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You are here: Home / Blog Post / A School Auction Excels at Marketing a Potato Cannon
Mar 30

A School Auction Excels at Marketing a Potato Cannon

Sherry Truhlar Leave a Comment

school auction items potato cannon

This was displayed in the maintenance building for two weeks prior to the auction.

The right unique school auction items will sell for high dollar in your gala. 

And a potato cannon, made by the school’s beloved maintenance department, in an all-boys Catholic school … is a perfect example of that.

The cannon sold for $1000 at the school auction… twice.

(Once the Auction Chair saw how well it was selling, she confirmed the maintenance team would be willing to build another one.  The school doubled its revenue on that item.)

Not only is this a fun idea, but what helped propel the strong sale was the marketing behind it.

First, this cannon was displayed well in advance of the auction.

school auction items potato cannon manual

The manual

The maintenance department had the cannon on display for a full  two weeks prior to the school auction.

Every boy in the school had visited the cannon at least once to check it out. The maintenance guys even named the cannon “The Brotherhood” and painted the name on the side.  🙂

school auction items potato cannon instruction manual

The instruction manual was written in English and Spanish.

Second an event was held prior to the sale.

Before the cannon was offered in the auction, the maintenance crew wanted to ensure the cannon was free of flaws.  But why not create a little “drama” around the test? 

They announced the test site and time!  A small crowd gather to watch the launch.  The ammo (a potato) sailed over the gymnasium, beyond the lacrosse field, and into the baseball diamond.  What a great marketing idea to stir up the talk around the school!

Third, it was sold as a complete package.  

The cannon was marketed with a bag of ammunition and an instruction manual, written in English and Spanish.  It was a complete “batteries included” item. The ramrod, owner’s manual, and sack of ammo (potatoes) were all there.

Are you taking such care with your items?  It’s not just about GETTING items … it’s about MARKETING them. 

In my work with clients, I’ve found that we can take an average or sub-par item, market it well, and it will sell for top-dollar.  Are you taking that kind of care?  If so, you can sell fewer items … and still make your financial goals.

P.S.  Here’s a free tool that will help you generate cool ideas like this. 

You can learn 100 other top-selling items (like this potato cannon) by getting my free Auction Item Guide. It’s the best items I sold in gala auctions around the country, last year.

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Copyright © 2009 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!

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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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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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