| Where do you conduct your fundraising auctions? |
| Currently we are licensed to conduct fundraisers in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. This does not limit us from travelling to other states and locations as license laws vary from state to state – call us for more information! |
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| How much does it cost? |
The first thing to remember is we are the only line item in your budget that MAKES you money! As to service fees, the bottom line is determined by the level of service you choose – payment of that service level can be completed through one of the following methods:
- Flat fee
- Event service fee paid by attendees at the event – sometimes referred to as a buyer’s premium
- Commission based on amount sold/raised
- Combination of the above – or other options as agreed to by the event chairperson
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| Why is a fundraising auctioneer and an auctioneer NOT the same thing? |
| By definition an auctioneer is a person who sells goods through interactions with members of an audience and declaring the goods sold. Auctioneers call bids, however, there are specialties within the profession that differentiate the auctions a person is trained for. You would not hire a livestock auctioneer to conduct an auto auction, or an Intellectual Property auctioneer to sell your grandmother’s estate… professional fundraising auctioneers receive specialty training for their type of auction. |
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| We are planning our first event. Any advice for newbies? |
| The FIRST item on the agenda is to answer the following question: Are you having a party or a fundraiser? You can have aspects of both – and you should – but you need to determine the focus of your event. |
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| Our committee says to hold the auction later so the attendees will be ‘drunker and will bid more’? |
| Hilarious! First of all, a little bit of legal information I gathered from a contract law class. You cannot enter into a contract while intoxicated – a bid, in most states, is a legal binding contract. Also, the event is responsible – in most cases – for the safety of the guests on the ride home from the event.
So, with all that out of the way, we need to talk about the alcohol curve… Look at this example (http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/HealthIssues/1100827422.html) and the actual effects of alcohol on the body. That sort of answers the question. We are not saying no to alcohol at your event, but we are saying it should be addressed in the planning… do you need food stations earlier in the evening? Do you need to close bars at a specific time? All of this comes with planning and consulting with our staff. |
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| We use the celebrity weatherman to handle our auction, why should we use you? |
| Our favorite response to this is, “I have a pocket knife, but I don’t do heart surgery.” Just as we are not trained to stand in front of a green screen during a newscast, a weatherman or other celebrity is not trained to raise money for your organization! An option would be for us to work hand-in-hand with your celebrity to make use of both our talents – this has worked well on a number of occasions at our events. |
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| Our event is stale, stagnant, the same thing year-in year out… what can you do to help? |
| Many times events go through a run of success only to plateau and level out. The event becomes (insert your own adjective here) and the guests begin to dread coming, attendance drops and revenue falls. We can’t diagnose your event here, but many times a change of timeline or adding a game or revenue booster is the key – sometimes, believe it or not, it is time to hire a new auctioneer and fire the one you have had for the last ten years. Call us and we can analyze your event! |
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| What is a fund-a-mission or fund-a-need? |
| Our favorite part of the evening – and the reason we attended Beyond Bid Calling! This is the most important part of the evening where the attendees give money and can get a 100% tax deduction… call us for more information about the different ways to set this up! |
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| Do you provide items for our auction? |
| We do not provide actual items for your auction; however, we have relationships with organizations that can provide trips and packages for your auction. We also work with your procurement teams and provide guidance and resources for gathering live and silent auction items for your event. |
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| How can we beef up our silent auction? |
| Excellent question! First of all, reduce the number of items. WHAT? Yes, reducing the number of items turns your silent auction from a yard sale to a bidding frenzy! We have specific examples to prove this point… call us for more information. |
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| We have reduced our silent auction item numbers… what else can we do? |
| Call us and let us walk you through some ideas to create the bidding frenzy. It could be something as small as changing the setup or presentation of the items. |
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| Do you provide bid sheets, bid cards? We are new to this process. |
| We have predesigned templates in MS Word format we send to all of our clients - this is part of our consultation package and are given at no charge to our clients. As for bid cards, we have standard black on white bid cards that we can provide to clients as needed. We also have relationships with several printers that can design bid cards for your event. |
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| Do you provide computerized recordkeeping? |
| We have this capability if the client desires. Each of our auction packages are tailored to the specific event, so yes, we can provide this service and staffers experienced in the process. |
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| Do you provide registration and money collection services? |
| We have this capability if the client desires. Each of our auction packages are tailored to the specific event, so yes, we can provide this service and staffers experienced in the process. As to money collection – the client deposits all money and any checks are written to the client. We require a member of the client organization to be present with our staffers at all times for security and integrity of the money collection process. |
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| What are examples of packages you offer? |
We tailor our services to your event and give you several pricing levels to choose from – some examples:
- Consultation only
- Bidcalling only
- Bidcalling and computerized recordkeeping
- Bidcalling, recordkeeping, registration and money collection
- Online auction only
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| Online auctions? How do they work? |
| We pride ourselves in being a leader in timed and online auctions using real-time bidding. We are frequent presenters at National and State auctioneer conventions and are leaders in using technology in auctions. Online auctions can be used as a midyear fundraiser, teaser component to advertise the event or they can be used in conjunction with the event to provide bidding opportunities to those that cannot attend the event. |
