Businesses: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Lord Grade of Yarmouth Excerpts

Tuesday 6th May 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grade of Yarmouth (Con)]

My Lords, I join those who have thanked my noble friend Lord Cope for securing this debate and for chairing the committee—but, most particularly, I want to thank him for allowing me to participate in that committee and for listening to me drone on during the many hours of debate. Speaking this late in a debate, you always have that sinking feeling that everything you wanted to say has been said. That is not particularly true in this case, although I have great difficulty in disagreeing with any of the points made by so many distinguished Members of this House.

The issue that I want to raise is by way of the tradesman’s entrance into this debate: I want to talk about salesmanship, a word that has not been used during the past hour or so. Behind every successful company is a successful salesman or saleswoman. That was graphically illustrated to the committee by a wonderful woman from Harrogate who came in and told us that she had been to a conference organised by Goldman Sachs. She had a small speciality cake company and had decided that she was going to export her speciality cakes to the most difficult and competitive market in the world: the United States. So what did she do? She did not go on to a website; she did not seek help. She bought herself a cheap ticket to New York, smuggled in a few tins of cakes from Harrogate and did what everybody has done in their time: pounded the pavements until she had sold some cakes—which she did to some high-class hotels and establishments. Her business is now thriving. I rest my case.

The importance of salesmanship was drummed home to me by my late and beloved uncle, Lord Grade of Elstree, who is probably one of the greatest salesmen that this country has produced. He was into the American market, selling television programmes to the Americans in the 1950s and 1960s, which was unheard of. He valued his salesmen; he loved a good salesman. He was a great salesman himself, if not the greatest. He was asked to give a final interview to somebody who was more or less the successful candidate, subject to his sign-off, for the new head of advertising sales in his media empire, which included a commercial television contractor. The salesman came in and Lew said to him, “They tell me you know how to sell, young man”. He said, “Yes, Lord Grade, I think I do, sir”. Lew was smoking a 10-inch Havana cigar—he was on about his fifth, because it was 7 am. He picked up the jug of water on his desk and said, “Young man, sell me that jug of water”. The guy scratched his head and he got up and went behind Lew’s desk. He picked up the waste-paper basket, which was full of paper, put it on the desk, picked up Lew’s matches, dropped a lighted match into the basket and said, “How much will you give me for this jug of water?” The point of the story is lost in this country in a whole history. We have used the word “salesman” in the past as a term of abuse—“Oh, he or she is just a salesman”. My goodness, how the world has changed. In the world of casual work, the kids in the schools have got to learn to sell themselves into jobs; they have got to learn how to sell themselves.

My noble friend Lord Leigh alluded to the Foreign Office and the wonderful prosperity agenda. Diplomats in embassies around the world are trying to help our exporters. What training has the Civil Service had in selling and salesmanship, or even in recognising who is capable of selling? Where is the training to back up the prosperity agenda of the Foreign Office? It is a very important initiative to go to a new country and to have the support of the British Government locally. It can open many doors that pounding the pavements would not. It is terribly important, but the training is very important.

My noble friend the Minister has many issues to deal with here. I am absolutely convinced that he understands the issue. The initiatives coming forth from the Government, not least in their response to this report, are hugely valuable and demonstrate beyond doubt the importance that they attach to the SME exporting agenda. If I could ask him to do one thing, it would be to have a word with his colleague in education to see what can be done in schools to teach children the importance of learning how to sell themselves. Anybody who is selling a product has to sell themselves first; then they can sell the product if they believe in it.

Salesmanship is at the heart of everything we do in business. Without it, we are going to be lost, and we need to recognise that. The Government’s assistance through all their initiatives—UKTI, banking and export credit guarantees—is invaluable, but in the first instance somebody has to make a sale. They have to eyeball somebody and say, “Here’s a product—will you buy it?”. To have exports, somebody has to import. It is a two-way deal and that takes salesmanship, so my last word is to implore the Government to try to move the art of salesmanship up the curriculum a little. We should celebrate and not denigrate people who are great salespeople.