Three sales secrets from the stage that translate into everyday leadership

I like to say that my job as a charity auctioneer is the ultimate sales role. I stand onstage night after night encouraging people to give money, playing off the audience to push them to bid higher, in the name of charity. If there’s one thing the stage has taught me, it’s that flexibility is everything. The faster you can adapt and offer a solution, the more successful you’ll be whether you’re selling a product or an idea. Here are three of my favorite sales secrets.

1. THE POWER OF SUGGESTION

One of the quickest ways to lose someone’s attention is to tell them how you think your product should work for them. If a donor has offered their mountain house as “the ultimate ski vacation house” and I walk onstage and announce that I’m selling “a ski house,” I’ve immediately eliminated half the room as potential buyers of this lot simply because half of the room probably doesn’t ski. Add to that, if you don’t like to ski, what is the appeal of renting a house where you sit around in a cold climate with nothing else to do. If I get onstage and position it as a mountain house for all seasons, I open it up to the entire audience again. A mountain house has countless uses, and skiing is just one of them. 

When you give people multiple ways to imagine using something, you invite them into the story. You expand the possibilities rather than narrowing them. In sales, and leadership, suggestion opens minds. Assumptions shut them down.

2. THERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO GET FROM LONDON TO PARIS

Be open to different paths to agreement. Before a sales pitch, or before stepping onstage, I like to play a simple game: How else could this be used? I’ll ask friends, colleagues, or clients how they see value in the same item.

Take a piece of jewelry, for example. It could be a gift to yourself, a gift for a friend, or something to pass down to your daughter. Or, for the men in the audience, an opportunity to be the guy who brings home a surprise gift “just because,” or a future birthday, anniversary, and Valentine’s Day gift. For those who are single, an opportunity to have something when you meet the girl of your dreams. When I understand all the ways someone might emotionally connect to an item, I can meet them where they are instead of forcing them down a single path.

3. BEFRIEND YOUR UNDERBIDDER

Every auction has a winner and a runner-up. It’s one of the few places where not everyone gets a trophy, but that doesn’t mean anyone has to walk away feeling like they lost. The same is true in sales. No matter how prepared or enthusiastic you are, a deal won’t always close. What will be remembered is how the other person felt in the process.

As I’m about to drop the gavel, I keep eye contact with the underbidder until the very last second, watching for any sign they might reengage. If it’s clear they’re done, I acknowledge them publicly, often asking for a round of applause for a strong underbidder.

Why? Because people who feel respected and appreciated are far more likely to come back. In auctions, in sales, and in leadership, making someone feel good, regardless of the outcome, keeps the door open long after the deal is done.

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