The Apprentice 2009 (UK) - Episode 6

This week saw the remaining candidates wandering the streets of London trying to sell a variety of items ranging from a vintage pair of shoes to a first edition book and a skeleton. It was a fairly dull episode this week as there wasnt an awful lot of "business" content (but then again there seems to be less of that and more of the boardroom fights this series). So what lessons can we take from the show this week? Well it proved what many have always said about selling: If you are prepared to accept enough rejection, youll eventually make a sale no matter how bad your sales technique is. However smart entrepreneurs dont try to sell to everyone (its too inefficient) instead they use marketing techniques to identify who are the most likely customers and how to best reach them. When it came to counting the cost (literally) of the teams efforts to sell, both teams had made a loss, selling their items for less than they were worth in their desperation to make a sale. The lesson from this: Only ever make a sale if its going to be profitable for you. Know your costs, know the minimum price required to cover your costs and never, ever sell below that price. Dont do "loss leaders" - unless your name is Sam Walton. When we got back to the boardroom we found out who lost and why. The losing team did so because they didnt understand what the task was about. Lesson: Listen to the clients instructions, if you dont deliver what they asked for youre unlikely to get the promised reward, be that payment of a truffle tasting treat. Finally in the boardroom the losing candidate tried to claim credit for a mistake that the team leader made. Why? The lesson here: When someone is being (rightly) criticised for something theyve done wrong, dont step in and try to steal the blame. Copyright