Welcome back to The Sales Apprentice! It’s week 3 and we’re two boys down. The girls think that the weakest boys have gone and they will have the weakest link this week but I’m not so sure… Tonight’s task was to find 10 items for the Savoy Hotel which was just finishing a 3 year, £200 million refurbishment. The team which could find the 10 items in one day and spend the least money would be the winner. Simples. Or so you might think… Lord Alan positioned this task as one of organization, of negotiation and of buying skills … [Read more...]
The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 3
May 18, 2011 By 3 Comments
Remembering The Power Of Now
March 23, 2011 By 2 Comments
As a sales motivational speaker, I sometimes find myself moved by the story behind the story in films. Last night, I watched the film Click with Adam Sandler and Kate Beckinsale. I’d seen parts of it before but not the whole film. In it Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) is an architect who lives a fairly normal life with a wife, children and a job. One night he finds a ”universal remote control” which can skip parts of his life that he finds boring, upsetting or otherwise does not want to take part in. At first, Michael uses it to skip a … [Read more...]
Talking Sales Success Summit
March 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Have you checked out the Talking Sales Success Summit yet? Over two days I will be interviewing 10 experts on what separates sales superstars from sales dreamers and sales rockstars from sales losers. During 10 hours of pure sales training gold I will be seeking to discover secret sales strategies, little known selling tactics and proven techniques that you can use right away to make more sales. And you’ll be pleased to know that I have hand-picked these experts not because of the books they’ve written (although many of them have) nor … [Read more...]
The Times On Success For Jessica Ennnis
November 19, 2010 By 1 Comment
There was an interesting article in today's Times about Jessica Ennis and her training regimes. Based on Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers" and Dr. K Anders Ericsson's studies, Toni Minichiello (Ennis's coach) said, "There's a classic study that everyone in sport knows that says it takes ten years and 10,000 hours to produce something... A child prodigy still needs to put in the hours to become a concert painist. Whether he then becomes a solosit depends on his talent." This philopsophy has allowed Minichiello to take a long-term view of … [Read more...]
The Sales Apprentice 2010: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 7
November 18, 2010 By 5 Comments
Week 7 of the Sales Apprentice... a week defined by sales decisions, sales strategies and sales mistakes. And one in which there were many sales lessons to learn... This week’s task was to sell a blue-screen, video experience to the public so that they could star in their own reality video experience. Sir Alan was obviously keen to test out some of the weaker links in the group and, after a quick mix up of team members, appointed Stuart to go head to head with Sandeesh. As usual, the team who made the most profit would be the … [Read more...]
The Sales Apprentice 2010: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 6
November 10, 2010 By 1 Comment
So we’re into week 6 of The Apprentice and 10 remain... First tip this week came early on... don’t sleep in! If you haven’t got anything to do in the morning then there is a good chance that Sir Alan is going to knock on the door at the crack of dawn and catch you in your PJs. He always does this about week 5 or 6 so what they were all doing hunkered down in their pits I have no idea... Anyway, back to more serious business and this week’s task... To design a new brand of cleaning product, create radio and TV adverts to support … [Read more...]
How Can I Get Motivated When My Team Are Demotivated?
November 6, 2010 By 8 Comments
Here's a question that was asked the other day on my LinkedIn group and I thought that the answer I gave would be of interest to my blog readers as it is a situation that I see fairly often which is impacting both individuals and sales leaders... "How can I get motivated when my team members have changed? My new team lack the ambition and drive to canvass and, for my sins, I am falling behind." Changes in business teams and operations can be one of the most destabilizing and worrying things. I understand your frustrations. Most … [Read more...]
The Sales Apprentice 2010: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 3
October 20, 2010 By 3 Comments
Well, I don’t know about you but I thought that tonight’s Sales Apprentice was probably one of the most clueless performances from all concerned that we have ever had the pleasure of seeing. Sure, there were some okay “sales” performances but I don’t really call smiling and offering muffins in the street, sales. If it is, then we really need to be concerned for the economic future of the UK. Anyway, cheery bagel -banter aside, this week’s performances were hopeless. But before we get going here are the sales training tips for … [Read more...]
The Sales Apprentice 2010: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 1
October 6, 2010 By 3 Comments
“Even bigger egos,” promised the Beeb even before the start of this year’s Apprentice, the programme that many business people love to hate. The Apprentice must be the only TV show that motivates fully, grown business people to crouch behind the sofa and peer through their eyes like they were still 10 and watching the scariest episode of Dr. Who. Welcome back to The Sales Apprentice, my personal take on The Apprentice TV show where we take a light hearted look at the show with some serious sales training and business growth tips that … [Read more...]
Should I Hire A Sales Coach?
July 27, 2010 By 1 Comment
I received this question the other day and I started to reply and then realized that the answer would be really useful for many of my readers... I follow your regular updates with interest. I'm doing some work on goal setting at the moment both personally and for clients. One of the personal goals I'm toying with is the idea of hiring a personal sales mentor/coach. I was interested to know if this was an area that you had an opinion on? Do I have an opinion? I think all my readers will know that I must have. To try and help, I have … [Read more...]
