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BITTEN BY A SANDWICH
By Tom JICHA
TV/RADIO WRITER
MBS member Leslie Bourgeois since 2002, was recently featured on
the TV show The Apprentice. The following is an article, about
Leslie, reprinted from Sun Sentinel, April 15, 2006 issue.
Boca woman misjudges impact of price, misses out on chance to
join Donald Trump's empire.
Leslie Bourgeois -just "Leslie" to fans of
The Apprentice
- is well versed in the cardinal rules, of real estate: location,
location, location. As a Boca Raton real estate agent, she has to
be.
Alas, her profession doesn't require her to be just as expert on
the cardinal rules of selling fast-food sandwiches to a primarily
college constituency: price, price, price. As a result, she is the
latest to hear the dreaded words from Donald Trump: "You're fired!"
Leslie actually did a fine job Monday as project manager of a
task requiring her team to introduce a new line of pizza-type
sandwiches for 7-Eleven. Sales at a lower Manhattan location near
New York University went up something like 600 percent.
Unfortunately, the opposing team improved their outlet's receipts
about 900 percent. The difference was price. Leslie's team sold the
sandwich, with a free insulated sandwich bag as a premium, for
$7.99. The other team went for volume with a $4 price, with a cap
thrown in.
She knew she was dead as soon as she heard the figures. "When
you're the project manager of the losing team, being the one to get
fired isn't a surprise."
It was especially disappointing because it was her first time as
a project manager and she's a person who hates to lose at anything -
and rarely has. Her competitive nature led her to try out for the
show.
Originally from Louisiana, Leslie won a national swimming
competition when she was 7. She later won her state's tennis
championship - she still plays in the open division of the Southern
Palm Beach Women's Tennis Association - and went on to get a full
scholarship to play volleyball at the University of Mississippi.
Only 28, she's already at the top of her profession, with
millions of dollars in residential real estate transactions for
Coldwell Banker in Boca Raton. So she didn't jump into
The Apprentice
because she needed the $250,000 job that goes to the winner. I did
it for the challenge. My co-workers urged me to try out, but as late
as the morning of the audition I was debating with myself if I
should go for it or not."
The fact that Kendra Todd, also a high-end real estate agent in
Palm Beach Country, won last spring's Apprentice had no bearing at
all on her decision. "I don't know her," Leslie said.
As cutthroat as the competition is, Leslie said, she struck
friendships that have endured beyond the show, which was taped in
the fall. "I like everyone but I became really close with Bryce,
Charmaine and Pepi," an attorney from Miami.
An amazing aspect of the NBC series (which will be pre-empted
this coming Monday) is that the contestants tear each other apart in
the boardroom, then quickly forget all the ugliness, Leslie said.
"You have to separate the personal and the business. You either talk
it out or just put it aside. It was a fantastic experience."
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