Are All Auctioneers Equal? Will You Get Top Dollar?

We wrote this post for our legal and banking friends.  You will find this article interesting if you are an influencer that helps people choose auctioneers or brokers.  I encourage you to read to the end because you will learn valuable information here.

When we start working with a family the first question we ask is  “What is your goal?”  Overwhelmingly the answer to that question is “we want to get the most money we can”  They want top dollar and they don’t want any risk of a bad sale.  That means a lot of things and at DreamDirt we have gone clear over the top to ensure that all of our clients are in the best position possible to maximize the the value of their farmland.  To develop the best auction and land brokerage in the Midwest we have concentrated on these 5 things.

1. Investing in relevant effective technology resources that drive desirable action
2. Investing in human resources
3. Developing methods that meet our clients needs and goals
4. Creating an open and responsive communication system
5. Cultivating a community of buyers that trust us and engage frequently

Investing in Relevant Effective Technology Resources that Drive Desirable Action

• Data driven predictive marketing– this includes our entire digital advertising program which offers amazing almost science fiction like abilities in targeting the right buyers.  This stuff is cutting edge, rapidly evolving state of the art advertising ability.  Its overwhelming precise compared to old fashioned methods.  Dollar for dollar a proper digital ad can reach hundreds of times more qualified buyers than a newspaper ad.  Its swift, immediate and powerful.  Digital advertising is incredibly effective when executed by qualified specialists.  DreamDirt employs a full time digital marketing manager who’s only responsibility is to see that we are reaching the right people and make real time adjustments as the campaigns happen keeping us on the front edge of whats possible.
• We still use old fashioned methods- Newspapers, signs, fliers, direct mail, radio and TV ads, billboards.  These mediums may be fading in effectiveness but when used properly in a marketing plan they provide some great benefits that can work back and forth between the digital campaign.  Even though some of these things are old fashioned modern technology has made some of them easier and more effective.  I remember the old days when we wanted to run a radio ad.  You had to make an appointment and drive to the studio to record or call in on the phone (which made a terrible sounding ad)  A few days ago I pulled into a parking lot, scratched out a 60 second radio ad on a piece of paper, recorded it into my iPhone, added some background music to it and emailed it to our account rep at the station we wanted to run it on and it aired the next day.
• Online bidding- There is no bigger advance in the auction industry than online bidding. If you are selling an asset, there is absolutely no reason to not use an auctioneer without online bidding today.  Why would you limit the number of people that can participate?  The typical auction you have to walk in the door, get a number, have a seat, raise your hand and participate.   We love that!  Live auctions are our passion, we love the thrill of a live auction but people are busy today.  Farmland ownership has changed so much and so has the way its sold and bought.  We have a great deal of flexibility in our auctions today.  They can be a live crowd only, or an online crowd only but we really like the results we get when the two are combined for a simulcast auction.  We have the live crowd and we generate so much more competition by allowing bidders to participate via DreamDirt.com or on the smartphone app we adopted in 2016 for bidding.  These options means maximum participation in an auction and from first hand experience we can show you how it raises the price.
• Social Media Engagement- To many people Facebook and Twitter are forms of entertainment.  We’ve been able to leverage them as powerful business tools.  With over 35,000 followers in social media we’ve built some of the most popular farmland auction and sales pages in social media and the ability to reach millions with custom and look-alike audiences we are 1 of the few with the base of data to make it happen correctly.
• Email Campaigns- Email has been a very easy and effective way for us to reach our list of past buyers and bidders quickly for very little money.  Our mature list of past buyers and VIP investors is always growing driven by campaigns to reach new people and participants in our auctions for many years have been given the option of getting on the list.  That ads up to thousands and thousands of people.
• SMS Text and App Push Notifications- We provide online bidding with our auctions, we have thousands of phone numbers, few people have home phones anymore, we all carry smartphones so one day we said “lets text a link out to tomorrows auction and see what happens”  The response overwhelmed us quickly.  The phones were ringing and we watched out analytics as hundreds of people came on the website instantly to look at the auction catalog.  When we added our bidding app it gave us the opportunity to deliver auction notifications directly to our app owners phone screens.  With just a swipe of the finger they are in the app browsing the catalog.  It makes me smile just typing that.   It make me think back to the days when our main source of communication with buyers was a newspaper.  It took 10 days and $300 to tell buyers something.  Today we have options like email, SMS text and Push Notifications that are nearly free and instant.
• Fully Paperless Computerized Clerking and Cashiering-  The technology available today for auctioneers to manage transactions negates any ability to fudge numbers and allows a seller to follow along on a computer screen as an auction happens to see the total sale figure rise item by item.  It eliminates math errors by completing all calculations for us.  What used to take days to complete a full settlement now is ready to go the moment an auction ends with a few clicks.  It means our clients get nice neat easy to read reports and charts that break their auction down with a 100% accurate accounting of every penny.  While many still use the old “paper ticket method” we moved on many years ago and the data we’ve gained from this is invaluable to all our future sellers.
• Fully Paperless Contracts, Digital Storage and Signatures-  Signing paperwork with DreamDirt is incredibly simple and our system allows us to bring you in to interact directly with us.  With each auction we invite the attorneys, bankers, outside brokers and vendors into our technology and communication system to interact, share documents, communicate, approve or disapprove documents and its incredibly simple to use.  Streamlining paperwork and communication is in our clients best interest and it means on auction day every T is crossed, every I is dotted and everybody is on the same page.

Human Resources Are Our Most Valuable Asset

• The qualifications of DreamDirt Auctioneers are not typical of our industry.  We encourage every member of our staff to pursue the best educational opportunities available inside and outside of our industry and our employees have wracked up some of the most impressive educational and experience resumes available to you.  DreamDirt is lead by Jason Smith, CAI who achieved his CAI designation in 2016 joining less than 1% of auctioneers nationwide to achieve this educational milestone.  2 more DreamDirt Auctioneers have embarked on the CAI journey at Bloomington University in Indiana which will bring our total CAI Auctioneers to 3.  As of today there are only 9 of them in Iowa and less than 1000 in the entire nation.
• You know that guy that yells YEP at the auction? Thats a Ringman and thats a very important job.  there are 2 kinds of people that you will see doing that.  The unqualified and the qualified.  It seems simple to imitate and most could look at it and believe the unqualified is doing just fine at it.  The truth is, thats one of the most important aspects of your auction and yelling YEP is such a minute part of their function that it barely registers.  Those people make or break an auction, they are the deal makers, the influencers.  They are the voice of reason to bidders, the assistants and the psychologists.  Their decisions, what they say, do or hear is so important to a desirable outcome.  Anybody can stand in front of the room and yell YEP when they see a hand go up, thats easy but being an effective ringman that can take a seller clients auction to the next level takes planning, research, training, practice and solid decision making ability.  We have long insisted that every one of our Ringmen be graduates of the Professional Ringmens Institute.  You won’t find another company to put on the floor at your auction where every member of the auction team is PRI certified.  In fact, in most cases you won’t even find one because it just doesn’t take much to stand in the front of the room and yell YEP.

Client Security

When you recommend an auctioneer or land broker to a client are you giving them every opportunity to meet their goal of getting the top dollar?  From the appraisal process to closing DreamDirt offers tools for your clients to achieve success quickly.  Don’t risk average or below average results and low auction participation.  Let us know when your clients need us and let us show you how we can help move them through the process smoothly for a hassle free and successful auction or listing.  With free consultations and appraisals for those considering selling there is no obligation and the process will be valuable to the client.

Learn more about DreamDirt at www.MeetDreamDirt.com