7 Steps The Napa Valley Vintners Took To Hit An Auction Grand Slam

UPDATED 5:44 A.M., JUNE 3 TO INCLUDE FINAL AUCTION RESULTS NEWS RELEASE (PDF).

The stunning $16.9 million comeback of the 2013 Auction Napa Valley was no accident.

While improved economic conditions most certainly made a contribution, the record-shattering total relied on a year’s worth of introspection, strategic thinking and the sort of precise and back-breaking execution by the Napa Valley Vintners  (NVV) that would do credit to a Special Forces operation.

There are obviously far more tools in the NVV’s trunk of tricks, but here are seven ways I know of that helped them turn things around and hit a Grand Slam this year.

(1) RECOGNIZE THE ISSUE

Introspection followed 2012’s disappointing $6.1 million total which saw Napa taking second place to the Naples wine auction, which raised some $12 million in both 2011 and 2012.

The process started with surprise, frustration, disappointment.

“It was quite a blow not being the top anymore,” one vintner told Wine Industry Insight (WII) during a conversation at Raymond Vineyards, host to the  event’s Barrel Auction. “We all knew that the recession would probably lower the totals a bit, but the drop-off seemed to last longer than it should have.”

(2) DEVELOP A NEW STRATEGY

Insanity, Einstein is reputed to have said, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

That was not an option.

Led by NVV Executive Director Linda Reiff, the association — staff and many members — examined the auction’s entire process from how much sound the bidding board plaques made when they dropped in the barrel auction space to the question of how they could generate more interest among the world’s biggest and best wine bidders.

(3) EXCITE THE BIGGEST AND THE BEST

The NVV — staff and vintners — spent a year in reconnaissance and recruiting, according to a short presentation by Jean-Charles Boisset and the Staglin family on Friday morning before the barrel auction began.

The NVV began with an intelligence gathering process that including finding and ranking the world’s top wine  auction bidders. Then they made trips to Europe, Kong Kong, China and other epicenters where the top bidders lived. Recruitment ranked at the top of their list.

(4) WOO AND PAMPER

The top bidders were wooed and when they arrived in Napa Valley they were pampered like Las Vegas high rollers.

“We have been exceptionally well cared for,” said one of those top bidders — a WII News Fetch and VIP subscriber who asked that his name not be used. “We have been graced with world-class accommodations, and cuisine, transportation to accommodate our needs  …. I can’t think of a single thing that was not provided.”

(5) EMPHASIZE THE BENEFICIARIES

Most of the bidders that WII spoke with on Friday at the Barrel Auction said emphasizing the charitable aspects was a good thing.

That aspect should come as no surprise since the Staglin family — Staglin Family Vineyards — has a long established history for charitable fundraising at their winery, primarily to support mental health charities, a result of their son’s struggle with schizophrenia).

The auction used an established and highly effective technique of spelling out just what a given donation would buy. It has the effect of connecting the bidder to a precise benefit for recipients.

“I came to have a good time, because I like wine, food and Napa,” said one bidder. “But the emphasis on what our money would buy was an added feel-good that made me even happier that I came.”

Would that translate into higher bids, or bids on more auction lots?

“Quite possible,” he said.

(6) GO BEYOND WINE

Recasting the event as “Auction Napa Valley” instead  the “Napa Valley Wine Auction” was a signal that more was available for bidders than just wine. Among the most spectacular of the non-wine items were jewelry, luxury cars, travel and more.

(7) LEAVE NOTHING ON THE TABLE

Bidding in the barrel auction was not closed until an hour after the live auction closed so that bidders who may not have gotten the lot they wanted — and still wanted to take home a prize — could have one last chance to take home a prize.

I  addition, the auction raffled off 500 tickets at $1,000 each for a chance to win a $130,000 Audi R8 Spyder sports car and a session with a professional driver at Sonoma Raceway.

PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS

A barrel room full of bidders and kibbitzers is a noisy place filled with loud conversations that can make it easy to forget that the business of the moment is to bid on wines. During previous events, the auction had gone to bidding plaques that made little sound when they were dropped after new bids.

This year, they returned to wooden plaques and stainless-steel boxes. Each bid plaque landed with a loud, echoing thud, cutting through the noise — almost like ringing a bell — signifying a new bid and drawing people’s attention back to the main business at hand.

 UNDOUBTEDLY MORE

These  glimpses offered by an afternoon at the barrel auction indicate that there  are undoubtedly many more underpinning  this remarkable comeback story.