Judge’s insightful tip put Ted Stroud on course for victory in HPE contest

“Be yourself more.”

That was the simple piece of advice from one of the judges that helped Ted Stroud, an account manager at FGS, to triumph in the prestigious Channel Reality Show hosted by Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

 

Ted admitted he fumbled his first pitch to the judging panel. It was, he said, “very engineered and structured”. As he told IT Channel Oxygen, a subsequent conversation with Andrew McDade changed his fortunes.

 

“Andrew said, ‘You’ve just got to be yourself more’,” revealed Ted. “That was the biggest learning I had. Don’t try to fake anything, just be honest, and that’s how your best work will come through.

 

“It was such an obvious piece of information, but it’s something you just need someone to tell you. It made me realise that our value as individuals comes from our individuality, and being ourselves.”

 

Chance for contestants to learn new pitching skills

 

Ted enjoyed a happy reunion with Andrew when he was presented with his trophy on the last day of filming. His prize was a trip to Las Vegas in June for HPE Discover, the information technology giant’s annual flagship event for partners and customers.

 

This was the first season of HPE’s Channel Reality Show. The show is designed to showcase the talents of rising stars at HPE partners.

 

As well as competing for the main prize of a trip to Nevada for a stay in Vegas, contestants had the chance to learn new skills to take back to their businesses through a series of pitches selling HPE solutions.

 

Ted was one of nine early-career sales staff who were invited to battle it out through the five-episode show. Other HPE partners represented included Simoda, Centerprise, Insight, Telefonica Tech, Daisy Corporate Services and SHL.

 

One of his proudest supporters was his father Peter, the CEO of FGS. In partnership with HPE, we recently launched a Future Growth Sales Excellence Programme to emphasise the importance of trust, credibility and relationships.

 

As Peter said at the programme’s launch: “In today’s complex business B2B environment, we know that greater customer loyalty and business success is achieved by creating value in every sales interaction – this is only possible through partnership.”

 

Victory showcases his skills – and helps to break the ice

 

Those qualities were exemplified on the Channel Reality Show by Ted, a fast learner who joined FGS in 2018 but had only recently moved into an account management role when he was persuaded by his boss to apply for a place. Ted’s entry went in just an hour before the deadline for submissions.

 

He said: “I have learned so much in such a short space of time, and these lessons learned will give me a huge boost in my career and have already greatly increased my confidence in the business world.”

 

Ted’s success has raised his profile and talents among a wider audience across the industry, and with colleagues at FGS. Although the status of reality TV star will clearly take some getting used to.

 

“It’s not like I’m a Love Island star,” he said. “But going into offices and having people recognise you for something that’s a bit niche is a cool experience.

 

“Having people wanting to talk to you and ask you questions is opening the barrier to meeting so many new people. They all say, ‘I already feel like I know you’, which is such a nice thing as it breaks the ice.”

 

Ted also revealed that, unlike cut-throat reality TV shows like The Apprentice, X Factor, Made In Chelsea and, yes, Love Island, the competitors in the Channel Reality Show built a genuine and lasting camaraderie.

 

“Everyone was lovely,” he added. “Watching it back, it was an accurate representation – it really showed how everyone was feeling, and the nerves.

 

“One thing it didn’t get through so well was how well we all got on together. We were coming out of those meetings and pitches, and talking to and confiding in each other. We got on well, it was a proper friendship in real life.”

 

Facing stressful situations and emerging victorious

 

Nevertheless, Ted had to upgrade his performance fast after that poor first pitch. He had to restart his presentation after losing his thread – a glitch that he might have seen coming.

 

Minutes before his pitch, while pacing the grounds, he said on camera: “I just watched a crow die – that’s a foreshadowing of how this is going to go.”

 

Ted went into the competition with five years of experience in the IT sector and, as a self-confessed tech-head, was familiar with much of the jargon being thrown around during the show.

 

He was comfortable with phraseology like “immutable storage” and “HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Business Edition” – less so with the demands of pitching products in front of the cameras. Ted admitted: “Going into the pitches is probably one of the most nerve-racking things I’ve ever done.

 

“My highlight was learning that I can put myself through those stressful situations. I’m in an industry where I’m so inexperienced, compared with some of the people in front of me. But I can still feel like if I prepare, they’re going to listen to me.”

 

The experience of being tested to his limit, and emerging triumphant, has clearly taught Ted some valuable lessons about sales, business and life in general.

 

He added: “We all get imposter syndrome, at every level of our careers. But being able to overcome that imposter syndrome, and not crack like I did in the first pitch, was the highlight for me.

 

“It was that personal development journey of realising that, no matter how experienced you are, you can play to your strengths and perform in these situations.”

 

If you want to know more about FGS and HPE’s revolutionary apprenticeship programme, or would like to discuss our bespoke solutions to drive innovation, reduce costs and provide support where it’s needed, please get in touch with us today.