Hiring An Auction Company

Estimating your assets value:

Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.

Compensation and Expenses:

Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.

A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.

In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.

In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.

In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.

In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.

What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.

Auction Expenses:

In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.

All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.

Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.

Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.

Buyer’s Premium:

What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.

The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.

It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.

Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.

Pre-Sales:

We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.

As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.

Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.

A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.

It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.

When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.

Hey You! Look Over Here! 5 Steps To A Powerful Marketing Plan

5 Steps To A Powerful Marketing Plan

We all believe that we have the best product or service we can offer. We spend much of our time making sure that we stay abreast of the latest innovations and trends. Revising, refining, and re-inventing to stay on top of the hill.

The Best Kept Secret

So how are you letting the world know you are ready and available to solve their problems? Having the best-designed mousetrap does nothing for your pocketbook if no one knows about your mousetrap. Add to the mix the ability to find the right someone’s that could benefit from your mousetrap.

Enter the world of MARKETING. From Wikipedia, “Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers.” Be sure that you pay attention to the word value.

When was the last time you made a purchase of service or goods just because the price was right? I’m not talking about game shows here. I’m talking about handing over your hard earned cash for something you did not need or want simply because of price. (There is a TV show about those types of people whose house is overrun with stuff.)

You make a decision to buy based upon the value you place on the benefit of your purchase. Realize I said benefit, not feature. Features are worthless unless I can see a benefit for me. Your mousetrap painted in my favorite color red (feature) means little when it is destined to be thrown in the trashcan after it catches that pesky mouse.

Telling me that it is designed to be quick enough on the snap to catch even the craftiest rodent or you will personally come and eradicate the varmint is a definite benefit to me. Send me two please.

Hey You, Look Over Here!

Isn’t that what you are trying to accomplish? Unless you are communicating your message to those who may see benefit in your product or service, you have no sales. No sales, no business.

There is a right way and a wrong way to get the word out. It has little to do with the vehicle you use, be it newspaper ads, postcards, radio, Internet, email, or any other method. It has more to do with saying the right things, at the right time, to the right people.

It Is Called a Marketing Plan

Every business needs a current, actionable marketing plan. Big or small, home based or enterprise, without a marketing plan you are doomed to failure. You will be jumping at the next golden opportunity that is parlayed to entice you to spend your money with them.

I believe that there are 5 key components to having a good marketing plan. Here they are:

The Right Marketing Message.

There are three questions you must answer for your prospective client:

1. Why do I need it?

Does it solve a problem?
Will it make me feel/look better?
Does it save me time/money?
You must first and foremost answer this question before moving on.
2. Can I trust you?

Do you have any testimonials?
What is your background/experience/time in business?
Do you have any references?
How can I feel assured/guarantees
3. What will it cost?

This is the place where you must deliver value
No one wants to spend money, they want to… see #1
People buy value no matter what the price
I put them in this order because that is the order of importance. Notice that price is the last thing I think about. A good marketing message will answer these questions in a compelling way. Once you write your marketing message you can package it and communicate in many channels.

If you are not good at writing copy, then hire someone! You will lose much more than you save by trying to do it yourself. My suggestion is find a copywriter that can write 80% about #1 and 20% about #2 & #3. Most businesses that do it themselves have it backwards. No wonder they lose.

Know Your Best Marketing Channels.

There are 100 or more ways to market your business. However, not all channels perform equally well for every business. You need to experiment and find the 5-10 channels that work best for your business. This will be the focus of activity in your marketing plan.

If you have the right message, you can adapt it to fit any marketing channel.

Here are just a few to consider in no particular order; Radio, Television, Web Site, Blog, Direct Mail, Local Magazine, Email, Local Networking Groups, Billboards, Auto Wraps, and the list goes on. The key is to see how your competitors are doing it and do it better by focusing on getting the right message out there.

Set Your Marketing Budget.

How much can you spend on acquiring new customers? Businesses must create and operate by a marketing budget. How much you spend can vary by business category, but a good rule of thumb is 8-10% of your gross. My goal for businesses I coach is to get a 10X return on marketing dollars spent. If you are consistent in doing this, every month, your bottom line will grow.

By setting a budget you are more likely to discipline yourself to spend more wisely and effectively. Do you know how much it costs you now to get a new customer? How much do you want your business to grow this year?

You can get a better idea of these numbers in my book “You Learned Business Math in Grade School” available at Amazon Kindle.

Create a Marketing Calendar.

Marketing experts agree, “Consistency is Key”. Studies have shown that it takes from 5-14 repeated messages to convert someone to a customer. That is if you have a good message.

Once you know your best channels/mediums and have your best message, you should schedule your marketing activities on a timeline or calendar. Plan what you are going to say and where you are going to say it, each week/month/year. If you are not comfortable doing this, please hire an expert. You will be glad you did.

Create and Monitor Your Dashboard.

The biggest mistake I see business owners make is not tracking and measuring the performance of their marketing efforts. You must have a “Dashboard” that identifies your activity and tracks to result of every thing you do. You must track every new lead that comes your way. Where are they coming from? Which version of the message did they respond to?

Evaluate every channel each month. Smart businesses know where every piece of new business comes from! Spend more time and money on the marketing activities that generate the most and best leads.

Auction Listings Are Vital to the Success of Fundraising Auctions

Fundraising Auction Tip: You should always provide potential bidders with a printed Auction Listing of both your Live and Silent Auction items at any Fundraising Auction. A printed Auction Listing is vital for several reasons:

An Auction Listing informs bidders of the order of sale, and what is coming up next. If you keep your bidders guessing, they will simply not bid.

If bidders are not 100% certain of what they are bidding on, they will not bid. A printed Auction Listing should answer any and all questions about what is being sold in order to encourage bidders to bid as much as possible.

Bidders often need time to plan their bidding strategies, especially on multiple and/or larger value items. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.

Couples often need time to consult with each other about what they are willing to spend on something. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.

Potential bidders need to know the specifics, the benefits, and the restrictions on any item they are going to bid on, especially on travel and/or other higher value items. A printed Auction Listing should answer all of their questions, in writing.

After bidders see that they have lost an item to another bidder, a printed Auction Listing makes it easier for them to re-strategize on what else they can bid on.
Printed Auction Listings generally come in 3 forms:

Printed in the Event Program or Auction Catalog.

Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-inserted into the Event Program or Auction Catalog.

Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-delivered to all attendees, or left on each dinner table in the room.
Auction Listings cost practically nothing to produce and they can make the difference between the success and failure of a Live and Silent Auction. You should never conduct a Fundraising Auction without one.

A Case Study

Let me share a real-life experience with you. Once I was hired to conduct a Fundraising Auction for a nationally renowned organization. The event was held in a major hotel, in one of the country’s largest cities, with several hundred “black tie” participants attending. It was an extremely professional event, with the music, singing, lighting, speeches, and awards all perfectly timed and choreographed. Everything was done to perfection… exception the Fundraising Auction.

Although I had signed an agreement to serve as their Auctioneer nearly one year in advance of the event, no one bothered to contact me for any advice or help. Approximately one week prior to the Auction date, I contacted the group to see if they had replaced me with another Auctioneer. But they said that I was still their man.

Upon arriving at the event I asked for a copy of the Auction Listing. I was told that there were none. I’m not sure whether they felt that the Auction Listing wasn’t necessary, or whether someone forgot to have them printed. This was never made clear. When I asked what I was to use at the podium, I was told to copy the list of Live Auction items from a committee member’s computer. It took me about 30 minutes to copy three pages of hand-written notes in order to prepare for my role as their Auctioneer.

I knew that they had created a PowerPoint program showing the various Live Auction items. When I asked whether the PowerPoint slide order corresponded to the order of sale I had copied from the committee member’s computer, I was met with a blank stare. The committee member left to check the slide order, and returned to let me know that the slide order did not correspond my notes, and he provided me with the correct slide order… hand-written on a paper napkin. This forced me to re-arrange my three pages of hand-written notes before taking the podium.

There was a Live Auction Table with descriptions of the Live Auction items that were to be sold, but the table was not clearly marked, and it received significantly less attention than the Silent Auction Tables, which were clearly identified. Since the Live Auction Table was located adjacent to the “Raffle Table”, it appeared that most people thought it was part of the raffle and therefore paid very little attention to it.

According to the event program (which did not include an Auction Listing), I knew approximately when I was to begin the Live Auction. At the designated time the Master of Ceremonies announced the start of the Live Auction to the several hundred people in attendance, and introduced me as Auctioneer. As I approached the podium I realized that photographs of award winners were still being taken… directly in front of the podium where I was to stand… which required me to stand aside for several minutes until the photographers were done. Can we say “awkward moment”?

As the photographers cleared, I approached the podium and began my Live Auction introduction. Approximately one minute into my introduction, the “Raffle Committee” approached the podium and stopped my Live Auction Introduction in order to pull the 8 or 9 Raffle Winners. These drawings lasted about 5 minutes. Upon it’s conclusion I was allowed to resume the start of the Live Auction.

When standing at the podium two intense and extremely bright spotlights were pointed directly at the podium. The lights were so bright that I literally could not see the center 1/3 of the room. I could see the tables on the right, and on the left, but was totally blinded when looking straight ahead. It took perhaps five minutes before the spotlights were turned off.

While at the podium and describing Lot #1, I had to ask someone to start the Lot #1 PowerPoint Slide… because apparently no one was assigned that job.

So with only the Auctioneer’s verbal description, and a PowerPoint slide, it appeared that few people in the room had any idea about what we were selling… or when we were selling it… until it was announced by the Auctioneer. As a result, bidding was extremely light and the final results fell several thousands of dollars short of where they should have been
The learning experience is this:

The Live Auction is where you place your better items, and where the real money should be made at any Fundraising Auction. Let bidders know as far in advance as possible what you will be selling, and the order of sale, so they can get excited about the Auction, and plan their bidding strategy accordingly.

Auction Listings are absolutely vital to the success of both Live & Silent Auctions. In my opinion, revenues at this Auction fell thousands of dollars short of where they should have been, because no Auction Listing was provided to the guests.

If bidders are not perfectly clear on what is being sold, including both the item’s specifics, benefits, and restrictions, they will not bid.

When you have a committee of volunteers, especially volunteers having full time jobs and/or very busy schedules, the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can help to keep the committee on track.

And once you retain the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer… use the services that you are paying for.