As you know, I don’t do many guest posts on my blog but I thought you might like this one from Dan Harris. “Dan Harris? Dan Harris?” Ok, I’ll let you out of your misery… Dan Harris was the first Apprentice to get removed from last year’s Apprentice so what better person to let us in on his thoughts, feelings, empathy and memories? So for you Apprentice fans…

The pontificating is over as the action starts for the new series of the apprentice. The memories of my own apprentice experience came flooding back as I watched.  From the off I empathised with Ed, less for being a wheeler-dealer trapped in the body of a bearded accountant and more because like me, he took the initiative and lead the boys. With 75% of project managers fired on the first task, I know from a bitter experience this is a risky strategy. It’s one that will pay off if you win but will see an ignominious exit if you’re defeated. No one was going to argue their corner to be project manager once Ed had volunteered and Gavin squirmed when he inadvertently put himself in the frame, the relief on his face when he lost the vote was palpable.

By his own admission Ed’s heart was racing once he’d realised what he’d done, I know that feeling. Once you’re PM you realise this is real, you go from thinking “I’m on the apprentice” to “I could get fired!” The pressure hits you and the adrenalin kicks in!! There’s nothing like this pressure in a real business!!

Ed launched into a ‘vision over substance’ strategy. Desperate not to go the way of former soldiers and lawyers who’ve been fired in the past, he distanced himself from his accountancy background and dispensed with any thought of buy prices, production costs, sales units or profit margins!!

His leadership style was like a Captain of a Pirate Ship with a strong hand required to prevent a mutiny, (there was enough facial hair on display for an instalment of The Pirates of the Caribbean!) He probably made the same mistake as me, by not engaging the opinions of the group and dismissing ideas on the (probable) assumption people where out to get him he was alienated and made himself vulnerable for a firing. It was a win or bust strategy that echoed my sausage making task.

Meanwhile the girls had appointed Melody as their leader, or more likely Melody had appointed herself as Helen’s challenge never seemed likely to succeed. I’m interested to know where Melody studied to have Al Gore, Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and 12 Nobel Prize winners as tutors. It’s too bizarre to make up isn’t it? Melody reminds me of series 1 runner-up Saira Khan, for the annoying over enunciation and condescending communication style which she seems blissfully unaware off.

New Covent Garden Market

At 03:20 AM, both teams leave their very swish house in Richmond (rumoured to be owned by Katherine Jenkins), off to the market to do some smart buying. In deft piece of delegation Melody appoints Edna head of finance. Of course as a business psychologist she was the natural choice, huh? More likely this was strategic arse covering if they came up short in the boardroom.

Smooth negotiation from Ed sees him start at the £9.50 asking price for a box of oranges, to buy at, wait for it… £9.50. Where’s Jamie Lester when you need him?  Step forward Jim Eastwood, with just £40 to buy all the ingredients they need for the soup , Jim plays a lovely ploy of creating a ‘what-if scenario’ to test the entry point for a negotiation, very calmly he gets  key information before closing a deal with another vendor. When asked by the seller ‘if I do you a favour, what can you do for me?’ Cool as a cucumber (tomato) he responds with “I’ll give you an extra £10 but I’ll need an extra box of peppers and 6 onions” before he has time to think, the £40 is in in his hand and the deal is done. Good work Jim.

The Kitchen

Onto the production line and the boys run into trouble trying to turn 1,400 oranges into 560 bottles of juice (not sure if they knew that was the target!). When the juicers finally pack-up the only option is to do it by hand. Unfortunately Ed seems to have glued his hand to his forehead as the pressure of the situation mounts, add some heated exchanges from Glenn  and Jim has his ‘Ronseal’ moment diffusing a situation by saying “I’ll diffuse this situation”, classic.

The girls fair better but when Susan flags her worries about under buying, Melody side steps making a decision and passes the buck squarely to Edna. Shades of Nicholas and Anita being outmanoeuvred by wile Alex and Debra in previous years. At this point I have the girls £91 up based on their lower spending a good edge to start the selling with…

With both pitches established the boys head out selling office to office. A mixture of sales styles from an effusive Ed to a factual Leon and smarmy but strangely effective Vincent seem to supplement the boys Liverpool street kiosk.  Meanwhile Ellie seems to be having some problems with her spelling struggling with vegetables, though I have some sympathy as even the simplest tasks become Herculean efforts under the pressure of 8 Million critical eyes. Whilst business is brisk at Canary Wharf stock is low and Melody seems to think it’s a good idea to put everyone together at a quiet looking Euston Station.

The Boardroom

Sitting in the waiting room before you’re called in, you’re told by the production crew not to talk which makes you feel like you’re back at school whilst creating an uneasy sense of anticipation. When you go through you’re faced with a stony faced Karen and Nick and the empty chair where the former Sir Alan will hold court. For me the tension broke when I faced him directly for the first time and I couldn’t help thinking that with his heavy (I mean heavy) studio make-up on he looked like a spitting image puppet of Sid James, only shorter. I then sat back in my chair and the rest is history.

Onto the debrief and it’s clear to me that Ed has adopted a boardroom strategy. Where I went for ‘golf club relaxed’ he’s going for mono-syllabic, cryptic non-self-incrimination.  A strategy yes, the right one, no and he quickly estranges himself from Sugar who’s the hardest person to read I’ve ever met.  As Sugar questions the girls underspend, Melody for a fleeting moment looks nervous but a quick bit of arse kissing from Felicity restores her egotism (good work Flic as you don’t know if you’ve won yet). As Nick builds the tension with a slow reveal of the figures, it looks like if Ed loses he could be heading for the exit. The boys are all in at £432.13, the girls £592.33, a winning margin of £160.20.

If you take out the investment, profit figures show 137% difference in the girls favour. Ouch!

A quick visit to the Café for the coffee of shame and the incrimination begins. Vincent highlights the loss, as a production issue and he’s right to a degree, had they juiced all the oranges and then sold out at £2 per bottle they’d have made £910 but as they only produced a fifth of that stock the issue was over buying. Had they bought the 280 oranges they needed they’d only have spent £42, the saving being enough to win by £8. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing but a bit of focus on the numbers up front would have given them an edge. When I lost my task by £15 it was because I’d taken this approach up front, so when sales when I bombed in the afternoon I was still in with a fighting chance right-up to the close of business. Owe for 4 packs of bangers and it could have been so different!!

In the final boardroom, I really wanted Ed to stay and the have chance to grow throughout the series but Sugar really had nowhere to go and unfortunately another Reading boy was out in the first week.

Predictions

Project managers who win the first task on average make it to week 9 and 2 have made the final, so what I predict is 9 weeks of Melody being a pain in the arse for the girls as she basks in the glory of a (not that impressive) first win. I can’t see her sitting back and letting the others run things as she’ll want to keep her profile high. The battle lines are starting to form around 2 early protagonists, Melody and Susan, whilst the boys are yet to shine other than Jim who for me was this week’s stand out performer.

Writing this has been cathartic and I’m happy to hand over the baton of first fired to Ed Hunter who with a name like that must have a future in recruitment! Keep your chin up son and roll with those punches!

Related posts:

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

One of my articles was feaured in Better Business Focus magazine, the essential key for business owners and managers, again this month. Better Business Focus magazine focuses on the way in which successful businesses in the UK compete and manage their organisations. It focuses on how people are recruited, coached and developed; on how marketing and selling is undertaken in professional markets as well as in markets with intense competition; on how technology and the Internet is reshaping the face of domestic and home business; and on how people are being equipped with new skills and techniques. In short, it offers expert inspiration for a better business.

To read this issue click here now. Featured in this month’s issue are…

• Game of chance by Bob Apollo. Tips and tricks for practive pipeline management. Article for sales directors, CFOs and finance directors.
• Coming over clearly by Amanda Vickers. How to make the right first impression. Article for sales directors, sales managers and salespeople.
• CSR or so what? by Graeme Crossy. How to use CSR to open doors for your business. Article for entrepreneurs, business owners and managers.
• Entreprenurial tips by Theo Paphitis. 5 tips to help you to improve your business. Article for entrepreneurs and business owners.
• How the Bowen technique can help yourposture and increase your productivity at work by Jo Lunn. How to correct your posture and feel more confident and positive. Article for everyone.
• Your slip is showing by Barry Urquhart. How to be different and to maintain your standards. Article for business owners, managers and retailers.
• Time to manage by John Niland. Time management and finance tips for consultants and business owners.
• Successful selling lying on your back by Gavin Ingham. Tips for improving your sales skills. Article for salespeople, sales managers, sales directors and business owners.
• 10 strategies to ensure that your marketing is a success by Chris Cardell. Tips on how to market your business more effectively. Article for marketing personnel, business owners, entrepreneurs and managers.

To read this issue click here now.

Related posts:

1. Sales Training & Business Tips From Better Business Focus Magazine
2. Better Business Focus: Weathering The Storm
3. Counter Culture, Motivation Strategies From Solutions The Magazine For Sagecover Members

I have to admit that I don’t watch much TV. I don’t have the time. When people talk about "Big Brother", "Eastenders", "I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here"… I have nothing to say because I just don’t watch them. But I do like "The Apprentice". I didn’t see the first series but I really got into the last one. So much so infact that I was positively looking forward to tonight’s first installment. And this made all the more interesting because I know one of the housemates…

Who will the superstars be?

So tonight the new apprentices entered the house. Who will they be? What will they be like? Will they get on? Will they fight? Who’ll be the highly qualified idiot with no common sense? Who will be the blagger who already thinks they’ve made it? Who will the real superstars be? Will there be any? How many of them will be patently not worth anything near £100k?  Surely out of 10,000 hopefuls there must be more people who "have a shot" than last year?! We all waited with bated breath…

Hard work but an easy task by anyone’s standards…

Their first task was to make and sell coffee from two stands per team – one fixed, one stationary. Hard work but an easy task by anyone’s standards. A simple transactional sale – you give me cash, I give you coffee. Some simple calculations of likely sales. A small amount of stock control. Finding a high footfall, latte drinking locale for the mobile van. Make face to face sales. Being ready to move the mobile van if it’s not producing. Get on with it. Easy!

Or so you would have thought…

The list of errors was horrendous… the assumption that because the machine could make 100 cups an hour that you could therefore sell 100 cups an hour! The van sited on a quiet road in a downmarket area with cheaper coffee everywhere! Not moving said van for hours! Not being able to answer a mobile phone or return calls! The lack of management! Driving the vans around willy nilly wasting selling time! Shutting one of the vans on one team!  Having a "meeting" in the middle of core selling hours! I could go on but it’s depressing me… 

But non of these are the Sales Apprentice’s sales training tips for this week…

Nope! Because we can do better that them. Sales training tip of the week comes courtesy of Jadine Johnson… Jadine totally missed the point that this was a transactional sale. If you want to sell as much coffee as possible in a day and you are never going to do it again you sell, sell, sell and deliver good, solid coffee. But like many salespeople trying to impress she made it far more complicated that it was. Her complication of choice… brand Eclipse. What? What on earth was she banging on about brand for? What on earth was she putting Eclipse logos on coffee for? What on earth was that song about Eclipse being the place to buy your coffee from?

Errr… no, it’s a TV show and you’re going to get fired if you don’t wake up and smell the coffee!

Jadine, you just made the name up yesterday. You’re making coffee for one day only. You’re never going to see your customers again! This has nothing to do with brand. It has everything to do with selling. What’s more you don’t know people well either. Sir Alan likes people who get on with it and in a lot of his activities this means selling well. He hates pretension and frankly that’s where you’re at with your irrelevant brand rubbish.

Tre Azam and and the other one who seemed to speak every language under the sun seemed to have it right. Well for the first hour anyway. They were the dream team that any sales manager would have begged for - 55 cups in the first hour… from a mobile stall. Pretty impressive. But not good enought for Jadine. Nope, she split them up and trashed their territory. Why? Because they weren’t promoting the brand Eclipse. What?! What?! What?! Brand has got nothing to do with this - nothing, nothing, nothing.

Look at your sales and make sure that you’re not complicating something that should be easy!

Some sales are really complex. Many are really simple. Salespeople complicate them for all sorts of reason. Look at your sales and make sure that you’re not complicating something that should be easy!

Until next week…
Gavin

p.s. Who thought Andy Jackson was a bit touchy feely? I lost count of the number of times he "touched" the girls. They didn’t say anything. People often don’t. They even "oohed" and "ahhed" when he said something sweet at the end of the exercise. But they trashed him and voted him out anyway. Was this because of the touching? Who knows?

But if you are a bit touchy-feely like Andy, just be careful who you touch… people like me won’t say anything but we don’t like it! You’ve been warned. Andy, wherever you are… if you’re selling cars again… keep your hands to yourself a bit more! You can have that tip for free!

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