Wanna make more money in your silent auction? Re-read your descriptions. -Part 2
The description overlooked providing a date OR day for this activity. We wrote it on the left-hand side.
This is Part 2 of a series examining how missing information on silent auction descriptions costs you revenue in your auction fundraiser.
My floor team are outstanding sales support in any auction. They find an item and work it until it has bids … or until they have outright sold it to a guest.
But if a silent auction description is lacking key information, my sales reps must leave their post to find someone in the marketing department who knows about this item and can provide the missing details.
Here are some additional common omissions on silent auction donation descriptions.
Guests want to know if the gift cards for chain restaurants are good for ANY of the restaurants in the chain, or only ONE of the restaurants in the chain.
If a guest sees that Morton’s Georgetown has donated a $100 gift card, the first question they ask is, “Excuse me, but could you tell me if this $100 gift card will work at the Morton’s in Tyson’s Corner? Or what about in Boca Raton … I’ve got a sister in Boca who loves Morton’s. But I just don’t want to drive into Georgetown to use this …. so I’ll bid on it if it works anywhere. Do you know if it works at any Mortons?”
Argh!
If it was in the description, we would have immediately got her to bid on or buy the item. Instead, we’re chasing down information. Now she might walk off elsewhere, we’ll never find her, and she’ll never come back to bid.
Guests want to know the day of the event, as well as the date.
Tickets to sporting events and theater performances often list the date, but they don’t always mention the day. Yet many of us schedule our lives around days more than dates.
“I take the kids to dance class on Monday afternoons,” remembers the Mom.
“I have my computer class on Thursday nights,” remembers the Dad.
If you provide a day as well as a date, it helps guests decide on whether they are interested in bidding. If they have any doubt about it, they won‘t bid, so it’s important to provide the information upfront.
Guests want to know what is included.
At one auction, my team was scrambling to uncover information on a salon donation. It was being sold in a school’s silent auction and the description was vague.
“A $150 gift card for salon services.”
At first glance, it sounds great. But two guests were inquiring as to whether the salon focused on cutting hair or esthetician services. What kind of a salon was it?
There was no “menu of services” on display and we had no idea. So during the course of the silent auction, we are researching this item, instead of focusing on the more important task of sales.
On the positive side, at least these guests were asking questions. Often guests won’t even bother to ask … they just won’t bid. This is why complete descriptions are important.
Note: This is the second blog post on this subject.
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The picture on this page is a broken link.
Thanks for the heads up, Guy. We fixed it.
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