “urban heel”.
Negotiating with Sarah and Rick, we immediately felt they were very pushy in terms of handling the sales, and we believe the sales and peoples persona handling wasn't there. As a large international firm, we were interested in negotiating to see if there was a possibility to order more colours because; as a business, we operate with one style in various variations. Manifestly, this is how the wedding industry works for the mother of the bride, bridesmaids, that perfect evening or wedding 'out out' with a ray of colours such as navy, light grey/silver, grey, taupe, plum etc, which you will see on our newly launched website www.lexuscollection.com.
Lexus' buying capacity is normally in thousands for a style in variation of colours combined, which the contestants did not grasp initially. Hence why our deal ended with only 144 pairs instead of the usual thousand pairs of shoes, we would typically purchase. Besides this; our deal ended with a rock-bottom bargain achieved by Adjay and Paulo, securing the deal of 144 pairs at £25 each, which was a huge credit to Jasmine, who we secured the deal with, whilst she handled the pressure from her colleagues.
In business in order to sell a product, it is vital to understand the buyers’ needs without being too pushy, abrupt and unprofessional as Jasmine quoted in the boardroom; the approach shouldn't be "bish bash bosh".
On the other hand; Team Typhoon showcased their pink and grey sneaker with an interchangeable bow for the “hip-and-happening women of today”. It is evident this product was not under the direct interest of our business, but we decided to take a different route, to keep up with the forever changing times. We took the initiative to diversify into a new market with a new product.
Attempting to secure a deal with Daniel, Sian and Camilla, Saki and Bonita managed to secure a whopping deal for £30 which was initially discussed to be £35 by Team Typhoon, beforehand. However, the negotiation skills from Saki and Bonita, enabled Team Typhoon to deviate from their strict pricing policy by offering £33, which then yet decreased to £30. This caused havoc between the team, as they diverged from their pricing strategies when securing their first deal of the day.
Overall, being part of this series, it was a great experience to be part of, where we were able to challenge and to see the candidates’ business acumen skills into practice. All the contestants did well, some more than others nonetheless, the bickering from some of the contestants was quite evident at the time which we hope has been a learning curve for the remaining candidates.
In addition to this; we would like to take this opportunity to highlight the hard work and dedication that goes in from each individual, on the forefront and behind the scenes, in order to make ‘The Apprentice’ possible. The boundless productions team have worked endless hours in achieving what they put on screen capturing many hours of footage and putting into 1 hour is remarkable.
View the footage above to get a sense of the negotiations that took place.
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