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."

"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."

"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. 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."

Flexibility and rapid adaptation increase the likelihood of sales and successful outcomes. Framing items with broader, flexible uses expands the pool of interested buyers and invites imagination. Presenting multiple potential uses prevents premature exclusion of prospects and encourages emotional connection. Openness to different paths to agreement uncovers alternative value propositions and buying motives. Asking others how they would use or value an item reveals diverse selling points. Simple examples include repositioning a ski-house as a year-round mountain retreat and portraying jewelry as a self-gift, heirloom, or surprise present. These approaches widen appeal and create more opportunities to close sales.

Read at Fast Company