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You are here: Home / Blog Post / How to get higher bids at your benefit auction: Encourage “group-ons”
Feb 24

How to get higher bids at your benefit auction: Encourage “group-ons”

Sherry Truhlar Leave a Comment

Groupon_CardOne client sells a popular item in the live auction. It’s the chance for eight people to dine at a nice restaurant with the Head of the School. Fine wines are served and the food is spectacular, but the real draw is the chance to enjoy a meal with the popular headmaster.

“Get your ‘Group-on,’” one of the auction co-chairs encourages. “Bid on this item with your friends!”

It’s a clever play on words.

Since the word “Groupon” has entered our vocabulary around 2009, many of us know a Groupon to be a deal-of-the-day recommendation. Groupon (the company) emails out a coupon for a store or restaurant, offering a substantial discount if you purchase the deal. Simply put, it’s a coupon sent to a group of people. Though discounts vary, often the deal becomes active once a certain number of people commit to buying, and it’s closed once it hits a maximum threshold of buyers. The interest of the group propels the popularity of the deal.

At your benefit auction, sale prices escalate when bidders organize to buy items as a group. If you’re wondering how to get higher bids on items, this can be one area to examine.

For example, earlier this month at a school auction, I sold a Lower School Hip Hop Party. It was the chance for one grade (kindergarten through fourth grade) to take over the gym, which would be turned into an impressive night club for kids. Each grade had an assigned ambassador bidding on its behalf against ambassadors from the other lower school grades.

Wow, talk about a well-organized “group-on!” Parents submitted their bids to their grade ambassadors in advance of the auction. Some parents discussed “stretch bids” that could be used, only if bidding exceeded what they’d hoped.

This concept was again used later in the auction, when we sold the chance for one of the middle school grades to spend a school day at a nearby amusement park. Once again, Ambassadors became the official bidding representatives of their grade (5th through 8th grade) to buy the item on behalf of their grade.

More often, organized group bidding is spontaneous. Groups of people might discuss bidding on an item in advance of the auction, but it’s not formally submitted as a bid to an ambassador.

For instance, at an all-girls middle school auction four years ago, I sold a lock-in overseen by two teachers. The lock-in consisted of one grade of girls having a sleepover on a Friday night in the gym. Two popular teachers would chaperone the evening, providing games, food, and movies. As the bidding progressed and it became apparent that initial price discussions wouldn’t secure the winning bid, parents began running table to table, organizing their bidding to ensure their daughter’s grade won the final bid.

School auctions are rich with examples of group buying, but this behavior can also be fostered in nonprofit auctions.

Large vacation homes that accommodate multiple families, or dinners and cocktail parties that accommodate several couples, often become group buys at an auction.

As an auction planner, it’s to your advantage to encourage group buying. Winning bids will be higher when multiple bidders pool their money to buy an item.

What can you do to foster bidders to get a “group-on?” Here are some tips.

PRE-EVENT: In your descriptions, draw attention to items that are appropriate for group buys. “Consider bidding on this vacation with your best friend,” you might write, “This home easily accommodates two large families.”

AT THE BENEFIT AUCTION: (See photo.) Use sticky note marketing to remind guests when an item is good for group buys. “Great for groups,” your sticky note or notecard states.   Watch this video for sticky note marketing ideas.

DURING THE SALE: The auctioneer might wish to address it verbally. It’s not uncommon for me to say, “Here’s a great item to bid on with your friends.” Then during the course of the bidding, I’ll sometimes break the numbers down to reiterate the deal, “It’s a dinner for eight,” I’ll emphasize, “right now each guest is only paying $100!”

Fostering group buys raises sale prices. If guests talk about buying an item with a friend before the bidding begins, they’ll be better prepared to pay a higher amount for it onsite. Do your part by pointing out those items appropriate for group bids.

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Copyright © 2014 Red Apple Auctions Co. All Rights Reserved

About Sherry Truhlar

Fundraising auctioneer and educator, helping schools and nonprofits plan more profitable benefit auctions. A prolific writer for her own blog and other fundraising sites, she’s been covered in The Beacon-News, Town & Country Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine, Wiley's Special Events Galore!, AUCTIONEER, and other publications.

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Sherry, oh, Sherry! You were an invaluable asset to this year’s gala. With your assistance we were able to add so many new elements that truly made a difference in taking our event to another level. This year was the most successful yet! Everyone loved you and the amazing energy that you brought to the event. We look forward to having you again in 2018!

Krystal Fenwick

Thank you so much for the outstanding job you did for us on April 1! I have received so much positive feedback from so many who attended. You even earned Sister Suzan’s (our Vice-Principal) seal of approval! Safe travels to all your many events and thank you for making our biggest fundraiser of the year our best ever!

Diane Albano, Director of Development
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Sherry is flexible and easy to work with. She gives honest feedback and advice throughout the planning and implementation process. Without a doubt, Sherry and Red Apple Auctions has helped take our annual fundraising event to the next level.

Beckie Middendorf, Development Director and Janet Gulla, Development Coordinator
St. Henry District High School (Erlanger, KY)

Sherry is “on board” from day one of auction planning, works closely with our steering committee and is only just a phone call away. The night of the auction, we toss her the keys and let her drive the event! We are never disappointed!

Charly Ryan, Director of Institutional Advancement
The Academy of the Holy Cross (Kensington, MD)

I was very fortunate to have Red Apple on board for my first auction. Working with Sherry was invaluable. She provided guidance at every phase of planning, from procurement on forward – and she challenged us to make our event more ambitious and more successful at every stage. Thank you, Sherry!

Pete Goldlust, Director of Development
Oak Hill School (Eugene, OR)

If your auction needs to upgrade, call any auctioneer you find on Google. But if you want your auction to be impressive, meaningful, and profitable, you need to call Sherry.

Erin Banda
2016 NYUMBANI Board member

The auction was entertaining .. proactive … the crowd was involved and felt a part of it,” he said, emphasizing, “The entertainment value was huge.

Darrell, a long-time attendee

We plan on booking Red Apple Auctions much earlier for our next event so we can take advantage of more of the pre-event offerings.

Nicole Carr, Director of Grants and Special Events
The Ivymount School (Rockville, MD)

2012 Oakcrest Anne and CarolinaSherry, personally, I can’t even begin to tell you the immense amount of positive feedback that I received having YOU (and Darby) there with is this year!… Read The Rest “Anne Livaudais Knudsen, 5th year gala co-chair”

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Staci Meruvia 150 ptYou have NO idea of how many people came up to me (I know Julie as well) and said, ‘That auctioneer was incredible … she engaged the crowd, …… Read The Rest “Staci Meruvia”

Geri said: “Great job of getting potential donors in the room to step up to the plate and not feel guilty or bad about it. They actually wanted to give more … and that’s not something I’ve seen in many other auctioneers.” 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 The following… Read The Rest “Geri”

Irene attended one of my New Hampshire auctions and assumed I must be a radio personality — until I started to chant that fast talk. PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiIHNyYz0iaHR0cDovL3JlZGFwcGxlLmV2c3VpdGUuY29tL3BsYXllci9SM1ZsYzNRdE1qQXhNUzFPU0ZOUVEwRXRTWEpsYm1VdWJYQTBMVEU9Lz9jb250YWluZXI9ZXZwLTVHMlVHQlFGN1YiPjwvc2NyaXB0PjxkaXYgaWQ9ImV2cC01RzJVR0JRRjdWIiBkYXRhLXJvbGU9ImV2cC12aWRlbyIgZGF0YS1ldnAtaWQ9IlIzVmxjM1F0TWpBeE1TMU9TRk5RUTBFdFNYSmxibVV1YlhBMExURT0iPjwvZGl2Pg== “I’ve been to this event before with a couple of other auctioneers,” she said, “Your ability to get personal… Read The Rest “Irene”

Most product & consulting remarks are found on their respective webpages, but I’ve listed two below so you’re assured my products are as spot-on as my auctioneering.   Not only was our 2013 auction a blast, but our Washington, D.C. public school raised $67,000 — that’s $25,000 more than last year! The evening went… Read The Rest “Carolyn Kahn-Hall and Andrea Del Vecchio”

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