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Hiring An Auction Company

Estimating your assets value:

Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.

Compensation and Expenses:

Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.

A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.

In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.

In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.

In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.

In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.

What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.

Auction Expenses:

In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.

All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.

Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.

Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.

Buyer’s Premium:

What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.

The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.

It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.

Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.

Pre-Sales:

We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.

As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.

Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.

A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.

It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.

When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.

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Leading a Small Business Strategically

On Monday morning, the business owner returned from a long vacation to find his business closed. He was left with a note on the door that read, “This is to inform you that I’ve resigned. You left me to act in your behalf, but you didn’t tell me about these problems. The bills were months behind. Your suppliers were calling because they hadn’t been paid. You left me with several personnel issues that I didn’t have the authority to correct. I tried to deal with these matters responsibly, but they continued to grow. Why in the world would you leave us in such a hostile climate?”Today, many small businesses are experiencing the realities of global competitions. Many companies feel that they must restructure to stay competitive with world markets. After 18 years of managing projects and conducting over 100 organizational evaluations of business organizations, I realize that both large and small organizations struggle in implementing their operations effectively. According to a 2004 Small Business Administration (SBA) study, 580,900 small businesses opened in 2005, and 576,200 closed. The SBA noted that 67 percent of these new companies were able to survive at least 2 years, while 44 percent survived at least 4 years. What can be done to help small businesses achieve more market success? I have seen the benefits of strategic thinking in large successful organizations. Strategic thinking may be what a small business needs to sustain growth. Small businesses that cater to the workforce’s needs in the future workforce will gain a competitive advantage.There are four critical factors that will be discussed for gaining this competitive advantage:(1) inspire vision,(2) define core competencies,(3) apply strategic thinking, and(4) connect with employees.VisionEmployees want to know that their leaders are focused on the future as well as today’s problems. Vision is a key ingredient to keeping businesses on target. James Kouzes and Barry Posner, authors of The Leadership Challenge, conducted research on sixty thousand organizational leaders. They note that highly effective leaders inspire a shared vision: “To enlist people in a vision, leaders must know their constituents and their language. People must believe that leaders understand their needs…”A leader who has a clear vision can assist in guiding his or her organization. Most business leaders are too busy with the current issues of today and find little time for vision building. This leaves workers as well as the organization unfulfilled. Having a shared vision provides the small business a competitive advantage. Some critics will argue that a vision is not critical for small business success. This is simply not the case. Visionaries concentrate on future opportunities, not today’s limitation. Vision relates to the ability to look beyond physical constraints of the natural ream. While other organizations are engaging in trivial matters, an effective small business leader should inspire his workforce with a shared vision, thereby meeting their purposeful living needs.Core CompetenciesLeaders should clarify their core competencies with workers during rapid change. In times of restructuring, an organization should maintain its core functions. On the contrary, large businesses try to compete by quickly extending themselves in the marketplace, thereby becoming “all things to all people.” Their workers become confused because inconsistency and uncertainty exist. Companies find themselves doing things that they are not part of their organizational competencies. This provides a good formula for failure. In an effort to compete with global competition, many organizations downsize or ree-ngineer their processes, but lose their core competencies in the market.C.K. Prahalad, author of Competing for the Future, maintains that senior managers sometimes do not perform their homework in order to compete with the rapid market changes. He notes that restructuring is usually a dead-end initiative; however, re-engineering that eliminates unnecessary work and enhances processes is beneficial because it is directed toward company objectives such as customer satisfaction or total quality initiatives. Therefore, communicating a clear focus on core competencies is a competitive advantage for any business. Understanding a small business’ core competencies is an important element in organizational growth. Leaders then become the instruments to ensure that workers’ assurance.Strategic ThinkingEmployees want to know that their leaders are critically evaluating the market and industry competition. The enormous demographic changes within the 21st century American workforce are creating personnel issues for organizations unwilling to change their paradigms. Exemplary organizations think strategically and operate in duality. Watt Wacker, Jim Taylor, and Howard Means, authors of the Visionary Handbook, admonish that we live in an Age of Possibility where individual are able to claim their own future. They explain, “Fail to build your own future, and someone is going to build one for you….”Most businesses engage in some type of planning; however, few organizations properly engage in strategic thinking. Therefore, this becomes a competitive advantage in the marketplace for small businesses. Strategic thinking is more than meticulous planning in an organization. Strategic thinking consists of two components that are knowledge about the present and foresight about the future. Organizational strategists call this duality. Successful businesses exercise this phenomenon routinely. Most small businesses are concerned about today’s customers or tomorrow’s contracts but have little regard for future consequences. Some of the characteristics of effective strategic thinking include focusing on important issues, maintaining a long-term view, appreciating consequences, and remaining flexible. Strategic planning and vision work together because proper planning provides the basic framework and rationale for determining an organization’s direction while addressing the day-to-day challenges. Therefore, effective organizations go beyond detailed planning into a mode of strategic thinking.Connection with EmployeesEffective organizational leaders understand the important of connecting with a culturally diverse workforce. On numerous occasions, companies sing the praises of new technologies while workers are often devalued in the process. Leaders should see followers as more than mechanical parts for their organizational objectives. Jeffrey Pfeffer, author of the Human Equation, acknowledges that an organization’s success is directly related to its implementation, and this capacity comes from the workers, how they are treated, their skills, and their efforts as it relates to the organization.The Emergent Workforce now crosses gender, age groups, race, and geography. Employers must now deal with four generations in the same workforce for the first time in American history. The leadership style that may be effective for a Baby Boomer employee may fail with a Generation X employee. Some of the cultural changes include the acceptance of downsizing as a part of work life, the traditional family decline, the competitive nature of a global business structure, and the advancement of communication technologies to build person-to-person relationships. Some of these factors have impacted the workers attitude about their job and the quality of life. Today’s employees do not want to be a component in a big machine; they want to be valued because they are more than a physical being. In the quest for profit, many large businesses lose focus on the importance of socio-technical systems.However, small businesses cannot afford this luxury. Large organizations have difficulty adjusting to the personal needs of their employees in a rapid, competitive environment. Cultural and social changes place an additional burden of their flexibility to operate. This is a distinct advantage for a small business owner. Staying connected is critical to this success. Therefore, an effective leader in a small business must maintain a good relationship with his followers to assure credibility with the group.The Path ForwardIn spite of global pressures and front-line competitions, small businesses can achieve a high level of success with the right approach. The 21st century provides a brave, new world of personnel challenges such as virtual organizations, outsourcing, and the financial constraints of declining budgets in many federal agencies. Small business leaders can apply five critical factors that are vision, specific core competencies, goals, strategic thinking, and connection with employees. These problems then become an opportunity for small businesses to level the playing field thereby increasing their success rate. Therefore, these methods provide a logical, practice process for starting, growing, and sustaining a successful small business. Start today and grow your small business!

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How to Make Money from Your Website Using Advertising

You have managed to get your website to that magical point where you have established popularity, traffic, loyalty and a community of fans. Your site contains a wealth of information, resources and services that you provide free because that’s just the kind of person you are. You may not have intended to make money from your site but now that you have an audience you realise that it’s possible, or perhaps you have to start thinking about generating income because your costs to manage the site have increased and it’s starting to hurt.

You have been diligent over the years to build up your community and wonder how to go about making some revenue by leveraging this audience (as the marketers would say, you want to monetise your site). Maybe you have some big dreams and plan to one day generate advertising income from your new web project. This is a very common plan for online business given people tend to expect information and services to be free. Advertising may be one of the only revenue generation strategies available to you.

How much traffic do I have to have to make money?

In my experience once you have about 500-1000 unique visitors per day to your site *at least* before you can start to make real money. You can make chimps change from day one from your 50 hits, but this article is targeted at those that have a larger audience, or perhaps are constructing a business plan (either real or in your head) and would like to know how to go about monetising your website. If you get more then 1000 unique visitors a day chances are you already make money from your site (if not you should be!) but my points are still relevant.

As per usual I will illustrate my article using real world examples from what I did to make money. Over about five years I managed a hobby site that started off as a very local site focusing on people in my area that played the game Magic: The Gathering. I wrote reports and did news coverage for the game. Later I expanded the site to Australia and eventually opened it to the world although it remained mostly Australian with a good chunk of Asians and New Zealanders.

Banner programs

At around the time I was getting 500 unique visitors a day I decided to start playing with advertising methods. This was before the advent of Google AdSense (more on this later) but there were many banner programs available that paid either on cost per click (CPC) or per impression basis. An impression is a banner being displayed to a user once, a click is someone clicking the banner and visiting the site being advertised.

These networks act as a middle man between business that want to advertise and people like me that have an audience and want to make some money by displaying banners. Unfortunately these programs display banners that often don’t match your audience. I tried a few but it was a short lived experiment that made me a few dollars if that.

I recommend you avoid any banner programs. If you are confused about what I am talking about regarding banner programs do a search for Burst Media to get a grasp of how they work. For small sites they just don’t make much money. For large sites there are much better ways to make money. There are people out there that make good money from these programs (I’m sure the program owners do!) but in my experience a little effort to find the right type of advertising can yield much better results.

I decided the best way to make money was to really leverage the demographics of my audience. I had a fairly focused niche, card game playing young males. I started by emailing all the local and international card game shops and asked if they were interested in exposure to my market. Instantly I had responses but I had to come up with a pricing structure first.

How much should you charge?

By this time my site was getting close to 1000 unique visitors per day, with about 300,000 impressions per month. I had done my research and I knew that advertising on websites was usually via the standard 468×60 banner so I would start with that. I also knew that many companies charged by what is called CPM or cost per 1000 impressions. Back then this was by far the most commonly used scale for pricing of web advertising and you could expect to earn anywhere from $0.10 to $10.00 CPM. I never liked this method of advertising because it didn’t guarantee any visitors. Charging by click-throughs is a far better method, but didn’t become mainstream until later. I decided that in order to keep my advertisers I had to offer value so I went for a blanket approach. I started charging a flat rate of $30 per month to have a banner on my site which offered as many impressions that my traffic could provide. I signed up my first few advertisers at this rate.

Banner management software

In order to “rotate” different banners across my site I needed some special software that would dynamically place banners. This allowed me to have more than one advertiser banner in a single location so I could optimise my adspace and make sure my audience didn’t get too bored from seeing the same banner over and over again.