charity auctioneers

Investing in a professional charity auctioneer is investing in your charity auctions success. Many charitable organizations do not realize they are costing their organization sometimes tens of thousands of dollars by using a volunteer or board member to host their auction.

Keeping in mind that you want to hire a professional charity auctioneer, you need to know there are only a handful of charity auctioneers in the country who are 100% professional charity auctioneers, meaning that they only make their living doing fundraising auctions. You don't want to trust your charity auction to someone who is a "hobby" auctioneer, or a part-time auctioneer. Many real estate agents, Disc Jockey's, radio hosts, or comedians will try and make extra money on the side by offering charity auctioneer services. While some might be excellent at what they do, it is a gamble. You want to utilize the services of someone who is 100% dedicated to the art of fundraising. So when considering your charity auctioneer for your event, look for a professional.

Hosting charity auctions is a completely unique part of the auction industry. There are unique attributes needed by professional charity auctioneers, they include;

CHARISMA
Charisma is something you can't teach in a school, or a seminar. A good charity auctioneer will hold your supporters attention utilizing humour, passion, education, and superiour presentation skills. Your supporters should enjoy listening to your charity auctioneer.

PUBLIC SPEAKING
Many surverys have shown that many people fear speaking in front of a crowd more than death or harm. A charity auctioneer is in fact a professional public speaker and the focus of the event. At traditional auction schools around the country they teach auctioneers to speak very quickly, while this is important when selling cars, tobacco, or livestock it is not at a charity auction. A good charity auctioneer can captivate and hold your supporters attention with their advanced public speaking experience.

SALESMANSHIP
If you break down an auction and it's purpose, it is basically presenting a single item at a time to a group of people and trying to get the highest dollar possible for each item. Professional charity auctioneers will present each item with an educating, enthusastic, and clear presentation so that each and every person in the room understands its importance, it's value, and why bidding on that item is not only to gain something for themselves, but that it helps the cause the auction supports. A good chariity auctioneers main responsability is to sell each item to the best of their ability.

EXPERIENCE
There is no book, class, or diploma that can teach a charity auctioneers skill better than experience. A professional charity auctioneer should have several hundred auctions under their belt. The more auctions a charity auctioneer has hosted means the more prepared they will be for any situation, venue, or dilema that may arise. Experience will also give your charity auctioneer the benefit of learning from the successess from previous auctions and consult with you and suggest ways to make your auction as successful as it possibly can be.

VERSTALITIY
An experienced charity auctioneer that you want for your charity auction will be able to adapt to any venue, any size crowd, and any auction items. A thing to look for in any charity auctioneer is that they have hosted events that had 20 people attend, and hosted events that had 500 people attend, they will have hosted events that grossed $10,000, and hosted events that grossed $1,000,000.00. A versatile charity auctioneer will be comfortable in a polo shirt hosting a sports auction on the golf course, and also be comfortable in a tuxedo hosting a gala auction in the Ritz Carlton for more than 500 people. Very few auctioneers have the talent and experience of dealing with a sophisticated clientel and the elaborate auction items that it takes to host a six, or even seven figure auction.

FLOW
The single most important attribute of a charity auctioneer is FLOW. Flow is something that can't really be explained clearly, and definetly not taught, it can only be learned by experience and talent. Professional charity auctioneers know when to be funny, when to be serious, they know when to speed up, and when to slow down.
Almost like a sixth sense, a charity auctioneer can read a room and know when the crowd is about to bid more, or when they are done and it is time to move on. They can feel the energy in a room, and use that to raise the most funds possible, all while making sure your supporters are having a great time.

When considering charity auctioneers you don't want to necessarily go with the one with the lowest cost. Remember in almost every situation a skilled charity auctioneer does not cost your organization money, they make your organization money!. When hiring a charity auctioneer it is important to utilize the age old analogy "you get what you pay for".

You can take the same room, with the same attendees, and the same auction items, and just by putting the right auctioneer in that room you can easily generate between 2x-5x the auction revenues for that auction.

Most professional charity auctioneers should offer you several choices for payment for thier services.

Option 1- Flat fee. A pre-agreed upon flat fee is negotiated for the event. This flat fee can include travel/hotel compensation in it, and will be all inclusive so you know exactly what you are paying for your professional charity auctioneer. Larger organizations who generate large auction revenues like to use the flat fee option so they know exactly how much to budget for their professional auctioneer.

Option 2- Percentage of auction proceeds. This is a great option for smaller organizations or if you are newer to auctions and are not sure what revenues your auction will produce. By paying a percentage of the proceeds you are only paying on the auctions success so are at no risk. This option also makes your organization and your charity auctioneer partners in wanting the success of the event. When using a percentage of proceeds to pay your professional charity auctioneer there may be minimums or travel expenses added.

Regardless of which payment you work out with your charity auctioneer, remember that the better your auctioneer is, the more money you will raise for your organization.

Take the following scenario's into consideration which happens all the time in the charity auction world, keep in mind each scenario is assuming that it is the same room, with the same attendees, and the same auction items, the only variable is the auctioneer.

• Option 1. You find a low cost average auctioneer that you pay $500 for the event. The auction generates $11,000 in revenues for your organization.



• Option 2. You hire a top tier professional charity auctioneer that you negotiate a flat fee of $2000 for the event. The auction generates $22,000 in revenues for your organization.

As you can see option 2 is obviously better for your organization. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, investing in a professional charity auctioneer is investing in the success of your charity auction. As much as it may be tempting to take the lowest bid at the planning stage of your charity auction, you can now see that you want the most effective, experienced, and professional charity auctioneer for your event.

Keeping in mind that there are only a handful of true charity auctioneer professionals that will achieve the best possilbe results at your auction where do you go to hire a charity auctioneer?

Auction Legacy provides charity auctioneers in Florida and all over the country. Specialized in charity auctions, benefit auctions, and fine art auctions Auction Legacy will provide you with a charismatic, energetic, experienced, and most effective charity auctioneer.

While based in South Florida, Auction Legacy charity auctioneers will travel to your organization and ensure the highest possible results for your charity auction.

You can reach get more information on hiring a charity auctioneer at www.auctionlegacy.com.