Dad's Day

How was your Dad's Day?

For the first time in a very long time, I didn't have to cook or clean or cater to the kids. Jo and Al made me breakfast. We had my favorite, huckleberry pancakes. They ran the day's errands while I watered the garden. When Spence woke up, we went on a bike ride down to my coffee shop, Extracto and popped in for a pastry at Ville Velo Bakeshop. I had my usual, while my son had an iced latte. We arrived home a few minutes after the girls, then I opened my pile of presents - a new hot air popcorn maker, my favorite chocolate bars, some new artwork by Jo. The kids made a batch of fresh popcorn right away. Hot air popcorn tastes so much better than microwave. We'll never go back.

We decided to go on a big family bike ride across town, ending up at Tonalli's for double scoops all around. An ice cream lunch is the best way to end a bit of afternoon exercise!

Homemade quarter pound burgers on the grill turned out great. Fried onions and portobello mushrooms, cheddar and bacon toppings. Iceberg lettuce wedge topped with ranch dressing with a side of cucumber salad seasoned with rice vinegar. We were all so full, we ended up skipping dessert.

I had a really great Father's Day. I hope you and your family did too!

A Crazy Week

The week is gearing up to be a crazy one but I wanted to keep in touch. So I dug an old blog out of All Things Real Estate that helps to explain buyer's fees. I hope you'll take a look and get something out of it. See you back here soon. I have to go now; to plan and host a graduation, a big birthday and a wedding anniversary!

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Why I do what I do

My last school fundraiser of the season before summer break came up out of the blue. A friend and fellow auctioneer's father died suddenly and he needed a hand to cover a previously booked event. I assured him that I would take care of everything and that he wouldn't have to worry. But what about the auction chair? Was she okay with it? So I called her and she seemed fine with my stepping in. Plus it turned out that this was to be this particular school's first ever auction. Perfect, I thought. A couple of phone calls and emails later, we had her auction sorted out, and its program ready to go to print. I also brought up the idea of including a special appeal. The chair was unsure at first. She wasn't sure if her audience would participate in an appeal. This was a school in a not very high income area. But the auction was raising money towards the remodel of a playground. I thought I could easily sell that idea!

The night quickly arrived. I found myself in a brightly lit multipurpose room. In it was a small stage, a squeaky sound system and a group of excited, young parents enjoying a Saturday night away from the kids. It instantly took me back to where I had originally started my auction career all those years ago. Evenly spaced throughout the room was kids' artwork. That was what I would be auctioning off tonight. It was a total departure from the formal, high society, big ticket events that I've become accustomed to doing. While the majority of the evening's auction items sold for less than $400; with the amount and level of hype and buzz in the room, you would have thought they were going for more like $4,000! When we arrived at the halfway point of the night, I explained how the special appeal would work and how every single dollar raised would get them closer to that new playground for their kids. We started at the modest amount of $250, and worked our way down to $25. In the end, we nearly raised $3,000 in under 10 minutes amongst the less than fifty couples in the room!

The total for the night was around $10,000, which may not sound like a lot to a more established, better-funded school. But everyone in the room that night left feeling like together we raised a million dollars.

A weekend off

What did you do this Memorial Day weekend?

It is rare for me to have a day-off. A day-off without auctions, fundraisers, kids. But I found myself in that exact position this past Memorial Day weekend. So what does a free weekend in the life of an auctioneer look like?

Oregon wine. Pinot noirs and roses especially. The local coffeehouse and bakery. I specifically favor the Mexican pour-over at Extracto Coffee here in NE PDX. Then conveniently next door is the berry scone that Jeffrey at Ville Velo Bake Shop bakes fresh and sells out daily. We picked up a loaf of brioche bread this week too. That'll be tomorrow's Memorial Day French toast brunch.

I like to cook. Huckleberry pancakes and crisp smokey bacon was this morn's breakfast. Yesterday were bacon egg bagel breakfast sandwiches. ABC Seafood Market in SE Portland fed us dinner the past two nights. Fresh in-season spot prawns in garlic butter starters both times. I've never seen prawns quite like it. 6 inches long and 1 inch around in diameter. Steamed Manila clams in a rose wine broth last night. Fresh whole Dungeness crab the night before. 3 entire pounds worth.

I love to walk. I do once or twice every day that I can. Had a chance to get on my Schwinn bicycle yesterday too. Strolling or biking my neighborhood is one of my favorite past-times. I never tire of it. It's a great little neighborhood that's growing fast and furiously. New houses, new families. It reminds me of where I was at a decade ago.

My son Spencer graduates next month. He's secured a summer job and starting college in the fall. We're looking at getting him his first car. It's pretty incredible how quickly the time has passed. It's not looking to slow down anytime soon. Enjoy those diapers and report cards, scraped knees and family vacations. Pretty soon you'll be looking on from a distance, at other people's young little families, maybe even as a grandparent!

Strike the match

Too many organizations look at the paddle raise or special appeal as a separate item of the auction. I prefer to look at the paddle raise as the central part of the evening. Typically, no single auction item will ever sell for as much as you could raise through the appeal. Using your pre-committed dollars as a match creates an exciting and interactive way for donors, patrons and the auctioneer to grow the appeal by as little as 25% from the year before to a whopping 100%.

These kind of increases are entirely possible to obtain. With some good preplanning, this could be a reality at your next auction.  It's what I call the Magic of the Match.  What is more exciting than announcing to your audience that you have a $10,000 gift waiting in the wings? Maybe challenging everyone in the room to try matching it his own donation? I think most would agree that the second scenario is just a little or a lot more exciting. Instead of a simple ask, we have created a bit of excitement by whipping up a little bit of a competitive frenzy. There's nothing wrong in a little bit of friendly competition in a crowd that's working together towards a common goal.

While corporate and personal matches at the higher levels grab most of the headlines, it is the donors in the room who are giving at the $250, $100 and $50 dollar levels who we really want to engage in the matching process. Recently, at a smaller event, we used a $1,000 donation as a match at the $100 level and ended up raising another $3,000. We did the same with a $500 gift which brought in another $1,500 via 30 separate donors at $50 a piece.

Raise more of those bid cards high up in the air at your next auction!

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Small is the new big

Last Friday night we had an auction with a long-term client, who had told me last year that the event would be skipping a year. The big annual gala had taken its toll on everyone and they all felt burnt out. This isn't actually uncommon. If you were someone who had spent the past decade with the same board, volunteers, sponsors and patrons; you might feel fatigued too. Like any relationship that has run its course, it was time to move on from the good, old annual benefit.  Though taking your annual event off the calendar may cause loyal donors and patrons to replace you and your event with some other organization's cause. There is so much competition in the non-profit world that you have to take care of maintaining and grooming the support that you have. Like any good relationship, you have to keep things interesting.

My original recommendation was to consider a paddle-raise special appeal for the off-year instead of doing nothing at all. I didn't hear back for a few months, so I assumed they had decided to take a break from the big auction. But then an email eventually arrived confirming that an auction had been scheduled.

It turned out to be a small audience of only 100 people. Though they were the same core group from the organization's original big annual benefit. We ended up with a combination of holding a raffle, selling a few homemade desserts, auctioning live four larger items, then ended with the special appeal. Their mini Friday night event ended up exceeding their goal-raising expectations by nearly double. Most importantly though, everyone remained engaged in the cause. Even better still, they're all the more excited for the big event next year. 

A box of chocolates

You never really know where your life is going to take you.

This is one of the many conversations I've been having lately with my son Spencer as he prepares to leave High School in June and begins his own life's journey of discovering his own interests and making his own personal choices. I know he'll find his way and it's exciting for us both, to see what direction life's path will lead him on.

It's hard to believe that half his lifetime ago, he was 9 years old and 5'6". By the time he graduates, he'll be 18 and he's already standing at 6'5" today!

I know from my own life experience, I never would have imagined when I left high school 35 years ago that I'd end up pursuing the career that I ultimately have. Where I ended up and what I ended up doing was completely unplanned and nowhere on my personal radar. My life's path and profession really came about through a series of circumstances and some risk-taking on my part. For those of you who know me now, it would be hard for you to believe that the younger version of me was a terribly shy person. The first step out of my shell was trying out for a college play with the encouragement of a friend. In my audition, I ended up surprising myself and getting the part! Looking back, I actually did pretty well. From there, my confidence skyrocketed and I was forced outside my comfort zone. Many things that I'd previously thought impossible, now seemed within my grasp. So step 1 down my new path all started with a simple college play.

While a student at Eastern Washington University, I had a chance meeting with Mitch Silver. At the time, he owned a small collector car auction company and he was also a professor at the school I was attending. He offered me an internship. I accepted. Step 2. Check.

It was the late 80's and the collector car market was just exploding and Mitch was in the perfect position to ride its wave. Being in the auction business, you have to be a jack-of-trades of sorts. Luckily, I found I liked being on the auction block; so I was offered the job of description reader. Basically, you read a description of the car that's on the auction block before the auctioneer takes over to do his song and dance.

I found it both challenging and fun. I enjoyed working with the auctioneers and liked the dynamics of the auction, so started thinking to myself "I could do that." I guess Mitch thought so too.  He offered me the chance to attend auctioneer's school. I accepted. That was step 3. 

Actually being an auctioneer was much more difficult than I had imagined. I was a terrible auctioneer right out of auctioneering school. The other auctioneers made it look so easy. But it takes some skill and experience to string all the pieces together, necessary to be an effective auctioneer. I found it a real challenge to coordinate the volume, rhythm, speed, and clarity of my voice while searching for and tracking bids in the sea of people staring back at me.

But I didn't give up. I tried my best whenever I got the chance to be on stage to sell those collector cars. With a lot of practice, patience and the assistance of many mentors in the auction business, I started down the long road of my auctioneering apprenticeship; aka step 4.

Bump the clock ahead twenty years. I've been a part of some amazing events and had some great opportunities. A highlight of my auctioneer's career was jetting to New York to work alongside Donny Deutsch on the stage at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan raising awareness and funds for a cure for Parkinsons with the Michael J Fox Foundation.

I'm a perfect example of "you never know where your life might lead you". Now I get to watch as my son takes his turn walking down life's path.

Appeal? This is what it looks like

With spring break behind us now, it's time to start again where we left off. In my experience, spring time auctions are typically smaller scale events, with some as simple as just a special appeal. If you and your cause or not-for profit group are considering having a special appeal fundraiser; something you might want to consider is a weekday night like a Tuesday or a Thursday.

In my 25-plus years of experience; I have found that inviting your charity's biggest supporters, bringing in a powerful speaker, combined with a well-defined appeal run by a capable auctioneer; you can sometimes achieve the same revenue objective as you would with a traditional fundraising auction. That is, without the added expense and manpower hours that it takes to pull off a typical Saturday night gala. Plus, special appeal-only auctions are also an effective way for you to keep in touch with your patrons and for your patrons to keep involved with your cause and organization througout the year.

A well-defined appeal looks like this:

You state to your audience what you are raising funds for. It may be for continued research to cure a disease or educational funding for a child's tuition. Maybe you are raising money for a specific project or a special piece of medical equipment?

You have the support of a major corporation which plans to match tonight's actual funds raised to double the final event tally. A long-time, loyal patron has been approached or volunteered to start the night's special appeal with a special bid.

You plan to start the night with a $10,000 bid and move down the line till you hit $100. I notice that once my audience gets into a groove with me, the momentum carries itself. So that by the end of your special appeal; we'll find that the majority of the room has participated by making a donation. And in this case, size really doesn't matter. A hundred $100 donations is still a decent chunk of change at $10,000.

You lost me at hello

One thing I have never been told by anyone is that I am a slow talker.

When it comes to running a benefit auction though; I have had the experience of an ill-timed or poorly-paced program. In general, it is getting more and more difficult to grab and hold onto people's attention. Between socializing, drinking and having the need to constantly check our phones; the hired help had better be pretty entertaining up there on stage. It then becomes even more important to keep the night's scheduled events starting and ending on-time. If your auctioneer is doing what he's been hired to do and your auction has started when it was supposed to, why is the night dragging on? You can probably blame it on your choice of Master of Ceremonies, or more commonly known as the MC.

For a lot of planning committees, the MC is often an afterthought; though he shouldn't be. The MC is as integral to the success of your benefit as is the auctioneer. It has been my experience that an inexperienced, unprepared, or easily distracted master of ceremonies who sometimes ends up partying along with the audience just a bit too much; may be the root cause of a seemingly never-ending night of fundraising. The other integral piece is the live auction. What can be done in about an hour by an effective and seasoned benefit auctioneer, can sometimes drag on all night because of bad hiring in talent or something important missed by the organizing committee.

So if you have an MC who reads directly from the program, speaks slowly or just simply isn't paying attention; this can set the tone to the evening and lead to huge problems with your event! Your auctioneer cannot get the bidding started until the MC is done with his spiel. It looks easier than it is and how well your auctioneer and master of ceremonies can work together also matters. So take the time to choose a good MC. Ask your auctioneer who he has worked well with and ask him for some recommendations. I have a few whom I work really well with that I would be happy to share with you

Remember, your auctioneer always follows the MC like the second chapter of a book. So make sure your MC doesn't lose your audience at hello.

 

Apple pies and auctioneers

This past weekend, I had back to back to back fundraising auctions. Benefit auctions are my favorite so it was great to have the chance to be a part of each and every one.

My Saturday auction was one where a professional auctioneer was used for the first time. An old client of mine had become part of the organizing committee of an already existing event. She insisted that bringing me on board would make a world of difference. This fundraising auction best showed how a well-organized auction event with an experienced auction team, a suitable venue, and the right auctioneer can take an event to a whole other level. In the past years, it had been run without much of a budget, a handful of volunteers and an untrained and inexperienced auctioneer. So armed with my signature home-baked apple pie for the dessert table and my trusty microphone; we brought an event that was barely raising $30,000 year after year to a 6-figure fundraiser for the first time ever. Bottom line is that we raised over $100,000 for the local high school. Nights like that is what really keeps me going in this business. School fundraisers are amongst the most rewarding work that I do and I'm proud to say, I've become pretty good at it.

The power of the auction

The traditional broker listing and selling method of real estate isn’t going away soon or ever. For the majority of buyers and sellers, it’s the only way they know.  For the most part, having someone to represent and negotiate on your behalf takes the pressure off of you.  

So you find a broker, decide an asking price, and because the market in heating up; you set the price a bit higher than you really expect to get offered and you wait. The reality is, you’re not really that motivated to sell.

But what if you didn’t have the luxury of time on your side? What if you had a court order to sell, or you had inherited a house from a distant relative? In these situations, your motivation to sell increases dramatically.

Bill Sheridan is a successful auctioneer and broker who conducts the majority of his real estate sales through the regular old broker process. He talked about the one out of ten transactions where an auction becomes the strongest sales tool.  He refers to them as one of the Five Ds that motivates these sellers.  

The Five Ds that magnify the power of the real estate auction are Death, Disease, Divorce, Distress and Default.

I know as you read this, you’re thinking, "Those are actually the things I’m trying to avoid in my life." And you’re right, we all hope those Five D’s won’t happen to us but unfortunately most of us will be for many of us one or all of them may affect us someday.

These five situations are also the key factors in creating an extremely motivated seller. Most motivated sellers are also much more realistic in terms of what the real estate is really worth. Overpricing isn’t an option. Plus the terms of sales are clearly spelled out before the auction starts. In most cases; the real estate must be sold and must be done so within a specific time frame, along with a specific closing date.

 The wait and see approach is not an option. So instead of setting the price high and working it down to a negotiated sale, it’s the opposite. The auction is always working the price up. Plus buyers come ready to buy, and ready to be the winning bidder. 

Re-ignite the fire

Have you been watching as the attendance to your annual benefit drops year after year? Are you resorting to comping tickets just to put bums in chairs? Does anyone laugh at your MC's jokes anymore? Is the crowd tired of listening to the live auction drag on and on?

Maybe your event is suffering from BAS, the boring auction syndrome. Typically, the first call to action is to get rid of the MC and the auctioneer you've been using forever and replace them with professionals who have proven results. You will notice the difference immediately on the stage, in your event revenues, and even on your invoice from your auctioneer. As they say, "You get what you pay for." Someone who can turn your event around or grow your fundraising revenues year after year is worth his weight in gold. I've been on both ends of the stick and typically; if you've done your homework, you'll notice improvements in your event right away, whether big or small. Though if the core components of your benefit remain unchanged, so will your results. Auction prizes are typically the same at most fundraising events: art, wine, trips, special dinner and hotel packages or maybe even a one-on-one meeting with a B-list celebrity. While auction prizes make up some of the building blocks of your benefit, they are never going to be the components that bring your special event to that next level.

So how do you make the leap? While not a new concept, it's the people who make the event. Whether it's the tireless dynamos who sit on your fundraising board, or the generous patrons in the audience, or even the best audio-visual techs in town; it all comes down to the people. Brainstorming, event-planning, ticket-selling - every component it takes to put together a successful event, requires the person who best fits the job! Have you ever been successful at putting a square peg into a round hole? Shaking things up on your planning committee and on your stage may be just the changes your event needs. Heck, move the stage and change the venue while you're at it! This may be just what it takes to get your auction rocking again. Ask the members of your board, the loyal guests people who have been coming to your event year in and year out, maybe even some of your event volunteers. A cross-group brainstorming session may reveal the answer or answers you need to reconnect with your audience or to re-energize your planning committee. There is no end to the resources or ideas that can re-ignite your auction's fire. Give one or all of these ideas a try as you begin planning for your next benefit auction.

Fundraising season is underway

The school auction season is officially underway starting in February and running through to May. Then it starts up again in the Fall after summer break. This year all indicators point to another fantastic year for supporting and giving to our local area schools. Successful fundraising auctions allow your kids' school to continue to hire those much-needed extra teachers, to replace tired, worn-out sports equipment, or to take that special field trip. Throw in a few instruments for the music department and some building supplies for a new playground; that there is where all of that hard-earned money from your fundraising efforts go. . Remember your support does really make a difference. Maybe you can't give financially, but volunteering the night of the auction or donating an item to be auctioned can be just as valuable to the school or organization, than your money. It's been my experience that the same group of loyal parents are always the ones who end up year after year at most, if not all, of the school auctions! So, promise your kids and yourself, to make a point of involving yourself in your local community by reaching out to the auction chair at your school. Then find out what you can do to help out this year!

My first fundraiser of the year is tomorrow night and I'm excited to get back into the swing of things. Hope to see you in the crowd with your bid car high in the air!

Beware of the man in the tuxedo

I'm always curious to know more when I hear or read about someone who says he 'specializes as a fundraising auctioneer'.

Why have I not heard his or her name before? Who is this person? Is he or she professionally trained? What kind of auction experience did he or she have before becoming a benefit specialist or expert?

Fundraisers are a collaborative event. A professional auctioneer will make sure that all the behind the scenes work is properly and completely done. This is the first of many important steps that it takes to produce an evening of giving that is both seamless and successful.   

I have been an auctioneer working in the Pacific Northwest for over twenty-five years. I have auctioned off date nights with Hollywood stars. children's art, school teachers' homemade baking, tens of thousands of wholesale and collector cars, as well as California real estate. I have worked with hundreds of other auctioneers. Among the lot of us, we have a few thousand years of experience combined and have easily seen hundreds of billions of dollars change hands. Boy, that makes me sound old!

Like any other profession, it takes years of learning and doing to master one's craft. A proficient auctioneer is not as easy to find as it seems. What you can expect of him or her when you find one is this:

A great auctioneer connects with your audience.
He or she establishes the tone and momentum of the auction.
An auctioneer never misses a guest with his bid card in the air.
He communicates and carries on with everyone with ease and finesse.
After he sells the crowd every single live auction lot, he is still able to draw more money out of your guests during the special appeal!

It's true that we all have to start somewhere. The question is, do you want an auctioneer who's wet behind the ears to use your event as his guinea pig? Before you hire someone; ask for his or her credentials, have a look at his portfolio, watch her in action. Best to see it before you believe it. You know what they say, “If it sounds too good to be true..."

Happy new year!

Happy new year!

The holidays are behind us. The kids are back to school. The auction business is back in full swing.

In the month of January, there are no less than five auction houses, which will sell over $200million worth of classic cars in the matter of a week. If you happen to be in the vicinity of Scottsdale Arizona between January 10th through till the 18th, that's where the first big auction events of 2015 will take place.

If you are a fan of vintage motorcycles, Las Vegas Nevada is the place to be. With Bonhams and Mid-American offering up close to a thousand bikes starting January 8th and ending on the 11th. I'll be at Bonhams checking out some of the rare bikes that will be crossing the auction block into the garage of some lucky collectors.

Then by February, fundraising season starts up again. Most not-for-profits have their spring events booked. Now is the time when autumn fundraising committees are securing their dates for venues, entertainers and caterers.

Grey Bowl? Super Cup?

 
 

Did you catch the Civil War Game between the Ducks and the Beavers?

I was just sitting down to deep fried spicy squid and a cold Canadian beer in a Downtown Vancouver restaurant. Low and behold, what's on the television screen in front of me? Halftime at the University of Oregon Ducks versus the Oregon State Beavers football game. Funny thing since I happened to be in town during Grey Cup weekend, the Canadian Football League's version of the Superbowl. We came across the parade procession on a walk through the city after a bit of breakfast at a popular Italian cafe.

I love Vancouver, but especially on clear sunny days like today. After we caught a glimpse of the actual Grey Cup trophy, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police bagpipe band, and two dozen plus Blues Brothers; we found ourselves in a French pastry shop to have a warm beverage and an apple tarte. Then swung by the Tesla showroom followed by a walk in a big loop of downtown on the sunny side of the street. Ended up on the beautiful bustling seawall, across from Granville Island and underneath the Burrard and Granville Street bridges. Finally back to where the story began, in a Yaletown resto.

Quack quack!