The Sales Apprentice 2008: Sales training tips from the hit TV show, the final
The final of The Apprentice 2008… Who would Sir Alan choose to be his apprentice? Would he go for the corporate girl? The “reformed” loud mouth? The “young” boy? Or the geezer? What sales training and business lessons would we learn if any?
It doesn’t seem any time since we had 16 candidates and here we were with just four left and a final decision to make.
The teams for tonight had already been decided last week and were Alex & Helene versus Claire & Lee. Tonight’s task was to design a men’s fragrance and then to pitch it successfully in a sales presentation. Perfume is a highly competitive market and finding an angle was important but not as important as staying focused on business would prove to be…
As usual Sir Alan had invited back some ex-Apprentices to “help out”. I say “help out” in the loosest possible terms as I’m not sure that I would enlist any of this rent-an-apprentice crowd to help me navigate my way out of a paper bag…
But that was the game and Alex “I’m only 24” and Helene “I’m not that corporate but I’m the only one who’s not more Big Brother than big business” got help in the form of “posh bloke” Raef, “short, ex-bank manager, Porsche bloke” Kevin and the distinctly unmemorable “we’d all forgotten you” Jennifer.
Over on the other team Lee “I lied on my CV” and Claire “I’m a pitbull but I’d get mullered by a badger” had the “waste of space” Jenny, “the arrogant waste of space” Michael and Simon, “Ah! Bless him!”
Maybe it’s in their contracts or maybe they’re trying to avoid the Running Man syndrome where Arnie tries out his, “I’ll be back” line only for Killian to respond, “Only in a rerun” but it amazes me that they agree to come back… I guess the answer however is obvious, they just want to be on TV no matter what the humiliation and no matter how stupid they look!
As usual Claire leapt into action off firing on all cylinders. Alex and Helene meanwhile struggled to agree on a brand name. Alex suggested “not connection but connect” and Helen’s terse reply was, “We hate it”. As a supposed “expert” in pricing she was going to have more to worry about than a brand name by the end of this show!
Meanwhile, Alex took the reins and started to look at bottle design. To be fair to Alex and Helene they did come up with a great design and a strong brand idea. Indeed, after they had later made their sales presentation of Dual one of the audience said, “Considering you’ve had 3 days to make this I think it’s extraordinary.”
Just a shame that we later learned that several of the best ideas had come not from Alex or Helene but from the design agency!
Back on the other team, Lee and Claire had come up with the wheeze of naming their product Roulette. This was based on the concept that gambling was sexy, fun and manly and led to Lee late coming out with this classic line, “Looks like a man, feels like a man, now wants (?) to smell like a man!”
Hmmm! I guess I’m just not target market for this one!
In the rehearsals Lee, who had previously struggled with his presentation, was panicking, “It’s just shit, I can’t do this!” But in the final sales presentation Claire stepped up and helped Lee.
As usual we didn’t see enough of the presentations to really know who did and didn’t present well but in the end it didn’t matter. Helene and Alex, although seemingly having the best idea, the best brand and the best product, were destined to lose because they had made a business faux pas and stuffed up on their pricing…
In the words of Sir Alan, “This cost at least 3 to 4 times more than a normal bottle. You’re left with nothing to advertise with.” And then, “Alex and Helene, you’re fired.”
Not a good exit for a “global pricing leader” one has to say. At least Alex can consol himself (if no-one else) with the fact that he is, after all, only 24!
So we were down to two…
Lee versus Claire.
“Claire you have some great attributes,” said Sir Alan. And to Lee, “Lee you’re very convincing.”
Now let’s be straight here Sir Alan, not that convincing…
Your last four consisted of a global pricing leader who cannot price for profit; a senior retail buyer who has either gone through a monumental personality change or who must have ulcers from biting so hard on her lip to stop herself talking for the last few programmes; a regional sales manager who although good at selling needs a good shave, a good hair brush, banning from the words “I’m only 24” and some more consistent energy levels; and a recruitment sales manager who “tarted up” his CV.
But Sir Alan had made his decision…
“Lee, you’re hired.”
Now that’s what I’m talking abaht!
Not a decision that I would have made but I’m not going to knock the guy when he must be on top of the world (…but that CV would worry me…)…
So what sales training and business tips did we learn tonight and over this series of The Apprentice?
Sales training tip 1: Sales and selling is an essential business skill!
Despite the fancy qualifications, alleged business backgrounds and past successes of some of this year’s Apprentice candidates, three of the finalists were the best salespeople in the series (which is a low benchmark I know!).
Selling and the ability to sell is essential if you want to get on in business and in life. Whether selling a product to a consumer, a service to a business, a big ticket sale to a corporate, an idea to a team or yourself to a prospective employer; selling is critical to your success.
Sales training tip 2: Lying on your CV lands you 6-figure jobs every time…
Ooops! Sorry!
Sales training tip 2: Business savvy is a prerequisite if you want to get on!
Creativity and flair, artistry and imagination are powerful business allies and can be leveraged to drive your sales and your business to great heights but without a dollop of business savvy you’re going nowhere.
In my travels as an author and motivational speaker I meet many salespeople, directors and business owners who have great ideas, imaginative ideas, even brilliant ideas but no business savvy.
Business savvy is not a “like to have”, it’s a “must have”.
Business savvy is knowing what makes sense and what doesn’t. Business savvy is thinking about your market and who you’re going to sell to not getting carried away with the niceties of designing some all singing, all dancing product for which there are no customers.
Business savvy is understanding the problems and challenges of business, where you fit in and how you can help. Business savvy is knowing not only the language of business but also taking consistent actions required for business.
Sales training tip 3: Walk the talk.
The Apprentice this year yielded a lot of talk. Life yields a lot of people who talk. People who talk a good game. People who give it the big “I am”. People who tell you how great they are, what they’ve done and how important they are.
This is nothing new and it’s not just in business.
As a teenager I used to run the 400m and the 800m. For my school I mostly ran the 800m. Every year we used to enter the city championships and every year I would make the final. Some years I won it, some I didn’t. But I always made the final.
Every year there would be heats to get through to the final and every year kids lined up talking about what fast times they’d run pre-season. They’d quote five or more seconds faster than I had ever run. They’d have the latest spikes, the latest track suits and I’d be worried…
Until we ran. Because my experience was always the same. The more they talked, the slower they ran. The ones to watch were always the quiet ones. The ones warming up meticulously and focusing on the task in hand.
Talk is cheap. What successful business and salespeople need is action. I don’t want to know what you might sell or what you could sell. I don’t want to know what you sold last week, last month or last year.
I want to know what you’re going to do. I want to know what action you’re going to take.
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Gavin,
I believe a key reason SAS gave Lee the job was down to his desire. You could truly see and hear the fact that Lee desperately wanted that job.
Whilst Lee had a strong sales ability which SAS values, Alan Sugar knows that Lee will give him 150%.
“Are You Just A One-Trick Pony?”
We have been hearing this question throughout the Apprentice series, and I suddenly realised that I had been seduced into believe its preconception – a businessperson may be very good at selling, and not very good at some other stuff, and that makes him/her no good as a businessperson. To quote Paul Whitehouse, “Oi Sugar, No!” Salesmanship is the rarest skillset, without which the business goes nowhere. As SAS’s decision demonstrates, it is a safer investment to recruit a salesman with a proven track record, adding the other skills either through training, or supporting staff, than to take on a business burocrat and hope to make them into a salesman.
Some trick! Some pony!
Good point Heidi!
I have often researched why a buying decision is made, and often hear the customer say “That company (or salesman) seemed to want our business more”.
The professional salesman makes his/her intention known – “I want your business!”
I’m pleased to see that my early tip of Lee as a dark horse has been vindicated!
Also pleased that part of the reason that Lee and Claire won the perfume task was because they showed more emotional intelligence in working as a team. They supported each other all the way (Claire was particularly good with Lee as he was having his pre-presentation wobble), which was a massive contrast to Helene and Alex sniping at each other.
The other thing about both Lee and Claire is that they were open to feedback and learned quickly – Claire is now better at keeping her mouth shut when she has to, and Lee’s presentation, while still not great, was 100% better than last time, as Sir Alan pointed out.
By contrast, I’m not sure how Helene improved (it may be down to editing, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen her do anything), and Alex seemed pretty much the same charming backstabber he’s been from day 1.
Helene seemed much happier on ‘You’ve Been Fired’ than she did at any point during the main show – she actually smiled and came across as likeable! Which leads me to wonder if she could benefit from trying out a few stress management techniques (e.g. http://practicaleq.com/5ways.html).
The papers for the last couple of days have been full of articles saying “Once again, SAS has picked the wrong person – it should have been Claire.” I can see what they mean, but with her build, gobbiness and sales ability she was always going to be thought of as “like the Badger, but not as good”.
Well, that’s that for another year. The show may be less and less relevant to business in the real world, the quality of apprentices may have dipped a bit since the first series, but how many ‘must see’ shows are there on the telly these days?
150%! Nice one Heidi