240: How to Get More Consignors to List Their Units

More and more of my clients are developing monthly or quarterly auctions of consigned farm machinery, construction equipment, and recreational vehicles. Some photograph the equipment at their consignor’s location where the unit stays until post-auction pickup, while others ask the seller to bring the equipment to the auctioneer’s sale lot(s) where everything is washed, staged, and photographed.

Several of those auction companies hire me not only for the typical buyers’ round of advertising but also for a round of ads targeting potential sellers. I’ve noticed that few auctioneers have a page on their website for prospective consignors. Most auctioneers have me send interested sellers to generic auction event pages or unpopulated catalogs where the potential seller sees no sales copy, no button to click for consignor terms, and no form for submitting units to the auction. It’s as if we’re telling people willing to pay us a commission, “We want your equipment, but we want you to figure out how to work with us.”

When pitching an online consignment auction, you can’t rely on the ads to do all of the work. The landing page to which we send people should explain to prospective sellers how you’ll get them more money, faster money, and/or easiermoney for their consignments than they can get elsewhere. If you want to be in the top 5% of equipment auction companies, (1) include a quote or two from past consignors, (2) show prices realized in a recent auction, (3) detail your marketing plan, and/or (4) list how many bidders you’ve had for recent consignment sales.

I can get a bunch of potential consignors to your site. Make sure when they get there, they can easily see why they should and how they can sell with you.

–

Stock image(s) purchased from iStockPhoto.com