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.

Many of you might have heard from internet marketing gurus preaching as if everything in a most successful home based business, (ie. example online business) depends on the traffic of your website. Is that the only criteria for a successful home based business? Of course not! The truth is that the most successful home based business principles are not largely different from those of typical businesses. You cannot disassociate online business from the realities of the market because you are still selling to real people.

Have you ever wonder why some people have found successful home based businesses while you are struggling? Do they have access to the best rated home based business, the best online marketing business opportunity, or the best business opportunities from home which you do not have? What really make them possess one of the most successful home based business? Lastly, what is their key to their success? The good news is that there are no secrets to it! These successful people depend heavily on their mentors or simply coaches. Isn’t it common sense? Just like how we have acquired knowledge from our school teachers. (The only difference being that school teachers do not teach us how to earn money.)

Successful entrepreneurs have mentors for the very same reason why Michael Jordan has coaches. Many coaches have helped and groomed Jordan into a basketball legend (Of course, most of it depends on Jordan’s hard work). In the same manner, you will also need coaches to make you success in whatever you do. You alone cannot possibly know everything by yourself especially in starting a home based business.

If you have coaches, they will show you latest examples of the successful home based businesses, fresh and latest home based business ideas or opportunity, latest online marketing business opportunities and teach you strategies to create a successful home based business of your own. Moreover, you will be exposed to new and exciting products ideas, multiple streams of revenue which you could generate. Most importantly, you can harness their experience to help you avoid costly mistakes.

As coaches are expertise in their own trade, they have many contacts and resources. With their experience, they can show you where you can obtain the most successful home based business opportunities, resources and contacts to aid in your internet marketing or online business. Therefore, you should not have any more worries of not knowing how to start off with your own internet marketing or online business. Whenever you have any queries or got stuck during the process, your coaches are the ones to guide you where and how to move on. Before you start off with your home based business, you can discuss your ideas and plans with your coaches. They will show and lead you to the path of success, clearing the entire impasse along the way. Who knows, you might just be the next owner of the most successful home based business!

In the next part of this article, I will continue to illustrate more benefits a coach can bring in helping you to create one of the most successful home based business which you have always wanted.

Starting a home based business can be one of the fastest ways to get out of the rat race while simultaneously creating the opportunity of “firing your boss” but make no mistake, it’s not all glamour and glitz. The fact is, developing a profitable home based business requires hard work, determination and a strong desire to succeed.Finding the right work from home opportunity revolves around a combination of items, such as the initial start-up costs, the actual opportunity itself, the quality of the product or service that is being offered and your own personal tastes and interests. With all that said; one key component that can not be duplicated or replicated is the actual asset of any home based business and that is the “You Factor”.The “You Factor” is what I consider to be the most important asset for any successful home based business. It is the driving force behind becoming unsuccessful, slightly successful or highly successful.Let me give you an example, if you are a hands on type of person that enjoys doing mundane tasks that other people avoid doing such as lawn care/landscaping, window washing, car detailing or house cleaning then those types of home based business opportunities might be just the ticket you are looking for in order to break out of the rat race lifestyle.Sure, each of those jobs represent hard work and require an individual who enjoys those types of activities but the fact is there are many money making work from home opportunities that can be taken advantage of within those fields.Of course, if you’re anything like me and prefer the direct sales route as the basis for your home based business then opportunities such as selling baskets, rubber stamping products or wickless candle warmers are exceptional ways to start working out of the comfort of your own home.As a home based business owner who has participated in several money making work from home opportunities along with several other direct sales companies I have determined that the only way to truly succeed is by finding a company that allows you to take full advantage of your individual “You Factor”.Of course, it also helps tremendously if you join a company that offers products that are impressive looking, easy to use and extremely easy to market. Those factors combined with the very low initial start-up costs make it easy to see why so many people are starting their own home based business.Of course, this direct sales opportunity is no different from any other because you will still have to approach potential customers, develop a viable marketing strategy and grow your business by recruiting others to join your sales team.Additionally, you will still require the skills necessary to conduct your business in a professional manner allowing you to provide first rate service to your customers and leadership, guidance and mentorship to the downline members on your team.With the current world economy being what it is, starting a small home based business with a minimum start up cost could be just what you need to escape the rat race.