Wow Your Guests with 8 Next-Level Silent Auction Strategies
Do More Than Just Sell Items. Create a Truly Memorable Guest Experience
What’s the top goal of your charity’s silent auction?
You probably thought of money. But is that really the #1 goal? Let’s get real – the money you make from your silent auction pales in comparison to the live auction, the fund a need, and often even the dessert auction. And yet, the silent auction usually takes the most time to plan.
More time spent, less money earned. Hmm… Why do we do it?
You do the silent auction for three reasons:
- Engage your guests – get them there early, and get them excited for what’s to come
- Satisfy their need to win a few items without spending huge money (and ‘huge’ is relative…)
- Give your guests a thrilling and memorable experience that makes them want to come back next year
Silent auctions are supposed to be fun. It’s like a free-for-all shopping experience where every single item is available only for a limited time. Black Friday has nothing on silent auctions.
This article isn’t about bidding methods or ideas for silent auction items.
What you’re about to read are silent auction strategies – ways to make your silent auction the most memorable, fun, engaging, and share-worthy experience of the month, if not the year, for your guests. Do all that, and you’ll also increase your revenue.
Most of these strategies give you something to talk about before, during, and after the event. And for the most part, they take minimal planning time. So with that in mind, here you go.
Silent Auction Strategies to Make Your Fundraiser the Event of the Year
1. Wall of Gift Cards
I’ll be honest, I’m a bit biased here. I love gift cards. In fact, at my wedding we actually asked people to give us gift cards. Apparently, some people consider them a cheap and thoughtless gift. Not us. We made off with gift cards to like 12 restaurants and other stores. It was great…
And it’s people like me who the wall of gift cards is for.
Rather than put them in packages with other items (which is also a good idea), just put all your cards on a wall. It’s a buy it or lose it opportunity. First come first serve. This is a terrific incentive to get people to show up early, because when they’re gone, they’re gone.
Any unsold cards can be repurposed in other ways, such as an online auction or as a prize at the same event or a future one.
Is this worth doing? Historical silent auction data tells us most items sell for less than their fair market value. With a gift card wall, you’re getting full value for every card. So yes, it’s worth doing if you have enough cards donated.
2. Exclusive Silent Auction Table
This is a way to incentivize the ideal behavior you want from your guests.
Maybe you have a VIP table for people who pay extra for a variety of perks. Make one of those perks a special silent auction table that only they can buy items from. You don’t need more than a handful of items on this table. It’s the exclusivity that makes it special.
Maybe one of your goals is for more people to buy tickets early. Make a rule so anyone who pays before a certain date gets to buy items from the exclusive table. Give them a visual aid they can wear so no one cheats.
You could also make the exclusive table for anyone who came last year. In that case, you could put quite a few more items on it.
3. Can You Hear the Auctioneer?
This isn’t really a strategy. But failing in this area will hinder many of your other plans.
At most silent auctions, the auctioneer (or someone) walks around talking up items and telling guests about deadlines and teasers about what’s ahead in the live auction. They also talk about games guests can play, and various opportunities you might have sales people walking around selling. This is good.
But none of this really helps if you can’t hear anything she’s saying.
I went to one auction that had a live piano playing during the silent auction. I’m sure someone thought it was a great idea, and I get the concept of setting a mood with live music. But you couldn’t hear a thing the auctioneer was saying.
And what she’s doing matters way more than mood music – even if it’s live. So ditch the music, and make sure people can hear your auctioneer. (This would be a good time to make sure your sound equipment is positioned well too).
4. Hide a Surprise Gift with One Silent Auction Item
Tell people in advance there’s a special free gift that comes with one item in the silent auction. But no one knows which item, or what the gift is. Then, at a moment that works for your event, announce which item comes with a free gift and what the buyer won.
For extra fun if you have the time, figure out a couple clues you can plant that someone can decipher so they know which item comes with the free gift.
This kind of idea appeals to the type of person who likes puzzles and mysteries. Again, it’s about the experience.
5. Train Your Volunteers and Sales People
This gets overlooked too often. You should have people walking around selling things like Golden Tickets, raffle tickets, Heads or Tails, and other games you’ve got in the works. You also have volunteers managing the silent auction.
But these people have another role: Helping guests. Guests will have questions, and your team needs to know the answers or how to find them. This is also why volunteers should be visually identifiable. Give them something in common to wear so guests can find them easily.
Even more important than that, your volunteers need to have initiative. They need to be unafraid of talking up items to guests. Soft selling. They should be aware of the items available. When I work silent auctions, I walk through and look at every single item before the event starts. I believe every silent auction volunteer should do this. The more familiar they are, the more they can serve guests when it’s hectic and crazy.
Your volunteers should also be aware of all the games you have going and who is selling what, so they can point guests in the right direction.
No silent auction volunteers should be standing around doing nothing.
6. Have a Post Event Online Auction
This is not new idea, and it’s not totally without controversy, since some auction software charges more for this option. So, is the extra price worth it, knowing you might not even need it if all your items sell out? And unlike all these other silent auction strategies, an online auction contributes a big zero to the quality of the experience. There is no experience.
That said, it’s a good way to help people remember the event longer, and gives people who weren’t there a chance to participate.
To spruce it up, you might get a couple item donors to give two or three of the same item or experience, and then dedicate one of them exclusively to the online auction.
All that said, I’m not sure an online auction is worth the trouble. But if you find yourself with unsold items every year, this is a great way to give them a second chance. Same goes for any unsold gift cards from your gift card wall.
7. Use Photos to Enhance Gift Certificate Appeal
Some of your best silent auction sellers are also the least attractive. Gift cards (if you don’t do a wall), certificates, and special coupons are great, but there’s not much exciting about them, visually. Nothing to catch the eye.
If you can make it happen, get a nice photo that goes with the item. With free passes to a family fun park, for example, you should be able to get the park to give you a photo from their marketing.
8. Tie Silent Auction Décor to Your Theme
I believe the theme is one of the more underutilized assets for silent auction strategies, not to mention the rest of the event. It’s kind of funny how auction committees will spend all this time developing a theme, and then do absolutely nothing with it other than paste it on their flyer.
Just telling your audience, “This is our theme,” isn’t using your theme. That’s just boring.
If you’ve got the personnel and the budget, put some effort into visualizing the theme, and make it part of the silent auction in some way. Let your creative decorators loose. Visually impressive displays make an event memorable and get people talking. Done very well, this can bring out emotions in ways nothing else can.
Need More Fundraising Auction Help?
11 Ways to Raise More Money at Your Next Auction
7 Live Auction Strategies to Beat all Your Previous Records
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