In episode six the candidates enjoyed a trip to Wales to set up and run a bespoke guided tour. We learned that Wales has more sheep than people, witnessed some very enthusiastic cheese tasting, and got to see the actual zip wire enjoyed by famous celebrity Shane Richie! Bendigedig! (Welsh for wonderful).
The teams were managed by Stephanie (Diverse) and Kathryn (Infinity) – leading a train and whiskey tasting tour featuring a watercolour painting lesson, and a ziplining, slate mine and cheese tasting extravaganza respectively. The main objective was to make a profit. Both teams managed this, but Steph’s team triumphed, mainly due to higher profit margins on ticket prices – let’s face it their watercolour painting session in the rain looked like no fun at all.
Let’s look at what we learned this week.
Lessons learned
- When negotiating, make the first offer
Nick (negotiator extraordinaire – see Management Speak of the Week below) advised Sophie to let the seller start the negotiation when buying whiskey for the whiskey tasting experience, “so you know where they’re starting at”. According to experts however, seizing control at the outset is the best way to negotiate, as prices tend to end up higher when the seller opens the offering, and end up lower when the buyer offers first. And, when whiskey seller Neil opened negotiations, he stated that would offer a revenue share of one per cent of the sale price. Seven per cent was finally agreed. “It’s a huge kick in the teeth” said Sophie. Neil was laughing all the way to the bank.
- Good energy makes a huge difference
Nick’s commentary on the Infinity guided tour was woeful (“Farming is very very important to the Welsh economy, and that is the main reason why sheeping, erm, farming, er the sheep farming industry, is so significant as such a big part of its economy”.) The commentary provided by Akeem for team Diverse was only slightly better, but Diverse made a huge effort to keep energy and spirits high, even in the pouring rain, proving that, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.
- Sometimes you just have to show people what you’re made of
Amy has done a great job of avoiding the Project Manager role to date, pronouncing this week, “I felt that this task was not synergistic with my skill set and experiences”. However where the overall objective is to spotlight your skills and talents, this plan was clearly a non-starter. “Maybe she can’t” said Tim. Sometimes you have to step up to the plate. Amy’s time is up at last. This means we’ll never have to hear her use a megaphone again. Whiw! (Welsh for phew).
Management Speak of the Week
“That, from where I was thinking was… well above where I was…..even… considering….where we would be….. those numbers…for me were way above…… I don’t know….what you think…” – negotiation expert Nick
Ones to Watch?
Stephanie held it together for Team Diverse. Snowdonia National Park was the star of the show.
In episode seven the teams will design a driverless vehicle. Who will drive their team to success, and who is heading for a breakdown?
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