Sales, Social and Tech

Sorry to readers for the spoiler in the header but I totally felt that Mr Tony Fernandes was wrong to fire Nazril Idrus. Yes, Nazril may have made mistakes and he wasn't authorised to give the free complimentary Mediterranean pizza after the wrong order was made. But isn't this how you empower your Apprentice to do the right thing even when it is not allowed? Is The Hilton Hospitality all about following the rules, regardless of of the statisfaction of the guest? Is this also telling of frustrated AirAsia customers who have to endure the rules even if it is the fault were not theirs but of the airline?  Read about Daphne Maia's experience here . It was also amazingly shocking that Mr Tony Fernandes didn't notice that the Nazri did the birthday surprise for "Miss Nightmare". Even the episode guide failed to highlight this . Shockingly, Mr Tony Fernandes chose to let one who gave excuses for her mistakes rather than to step up and right the wrong. If...

The Apprentice Asia Episode 5 must be of the most confusing episode yet. Why was the apprentices-to-be tested on their knowledge of the financial market and was expected to make money in 24 hours? Making money in 24 hours seems like a speculator game. Shouldn't be the Apprentice be more of an investor? "I don't like losing," said Mr Tony Fernades. Not surprising, since AirAsia reported loses in 2008 after some bad decisions in hedging against oil prices rising. From klsestockreview.blogspot.sg, AirAsia has said that they have call options to offset the losses made on the previous call option that spooked the market. This will cover their position for approximately 6 months even if oil prices were to go as high as US$130 per barrel. They also clarified that when they took up their earlier hedge (July 2007), they felt that oil will only reach US$90 as a result of excessive speculative market action in that commodity and therefore decided to bet that oil prices...

The challenge of this week #TheApprenticeAsia was for the team to promote the latest  NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto® at a major shopping center. I was only able to catch the last thirty minutes of the episode and it highlighted several lessons  in dealing with clients.  Lesson #1 - Learn about your client's other products and their competitors Team Maverick almost lost the campaign when the client, Nestle, noticed that they were about to give out a competitor's chocolate. This is a big no no as the client has spend thousands on you and you are giving a competitor free air-time.  Thus, it is important to know your client's other products and who the competitors are.  Lesson #2 - Sell offline at physical stores Team Apex was looking to promote the NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto® website instead of the product at the store. This is kind of ironic as the shoppers are already at the store and the products are there for the picking. Team Apex, however, had...