The Sales Apprentice 2012: Sales Training & Business ...

Are you a jack of all trades and a master of none? If you are, that may be where you are going wrong. In today?s new economy people pay money to people who are experts. People pay money to people who do things that they cannot. People pay money to people and companies who add value to them, to their businesses, to their processes, to their profitability and to their effectiveness.

People do not pay good money for people who do things that everyone else can do. People do not pay good money to people who do things that they can do easily themselves. People do not pay good money to companies who add little or no value. These things can be and are bought cheaply and from the suppliers who bid the least.

Do you want this to be you?

And that?s my problem with The Apprentice this year in a nutshell. Whilst it is perfectly watchable TV, from a business point of view, it is a nonsense.? Why do I care that the boys team do not know how to create a tasty sauce recipe? Why do I care that the boys cannot cook said recipe? And why do I care that they do not know how to run a sauce production line?

Answer: I don?t care and neither does Lord Sugar? unless that?s their area of specialization? and it isn?t.

This was TV for TV?s sake and nothing to do with business. Let?s face it, in a highly competitive industry, where taste experts spend YEARS and DECADES learning their craft and then spend MONTHS and YEARS creating individual recipes, the inexperienced teams tonight had 1 hour?

Ridiculous.

And an insult to sauce makers everywhere. You might say that it was about leadership, or about management, or about creativity, or about spelling, or about selling? but when it all comes down to it, the teams were asked to create something they had no idea how to create and they were not given the time, the expertise or the resources to do it.

I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in individuals and companies who pedal trash, even if they can. I have no interest in slick salespeople selling inferior products. Sales skills are important yes but I have no interest in people making up for unacceptable products with superior selling skills.

In today?s world, if we do not want to scrabble around as individuals, as companies and as nations we need to understand that we need to add value. And value comes from expertise. And expertise does NOT come from being a Jack of All Trades. It comes from being a Master Of Yours.?

Are you? If you?re not, now?s the time to get started.

If you hadn?t realized by now, tonight?s task was to create, make and sell a condiment. After a team shuffle up Katie ended up leading the boys and Duane ended up leading the girls. The boys ended up deep in the ketchup in the kitchen where they messed up their recipe and only managed to produce half as much stock as the girls. From this moment on they were doomed.

Meanwhile, over on the other team the girls visited a ?tasting? pitch with a potential supplier (which had been set up by Lord Alan) without anything to taste. Classic!

Because by the time that the task was underway it had already been lost I thought it would be fun to outline?

?A?few ways to lose any task and fail in any business?

1. Do something that you know nothing about. If you want to fail, then a sure fire way to do so is to do something that you know nothing about. To make doubly sure that this works, ensure that you have neither the time nor the resources to do anything about your shortfall in expertise.
2. Do not listen to people who can help. OPE or Other Peoples? Experience is overrated!! Apparently, Jane had a background in food tonight. She did not rate the product selected by Duane. He ignored her.
3. Patronise your team mates. When Katie put herself up for selection as team leader of the boys, one of the boys started to say that it was a complicated task. Actually, that?s probably sexist as well as patronising. Having then voted her in follow it up with an even more patronising tap on the arm and the comment that you are behind them 100%!
4. Make unprepared, apologetic, valueless cold calls. ?Hi. I?m from Phoenix Foods. I?m just looking to see if I can have an appointment with you.? Errr, why? Sorry, I mean, ?No.?
5. Do stuff you?re bad at. Jane put herself up to do the maths tonight and then said that she never said that she was very good at it. Apparently she did this so that Lord Sugar saw her doing stuff. What?
6. Rush to market. Set yourself up an important trade appointment that your sales and your reputation may depend on and make sure that you do not give yourself enough time to do the job right. It?s always a good idea to rush so much that you do not have your product ready to taste or perhaps you have a spelling mistake on your label.
7. Talk whilst people are thinking, tasting, considering. When people have a mental process going on, keep talking. Make sure that they cannot hear themselves think and interrupt their decision making processes.

I could go on.

But in the interests of fairness and to give them their due I did really like the sales ?experience? that Katie and Stephen created in The Westfield Centre in Stratford. There seemed to be a real energy about it and a connection with their potential customers.

Sales training tip: Get people involved in your sales process. Get people involved in your sales experience. The way Stephen (who has annoyed me for the most part so far) said, ?Put your hand up when you get the chilli,? was clever and clearly he was wowing his audience.

Back in the boardroom?

The girls won for the first time this year, by some margin. This was mostly due to the problems in the factory for the boys and their inability to sell to trade. So Katie was in the boardroom for the third week running and she elected to bring back Ricky and Michael. Ricky because he? was ?in charge? of the factory and Michael because he was ?in charge? of trade sales and because he was so clearly going to get sacked for being out of his depth.

He was.

Related posts:

1. The Sales Apprentice 2012: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 2
2. The Sales Apprentice 2012: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 1
3. The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 3

Please read full article at:
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