Ryan helps auction companies look like marketing experts to their sellers by clarifying their message, communicating that message with attractive media, and measuring that media with state-of-the-art tools.

An Adrenaline Rush in Someone Else’s Living Room

The irony of the situation was that I was asked to speak about what I’ve seen God do in odd or uncomfortable ways over the past few years of my life. Using Bob Goff’s book, Love Does, as a filter, I told my story of life change and the stories of sovereignty that affirmed my spiritual journey. I challenged the circle to respond to God’s promptings, even when they don’t understand the reason or efficacy of that obedience.

320: Following Requires Steps

Following requires movement. In most situations, that will be irregular but consistent movement. It will look different for all of us, because we’re all moving toward Jesus from different angles and in different contexts. While there might be big breakthroughs, where we jump multiple spaces on the game board, most of the journey will be small steps in Jesus’ fresh footprints.

319: The Oddest Objection I Get When Consulting

I’m not telling you how or where to spend your money. I’m just letting you know that neither you nor I can trust our assumptions.

4 Reasons I Shouldn’t Pursue My Dream Job

We summited one peak in cold, blowing rain; and I said to one of my teammates, “I don’t know if there’s something broken in me, but I love this!”

317: An Ohio Church Plant and an Animal Migration Bridge in Alberta

Candidly, the church through history has often made those instinctive journeys more dangerous. We’ve crushed lives and spooked others from progress. Even as we have attempted to build in-roads into secular culture, we have created more hurdles for someone to find their destiny on the other side of their church experience.

316: Only A Week of Daydreaming Remains

It’s been a tension—not wanting to set my expectations too high but interrupting my days with daydreams (and Google searches), having such a huge motivation but not flaunt the prize in others’ faces. If you’re reading about it here, it’s because you want to join me; and I’m grateful for your support.

315: 2 Adaptive Advertising Technologies Auctioneers Can Afford

With each new technological capability, auctioneers have needed to fit more tools into their marketing tool boxes, but they’ve also gained more and better ways to find motivated buyers and sellers. Is your advertising updating itself after you cut it loose? Is it adapting to buyer interests? If not, how much of a head start are you willing to give your competition while their marketing is?

314: Beat Your Conference Education Hangover

So, what do you do with this sense of confronted ignorance? How do you incorporate all this new knowledge into your daily life—especially when work is ramped up waiting for your return to the office?

Emory’s Last Morning at the Crosswalk

Before you discount Emory’s service, know that he represents all of us. We’re all only part way on our journey of serving. We’re all proud to wear our safety gear. We all look forward to Sunday mornings.

312: 4 Marketing Trends Driving eBay’s Auction Decline

What works for eBay may not work for most of our firms, but we can learn from the trends that their scale and ubiquity illustrate. If their sellers are adapting to cultural changes, we need to help our sellers do the same.

311: Get Better Results From Your Facebook Advertising

While there are groups or lists of people you can’t find on Facebook, there are a lot of specific audiences readily available to make your auction advertising more effective and efficient. Not all buyers are on Facebook; but there are more buyers there on any given day than in newsprint, magazines, or any TV channel. The specificity to which you can market on Facebook is unprecedented and unparalleled.

310: Freedom of Expression: My Worship Journey

Worship has changed for me over the past decade, informed by others (like Todd) who see worship as a lifestyle instead of as the standing song, the sitting song, and the standing song before a sermon.

309: 5 Reasons to be Wary of Automated Marketing

Most of the folks that attend my seminars represent sole proprietorships or family-size businesses. Based on the feedback I get before and after my talks, I sense that many auctioneers feel unable to keep up with the growing media landscape. In particular, they tell me they don’t have the time, energy, or expertise to manage

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308: 3 Things I Learned from Being a Heretic

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been regarded a heretic in two very different but very important parts of my life: my faith and my career. I was struck that my response to both controversies was similar and that the lessons I learned were the same.

307: Why Auctioneers Should Be Careful with Auction Hash Tags (Part 2)

No matter how the transaction is conducted, the marketing that brings the buyer to an auction or to a listing or to a dealer is pretty much the same. Savvy marketers know to determine the likely buyer and then build a campaign of the multiple media, public relations efforts, and/or interpersonal interactions that are most likely to attract those potential buyers.

306: Why Auctioneers Should Be Careful with #AuctionsWork (Part 1)

You know who doesn’t use #AuctionsWork? Ritchie Brothers, Christie’s, Barrett Jackson, Sotheby’s, and eBay. They don’t need it. Neither do we.

3 Reasons I’m Writing about a Vacation I Haven’t Taken

It’s exciting to meet people with passion. We can all enjoy conversations about what inspires each other, and we should. That requires that we act on those passions, that we create those stories, that we pursue our dreams.

304: 5 Ways Fiduciary Responsibility Guides Auction Advertising

Whether “fiduciary duty” can be found in our auction contract or not, it’s in our best interest to act as if it is. That will lead us to make decisions that may not be easy but will be the right thing to do. Surprisingly, some of those decisions will be in our marketing plan.

303: Living in the Shadow of a Great Man

Kendall embraced this intentional lifestyle instead of the American dream. He bought into the concept of eternity and brought the weight of it into daily practice. He jumped into a lasting legacy with both feet. He walked a path so many regret not taking. He showed us how to do this life thing, even though he was given less time to do it.

302: Creative Ways to Get Past the Gatekeepers to Your Prospects

One of the best ways to circumvent that consumer defense is the element of surprise, and one of the best vehicles for that is dimensional mail. First, it typically gets past the gate keepers, even in corporate settings. Second, it allows a unique advertising vehicle underused and probably unmatched by your competitors.