Sara makes sure sellers have the right fibre; How would you react if a reality tv film crew arrived on your doorstep? Sara Vann, of Kirkheaton had just that experience when the pushy and ambitious contestants in ITV's Natural Born Sellers came to Huddersfield. ANDREW BALDWIN reports on how she coped with the clashing egos

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), Oct 29, 2008

Byline: ANDREW BALDWIN

AS a businesswoman promoting a new cleaning product Sara Vann is used to dealing with people.

But even she was unprepared when the contestants on ITV reality show Natural Born Sellers rolled into Huddersfield.

Pushy, ambitious and with bags of selfconfidence they think they can sell anything to anyone, whatever it takes and whatever the cost.

They are salespeople who have put their careers on hold, their reputations on the line and are risking it all over the six weeks of the series.

Their task was to shift the special micro-fibre cloths and gloves that Austrian company Enjo claim will remove dirt, grease and bacteria from all surfaces with no need for chemicals.

Sara, from Kirkheaton, is one of the firm's team managers and trainers.

Looking back on the experience she says: "My house was invaded by an ITV film crew and the remaining contestants of Natural Born Sellers, who for the next five days were in my charge.

"Training new consultants and selling Enjo is what I do. The difference this time was dealing with egos, fierce rivalry and limited product knowledge."

Replacing the existing workforce in real businesses across the UK the programme's ruthless rivals must hit aggressive sales targets, earn maximum commission and, as a result, push their combined kitty of cash ever higher.

Each has buckets of self-confidence and consider themselves to be at the top of their game, whether in used cars, telesales or advertising. All have their own unique patter that they believe stands them apart from the others.

The results of their time with Sara can be seen when the next to last episode of Natural Born Sellers is screened tomorrow night.

Filming of the 50-minute programme took place over six days in and around the Huddersfield area, including the Kingsgate shopping centre.

Viewers will follow the contestants as they sell Enjo products using direct home selling, a technique outside their usual comfort zone and one where they had to learn what to do and how to do it very quickly.

Sara says: "This was an incredible experience for everyone concerned and as well as being tremendous fun involved a great deal of hard work.

"In accordance with the guidelines of the programme I was only able to provide half a day's training to the contestants.

"This represents just 12% of the time we would usually spend on training and meant that the contestants were under pressure right from the start to assimilate information and work out ways and means to use it to their advantage."

The four contestants left in the show were faced with no shop front, no customers knocking on your business door no national advertising and no TV ads.

They all had to go out and find people to demonstrate to and arrange home demos, something they were generally not used to.

"We do not do a hard sell and these sellers were not used to that method of selling. A big culture shock was the order of the day," says Sara.

Contestants have had to sell anything that was thrown at them over the four weeks that Natural Born Sellers has been running.

When the sales deadline is up the final scrabble for the orders book has passed and the figures collated and entrepreneur John Caudwell referees proceedings to ensure that no rules of sale have been broke Reflecting on her involvement Sara said: "As their trainer, mentor and acting manager I was actively involved at every stage.

"Following the first training session we held daily briefing meetings at which results and performances were discussed.

"Successes and failures were explored, lessons continually learned and the way ahead plotted," she added.

"I suppose you could say that the contestants felt as if they were coming into a Dragons' Den when we started the experience."

And the end result? That's something that can't be disclosed of course.

But Sara ended up with decided views about the contestants, not all of them favourable, although she is naming no names.

She says: "These guys really were being thrown in at the deep end. Still it was their choice to enter the competition.

"No-one had forced them to apply for this challenge.

"It was their choice to compete and put their lives and careers on hold for fame and fortune.

"It's true to say that certain individuals blew me away while others I wanted to blow away."

Natural Born Sellers is on ITV1 tomorrow at 10.40pm.

andrew.baldwin@examiner.co.uk

CAPTION(S):

NATURAL BORN SELLERS: Contestants in the ITV reality programme (from left) Hayley, Leighton, Gavin, Danny, Nick, Thea, Scott and Anna-Marie. "Some blew me away, while others I wanted to blow away," says Sara Vann, of Kirkheaton, who was their mentor; TV VERDICT: Sara Vann, of Kirkheaton, who markets the Enjo fibre cleaning system, had the task of training the new sales team for TV