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.

Did you know owning a home based business has considerable tax benefits? The idea that only the rich have access to tax benefits is a myth!

The first step is to own a home based business and run it with the intention to make a profit. The important word there is “intention”. You don’t really have to make a profit to take advantage of these benefits. Now, you can begin a home based business for little cost and can run it part-time from your home while having a full-time job.

In time, and with some effort on your part, you will be able to leave your day job and work from your home full-time and take advantage of all of the benefits a home based business has. The best part is you can take advantage of the home based business tax benefits as soon as you start your new business!

Owning a home based business allows you to deduct some personal expenses you wouldn’t usually be able to deduct. These things include but are not limited to: dining out, a new computer for the office, dental and medical expenses, and some vacation related expenses. The money you can deduct for operating a home based business is not insignificant and can amount to well over ten thousand dollars.

Here are the top five deductible expenses for Home Based Businesses:

1. Vehicle Deduction

This IS the most complicated home based business tax benefit you get. It is also where most people get into trouble with the IRS because they didn’t correctly document their vehicle related deductions. If you are going to use vehicle deductions, I can not stress enough that you MUST document everything properly. Keeping a diary or travel log to track mileage, maintenance costs, etc. will save you time and many headaches.

How does the vehicle deduction work? Basically, you determine how much of the time you use your vehicle for your home based business as a percentage. You are then permitted to take that percentage of time and apply to the cost of operating your vehicle. For instance, if you use your vehicle 60 percent of the time for your home based business, you are permitted to deduct 60 percent of the costs of operating the vehicle.

2. Meals and Entertainment Deduction

First things first, in order to take advantage of this tax benefit, you must have proper documentation. This primarily means you need to save your receipts and record who you spoke to about your home business. Normally, you will be able to deduct up to 50 percent of the cost, but make sure you check beforehand.

As long as it is related to your home based business and document the costs properly, you can also deduct up to 100 percent of the expenses of entertaining people in your home. You may come to realize the tax benefits are much greater if you entertain in your home instead of taking someone to your favorite restaurant.

3. Home Office Deduction

This one of the more intricate home based business tax benefits, but it has the potential to save you thousands of dollars every year you own your business.

To claim the home office deduction:

1. You must render significant administrative or management activities for your business out of your home. For example, you do your paperwork, make calls, do your training, and perform other business functions out of a set area in your home.
2. You have no other office where you conduct significant management or administrative activities for your business.
3. You must use a specific part of your home exclusively for business. It doesn’t need to be an entire room though. A particular section will do.
4. You must use this designated section regularly for at least 45 minutes a day, four or more days a week. The work hours must not be occasional or sudden.

What can you deduct? You are permitted to deduct part of your home, utilities, and part of the interest and taxes you pay that are related to owning your home. You can also deduct office supplies like new computers, printers, phones and furniture used for your home business.

4. Travel Deduction

Did you know the Internal Revenue Code (Section 162) allows you to deduct “traveling expenses…while away from home in pursuit of a trade or business…”? As the owner of a home based business, you can visit family and friends all over the world and deduct some of the expenses associated with the trip. You just have to make sure at least half of the days of your trip are “business days”. Essentially, as long as you plan ahead and document properly, you can deduct a lot of the costs associated with traveling and vacationing… Every year. How is that for a home based business tax benefit?

5. Medical Expenses Deduction

In order to take advantage of this home based business tax benefit and, you will need to employ your spouse and cover them with a comprehensive family medical plan. This allows you to deduct all of the costs associated with the your family’s medical expenses. But, there two important requirements in order to take advantage of this deduction.

The first is you must have proof your spouse has done actual work for your home based business. The second is you must establish a legal document called a “Self Insured Medical Reimbursement Plan.” Do a search on that phrase in Google to see what that entails. It’s pretty straight forward.

1) Advertising is Key! Truth is…you can’t afford not to advertise. Statistically speaking, research shows…companies that maintain their advertising throughout a recession are poised to reap benefits over their competitors, who do not advertise, especially once the market begins to recover. Therefore, slightly increasing your advertising in order to get the edge over your competition is a good idea. However, if you’re not in a position to do that, try to maintain your normal spending levels if at all possible. First and foremost… advertising is the promotion of a company’s products or services carried out essentially to drive sales of the products or services, but also, to build a brand identity and communicate any changes or new products or services to the customer base. If you want to grow your company’s profitability and improve your bottom line…you must ADVERTISE!

2) Choose your advertising method wisely. Here are some options.

a) Print advertising: newspapers, magazines, brochures, fliers & direct mail

b) Outdoor advertising: billboards, kiosks, trade shows and events

c) Broadcast advertising: Television, Radio and Internet

d) Covert advertising or in layman’s terms “product placement”: now this is the advertising you see in motion pictures-or with sitcoms on TV…this is a unique form of advertising that companies do to showcase their product or service.

e) Public Service advertising: is traditionally reserved for socially relevant messaging, political integrity, poverty, religious or civic events, nonprofit 501 (c) (3) organizations.

f) Celebrity advertising: of course this is when a famous person is asked to be a spokesperson for your product or service. Today there are growing companies that bank on the power and influence of celebrity advertising. In most cases, the celebrity lends instant credibility and influences the target customer base positive manner thereby increasing the company’s profitability.

3) The difference between having an advertising plan and having an advertising strategy is critical. It’s like this…if you want to get from point A to point B that’s your plan. Your strategy is how you’re going to do it. For example if my plan is to drive to Savannah then I have to formulate a strategy on how I’m going to get there…either by car, plane or train etc. Once I determine the how, then I must map out my route…that’s my strategy. Your advertising plan consists of what your goal is. For instance, let’s say your plan is to increase sales by 30% and promote your special July 4th sale including half off of everything in stock. Well the advertising strategy must include the execution of the plan. If you want to inform your prospective customers about your sale…you’ve got to figure out “the how factor”…how are you going to get that message across? What vehicle will you use? Then you must strategize an effective campaign relaying the pertinent information to the target audience utilizing a creative advertisement to effectively communicate your message. You may decide to combine flyers, TV, radio & internet along with a celebrity endorsement. So the advertising plan and advertising strategy are very different but function in partnership…because one doesn’t work effectively without the other.

4) The one key word to use in advertising The best word in advertising is…”FREE” anything free is going to instantly grab attention and make your customer curious to find out what is being offered for free! However, if you’re limited on what you can offer for free…there are other advertising techniques you can use…i.e., special offers are nothing more than good old fashioned “bribery” because you hook the customer with the BUY ONE GET ONE OFFER or Buy TWO GET ONE HALF OFF! This technique is very effective because you have given the customer an incentive to spend more!

5) The most important element in effective advertising The industry terminology is called “THE CALL-TO-ACTION.” But I like to call it, the WOW Factor or the “Special Sauce.” In today’s society we are spoiled. Most of us want everything now, at our convenience and deeply discounted. Consumers today don’t want to spend too much time or energy looking for a great deal. Most importantly we look for a quality product or service at a great price. Thus, the key for any company or business…is to offer their target audience something unique that’s going to “knock their socks off!” However, you must offer something that will influence the target customer to take action right away! The WOW Factor equals activation! To make sure you get that activation; you must give it the KISS test; KEEP-IT-SWEET & SIMPLE!