Planning without considering reality and speed will fail
This was the first lesson learned by viewers who witnessed the Green Dream team in action. The team consisted of five strong members, including Mrs. Tuyet, a popular TikToker and owner of the “Eat with Mrs. Tuyet” brand, with nearly two million followers on social media.
In the end, Green Dream had the lowest revenue after five hours of entrepreneurship.
The team leader, Huyen Trang, is someone who does everything according to plan. Her philosophy is slow and steady, believing that planning may take time but will make the subsequent process smoother and faster. Therefore, when the members were anxious about what, how much, and where to sell, Huyen Trang thought their thinking was unscientific. She kept the team focused on the plan and stuck to it for an hour while the other two teams in the competition had almost completed their preparations.
The Green Dream team’s business model was affiliate marketing. Instead of investing their own capital, they would persuade shops and cafes to let them sell products on their behalf and earn a commission of 30-50% per product. If they couldn’t sell, their capital would remain intact. Their chosen selling location was the Foreign Trade University.
Initially, the team’s goal was to make a profit of 5 million VND. To achieve this, they needed to sell 400-500 products successfully. This was almost an impossible task.
Reality proved that the goal could not be achieved because, after spending an hour on planning, Green Dream spent another two hours searching for and convincing partners. They only had two hours left to sell. It was challenging to solicit each customer at first. Only when a group of students recognized “Mrs. Tuyet” and created a crowd effect did Green Dream sell their first cups of coffee and snack packs.
Their profit was 690,500 VND, much lower than their initial target.
The sales were somewhat salvaged due to the social media influence of the name “Mrs. Tuyet.” Witnessing her patience in approaching each student, not getting discouraged by rejections, and not giving up when she couldn’t make a sale for several minutes, the other team members realized a different way of selling. It was a method they had never tried or planned for, but they were now willing to learn and try.
Having a large crowd of people doesn’t always lead to good sales
This was the lesson learned by the Red Team – the Nhiet Huyet team. The team included the oldest member of the program, Nguyen Thi Anh Dao (65 years old), and a member with a disability, Dinh Thi Quynh Nga. However, their performance in the competition was very smooth. While the Green and Yellow teams struggled with group work as the powerful women found it challenging to agree, the Nhiet Huyet team quickly agreed on a plan, and all members supported the leader’s suggestions.
Red Team – Nhiet Huyet team selling tea by Ngoc Khanh Lake
They chose to sell lemon tea and milk tea near Ngoc Khanh Lake, close to office buildings and two large hospitals: the Central Pediatric Hospital and Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital.
With low ingredient costs and mid-range prices (20,000 VND/cup) compared to the market, and an abundant customer base, everyone thought Nhiet Huyet would win. However, they had the second-lowest profit, with just over 1.4 million VND.
The main reason was their misanalysis of the market.
For half of the journey, Nhiet Huyet struggled to find customers. No one stopped at their new drink stand. They tried to solicit customers from the nearby sidewalk tea shops, mostly laborers who were used to drinking 3,000-4,000 VND tea. As expected, they were rejected.
They also approached customers at the two hospitals, but pediatric and maternity patients couldn’t drink what they were selling, and caregivers usually only went out to buy drinks during lunch and dinner hours, when the team wasn’t selling.
The only group they successfully targeted was office workers. However, they made sales not because the product was suitable but because of the social responsibility message conveyed: for each cup of drink sold, 1,000 VND would be donated to a fund for people with disabilities, sharing profits with those in need. This was a valuable business lesson learned from their five-hour entrepreneurial experience.
Rejection from customers is normal; what’s important is how you handle it
This was the lesson learned by Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa, owner of the EUBIZ brand and leader of the Nang team. The Nang team had a smart business strategy by choosing the entrance of Vietnam Television Station as their business location and selling pre-cut fruits as their product.
Their potential customers were the over 1,300 employees of the TV station, i.e., office workers with a habit of afternoon snacking and a preference for “healthy” food, with a mid-range to high spending level.
They selected specific fruits like mango, guava, dragon fruit, and watermelon, combining sweet and sour flavors harmoniously. They tested several dips to find one that suited the taste of Hanoi residents. They weren’t just selling to win; they genuinely cared about the customers’ experience with the product.
Instead of using plastic bags, the Nang team opted for attractive boxes to increase the product’s selling price. This allowed them to place their products in cafes frequented by office workers in the area around the TV station.
They also encountered many rejections. But team leader Thanh Hoa remained calm in the face of these setbacks: “It’s the customer’s job to reject, and it’s the salesperson’s job to handle the rejection.”
Dealing with customer rejection was perhaps the most important lesson the female entrepreneurs learned from each other during the “When Women Lead” season 2.
For Thanh Hoa, this meant patiently soliciting every customer in sight or offering exchange conditions beneficial to both parties.
For Dinh Thi Quynh Nga, Le Thi Lien, and Do Thi Tuyet (Mrs. Tuyet Vlog), it meant conversing casually to extend the interaction beyond just selling, increasing customer affinity, and making them more likely to buy.
This also meant that they had to set aside their experience and be open to new ventures in the business world with the mindset of a “newbie,” willing to try and make mistakes to find the right path in the challenging journey of entrepreneurship.
“When Women Lead 2024” is a program produced by Vietnam Television in collaboration with Sunlight and Lifebuoy brands, aiming to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of women across the country through the message, “Vietnamese Women Confidently Engage in Economics.” The program also had the cooperation of the Vietnam Women’s Union. Viewers can re-watch the program on the VTVGO application or the VTV Shows YouTube channel.
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