Why a host with a business brain raises more for your cause

Auctioneering and building businesses call on the same muscles: understanding what something is worth, reading the person across the table, and knowing exactly when to close. I have done both, and the commercial instinct shows up in the total.

An eye for value

Years of pricing, selling and negotiating teach you what a thing is really worth to the person who wants it. On stage that means pitching an opening bid at the right level, choosing increments that keep momentum, and knowing when a lot has more left in it.

Your target is a real number

To me, a target is not a hope, it is a figure to be hit, with a plan behind it. I approach a night the way I would approach any goal: understand the number, design the route to it, and adjust in real time if we are not on track. At the Jigsaw Trust gala I was briefed to raise £14,000 from the auction, and the night finished at £57,600.

Comfortable with the close

Asking clearly for money is uncomfortable for a lot of people. If you have spent years doing deals, it is second nature. That confidence is exactly what a pledge moment needs: a steady, unembarrassed ask that gives the room permission to give.

Problem-solving on the night

Running businesses is mostly solving problems quickly with imperfect information. So is backstage at an event. The habit of staying calm and finding the next best move travels straight from one world to the other.

If you want that commercial edge in the room, tell me about your event.