Current Article

The Apprentice: Car Crash Reality TV Goes Into Car Sales

By Jim Symcox on May 30, 2008 in Alex Wotherspoon, Claire Young, Entrepreneurs, Helene Speight, Lee McQueen, Lucinda Ledgerwood, Michael Sophocles, Series 4, Sir Alan Sugar, The Apprentice

Table of contents for The Apprentice - Series 4

Image via WikipediaThe Apprentice candidates went to a car scrap yard where they were introduced to several beautiful high-performance sports cars.

Instantly everyone understood that they were boys toys and their task was to sell them, or at least some time in them to some wealthy “boys.”

Michael was picked as one team leader and Lee as the other.

Michael Sophocles Scrappy Sales Record

Michael’s sales and negotiation record has been nothing short of pathetic on The Apprentice. Remember the Wedding Cake fiasco? Or the smug belief that he alone had negotiated a good deal on a cow hide with a tail in the Apprentice Marrakesh visit. A belief quickly smashed when he was told how little Raef had paid for it over on the other team.

Unfortunately Michael just didn’t see the point in the sports cars and because of that really didn’t lead from the front in the task.

Plus he didn’t choose the best cars. One was a Ferrari and the other a Spyker. Like the others in previous tasks and series he hasn’t caught on to getting the most exclusive model because you’ve got the same amount of selling to do to sell one of those compared to trying to sell 8 of a midrange model.

He didn’t dig in and learn what he could so he could understand why people buy these sorts of cars and then use that to sell to them.

He made the tactical mistake of allowing the best salesperson in his group (Claire) link up with Helene who was obviously right out of her depth and comfort zone. He was then left very exposed trying to sell something he didn’t believe in.

Plus Michael, who was a local boy, took his car to some very strange locations. One was a back street in Knightsbridge with pretty much zero footfall and another was Portobello Market – quite why completely escapes me. Did he think there were a lot of market traders who wanted to have a go in his “run of the mill” sports car?

At the market Michael was reduced to chasing after the one man he stumbled upon who fancied spending a few quid to have a go for an hour but who was put-off by the £5,000 deposit. Michael, slight hint here, “he just wasn’t rich enough.” And you could tell that immediately you saw him!

Meanwhile Claire was closing sales for an hour, or two of the Spyka leaving Helene to get in and out of the car and to talk to the odd punter. The end-result was that Claire sold every hour that she could in the S**, whilst Helene didn’t even manage one hour.

In the end Michael manages to bribe someone with champagne to buy 5 minutes or maybe an hour in a car. Doesn’t the idiot realise that whatever car he’d picked it would have been a tough sale. So, now let’s all shout it together, “PICK THE MOST EXPENSIVE AND EXCLUSIVE MODEL TO SELL!”

Lee Let’s Lucinda Loose

After pronouncing that Lucinda was a great project manager it was strange that Lee chose to let her go and spin her wheels without a scrap of sales support in the slightly more down market car (an Aston Martin) compared to the Zonda that he and Alex chose to sell. It would have been better to decide who the best salesperson was and give them the Zonda with Lucinda adding some “glamour” and give the other salesman the Aston. That way they would still have come out on top

Apart from being unfair then he also sided with Alex when he claimed that a raffle-the-car idea Lucinda had come up with was his idea all along, and was baffled she couldn’t see it.

Lucinda then set to work to create and split the raffle tickets (and putting on a raffle would have been illegal which is why we heard nothing more about it).

Some time later she phoned Lee to ask advice on how she should sell the tickets. Lee helpfully suggested that she try and sell some but only if she thought she could sell enough! As Lucinda pointed out how would she know she would sell enough? Lee satisfied that he’d done his team leading job left Lucinda to sink.

Give Lucinda her due she turned back up, having sold nothing and shadowed Lee to see how he sold the Zonda so she could try and apply the same techniques to the Aston Martin. However, the way Lee was selling I was surprised he made any sales. When he did make his first sale he went into his “that’s what I’m talking about” routine that I found annoying when I first noticed it and it’s been cranking up my irritation level ever since.

In the end Lucinda breaks her duck and sells an hour in her car thing. Something more than Helene managed.

And finally it’s back to the boardroom

Back To The Boardroom

Michael you’re an idiot for choosing stupid locations. Lee and Michael you’re idiots for not choosing the sales teams for each car properly.

So what’s the score?

Renaissance made £2,114, but Alpha “led” by Lee simply blew them away with £11,815

Lee had the right strategy, see previously, although he can’t manage a team to save his life. He would have improved his prospects by using Lucinda in a better way. Maybe showing her beret to the adoring public. Or having her slipping in and out of the Zonda?

Anyway, it’s obvious that as Renaissance’s manager Michael (Ha!) is asked about his performance. Suffice it to say that Claire was safe – having sold practically every hour she could.

Helene sold nothing, contributed nothing and remained purely because Sir Alan realised that Michael was a complete no hoper. So Michael got the boot.

Was The Firing Fair?

Yes!

Michael should have been fired when the 2 Jennifers went. He was young and had a vastly inflated view of his sales ability. He also seemed to believe he could manage. Of which I saw zero evidence.

So goodbye Michael you stayed long after your competence had been strained beyond breaking point – the restaurant week when he didn’t have the balls to refuse to take two pieces of pizza to a customer.

Technorati tags: The Apprentice, BBC, Sir Alan Sugar, Ian Stringer, Shazia Waheb, Lee McQueen, Lindi Mngaza, Alex Wotherspoon, Nicholas De Lacy Brown, Jennifer Celerier, Jennifer Maguire, Raef Bjayal, Claire Young, Lucinda Ledgerwood, Kevin Shaw, Simon Smith, Helene Speight, Sara Dhada, Michael Sophocles