Episode 3

Conquest finally conquered. Victoria Fired!

The women of Conquest converged around the dining table, anticipating which of their fellow candidates would be dropped from the interview. They were startled when not five, but seven of the opposing team members walked in at once. The men then told them of the immediate firing of Shi Hao.

For their next task, the candidates were told to meet the TTC at the Ngee Ann City civic plaza. There, the women of Conquest were told to select a Project Manager on the spot. They nominated Esther who was then told that she would now be a member of the King Corp and lead them in the next task.

He then told the teams that their task was to organize a road show promoting the new OJ Twist drink. The teams would be sent to two neighbourhood town centres toconduct the roadshows. King Corp would be located at Jurong East and Conquest in Tampines. The team that had the most sales at the end of the weekend would win. He wished them good luck and left them with Farahain and David.

On the ride down to the Jurong East town centre, Esther got to know her team member’s strengths. Yen Hao had some knowledge in the Fundamentals Of Marketing, Beng Loong could keep track of the accounts and hence budget, Stephen could come up with projections for patronage to the road show and conduct surveys, Antonius could make sure the layout was right so that there wouldn’t be any blocks preventing movement. James was experienced with computers and the technical things while Ben and Jin Hui were wildcards.

As they got to the area where they would be having their road show, Esther obtained the number for the executives of Yeo Heap Seng, the company that produced the OJ Twist drink. She called them to find out what kind of promotion they wanted. They told her that they wanted something big enough to create a buzz in the heartlands.

With that in mind, Esther returned to her team to delegate duties.Yen Hao, Beng Loong and Stephen would work on marketing the product. They were to come up with ideas to attract the crowd in and she would keep tabs on them and fuel them with creative input. Meanwhile, James, Antonius, Ben and Jin Hui would work on the logistics. She asked them to meet back at the site at 2pm.

The team was evidently pleased with Esther’s leadership, with Beng Loong stating, “We are finally going somewhere, very sure can win.”

Farahain observed the team work together this, and was impressed with Esther’s leadership.

In Tampines, Conquest arrived at the site of the road show. It was conveniently located next to the MRT station and bus interchange. Victoria then proceeded to order her team members around. Sharmaine became Victoria’s “assistant” because Victoria claimed she needed a secretary, pulling Sharmaine out of the available work force. Like a personal assistant, she went everywhere Victoria went.

Victoria commanded her team, each with their own job to do. Shu Hui was given th task of managing the customer relations, of which she had no experience in. Yessita was put in charge of the accounts and logistics when the drinks would come. Debbie, Carol, Kimberly and Syaza were told to dress up and walk around to create a buzz. Nobody was assigned to sell anything.

David was astounded at Victoria’s leadership, making a prediction that the team would ultimately have a hard going, maybe even facing their first boardroom experience.

Back at the King Corp road show, workers were busy putting up the temporary shelter for the road show. The marketing team had come up with the idea to market the OJ Twist as thirst quencher. They would set up stands offering free drinks and even have a lucky draw on the spot. There would also be a special promotion, when a customer purchased two bottles, they got one free.

Esther contacted an agency to hand out the coupons at the MRT station and the nearby Jurong Entertainment Centre so her team members would be free for other tasks. She then pulled James and Jin Hui out from the logistics team and had them trained to operate the cash registers at the purchasing counter, and then added two more counters for purchasing customers to buy the drink. Yen Hao then came up to her and suggested that they get a local celebrity to come and make an appearance and even to “taste test” the drink itself.

As the sunk sank and the sky over Tampines grew dark, Victoria pulled her team out of the area for a meeting. Kim, Syaza, Debbie and Carol had only gotten their outfits for the big day, spending the entire day shopping while Victoria and Sharmaine had sat at a McDonald’s outlet reviewing their statistics.

Yessita had contacted the suppliers and asked how many bottles of drinks they would be sending over. They had told her that they would be sending in three thousand. Thinking that this was a insufficient amount, she asked that they send five thousand instead. Shu Hui had tried to work with Yessita as there was nothing she could do for customer relations that day.

The day of the road shows dawned and Esther had King Corp down at Jurong East early on. A last minute check was conducted before they would open the road show at 11am. Esther then called for a simulation so as to give the cashiers from the Yeos company and James and Jin Hui some practice at handling the machines. All the people involved in the road show then thronged the displays and started grabbing bottles and queuing up at the counters to “pay” for them. Over time, Jin Hui and James became more deft at handling the machines.

Satisfied with the simulation, Esther gave everyone a half-hour break and they all went down to grab a bite.

At Tampines, Victoria just realized that she hadn’t got a proper plan for marketing the product. She didn’t arrange for cashiers either. Calling upon Sharmaine who had previously worked at Mos Burger, she told her to be the cashier for today for the sake of the team. Shu Hui was also then assigned at a check out counter. Victoria then asked Yessita to go buy some cups so that the people could taste the drink before purchasing it.

David shook his head in wonder as Victoria rushed her last minute arrangements.

At 11am sharp, the Jurong East road show by King Corp took off. A small crowd began to form as the free drinks were given out. An emcee was on the stage, telling the people how good the drink was at quenching your thirst. And he also emphasized on the twist which came in two flavours, lemon or orange. On the board behind the stage, there was a list of the events that would happen during the day. It showed that the famous football player, Fandi Ahmad, would be making an appearance.

Gradually the crowd grew and grew, many waiting to catch a glimpse of Fandi Ahmad. Esther told her team to get ready for Fandi Ahmad’s arrival at around 1pm. The crowd was not disappointed as he walked onto the stage at 1pm on the dot to a frenzied screaming and shouting. Waving to the crowd, he managed to catch the attention of everyone under the temporary shelter. He was then brought a bottle of the OJ Twist with the lemon flavouring.

After taking a sip, he smacked his lips and said that it was the best tasting drink he had ever drank, causing the crowds to erupt into cheers yet again. After a bit he came down to the front of the stage and signed a few autographs for the crowd. The media had even rushed down to the road show, covering Fandi Ahmad’s visit. Esther’s photo was taken in one shot and the reporter told her that she would be featured in the next day’s newspapers. Meanwhile, James and Jin Hui were busy accepting payment for the purchases and everything went relatively smoothly.

Farahain was impressed with Fandi Ahmad’s visit and even got him to sign an autograph for her. She remarked, “King Corp has certainly organized a good road show, I managed to get Fandi Ahmad’s autograph!”

The Tampines road show was slow going with people only coming for the free drinks and not purchasing any drinks. Victoria tried to look out for Syaza, Kim, Debbie and Carol who were supposed to be giving out flyers to promote the event. They were nowhere to be found. Finding traffic at the purchasing counter slow, Sharmaine left her stand and went to take an indefinite break, leaving Shu Hui to be the sole cashier. Without any experience in operating a cahs register before, Shu Hui panicked and made a series of errors and had to keep apologising to the few customers that were there.

At the end of the day, the teams met the TTC back in the board room. The TTC then asked his advisors for the results of the team. David reported that Conquest had sold a total of 500 units at $1,000. Farahain reported that King had sold a whopping total of 7,000 units for $3,500. The winner was King for the first time! As part of their reward, King would be treated to a rare view of the island by helicopter.

In the suite, the atmosphere was tense as everyone wondered who would be the first woman to have their interview terminated. Victoria accused her team for not rallying together. Shu Hui and Yessita silently commented that Victoria did not meet the cut as Project Manager. Victoria decided that she would take Yessita and Shu Hui into the boardroom that night and told them straight to their faces. The two girls then agreed to shoot Victoria down.

The Conquest Corporation moved into the boardroom for their first meeting with the TTC where someone would be fired. The TTC came in and asked Victoria why her team had failed. She pinned the peg on her team not co-operating with her and highlighted that Shu Hui and Yessita were incompetent. The two girls then fired back that Victoria had given them useless jobs to do to occupy time. She didn’t have a strategy to market the product.

When asked who they would fire, most of the team members said they would choose Victoria. David then asked why Victoria wasn’t more proactive in the sales. She answered that she thought her team was more than capable. Farahain called her short sighted and then questioned her need for a secretary. The TTC then asked Victoria to choose two people to bring back into the boardroom. Victoria remained true to her word and chose Yessita and Shu Hui.

David told the TTC that Victoria didn’t know what she was doing and planned poorly while the other two did put in a lot of effort into the senseless jobs that they were given. Farahain questioned why she sent Sharmaine who had left her position at the cashier back to the suite. With that, the TTC asked Ms. Dewi to send the three back in.

The TTC began his questioning, asking Victoria why she sent Sharmaine back. Victoria told him that she thought Sharmaine had done a terrific job. He then asked as secretary or as cashier to which she replied secretary, revealing that Victoria was instead protecting her friend. Yessita and Shu Hui ganged up on Victoria calling her indecisive, unable to plan properly and a slave driver. She only liked things when they went well and took credit then, but when things went bad she blamed everyone else but herself. She had poor planning skills and delegated too many people to attracting people to the road show while too few were there to man the cash registers.

With the explanation from the two women, the TTC looked at Victoria and told her, “I don’t think you can make the cut. You made too many errors. Victoria, you’re fired!”