The Sales Apprentice: Sales training tips from the hit TV show, part IV

Hi and welcome to the latest Sales Apprentice dissection - sales training lessons we can learn from The Apprentice. Tonight’s episode started with the team being informed that they would be meeting the next day at Hamley’s toy shop. This was a nice touch as I am really getting a little bored of wondering whether this team of "professionals" are going to drop their towels when answering the phone!

At Hamleys next day, SAS tinkered with the teams and for the first time elected the project leaders himself - Ghazal and Adam - thus avoiding the usual election fiasco. This week’s project was a sweet one - to design, manufacture and then sell confectionery at London Zoo. The team making the most profit would be the winner and would avoid the inevitable wrath of SAS in the board room.

Adam’s team started the ball rolling by discussing what sort of sweets they were going to make.

Adam, a car sales manager, gave it some thought and suggested something with an animal theme. Katie was, not surprisingly, unimpressed. She instead started talking about the Big 5 - the animals that everyone wants to see on a safari. Now this might be fine if you’re selling to people at my old (private) school but Katie, the reason why people are at the zoo is because they ‘aint on a safari! And I’ve never heard of the Big 5 so you can be sure that little children haven’t! It’s come up before so let’s say it again…

Sales training lesson: Never forget who your market is and what they want! You might think you’re being clever but if your market don’t get it you’re an ass!

Ghazal’s team seemed to be starting more promisingly with Cheeky Monkeys. My niece would like that and she would run a mile from the Big 5 I am sure. Monkeys are a safe bet and she’s nearly 4 and likes to be cheeky!

Planning and preparation are essential to sales and Adam seemed to have the edge here…

He split his team into two taking one half with him to the sweet factory and sending the other half to the zoo. They were to research locations for their fixed stall and speak to parents and children to see what would sell best. A good plan and a pity that they subsequently picked the wrong location and fluffed their research! Still, this was better than Ghazal’s "market research" which seemed to consist of holding up a lolly and saying "my inclination" is that this will sell.

The day dragged on with Tre and Christina rushing backwards and forward down the motorway and the others getting involved with designing their sweets. From the off Adam’s sweets seemed flawed. Their "natural" lolly was full of additives and looked, in SAS’s words, like "puke" and their labelling was irresponsible, even illegal. Ghazal mucked up her timings after mucking up the chocolate which cost her two hours. This meant that her team failed to produce enough sweets for the day…

Next day in London Zoo sales efforts were laughable…

Adam’s team hadn’t even managed to sort their pitch out (what is it about pitches that they all keep mucking up on?) and they all seemed to run around with little direction or focus. Adam’s team were banned from selling their "natural" lolly due to the fact that it wasn’t infact "natural". They lost valuable time here and this probably cost them the task.

Back in the board room Ghazal’s team won by a whisker despite the fact that they ran out of sweets to sell. They made £994.31 and Adam’s team came a close second with £983.80.

After a few recriminations Adam took Sophie and Natalie back to the board room. The girls tried to gang up on him but Sophie was fired.

Should Adam have escaped? Did SAS sack the right person? Was Sophie fundamentally flawed for this role?

Yes! Yes! And Yes! In my opinion. Sophie is not our Sales Apprentice!

Good salespeople operate in the real world. Sales and selling is a great leveller. I see it in sales training programmes week in and week out. Just because someone has a high IQ, an impressive degree or a big forehead does not make them any better or any worse at selling. Clearly, these assets can be used to great effect when selling (well maybe not the Tefal head!) but often they become more of a sales deterrent than a sales aid. Here are 5 characteristics of great salespeople

1. Salespeople have common sense

Salespeople can see how things are and can equate them in the real world with real people. Technical skills can be a great advantage in some sales markets but many technical salespeople make things far more complicated than they are. If you find selling difficult then you are probably making it too complicated. Sophie made everything complicated! Remember how much milk she ordered in the 1st task? "No common" as my Mum would say!

2. Salespeople work hard

Even though they lost the task Adam’s team should have won due to the fact that the other team ran out of product. Adam’s team didn’t run out of product because he insisted that they worked until 1am making the sweets. Ghazal’s team however knocked off at 11pm. On Adam’s team Sophie was the one complaining about working on. Adam was having none of it! Salespeople work hard.

3. Salespeople believe in their products

Good salespeople believe in their products. They believe that they add value for their customers and that they provide value for money. Sophie said that she had a problem with selling something that she didn’t think provided value for money. She then went on to say that she could sell high ticket items. Maybe she can but I doubt it. Everyone knows sweets, drinks and snacks are expensive at that kind of venue. What’s more the other team were selling for more.

As a salesperson it is your responsibility to understand your product, how it adds value for your customers and why it provides exceptional value for money. This is true whether you are selling a £2 lollipop or a £1m pension fund.

4. Salespeople have belief in selling

Good salespeople are proud of what they do. They know that nothing happens in business until someone makes a sale. Sophie admitted that she was "uncomfortable" with the sales process. Might have thought about that before you put yourself in front of SAS ("This is the real world luv!" - SAS).

5. Salespeople can deal with rejection

Good salespeople know that rejection is something that happens. No-one can do the deal every time. They know their statistics and their ratios and they know that every "no" takes them closer to a "yes". Sophie had no concept of this way of thinking.

In fairness to Sophie she did recognise this and in the car leaving she said, "Now I know what it’s all about I don’t want to be a part of it." My last nagging question was how she didn’t already know this if she was so intelligent…

But for once I am going to let someone else have the last word in my blog… SAS himself because he said everything that I want to say…

He said that Sophie seemed to have a moral issue about sales and that that was naïve. He said that he was not a charity and that business was about profits. He said that he had lawyers who didn’t want to do the law and engineers who didn’t want to do engineering. He was worried that she was the same.

Salespeople have to want to sell. You have to want to sell.