The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part III
Week 3, the car, circa 6am and the boys were talking. Ben, he of “to me making money is better than sex”, was pumped up and ready for the third task, “I’m not nervous, whoever is up against me, their arseholes are going to be twitching like rabbits’ noses”.
Sir Alan had called the candidates to the new athletic complex at Lee Valley, the elite Olympic training ground East of London, “Here we are at Lee Valley athletics centre… fitness is big business… people can hardly afford to pay for a membership at those fancy gyms, what I want you to do is create a piece of portable home fitness equipment. And tomorrow you are going to try and sell them to three of Britain’s big retailers…”
So a design, pitch and sell task; the kind of task that many previous teams of apprentices have failed spectacularly at. This could be good. After a team member shuffle up with Kimberly and Kate moving to Empire and Philip and Noorul (“I’m posh”) moving to Ignite they were off – the team with the most orders at the end of the task would win and someone from the losing team would get fired.
Our two teams had two days to design, prototype and sell a completely original piece of fitness kit. On the Ignite team, Debra half stepped up for team leader, as did Lorraine. “I’m a little bit calmer than other people,” said Lorraine. Phillip and Noorul , meanwhile, were favouring Debra. Patronisingly, Lorraine asked Debra, “Are you capable of managing unique personalities?” Some of this lot really ought to read some books on communication skills…
Putting himself forward to lead Empire James said that he had “a reasonable amount of product management experience”. The others seemed happy for him to hang himself out to dry and none of them volunteered or objected. As Empire discussed their initial thoughts for a product, trainee stockbroker Ben suggested that they should go down the “sex sells” route. He began to expand his idea by explaining that it should be “something that you can incorporate into actually having sex that creates resistance whilst you’re doing it.”
I wonder, has James ever had sex and who is this target audience of people were who are so busy (and sad) that they want to double-up and exercise when they are getting lucky? In any case, this suggestion seemed more sex toy than fitness kit…
Perhaps worse, or maybe not, Debra’s team, couldn’t think of any ideas for a piece of fitness kit at all. Debra, who has to have one of the most expressionless faces I have ever seen, wasn’t looking on the positive side of things, “It’s apparent that none of us are creative” she bleated.
Sales training and business tip: Creativity is a state of mind as much as it is a skill. Anyone can learn to be more creative and the starting point is the belief that you can be creative…
On the other team, James and Empire had finally focused on “flab” as their target enemy and “bingo wings” in particular. I’m not sure that you can say “bingo wings”… surely that’s fatist or classist or something? None of the apprenti seemed bothered by minor complications like these and they quickly agreed that this was what they were going to be designing. James put Ben in charge of designing the product and Ben described it as “this is for people who cannot even lift their own body weight”.
Meanwhile, Ignite were listening to estate agent Philip who was plugging the idea of a core cube (or blocks of dense foam that you could stack), rather like a Swedish ball but in a cube shape instead. Debra was pushing her idea of an ankle exerciser for the elderly. “Biddies need foot stools”, she said (what?).
Unable to agree they visited a personal trainer for advice and the personal trainer promptly rained on both of their parades saying that she would not buy either product. As this product had to retail for under £30, Kate, James and Howard decided to do some research on the high street to see what actually does sell best in this market. The surprising answer (which really highlights the sales training principle of always knowing your market) was… a door chin up bar.
With this knowledge under his belt, James was convinced that the best plan was to kiss – keep it simple stupid. With James not present at the designers, Ben had other ideas and, in conjunction with Majid, was keen to change James’ “simple” brief and bump up the design spec and add multiple features.
In the final minutes of the planning time, Debra’s team, through Philip, came up with a solid idea for a “bum ball” to work on core stability. Next morning, both teams got their first chance to see their prototype products. Ignite’s “bum ball”, now renamed as a body rocker, looked sleek and smart and they seemed rightly pleased. Empire’s “home multi tone”, by contrast, looked home made, Heath Robinson-esque and like something I might have created in my middle school woodwork and design classes.
Ben was at it again, “I’ve come up with a bloody great product. I’ve actually shocked myself”. Project leader James grimaced and said, “I like it”. He was clearly lying, which he then pretty much admitted privately to the camera.
Ignite’s Lorraine was practising her sales pitch with the strangest word soupage style…
“The body rocker, it’s innovative, it’s new, it’s original, it’s functional, it’s dynamic, it’s completely blown every other product of its kind out of the market. It’s portable, what I mean by being portable? You can carry it in your handbag, children can use it to enable them to have a stable stability… what do you think so far?”
Thanks for the explanation of portable Lorraine and “stable stability”… suddenly my world has become clear. Debra, who I think could barely muster an emotion even if Lorraine danced the can-can and tossed off her clothing, seemed no more impressed than I was, “Errrm, I didn’t really know what the product was”, she said.
Back in the real world (!), Ben was giving himself some I-love-me-love, “It makes perfect sense that Kate and I are doing the modelling” (cut to him doing press ups ) “I’d say, out of the men, I probably am the best looking. You can tell just by looking at them they’re all out of shape. I’ve at least graced the floors of a gym once or twice.”
Sales training tip: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, selling is about results, not egos. Selling is not about talking the talk, it’s about walking the walk. Selling is not about what you say you can do, it’s about what you actually do. Selling is not about promises, it’s about delivery.
On the way to their first sales pitch, Lorraine was practising her lines and, despite being a “sales woman”, she didn’t seem, able to string two lines together.
Sales training tips for making powerful presentations: To maker a powerful and persuasive sales presentation you need to know your stuff, you need to know what you’re presenting, you need a solid and proven structure BUT you also need to be natural. Practising memorizing your pitch word for word in the manner in which Lorraine did can make your presentation stilted and un-engaging.
Cue Lorraine and her first sales pitch to Power House Fitness, “Let me introduce you to the next iconic design that is a functional, portable, fitness product The Body Rocker…” Noorul leant back six inches on the rocker and then said how much pressure he felt under and how much he could feel the burn. “In terms of target audience there isn’t really anyone who wouldn’t use this product,” continued Lorraine, “I think even Nan who is sitting in the chair all day could use this product in terms of not seizing up…”
Hmmm, I’m kind of not sure, is this for ripping the stomachs of young fit people or is it for octogenarians?
At Totally Fitness, James’ team had botched their first sales pitch, “We target mid to high end so I am unlikely to direct them to this if they have the money to buy a £2000 multi-gym, for example”, stated his prospect. Bang, that’s one door shut.
Sales training tip: Know your client, know your client, k-n-o-w your client.
At John Lewis, Ben was in his element demonstrating the kit and as Kate mentioned the fact that the equipment would exercise your bum, Ben bent over and slapped his bum like a slightly chubby, overly smiley, very cheesy, stripper. The client grimaced.
Lorraine meanwhile, was completing her final sales presentation, still sticking to her “original, dynamic, portable, functional … lip smacking, thirst quenching, ace tasting, motivating, good buzzing, cool talking, high walking, fast living, ever giving, cool fizzing bum body rocker… oh, sorry, that was something else…”
Sales training tip: I know that we never see much of any sales presentation in The Apprentice but what we never see are the compelling reasons why products should be bought. What we never see are any questions or any client engagement. Do our apprenti even consider important questions like what problems their products solve, or how their clients will benefit from using them, or how they compare, improve upon or complement existing products in the market…? Instead, all we get is meaningless words and swaggering promises…
And then Debra closed John Lewis, demonstrating that closing does not have to be sophisticated and that sometimes just asking is all that it takes,
“Can you see it on your shop floor and can you see yourself putting forward an order for that product?”
“If we want this product exclusive to John Lewis, what does that mean for you?” queried the client, playing his dead-pan, I am a serious business person face, for all he was worth for the cameras.
Philip, “You’d have to make us a serious offer on a serious amount of orders because we do have other people interested…”
Client, interrupting Philip, “Order? Have you thoughts about that?”
Debra, “No, we’d have to have a conversation as a group about that”.
Slick. Errr, not…
Sales training tip: Set objectives for all sales meetings. Set primary objectives for all sales meetings. Set fall back objectives for all sales meetings. Set fall back objectives for your fall back objectives. You get the idea.When seeing professional buyers (such as this one) in particular, you know that if you are successful they will want to negotiate so give your negotiation positions some thought and be prepared…
Yasmina, and you have to respect her for stepping in,
“I would like to put this on the table. Ok. We’re offering this product at £14 for a unit. If you can guarantee us 20,000 units tomorrow then we can guarantee you exclusivity”.
The client, coming back like a Roger Federer back hand, “For how long?”
Yasmina, “For 6 months.”
Client. “Too short? 2000 units for 6 months isn’t a particularly great deal…”
And the cameras were cut on this scene… Pity.
In the board room…
Sir Alan asked, “Was James a good team leader?”… Ben said that he wasn’t exactly like Winston Churchill…. James said that he thought that “the end prototype was not up to scratch”… Sir Alan asked if Debra was a good team leader… Mona said she was “ok” but with little enthusiasm… Philip said he was very proud of his idea… Sir Alan asked about Lorraine’s presentation… Debra showed her slippery shoulders saying that she thought that she “tried her best” but that she did not know whether that was good enough or not… . Philip offered his support for Lorraine and said that she did a “good job and it is easy to be critical later on”…
The results were in…
Empire had no orders from Powerhouse.
Ignite had sold 80 units to Powerhouse.
Empire had no orders from Totally Fitness.
Ignite had sold 100 units to Totally Fitness.
Empire had sold 500 units to John Lewis.
Nick, “(John Lewis) asked for exclusivity but Yasmina went in far too high and asked for 2,000 for a 6 month exclusivity deal but they have placed an order for 10,000 units on an exclusive basis.”
Sales training question: Did she? Did she start too high? Did she really? What do you think? Why not share your thoughts below in the comments and I will share mine with you…
Ignite had won and won well. And, for once, a good result. They dreamt up, designed and created a new fitness product in 2 days and sold 10,000 units to John Lewis. Nice.
Ignite went off for a private concert from Katherine Jenkins and Sir Alan was left to quip with the others, “Well, the empire doesn’t strike back does it?” Another one he dreamt up in the bath I’m sure…
Back in the board room…
James elected to bring back Ben and Majid… James said that he was impressed by how “alive” Ben was about the product and that he did not want to micro manage him… Sir Alan said that Maj just hung around on the periphery of the action… Maj disagreed and said that he was not given a big enough job… Nick asked Maj if it was an enduring lack of confidence in his abilities… Sir Alan asked James why Ben was back in the room… James said because he thought Ben could take the concept and turn it into something that looked better than what he had produced… Sir Alan pointed out that no-one else came up with any better ideas… James and Ben argued… Ben shouted “If you’re quite done, I came up with the concept, it was up to you guys to find our what the retailer and the consumer wanted, if you did not convey that then that is up to you”… Sir Alan asked Ben why he thought James had brought him back into the board room and Ben said that he had no idea…
Sir Alan, “James, interestingly enough Margaret felt that you wasn’t too bad in management. She sees a Jekyll and Hyde person… Your two colleagues are pointing the finger at you the logic is that you go. Maj, you seem to be hanging around on the periphery not doing much… I wonder if a leopard will change its spots… And Ben you are young… I think it would be grossly unfair if you were held responsible for the failure of this task… my instincts are that I can’t really have people that are perceived not to contribute and you might not agree with this but Maj, you’re fired…”
“You are so close to going out that door James. You got Margaret to thank for putting that glimmer of doubt in my mind…”
Final sales training tip of the night: You have to step up. You have to take action. You have to do something, anything to take you in the direction of your goals and aspirations. Maybe Maj was standing back deliberately. Maybe he thought it was a good game plan…
Success in sales does not come to those who watch the game. Success in sales comes to those who pick up the ball and play their hearts out, right the way to the final whistle.
So what do you think about tonight’s decision? Who do you think should have gone and why?
The Sales Apprentice 2008: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part VI
Tonight’s Apprentice was an interesting one although perhaps not from a sales training perspective but more from a business development angle. The task tonight was to create a range of new greetings cards and then make a sales pitch to three of the biggest suppliers in the industry – Clintons, Tesco and Celebrations. The team with the most number of cards ordered after the presentations would be the winner.
Over the last few years, sales pitches, tenders and presentations have more and more become the norm in business. Many small and large businesses and corporations spend huge amounts of time and energy preparing for and delivering sales pitches of this type. Many win large amounts of business by pitching their offerings in this way.
Knowing how to make a good sales pitch of this kind is a powerful business skill. Knowing when to avoid making these kinds of sales presentations and how to win business other ways is also critical but more of that (maybe!) another day.
Tonight Sir Alan picked both team leaders personally making Michael team leader of Alpha and Kevin team leader of Renaissance. I haven’t rated either of these two as yet but Kevin seems to me to be one of the weakest contestants in the whole show. Would he be able to step up to the task in hand? (And is it only me who thinks that Kevin looks like Matt Lucas with hair?)
As usual both of our team leaders were basking in the glory of the camera… Michael told the camera that he would “do anything to win” and that there was no-one that he would not screw over to achieve this aim. Nice chap then. Kevin meanwhile was bragging about how as a team leader he inspires devotion. Apparently, he had his first house at 20. Impressive huh, so that explains why he thinks he can be the most successful business man the world has seen by the time he is 40.
Or pehaps not…
On Kevin’s team Jenny enthusiastically promoted a theme of environmental cards. Was she having a laugh or what? How can anyone who claims to be green support the creation of something that uses natural resources to be made and petrol to be delivered? Jenny herself later admitted that she doesn’t buy as many cards these days herself because she is so green… she really does put the mentalist into environmentalist…
Perhaps more unbelievably the rest of the team all thought that this was a good idea too… No common (sense) as my mum used to be fond of saying when we were kids.
Over on the other team Michael and his mob had agreed that they wanted to create a National Singles’ Day and a range of cards for singles. Their chosen day? The day before Valentine’s Day.
Thinking about who should make the presentations Kevin volunteered himself for his team. The rest of his team were not so sure. The general consensus seemed to be that either Jenny with her environmental knowledge or Claire with her retail pitching experience would have been better for the job. Kevin however was “150% confident” that he could do it… so that’s not going to come back and kick you up the arse then Kevin…
As my mum also used to say, Kevin, pride comes before a fall… Oh, and by the way Mr Bank Manager, you cannot ever be more than 100% confident…
Meanwhile Lucinda is getting (inexplicably) on Helene’s wick, "We need to discuss the roles between the three of us" she helpfully suggests. "Nobody’s telling me what to do" grumps Helene. Lucinda says she will do anything and she does not mind but Helene rants on that Lucinda is always looking for an argument. Pot, kettle, black Helene. Lucinda in her brightly coloured beret and skirt just looks to me like something off of a greeting card not some arch rival business nemesis…
For the next few minutes of the show the teams got down to shooting pictures and designing the cards. I ate my Chinese (can you believe a hotel stopping all hot food room service at 930pm?) and thought there was little of interest going on until…
Michael wanted to know if National Singles’ Day had an apostrophe or not?! Was it National Singles Day? National Single’s Day? Or National Singles’ Day?
Hey! Hey! Hey! I can see this being argued about for weeks on the internet! It got worse. They rang a national newspaper to ask. I think they even rang the National Library (as you would!) Do they not have internet access? Oh come on! Eventually we found out that they took 4 hours to deliberate this one and in the end still were not positive of their decision!
But back to the point…
First up with a sales presentation was Raef pitching the National Singles’ Day idea. “I believe we have created an industry” he proudly proclaimed but Clintons were not so sure believing that the day before Valentine’s Day was not the best of days! You don’t say! At Tesco, Raef started his pitch by saying that they had just come back from the “market leader”. Now I understand why he said that but when making any kind of sales presentation or pitch you always have to consider the sensibilities of your prospect. Tesco may know that Clintons are the market leaders and this may be undisputed but blurting it out was rather insensitive and could have really upset them for a variety of reasons…
Tesco did not like the date either so in the third and final pitch to Celebrations Michael asked Raef to not specify a date.
Lights, camera, action… And Matt, sorry Kevin was up. This really was car crash TV. The idea was appalling. Kevin was appalling. The presentations were appalling.
Clintons wanted to know who would buy environmental cards. Kevin stuttered an answer only to be told he had missed the point. Clintons wanted to know if the cards would make someone smile? Kevin attacked saying that Clintons not putting their weight behind it was like the US not supporting climate change efforts… Yes, just the same!
You cannot attack a client this way Kevin. You’ve just lost any chance of a sale with Clintons.In the car on the way to the next appointment Kevin said that he was not worried. Alex smiled knowingly to himself. Kevin was toast.
The next two presentations were no better. At one point Kevin tried to sell Tesco the idea of helping the planet. Where’s the WIIFM for them in that Kevin? I think you’ve forgotten what your mission is here!!
In the board room…
Sir Alan wanted to know who would buy cards for singles? Why did they choose February 13th? How would a retailer find shelf space when they were already making room for cards for the 14th?! Would you change that with hindsight he asked Michael. "No" came back the reply. That’s what we like to see from our apprentices… no ability to learn from their mistakes no matter how big!
Sir Alan continued to quiz Michael about the 4 hours they had spent on the apostrophe puzzle. Michael looked annoyed and Sir Alan called him on it. Michael got even more annoyed. He clearly cannot take feedback and seems very immature. I’d lose him soon…
But he was going to get away with it tonight because the results were in and Kevin was in far worse a position… Michael’s team had sold 1500 cards to Tesco, 1500 to Clintons and 19500 to Celebrations. Kevin’s team has sold 6000 cards to Tesco but none to either of the other buyers.
Bring me some jam to spread on Kevin, there’s no way he can escape the reaper here…
After another stint in the board room Kevin elected to bring back Sara and Claire. This was a bizarre choice. Claire was always going to be too formidable for him in the board room. And I’d have brought back Jenny (for what little difference it might have made) not Sara. I admit that we have not seen Sara do much but I am not really sure why the team seem so anti her at this stage in the competition. Perhaps because they see her as an easy target.
OK! OK! So Claire, as a retail buyer, should have seen the stupidity of the idea and could have stepped in and made the pitch when Kevin had realized 2 hours before the pitch that maybe he wasn’t the best person to make it. But then again, she was not the team leader, there were other people in the team and it was very short notice given Kevin had rejected her out of hand the day before saying he was 150% confident.
Sir Alan took a last swipe at their whole concept before making his decision and, unless I was dreaming, or maybe he was joking (although I don’t think so), suggested a better idea as "Sorry your 11 year old beautiful child got shot in the head by a hoodie"! Not one of his best selling ideas methinks! And not much of a market either unless he knows of some upcoming revolution directing its paramilitary forces (hoodies) against 11 year old children… Probably be a larger market for "Sorry you’ve just made a tit of yourself on national TV" cards…
Whatever. Let’s not waste time talking trivia… “Kevin this whole task turned out a fiasco and as team leader I hold you responsible. Kevin you’re fired."
A mercy killing and the right decision.
And the cameras cut to the car. This was going to be a good one. What was Kevin going to say? “It is a massive blow and I feel quite angry that there are people in the house that I feel should not be there and tonight I truly feel that Sara should have been fired…”
Oh, read your "You’re fired" greetings card Kevin.
Yawn.
So let’s cut to the chase…
What sales training and business lessons can we learn from this catalogue of errors tonight…
Make sure that you do your planning and preparation.
When making sales presentations and sales pitches you should always plan and prepare thoroughly. Kevin failed to prepare effectively and it showed. Planning and preparation means thinking about how to best convey your message to maximize your chances of making a sale.
Planning and preparation means getting yourself into the right mental state so that you can communicate effectively with your prospects. Planning and preparation means thinking about how you are going to handle objections before you make your presentation not after you have become confrontational and aggressive with your prospect.
Know your audience! Know your audience! Know your audience!
Before any sales pitch or presentation you need to fully understand your audience and what is important to them. Think about why they are in the presentation and what they want to get out of it.
Many salespeople think primarily in terms of how they can make the sale not how their clients gain from working with them. Find out everything you can about your audience… their likes, their dislikes, their values and their traditions. Be careful of the language you use and how you put your message across.
Connecting with your audience is key.
Don’t try and change the world.
Selling is simple. You do not need to complicate it. You do not need to reinvent the wheel. You do not need to change the world.
Kevin’s team, like many businesses, became fixated on their own ideals and their own aspirations. They failed to think about how they would sell their products and whether they could sell their ideas. Their pitch was preachy and not focused on their prospects needs at all. Wakening the world up to environmental issues is a great ambition but it is not easy to sell in this format!
Their objective, as many businesses, was simple – sell greetings cards. They should have kept it simple and done just that rather than forgetting their mission and their objectives electing instead to try and change the world.
So that’s it for another week and I’m still undecided on who I am favouring at the moment but I know who I want to go! I’d be really interested in hearing who you think the contenders are, who you think should be gone and what you thought about tonight’s show…
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