Cars Yeah: Podcast 345

This past summer, I recorded my first podcast. It was fun and a really good experience.

Basically it started as a connection that I had made through LinkedIn. I noticed a guy named Mark Greene, also from the Pacific Northwest. We had some contacts in common. They were mainly collectors of vintage cars and guys in the business. So I reached out to him. We emailed back and forth. Then he asked, "Would you be interested in joining me to do a podcast?" I wasn't sure what I had to offer compared to all the well-known car guys that he had interviewed and recorded in the past. I felt pretty honored to be invited to do that. I thought to myself, I'm just another car guy!

So we went through the process. Mark did his magic on the editing side. Then early this fall, my first ever podcast hit the internet. Check it out here for yourself at Cars Yeah:

http://carsyeah.com/ourportfolio/345-steve-dorsey/.

Graphic by carsyeah.com.

Crash

I just saved myself $150,000 this weekend. That was the cost of the damage I racked up on the 2015 BMW M4 DTM race car that I crashed into a wall, once or twice.

Well, I wasn't actually driving the real thing; but it sure felt like it. I did get the chance to drive that exact BMW model on the famed Watkins Glen road course. It was the most advanced racing simulator I've ever had the chance to try out to-date. The simulator was set up at the grand opening of the new service center at the BMW Store in Vancouver, Canada. Racing simulators have come a long way in design and development. They can really  give you the feel of the road with very realistic feedback of what it actually feels like to drive a car to its limits. The simulator I got to drive costs $60,000 and is quite popular. While that may seem like a lot for an over-the-top video game, it is invaluable for a driver who is trying to learn a new track or one who wants to freshen up his skills before the race season begins.

Facts and figures aside, it was an absolute blast to drive. What a great event to be invited to. BC beer and wine were poured; the new 7 Series was unveiled; and the latest BMW i8 was also on-hand.

The Grass is Greener

 

This week I have had the chance to reflect on and practice my patience. Now this isn't going to be one those self-help posts you can find all over your social media accounts either. It's actually about grass. No, not the kind that you can legally buy here in Oregon now either. It's about actual grass seed.

Nobody plants grass seed on their lawns anymore. Today, you can get a lawn in day. Just pick up the phone and someone comes to lay the sod down, your sprinkler system waters it, and BAM! Instant lawn. Well, I did the opposite. I took the time to till the land, prepare it with topsoil, went out and bought actual seed, spread the seed on my lawn and watered. But nothing happened. I hand-watered it daily. Still nothing. The next thing you know, the birds started to eat the seeds. Not just one or two birds, but flocks of them. I love birds, but they are eating my lawn as fast as I can put the new seed down! My first thought was that the seed was defective and that my front yard is going to be a sea of mud this fall. The reality was that I just hadn't waited long enough, until the seed was ready to sprout.

How many of us give up on something before it was ready to sprout and grow. Think about that when you're going about your daily life or even when planning your next fundraising auction. Everybody and everything takes time to grow. That goes for your grassroots fundraisers too.

Fall is Here

I had a great summer this year. Though like most of them, it went by too quickly. I had a chance to do a couple road trips - out to the Oregon Coast, the Gorge and up to Vancouver Canada, my favorite city, second to Portland. I feel really lucky to live here in the Pacific Northwest and I get out as often as I can, to enjoy all that it has to offer.

I had a pretty easy summer in regards to my workload. Without the weekly trips between Portland and Seattle, I was only on a plane every other week. Summer isn't a particularly busy time for fundraisers; though we had a couple of fundraising auctions. So I get to start this fall fundraising season completely refreshed and ready to go.

We're working on a couple of exciting new ventures for the New Year. As soon as we have some 2016 details finalized and dates set, we'll make an announcement. Keep checking back here to be in the know.

Ali, our one-woman Communications team, will also be starting a seasonal e-newsletter to keep srdorsey clients and friends appraised of what's happening. So if you want to stay current on the world of auctions or where we are and what we're doing; drop me a line and we'll make sure we keep in touch with you. Please feel free to include any topic requests or inquiries and we'll do our best to help you out.

A Week in Monterey

I just finished up a big week in Monterey, California. For those of you who are are not familiar with Monterey Car Week; it is what would be considered the Superbowl of car auctions. Not only are there six separate car auctions happening simultaneously throughout the week; there are the vintage races at Laguna Seca on the weekend, and then on the Sunday, the granddaddy of all car shows - the Concours d'Elegance on the grounds at Pebble Beach.

This year, I had the opportunity to be involved with a start-up auction with the JR Auctions team. We conducted our back-to-back auctions for 4 days in a row between 1 and 4pm; in a format that had not been tried before in Monterey till now. Our auctions took place on the grounds of the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa. The auction block offered our spectators a stunning and complete view of Monterey Bay. It was truly the most spectacular auction block I have ever worked. With the sun beaming down on hoods and hubcaps, clear blue skies above us and the ocean breeze on our backs... You get and appreciate the picture, even if you're not a car buff.

It was exciting to be involved with Jeff and Robert on this new venture. We offered over a hundred cars, of all varieties, old and new, priced from only a few thousand dollars to well over a million. We thought we might and came so close to selling the Porsche 918 Spyder. When it came down to it; this car was worth holding onto because with its high demand, they are hard to come by.

We got business done and we had fun. We learned a lot and got too much sun! I'm already looking forward to see what's in-store next year.

Hot hot hot

Everything is hot in NE Portland right now. The pavement, the days as well as the nights, but especially the real estate.

The rate at which properties are being snapped up, the speed at which houses are being torn down and going right back up, and the height at which the prices are sky-rocketing is astonishing. That is what comes with progress and popularity. Portland is having its day in the spotlight. On each and every single block in my neighbourhood; there is a sold sign, a moving truck parked, or a construction crew. Pools and retaining walls, renovations and new construction, multi-family and multi-purpose buildings on the main strip. Everybody's doing it. So much has changed in this last year. I believe it will continue to happen, as the city spreads further out. Young families are settling in. Retirees are immigrating from other parts of the States. New businesses pop up on a very regular basis on Alberta Street. It's exciting times for the neighborhood and I feel lucky to be a part of it.

In particular, I'm watching a house go up on the bluff. The lot has a great view overlooking the city just above the treetops. Even though it's going to be the newest and most modern house on the block, it blends in peculiarly well. I can't wait to see the finished product. It happens to be designed by a Vancouver architect. I'm not talking about Vancouver WA either. We're talking its Canadian counterpart, Vancouver BC.

So while the real estate and weather continue to heat up in Portland, make sure you stay hydrated and don't forget your SPF. Stay cool out there.

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.