Tonight’s task for our sales training apprentices was “big business” said Sir Alan… weddings. Sir Alan had secured each of the teams a sales pitch at The National Wedding Show at the NEC in Birmingham. The Wedding Show attracts 20,000 visitors and 300 suppliers… a target rich selling environment as one of my first sales managers used to be fond of saying…
Tonight the teams had to select products that they wanted to represent and then sell them at the show. As usual, the team who closed the most sales would win.
Claire was all giggly at the thought of a wedding fair. As a buyer she should be good in this sort of business environment. Leading team Renaissance (Sara, Michael & Alex) tonight was Helene and leading team Alpha (Raef, Lee & Claire) was Lucinda.
Two particularly unbalanced teams I thought but more of that later…
First task tonight was for each of the teams to select two suppliers to represent at the show. In the event that they both chose the same suppliers the decision would rest in the hands of the supplier as to whom they chose to be their representative.
It’s at this point that I would have headed off in pursuit of a computer with an internet connection. Or I’d have been calling up the organiser for a little pre-sales chat. Failing that I would have been surfing the net (albeit slowly) on my mobile.
I’d have been looking for answers to questions such as…
What is The Wedding Show? How long has it be running? Who has already signed up as exhibitors? What are they selling? Who was there last year? How many of them are there again this year? What’s the sales pitch to the exhibitors on The Wedding Show’s website? What are exhibitors saying about it in cyberspace? What types of people attend the event? At what stage in the wedding preparation process are they usually when they attend? How many are ready to make buying decisions? What volume of orders could the hosts attribute to the show last year? What kinds of products sell well at the show?
Etc. etc…
But as usual nothing like this seemed to take place! Instead our sales apprentices played “stick the tail on the donkey” and tried to guess what would and what would not sell well. With choices of wedding dresses in totally different price ranges, wedding cakes, lingerie and too many peoples’ opinions this was going to be a difficult thing to guess – particularly without solid market research.
Helene sent Michael and Sara to view some designer wedding dresses. Michael waxed lyrical over them and then afterwards said that he feigns interest very well. He said that feigning interest was what he does for a living and that he can pull it off with an effortless charm.
Stop!
Sales training and business success tip: If you want to be a sales superstar you need to be genuinely interested in your clients. If you’re not genuinely interested then you need to find a way to get genuinely interested. When you show genuine interest in your clients you will find that you create a powerful and long lasting rapport and start to remove barriers to the sales process (For more on removing barriers to the sales process and making more sales check out my Professional Selling Skills programme).
The other two members of the team, Helene and Alex, were meanwhile looking at some cheaper mid range dresses. They were quite enamoured with them but Helene had dropped a clanger here… How could this team ever make an informed business decision on which dress supplier to represent if no-one had seen all of the potentials? How could comparisons and decisions be made?
On the other team Lucinda has tasked Claire and Raef to view all of the dress suppliers. Could using Claire, an ex professional buyer, prove to be a shrewd move for Lucinda?
After visiting all of the suppliers decisions had to be made. Lucinda’s team plumped for the expensive designer dresses and Helene’s team for the mid-priced, colourful dresses. On Helene’s team this decision was not unanimous but then no-one had seen all of the dresses anyway! Both teams wanted to represent the wedding lingerie range.
Only one team could "win" however and not surprisingly the lingerie supplier favoured Lucinda and the opportunity to associate her lingerie with a premium dress designer brand. Helene’s team were left with their second choice… wedding cakes.
On hearing that they had “won” the opportunity to represent the lingerie company Lee roared, “We fucking did it. We won it. That’s what I’m talking about. Team Alpha!” He does seem a bit over exuberant at times our Lee!
At The Wedding Show the teams had 8 hours to sell as many wedding products as possible. Lucinda’s stall with the designer dresses immediately attracted customers to their pitch. Lee seemed to be enjoying selling the lingerie ranges to all of these customers and this was proving to be an easy sale. The dresses however were not selling as well…
Over on Helene’s team, Alex was put in charge of selling the mid range dresses. He quickly started to sell a few and understood that a natural, genuinely interested and conversational style was the best way to sell in this environment.
Back on Lucinda’s team doubts were setting in over the high end wedding dresses. Raef said that he would have to shoulder much of the blame if this turned out to be an unwise decision (he does seem to be a pretty honourable guy does Raef).
Nick seemed to be enjoying telling the camera that team Alpha had chosen high end wedding dresses without taking any notice of what this “mass market” would buy…
I’m not so sure…
Alpha were selling a high-end product and “mass market” crowd or not they only needed a few customers ready to buy out of an audience of 20,000 to make this a very interesting competition indeed.
(Aside: My future sister-in-law bought a wedding dress at a charity dinner when it was auctioned… How many people in that room do you think were in the market for a designer wedding dress? Probably not that many but it sold none the less!)
On team Renaissance, cake sales were not going at all well for Sara and Michael. I am not surprised. These two might not like to hear it but in my opinion neither of them were showing much promise as salespeople…
Michael was way too enthusiastic, jumping around, clicking his fingers and speaking (rather too) passionately. Meanwhile Sara seemed to have forgotten the old sales adage of “two ears, one mouth”…
“What’s stopping you? What are you thinking right now?” she demanded of one prospect before immediately telling the prospect that she (the prospect) liked the look and taste of the cake and why couldn’t she go ahead now?!
When selling, asking questions is important but you have to stop and listen to your prospect’s answers! Far too many salespeople talk all over their clients in this way! Not surprising then that we heard that several people had not liked the pressure they were coming under from Sara and Michael.
Michael and Sara were full of excuses and reasons as to why no-one would make a decision on a cake without a husband or partner present. Now I obviously do not sell wedding cakes nor have I ever sold wedding cakes but I know that this is not the correct sales attitude. It’s also not true!
It may well be true that most people might not buy a cake without their partner present but it most certainly is not true that none would. If I had been their manager my response to that kind of sales defeatism would have been simple, “What, no-one? Not even one out of 20,000?”
In the board room…
Sir Alan asked team Alpha what they thought of Lucinda? They were very complimentary about working with her (despite the fuschia beret!). Claire said that they really enjoyed working together. For the first time this series I think we did actually see a team work well together tonight!
Hoorah!
On Helene’s team things did not go so smoothly but Helene said that she had no regrets…
And the results?
Alpha had sold £5752.99 (Lee had sold £647.24 of laundry and Claire the remainder via 3 dress sales). Renaissance had sold a total of 5 dresses and 0 cakes for a grand total of £1925.
A sizeable and well deserved win for Lucinda’s team and some good sales results from Claire.
Back in the board room Helene stuck up for Alex saying that he was brilliant in the task and elected to bring back Sara and Michael. For once, I thought, the right three in the board room.
Alan told Margaret and Alan that he thought two should go. Margaret thought there were reasons for all 3 to go! I agree with her. Go on Sir Alan, I dare you, sack all three! Let’s see what the TV production company thinks of that one…
For the first time ever I think the weakest 3 are in the board room. Fire them! Fire them! Fire them!!!
“I am in a dilemma as to who’s going to go. One thing I am sure of is who’s going right now. Sara you’re fired.”
And then Sir Alan turned on Michael… could he possibly sack two for the second week running? “Michael I think I’ve reached the end of the road with you…. There is no room for any more mistakes…”
Go Alan! Go Alan!
But unfortunately, “Get back to the house the pair of you. Off you go.”
So what sales training and business tips do we learn from tonight’s show?
Sales skills are essential if you want to succeed in business.
Many people think that they can sell. Many people are wrong! Some people talk too much. Some talk too little. Some ask great questions. Some don’t. Some get their pitch and level just right. Others miss the mark by a country mile.
If you want to close more sales you need simple, repeatable sales skills. If you want to close more sales you need a proven sales methodology. If you want to close more sales you need to work hard to develop your sales skills.
Some people sell naturally. Some don’t. No matter what your sales skills you will make more consistent sales when you focus on your own sales skills development. If you’re just starting out you can rapidly accelerate your learning curve and the results you get. If you’re an old hand you can hone your sales techniques and boost your sales results.
Tonight Claire and Alex had them and they made sales. Michael and Sara didn’t have them and they made no sales. In sales, results speak for themselves.
Don’t pressurise clients.
For a variety of reasons many salespeople put far too much pressure on their clients. They talk too fast, they talk too much and they close too hard. They put immense sales pressure on their clients and their clients don’t like it. Not one bit.
Many salespeople close way too early in the sales process and way to crudely. Here’s a rule of thumb for you… If you think you’re putting too much pressure on your clients then you probably are. Too much sales pressure causes clients and prospects to throw up mental barriers to the sale.
Sales superstars do not have to pressurise their prospects and clients into buying from them. They have proven, client-centric processes and techniques which build natural rapport, trust and credibility between them and their clients.
Know your market.
You need to know who your customers are, what they want and why they are going to buy it. You need to know how they make decisions and who else is involved in the decision making process.
The more you know about your customers, their wants, their needs, their likes and their dislikes, the easier it will be for you to communicate with them and help them to make the right buying decisions.
Related posts:
- The Sales Apprentice 2008: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part VI
- The Sales Apprentice 2008: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part VII
- The Sales Apprentice 2008: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part I
- The Sales Apprentice 2008: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part III
- The Sales Apprentice: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part VIII
About Gavin Ingham
As ever, the contrast between the 'firee' on the show and how they came across afterwards on "You've Been Fired" is instructive.
On the post-firing chat show Sara came across as funny and likeable, they'd softened her eye make-up, and even her voice wasn't as whiny.
So why was she like that on the main show? I believe it was because she (like the other candidates) was under pressure and (unlike some of the other candidates) she let it get to her.
People can smell desperation in a salesperson a mile off – a lesson I learned very early on when I was trying to start up my old hypnotherapy practice.
So perhaps sales people should cultivate Zen Buddhist-style non-attachment to their targets!
Also, as Helene (sort of) pointed out last night in a rare moment of insight, it's easy to behave well to your colleagues when things are going well. The real test – one that most of this lot have failed already – is how you behave in the face of adversity.
How did Michael survive again? I know someone who worked with Michael and apparently he did quite well in his telesales role. I think it is pretty obvious that you cannot take that type of sales into this type of setting though.
Sara got a bit of a raw deal in my book – if she had been more vocal and put herself forward she probably would have survived. Still I think Alan got this one wrong. Michael seems to only have 1 way of selling and that simply is not good enough for the job thats on offer. I hope he learns and is better in the next show.
Its all edited highlights i know but with the cakes there was not 1 question asked to the customer just trying to bully them into a yes,terrible.