| The apprentice – A closer look |  |
| Those that are left in the house have shown adaptability and possess a number of key characteristics that are essential to be a success in the business world. In the early episodes those that were lacking certain traits were clearly identifiable with aggressive outbursts and poor planning a common problem. These were at their height when Donal blew his cool in the boardroom at Brendan and when Jennifer spent the seed money on candles rather than a paint sprayer. When the weakest candidates were weeded from the group we got to know the remaining candidates much more intimately, all their skills were tested, replayed and judged on a weekly basis for all of us to see. So what could be learnt from each contestant? What are the essential characteristics needed to bring you through the first few tasks and what are those little extras needed to win it. Determination; “Nothing in this world can take the place of determination. Talent; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race” This steely resolve is best seen in Aoiffe, ruthless at times and seemingly without loyalty but always focused on the objective and determined to win. This first quality is essential for anyone wanting to succeed in a commercial environment or indeed any work force throughout the country. Aoiffe is an extremely determined person and this drove her on to win numerous tasks. She reveled in the pressure of working to deadlines and targets as her success could be quantified and compared to others, this is core competency for any sales person and standard in a commercial sales position. Confidence; “The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” In any business scenario confidence is paramount, it shows that you believe in yourself and your product, it in return gives confidence to your customer and encourages them to do business with you. The results of not having confidence were best seen when we look at our Breffny. His honesty and natural warmth were admirable, people liked him and found his general demeanour appealing however nobody would buy from him and his sales presentation were generally more comical than professional. The doubts he had in his own abilities led to customers believing that there were doubts on the product he was selling, a disaster for any business, a disaster for Breffny. People Skills; “My advice to salesmen is this: pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, "Make me feel important." Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life” People Skills are skills dealing with the interaction with other people, such as communication and interpersonal skills. The ability or "skill" to persuade, motivate and effectively deliver a message. This would include the understanding of group dynamics such as dependence, interdependence and independence as to where and when they are factors. This could include the relevance of both verbal and non-verbal communication within a specific social context. Hence, people skills can relate to either individual, small or large group interactions within a particular context. What is clear is that the term “people skills” encapsulates a vast amount of very different interactions and examples of these are seen every week in the apprentice. Steve is the master of a one to one selling situation, he is friendly, concise, positive and earns the trust of the person he is selling to. He handles objections very well and tailors his sales pitch to understand the needs of the customer. The results are clear with him easily persuading customers to buy from him and comprehensively winning individual sales tasks. When thrown into a group setting however Steve’s ability as Project Manager (PM) were questioned with him being accused of being a bully and he himself admitting to lacking certain qualities. The PM needed to galvanise the team by listening and motivating, to delegate the right tasks to the right people and to always have the end goal in sight through effective communication. When the PM lacked in these areas we saw the ill effects such as the continuous fighting between Geraldine and Aoiffe or the catastrophic results of the Diageo task. Contrary to this when the PM possessed these qualities the results have been impressive with the platinum team creating an impressive advertisement campaign for Meteor to go and platinum again creating an excellent advert for the newly released samsung jet mobile phone. These three characteristics are central to the success of any candidate in a commercial sales environment and will go along way in deciding the results of the apprentice but will these be enough to win it, what else will be needed? Integrity, creativity, attention to detail, charisma will all be the extra traits required to be chosen to be the next apprentice. Personally I felt the contestant that showed the best overall characteristics was Lucinda, fired last night the boardroom virgin was tipped to win and certainly seemed to be the most likely to possess all of the above characteristics. We will watch the remaining three episodes closely and perhaps more traits will come to light, maybe Bill will select the best candidate or perhaps he needs to talk to Contract People. David Harrington, Contract People. www.contractpeople.com |
No comments:
Post a Comment