Small Company Learns Lessons Of Success From Donald Trump's Apprentice Series
A small start-up company recently featured in "The Wall Street Journal," credits their fast success to lessons learned from watching the hit reality show, "The Apprentice". The company known as SiCap Industries, has created the world's first natural hot pepper nasal spray reported to be a true breakthrough in relieving chronic headache and sinus symptoms.
Altamont, NY (PR Web) September 30, 2004 -- When the first season of NBC's
hit reality television series, “The Apprentice” began last year, a little known
company called “SiCap Industries was just starting to market their revolutionary
product known as Sinus Buster,” the world’s first hot pepper nasal spray touted
to relieve a multitude of chronic sinus and headache symptoms.
Less than
one year later, Sinus Buster nasal spray is already being called a breakthrough
by doctors and patients alike. In fact, SiCap Industries has experienced a rate
of success rarely seen in “start up” companies from any industry – especially
the natural dietary supplement market.
SiCap’s flagship product has
become a media darling of sorts being featured on national television, radio,
and in print. The big break came when Sinus Buster was profiled in The Wall
Street Journal as a product to watch, and the company’s president credits a good
part of this marketing success to the teachings of Donald Trump as witnessed
through his management style on “The Apprentice”.
“I know it sounds a
little crazy, but I’ve learned lots of business lessons from watching the
Apprentice. Say what you want about Trump, but that guy knows how to read
people, and that’s the key to making a business work because in the end you’ve
got to trust your people. That’s what’s you see in George Ross and Carolyn
Kepcher…..Trump’s right hand team on the show. He trusts them, but Trump also
trusts his gut even more. He’s a complex person, but he’s the real deal and I
take his lessons to heart. I think the lessons I’ve learned watching the
Apprentice have really helped me run this company. I often find myself thinking
what would Trump do in a situation,” says Wayne Perry, inventor of Sinus Buster,
and president of SiCap Industries.
And if Perry’s been taking cues from
Donald Trump, the lessons appear to be working. SiCap Industries started in
Perry’s basement last fall when he first began marketing his unique pepper nasal
spray on Ebay of all places. During that period, Perry says he started watching
“The Apprentice” on NBC, and he strongly credits the show with his company’s
stunning success.
George Ross, the Donald’s right hand man, says he
wasn’t aware of SiCap’s claims, but he believes the show is a must for any small
business searching for guidance. He goes on to say working for Donald Trump is
“A blast,” and any company willing to take cues from Trump’s hit show is a
“smart company”.
“Anyone can learn a lot from the show. It’s all about
being under the gun – deadlines…pressure. Anybody that’s in business or wants to
be in business could benefit from watching the Apprentice,” says
Ross.
Ross also thinks there may be potential for “Trump brand” products
launched via the Apprentice, but he approaches this notion with
caution.
“There’s a possibility that Trump bottled water may go national.
As far as the ice cream, that was totally a Ciao Bella project, but there may be
potential for Trump ice cream in the future. We’ll have to see,” adds
Ross.
Wayne Perry of SiCap Industries believes Trump could turn any
worthwhile product into a mainstream winner by using the Apprentice show as a
launching pad as long as “The Donald” sticks to his longtime philosophy of only
using the Trump name in conjunction with world class quality.
“As Donald
says, any product with the Trump name prides itself on being the world’s best.
Trump is a man who believes in his products whether it’s real estate or bottled
water, and he approaches every venture with guns blazing. Believe me that’s at
least half the battle in marketing at any level. The other important thing Trump
has is great gut instinct, and he uses it. He may trust his people, but he
definitely has his own mind, and that’s something we both share,” says
Perry.
Perry’s referring to the recent incident in this season’s
Apprentice when contestant, Bradford Cohen gave up his “immunity” from being
fired. “Bossman” Trump had considered Cohen to be one of the best contestants
until he made that fateful blunder. Even Trump’s right hand managers had
suggested other contestants be fired, but Trump went against everyone and fired
Cohen – a move that shocked everyone on the show.
“Donald Trump isn’t
afraid to go against the grain. He thinks with his head, but he also considers
his gut which is also a huge part of analytical thinking. And I agreed with his
decision to fire Brad. It’s exactly what I would’ve done because the guy took a
worthless and unnecessary gamble with everything he had. A very friggin stupid
move if you ask me, and I knew Trump was going to fire him the second he gave up
his immunity,” boasts Perry.
Perry defends Trump as being “unfairly
criticized for having a Clyde Barnum mentality”, and he points out that “to
underestimate Trump’s mainstream business savvy would be huge blunder –
especially if you were to do business with the man”. There’s no doubt Trump’s
“marketing hootzpa” is a large part of his success, but his reputation for
knowing how to pick a winning project is perhaps his best asset according to
Perry.
“Trump’s winning projects would be nothing without his winning
marketing strategies. The Donald likes to do things big, and so do we. We may
not have as much money as the Trump Organization, but we get the same effect
with our low budget guerilla marketing tactics. Luckily our product is truly the
best in its’ market, and that accounts for 90% of our success. Of course as the
Donald would tell you, if you don’t truly believe in your product and all you
want is to make some sales, I guarantee your product (whatever it may be), won’t
live very long. It’s all about brand recognition and quality – two things the
Donald focuses on in all his companies,” says Perry.
When asked to site a
specific incident where Mr. Trump’s knowledge paid off, Perry pointed to the
recent Sinus Buster coverage in The Wall Street Journal.
“We were
already selling thousands of Sinus Busters over the internet, but we really
wanted to get our product and our company noticed by venture capitalists, ya
know – real investors. So I thought to myself, how would Donald get a company
noticed by world class investors with pretty much no budget. Now keep in mind
this company may not have a budget, but it’s got an incredible product and an
incredible reputation. Right away I knew Trump would say let’s get it featured
in the Wall Street Journal. Whether that’s what he really would’ve said or not
doesn’t matter. What matters is that I believed it, and I made it happen. We
already had some interest from the journal, but they weren’t going to run the
story anytime in the near future until our company had more of a record, but we
got them to try our samples and listen to what the doctors had to say. And
before you know it we were in there. Believe me, when the Wall Street Journal
recognizes you, it means the world to any company because just like the Trump
Organization, the journal is world class, and since then we've had too many
investor inquiries to even deal with,” Perry explains.
Wayne Perry’s
“never give up” attitude is what originally landed him on the Oprah Winfrey Show
in the mid 1990s, which actually led to him discovering the Sinus Buster formula
quite by accident. Perry was a nationally recognized self defense instructor who
taught Oprah Winfrey how to use self defense pepper spray to fend off attackers.
After Perry announced on the show that he was willing to be sprayed with
real pepper spray for live demonstrations, he was barraged by tv stations and
police groups around the country with requests. Officially, Perry says he’s been
sprayed with defensive pepper spray more than fifty times, but it was one time
in particular that he discovered the medicinal power of hot peppers.
“I
had severe chronic cluster headaches and major sinus problems for like 20 years,
and one day while I was doing a live pepper spray demonstration for Fox News in
Albany, New York, I got one of my headaches. I’d been tested by every doctor and
I was on all kinds of drugs, but nothing ever worked and these headaches were
debilitating. Well I started getting a cluster attack right before this news
thing I was doing, so I couldn’t back out. I went ahead and let the reporter
spray me. I was already used to the pain of being sprayed, but this time it was
different. My headache disappeared instantly. I never had anything work like
this. And my chronic congestion was gone too. I felt like it was a miracle, and
I knew the secret was in the Capsicum – the natural pepper extract used in
defensive pepper sprays. And that’s when the Sinus Buster was first born,”
exclaims Perry.
Today, Perry’s Sinus Buster formula is used by more than
30,000 people who claim this product has changed their lives. Doctors, clinical
researchers, and the media have all started discovering Sinus Buster hot pepper
nasal spray because it’s truly a unique breakthrough. This simple all natural
product started as merely a headache remedy, but today it’s recognized as
something of a “cure all” for ailments of the sinus and head.
It turns
out Perry’s Sinus Buster also relieves many other chronic headache syndromes
including migraines, menstrual, and hangovers. Furthermore, this hot pepper
nasal spray is credited with relieving a multitude of chronic sinus conditions
(bacterial, viral, and allergen) related.
Dr. Gary Spector of Milford,
Connecticut is an internal medicine specialist who views Sinus Buster as the
“real deal”. Dr. Spector had first read about Sinus Buster nasal spray in the
Wall Street Journal, and when he noticed the company offered free samples for
physicians and media, the doctor contacted SiCap Industries immediately. Dr.
Spector was so impressed with Sinus Buster, he actually called SiCap Industries
and offered a personal testimonial.
“I’ve been using the Sinus Buster
myself, and I’ve given it to a few select patients, and I’ve just got to say
it’s an incredible product. It’s really unbelievable how well it works. I’m very
reluctant as are all physicians to offer any OTC medications to my patients, and
to offer an herbal product is unheard of, but this is just too beneficial to my
patients – so I have to recommend the Sinus Buster when a patient’s condition
calls for it,” Dr. Spector explains.
The product may be incredible, but
the fast success of SiCap Industries is directly related to the company’s
management style. Just as Wayne Perry fought to get on the Oprah show, and in
the pages of The Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump has fought to win in
business.
During the early 1990’s, just as Wayne Perry was first working
his way onto the national talk show scene, Donald Trump had been completely
written off by the media as a “has been”. After all, they claimed he was over
$975 million in debt and nearly bankrupt. Everyone said he would never bounce
back since his company was so far in debt. The New York Post even ran a cartoon
showing a down-and-out-Donald panhandling. Of course now it turns out the media
was dead wrong, and once again “The Donald” is a media darling.
As
SiCap’s president, Wayne Perry says, “Trump’s stronger, richer, and wiser than
he ever was before. Hopefully the Sinus Buster and SiCap Industries will reach
that same pinnacle very soon”.
Recently, Forbes magazine estimated
Donald's net worth to be about $1.4 billion, but Trump says it’s more like $3.7
billion, and by following the lessons of “The Donald,” SiCap Industries is
aiming for the billion mark also.
As far as getting his company
spotlighted on The Apprentice, Perry believes SiCap would make an excellent
project for the contestants.
"It all comes down to business I'm sure
because they have to get big bucks from any company getting plugged in the
middle of Apprentice, and ofcourse a small company couldn't afford it, but our
product is beyond unique and believe me our company is a reality show in itself.
Tell ya what though, I'd be willing to share some of the profits if they did put
us on the show. After all, the Sinus Buster is easily a billion dollar product,"
Perry boasts.
With more than 60 million chronic sinus sufferers, and
another 30 million chronic headache sufferers in America, Perry isn't dreaming
when he claims his Sinus Buster formula could one day make him a billionaire,
but according to George Ross, there's no room for small companies on The
Apprentice.
"It's not that small companies can't get on the show, they
just can't afford it. Having your company featured on the Apprentice is worth
alot of money and only the big companies can afford to do it," explains
Ross.
If you want to learn more about “The Apprentice Show,” go to the
official website at (www.nbc.com).
To learn more about SiCap industries and
the world famous “Sinus Buster” nasal spray, visit the company website at (www.sinusbuster.com). Media
kits and free samples are available for qualified medical and media
personnel.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/9/prweb162942.htm