DS Forums

 
 

Natalie a charlatan?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 04-11-2015, 22:29
totalwise
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,366

He job is to pitch and talk to trade buyers, she seems like a complete amatuer at pitching and she has no connection or rapport with her audience or prospects.

I wonder if she just managed to get by on represnting products from well renowned companies where the product sells itself and the sales were made in spite of her abilities or lack thereof.
totalwise is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 04-11-2015, 22:33
firefly_irl
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 3,746
From what she's done on the show she did seem to big herself up pre-show and not deliver, her shampoo pitch was excruciating and I think she should have went that week.
firefly_irl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-11-2015, 23:23
Aslan52
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 2,858
Oddly enough, I just had this exact conversation with my wife while watching this week's episode.

My wife hasn't really followed the series but she said Natalie just seemed completely incompetent and, worse, didn't even seem to be aware of all the extra stuff she SHOULD have been doing either.
Aslan52 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-11-2015, 23:43
JT Effect
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: South Tyneside
Posts: 2,622
She seemed nice enough on the YF programme, but dear God did she have an unfortunate manner about her on the show - very sullen and unlikeable.
JT Effect is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-11-2015, 23:44
rivethead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 715
He job is to pitch and talk to trade buyers, she seems like a complete amatuer at pitching and she has no connection or rapport with her audience or prospects.

I wonder if she just managed to get by on represnting products from well renowned companies where the product sells itself and the sales were made in spite of her abilities or lack thereof.
I'll take what you have to say on board, but can I speak to David please?
rivethead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 04:05
chrono88
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Dream
Posts: 2,797
Surprised she lasted this long
chrono88 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 08:53
MR. Macavity
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 2,424
He job is to pitch and talk to trade buyers, she seems like a complete amatuer at pitching and she has no connection or rapport with her audience or prospects.

I wonder if she just managed to get by on represnting products from well renowned companies where the product sells itself and the sales were made in spite of her abilities or lack thereof.
Don't get me wrong good sales reps are not easy to come by, but I actually think you get a lot of candidates on TA like her.

If you're in the right place at the right time and know the right person, there are so many 'account manager' jobs out there paying silly money to essentially just look after existing clients or sell a product that potential customers will have 99% already made their mind up on for technical reasons where the goundwork will have been laid down by other people. Firms just need someone who can drive a car and tie their own shoe laces up to physically go and meet them.

Also there is a big difference between some who 'talks a lot' amongst their friends and peers and someone who can deliver a competent sales pitch to people they don't know who may be a lot older etc.

But it is fascinating how every year on TA 'sales reps' often can't pitch to save their lives. Usually on the TA I find the best pitchers are those that have genuinely run their own business and have a rounded personality which gives them the ability to communicate with a range of people.
MR. Macavity is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 09:09
The Rhydler
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 4,221
Those staged 'coughs' to prove to Sugar that she was ill was cringe to the extreme
The Rhydler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 09:17
Philip Wales
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: South Wales
Posts: 5,866
It was very worrying that she couldn't work at the profit as a % on the fly, not expecting exact figures but to the nearest % or so. Wholesale £4.00, Retail £6.00 so 50% profit
Philip Wales is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 09:36
Miyagi
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 647
Failing to understand how she got on the show in the first place - unless she had a genius business plan. One of the poorest candidates ever in my opinion.
Miyagi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 10:36
tartan18
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Aberdeenshire
Posts: 2,096
Couldn't stand her while she was in the show, her demeanour, mannerisms, the awful awful pitches, oh and the faux coughing - hilarious.

Didn't change my mind at all after seeing her on YF
tartan18 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 11:34
Reggie Rebel
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 629
In my experience many account managers are delivery drivers in a car and better dressed, but not as personable
Reggie Rebel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 12:40
omgitzjustin
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: London
Posts: 60
It was very worrying that she couldn't work at the profit as a % on the fly, not expecting exact figures but to the nearest % or so. Wholesale £4.00, Retail £6.00 so 50% profit
only reason I can think of is pressure of the whole show, simple things always come undone when youre under pressure. Everyone else in the shop can speak too, so most likely Brett and the other person who was there couldn't figure it out as well.
omgitzjustin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 13:14
slouchingthatch
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 2,345
In my experience many account managers are delivery drivers in a car and better dressed, but not as personable
Some are, certainly. But, of course, you could say the same for some people in any walk of life. I once worked with a sales manager managing a team of his own who did not know how to calculate profit margin properly. It's really not that difficult.
slouchingthatch is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 14:16
Philip Wales
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: South Wales
Posts: 5,866
only reason I can think of is pressure of the whole show, simple things always come undone when youre under pressure. Everyone else in the shop can speak too, so most likely Brett and the other person who was there couldn't figure it out as well.
TBF wasn't Scott there, and wasn't he told to be quite when he tried to intervene.

And lets be honest she's "bigged" herself up twice to pitch, she failed the first time and even this time used some lame excuse why she couldn't pitch to the major retailer. If it had been a stronger PM they'd of said "no" your pitching. Funny how her cold all but disappeared when she had to defend herself in the BR.
Philip Wales is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 18:15
Anne_Cameron
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 915
Those staged 'coughs' to prove to Sugar that she was ill was cringe to the extreme
I thought that too! Pathetic!
Anne_Cameron is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 18:37
Mmmbop
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 839
Probably my least favourite candidate and was glad to see her go, didn't like the way she came across at all - and she was rubbish. And those fake coughs, oh my god the fake coughs... She should have been fired on the spot for those!
Mmmbop is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 18:53
Addisonian
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Over there
Posts: 14,833
She was probably one of the worst performing candidates ever. She seemed to be shit at everything.
And her amateur dramatics with the boardroom coughing fits were laughable.
Addisonian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 19:58
1fab
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 13,311
She didn't seem very intelligent and had an insolent manner. Glad she went.
1fab is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2015, 21:13
lammtarra
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 900
To play devil''s advocate: 1) in the past couple of hours, I seem to have caught a similar cough that is s triggered by my talking;

2) Scott dried up while pitching in the shampoo task, yet is still there.

That said, it is hard to make out Natalie was wrongly fired.
lammtarra is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-11-2015, 01:13
Tracy_Klein
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 170
The pixie girl should've been in the boardroom in the scavenger hunt for buying the wrong cheese.
Tracy_Klein is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-11-2015, 07:05
niceguy1966
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 12,479
The pixie girl should've been in the boardroom in the scavenger hunt for buying the wrong cheese.
She should have been fired after the dreadful shampoo pitch.
niceguy1966 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-11-2015, 13:25
StratusSphere
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 2,171
"I'm here to tell you about a secret. ...It's from the desert. ...Desert secret."

That was up there with secret signals and the pitch where she took her shoes off and danced for me.
StratusSphere is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-11-2015, 22:10
Matt_Harbinson
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 180
It is a wonder who would ever want Natalie as an account manager; from what was shown, her pitching style was awful and she didn't seem to understand figures. Surely, these points are main aspects of her job; if she had led the bigger pitches, it would have been a bigger failure as her style of pitch couldn't even be saved by a good product. When she said at the end of the pitch she fluffed, that it was a waste of time; that was really rude as the buyer would have heard that. I think almost anyone could have done a better job than her on that case.
Matt_Harbinson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2015, 00:55
lammtarra
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 900
It is a wonder who would ever want Natalie as an account manager; from what was shown, her pitching style was awful and she didn't seem to understand figures. Surely, these points are main aspects of her job; ...
Probably not. It is more likely she services one or more existing accounts, and most of her duties will look something like this.

Conduct regular meetings and conference calls with the customer. Present regular account reviews -- reports on performance metrics are probably automated, with perhaps some tweaking needed, such as adding comments. Track ongoing issues (eg network is unreliable around midnight; bills are wrong) and escalate if necessary.

It would need someone who is reasonably personable, who knows their way around Microsoft Office, and who can make and maintain internal relationships so they know how and to whom to escalate issues before they become crises. An account manager would probably not be directly involved in sales or marketing, pitching new products or fixing any technical issues, but would interface with the groups who did.
lammtarra is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply



Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 01:51.