The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part VII

Week 7 and 8 apprentices remained to compete in this week’s task of choosing two products from a selection of 12 and then selling them to dealers in Manchester and Liverpool over a two day period. The winning team, as usual, would be the team which made the most sales. Sir Alan was quick to say that tonight’s task was all about sales and that everybody had to sell and that no-one would escape.

So, at last, a sales task to get our teeth into and one which they would be held personally accountable for. What sales training lessons would we learn tonight? Who would step up as a sales superstar? Who would fall on their face as a sales loser?

Team leaders were quickly elected as Lorraine for Ignite and Mona for Empire and after a roll call of the ingenious, the interesting and the downright odd our teams selected the products that they wished to sell. Lorraine’s team plumped for a cat playhouse and an expandable bag for carrying shopping on a bike. Mona and Empire were attracted to a lover’s dog lead that allows two people to walk a dog at the same time and a sleeping bag with arms and legs.

These were interesting choices particularly from Mona’s team because Sir Alan had pre-organized two meetings for them with two big retailers and neither of these products seemed like a good fit for their product ranges so they effectively dismissed two potentially huge clients before even starting out.

Sales training tip: I can’t believe I am offering this advice as it seems so obvious but, then again, salespeople, as we saw, often manage to stray far away from the obvious. When selling you need to make sure that you understand your clients, their markets and their needs. Your sales presentations need to be matched and tailored to suit their wants and needs and not just your own. With hot meetings set up with real possibilities of selling and with only one day to set up other meetings Mona’s team really should have thought about this more…

Next day in Liverpool city centre at a large hardware store Yasmina and Lorraine pitched their bike bag and their cardboard cat toy. When asked by the client how many he would have to order Lorraine said 5-6000 units. The client said that this was too many. In the board room Sir Alan was equally dismissive saying that no store could sell this amount.

Sales training tip: To be a sales superstar you need to ask better questions. To be a sales superstar you need to listen harder. To be a sales superstar you need to really understand your clients. A good strategy, rather than guessing, is to ask your client better questions such as, “How many would you typically order?” or “What size of order were you thinking about?” This also makes solid sales negotiation strategy too.

Later on, at the same hardware store, we saw the Achille’s Heel of apprenti, past and present, rear its ugly head yet again – lack of planning and preparation. Howard and Debra were presenting the sleeping bag to a buyer and when asked how much a normal sleeping bag costs they didn’t know. Howard responded with “good question” and Debra (clearly a student of the bodge it, blag it and wing it sales academy) responded with the fact that it “varies from bottom to top”.

Really Debra? You don’t say!

Sales training tip: Know your product. Know where your product sits compared to the competition. Know the relative strengths and weaknesses of your product in relation to the competition.

At the second company, Howard and Debra faired little better with Howard unaware of what departments the store had or what products they carried either…

Sales training tip: Know your prospects. To demonstrate professional respect for your prospects you should know everything about them that your prospect could reasonably have expected you to know.

Next day on team Lorraine, Lorraine was challenging Ben, Kate and Philip, over the phone, as to why they had not made any sales yet. Ben’s response was classic sales whiner, “We’ve tried booking as many as we possibly could. Basically we’ve only made one.” There was no mention of Sandhurst. Lorraine, all credit to her, wasn’t prepared to accept this and challenged him again, “How many calls did you make?” Ben, Kate and Philip weren’t sure but the answer was 10, 15, 20… they didn’t know. And it was not clear whether that was each or together but either way it was not enough.

I’d go a step further. It not only wasn’t enough, it was pathetic. And I’d like to have seen the phone bill to see how many calls they actually did make. There’s a 100k job here, you’re on TV and it’s one day only and you say you want it? Get your head up, pick the handset up and get on with it. Every time we saw you lot in that car that phone should have been glued to your ear…

I don’t rate Ben or Philip so their behaviour didn’t surprise me one bit but Kate let herself down giggling with them in the car and seemingly not caring whether she had made any sales or not. Lorraine probably hit the nail on the head when talking to Yasmina saying that she did not know what was distracting them “but I hope it’s not Kate’s beauty”. It probably was. And it seemed that Philip’s “beauty” was distracting Kate too…

Sales training tip: Maintain your focus because sales superstars are focused. They know what they want. They work out how to get it. And they take action to achieve it. They don’t, when not managed, giggle and carry on like a bunch of ill-behaved teenagers on a day trip to Scarborough for the first time.

And then, good on her, Mona stepped up and showed some solid negotiation skills. In a camping shop, a prospect said that he was interested in the sleeping bags. “I’d try a few” he said so Mona responded that she had a minimum order of 24 and quoted a price. When the client asked for a discount she asked him if he could order more. Even when he tried to finalize the deal she held firm and extracted a final concession on price.

Like it.

There is a bit of an unofficial second competition going on, not to be The Apprentice but to be the author of the best quote. If Lorraine didn’t have it in the bag already tonight with “I hope it’s not Kate’s beauty” here are a few other contenders (possibly paraphrased in places!)…

From a pet shop owner on the cat playbox, “It’s a cardboard box at the end of the day and I’m just not that bothered!” Lorraine on the North, “The wages are a little lower here.” Nick on Phil, Ben and Kate selling nothing, “Frankly them coming back to board room without sales is like popping in that cat plane and going off to fight the Battle of Britain.”

In the board room…

Mona and Empire made £4501.
Lorraine and Ignite made £1302.

A hammering for Lorraine’s team and all the more telling because Mona’s team, due to their poor choice of products, had sold nothing to the two “banker” clients.

You didn’t sell, you didn’t sell and you didn’t sell barked Sir Alan jabbing his finger at Kate, Philip and Ben. Philip, who has been gobby and opinionated since day 1, was yet again blind to his failings saying that he was bewildered as to why he had not sold anything but that he, Kate and Ben were the best salespeople anyway.

Can anyone be bewildered as to why they did not perform and know that they are amazing at the same time? Is that possible?

Kate meanwhile was digging her own hole, “You can’t sell if people aren’t there” she whined. Margaret was quick to jump on her head telling her that getting appointments is part of selling. Well done Margaret, that’s why my No Fear Cold Calling programmes are so popular and so powerful for your sales and business results too!

Then Sir Alan kicked away their crutches and their excuses saying that he had got some of his people to make some calls, that they rang 6 stores and that they got in. Hee hee!

Lorraine, who I still don’t rate, but who was looking better under fire, said that she and Yasmina were “banging out calls” but that she did not sense any urgency from the other team members…

Philip and Kate meanwhile were coming under more pressure from both Sir Alan and Nick – Kate for not realizing that a client’s lack of interest is her poor selling techniques and Philip for saying he was a better salesperson than Lorraine when he sold nothing.

Lorraine elected to bring back Philip and Kate. They attacked her and she defended herself by saying that they were in a “relationship” with each other. They said that had nothing to do with it. She still has to go soon but at the start of the show I’d have buried Lorraine in this company but you know what…

Go Lorraine! Go Lorraine! See you Philip!

“Kate you have performed well in the past weeks. Philip you’re certainly a fiery person and I’m thinking… about the hundreds of other people I employ and thinking of their reaction to you and it ‘aint good the picture I have in my head… Lorraine the underlying concern I have is that you alienate people… Lorraine I am still not clear about you but Philip I think I am clear in my mind that your bravado and attitude ‘aint going to fit in my organization so Philip you’re fired…”

Outside the board room Kate turned to Lorraine, “I feel absolutely insulted that you could suggest that anything that goes on in my personal life can affect my business performance.”

But it did and Kate looked slightly less bullet-proof than she had. In the cab Philip was muttering, “I’m a much better candidate than she (Lorraine) is.”

But she’s still in it Philip and that’s what counts.