So last night, bumbling but friendly inventor Tom Pellereau, who from now on I shall call Caractacus Potts (after the rather nice but boffin father in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), won The Apprentice and in doing so made something of a mockery of actually bothering with the weeks and weeks of tasks…

Despite ten weeks of competition in which he had only been on the winning side three times and had spent more time being called nice but useless by Uncle Alan, he walked away with the top prize of £250k investment in his business. He might rue the day he went into business with people so alien to himself or it might be the making of him but I couldn’t help singing under my breath…

Every bursted bubble has a glory!
Each abysmal failure makes a point!
Every glowing path that goes astray,
Shows you how to find a better way.
So every time you stumble never grumble.
Next time you’ll bumble even less!
For up from the ashes, up from the ashes, grow the roses of success!
Grow the roses! Grow the roses!
Grow the roses of success!
Oh yes!
Grow the roses! Those rosy roses!
From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!

Yes I know but he wants it to float. It will!
For every big mistake you make be grateful!
Here, here!
That mistake you’ll never make again!
No sir!
Every shiny dream that fades and dies,
Generates the steam for two more tries!
(Oh) There’s magic in the wake of a fiasco!
Correct!
It gives you that chance to second guess!
Oh yes!
Then up from the ashes, up from the ashes grow the roses of success!
Grow the roses! Grow the roses!
Grow the roses of success!
Grow the roses! Those rosy roses!
From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!

Disaster didn’t stymie Louis Pasteur!
No sir!
Edison took years to see the light!
Right!
Alexander Graham knew failure well; he took a lot of knocks to ring that
bell!
So when it gets distressing it’s a blessing!
Onward and upward you must press!
Yes, Yes!
Till up from the ashes, up from the ashes grow the roses of success.
Grow the ro Grow the ro Grow the roses!
Grow the ro Grow the ro Grow the roses!
Grow the roses of success!

<

I have been saying for a few weeks now that Lord Alan was keeping Tom for a reason and that the reason might be to see his business idea… and ultimately it was. When Lord Alan was presented with some rather pathetic business ideas, Caractacus stole the crown…

The Business Plans…

• Suzy was suggesting an organic skin care range for the general market. In fairness to her she has loads of entrepreneurial spirit and I am sure she will succeed… but she didn’t get on very well with any of the other Apprentices and her sales forecasting methods are naive to say the least. This fact she demonstrated well in the Birmingham Bullring when she predicted stellar sales and brought in merely dust. She also failed to sell duvets in West London.Verdict: Uninvestable as offered.
• Jim offered up an e-learning system for schools aimed at helping them to become more business focused and entrepreneurial. The business was based on Lord Alan and cheekily (cleverly?) sounded as if it was already in his stable. Jim is Mr Cliche, he has proven himself to be master of the meaningless relationship and prince of doorstep, persuasion but he seems to lack depth or substance. When asked to sum himself up without cliche he said, “I am what it says on the tin!” Verdict: Uninvestable.
• Helen was the favourite of many people and had this been a normal show she would have romped away as Al’s Apprentice. I have had doubts about her entrepreneurial acumen, wondering if she is more super-organizer rather than super-leader. Her business plan was to save people time by doing tasks for them. It was riddled with issues and it’s not a market I’d want to play in although if anyone could make it work, it might be her. I have my doubts as to whether the franchise model would work though.Verdict: Uninvestable… although I’d be looking for an Ops Manager / Director role for her.
• Caractacus Potts (Tom) was seen by many as something of a joke. He seemed to lack some of the “business” skills that one would expect but there was always the likelhood that he was goiung to come up with a good plan having already taken products to market in the past. His business idea… a chair that he had  designed and consultancy services to reduce back issues and associated costs to businesses was sound one. We didn’t find out much about the chair but if it’s real and Lord Alan is prepared to support Tom and help him to complete and follow through…Verdict: Maybe investable.

And that’s what Lord Alan saw too making me wonder why I had bothered watching eleven  weeks of Tom “failing” whilst trying to win “irrelevant” taks only to be invested in at the end because of entirely different criteria…??

The Interviewers…

Part of the fun of the interview show is to hide behind the sofa with your hands over your face as Lord Alan’s bully boys (and girl) kick the c**p out of the Apprentices. With a new line up this year the interviews were more restrained and sensible with only Claude Littner staying true to form and rude as ever. Along with Claude this year were Matthew Reilly (founder and CEO of the Daisy Group), Mike Suter (something to do with magazines?) and the welcome return of Margaret Mountford, bringing a welcome quality and consideration to the proceedings.

The interviewers thought that…

• Helen had a great track record, she was hard working, she would give 100%, she was perhaps lacking in entrepreneurial flare, she was incredibly organised, they didn’t like her plan. If Lord Alan was hiring someone to work in his companies she would win hands down.
• Jim was a terrific salesman, he is slippery and cannot be pinned down, he is Mr Cliche, Claude quite likes his plan, Lord Alan says schools currently have “no money.”
• Tom was a bit of a mad professor, will want to create something new every week, has a lack of focus, his numbers are wrong…
• Suzy has done well to get so far, is naive, her business plan is based on assumptions, she is an entrepreneur.

Lord Alan thought similar but was clearly disappointed in Helen’s proposition. He doesn’t like it at all. But it’s Jim who came in for the flack, “I think you tried to win me with your business plan but I’m afraid you’re fired.” For once there was nothing Jim could say other than he had given his best… and I think he was right.

Next ouf of the door was Suzy. Lord Alan thought she would do well but he wasn’t going to invest in her so we were left with Helen and Caractacus. I wondered if Lord Alan might pull off a shocker and hire them both to work together… likeable, boffin inventor and workaholic organizer? They had form together and clearly liked working together… think MyPy.

Lord Alan took some tiome with Nick and Karen and when they came back in Helen, realising she had pitched the wrong business, tried to pitch another. It was too little too late, the boffin had the money, the career, the car and the girl. Well, the money anyway.

So, as this is the last Apprentice show this year, I’m not going to try and recap any of the sales training and business development lessons merely ask you to think about what you learnt from the show this year and ask you to think about how you can apply it to increase your sales, business and personal success…?

And if you’re feeling like it… please share your thoughts about last night’s decision or your sales tips from the show below in the comments section…

P.s And the best sales success of the series? Tom last night telling us how he got his product into Walmart… After trying and failing to reach the buyer he went to their offices with a parcel of “hand-delivered” gifts. When the receptionist asked him to leave them he explained that he had been told to hand-deliver them to the recipient. On meeting the buyer he then explained why he was there and was given 30 minutes. You got to love that!

Related posts:

1. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 6
2. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 3
3. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 8

So it was week 11 and Jim was first up to answer the ringing phone which was put down on him when he asked if there was any dress code for the forthcoming task. I mean, seriously, if that’s how Lord Sugar’s PA treats you before you even start working for with him, I’d be checking out the small print.

Tonight’s task was to set up, brand, briefly run and then get assessed on a new fast food shop with the potential to become a chain. Another convoluted task with not enough time to get things done. Was this task about creativity? Was it about branding? Was it about operations? Or was it about product? Well, supposedly it was about all of these things but with barely enough time to boil an egg let alone set up an empire the two teams had little chance to do any of them properly but, despite that, one team massively outperformed the other and produced a decent concept…

Team 1: Jim, Tash and Suzy. Jim started the proceedings with his usual verbal gymnastics, “If you don’t  mind, I think you’ll agree, I’ll lead this one.” An NLP expert would have a field day. And thus Jim was elected to lead Suzy and Tash into battle against Helen (project manager) and Tom.

Team 2: Helen and Tom. From the off, Helen and Tom worked together well. They allocated roles and bounced off each other with a positive energy.

Jim on the other hand was too busy patronising his team to the camera, “I’ve got two girls on board who’ll appreciate a bit of direction.” Hmmmm, patronising and maybe even a little sexist Jim. ..

Helen and Tom quickly decided that they were going to create a contemporary British fast food outlet focusing on pies. I travel a lot as a sales motivational speaker and if the business of the Cornish Pasty shacks around the stations in the UK is anything to go by, this should prove to be a good idea. Tom volunteered himself for the creativity and branding side of the business saying that this was what he does and Helen stepped into the breach to sort out the menu and the food. Maybe, finally, we will get to see how Tom fares in an area he considers himself skilled in…

Over on the other team, Tash was shouting her mouth off as usual saying that she had a BA Honours in Hospitality and that she had actually done a project similar to this one in university. She really has to go this week, not least because later on in the board room she claimed that she might have done a hospitality degree but that she did not focus on this area. What???!!)*&^!&)*!

After some debate, Jim’s team team decided to go with a Mexican theme and Jim suggested that they should call it Caracas. He had been thinking of Maracas but got the word wrong so they decided to stick with Caracas anyway, not realising that Caracas is the capital of Venezuela! Clearly, they had not seen an atlas or a globe in their lives… or even Gregory’s Girl. And then, they wrote it as Caraca’s anyway. Who the heck is Caraca? And for a second season on The Apprentice the “cream” of British “talent” showed that our education system doesn’t teach the basics as well as it might.

But “Eats, Shoots & Leaves!” aside, what was Jim doing? He seemed to be running around trying to do everything whilst Suzy and Tash argued. If he was to be measured tonight on his team leading abilities it was a hands down failure. But he needn’t have worried because Tash and Suzy were at each other like a couple of mewling felines arguing about whether they should use a Sombrero or peppers as the “iconic” image. Yawn!

“I don’t mind someone saying I have another idea. I ‘aint got a problem,” pointed out Tash. She clearly did have a problem, as she did last week… and the week before… and the week before that. And will someone please tell her to stop saying, “Yeah?” And whilst you’re at it, tell her the word is, “Yes.”

Meanwhile, MyPy was coming together well under the stewardship of Helen and Tom. I was liking this idea and their pies looked good. I’d give them a whirl! Particularly that Northern looking one with the mushy peas in a box! Deciding to give all of their food names they had the idea of using names of great British people. A good idea let down slightly by the fact that they called their mash Columbus Mash, Christopher Columbus unfortunately (for them anyway) hailing from Genoa in Italy.

Sales training tip: Do your research. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, research is critical for business success. Research is critical for sales success. Research is critical if you want to become a sales superstar.

“It’s either utter madness or it’s complete genius,” mused Tom. I thought Dave Gorman might well pronounce it “Genius” but I wasn’t sure and that about sums Tom up… If he is what he might be then he looks like a contender but how do we know if his inventions are more Apple IPhone or more Sinclair C5? I guess we’ll find out next week, eh?

Back on team Jim, Tash and Suzy were notable mostly because of their conspicuous absences and even as the hired help cut up salad in the kitchen Jim was scooting around the place whilst they seemed to be seriously under-employed.

Sales leadership tip: Sales leadership isn’t about fast talking. Sales leadership isn’t about superlatively crafted lines. Sales leadership isn’t about hot air.

Sales leadership is about inspiring and guiding your teams. Sales leadership is about getting the best out of your teams. Sales leadership is about communication, direction and strategy.

And Jim wasn’t achieving against any of these measures. And after their trial run to 100 customers saw “fast food” coming out served by snails, Suzy was quick to hand yet another “monkey” (read Ken Blanchard’s “The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey”) to Jim by telling him that he had to make sure that their food was hot. Jim popped it in the cage with the rest of the monkeys he was caring for and Suzy wandered off… presumably to read the paper and put her feet up. A busy week compared to sleeping on the job when selling last week!

By contrast, Helen and Tom’s trial went well apart from their ridiculous opening question to their guests of, “Have you ever eaten 100% British before?” “Err,  yes thanks,” would have been my reply.

Sales training tip: Don’t try to be too clever. Engaging customers is not about slick lines or party piece questions. You don’t have to be sharp, you just have to genuinely care about your customers. Smile. Be interested in them. And get yourself into a tip-top mindset.

Trial done, Lord Sugar rocked up with Ronald McDonald, Colonel Sanders and some bigwigs from the fast food chains to try the two restaurants, hear the sales pitch and ask a few questions of the Apprentices. Apart from Jim’s elementary maths error of 60 meals at £7 each is £4800 (and then, when corrected, £4200) this was uneventful although it was clear that the MyPy idea had Caraca’s cracked. Jim claimed that his mistake was out of character as he was good at maths. I wondered whether that was at the same school where he had been taught how to use the apostrophe?

It’s £420, okay Jim?

In the Boardroom…

In the boardroom the teams had been marked out of 10 by the industry experts in each of four areas… brand identity, customer experience, food quality and business viability. The scores were in…

Jim, Tash and Suzy had averaged 4 out of 10.
Helen and Tom had averaged 7 out of 10.

For the first time that I remember Lord Alan added nothing and did not say that the decision was his. I couldn’t help but wonder whether if Helen and Tom had been in the losing team he might have said that the decision was his. But he didn’t need to. Helen and Tom were told not to pass Go, not to collect £200 and to go straight to the final.

Jim, Tash and Suzy looked uneasy.

Back in the Boardroom…

Lord Sugar asked the losers whether they had a business plan? You know, sales, costs, customers, margins… that sort of stuff.

They didn’t.

Seriously. Sack the lot. You’re one week from going into business with one of these people Al and they didn’t have a business plan! Tash and Suzy were arguing, Tash can’t stop saying “Yeah”, Suzy thinks she is good at selling and yet has tanked the sales exercises and Jim totally failed to manage this task or give the “girls” any direction.

But the TV rules must say that they are going to tear apart three business plans next week and invest in one so two  must go through to the final.

“Suzanne, I like you. You got yourself through school. You’ve set up a business. You’re in the final. Jim, you can sure talk but you’re alright I guess. Tash, I’ve had it with you, yeah? You’re fired, yeah!”

Related posts:

1. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 8
2. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 10
3. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 3

Week 8 of The Sales Apprentice and it’s time for our two teams to head over La Manche to sell some wacky British products to the unsuspecting French. With only 8 Apprentices left, tonight’s task saw Suzy leading Jim, Helen and Zoe facing off against Tom “leading” Leon, Melody and Natasha.

It also did a lot to clarify my thoughts about the candidates and I’m sure by now you must have your favourites too. First task of the night was to pick two products to sell. After some deliberation and some bizarre questions from Suzy (“Do the French like their kids?”) Suzy settled on a portable child’s car booster seat / rucksack and a gadget grip that would hold a mobile device and attach it to your car, desk etc. Over on the other team, Tom also wanted the car seat but, after being pressurized by his team, he went for a pop up greeting card in which you grow cress (better than it sounds) and a bone china teapot shaped light…

And this lack of any backbone or any sense of leadership summed up Tom’s whole contribution as leader. He’s obviously a nice guy, he appears smart, he has been quite astute at times during this series and his hankering for the haversack tonight was spot on but he shouldn’t have let his team walk him down the wrong path.

But they did and primarily because of Melody’s input. Melody decided right from the start that the rucksack seat was a bad idea despite not seeing it. On being asked by Tom to research La Redoute (“part of the world’s 3rd largest home shopping organisation”) where Lord Alan had set them up a meeting she decided to do “market research” in the street instead. This seemed to consist of asking a handful of people and “filtering” their answers to agree with what she wanted to hear… namely that the French had no need for a rucksack / booster chair because they didn’t drive. What?!

And I don’t think this was deliberate. I think she genuinely thought she did ask the questions genuinely and that she did do proper research…

Sales training tip: As individuals we all have our beliefs about what is and what is not true. Once we get beliefs we tend to stick to them and then we only hear what we believe rather than believing what we hear. If you want to be a sales superstar you need to start hearing what your clients say, not what you thought they said or what you had already decided they were going to say. I’ve heard clients say, “Yes, I’ll take it” and yet the salesperson carried on selling because they didn’t hear what the client said because they believed that they weren’t ready to buy yet.

But in other ways, Melody was kicking some ass and showed it by getting on the phone and setting up 6 appointments to attend the next day…

Sales training tip: Cold calling done right works. I really don’t want to get into it (again) in this post but it really does. I’m not saying that it’s harder or easier than it used to be and I am most certainly not saying that it is right for everyone or every situation. Nor am I saying that everyone could or should do it. And nor am I saying that you shouldn’t be doing lots of other things too (like blogging, lol!)…

But at the right time, in the right situation and done in the right way cold calling works. Make it PART OF your route to market and do it right and you’ll thank me. And don’t listen to naysayers. Most never liked cold calling anyway. Many are in markets where it doesn’t apply. Some have other ideas to sell. And plenty couldn’t / can’t do it. And some are just plain wrong.

I have people on every No Fear Cold Calling seminar who set up meetings the very next day. Melody set up 6 in France on a mobile in the back of a car.

Meanwhile Leon sat there like a spare part. “I don’t speak French. I cannot contribute,” he said. Next to him Melody was speaking English to someone… you hear what you believe remember. And Leon believed he could not contribute, ergo he was right.

Sales training tip: Failure is not an option. Drop your head, lose your attitude, give up and you are done for. Getting a knock is fine. Getting a push is fine. Being bowled over is fine… but you have to get up again.

Leon didn’t get up again for the whole show and signed his own death warrant. In the Hall of the Mountain King he will not get a nice word and a sandwich… the best he will be able to hope for is a merciful beheading.

And then the coolest thing of the night happened… Gendarmes on roller blades… whipping down the street. I rewound the Sky box and watched them again… awesome!

But awesome was not a word you would use to describe Natasha’s pitch to La Redoute. It was not engaging. Frankly, it was boring and she clearly had not done her research. And as if “merde” did not do a good enough job of describing things Tom pitched in by suggesting they make a trial order of 10. Picking up that 10 was too few for La Redoute Natasha intervened suggesting a “high” volume of 50. Of course, part of this issue lay with Melody not doing the research she was asked to but then why did Tom and Tash go in without doing anything themselves? OK, so they had asked Melody to do it but would you show yourself up to be a fool and go in unprepared and pointing the finger at someone else or would you have just done it yourself?

Sales training tip: Do your research. I say this every year, several times and it seems darned obvious and everyone knows that they ought to… and yet… And it’s not just on The Apprentice either. I see lack of research, lack of preparation and lack of practise hampering salespeople and businesses every day. How hard would it have been to research La Redoute? There… follow this link and I did it for you!

Representing team Suzy however Helen’s pitch was a class apart. Starting with an engaging smile she said that she knew their product lines and had bought off their site. The panel smiled and voila the Entente-Cordiale was restored.

A little research and preparation goes a long way. It’s not rocket science.

And neither is selling, something that Melody was doing a good job of in several of the sales appointments that she had set up, selling the somewhat bizarre teapot in reasonable numbers. OK, so she was a bit greedy but then if Lord Alan had wanted them to play as a team he should not have made such a point of them having individual order books. And Melody made a good point when she said that the others had singularly failed to set any meetings up (remember what I said about not everyone having the right skills, attitudes and strategies to set up meetings?)…

But selling or not, Melody was unlikely to finish this task on the winning team so she’d better hope that Lord Alan overlooks her obvious flaws (full of herself, doesn’t listen, does her own thing, ruthless…) in favour of her bullish, self-belief and sales success. Because Tom, Leon and Tash were making a cochon’s ear of this one…

Tom couldn’t manage his way out of a paper bag and was totally out of control of the whole team and spent most of the task looking like he didn’t even know quelle country he was in. Leon showed himself up as out of his depth, beaten and defeatist and Tash did, well, nothing much.

In the Boardroom…

The results were in.

Tom and Logic had made E11,705 sales to retailers they found and 0 to La Redoute.
Suzy and Venture had made E14,699 sales to retailers and E214,000 to La Redoute.

Oh la la! A fabulous result for Suzy based mostly on the cracking pitch from Helen who is looking like a really strong candidate this year (although we are missing a huge piece because we know so little about what Lord Alan is looking for)…

Suzy, Helen, Jim and Zoe headed off to fly planes no doubt glad that they had Helen and not Tom and Jerry (Tom and Leon) on their team…

Back in the Boardroom…

Tom elected to bring back Leon and Melody. Lord Alan looked crestfallen that he wouldn’t get to tear a strip of the sullen looking Natasha and consoled himself with laying into the others. Tom immediately tried to blame Melody and the rest of the team for not supporting him in wanting the rucksack. Part fair I agree as he did want the rucksack but there were 9 other products and had they got the research and the pitch right for La Redoute, who’s to say that they might not have sold more?

Sales training tip: Bad salespeople blame their products. Bad salespeople blame the markets. Bad salespeople blame their clients. Good salespeople, do their research, do their preparation and work out why their clients want and need to buy their products and services and then sell them. And that’s it!

But no-one was blameless here. Melody had forged her own path, ignored instructions and hogged the sales opportunities. Leon had wilted, folded, shrivelled and given up. Tom had lost never had control.

Melody fought her corner. Lord Al kind of liked her chutzpah. She was safe.

Tom decided to lay his credentials on the line… he had invented stuff, patented it sold it. Yes he might have got this wrong tonight but he was bidding for Lord Alan’s attention. And he had it. (We wants it). Even Dragons invest when they see good ideas they can sell. (We needs it). Lord Alan might say he wants something (Must have the precious) but if Tom really does have good ideas worth money then Lord Alan can always structure this thing differently.(No-one is going to steal it from us).

Leon would need to kick some ass now…

But he didn’t. He blushed instead. I could kind of see him wondering if he could hold Lord Alan’s pinky like he had in the B’ham Bullring with all the nice ladies. He thought about it… Probably not.

“Look Leon. You’re a nice geezer but you’re the nice kid who always gets flattened in the East End movies and I’m afraid I ‘aint gonna do no different so you’re fired.”

The Apprentices left. Lord Alan turned to his sidekicks. “She’s a tiger, She’s ruthless. She’lll walk all over anyone. That’s what I like about her.” Nick looked coyly at Karen Brady, “Leon and Tom should be more manly if I can put it that way?” he half asked. She smiled and bared her fangs.

And you know, it’s a shame that this is what gets lauded on TV as good business. Melody has some good traits and some that are running out of control and need taming and they’ll probably only be worse next week.

Related posts:

1. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 3
2. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 5
3. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 4

Week 6 and 10 remain still trying to win The Sales Apprentice and a “50/50 partnership with the nation’s toughest investor”… well the most belligerent and bellicose anyway. This week’s task was in  junk removal with the objective being to collect, dispose of responsibly and make money from junk.

After a quick reshuffle the team’s elected their team leaders: Zoe for team Venture and Helen, who had just been “shuffled”, for team Logic. In this task there were two ways to make money: 1) charging to collect waste and 2) selling on valuable items. There were also two ways to spend money: 1) buying valuable waste and 2) paying to dispose of waste. Whilst there was a small sales element to this task much of the success of it lay in project management, time management, logistics and knowledge of what could be sold and at what price and how easily.

For the teams this week there were two main angles…

1. Bidding on and hopefully winning one or both of the two commercial projects that Lord Sugar had set up meetings for &
2. Securing their own business.

In both of these the two teams decided to take different approaches…

Helen’s team Logic decided to offer no fee collection on the commercial business hoping to be able to sell on for more than their disposal costs whilst Zoe’s team tried to charge for the removal of goods and sell on at profit. In chasing their own business, Zoe’s team decided to go house to house whereas Helen’s team went for café owners.

With the cameras cutting about it was difficult to tell which approach was going to be the stronger and the final results of £706 versus £712 profit would do little to answer this question….

Sales training & business tip: Planning, preparation and knowledge are essential keys to success in business. Far too many people rush in without truly understanding what they’re doing and how they are going to make money.

In this task, winning Lord Alan’s “opportunities” seemed critical yet knowing what price was worth it and what price wasn’t could have proven to be critical. In my role as a sales motivational speaker I meet a lot of salespeople, business owners and entrepreneurs. Most of them work hard, really hard… but the ones who succeeed are the ones who know what, where and how they should spend their time. I meet people every week who “compete” to win business that they should have walked away from only for it to become the proverbial millstone around their necks.

At the end of day 1, Zoe was distraught at finding out that she had not won either of the two contracts laid on by Lord Alan. Tears came to her eyes and Glen stepped in to tell her that they could still turn it round, chin up. She lifted her chin a little but not her flat tones… that, would be asking too much.

Sales training & sales management tip: Team motivation can start with a simple gee-up talk. Being there for your team when they need you with a positive word of encouragement is sometimes all that it takes to help someone reengage with their personal motivation. Many business leaders and managers undervalue and underuse the power of a simple “thank you” or “well done” or even the positive effects of just listening.

The teams continued to rush around… I could bore you to death with how Edna tried to renegotiate a deal after the event (don’t do it!) and how Jim was had by an even sharper cookie than him or how the teams bought, sold and shifted junk but I’ll settle for saying…

Stick to your commitments.
Do what you say you’re going to do.
Don’t celebrate doing a deal by high-fiving in front of your clients.
Make sure your team have a strategy.

In the Boardroom…

Zoe and Venture had made £1045 and spent £339 making a profit of £706.
Helen and Logic had made £1090 and spent £378 making a profit of £712.

They don’t come much closer than that but Logic weren’t going to let the scantily clad nature of their victory stop them hitching their skirts and doing a victory jig before going off to a spa.

Back in the Boardroom…

Zoe decided to bring back Edna and Suzy. None of these three are in my top 4 (and are all infact in my bottom 4) so there wasn’t going to be a shock tonight…

Lord Sugar liked Zoe’s honesty in taking the blame for the first day but he doesn’t really do forgiveness does he so her card is seriously marked? Lord Sugar empathised with Suzy for being young but said she should be more resilient…

“Edna, it says on your CV that you have a proven ability to produce highly original ideas,” quipped Lord Alan. “I don’t see nothing like pants man here. Now that was a workable idea.”

“I see your point Lord Alan but I am a walking qualification, I train HR people, I coach CEOs…” (Lord Al smirked) “There was this one guy, who runs a business with £5 billion. I made him. He was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar when I met him, I picked him out, I turned him around, I turned him into someone new and now 5 years later he has the world at his feet…”

Nick turned to Alan, “Do you need training Al?”

“Na, I don’t think so. What’s that? And don’t call me Al.”

“I have 3 degrees, a BSC, A Masters and an MBA…”

“I’m sorry Edna, I can’t work with you. Bye.”

And Edna was fired.

Sales training tip: Understanding people is critical if you want to succeed in sales. Research is critical if you want to succeed in sales. You can have all of the qualifications in the world but if you are unaware that your communications are going adrift and that you are not connecting with people in the way that you would like to, then you are going to struggle to get ahead…

Related posts:

1. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 3
2. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 5
3. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 4

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

In tonight’s task the teams get to choose two beauty treatments from eight that they are shown, they are to choose a pitch in Birmingham, give the treatments and make money…

After a quick shuffle of the teams Lord Sugar appointed Zoe and Felicity (remind you of Lucinda Ledgerwood the harp playing, scarf wearer from season 4?) as team leaders; Felicity because he hasn’t seen much of her and Zoe because she’s been playing it safe so far. Lord Sugar’s idea of motivating his team leaders? To tell them what a strong guy he sacked last week and how no-one was safe. Brilliant. Don’t you just want to get your pen out and apply to work with him next year?

Sales motivation tip: As a sales motivational speaker I spend much of my time working with teams and individuals helping them to be more motivated, more focused and more proactive. Sustainable motivation does not come from threats. Motivation comes from helping people to understand what is important to them, ensuring they have the tools to take responsibility for their lives and helping them to employ them on a day to day basis.

The first duty of the night was to decide where to set up shop. In this the teams did not agree, Felicity and team opting to be in the centre of town and Zoe and team electing to site themselves out of town. More importantly was the layout, Felicity’s team only having one treatment room which was a long way from their sales area, Zoe having three more conveniently placed ones.

Second duty of the night was to pick two beauty treatments each from eight selected by Lord Sugar. What were they you ask? Hmmm… please don’t bother telling me if I get these wrong (!)… a chocolate facial, some kind of mummy-like-wrap, hair extensions, discreet male cosmetics, lava shells, a revitalising cold stone pedicure, a spray tan and… something else.

The snag? They have to do the treatments themselves. You know, it always amuses me that in all of Lord Sugar’s tasks people are left selling things that they either can’t do or can’t do very well. It encourages the teams to lie about their products and services and to over-promise and under-deliver. I have a real issue with this…

Sales training tip: A lot of people believe that selling is all about the gift-of-the-gab, the ability to influence, the art of persuasion. Week after week Lord Alan and the BBC pump this message out in this show and it’s very misleading. Selling is not about promising the earth, blagging it, hoping for the best and scraping through by the skin of your teeth. That’s why many companies are in the mess they’re in… they’re not adding enough value.

As a sales professional or busines leader you need to add value. You need to under-promise and over-deliver. You need to have clients who want to work with you again, clients who will refer you, clients who will write you case studies / testimonials, clients who will talk about you, clients who will add to your reputation…

You don’t get this by blagging it.

Rant over…

Both teams wanted the spray tan product recognizing that it would sell well, that it was relatively easy to do and that it was the most profitable. Zoe’s team however were the most enthusiastic when being shown this product and they were given the thumbs up.

Enthusiasm is important when selling. Not puppy-dog enthusiasm, that’s crass but professional enthusiasm. If you were looking for someone to represent your product wouldn’t you want them  be enthusiastic about it?

So Zoe and team were out of the gates with the spray tan and the pedicure and Felicity & Co with the hair extensions and the lava shells. For the first time, we were then told that the teams would also be able to upsell products. Now it may be that this had already been discussed and is lying on the cutting room floor but it’s the first we’d heard about it. It’s something I’d have wanted to have thought about when picking the products as whilst the main profit is in the treatments, a guaranteed upsell means you can ice that winning cake and stick some candles on it. As it happened, the upsell became a downsell but more of that in a moment…

Suzy, who had been shouting her mouth off all night about how this is what she did (beauty) and she knew this market inside out, made some ridiculous predictions for what they would sell. This reminded me of Dragon’s Den when the Dragons ask someone who has never sold anything or run a company what their forecasts are and they stick their finger in the air and say, “Well, we’ll sell £750k in year 1, £2.2 million in year 2 and £5.4 million in year 3.” And when asked why, they reply, “Because I fricking said so Theo.”

Anyway, Suzy stuck her hand up, pulled a rabbit out of thin air and said they would sell 72 units. On being challenged she just gave it the big “I am.”

Sales forecasting is one of the most difficult areas for salespeople, sales managers and business owners alike. As a sales motivational speaker I see many sales directors and business owners who are frustrated by their sales teams missing their “promised” targets. Setting targets and predicting sales is not about what you might sell, what you could sell or how much you ought to sell in the time allotted… it’s about what you are going to sell. Doh!

In Birmingham…

Leon delivered the line of the week. We haven’t had one yet this series but this was a classic to a female member of the public, “We can do two things for you today… we can either get you naked…”

With both teams selling products Zoe’s team were also selling treatments but Felicity’s team just were not selling any. It was not entirely clear whether this was down to poor sales skills, the distraction of the product sales, the distance between the sales arena and the treatment area or goldfish-like amnesia as to why they were there but if they didn’t pull themselves together they were going to get a pasting as all of the profit was in the treatments not in the products. They’re the icing remember but what good is icing without cake? Effectively, what was supposed to be a small upsell was acting as a huge downsell for Felicity’s team.

Realising that her team were not selling any treatments Felicity asked Tom to come down from the morgue-like treatment room to specifically sell treatments. This wasn’t a bad idea but didn’t answer the question as to why the incumbent sales team weren’t already selling them. It also didn’t help that Tom, clearly suffering from some forgetful disease, arrived on the sales floor and promptly started to sell… products!!

Meanwhile on the other team, Suzy was making less progress on sales than a very small snail climbing a very large mountain dragging a heavy loud hailer. Karen Brady was not impressed and pointed out that, “If you set yourself up as something you’re not, you’re in for a great big fall.” Well, that’s pretty much every Apprentice then…

But we needn’t worry because Suzy has the best excuse ever, “No-one has any money around here… everyone seems so poor.” That will be everyone in Birmingham then Suzy?

Sales training tip: Anyone can blame their products, their clients and their market. Anyone can say that their product is too expensive, their clients don’t have enough money and the economy is down the pan. Only sales superstars take responsibility, 100% responsibility for their own sales results and their own success.

Back on team Felicity, she was setting herself up for getting sacked if she lost the task, “It’s a bit of a pickle,” she said by way of explanation as to why they had not made more treatment sales…

Sales Director: “Felicity. Why have we not made more sales today?”
Felicity: “I’m not sure, it’s a bit of a pickle.”
Sales Director: “Oh, ok. Glad you explained that. Carry on.”

Maybe not eh.

At 4pm Felicity and team started to offer free massages to get people upstairs. Too little too late and why none of them picked this up earlier I have no idea.

Sales training and business tip: Many businesses and salespeople that fail do so for one main reason… not enough sales. It doesn’t matter how good you are at everything else, if you cannot sell enough then you’re fired! Devising, implementing, monitoring and managing your sales plan (no matter how simple) is essential if you want to succeed.

In the Boardroom…

“You’ve done your beauty stuff and now you have to deal with the beast,” quipped Lord Sugar vying for best line of the night not knowing that Leon had already stolen this title.

The results…

Zoe and Venture spent £734 and made £937 giving a profit of £203.01.
Felicity and Logic spent £924 and made £677 giving a loss of £246.28.

I sat and waited for the treatment results but there weren’t any. I even rewound the live TV in case I’d missed it. I hadn’t! They’d already been added. What? What? What?

13 people… ALL day… beauty treatments AND products… high footfall sites… and between the two of them… the teams had lost money?

Beyond belief.

As Zoe and team shuffled off to go dancing, Felicity and team headed for The Bridge Café. “I need to be PM so I am not in this position again,” mused Vincent to the camera with the self-assured belief that only an Apprentice can have after such an embarrassing showing…

Back in the Boardroom…

Sir Alan asked Vincent to elaborate on why it was a shambles, Vincent said, “We spent more than we made”, Lord Sugar said he was expecting specifics, Vincent said it was the spray tan loss, Lord Sugar said they lost the plot and sold peripherals and not treatments, Jim said he did not know the treatments were neglected,  Lord Sugar said they did not do a treatment until 330pm in the afternoon and Felicity and Ellie were doing bugger all upstairs, Tom thought they missed the point that the location was bad, Lord Sugar said they were all “unbelievable”, Natasha said there was no sales process in place, Jim tried to claim he saved the day, Nick Hewer shot him down, Lord Sugar lectured them on selling low margin products, Felicity said they over spent “as a team”, Lord Sugar quipped back that “as a team” one of them would be leaving today…

Felicity elected to bring back Ellie… I think for having a Yorkshire accent in a public place… and Natasha, probably for rolling her jacket sleeves up like some Wham reject from the 1980s.

The Final Showdown…

“Do you know why you’re here Ellie?” asked Lord Sugar. “Yer, arm here t’ be yur business pardner.” You got to love us Yorkshire folk. Literal answer to a literal question but not what he meant. She wouldn’t be getting sacked though!

Felicity tried to pin the blame on Ellie but you don’t put a good Yorkshire lass down that easy and Ellie stabbed back. Seeing her chance to keep the pressure on Natasha took the chance to join the assault…

What Lord Alan might have said…

“Felicity, I think you’re talking nonsense. Natasha, you’d say anything to stay here. Ellie, I have no idea what you’re talking about but I’m a bit scared of Northerners. Natasha you need to step up. Felicity you’re fired. Ellie, by ‘eck, if I see you again…”

And it was all over for another week…

Sales training tips of the week: Under-promise and over-deliver. Don’t just say it, don’t just think about it… Do it.

Related posts:

1. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 3
2. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week I
3. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 2