Reality TV is about as far from Reality as you can get, but sometimes something useful emerges.
Just for the record, I do not watch this stuff, there are thousands of better ways I can think of to waste an hour. However, judging by the ratings and water cooler conversations, many do.
Sales happen when a potential customer encounters some sort of situation that requires a solution. They go seeking that solution firstly from those with whom they have a pre-existing relationship of some type. For a consumer product it is often represented by a brand they know and trust, in a B2B situation, it is those with whom they have successfully done business before, followed by those they know have the solution they need, and in whom they have some level of confidence.
Back to the reality shows.
Expecting to make a significant sale without some sort of relationship being in existence just never happens, irrespective of how ready to buy the potential customer may be.
That ‘Married at first sight’ show, throws two people together and expects them to make a successful marriage, while the world (or some small part of it) watches. You may as well turn up at a random hens night and ask the bride to be to marry you. She might be ready to get married, just not to you. The ‘Batchelor’ series, of both persuasions, at least gives the protagonist a choice, but it is a limited and superficial choice, and as we have seen, also doomed to failure.
Making a sale is like building a relationship that ends in a marriage. It is a process that takes time, consumes resources, requires a great degree of mutuality, and even then does not always work.
Being ‘ready to buy” is not enough, they need to be ready to buy from you before consummation.
