Have you seen memes like this? There are many variations referencing different professions. It reminded me of a conversation I had with a medical doctor at a fundraiser this summer. I was working on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The doctor and I were talking about changes in her job. Patient consultations are different than just a few years ago. To paraphrase, she said: "People are more informed, but on the flip side, some think that spending a few hours in front ... Read On >
Auctioneers
Whose fault is it when the fundraising auction fails?
Over the last two years I renovated my house. I purchased windows and five major appliances as part of the remodel. Nothing was cheap -- the cost of some of these purchases hovered around the price of a car. Shortly after the sales process was complete, I started getting sales calls, asking me to buy extended warranties. All these conversations got me to thinking -- if one of these appliances or the windows start to give me problems, I may have a hard time knowing if the problem was ... Read On >
Land acknowledgments in fundraising events
Call it coincidence, divine intervention or luck, but I'd bet that you've had a situation whereby you see or hear something, and suddenly it shows up somewhere else. Like when you consider buying a particular type of car, and suddenly that model is all you see on the highway. That serendipity is what led me to write about today's subject. ============================== Thanks to a cancelled flight that left me scrambling to get from one fundraiser to another late last month, I've ... Read On >
Pet peeve of fundraising auctions: Pointing
One of the first lessons I learned at the Missouri Auction School was on the subject of pointing. “When inviting bidders to bid,” the instructor said, “use an open palm. It’s an invitation for the bidder to give you more money.” “Don’t point!” he emphasized, “It’s rude.” A quick way to separate the professional fundraising auctioneers from the amateurs is to watch their fingers. Get the full story in today’s video. https://youtu.be/a7RqUPOQ3Vs?feature=shared To me, pointing is ... Read On >
The swear words of estate auctioneering
In the summer 2016 when my team was rebuilding my website, I didn't post blogs here but I did post on Linkedin. This post was originally published on LinkedIn. ======================= The auctioneering profession is a small community. Longtime readers might recall me sharing information comparing the number of auctioneers in the USA (10,034) to those of other professions, such as funeral directors (23,648) and attorneys (302,603). Because there are so few auctioneers, they tend to be ... Read On >