Mastering the Item Procurement Process

Unfortunately, there are no short cuts when it comes to item procurement. However, by setting clear goals, creating a solid plan and employing the following strategies, you'll have a more manageable process that will make your efforts more effective and less stressful.

1. Start Early
   
   The best time to start planning next year's procurement is BEFORE this year's event. Keep complete and comprehensive records of this year's procurement to help you make better decisions for next year. And pass along knowledge of last year's event by having this year's procurement co-chair serve as next year's procurement chair. Both will give next year's team an easy transition with no loss of momentum.
   
   
2. Nurture your Donors
   
   After thanking donors for their contribution to this year's event, and before asking contributions for next year's event, be sure to communicate what your organization accomplished with the monies your donors contributed in the past. Make the message personal by demonstrating how their donation impacted your organization.
   
   
3. Clarify the value donors and sponsors will receive
   
   Be sure your entire team can articulate your organization's purpose clearly. Also, make certain you can illustrate in which ways you will expose your donors' and sponsors' information to your audience (i.e. Website, event program, signage, etc.)
   
   
4. Know your audience
   
   Take the time to understand your audience and what they like to purchase by reviewing the previous year's sales data and bidding habits, sending out a donor survey, and conducting personal interviews with your larger donors.
   
   
5. Build a Procurement Team
   
   Build a procurement committee composed of 'worker bees' to solicit the more everyday silent auction items, and well-connected individuals to solicit the special, one-of-a-kind items for the live auction.
   
   
6. Hold Brainstorming Sessions
   
   Hold meetings specifically for procurement brainstorming. Keep them fun, interactive and creative. Invite procurement team members, as well as Board members, staff, and any other interested or vested individuals. Help people in attendance to "connect the dots" between themselves and the items you have targeted for procurement.
   
   
7. Create a Procurement Wish List
   
   The wish list should be specific, but not too specific. For example, "travel packages" may not inspire action. However, "Accommodations in Napa Valley" may capture the attention of the person with access to a guest home there. Distribute the wish list to Board members, committees, staff, and any other interested and vested individuals.
   
   
8. Set Reasonable Expectations
   
   Use your goals to establish clear, reasonable, and manageable expectations for your team. Break down a 100-item procurement goal this way: with a 10-person team, each member would only need to procure 10 items to achieve success. With 10 months advanced planning, this equates to one item per person, per month. With 5 months advanced planning, this equates to two items per person, per month.
   
   
9. Send an "Ask Letter"
   
   Prepare an "Ask Letter" (sometimes called a procurement letter) that communicates your mission, restates your previous year accomplishments and makes specific requests. Send these letters out far enough in advance so that organizations can include your event in their annual donation allocation planning. Follow up with a call after 3 or 4 weeks if you get no response to the letter.
   
   
10. Create Auction Items
    
    Some of the best items sold at events are those generated out of the organization or the organization's Board members. Here are a few examples: a reserved parking space; a wine dinner at the home of a respected Board member; Principal for a Day (at a school); a wine collector's dream - created with the donation of 1-2 high end bottles from each member of a Board.
    
    
11. Consider Consignments
    
    When considering consignments, take into account how guests might feel about bidding on items for which monies raised will be shared with a third party-and be certain to disclose that fact. Also, limit consignments to items that have a profit margin greater than the cost of the item. With these factors in mind, consignments can be a great way to fill holes in the live auction or to supplement entire silent auction categories (i.e., jewelry, travel, and sports memorabilia).
    
    
12. End Early
    
    Nobody likes to turn down items which may turn into dollars. However, last-minute donations can play havoc on planning and put unnecessary pressure on a committee. When following the above tips, you can confidently set a procurement deadline far enough prior to the event to ensure smooth follow-through. Simply plant the procurement deadline date in the procurement committee's mind from day one, and build procurement materials around the procurement deadline date as well.

Jeff Tanenbaum is the owner and lead auctioneer of Rock the Gavel. He can be contacted by phone at 805-496-8087 or by email at jeff@rockthegavel.com.

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Adding Value by Packaging

Packaging can drive up the value of your items at auction. Sold singly, some auction items will sell for 100% or more of their full market value, whereas others will bring in less than their full value. Gift certificates, for example, rarely sell for more than their face value. The value retention for each item is dependent upon many factors, including the kind of auction, ratio of items to guests, and financial capacity of the guests. As a general rule, live auction items generally retain 75% or more of their retail value, while silent auction items will retain 50% of their value.

One of the keys to generating above-market-price bidding on items is to package items together, creating one-of-a-kind offerings and experiences. Many of the items your team procures will be very straightforward — salon or spa services, dinner for two, movies tickets, a limo ride, a flower arrangement, etc. Packaging takes those relatively ordinary items and turns them into something extraordinary and one-of-a-kind. Combine salon services and the flower arrangement and you have a great Mother's Day Package. Combine the dinner, movie tickets, and limo ride and you have a Night on the Town package. What about a years' worth of dry cleaning and tailoring services? Or a Bunch of Brunches?

Smart packaging can take items that are not as desirable, such as donations repeated year after year, or a donation that's not quite "right", and combines them with something else that will generate a lot of bidding. Another packaging tip is to look at last year's bid sheets to help create packages. What packages went well in your silent and live auctions, and how much did they sell for? Try to repeat the big winners.

Once you start this process, it becomes fun and almost magical to see what you can come up with. Packaging your donations makes your items truly one-of-a-kind. You can end up with a higher-value package that you could place in your live or silent auction, so you have more options. It gives your bidders an opportunity to indulge themselves guilt-free, because their donation benefits your cause. Appealing, one-of-a-kind packages will drive up bidding — and you'll make more money.

Start evaluating procured item packaging potential halfway through the procurement timeline. Try to keep your options open as long as possible — you never know when that additional item will come in that makes an existing package truly unique. Looking at packaging that far in advance will give you the time to go proactively procure the item that makes an ordinary package really special. For example, if a celebrity has donated a night out with the winning bidder(s) — go out and get dinner for two (or three, if your donor audience is mostly couples) at that hot, new restaurant that everyone is talking about, and create a package that's truly unique and exclusive to your event.

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Quick Tips to Procuring Auction Items

1. Build a Dynamic Committee Focused on Procurement.
   
   Divide the committee into two groups. The first group will solicit the day-to-day items, including restaurant and retail gift certificates, free car washes, etc. The second group will use their connections to get the unique, high-end packages, such as: suites at sporting events and concerts, private vacation homes, and chef experiences.
   
   
2. Give Your Committee Specific Expectations.
   
   A fun approach is to put the committee in teams, give each team a specific auction item wish list, and have each compete to see who can get the most items. The more direction and encouragement you can provide each team, the more successful they'll be.
   
   
3. Involve Your Vendors with Auction Procurement.
   
   All of the vendors that the non-profit uses for the event and their day-to-day business should be donating items to the auction. The key is to get creative, ask big and leverage your relationship.
   
   
4. Aim High.
   
   It's important to see the potential in local community resources as a source for auction items — whether it's dinner with a congressman, a children's party at the firehouse, or a helicopter ride with a news traffic reporter. Be inventive! There are many overlooked experiences that can be unique items in your auction for which people will pay top dollar.
   
   
5. Complete with Travel Packages.
   
   It is proven that travel draws the highest bids in auctions. Have your committee get travel donations in desirable cities throughout the world. It always makes sense to use travel packages even if you have to pay for them because you can sell them multiple times to the top bidders. This will help you maximize your net profits.
   
   

Christina Morrissey is relationship manager for Winspire, Inc. She can be reached by email at CMorrissey@WinspireMe.com and by phone at 949-544-8542.

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Procurement Tactics

The most effective way to procure items is face-to-face. Potential donors have a harder time turning down requests in person. Use this to your advantage. Hold a procurement training meeting before sending committee members out and make sure they are comfortable with the script, understand your goals, and have the appropriate donor incentives and procurement forms. If your procurement team members are unable to make every procurement request in person, focus in-person procurement calls on the more exclusive, hard-to-get items that are strategic to your auction's success and direct your team to make the balance of their requests by phone.

Whether requests are made face-to-face or by phone, start the request process with a solicitation letter. A solicitation letter should have three ideas communicated in three paragraphs:

1. Describe your mission and the beneficiaries of your mission.
   
2. Ask for a donation (be as specific as possible) and describe how that donation will be used.
   
3. Tell the recipient how to donate, by what date you need the donation, and who to contact regarding the donation.

You can follow this format for every letter you send, but avoid sending out solicitation form letters — if you've done your homework on each prospective donor, the letter's second paragraph will be unique for each letter. In some cases you'll get a response and a donation resulting from the letter. If you get no response, follow up with a phone call or face-to-face meeting, and continue to follow up periodically until you get a donation or a definitive 'no.'

Some suggestions for donor incentives are:

• Recognition (a listing) in the event program
• An ad in the event program (ad size dependent on donation amount)
• Mention on event signage or banners
• Mention in event night announcements
• Framed certificate of appreciation
• Tickets
• Seating in a VIP section
• Own table
• Front row seating
• Display or booth
• Business card or brochures displayed
• Name/logo on Website or other electronic media
• Mention in postal or email mailing
• Mention in the event slide show or thank-you luncheon post-event

Auction procurement forms should be always be used and can easily be printed from Auctionpay Event Software or develop a standard form. Your procurement committee should carry forms with them at all times — but make sure that everyone involved with your organization has them, too, like Board members, staff, every committee member, and volunteers. You never know when a procurement opportunity will arise. Consider providing them in a plastic envelope with pens, so forms don't get tattered and the individual always has a pen handy. To make tracking easier, print procurement forms on 2-part carbonless forms, with one part going to the donor and one part going to your organization.

Encourage your procurement committee to go out in groups of two or more when soliciting donations. People tend to be less shy about asking for donations when they are with others. Make sure, however, that one person makes the introduction and leads the conversation to eliminate distractions. Committee members should be dressed appropriately for the audience and location. For example, if they are going to a country club, have them dress in business casual clothing.

Repeat donors are key to a successful procurement strategy. When approaching donors who gave the previous year, prepare for the "ask" by completing the bulk of the procurement form in advance. Know how their past donations have benefitted the organization and be prepared to explain this to the past donor. You can make this process even easier by fostering these donor relationships throughout the year, so that they will be expecting your request, and ideally donating without a prompt from the committee. Nurturing donor, guest, staff and volunteer relationships throughout the year builds partnerships and keeps you and your organization from being labeled as only a "taker."

If a potential donor is not able to make an item or monetary donation, ask them to provide a service. This will only cost them time and will make them feel like a contributor, engendering positive feelings about your organization. An alternative to services is to donate something they own, such as a vacation home, a boat or venue.

When appropriate, encourage friendly competition among merchants by letting the prospective merchant donor know that a competing or neighboring merchant has already donated. Also consider in-kind donations: solicit a company to provide supplies needed for your event that have their company logo, for instance, golf balls for a tournament. The in-kind donation concept can be applied to beverages, printing, and special desserts or menu items, etc. These types of donations enhance event ambiance — and some of the items can be sold at the event for added revenue opportunities.

It looks unorganized to have last minute add-on items, with addendum pages floating out of your catalog. More importantly, last-minute item additions don't get the same attention level and don't drive bids as effectively as items donated within the time period. The only time you should add a last-minute item to your catalog is when it's special, desirable, and one-of-a-kind. However, if items are donated after the deadline, you can add them to the silent auction, use them for a raffle or drawing, or save them for next year's event or a post-event online auction.