Menu

Orgs We've Helped!

TEXT or CALL me!

407-791-1360 in Tampa, FL

Find me on LinkedIn!

NAA Credentials

NAA Badges

Credentials from the National Auctioneers Association (NAA)

Editor of this How-to Charity Auction book

Boost Your Benefit Auction book

“70-Point Venue Checklist” FREE DOWNLOAD

Find It Now

>

Simplify! Follow this Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog.

© 2019 GALA GAL, Inc. - All rights reserved.

Firstyme WordPress Theme.
Designed by Charlie Asemota.

►”Lucky Line” with Mobile Bidding

August 16, 2017 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS
photo of mobile bidding incentive caption

Using Mobile Bidding? Add an incentive to get guests to Bid More!

Do you use the “Lucky Line” for your traditional silent auction bids on paper?

It’s a way to encourage folks to be more generous, give a little more, just jump down a few bidding lines rather than the next bid available. I’ve got an explanation in a viewable Google doc here.

For years we (the benefit auctioneer community) have been trying to replicate this bidder incentive with handheld mobile/text bidding, but to date most mobile technology companies haven’t figured out a way to virtually highlight only bids past a certain point, and then segregate just those for a random winner.

And then my new client shared a semi-solution!

While the one “who makes the most bids” isn’t random and may not encourage as many people to try for the prize as the Lucky Line highlighting does, it certainly is trackable in mobile bidding reports, AND worth celebrating and rewarding! Using the technique above, the organization rewards participation, not dollars, which is an equalizer of sorts.

How have you figured out ways to incentivize more bidding using technology?

 

Comments are closed - Categories: Better Buyers, Consulting, Event Logistics, Other Money Makers, Silent auctions, Technology

►Who’s the “Voice” of your nonprofit?

July 5, 2017 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS
photo of branding handout

Who’s the “voice” of your social media posts?

I’m a huge, huge fan of Entrepreneur magazine. In fact, if you’re not already following them on Facebook, seriously, click over there and do it right now.

I’ll wait.

It’s that important.

If you want to be smarter about, well – anything – you should be following Entrepreneur magazine on Facebook.

Their posts are 2- or 3-minute reads about stuff you want to know, and I guarantee you’ll see something each week you want to click on and open.

By the way, I don’t get anything for promoting them. I’m just a super fan.

When I was researching for my presentation to the Working Women of Central Florida, I came across this awesome article Entrepreneur mag posted, “22 Statistics That Prove the Value of Personal Branding.”

It’s about how we (people, you and me) connect better with people, not companies, and you’ll do yourself and your organization a 561% favor by letting your employee’s personalities show when they share posts about your cause.

Since you can control the tone, images and message you put out there, sit down and really think about how you want to be perceived. Is your org inspiring? Are your clients beautiful? Are your services useful? And isn’t life just funny sometimes? (NOTE: If you don’t yet know about FUBI, read about it here.)

You can even let different people shine in their elements. If you’ve got a stellar soul who can communicate all you want to say on all your platforms, give him or her a raise! Otherwise, try trusting your inner circle with the platform that best matches his or her personality, and see if you don’t get more likes, follows, and engagement from your fans.

Comments are closed - Categories: Board members, Charity, Consulting, Grab Bag, Other Money Makers, social media, Technology

►Mobile Bidding Considerations

July 7, 2015 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS
photo of auction display

Auction Bidding is Enhanced by Displays

Today a client asked me

“Quick question – mobile bidding. Does it enhance an auction? Have you seen increased participation (read larger bids) utilizing mobile bidding?”

and I replied:

 Good question!

Typically mobile only makes sense when there are a lot of attendees, a lot of auction items (100+) and the silent auction revenue is $30,000+.

Pros:

IF people use it, they can set max bids and not have to either log back in or walk to a table – most mobile bidding systems can just continue to bid for them up to a set maximum.

Auction displays can take less space

Everyone can see all the auction items if they wish (on a device) without walking around

You can close the bidding later

Cons:

Typically costs $3000-$5000+

Either you have to pay for one of the mobile company’s staff to be on site (could add $1000), or you’re 100% responsible for any kinks or problems. Unless you have a savvy tech person, this could add significant stress.

It can be hard to get people to engage in mobile bidding for several reasons:

 ~Some require downloading an app, though some just have a web address people key in

~Some say mobile is less social, since people move around less and must spend time staring at their phones

~Requires either than people use their cell phone data plans (and battery life) or the club has a reliable wi-fi connection that’s open to everyone; some mobile systems rely on wi-fi and can get bogged down or crash

Results:

Whether or not mobile adds revenue above and beyond the cost of using the technology is a source of heated debate! Just a few weeks ago auctioneers from around the country shared mixed reviews in an online forum. When the technology works as promised,  is adopted by the attendees and gets used, certainly there are benefits to being able to shop from anywhere in the venue and not have to physically revisit a bid sheet.

On the other side, paper silent auctions have worked for decades by generating that person-to-person, last-minute competitive bidding atmosphere, especially when your professional auctioneer is making announcements and making the auction closings fun for everyone in the room.

What mobile definitely does is eliminate the need to clerk, record, tally or key in silent auction purchases once bidding closes, and for some groups, that fact alone makes the technology worth several thousand dollars, just to eliminate checkout!

 There are 10-12 major mobile bidding companies nationwide, all scrambling for footing and market share. All have demos you can do or samples you can view.

Industry software leader Greater Giving has great educational info with just about everything you need to know about mobile here.

Because of the many pros and cons (and how those affect your overall revenue/schedule/logistics), it’s something you should ask your professional auctioneer about as early as possible.

Like this great client of mine did! Thanks for the question, Sara 🙂

Comments are closed - Categories: Better Buyers, Consulting, Event Logistics, Silent auctions, Technology

►Boost Your Benefit Auction – NEW Book!

August 19, 2013 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS
Cover Photo of new book Boost Your Benefit Auction

Advice for Charity Auctions from 50 Fundraising Auctioneers – New Book

I’ve been busy!

This has been a crazy summer, but this weekend I shipped the first copies of my 4th book!

Wow, was it a great project – challenging, fun, and an awesome end result.

I am so excited to bring this book to market BECAUSE…

there’s seriously never been anything like it.

50 auctioneer contributors.

42 auction companies from across the country.

More than 112 fundraising tips. (I stopped counting at 131!)

ORDER your copy for $29.95 at one of the following secure links:

Books and Seminars for Charities here:http://tinyurl.com/Solutions4Charities

Or (for auctioneers) Resources for Auctioneers here:http://tinyurl.com/Auctioneers-Boost
These shortened URL’s connect to the secure payment processor hosted by GreaterGiving.

 

Comments are closed - Categories: Auctioneers, Better Buyers, Charity, Consulting, Event Logistics, Grab Bag, Live Auctions, Other Money Makers, Raffles/Chance Drawings, Silent auctions, Technology

►Google says ‘Content is King’

February 19, 2013 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

Your mission. Your good works. Your non-profit org.

Without a doubt, Google IS the key to getting found online, and it’s about to get easier for you! After years of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tricks, industry buzz says Google ranking methods have changed.

According to Geekless Tech blogger Alex Clifford,

Google is ranking people by who has the best content. They’re trying to put the best content at the top. Now you’re in a battle with your competitors to create the best content! There are no more underhanded tricks (and if there were Google will soon eliminate them).

The 2 pillars of Content Marketing Optimization (CMO)?

  1. More “long form content” means adding longer, meaty, helpful and valuable text to your website
  2. More “rich media content” means photos and videos

Read a great resource of 11 content optimization tips from Jason Acidre.

Write something fresh (and in depth) about what amazing things your org is doing this month. And don’t forget to boost your visibility with VISUALS.

See you online!

Comments are closed - Categories: Consulting, Technology

►Your Auctioneer’s Education, 2011 Summit

June 28, 2012 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

Since yesterday I mentioned the upcoming Benefit Auction Summit as a continuing education opportunity for professional fundraising auctioneers, I’ll share some of my takeaways from the two previous Summits.

2011-Baltimore

BOOTCAMP Alum Darron Meares shared (more…)

Comments are closed - Categories: Auctioneers, Better Buyers, Consulting, Event Logistics, Live Auctions, Technology

►Remote vs. In-Person Consultation

June 25, 2012 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

Face-to-face meetings are a crucial part of my relationship with my clients when planning silent and live auctions. So important, in fact, that even my smallest consultation package includes 5 critical collaborations you should expect from your auctioneer:

  1. An initial EVENT ENVISIONING meeting with the decision makers, including time to (more…)

Comments are closed - Categories: Consulting, Technology

Unlock a PDF

June 20, 2012 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

Short and sweet…!

When I need to unlock a PDF document so that I can edit it or pull a logo out, I pop over to www.PDFtoWord.com, upload the PDF and within a minute it’s back in my Inbox, ready to edit.

Handy Tech Tip of the Day 🙂

 

Already using this? Just tried it? Leave a comment below!

Comments are closed - Categories: Consulting, Technology

Free Conference Call to “capture and capitalize” wisdom

June 18, 2012 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

In your job, whatever it is, every day you’re either offering your expertise or listening to someone else share his/her expertise. And every day, you’re wasting wisdom that could be leveraged to save you time, which saves you money, which means more for your bottom line. Take a few seconds to do this one thing, and you’ll build your arsenal of resources and get smarter, all for FREE!

Capturing your Expertise

Think about it – if you work with a charitable cause, in the course of your day, you may (more…)

Comments are closed - Categories: Technology

Dropbox-ease in to adopting new technology

June 17, 2012 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

I want to love technology, really I do. But as I’m sure some of you agree, when it comes to technology and things that are supposed to make my benefit auction management easier, the timespan from “intrigued about it” to “overwhelmed by it” falls in the single-digit minutes.

So I’ll try to help you (more…)

Comments are closed - Categories: Technology

“10 Tips” Webinar Summarized

June 15, 2012 - Author: Jenelle Taylor, CAI BAS

A good solid overview today from www.BiddingforGood.com on the benefits of adding both online bidding and text (phone) bidding to upgrade the traditional pen and paper silent auction. Worth your 43 minutes if you’re either completely intimidated by the thought or are on-the-fence curious about the possibilities. Let’s face it, technology isn’t going away, folks.

Best takeaways?

Comments are closed - Categories: Technology