Week 3 and Lord Sugar has mixed the teams up, more than likely to split the bickering girls. The teams were tasked with producing baked goods, the ever decisive Dr Shibby, and totally unprepared Melissa stepped up to be team leaders.
We all learnt about Alex’s A* in maths GCSE, which was used to save Melissa from embarrassment in the second pitch after taking 15 minutes to price up baguettes, which in the end she got totally wrong anyway.
Synergy’s Knight in shining armour was former royal marine commando Christopher Farrell, quickly taking over the running of production with military like precision, ensuring that the bakery ran efficiently and at full capacity.
Apollo were in disarray, confirming many orders out of their control including an order for 1000 bread rolls of which only 16 were delivered at 6am to a hotel chef waiting to feed his guests for the day. Shibby suggested the hotel guests went on the Atkins diet to an un-amused chef, who then cheered up when £130 worth of compensation was offered. This ultimately resulted in Shibby hearing those dreaded words from Lord Sugar, with Poloma and Sandeesh surviving the board room.
So although both teams performed poorly where did Shibby and Apollo go wrong?
Communication:
The first thing Shibby should have done was get a firm handle on manufacturing capacity. Never under estimate the cost of poor communication in business, something I suspect Shibby won’t be doing again in a hurry, and always try and avoid making assumptions. It’s a simple process, if you don’t know what your capacity is then you can’t pitch effectively to clients.
Negotiation Skills:
Both teams failed in their pitches abysmally, each team was under prepared, not understanding their products well enough to make a conscious decision on price or quantity.
Without this both teams failed to make a successful sale to the prospective clients. Shibby showed he’s in need of a lot of training, saying he was intimidated by Poloma and Laura because they had experience pitching, and "The only thing I've ever pitched before is a tent.”
Right People in the Right Job:
Christopher was a shining example of getting the right person in the right position as he showed his regimented approach to the bakery management was key to it running smoothly, even if they did not get the right communication back from the front line.
However, again both managers proved that they did not know or understand their team dynamics and clearly put people in the wrong position.
Friday, 22 October 2010
Thursday, 14 October 2010
The Apprentice Week Two - Get The Sale!
This week saw the turn of the girls in board room after the dismal result where team Apollo made no sales, which was a record low in any team result of its kind on the Apprentice. Joy got the dreaded words from Lord Sugar which was mainly down to her lack of effort behind the team and product generally not a team player.
Again we were given a few classic quotes such as Laura's "There were literally two heads on me", closely followed by Jamie's "I'm like a champagne bottle waiting to explode unless I get it out of myself."
So what were the reasons this week why they failed?
Make The Pitch
Well both teams actually failed in their pitch such as Chris's boring monotone style, with 13 erms in 20 seconds, he certainly needed some presentation skills training. None had been practised enough and both looked amateur. Neither team had no pitch strategy, which leads me to...
Make The Sale
Both teams did not set out a clear negotiation or pitch strategy. They did not know what the strategy would be if they were faced with various scenarios such as the girls faced when the major retailer offered possible orders if they had exclusivity. When going into the pitch they should have discussed the various strategies. This cost them dearly in the end as the major retailer would have bought the product.
Sales / General Management
Managing people, especially sales people, can very difficult when not all people are bought into the process or end goal. Both team leaders needed to get the buy in and manage those who were not sold in. The scene where team Apollo were around the table showed that they were all difficult to manage in a large group. The team leader needed to identify the ring leaders and split them up giving them tasks to achieve.
Again we were given a few classic quotes such as Laura's "There were literally two heads on me", closely followed by Jamie's "I'm like a champagne bottle waiting to explode unless I get it out of myself."
So what were the reasons this week why they failed?
Make The Pitch
Well both teams actually failed in their pitch such as Chris's boring monotone style, with 13 erms in 20 seconds, he certainly needed some presentation skills training. None had been practised enough and both looked amateur. Neither team had no pitch strategy, which leads me to...
Make The Sale
Both teams did not set out a clear negotiation or pitch strategy. They did not know what the strategy would be if they were faced with various scenarios such as the girls faced when the major retailer offered possible orders if they had exclusivity. When going into the pitch they should have discussed the various strategies. This cost them dearly in the end as the major retailer would have bought the product.
Sales / General Management
Managing people, especially sales people, can very difficult when not all people are bought into the process or end goal. Both team leaders needed to get the buy in and manage those who were not sold in. The scene where team Apollo were around the table showed that they were all difficult to manage in a large group. The team leader needed to identify the ring leaders and split them up giving them tasks to achieve.
Monday, 11 October 2010
The Apprentice Week One - Sell the Sizzle Not the Sausage
Last week saw the return of the annual Apprentice contest. Every year the desperate, sometimes talented and very unique (potential) business leaders of the future get together to try to convince Lord Sugar to hire them.
With this being the first week there were the ritual fantastic opening comments especially from Mr Stuart Baggs "I'm Stuart Baggs - The Brand. I'm completely unique." or "Everything I touch turns to sold". Don’t you just love them
Now lets talk of the star of the first, and his last, episode, the former sales director, of First Placed Graduates, Dan Harris who showed that sales leaders cannot bully there way through to sales success. Leadership is a skill that needs nurturing and developed over time and he showed that not all styles work in business.
Dan's amazing lack of sales leadership resulted in his team just missing out on beating the other team. His truly brash attitude to sales leadership amazed everyone that he managed, one comment he made was; "In business, there's no place for shirkers. No place for passengers. I insist that people who work for me deliver... I can intimidate people. But if I achieve what I want, I don't care." You should care Dan if you want to win.
His comments on Stuarts sales resulted in his downfall as Dan tried to put down Stuarts low sales results. Stuart then happily pointed out that he had sold nothing to which Dan nervously replied "Let's not make this about the sales numbers". It’s all the numbers Dan that's what the task and almost all tasks are about sales and profits. At this point it was pointed out that Dan had done £14 in sales.
Where did Dan and the team go wrong:
Not selling the Sizzle but the Sausage
This was one of the comments on the show, but it was so true, how many times have you walked past a coffee shop or bakery and stopped as the smell of the products lure you into the building. Why do you think supermarkets chains put the bakery or the cooked chickens at the front of most stores? People will buy on natural instinct which sometimes over power the thought of I actually don't need this item. The team needed to utilise the cooking of these sausages more rather than running around the streets trying to push cold links into potential customer’s faces. Sell the benefits not the product.
No bonding for team Synergy
From the moment he took control, which was a brave move on the first week, he alienated the team and set the tone by being aggressive with the tactics. This attitude then moved through the team. They just did not bond like a winning team especially as he set in place a limited sales strategy so most of the team did not know where to go or what to do.
No Sales Management
Most of the team had no or little intention of doing well. Dan although started off wanting complete control lost the team backing and in some cases they even ran down the street shouting sometimes demanding sale from customers.
The Apprentice brings the best and worst out in people (especially sales people). It shows just how important that getting the right sales people and sales managers is. A complete competency based assessment process allows the sales recruitment of the best of the best sales people and sales leaders of the future. Sir Alan do you need our help at all?
With this being the first week there were the ritual fantastic opening comments especially from Mr Stuart Baggs "I'm Stuart Baggs - The Brand. I'm completely unique." or "Everything I touch turns to sold". Don’t you just love them
Now lets talk of the star of the first, and his last, episode, the former sales director, of First Placed Graduates, Dan Harris who showed that sales leaders cannot bully there way through to sales success. Leadership is a skill that needs nurturing and developed over time and he showed that not all styles work in business.
Dan's amazing lack of sales leadership resulted in his team just missing out on beating the other team. His truly brash attitude to sales leadership amazed everyone that he managed, one comment he made was; "In business, there's no place for shirkers. No place for passengers. I insist that people who work for me deliver... I can intimidate people. But if I achieve what I want, I don't care." You should care Dan if you want to win.
His comments on Stuarts sales resulted in his downfall as Dan tried to put down Stuarts low sales results. Stuart then happily pointed out that he had sold nothing to which Dan nervously replied "Let's not make this about the sales numbers". It’s all the numbers Dan that's what the task and almost all tasks are about sales and profits. At this point it was pointed out that Dan had done £14 in sales.
Where did Dan and the team go wrong:
Not selling the Sizzle but the Sausage
This was one of the comments on the show, but it was so true, how many times have you walked past a coffee shop or bakery and stopped as the smell of the products lure you into the building. Why do you think supermarkets chains put the bakery or the cooked chickens at the front of most stores? People will buy on natural instinct which sometimes over power the thought of I actually don't need this item. The team needed to utilise the cooking of these sausages more rather than running around the streets trying to push cold links into potential customer’s faces. Sell the benefits not the product.
No bonding for team Synergy
From the moment he took control, which was a brave move on the first week, he alienated the team and set the tone by being aggressive with the tactics. This attitude then moved through the team. They just did not bond like a winning team especially as he set in place a limited sales strategy so most of the team did not know where to go or what to do.
No Sales Management
Most of the team had no or little intention of doing well. Dan although started off wanting complete control lost the team backing and in some cases they even ran down the street shouting sometimes demanding sale from customers.
The Apprentice brings the best and worst out in people (especially sales people). It shows just how important that getting the right sales people and sales managers is. A complete competency based assessment process allows the sales recruitment of the best of the best sales people and sales leaders of the future. Sir Alan do you need our help at all?
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