"Wheeler Dealers" - a British TV show....

I just found this interesting web site about a British TV show.... "Wheeler Dealers"....

Does anyone here from the UK know more about this show?

From what I can see on the site, it's an interesting entrepreneurial game show.... Two teams are each given £1,000 (which is about US$1570). They then have to spend this money "wheeling and dealing" (that is, buying and selling) in a particular area to make a profit.... The area has to be OUTSIDE of their own expertise.

The different areas that different teams are competing in are buying and selling art, buying and selling cars, selling stuff at the weekly markets, and running a nightclub!

Read through their experiences - it's fascinating stuff! (There are also some good business tips buried in there too....)

If you click on "wide" you'll also see 4 profiles of some entrepreneurs, along with some of their advice.... (Fascinating stuff, in my opinion!)

Here's my favorite quote, from the interview with Roy Wright.... The BBC interviewer asks him how he would sell them a pencil. Roy says....

"First of all I'll tell you it's not a pencil, it's a communications tool. It's a way of letting somebody know what you're thinking - by writing it down. It's essential if you haven't got any other terms of communication. And, in comparison with all the other pencils, the price is cheap and the quality is high."

I don't think I've ever heard a pencil described so beautifully - I want one of these "communications tools" too ! :)

I've linked to the site below....

- Dien


"Wheeler Dealers", from the BBC TV show....

This is one of my wife's and mine fav shows. And, there's another one from the UK where two groups of 4 people are given money to buy items and bring them to an auction house. They see what their items go for in the auction and usually they don't go for more than what they paid at the flea market or yard sales.

But...great fun in trying to determine which items they chose will go high.

My wife's been an Antique Dealer for years and loves shows like this...the Kovels...the Antique Road Show...Leslie Hindman from Chicago and other shows on HGTV.

My wife has an uncanny ability to go to a flea market, garage or yard sale or auction and find the "Sleepers".

"Sleepers" are the items the owner of the item has priced way below it's actual value.

In the early days of my wife's career as an Antique Dealer...she'd come across a "sleeper" and because she felt a "comraderie" with the person selling the item she would say, "Do you KNOW that this is a piece of ____....worth X more than you have it priced at?"

Well...educating "sellers" only lasted a few months. I finally convinced her that if she was going to make antiques her field of endeavor, she would have to stop "educating the sellers" AND SPEND 100% OF HER TIME "educating BUYERS"!

To which she finally agreed. In fact, it took a little ol' lady in Teluride, Colorado to get my wife to change her attitude.

At a "Barn Sale"...we walked into an old barn where this little 80 yr old woman had a bunch of furniture and stuff lying around with price tags.

My wife goes over to this one piece, looks at the price and says to the woman, "Do YOU know this is a SHAKER Pierced Tin CupBoard worth TEN TIMES what your price tag says once it's cleaned up?"

With this the woman says, Oh! Well in that case I'll take 5 times what the tag says and not a penny less!"

My wife FINALLY got the message.

So...almost every weekend for the past 30yrs...my wife and I are at garage sales, estate sales and auctions...where the word "Antique" is used VERY loosely.

In fact, most of the sales we go to (that have the word 'Antiques" in them)....if there is ONE actual "Antique" (meaning an item at least 100 yrs old)...it's a rarity. However, every once in a while we come across a "sleeper"...and makes it all worth it.

Anyway...thanks for introducing a love of ours and something I've had FUN with for many yrs.

Don Alm

> I just found this interesting web site about
> a British TV show.... "Wheeler
> Dealers"....

> Does anyone here from the UK know more about
> this show?

> From what I can see on the site, it's an
> interesting entrepreneurial game show....
> Two teams are each given £1,000 (which is
> about US$1570). They then have to spend this
> money "wheeling and dealing" (that
> is, buying and selling) in a particular area
> to make a profit.... The area has to be
> OUTSIDE of their own expertise.

> The different areas that different teams are
> competing in are buying and selling art,
> buying and selling cars, selling stuff at
> the weekly markets, and running a nightclub!

> Read through their experiences - it's
> fascinating stuff! (There are also some good
> business tips buried in there too....)

> If you click on "wide" you'll also
> see 4 profiles of some entrepreneurs, along
> with some of their advice.... (Fascinating
> stuff, in my opinion!)

> Here's my favorite quote, from the interview
> with Roy Wright.... The BBC interviewer asks
> him how he would sell them a pencil. Roy
> says....

> "First of all I'll tell you it's not
> a pencil, it's a communications tool. It's a
> way of letting somebody know what you're
> thinking - by writing it down. It's
> essential if you haven't got any other terms
> of communication. And, in comparison with
> all the other pencils, the price is cheap
> and the quality is high." I don't
> think I've ever heard a pencil described so
> beautifully - I want one of these
> "communications tools" too ! :)

> I've linked to the site below....

> - Dien




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