Bravo 3 benefits

Professional fundraising auctioneer

Although it may sound cliché, it's true. A good Fund Raising Auctioneer does not cost you money. A good Fundraising Auctioneer will make you money.

"Prove it" someone recently said. Okay, I'm up for the challenge and here are twenty reasons why, in my opinion, a professional Auctioneer will raise more money than a volunteer...nearly 100% of the time.

1. A Professional Fund Raising Auctioneer's services will include pre-event meeting(s), periodic telephone consultations, and bid calling on auction day. In effect you have a full-time Auction consultant on staff. Can your volunteer offer this service?

2. An Experienced Fund Raising Auctioneer can provide you with an Event Checklist at the start of the process to prevent you from spinning your wheels and get you moving in the right direction...quickly.

3. A Trained Fund Raising Auctioneer will personally meet with your staff and/or committee to help you jump-start the pre-event auction

planning process.

4. A Professional Auctioneer can provide you with such important auction tools as Computerized Registration & Checkout, Post-Auction Reports, Registration Mailing Lists, multi-part Auction Clerking Tickets, etc...all of which will help to streamline your event.

5. An Experienced Auctioneer will provide you with a multi-step solicitation approach that will increase both the quantity and quality of the sellable items you will need to solicit in order to raise more money than last year.

6. A Trained Auctioneer will help you to understand what sells best at a such Auctions.

7. A Professional Fund Raising Auctioneer will help you to understand what doesn't sell well.

8. An Experienced Auctioneer can help you to differentiate between Silent and Live Auction items.

9. A Trained Auctioneer can help you to strategically place items throughout the Auction.

10. A Professional can help you to avoid common pitfalls.

11. An Experienced Auctioneer will provide professional bid calling.

12. A Trained Auctioneer will add a professional image to your event.

13. A Professional Fund Raising Auctioneer will sell more items in less time. You only have a limited amount of selling time. Use it wisely in order to generate the maximum revenue.

14. An Experienced Fund Raising Auctioneer will utilize advanced selling techniques in order to raise you more money.

15. A Trained Fund Raising Auctioneer can read the bidders better than any volunteer, recognizing when there is another bid left, and when the bidding is done.

16. A Professional Auctioneer will use standard bid increments which allow the audience to follow the bidding better.

17. An Experienced Auctioneer will always squeeze more money out of the room than any volunteer.

18. A Trained Auctioneer can help you to avoid disaster at Checkout.

19. A Professional Fund Raising Auctioneer can help you use a "Fund-A-Cause" or "Special Pledge Appeal" which can raise literally thousands of dollars for the right group...in only a matter of minutes....and over and above what is raised in the Live and Silent Auctions.

20. A Professional Fund Raising Auctioneer is interested in your long term success. If they help you to succeed this year, you will be more likely to bring them back next year. And refer their name along to other groups.

So, in my opinion, a good Auctioneer can be worth his/her weight in gold because they can raise your entire year's budget and more...in one single night. Although it is impossible to precisely quantify the number of additional dollars a professional will raise for you, I am totally comfortable suggesting that the total additional dollars raised by a Professional Fundraising Auctioneer can amount to a few hundred dollars more for a very small event...to thousands of dollars for a medium-sized event...to tens-of-thousands of dollars for a large event having a finely tuned fundraising cause and committee.

In summary, don't judge the Auctioneer by the fee that they charge, but rather the increased professionalism and revenue stream they bring to your group. If your committee does its job properly, and with the help of an experienced and professional Fundraising Auctioneer, at the end of the night your bidders will be saying "Thank You for letting us spend our money with you. We'll be back next year. With our friends".