The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 12, The Final
The final of the Apprentice. Cool, professional Kate versus passionate, entrepreneurial Yasmina. Their brief, design and pitch a new brand of chocolate. Sir Alan said they were his best candidates ever and that it was his hardest decision yet. Either could have won. Yasmina did.
So that done (!), I thought I would sum up some of the core sales training lessons from this year’s Sales Apprentice…
On sales motivation and mindset…
- Top sales performers perform, they don’t talk about performing. Sales is not about what you say you’re going to deliver. Sales is all about what you actually do deliver.
- Sales success is all about action. 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.
- 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.
- Sales success is about taking responsibility – responsibility for yourself, your sales activities and your sales results.
- Sales success is directly related to effort.
On prospecting…
- Know your client, know your client, k-n-o-w your client.
- Set objectives for all sales activities and prospecting calls.
- Get proactive and get your prospecting done. Procrastination and lethargy are the enemy of successful new business winners.
- Get yourself in the right mental state for cold calling. Attitude is your ability to access your skills.
- Know where to expend your energy. Working smarter is the route to success.
- Know your product. Know your product. Know your product.
On selling…
- Under promise and over deliver. Delivering on your promises is essential in any business.
- Develop trust and credibility if you want top class client relationships.
- Always give 100%. Nothing short of 100% if good enough if you want to be a sales superstar.
- When negotiating, sound like you believe in what you’re saying and plan your negotiation tactics and strategies.
- Sell on value and not price.
- Maximize the impact and effectiveness of your sales activities.
- 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.
- Ask better questions. Listen harder. Seek to fully understand your clients.
- Know that people buy on emotion and justify with logic.
On presenting…
- To make powerful and persuasive sales presentations you need to know your stuff, you need to know what you’re presenting, you need a solid and proven structure.
- Know your audience. Know your audience. Know your audience.
- Do your preparation and planning.
- Have a call to action. People need an incentive and encouragement to buy now.
- Practise. Practise. Practise.
- Give 100% and be yourself.
On sales leadership…
- Watch out for sales terrorists in your business who focus everyone on the negative and undermine your business. In today’s turbulent economy you cannot afford to have negativity like this in your teams.
- Utilize the skills of your team effectively. Different people have different strengths and different weaknesses and using these to best advantage is key.
- Be approachable and personable so that your team will communicate with you, confide in and support you.
- Encourage involvement and participation and create team spirit.
- Take responsibility and make decisions.
- Judge the reality of a situation not just what you believe it to be.
- Learn to delegate. Being a great leader is not about being able to do everything yourself.
- Get the right salespeople into your business to build high performance sales teams and get great sales results.
So that’s it for another year. What did you learn and what are you going to do differently to get the sales results that you want?
The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part X
If you spent tonight watching Manchester United play Barcelona in the Champions League then the good news is that you didn’t miss a lot in the way of sales training and business tips on tonight’s Apprentice. What you did miss however was Sir Alan sacking someone that, based upon your emails to me, many of you had thought would make the final. I agreed with Sir Alan’s decision but more of that later…
Tonight’s task was to select products to sell live on a TV shopping channel. The team that sold the most would win. A task like this is all about picking the right products for your target audience and then selling them effectively. How would they fare?
On team Ignite, Howard volunteered to project manage Lorraine and Kate whilst over on team Empire, Yasmina volunteered to project manage James and Debra. Debra also wanted to be project manager and agreed to Yasmina leading the team somewhat ungraciously, “For me, I am happy to be project manager every week,” she stated. Err, yes Debra, but that’s really not what it’s about though is it?
Both teams split in two to select products which the other members of their team would have to sell on TV the next day. All were treated to “sales presentations” on various products which they could choose from. They may have asked but, if they did, we never heard one question or one comment on target markets and audiences…
Sales training tip: Much as knowing what the products do is important, so is knowing who the audience are and what they buy. Me, I would have spent rather more time asking questions. Who are the audience? What do they like? What do they normally buy? How many did this product sell last time? When was it last on the channel? What have they bought that’s similar? How did they sell? How do the prices compare? How price conscious are they? What compels them to buy now? Etc etc.
Choices were made. Kate selected a hideous leather jacket with silver or gold leaves on and a healthy chip pan for Howard and Lorraine to sell. Howard and Lorraine selected a rather bizarre pet craft kit and a mini electronic, air guitar for Kate to sell.
Over on the other team, James and Yasmina selected a leaf grabbing contraption and a polo-neck, scarf type piece of clothing for Debra to sell and she in turn selected a cheap remote control car and a pack of elasticated hairclips for them.
Notably, James, Yasmina and Debra did not have a product priced over £29.99 whilst Kate, Lorraine and Howard had two approaching £150. Would this make winning hard for Yasmina and her team or would their cheap “pile them high, sell them cheap” approach work?
On the TV…
James was cheesy, “If you’re not first with this, you’ll be last with this”, he quipped, “Stop spying and start buying.” Debra meanwhile looked slick but did claim the line of the week, “This is the answer to the scarf,” she stated confidently. What was the question again Debra?
Over on the other team, Howard and Lorraine looked uncomfortable working together. Selling the chip pan they waxed lyrical about the chips but said little about how to buy the product. Kate looked like she was enjoying herself selling the air guitar, perhaps a little too much.
Sales training tip: Every sales message needs a call to action. People need an incentive and encouragement to buy now. They need to know when to call, why they should call now, the number to call, the numbers that are selling, the number of people hanging on the line etc etc.
In the board room…
Empire had sold £1541.88. Ignite £1376.73.
A win for Yasmina and her team. Apparently Debra had been “exceptional” according to the TV channel representatives. Howard and his team had failed to win despite their higher priced products. Neither the leather jacket nor the fryer had sold to the expectation levels of the channel.
During the conversations that followed it became clear that both Howard and Kate blamed Lorraine. Lorraine thought Howard should go due to being over cautious. In private, Nick vociferously stood up for Lorraine to Sir Alan, “She is so often right.”
In their defence…
Howard said that he is a great communicator and works well in teams. Nick told him that he lacked ambition and is not brave. Lorraine said she has natural business acumen. Sir Alan asked why she wanted to work for him then? Kate said she has been a strong team player. Sir Alan said that one of them is “not going to be very happy.”
“Kate. I think you stepped back in my eyes in this last week. You say you’re not a one trick pony… but you might be… Howard you’re a steady Eddie… Lorraine you speak a good game, your age has got nothing to do with it… I’ve noticed a couple of times that you seem to make your mind up afterwards and I ‘aint got time for people like that either… This is a very difficult decision because you three people have come a long way in this process… Howard, you’re fired.”
An interesting decision and one I agreed with. Howard has never really stepped up. We are one week from the final and he is still a figure in the background. Worse, he has twice been present when bad decisions have been made and has seemingly done and said nothing to contradict the bad decisions being made. But he is a nice guy and eminently enmployable…
Howard in the cab, “I’m gutted. Really gutted…. If Sir Alan thinks I am risk adverse then ok I will take on board the feedback.”
So…
Kate, Lorraine, Debra, Yasmina and James remain to face the wrath of the interviewers from hell next week. Who will survive the ridiculous, unrealistic, un-PC, verbal attacks of Sir Alan’s attack dogs? Who do you want to see in the final?
The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part IX
Week 9 and this week the apprentices had to select and sell two baby products per team at the Baby Show in Earls Court. The team who sold the most would win and on the losing team, someone would get the sack. Leading Ben, Debra and Yasmina (Empire) this week was James. Leading Howard and Kate (Ignite) was Lorraine.
I’m really not sure who I wanted to lose this week or who I’d like to sack first. Lorraine is singularly annoying, Debra is contrary and aggressive, Ben is puffed up and ego-tastic, James is Tim-Nice-But-Dim… Howard, Kate and Yasmina seem the best of a bad bunch with Kate perhaps my favourite…
Anyway, back to the plot and our teams had 6 hours to visit suppliers, view potential products and make their selection of the products that they wanted to sell the very next day…
In Holland Park, James and Yasmina loooked at a birthing pool. In an attempt to influence their decision the client informed them that they had recently sold £5,000 worth of stock at a similar event over three days. Useful information but why did they not ask this question themselves and why did they not ask any follow on questions?
Sales training tip: Selling is all about asking questions. Selling is all about understanding. Selling is all about asking the right questions to aid understanding for both you and your client. Even when the client offered useful information why did they not ask more questions about where this other event was, how many attendees there were, why the people bought, what the competitive products were etc. I would have even asked them what they knew about the Baby Show and whether they’d been to that show before…
In South London Debra and Ben looked at a protective head cap for toddlers. As they left Ben was dismissive, “I’d want my kid to get cuts and bruises” he said, implying that children these days get molly-coddled. Debra agreed with him. And so do I…
But this has nothing to do with Debra and nothing to do with Ben and nothing to do with me. This is all to do with parents and future parents and, more specifically, the parents and future parents at the Baby Show. Would they make an impulse purchase to protect their child’s skull? Is this something that they would buy? I wouldn’t but I think they probably would.
Sales training tip: When you make assumptions about your prospects and your market based on your own preconceptions and beliefs you run the risk of getting it wrong. This is why planning, preparation and research are a critical part of the sales process.
Next up, Knightsbridge, and Debra and Ben fell in love with a horse. A wooden, rocking horse to be more precise. “We are known as the best rocking horse makers in the world… they sell to kings and queens everywhere”, boasted the rocking horse maker. I couldn’t visualize many kings and queens gracing Earl’s Court with their presence and I’d heard enough to move on but Ben and Debra were enchanted… “if you only sell one”, dreamed Ben.
Yes Ben, IF.
Kate and Howard meanwhile had realized the potential of selling the protective head cap that Debra and Ben had dismissed by playing on FEAR.
Sales training tip: People buy on emotion and justify with logic. Protecting your child is natural for any parent and, particularly, for first parents. At £15.99 this could be an easy sale… whether you agree with it or not
Decision time…
James asked Debra what she had seen that she liked and she said that as long as they got the rocking horses she didn’t care. “What’s your second choice?” he asked and Debra replied, “I wouldn’t choose any of them. I got to be honest, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t put my kid in a cradle, I wouldn’t put high heels on a 6 month old and I probably wouldn’t pick a head guard that they’d pull off.”
James and his team selected the birthing pool and the rocking horses. On the other team Lorraine, Kate and Howard selected a foldable buggy and the head guard.
The show…
Lorraine and her team quickly discovered that there was another company selling the same buggy as them and that they were selling it for £35 cheaper than them too. Oh dear.
Sales training tip: Ask better questions. Most salespeople just do not ask enough questions nor do they ask the right questions. In this case, Lorraine failed to ask the question as to whether anyone else would be exhibiting the product at the show.
Kate and Howard, true team players (!), whispered to each other, “I can’t believe she didn’t ask if anyone else was selling it”, whispered Kate, “Do you know what? If we lose, we’ve got a reason, we’ve got an excuse,” replied Howard. Good to know that they have a plan in place… even if it is their excuses if they fail!
Lorraine, meanwhile, was making a hash of demonstrating the buggy. “She’s making a complete horlicks of it”, commented Nick. Lorraine knew that she could not work the buggy last night and yet she had walked in to the show itself still unable to work it. What is that about? Why did she go to bed before she could take that buggy down and put it back up again blind folded, one-handed and wearing boxing gloves?
Sales training tip: Everyday I see salespeople who know that they have not completed something adequately but who pack up their bags and go home at 530pm anyway. Sales success is directly related to effort. Often, I have worked through the night to complete something important. That’s what important means, worth dedicating time and effort to. Clearly, operating the buggy was important and I would not have slept before I had mastered it.
And then a prospective customer showed Howard, Kate and Lorraine how to operate it. “We just don’t look professional when people ask how do you recline it and then they have to show us. It doesn’t look good”, said Howard implying that Lorraine was at fault. You knew you couldn’t operate it too Howard and you went to bed as well. You could have worked it out yourself you know.
That’s two weeks now that he has claimed innocence whilst seemingly being present whilst bad decisions were made. He does remind me a little of the Jasper Carrot sketch, “Never been involved in an accident… seen thousands”.
Over on the other team, Ben was half-heartedly trying to get people to talk with him about the rocking horses, “Can I interest you in our rocking horses?”, “Would you be interested in our rocking horses?” and “Excuse me, could I interest you in our rocking horses?”
Sales training tip: Closed questions of this kind are not the best kind of question to get people talking to you. It is far too easy for a client to say, “No”… and they all did. Planning and preparing your approach for engaging clients is critical. When you work a show or a stand you need to plan and prepare a strategy for enticing, engaging and converting prospects. You need to know what you need to achieve and how best you can achieve it.
In the board room the results were in…
Empire (Ben, Debra, Yasmina and James) had sold £722.
Ignite (Lorraine, Kate and Howard) had sold £1606.89 (or was it £1666.89?).
Debra was quick to cast blame, “In my mind, if you are a family, you will always have a need for a buggy…” What? She is unbelievable and so contrary. She says one thing one minute then reinvents history and says something else the next. Debra, do you not remember saying that you would be gutted if you did not get the horse?
James was criticized for choosing the birthing pool when only 2% of people have home births (or was that birthing pools?). James took this on the chin but said that they had also spent far too much time championing the rocking horse and far too little selling the birthing pool.
Sales training tip: I don’t know enough about this market to comment on their choices and anything I could say would be based on best guess and not research however… James is right about the strategy. Debra and Ben seemed to be looking for the knock-out punch, the big one, the retirement sale. They (rightly) pointed out that if they could sell one rocking horse they would win.
But they didn’t sell any rocking horses and they didn’t win. Too many salespeople rely on one big deal or one important deal to help them to hit their targets but then when it doesn’t come in, which is frequently, they miss target. They whine about how unlucky they were, how close it was and what would have happened if…
Debra continued to say that there were other options and that she had told James that. No Debra, I wrote it down. You said, “I wouldn’t choose any of them”. She continued about the choice of the birthing pool, “They beat us because they picked a product that everybody needed”… Ah, of course yes, because everybody needs a rocking horse Debra!
James elected, not surprisingly, to bring back Debra and Ben…
Ben claimed that he had shown Sir Alan raw business talent. He said, “I’ve shown you that I can be a compete grafter?” Apparently he can “compete at a world class level” and, did I tell you, he had a “scholarship for Sandhurst”?
But Sir Alan wasn’t having any of it, “It’s a very tough decision and it’s not a nice one for me to be perfectly honest but I feel that the light at the end of the tunnel has gone out quite frankly and I think it’s time Ben for you to leave this process. Ben you’re fired.”
Bye-bye Ben.
The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part VIII
Week 8 and an interesting task rebranding Margate from being “a little tired” to being “a cool place to go”. Not many sales training tips this week but an interesting night and a few good tips.
Leading the two teams this week were Debra and Yasmina. Yasmina declared that she was suggesting herself for this task as it required a “multitude of skills” and that she had them. Nothing if not humble.
The two teams quickly started coming up with ideas for the rebranding. Debra, Mona, Howard and James decided that they would try and tap into the pink pound whilst Lorraine, Yasmina, Ben and Kate settled for the somewhat safe idea of rebranding Margate as a family holiday venue.
Over a two day period our teams had to create the rebranding plan, create a poster and a leaflet and make two sales pitches. One of the would be to branding experts and the other to officials and locals. Both of these groups would score the pitches and the best scoring pitch would win.
Both teams elected to operate with two team members in Margate and two in London. In Margate for Empire were Mona and James and for Ignite, Ben and Lorraine. Whilst Mona and James “subtly” tested the local opinion of chasing the pink pound, Howard and Debra enjoyed casting for their photos. Over on the other team Kate and Yasmina seemed to be gaining equal enjoyment from their casting of a yummy Daddy, Yasmina licking her lips as he bared his chest…
The next day the fog had landed on Margate. It was not perfect weather for appealing photography. Mona and James decided to start off by shooting some shots inside, recreating a night club scene. Nick was not complimentary saying that the models were not getting a lot of direction and that they looked wooden…
Every week we learn from the occasional successes and frequent failures of the apprentices. I am happy to point out what they have done wrong, how egotistical they can be and what they should have done instead but, in this, I disagree with Nick. The apprentices are not photographers or directors. Nor do they pretend to be. How do they know or why should they be expected to know how to direct a photo shoot? Why would they know how to get the best out of a model? Would you? Would Nick? Would knowing how to do this make them any more employable as a leader?
Leadership tip: Being a great leader is not about being able to do everything yourself. Being a great leader is about utilizing the resources you have to get the optimum result. Being a leader is about knowing when a job requires specialist help. Being a leader means understanding how to integrate that specialist help into your business. This was one of those times when specialist help was required and I think it would have been more realistic as a leadership task to have let them lead and manage a specialist in this area.
Later on, James and Mona moved to the beach to continue their photo shoots. “Directing” two guys with ice cream 99s on the beach, Nick continued to look on with disgust as if he had just found a rancid gherkin in his ice cream. Margaret meanwhile looked relaxed and calm, sitting on a seaside bench, eating an ice cream and watching Ben and Lorraine on their shoot.
Back in London, Lorraine and Yasmina clashed over the poster that Yasmina had created. Lorraine really has an ability to rub people up the wrong way fast. But if their arguments were unproductive they were nothing compared to the problems on Debra’s team where just 30 minutes before the print deadline they had not even started the leaflet! Not surprisingly, they could not finish it in time and had to leave it incomplete with gaps on it.
This was not the first time this series that one of the teams had failed to complete a basic task and I was surprised that more was not made of just how incompetent this really was. Remember the plain green cereal box? Tonight’s task was to do a rebrand with a presentation and to back it up with a poster and a leaflet. To not finish the leaflet was inexcusable.
The first sales presentation was to two agency chiefs and a tourism expert…
Kate went first with their family theme “See Margate through childrens’ eyes”. As with all of the sales presentations on the Apprentice we did not really see enough to comment on her presentation skills but what we did see was somewhat fact based and not very sexy at all. Rather too much steak and not much sizzle.
As usual, the professionals had to show their “expertise”, “If you saw your poster without the logo would you be confident that you would recognize it?” one asked. Frankly, I could apply that question to virtually any holiday poster I have seen anywhere and I wondered if they would have taken on the same project from cold in the same time period.
Howard made the presentation for Debra’s team and the idea seemed to go down well but the experts were quick to ask about why the leaflet had gaps on it. Debra, who had obviously been thinking up an excuse over night as to why there were gaps, said that the spaces were for local advertisers. It was fairly obvious that they did not believe her but she continued to dig a hole for herself and her team. Later on, Margaret said that the branding company did not like being lied to and said that you need a relationship of trust between a branding company and their client and that it had been blown out of the window.
Sales training tip: Trust is also critical if you want to be a top salesperson. Trust is essential if you want to close sales. Trust is crucial if you want top class client relationships. Trust is mandatory if you want your clients to open up and speak to you about their real needs, wants, fear and desires. Salespeople are often seen as untrustworthy, untruthful and dishonest. Sometimes this is fair, sometimes it isn’t. To deal with this perception you need to develop deep trust between you and you clients and the only way you can do this is by being honest, open and trustworthy, all of the time.
Back in the boardroom…
We discovered that Empire had scored 4/10 from the officials and residents and 4/10 from the branding experts. Ignite had scored 7/10 from both groups respectively.
Debra, Mona, James and Howard were left to fight it out whilst the others got to race Lotus Exiges around a race track. James hit the nail on the head for me, “We lost because our execution was poor.”
Debra elected to bring back Mona and James…
This was a difficult one because they could all go. Surely none of these three could win this thing. James seems all Tim-nice-but-dim to me, Mona just doesn’t have it and Debra could wind up any team fast…
On tonight’s performance alone, I would have sacked Debra. Sir Alan said that Howard seemed to do nothing wrong tonight and Debra blamed the quality of the photos and creativity on Mona and James in Margate but what exactly were she and Howard doing for two days? Why was the leaflet not nearly completed and just awaiting photos? Why was the poster not laid out and awaiting photos? And how on earth did she think she could lay out a leaflet in 30 minutes anyway?
Debra also has very slippery shoulders, casting around to lay blame on anyone but herself in a very aggressive manner, “I wish I was you and James. I wish I had gone off to Margate, done absolutely nothing, ate fish and chips, taken a couple of pictures that weren’t actually relevant to what we were trying to do…”
Sales training tip: Sales success is about taking responsibility. Sales success is about knowing what you’re good at and improving what you’re not so good at. Many average salespeople do not admit any faults or failings and blame their clients, their colleagues, the market or anything except themselves for their failures. Unless you take responsibility, total responsibility for your sales performance you will limit yourself from becoming an absolute top sales performer.
But, as Sir Alan said, he is looking at performance over the whole series now and despite doubts over James and Debra, Mona had to go. “It looks like to me that you might be right at the end of the pier in this process… Mona, with regret, you’re fired.”
“Thanks you for the opportunity,” she said politely. And we were down to seven.
Quote of the week goes to Yasmina on Lorraine, “There is a difference between managing people that have strong personalities and managing crazy people.”
Who is your favourite? Who would you like to win and why?
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 Tips From The Hit TV Show, The Final
The final of The Apprentice 2008… Who would Sir Alan choose to be his apprentice? Would he go for the corporate girl? The “reformed” loud mouth? The “young” boy? Or the geezer? What sales training and business lessons would we learn if any?
It doesn’t seem any time since we had 16 candidates and here we were with just four left and a final decision to make.
The teams for tonight had already been decided last week and were Alex & Helene versus Claire & Lee. Tonight’s task was to design a men’s fragrance and then to pitch it successfully in a sales presentation. Perfume is a highly competitive market and finding an angle was important but not as important as staying focused on business would prove to be…
As usual Sir Alan had invited back some ex-Apprentices to “help out”. I say “help out” in the loosest possible terms as I’m not sure that I would enlist any of this rent-an-apprentice crowd to help me navigate my way out of a paper bag…
But that was the game and Alex “I’m only 24” and Helene “I’m not that corporate but I’m the only one who’s not more Big Brother than big business” got help in the form of “posh bloke” Raef, “short, ex-bank manager, Porsche bloke” Kevin and the distinctly unmemorable “we’d all forgotten you” Jennifer.
Over on the other team Lee “I lied on my CV” and Claire “I’m a pitbull but I’d get mullered by a badger” had the “waste of space” Jenny, “the arrogant waste of space” Michael and Simon, “Ah! Bless him!”
Maybe it’s in their contracts or maybe they’re trying to avoid the Running Man syndrome where Arnie tries out his, “I’ll be back” line only for Killian to respond, “Only in a rerun” but it amazes me that they agree to come back… I guess the answer however is obvious, they just want to be on TV no matter what the humiliation and no matter how stupid they look!
As usual Claire leapt into action off firing on all cylinders. Alex and Helene meanwhile struggled to agree on a brand name. Alex suggested “not connection but connect” and Helen’s terse reply was, “We hate it”. As a supposed “expert” in pricing she was going to have more to worry about than a brand name by the end of this show!
Meanwhile, Alex took the reins and started to look at bottle design. To be fair to Alex and Helene they did come up with a great design and a strong brand idea. Indeed, after they had later made their sales presentation of Dual one of the audience said, “Considering you’ve had 3 days to make this I think it’s extraordinary.”
Just a shame that we later learned that several of the best ideas had come not from Alex or Helene but from the design agency!
Back on the other team, Lee and Claire had come up with the wheeze of naming their product Roulette. This was based on the concept that gambling was sexy, fun and manly and led to Lee late coming out with this classic line, “Looks like a man, feels like a man, now wants (?) to smell like a man!”
Hmmm! I guess I’m just not target market for this one!
In the rehearsals Lee, who had previously struggled with his presentation, was panicking, “It’s just shit, I can’t do this!” But in the final sales presentation Claire stepped up and helped Lee.
As usual we didn’t see enough of the presentations to really know who did and didn’t present well but in the end it didn’t matter. Helene and Alex, although seemingly having the best idea, the best brand and the best product, were destined to lose because they had made a business faux pas and stuffed up on their pricing…
In the words of Sir Alan, “This cost at least 3 to 4 times more than a normal bottle. You’re left with nothing to advertise with.” And then, “Alex and Helene, you’re fired.”
Not a good exit for a “global pricing leader” one has to say. At least Alex can consol himself (if no-one else) with the fact that he is, after all, only 24!
So we were down to two…
Lee versus Claire.
“Claire you have some great attributes,” said Sir Alan. And to Lee, “Lee you’re very convincing.”
Now let’s be straight here Sir Alan, not that convincing…
Your last four consisted of a global pricing leader who cannot price for profit; a senior retail buyer who has either gone through a monumental personality change or who must have ulcers from biting so hard on her lip to stop herself talking for the last few programmes; a regional sales manager who although good at selling needs a good shave, a good hair brush, banning from the words “I’m only 24” and some more consistent energy levels; and a recruitment sales manager who “tarted up” his CV.
But Sir Alan had made his decision…
“Lee, you’re hired.”
Now that’s what I’m talking abaht!
Not a decision that I would have made but I’m not going to knock the guy when he must be on top of the world (…but that CV would worry me…)…
So what sales training and business tips did we learn tonight and over this series of The Apprentice?
Sales training tip 1: Sales and selling is an essential business skill!
Despite the fancy qualifications, alleged business backgrounds and past successes of some of this year’s Apprentice candidates, three of the finalists were the best salespeople in the series (which is a low benchmark I know!).
Selling and the ability to sell is essential if you want to get on in business and in life. Whether selling a product to a consumer, a service to a business, a big ticket sale to a corporate, an idea to a team or yourself to a prospective employer; selling is critical to your success.
Sales training tip 2: Lying on your CV lands you 6-figure jobs every time…
Ooops! Sorry!
Sales training tip 2: Business savvy is a prerequisite if you want to get on!
Creativity and flair, artistry and imagination are powerful business allies and can be leveraged to drive your sales and your business to great heights but without a dollop of business savvy you’re going nowhere.
In my travels as an author and motivational speaker I meet many salespeople, directors and business owners who have great ideas, imaginative ideas, even brilliant ideas but no business savvy.
Business savvy is not a “like to have”, it’s a “must have”.
Business savvy is knowing what makes sense and what doesn’t. Business savvy is thinking about your market and who you’re going to sell to not getting carried away with the niceties of designing some all singing, all dancing product for which there are no customers.
Business savvy is understanding the problems and challenges of business, where you fit in and how you can help. Business savvy is knowing not only the language of business but also taking consistent actions required for business.
Sales training tip 3: Walk the talk.
The Apprentice this year yielded a lot of talk. Life yields a lot of people who talk. People who talk a good game. People who give it the big “I am”. People who tell you how great they are, what they’ve done and how important they are.
This is nothing new and it’s not just in business.
As a teenager I used to run the 400m and the 800m. For my school I mostly ran the 800m. Every year we used to enter the city championships and every year I would make the final. Some years I won it, some I didn’t. But I always made the final.
Every year there would be heats to get through to the final and every year kids lined up talking about what fast times they’d run pre-season. They’d quote five or more seconds faster than I had ever run. They’d have the latest spikes, the latest track suits and I’d be worried…
Until we ran. Because my experience was always the same. The more they talked, the slower they ran. The ones to watch were always the quiet ones. The ones warming up meticulously and focusing on the task in hand.
Talk is cheap. What successful business and salespeople need is action. I don’t want to know what you might sell or what you could sell. I don’t want to know what you sold last week, last month or last year.
I want to know what you’re going to do. I want to know what action you’re going to take.
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…
Perfect Presentations Article At Training Zone
By Dawn Smith.
Whether giving presentations is the thing you dread most, or just another day at the office, it’s a skill that can always be improved. Dawn Smith gathers some tips and advice from public speaking gurus on how to overcome stage-fright, engage the audience and make your presentations shine.
The New York Times famously reported in 1984 that speaking in public was most people’s biggest fear, ranking higher than death.
For a trainer, presenting to delegates is likely to be daily bread. However, even those experienced at talking to groups can choke when faced with an unfamiliar scenario. “Most people are capable of presenting one-to-one, or even one-to-ten, but various things can conspire to make them nervous,” says Gavin Ingham, a speaker and author who also teaches “Powerful Presenting” courses. The fear-inducing factor may be how important the event is, how many people will be there, who else will be listening, whether it’s being recorded, or even (gulp) televised.
Whatever sets the nerves jangling, getting over them is the key to successful presentations, says Gavin. “70 – 80% of giving a good presentation is down to mindset,” he says. “Get that right, and you can make the most of the communication skills you already have.”
Power of the mindset
The reason state of mind is so important is fairly obvious – a nervous presenter is likely to flunk the delivery, and that’s going to be fatal for the message. “Poor delivery = poor retention + little action,” says Elizabeth Clark, founder of presentation skills training company Rapport Unlimited. She believes presenters should work on the entertainment value of their sessions. “Imagine your presentation is a TV programme,” she says. “Would you want to watch it?”
Knowing that your nerves are getting in the way of a powerful performance can pile up the pressure even higher, so how do you break the vicious circle?
Of course, practicing the real thing is the best way to boost confidence and improve performance: our gurus are agreed on that. “There is no substitute for flying hours,” says Khalid Aziz, chairman of executive training company The Aziz Corporation, and author of Presenting to Win. But until the hours have been built up, anxiety busting-tactics could be called for.
Visualise success: Stephen Palmer and Cary Cooper, in their book How to Deal with Stress, point out that “prior to stressful events people tend to have negative images or pictures in the mind’s eye about how they are going to cope – or, to be more accurate, not going to cope.” This imagery can be replaced with something more positive. The trick is to think about the aspects of the situation you’re most worried about, decide on ways to deal with them (for example, how you’re going to handle difficult questions) and then “slowly picture yourself coping with each anticipated difficulty as it arises”. Then keep practicing that positive imagery prior to the event.
Rehearse the scary bits: Practice walking up and standing in the space that you’ll present from, until you feel easy about it, says Gavin Ingham. In his training courses, he asks people to stand in front of an imaginary audience, and then stand in front of a real group of people – but without saying anything. “A lot of people are not comfortable with that,” he says. “It’s important to hold them there until they are comfortable – because that’s the worst thing that can happen: getting up there and not having any words.”
Breathe: Slowing your breathing combats the physical symptoms of nerves. There’s a deep breathing exercise for warming up before presentations on The Aziz Corporation’s website.
Making the message stick
Nerves are not the only barrier to a powerful delivery. Even confident presenters can fluff the message if they ignore some key realities about presentations – and human nature.
Know your objective: Decide from the start what you want the audience to do after hearing you, says Andy Bounds, who coaches and trains on presentation skills. Prepare your talk around this objective, leaving out every point that doesn’t help towards your goal, and keep it in mind during the event. (He explains a strategy for doing this in his book, The Jelly Effect)
Give the audience what they need: All our gurus agreed that you need to know where the audience are coming from. “You need to do a 180 and look at the subject – and perhaps also yourself – from their point of view,” says Khalid Aziz. “If it doesn’t pass the audience’s ‘so what’ test, the chances are it won’t be a successful presentation,” he says.
“Imagine you’re sitting in the audience yourself,” advises Peter Roper, co-author of networking and public speaking guide, And Death Came Third! . “What would make you think that sitting still for this presentation had been really worth it?”
Andy Bounds adds that it’s especially important to keep the message audience-focused at the start. “If you’re talking about Excel, don’t mention Excel in the first few minutes,” he says. “Say ‘I’ll show you how to save time’. Then, when you’ve got their attention, you can talk about Excel as much as you like.”
Andy Bradbury, author of Successful Presentation Skills, says a common mistake of presenters is to get carried away and “forget to ensure that the audience is still with them.” So keep the audience’s needs in mind throughout the event.
Be yourself… and sell that to the audience: “Be naturally yourself, whether it’s a one-to-one presentation or one-to-10,000,” says Peter Roper. “People will ‘buy’ you first and only listen to your message if you’ve sold yourself well.” Selling yourself means building a rapport with the audience, he says, and one of the easiest ways to do it is to ask a relevant and thought-provoking question at the start.
Reinforce, reinforce, reinforce: “The audience is only going to remember 10% 24 hours later, so make sure they remember the right 10% and what they’re supposed to act on,” says Elizabeth Clark. People have the best retention of what’s said at the beginning and end of a presentation, says Andy Bounds. They also remember things that are repeated and any outstanding points: so make sure you say each of your key points in each of the four different ways.
Use visuals… but avoid death by PowerPoint: People remember more of what they hear and see, compared to what they only hear, says Andy Bradbury, so do whatever you can to graphically illustrate your talk. But don’t fill your visuals with words. “Have images without words, or just very brief points.”
One of the worst mistakes presenters make is putting everything into their PowerPoint slides or course packs, comments Andy Bounds. “If people are reading what you are saying, they will want one of you to shut up. So write some words but not all of them. Leave answers to questions blank, so they’re waiting for you to tell them. Think of you and your PowerPoint slides as the Two Ronnies. You shouldn’t both be saying the same thing at the same time.”
Keep it short: “People have a limited attention span, so don’t go on too long,” says Andy Bradbury. That means doing some planning in advance. “The more experienced you are at presenting the more tempting it is to think that you can just wing it,” he says. “But if you don’t plan, it’s easy to put too much in.” Peter Roper makes the point that over-running is plain bad manners – and the audience will take a dim view of it. “For every second you go past the allotted time, you are fast disappearing in the interest of the audience,” he says.
Don’t worry…: “Presenters worry and focus so much on remembering the content, that the delivery suffers,” says Elizabeth Clark. “The other problem with focusing on the content of your presentation is that your body language suffers and becomes unnatural or poor, thus making your message less believable. The audience isn’t checking your presentation against a script, you won’t be hounded out for not getting it word perfect, so concentrate on the delivery, not the precise words.”
Be happy: Khalid Aziz advises thinking of something happy before stepping up to the lectern. “Virtually all communication is selling,” he comments. “People tend to buy from happy people, not miserable ones.”
Dealing with questions
One of the aspects of public speaking that strikes fear into many hearts is the prospect of difficult questions. Andy Bradbury suggests honestly admitting if you don’t know the answer, then saying that you will find out by a certain time in the future.
A different strategy suggested by several experts is to turn the question around and ask if anyone in the audience knows the answer – which also has the advantage of involving them. (Though Andy Bradbury cautions that if you don’t know the answer yourself, then you’ve no way of knowing if the answer you get from the audience is correct!)
Gavin Ingham comments that when people ask him “what do I do with…?” questions, he replies “what would you do without them?” He points out: “The worst thing is standing there for 20 minutes talking and nobody saying anything. Questions are a good thing! Great presenters get the audience involved straight away. Nervous presenters just talk for 20 minutes – and that’s harder.”
And remember: the audience is on your side
“People actually want you to do a good presentation,” says Gavin Ingham. “They might expect it to be bad because they’ve seen so many bad ones, but they want it to be good. If you engage with them right at the start, and give them a few good things to hold onto, they will be with you all the way.”
Article Copyright Dawn Smith at www.trainingzone.co.uk.
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