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?

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!”

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!

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%.