Three words you can eliminate from your Auction Experience   FEAR  -  FRUSTRATION  -  FAILURE

From: Stephen McCurdy - Editor, StoryMaster Press, Inc.

... thousands will chair auctions this year. Only a handful know what they face beforehand.

Let’s confront an embarrasing truth. Every year THOUSANDS of people across the country are elected chairperson of their organization’s silent auction committee. Only a handful have ANY IDEA how to go about running the auction.

Some, though, confident that they’ve been to silent-auctions or have worked on a committeee know they can do a better job. Their instincts are RIGHT ON. But they launch into the project only to quickly find that, like the ice berg that only shows you its top 10%, there are many more times the details to miss in planning an auction than there are details that are readily seen.

And any ONE of these missed details can cause the team to face hours of extra work, lost revenue – or worse – increased expenses and damaged relationships.

Auctions and Silent Auctions are the success they are because unlike most fundraisers - it is set up to be a Win-Win-Win.  The item donor is getting great exposure in exchange for a "sample," the buyer usually is getting a GREAT deal on an item they might not otherwise have found, and the organization gets the support and the funds. Still, fundraisers are a COMMUNITY SENSITIVE issue. The fact is that everyone has their hand out today - and even though the community WANTS YOU TO SUCCEED they are bombarded from all sides for contributions of money, in-kind donations, time, advertising… the list is endless. And that is for the ones that WANT to help you.

For each individual or company in your community that KNOWS ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION and WANTS TO HELP - there are twenty more that DON’T know about you or don’t care – but who STILL COULD BENEFIT from your organization’s auction. YES. I said BENEFIT.

If YOU don’t know how they would benefit – odds are THEY never will. And if they don’t know they will never give you the help you need... particularly if they are never asked!!

How will you identify the community members that can help you and let them know it is in their BENEFIT to participate?

Every Hour You Work – LOSES YOU FOUR!

Think about it for a second… there are MANY committees with DOZENS of tasks to get done. Even if you’ve started early enough, the time you spend doing ANY ONE of those tasks yourself means time you are NOT focusing on the demands and silent deadlines of ALL of the other activities!!If you don’t want a full-time job at NO-TIME pay with 100% of the headaches and frustration YOU NEED HELP!!! Lots of it. And from knowledgeable people who are ON YOUR SIDE and know what they are doing.Ok... so... You get it. You need help. Here are a few questions you will want answers to about these 'helpers:'

• WHO ARE THEY?
• WHERE DO I RECRUIT THEM?
• HOW DO I TRAIN THEM?
• WHAT DO I TELL THEM TO DO? 
• HOW DO I FOLLOW UP? 
• WHEN DO WE START?
• ARE THERE PEOPLE I SHOULDN’T ASK TO HELP?

Overwhelmed yet?

Many are. You can ORDER NOW and stop the pain…
or read on for more information.

Ruth McCurdy and Linda Oppenheim   Both authors are busy Mom's who have been roped into more fundraisers than either would care to admit.  They say that pioneers go where no one has gone - and send back maps.  Ruth and Linda are not pioneers in the Auction world - but they are great map makers!    Being driven, focused, and social beings the pair never wanted to leave the next Chair in the lurch so they started writing "The Manual" for each fundraiser as a leave-behind for the next person.

When they started out they would get a handful of phone calls each year from the incoming chairperson to clarify this issue and that.  Over the years they compared notes, refined the process and discovered that there were huge similarities - and fundamental requirements - for every good project.  Then one year the phone calls dried up to almost nothing.  They worried that they had, perhaps, alienated someone.  Timidly, they called to ask if they could help.  What they discovered was - the manual had already answered the questions.  They'd done it.    They'd written THE BOOK.   In it you will find...

• The Lucky - 13 Committees - You need each of them to have it run smoothly. If you have all of them - you may not have to do much but track what THEY do.

• Fourteen CRITICAL Job Descriptions - Who does what when and how do you check?

• Four Venue Tips - Things to check on to ensure your event is "in the clear." Nothing like showing up to your event only to find that the parking is already GONE.

• Three Meeting Musts - You have to have meetings. Fewer, shorter, and "funner" is the way to go. But HERE is what you need to get DONE in the meetings!

• Publicity's Magnificent 7 - If you want folks to attend - they'll need to know about the event. Seven critical steps to getting the word out and the money IN.

• Getting Donations - 12 steps - No kidding - there are 12 - but they are easy and you don't have to confess anything.

• Invitation/Reservation Checkpoints - Seems easy. Until you miss one and the phone starts ringing with questions - or maybe worse - NEVER rings with reservations.

• More - And we haven't even touched on - The Event Program Top Ten, five Guest Check-in Packet Stuffers, Fourteen Silent Auction Action Items, the Live Auction Six-Pack, and the FORMS... Yep. There is paperwork that actually makes it all EASIER.

REDUCE EVERY GIANT JOB TO A SERIES OF SIMPLE TASKS

The fact is, every complex task really can be reduced to a series of very simple tasks… tasks that almost ANYONE can help with. Imagine making a simple list of the 13 committees that you have to have working to make things come together(and that we will detail for you completely).

Imagine recruiting willing chairpersons for each committee by handing them ONE SHEET OF PAPER with EVERYTHING they need to do spelled out in simple – ACHIEVABLE – terms... and asking them one simple question.

Imagine having a specific time-line for every follow-up phone call, the objectives for each call for each committee chair, the agenda for the critical meetings… all of it… spelled out and calendared for the duration of your event.

Imagine knowing the status of every detail without doing ANY of that leg-work yourself.

Imagine raising your funds goal and having everyone glad they played a role and proud of the achievement.

Now – imagine every chairperson THANKING YOU for the great event that THEY MADE HAPPEN because you empowered them to get so much done- with so little hassle.

Many auction and silent auction resources give you a summary of the job before you. “I was Volunteered to Chair the Auction – HELP!” takes you by the hand and leads you through every step.

WARNING

Success like this will make you a hero.  Expect to get more requests to chair other events! 

(Hint:  Recommend a friend and give them "Help!")

 What a Royal PAIN!!

Auction fundraisers, when done right, are very complex, involved, massive logistical events that can raise LOTS of money for an organization.  OR they can be awkward, poorly attended, have inadequate amounts (or quality) of auction items, or they may just be an all-night agony at check out. 

Getting volunteers to step up is always a challenge in these times when communities are beseiged with fundraisers.  "HELP!" is on the way.  It addresses each and every issue with common sense solutions that are easy to communicate, implement, and COPY!

Because... when you order "HELP!" you get:

The 192-page book chock full of help... in fact.  Here's the table of contents.

The Basic Things to Know and Do

Chapter 1 – The Event Timeline Committees 

Chapter 2 – Selecting the Venue and Menu 

Chapter 3 – The Auction Database

Chapter 4 – Volunteer Management    

Chapter 5 – Event Committees  

Chapter 6 – Committee Meetings   

Chapter 7 – The Event Budget 

Chapter 8 – The Event Theme and Decorations     

Getting Down to Business

Chapter 9 – Publicity                                                                                        

Chapter 10 – Getting Donations                                                                                   

Chapter 11 – Invitations and Reservations                                                                

Chapter 12 – The Event Program                                                                     

And Awaaaaaay We Go

Chapter 13 – Guest Check-In                     

Chapter 14 – The Silent Auction  

Chapter 15 – The Live Auction    

Chapter 16 – The Event Notebook

Perspective and Attitude

But that isn't all.  You also get:

The DIGITAL FORMS.  Yep.  You get digital forms, theme ideas, tracking pages, donor request letter, thank-you letters, participation certificates, bid forms... the list is LONG.  CUSTOMIZE the forms for your event very easily in MS Word! 

The original manuals in three ring binders were $49.95.  People loved them. 

The original run of the book was $29.95.  People loved them.

Today's price on the book is $23.95      

and the e-book only $9.95    

BUT!!! NOW you can get some very special pricing on both the physical book and the e-book. 

And for a very limited time -

You can get both - for less than the price of the physical book alone - $19.95

Naturally - that isn't all...

Free Bonus Gift #1 (Value $500) When Ruth and Linda consult on a fundraiser they get $250 for the initial consultation and $500 for 90 days of email question and answer service. When they are brought in to RUN a fundraiser they get big bucks. WHY? Because they PRODUCE big bucks. When you order "HELP" through this promotion - you get 90 days of email question and answer consultation - FREE

 

Free Bonus Gift #2 (Value $300) Some national companies give away samples fairly regularly. Some of this merchandise makes for GREAT silent auction items. How would you like a list of companies that have donated in the past? With addresses? With a sample letter for requesting the sample? Ok - order "HELP" and we'll bonus you with our list.

 

Free Bonus Gift #3 (An extra $1000 Value) Our readers have shared with us some extraordinarily creative ways that they have done QUICKIE fundraisers that raised up to $1000 in a very short order. Some of these you can pull off with ONE meeting and a few days action on the part of your organization. Some of them are so creative - and yet LOGICAL - you will wonder why no one ever thought of it before. An extra $400 to $1000 is worth - well, let me do the math. Order "HELP" and the report is yours.

The largest charities in the world do silent auctions.  Why?  Because they bring in LOTS of money.  These mega-auctions take all year to organize.  Maybe yours won't be that big - but it can still make you more money than fruitcake sales!  It takes work, organization, and the proper execution of tens of dozens of tasks - and in the right order - by the right deadline.  Still.  With a proven roadmap of the journey you can make the trip in style.  Get the "HELP" you need.  If you don't agree, we'll buy it back.Order now.  "Help" will be on its way.