The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 10

July 6, 2011 By 7 Comments
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So, it’s week 10 of The Sales Apprentice and we’re down to six; Natasha, Suzy and Jim facing off against Helen, Tom and Melody. Just looking at the last six I was left feeling pretty uninspired. They are none of them without their shortcomings and I don’t think I would be investing £250k into any of them from what I’ve seen and that’s before we see them torn limb from limb in the interviews and hear what crackpot business ideas they might have... And I wasn’t that inspired by tonight’s task either!  I have to admit that I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Closing the deal, Gavin's rants, Motivational speaker, Sales training Tagged With: , , , ,

Does Cold Calling Work, 2?

June 22, 2011 By 7 Comments
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I hope that you’re having a good week, speaking to lots of new clients and winning lots of new business. I want to start this blog post by asking you a question, “What do you think about cold calling?” Now by asking that, what I don’t mean is do you like being rung at home when you’re eating your dinner (tea for us Northerners) and someone trying to sell you timeshares? No, what I mean is, “Do you think cold calling works?” Now I know that this is a very divisive question. It’s divisive for a whole variety of reasons. It’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ask Gavin, Gavin's rants, Influence & communication, Marketing, Motivation & mindset, Motivational speaker, Prospecting & cold calling, Sales training Tagged With: , , ,

The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 8

June 22, 2011 By 7 Comments
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Week 8 of The Sales Apprentice and it’s time for our two teams to head over La Manche to sell some wacky British products to the unsuspecting French. With only 8 Apprentices left, tonight’s task saw Suzy leading Jim, Helen and Zoe facing off against Tom “leading” Leon, Melody and Natasha. It also did a lot to clarify my thoughts about the candidates and I’m sure by now you must have your favourites too. First task of the night was to pick two products to sell. After some deliberation and some bizarre questions from Suzy (“Do the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gavin's rants, Influence & communication, Management & leadership, Motivation & mindset, Motivational speaker, Sales training Tagged With: , , ,

The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 7

June 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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So, we’ve reached week 7 of The Sales Apprentice and tonight’s task was to create a Freemium (Free Premium Magazine) and then sell as much advertising space as possible. The team selling the most ad space would win the task. Tonight’s team leaders were selected by Lord Alan, Jim leading Venture and Natasha leading Logic, speaking to the teams this week from a balcony way above them and I couldn’t help but think that the ultimate winner of the show might be advised to get used to exactly this sort of “partnership”. With only a few … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Influence & communication, Management & leadership, Motivational speaker, Negotiation & objection handling, Sales training Tagged With: , , ,

3 Simple Sales Tips For Sales Success

June 15, 2011 By 3 Comments
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I’ve had one of those weeks…. and it’s only Wednesday. I’m sure you have them sometimes too. Mine actually started 3-4 days ago with a nagging headache that built up and built culminating in projectile vomiting at 3am in the morning on Tuesday morning. In fact, I was still feeling nauseous, shaky and hadn’t slept at 615am and was due to get up in an hour to head down to London to give a sales motivational talk… Over the years, I have spent tens of thousands of pounds and invested a good proportion of my time into … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Motivation & mindset, Motivational speaker, Sales training Tagged With: , , , ,

The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 6

June 8, 2011 By 13 Comments
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Week 6 and 10 remain still trying to win The Sales Apprentice and a “50/50 partnership with the nation’s toughest investor”… well the most belligerent and bellicose anyway. This week’s task was in  junk removal with the objective being to collect, dispose of responsibly and make money from junk. After a quick reshuffle the team’s elected their team leaders: Zoe for team Venture and Helen, who had just been "shuffled", for team Logic. In this task there were two ways to make money: 1) charging to collect waste and 2) selling on … [Read more...]

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The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 5

June 1, 2011 By 8 Comments
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So it’s week 5 of The Sales Apprentice and tonight’s task was to make and brand a unique pet food, make a TV ad and then pitch the campaign to some industry champions. Not an easy task but one at least where the Apprentices wouldn’t be able to actually lose money again this week! Team leaders for the week were selected by Nick Hewer in Lord Alan’s absence and were Vincent and Glen. Glen wasn’t slow in shouting his credentials from the rooftops... “I’m a designer… I do it on a daily basis,” he boasted but not satisfied that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gavin's rants, Management & leadership, Motivation & mindset, Motivational speaker, Sales training Tagged With: , , , ,

What Is Brainstorming?

June 1, 2011 By 2 Comments
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What is brainstorming? What does it mean to you? What does it actually mean? Who uses it? And why should you care? Let's start off with a Dictionary.com definition shall we... Brain•storm•ing Spelled[breyn-stawr-ming] –noun a conference technique of solving specific problems, amassing information, stimulating creative thinking, developing new ideas, etc., by unrestrained and spontaneous participation in discussion. Origin: 1955–60 OK. So, and just incase you haven’t got it, brainstorming is a way of coming up with ideas, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ask Gavin, Gavin's rants, Goal setting, Influence & communication, Management & leadership, Motivation & mindset, Motivational speaker, Sales training Tagged With: , , ,

The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 4

May 25, 2011 By 7 Comments
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It’s week 4 of The Apprentice and so far only boys have been fired. Will another chap go this week or is it time for a girl to be ousted? With just  15 minutes to get up, out of bed and ready for action the teams are asked to meet at The British Museum. Standing near the statue of Aphrodite Lord Alan set them the task of creating their own beauty treatment service and making profit. In one of the most profitable industries this shouldn’t be difficult but as we know, our Apprentices have a God-given gift of making even the glaringly simple … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Management & leadership, Motivation & mindset, Motivational speaker, Prospecting & cold calling, Sales training Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 3

May 18, 2011 By 3 Comments
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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...]

Filed Under: Gavin's rants, Management & leadership, Motivation & mindset, Motivational speaker, Negotiation & objection handling, Sales training Tagged With: , , , ,
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