The Sales Apprentice: Sales Training & Business Development Tips ...

Week 9 of the Apprentice and only 8 remain. Tonight?s task was to raise awareness of English sparkling wine by creating a new image, website and online campaign and then making a pitch to a group of industry big-wigs. An interesting task but not one with many sales lessons so most of tonight?s learning was of the common sense variety!

Team leaders for the task were Ricky and Tom. Both split their teams in two to get through the multitude of tasks, Tom hilariously deciding to go on a booze up with wine newbie Adam whilst leaving Nick and Jade to deliver the goods. Amazingly they both stuck up for him in the boardroom too although how long that would have lasted had they lost I am not sure.

Over on the other team, Ricky was pretty switched on apart from the fact that he left Stephen and Jenna far too much rope to hang themselves (and maybe him). They came up with a name, Grandeur (by my schoolboy reckoning, French for ?size?), which was totally inappropriate. Or maybe they meant delusions of? which might just as easily apply to several of the Apprentii, past and present.

Anyway, after making videos and websites both teams pitched to a board of 6 wine experts (I think they call them winos). Given I know no-one who would order English sparkling wine instead of Champagne it could be argued that they should have all been French experts but none the less, from what we saw, Ricky made a really credible presentation only to be let down by Jenna and Stephen?s comedy video. The other team presentation was good too, although not as polished as Ricky?s.

So what did we learn tonight?

Everyone has common sense but not everyone uses it.

People like to think that success starts with brilliance but more often than not it starts with common sense? applied well and delivered on consistently. All respect to Tesco, but looking for a wine expert in one makes little sense Stephen? and neither does trying to raise the profile of English wine over French and then giving it a French name!

Spend your time productively.

Because most people don?t. Plenty of people are busy. Plenty of people have plenty to do. And plenty of people never stop. But most do not spend their time productively.

Sad? but true.

Even though Tom won tonight?s task, his strategy of spending the majority of the all important first day touring vineyards, wine tasting and generally getting a bit squiffy was not time well spent. There were essential website, marketing and branding activities going on and he was half way down a glass of bubbly!

Which leads me on to?

If you?re going to be a leader, LEAD!

Despite the fact that Nick and Jade just got on with it they were left with little or no direction, little or no management and little or no feedback. If what we saw was representative of the day it would be unfair to call Tom a bad project leader? he just wasn?t one.

When I meet delegates at sales seminars or at motivational talks many tell me that they feel that they do not get enough direction, support and feedback. Many tell me that they do not get enough praise or enough reward and that they only see / hear from their leaders when things go wrong?

Bit like The Apprentice boardroom then!

Make sure you hold to your brand ideals.

What lost Ricky the task tonight more than anything tonight was the fact that he trusted Stephen and Jenna to deliver a video which was funny, classy and not cheesy. They delivered on only one of these? and it probably would have gone nicely with a glass of wine.

?Quality! Quality! Quality!? Ricky had said, quite rightly, but this did not get delivered upon. If your brand ideals are important to you then you need to ensure that everybody lives, breathes and delivers on them. Your brand is only as good as your weakest link.

In the Boardroom?

I wasn?t convinced that either campaign would encourage people to ditch their Dom Perignon, banish the Bollinger or jack in the Jacquart and I don?t think Tom himself deserved to win although half of his team did get on with the task in hand.?So Ricky was back in the boardroom as a losing PM for the second time. He elected to bring back Stephen and Jenna. Personally, I would have sacked Stephen? but Lord Sugar had other ideas.

?Jenna, you?re fired.?

Related posts:

1. The Sales Apprentice 2012: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 3
2. The Sales Apprentice: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, 2012, Week 8
3. The Sales Apprentice 2012: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 4

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