Episode 6 Trade Your Way to the USA

The search is on for this year's best young traders.

For months, CBBC has scoured the country

hunting for Britain's budding entrepreneurs.

They need to know how to buy, how to sell,

and how to close the deal,

if they want to win the day.

ALL: Whoo!

From more than 2,000 budding young entrepreneurs,

just 14 teams have made it through to the heats.

Now they battle it out, head-to-head,

in Trade Your Way To The USA.

'Each team will be given £75 cash and a tough trading challenge.

'They must decide what to buy...'

Are you hardcore?

When it comes to haggling, I know what I'm talking about.

'..negotiate the lowest price...'

Boys, you need to do a bit better on that one.

-'..and then sell, sell, sell.'

-KLAXON HOOTS

-High-quality balloons, only £1!

-I want to clear all of it.

-I want the one that says, "Kapow!"

-OK!

Superhero cookies!

The team that makes the most money wins the challenge,

and a place on the all-important leaderboard.

Get in there!

At the end of the heats, only the top four teams

go on to fight it out for a place in the grand final...

BEST FUDGE EVER!

..and the chance to be crowned this year's best young traders.

BOTH: Muscular Mike, on sale here!

I'm Saira Khan and I run my own business.

Follow my top trading tips,

and one day you too could Trade Your Way To The USA.

Trade Your Way To The USA is back,

and this time, it's even tougher.

Today we're putting some of Britain's most dynamic

and determined young traders to the ultimate business test.

Time to meet the two teams bold enough to take on today's task.

It's Boundary Breakers

versus Determination.

Boundary Breakers are best friends,

Antoine, Devandra and Jack.

These psychic salesmen reckon they have it all sewn up.

We break boundaries in selling, negotiation,

and customer satisfaction.

We can practically read each other's minds

to know when there's a good deal on.

Their sixth sense for selling puts these boys ahead of the game.

We've already started making money.

We have an online business.

From selling old cameras to old clothes.

Drumming up trade for Boundary Breakers is Devandra.

Playing drums is my game, making money stimulates my brain.

There is no question.

Boundary Breakers ARE going to win this competition.

Once Antoine gets his skates on, there's no stopping him selling.

My team-mates call me "the Persuader"

because I bring the people in

and make sure they get what they want.

It's all about thinking fast,

standing on your feet and rolling in the money.

These boundary-breaking boys mean business...

A message to our opposition.

ALL: You're going down!

..but they haven't met Determination yet.

ALL: We're Team Determination,

and we're going to trade our way to the USA. Whoo!

This talented London trio of Chloe, Alice, and Jasmine

hope their entrepreneurial experience

will see them succeed.

I've made money by selling books online.

I've made money by doing car-boot sales.

And together, we hope to build a fruit juice enterprise.

Mmm, delicious!

Team Determination can win because we've all had practice

in the past and we're going to fight to the finish.

Team leader Alice wants to draw on all her skills to win.

Art is my love, but my passion is trading.

Hoping to strike the right chord with the customers is Jasmine.

I'm the brains of the team. I love calculating and making profit.

I may be the quietest, but I know how to pull the strings.

Last up, confident Chloe believes her dancing skills

will make her dollar bills.

I know the right moves to bring the customers in.

Boundary Breakers, beware!

These girls are determined to win.

Our message to our opposition.

-Good luck!

-You're going to need it!

It's Determination versus Boundary Breakers.

But only the team that makes the most money wins the challenge

and only THEY stand a chance of trading their way to the USA.

Today's teams have arrived in London with no idea

what their trading challenge will be.

All they know is they need to win here

to stand a chance of competing in our USA grand final.

Welcome to London's Docklands and to the Super Comic Convention.

We're here at the ExCel Centre.

This weekend, thousands of people

are visiting a two-day extravaganza,

celebrating the greatest superheroes of all time.

Your challenge is to sell them superhero cookies.

You'll get to negotiate the lowest prices and then sell, sell, sell.

The team that makes the most money wins the challenge.

Here's your trading fund.

I've given each team £75

to trade with.

Boundary Breakers, Determination, are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

-Let's go!

With £75 firmly in hand,

it's time to meet cookie creator Alli Cardona.

After years in the baking business

there's nothing Alli doesn't know

about turning soft dough into hard cash.

When you start a new business, the most important thing

is to understand the product you're selling.

I have brought you here to meet your expert, Alli.

She knows a lot about cookies.

Here are your books and your hats and aprons.

Remember, asking the right questions now is crucial,

and will determine whether you win or lose this competition.

Are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

-Let's go.

Alli's created a special range of comic-book cookies

for the teams to choose from.

They have just 15 minutes to learn all they can

about the biscuit business before they decide what to buy.

Hi, guys. I believe you've got some questions for me.

Which design would you say sells the best?

Jasmine, excellent to establish the bestsellers.

That'll help you when you are buying.

In my experience, people do like value for money,

so a larger cookie, even though it's sometimes less expensive,

might sell better than a smaller one

that is more intricately decorated.

Is there a certain market for these sorts of cookies?

You need to think very much about your market.

The event you're at tomorrow...

It's probably going to be more males.

It's probably going to be more male-orientated, yes.

Great question, Jack.

You must always think about who's going to buy your product.

How much would you sell the superheroes for?

I would suggest testing your market

and going in as high as you think might be appropriate.

I would probably sell them between £3 and £4.

Retail price established, excellent!

How much would you sell the cookies to us for?

Well, there's going to be a range of prices.

They start around £1.70

and they go up to £2.30.

However, if you use your budget to order more of one design,

then I will be negotiable on price.

Alli is giving them some really good tips here.

She's saying buy in bulk

to get the best prices,

I hope they're listening.

OK, teams, your time for questioning is up.

Now you have to decide which designs you're going to buy.

Follow me.

If I was doing this task, I'd take Alli's advice -

buy in bulk, keep it simple but make it fun and colourful.

So what are the girls going to do?

OK, which are the best two there, do you think?

Well, in the comic festival there's usually men.

The ones that are more masculine look really good.

-I think we should pick this one.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

OK, Determination, lots of talking going on,

but what are you going to buy?

We're thinking of buying these words.

Why have you gone for the words?

They pop up in comic books and we are going to a comic festival

so it is going to appeal to, like, our audience.

So who's going to be the key negotiator?

Alice, because she's really hardcore with negotiating

and she always puts her foot down.

Hardcore! Are you hardcore?

When it comes to haggling I know what I'm talking about.

You do? What if you don't get what you want?

I don't think that's going to happen.

Fighting talk from Determination.

What about the boys?

OK, guys, in terms of teamwork, what is your key strength?

We can practically read each other's minds

-and we know when there's a deal coming.

-Oh, psychic?

Yes, pretty much.

Blimey, I would like to see that in action! Fantastic!

You sound very confident and you have got an added skill -

you can read somebody's mind.

You shouldn't have a problem, really. Good luck.

Neeoooow!

Boundary Breakers are sure

their superpowers will get the best prices.

Determination reckon tough talking will get them the deals.

But it's down to who can negotiate the best prices for their cookies.

This is the most important negotiation

the teams have ever faced.

To win tomorrow's trading challenge, they must get the best deals today.

But that means getting the better of cookie queen Alli.

First up, it's Determination.

We're going to start with the words,

the "Boom!", "Pow!" and "Kapow!"

We want 35 words starting at 90p for each one of them.

No compliments, no handshakes.

This is hard-nosed!

I like that you've gone for volume.

It makes it much easier for us in production

and we can do that at 90p.

OK, thank you.

We would like to get 20 of these Muscular Mikes for £1 each.

That's too low.

There's a lot of work in this man here.

You need to think a bit more about that one.

I can't go as low as that on him.

£1.05?

You need to be quite a bit higher than that.

But we are buying 20 off you

and...if we moved up to...

£1.20, then that would give you a profit of £24 from us.

If you move up to 25 cookies,

I can do them for £1.40 for you.

I think 25 is reasonable.

-Yes.

-OK.

-So 25 cookies at £1.40 each?

-Yes.

-OK.

Well done, girls! Thinking on your feet.

The more you buy, the less you pay.

So far, the girls have spent £66.50 and got 60 cookies.

Could we get nine faces for 90p each?

I can't do nine faces at 90p each.

You've got £8.50 left.

Let's see what we can do for that.

I can do five faces for £8.50.

-Shall we do five?

-Yeah, let's do it.

-Yep.

-OK.

-Are we happy with that?

-Yep.

-I'm very happy.

65...70...75.

-Lovely. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Nice doing business with you.

-Pleasure doing business with you.

Determination bargained hard, and got great deals.

Can Boundary Breakers' superpowers negotiate a better result?

As you can see, these are all the cookies we have chosen,

and I've decided we are going to start with the words.

We would like...

-15?

-17.

-17, sorry.

-15, OK.

-15 cookies...

-For £25.

I can do them for £25.50 for you.

-Do you want to do that?

-£25.50, OK.

£25.50.

That's £1.70 per cookie!

The girls spent just 90 pence!

I thought we were supposed to be negotiating.

There's not a lot of that going on at the moment!

Um, for the hero, we would like, er, 14 for £20.

14...

You're a bit far away on that one, boys.

You need to do a bit better.

I'd be looking at more like £26 for 14 of those.

-What about ten?

-Yeah, ten for £20?

I can do that. Ten for £20 is done.

OK, face cookies.

Can we have 12 faces for £14.50?

12 faces...

Again, boys, you need to do a bit better on that one.

I would be looking more like £20 for 12 faces.

Ten, yeah. Ten for £15?

I can do ten faces...

..for £16.

£15.50?

£15.50.

-Yeah, OK.

-Sure.

Good negotiating, boys!

That's £1.55 per face.

A better deal than the girls.

We have got, like, 14...

(14, 15...)

-What have we done?

-£41.

-We've done the words...

So we've spent...

You've got £61 at the moment.

Their mind-reading superpowers seem to have deserted them!

I hope they're not going to fall apart.

-So we will spend it...

-We want more heroes.

So you're going to do for this guy?

-Yeah. How many would you be willing to give us?

-For...?

-For £14?

You can have seven.

Seven of these, plus one crumbly cookie that we can crumble up?

Yes, I can give you some taster samples. Yes, that's fine.

OK, sure.

-Are we all done, boys?

-Yes.

65, 70, and £75. There you go.

Pleasure doing business with you.

For their £75 cash,

Boundary Breakers got 42 biscuits.

That's 15 word cookies,

10 faces, and 17 superheroes.

For their £75,

Determination got 65 cookies -

23 more than the boys.

That's 35 words, 5 faces

and 25 superheroes.

Now it's all down to who can convert those cookies

into the most cash.

Tomorrow, the victors will soar through the sky.

For the others it's back down to earth with a splat!

Today Boundary Breakers take on Determination.

Both will do anything to win and get the chance to compete

in our Trade Your Way To The USA grand final.

The team that makes the most money today is one step closer

to becoming Britain's best young traders.

Good morning, Boundary Breakers. Good morning, Determination.

In a few hours' time,

thousands of people will be visiting the Super Comic Convention.

You have just two hours to sell them your scrumptious superhero cookies.

-Teams, are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

Let's set up the stalls.

The teams need to get their stalls set up

and their prices fixed before they can start trading.

Determination's comic book cookies go from £3 to £3.50.

Boundary Breakers' go from £2.75 to £3.60.

That's it, we're done!

Now they've just got to sell them!

Teams, are you ready?!

ALL: Yes!

Three, two, one...

-start selling!

-KLAXON HOOTS

Both teams have two hours to sell as many cookies as they can.

Shall I try and get people in? Cos there's not many people here.

Hello, can I interest you in buying

-some superhero, comic book cookies?

-No.

-OK.

£3.60 and then £2.75.

Selling is a game of numbers.

Would you like some cookies?

The more people you approach, the more likely you'll get a sale.

Let's call out.

You want to call out?

"Superhero cookies."

The boys' confidence seems to have deserted them.

Looks to me like their energy has been zapped!

20 metres away, it's a different story.

Hello, can I interest you in buying some comic book or superhero cookies?

These ones cost £3 and these cost £3.50.

Five minutes in, Alice starts selling...

OK, and I'll give you your £2 change.

..and doesn't stop. This girl is good!

'But it's a different story back at the stall,'

where the rest of Determination

seem, well, less determined.

-Smiles and be enthusiastic, OK?

-Yep.

-OK, good.

-Bye.

-Bye!

Hello, can I interest you in buying some superhero... >

'We're getting a few sales.'

I think we have to be more enthusiastic about the product.

And Alice is getting quite a lot of sales by going round.

Superhero cookies!

They've got to do better than this.

Determination. OK, I have been watching you for a while

and I have to say, you look like you're not bothered,

people don't know what you're selling.

-Shall I show you what you're supposed to be doing?

-Yeah.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE SUPERHERO COOKIES HERE TODAY!

A once-in-a-lifetime chance to buy! Thank you.

To me, that is selling.

Standing here like this...

See the difference?

BOTH: MUSCULAR MIKE ON SALE HERE!

Come and get your Muscular Mikes here!

Thank you, thank you.

-Thank you!

-Thank you!

With the girls in overdrive, how are Boundary Breakers are doing?

And this is £3.50.

Very expensive but, still...I admit.

Oh, no!

You don't need a mind-reading superpower

to tell Boundary Breakers are in big trouble.

-SOFTLY:

-Cookies!

Boundary Breakers, OK.

I don't see any boundaries being broken here,

and secondly, you've got the gift of the gab, but not today.

I don't know what's happened to you.

I thought you were quite cheeky and confident,

but all of a sudden, in front of your customers, you're like this.

You need to get together, break some boundaries,

and let me hear you speak.

-HE CALLS OUT LOUDER

-Superhero cookies!

Superhero cookies!

£2.75. So if you give me... OK, thank you!

That is £5.50 altogether.

Thank you!

OK, I'll go for one of those.

Thank you.

The boys are finally selling.

Now they've got some catching up to do.

Can I interest you in some superhero and comic book cookies?

-Of course! Ooh, I want one that says, "Kapow!"

-OK!

Alice is amazing.

This girl is really on fire.

It's fun to talk to people, to run around,

and have the adrenaline rush through you.

It's going great, I am really happy.

We need to push the Muscular Mikes and get them all sold.

That will be £6.50.

Thank you.

Enjoy your Muscular Mike and have a fantastic day.

Thank you. Enjoy Muscular Mike and have a great day.

There you go. Enjoy him.

£3.60. OK, 10p change. There you go.

Thank you.

Unbelievably, only 45 minutes in,

and the girls have almost sold out.

We have one more Muscular Mike left and my pocket is full of money!

Alice, the final one?

Now, how much are you selling your last cookie for?

We're going to try and sell him for £4.

Why go for £4?

I might try and sell him for £6.

Take your time and enjoy the sell.

OK.

Instead, Alice can't resist a bit of showing off.

Get your horsemeat-free cookies! Over here, not over there!

I'm just letting you know that this is our final cookie.

I'm going to wish you all the best of luck. You're really going to need it.

-But anyway...enjoy!

-Thank you!

Alice, Alice! Remember The tortoise and the hare.

Remember, the boys do have a lot of stock left

and if they realise you nearly sold out, they could up their prices.

-They could.

-So you need to think about that.

This is all about how much money you can make.

OK, new strategy.

And upping their prices is exactly what the boys do.

Increase these two prices. I reckon this could be the difference.

People may think it's stupid,

but all great ideas sound stupid at first.

When George Stephenson first invented the train,

people thought it was bad for humans to go over 12mph.

My heart is racing. I just need to sell this final cookie for £6.

-How much is he?

-It costs £6.

HE LAUGHS

We really need to sell him, so could you give us £6?

-There you go.

-You won't regret it. I'm sure you'll enjoy him.

Thank you so much. Have a nice day. Yes!

With 25 minutes left, Alice sells her final cookie.

She is a brilliant saleswoman.

But this isn't over.

The boys have time on their side,

if they can get it together and really start selling.

You know, if I was here at a Super Comic Convention

and I was finding it hard to sell my cookies,

I'd find a superhero to stand by my stall and help me sell.

Have you got any superpowers?

-The power to sell.

-Go on, do it.

Anyone for cookies? Come on! Cookies!

Would you like to buy some superhero cookies? Yeah? You would.

-Oh, thank you.

-Goodbye!

-Thanks very much!

We're really getting into the deals, we know how to sell now.

It's really good.

Thank you, that's £3.

With minutes to go, the boys are into their stride,

and all the girls can do is watch.

We're a little bit nervous, actually.

So you don't know whether you may have won or not right now?

-Yeah, we're really unsure.

-50/50 chance.

Another happy customer! Thank you!

£3.50, please. I'll give you both of them for £5.

-Oh, that's great, even better!

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

You don't look confident. You are focused on the boys, aren't you?

-Yes.

-Let's see what happens.

There's seconds to go, and the boys have one last cookie to sell.

Are you interested in buying a superhero cookie?

-Last cookie of the day.

-Superhero cookie. Last one!

It's £3.

-Ten, nine...

-Thank you! Go,

-go!

..five, four, three, two...

-Yes!

-..one, stop trading!

-I'm happy!

-Let's eat our free samples!

-KLAXON Oh, yes!

-That was sick!

Determination, can I have your cash tin. Good luck.

-Where are your cookies?

-We sold out, last minute.

No way! Well done!

-Excellent! How do you feel?

-Really chuffed, really happy.

Yeah? You think you sold them at the right prices?

-Yes.

-OK, well, listen, cash-tin time.

-Yeah.

-OK.

Good luck.

This is painful!

Both teams have put superhuman effort into selling their cookies,

but only one team can win.

Is it Determination or Boundary Breakers who made the most dough,

and are in with a chance of trading their way to the USA?

Determination, Boundary Breakers.

We're here in Level 39 in Canary Wharf,

a hub for start-up entrepreneurs.

I've been watching your entrepreneurial skills

for the last two days, and I have to say I have been very impressed

with what I've seen.

Over 2,000 young traders applied to be in your position.

Only 14 teams made it through. You should be very proud of yourselves.

The team that makes the most money wins the challenge,

and only THEY stand a chance of going to the grand final

in the USA, and becoming Britain's Best Young Traders.

The cash has been counted.

Boundary Breakers, you took...

..£136.75.

Well done.

Determination, you took...

..£210.60!

-THEY SCREAM

-Congratulations!

'We just won! I can't believe it.

'Cos they were so good,'

and they were so, like...

-Yeah, oh... I just can't believe it!

-Speechless.

-Pretty much.

We got to trade in a real place with real people and real money,

and it was a great experience, really.

I feel sorry for Boundary Breakers,

purely because we've got really close to them

and they seem really nice, so we're going to win it for them.

-Well done.

-Well done, guys.

-You did great.

You are today's winners,

and it gives you a place on our leaderboard.

The question is, have you made enough to put you in the top four?

Because only those four teams will fight it out in the semifinals.

So, Determination's £210.60 puts them in first place,

knocking Victores into second,

and New To The Business are taken out of the running.

But will Top Dogs hold on to fourth place in the final heat?

Business takes inspiration from great leaders the world over.

As Winston Churchill, one of our most famous Prime Ministers,

once said - never, never, never give up.

That's exactly what our winning team demonstrated today

and it's well worth remembering,

if you want to trade your way to the USA.

Next time on Trade Your Way To The USA, two more teams do battle.

Frozen yoghurt for sale!

Anyone want frozen yoghurt? Go up there - much cheaper!

We need to lower our price.

Three for £1! Three for £1!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd