Last Night’s Dragon’s Den: Answer The Question!
Posted in Presentation skills, Sales Skills by Paul
July 15th, 2010
“He who asks questions, cannot avoid the answers”. African Proverb
Last night on Dragon’s Den there were two pitches where the questions asked by the Dragons were either ignored or skirted around.
Naz Choudry with his Bollywood pitch was one of these. For those in the UK, you can see the full pitch here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/entrepreneurs/nazchoudhury.shtml – the area I’m talking about is roughly 36 minutes.
However he does it several times throughout, so if you didn’t see the show it’s worth a look.
Naz was asked a simple question such as “How much money have you made?” and he seemed uncomfortable answering it. Instead he would talk about his legacy and his potential.
This frustrated the Dragons, and undermined their trust.
Eventually we learned that Naz had earned £500K but had probably spent a bit more than that, which gave us an instant insight into why he wasn’t happy sharing!
I think we can all fall victim to avoiding questions from time to time – even if by accident. And when we are selling or presenting, it can be fatal.
While the answer is being avoided, the following dialogue may be going on in the mind of the questioner/customer:
• What are you hiding?
• Why won’t you tell me?
• Why do I have to ask again and again with no answer?
• Is he listening to me?
• I don’t trust him. I won’t buy from him.
I feel Naz’s pitch would have gone much better if he offered plain, honest answers that gave the Dragon’s a sense of who he really was – rather than the person he wanted to be.
Interested in your thoughts!
July 15th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Interesting! I didn’t even know Dragon’s Den was on again.
Thanks for your post and also enjoyed the Streetfighting blogs. Lots of food for thought, as always.
N
July 19th, 2010 at 10:49 am
I think your right in allot of ways but at the same time I felt the Dragon’s where really harsh on him and he did stand his ground. Personally I felt that instead of asking him about forecast, returns and about all the products, they went into his past, clearly he stated he was young but thinks that question was a bit personal.
I been working in the entertainment sector for some time now and yes it can always be a risk but at the same time the outputs are more than money and they come down to passion and bless this Asian guy he had allot of passion and could see it out of him regardless what they made him look like.
I thought he delivered a good pitch and his dancers where excellence and after he completed it I really thought he would get it, it’s just a shame they didn’t like his idea because end of the day it’s their own money.
I don’t think he was trying to avoid questions, but some of them where unexpected from DD, how would you answer what you made since starting your career? He seemed like a very hardworking and determined person who is confident in where he is going in life. I feel that the Dragon’s didn’t want to invest into the entertainment sector because of risk and not necessarily for the guy. I did enjoy the episode but I felt sorry for him than I looked him up online and his work and to be honest he is good for it from what I saw, Cleary the person you saw was the person he was, but I agree and think he could have Retaliated to Theo and Debra.
October 6th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Thanks for your thoughts, Liam. I reckon it is a tricky sector in which to gain investment from people who don’t know the sector themselves. I think the guy would have been entitled to say that he was not going to answer that question (re the amount of money he’s made to date) but the problem was that he didn’t answer it, nor did he confirm that he was not going to answer it. Therefore, he sounded evasive which annoyed the Dragons and reduced his credibility.
Your point about the Dragons being aggressive, I agree with. However, I think any company going in the Den should prepare for hostility just as sales people should prepare for people saying ‘no’. If you’ve not worked out how you will handle hostility or rejection, you’re unlikely to handle it well when under pressure.