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Gain firsthand insight into how auction professionals can overcome growth barriers and use technology built by auction people for auction people, without losing the personal touch.
Brandon Giella: Hello and welcome
back to the Innovate Podcast,
where we talk about the business of
auctions technology, and the people
reshaping how this industry grows.
Today we're diving into a story about one
of our customers who made a bold move.
They shifted from the marketplace
dependence to full brand ownership and
saved over $150,000 in their first year.
Jody, let's dive in.
Tell us about this story.
So.
Tell me about the marketplace and
how you guys are thinking through
this and we'll jump into a real
example of one of your clients.
Jodi Amaya: That's great.
so yeah, we had a customer and, well,
several customers, but I won't give
specifics, to where we talked about,
the advantages of marketplaces.
so just so, so that it's known,
NA is not against marketplaces.
We highly believe in them.
They played a huge role in expanding,
the reach globally for auctioneers
myself when I owned auction companies.
so, but what we're talking about today
is how we use a marketplace strategically
rather than depending on them entirely.
Brandon Giella: That's great.
So what I'm hearing from
you is marketplaces.
If you're thinking about strategically
how to grow your business as
an auction owner, marketplaces
have an incredible place to fit.
They're really great to grow quickly,
get started, get traction in the market.
You know, figure out things as you're
starting out, but there's some point where
maybe that breaks down or some point in
your growth journey where there is some
longer term costs associated with that.
Even though it's got that convenience,
there's a long term cost associated with,
can you talk about that a little bit?
Jodi Amaya: Absolutely.
You got it just right.
So it's not just a percentage of sales
fee, that's there, or listing fees
or advertising or whatever it is.
This.
Sometimes people don't think about that.
You're actually losing data
and relationships that you're
building, with your customers.
They're there because they're
interested in your inventory.
And so every time a bidder registers
through a marketplace instead of
your storefront, you start to lose
insights into who that customer is.
What they're interested in, how to
bring them back for the next sale.
So if you've got, you know, 50 trucks
for sale and real estate for sale and
you've got, you know, five hundred a
thousand different bidders that register,
but they don't all start bidding, what
are you learning about your customers?
You're not learning anything.
You're just hoping that
so many people show up.
You can't build a marketing plan without
Brandon Giella: data
Jodi Amaya: Um, I didn't know
how important data was until I
started a technology company,
but it's black and white.
We make decisions in this world with data.
So InnovA is gonna help empower our
customers to start being proactive
with data and not just be hopeful
that their customers are gonna
start attending for their next
auction that they're scheduling.
Brandon Giella: That's right.
That's right.
So there's a lot of different,
I guess, correlates you can
make in different industries.
You have like, you know, Spotify in the
music industry or Etsy in the crafts
industry where you have, or Uber, you
know, in the taxi transportation industry
where you get on this marketplace, you
get customers, but there's some downsides.
So I want to talk about a real
example of what this shift.
looked like for a client of yours.
So, tell us about that.
We, you mentioned this term, or this,
this number $150,000 was their savings.
So talk to me about that.
Jodi Amaya: So, and we haven't, with this
customer, they also understood, very much
so that their co one of their highest
costs other than brick and mortar and
employees is the percentage of sales that
they pay to these third party providers.
And marketplaces, which is, you
know, it's a cost of business.
I understand that.
But that marketplace and it, the
marketplace has helped them grow globally.
We're very thankful for that, but we all
need to look at lowering our cost of our
business operations no matter what it is.
So we looked at the cost of
this particular customer.
And without making a whole lot of
effort, other than adding a new login
on their storefront for their true
white label, their customer, their
brand, this, their customers started
logging in and a very small percentage
actually saved them $150,000 a year.
So if we put marketing campaigns towards
this buyer conversion, we're gonna
save our customers a lot more money.
So that is what we're looking for.
We're not just trying, we're not
trying to eliminate the marketplace.
We're trying to reduce our cost,
and we're trying to lower our
marketing spends because on top of.
Percentage of sales, we're
still spending a lot of money.
We meaning auction companies.
I partner with them.
So I gotta think about
which hat I'm wearing.
'cause I've, I'm an auctioneer,
but I also owned auction companies,
but now I'm not in that role.
Now I'm in the tech company.
So sometimes when I say we, I
literally mean my customers, but
I'm involved in it with them.
So, but we've gotta think about
what our marketing spends are, how
we can do better so that we can
continue to grow our company and
use our dollars in the right places.
Brandon Giella: And I can imagine, of
course, it grows in value over time, you
know, talking about repeat traffic and
it's for your brand and you're starting
to build that customer loyalty over time.
So there's more to this story,
but I want to get back to the
ownership component of the data.
So I know that's a key
component of thinking about.
You know, leveraging marketplaces
versus the white label, option.
So talk to me a little bit more about,
data ownership and what that means for
you and for clients like this and how
you've seen that transition take place.
Jodi Amaya: That, that's a great question.
and it's something that, I still
feel like I'm educating, many of our
customers, like they're aware of it.
they're aware that they wanna own
their data, but they're not aware
of some, not everyone, but a lot of
customers are not aware of how powerful
their data is and what it means as
a business owner to own that data.
So when you're in control of your data.
to me, you're in control of your destiny.
So right now with you, you, when you
just have all of your repeat customers
going through the marketplace,
think about that over time.
and how do you get to know your buyers?
Whenever you don't own that data,
what value does it add to your
company as an asset in 2025?
Data is an asset.
So other than your brick and mortar, what
assets do you have in an auction business?
Data is a key component of it.
Relationships, return buyers,
that's a key component of it.
If you had to put a dollar on the price
of your company, what would it be?
Without data ownership.
Brandon Giella: That's right.
That's right.
So I can imagine that we have some
listeners that are like, okay, yes.
But, transitioning away from a marketplace
or adding other, you know, revenue streams
or customer engagement streams, it sounds.
it sounds risky.
It sounds hard.
I'm not sure I want to do this.
Jodi Amaya: Yes.
Brandon Giella: what was it
like for, your client who went
through this and pulled this off?
Like what was the process?
what did that look like for them?
Jodi Amaya: Yeah, I understand the risk.
I did it myself.
I, I
Brandon Giella: used
Jodi Amaya: a marketplace, for 17
years and very thankful that I did
because it grew my business globally.
Like I said, my buyer audience,
continued to grow, but what I
started to learn is around 80% of
my customers were return customers.
And
was paying the customer was returning
because they liked my inventory.
But in order to do this conversion,
it doesn't just happen overnight.
but InnovA we will help you build a
phased plan that you can put into your
promotions, your marketing campaigns, but
you, I'm not saying leave the marketplace.
we want to utilize the marketplace
and strategically think about.
the advantages and sometimes
disadvantages of a marketplace.
so we want to look at how we, who we are
converting, why we are converting these
customers over to the white label and what
the advantages are in converting them.
And so, in one specific
example of the, of a customer.
50% of their bidders log in directly
through their own storefront.
In the past, so many of my customers
didn't have inventory on their storefront.
Their, they had their buyers would
go get marketing, they would, from
whatever marketing company, maybe
Facebook, maybe a newspaper, maybe,
you know, a digital ad of some sort.
So they would get this
ad, they would come.
To the auction house's storefront.
There was no inventory there, there
were just links to the marketplace.
And so now when bidders come to the new
storefronts, that is 100 white label, a
true white label, 50% of these bidders
logged in, they could view inventory,
so their buyer experience was better.
36% of these bidders were
now new white label bidders.
That they are not paying
a percentage of sales for.
The
Brandon Giella: only
Jodi Amaya: thing they're paying for
is their own advertising dollars that
they were already spending anyway.
yes, it could be a scary transition.
However, what I tell my customers
is keep doing what you're doing.
Brandon Giella: Hmm.
Jodi Amaya: what you're doing.
Don't change anything
except for add a link.
To your storefront so that your customers
can view your inventory and they can
bid or register on what they want.
And you don't have to
change anything else.
We're not cutting ties,
we're not shifting control.
We're doing business as normal and
then watch and let it prove itself out.
Brandon Giella: I love that.
I love that.
I like what you're saying, like it's.
Not necessarily cutting ties from the
marketplace, but just thinking differently
about your business and the way that
you're relating to your customers and
just the way you're presenting yourself.
I mean, there's the backend information,
there's data, there's all that
kind of stuff, but it's really just
relating to your customers in a
new way, which is, long term very
healthy adds value to your business.
So, okay, let's think about for, we've
got a user or we've got a listener who is.
Considering what this might look like
for their business, how can they begin
to like wrap their minds around that?
What does it look like
for somebody's business?
how do they begin to think about it?
Jodi Amaya: Yeah, it can seem complex.
it is pretty simple.
Well, to me, I, but I also spend
a lot of time studying this stuff.
Like, it's my passion is
how can I help my customers?
And I wanna back up and
say something real quick.
About Nno A I think one thing that
I've learned by talking to hundreds
and hundreds, probably thousands of
auction companies, and there's many
what we would call competitors in
the software space, and I, what I've
learned about Nno A is that we were
are an a comprehensive end to end
business solution that manages auction.
we are looking at, we are more
of a consulting type service,
that provides technology.
And so when I look at this business
situation that we're talking about,
I'm looking at what are your overall,
what is your, what are you spending?
How much do your employees
Brandon Giella: Hmm.
Jodi Amaya: What is your advertising cost?
What is your brick and mortar cost?
What is your percentage sales cost?
Because that's just the
cost of doing business.
All
Brandon Giella: Mm-hmm.
Jodi Amaya: at it and see what we're
getting back for each one of these things.
Are your employees effective?
Is your advertising effective?
is your, you know, whatever it is.
So we look at it and then
we start to see trends.
But what I ended up
building was a calculator.
that we could see the ROI for each of
these things and specifically marketplace
fees and what it would look like.
Whenever I very first started with
this other customer, I had a gut
feeling of how much money I was
gonna be able to save for them.
But I didn't know exactly what it was.
But we're pretty spot on.
So, but I been able to
perfect this calculator.
So if I'm talking with a prospect and I
go through the scenario with them, I say.
How would you like to save, you know,
$150,000 this year with my previous
customer, we were able to say, how did
it feel to save $42,000 in the first hour
of doing this with very little effort?
How did that feel?
I personally love money,
so, I, I love saving money.
I'm really good at spending it too, but
Brandon Giella: Same.
Jodi Amaya: it and I especially
Brandon Giella: Same.
Jodi Amaya: other people's
money for them that
Brandon Giella: True.
Jodi Amaya: it's been so rewarding
to see this side of this business.
Brandon Giella: I love how on the nose
you are about like, this is a business,
let's, like, there's costs associated
with it, there's and costs that you can
save, but it's also about growth as well.
Like long term, like, so you're thinking
like very short term, the first hour,
the first day, your first auction.
But then you're also thinking like, okay,
10 years from now you wanna sell this.
Business or you wanna grow this business
in a different direction, here's what
that looks like over the long term.
I think it's such a cool way, and
obviously, you know any, every
business owner is gonna connect with
that, but I just love how you're
like, you're just getting right
to the heart of it right up front.
Jodi Amaya: Well, and it's
hard because sometimes people
are like, that's unbelievable.
No, that's not gonna
Brandon Giella: Hmm
Jodi Amaya: I'm like,
Brandon Giella: hmm.
Jodi Amaya: it.
So it's happening for
several of my customers.
If you don't
Brandon Giella: Yeah.
Jodi Amaya: fine.
I, you know, we'll, we won't
help you, but not really.
But it, it seems unbelievable
sometimes, but it really is happening.
And what I, I.
I very first started innovate, one
of the things that I kept mapping
in my mind was brand independence is
something that kept resonating with me
and that, that I had become dependent.
On other people building my business.
And so I wanted to become independent so
that I could be in somewhat of a control.
So what I think what we're doing is
just still figuring out how to use all
of these tools and resources that we
have available to us, but we also need
to figure out how to build a bridge
back to our brand, who we are, what
we're building, what our legacy is.
because to me there's a lot of family
businesses out here that are legacies that
they plan on leaving it to their sons and
their daughters and their grandchildren,
and they all work in the business.
Aunts, uncles, I don't care
who it is, but it's a legacy.
So what is the value of this business?
We're not just working
and grinding for, to
Brandon Giella: not build
Jodi Amaya: the value of
something we want to build.
Dollars back to our brand, our customers,
back to our brand, to our name.
A lot of times it's a family
name, that is so important and I
love seeing the results of that.
Brandon Giella: I love that.
So what I'm understanding, if
I could, if I could summarize.
So we talked first about how,
uh, marketplaces are an amazing,
component of your business growth
strategy as an auction business owner.
but there's a cost to that long term.
And so we looked at what that looked like
for a client of yours who was able to,
in the first year, save $150,000 by just
rethinking their, their strategy and the
kind of the technology underlying that.
But the larger picture is that
business ownership a core component
of the asset value of your business
is actually the data and the direct
relationship that you have with your
customers, and that gives you back
control for your brand and your future.
Where you're able to shift that control
backwards to the brand, and you can
see that play out in the costs that
you're saving on the business side.
So the financial part makes sense,
but then long term, you start to get
back that freedom or that independence
to run the business your way and to
do what you want with your legacy.
Is that a fair,
Jodi Amaya: Yep.
Brandon Giella: fair summary?
Jodi Amaya: it's all about our
customers and just really trying
to help them get to the next level.
Brandon Giella: I love that.
Okay.
Any other takeaways for, for our
listeners that might be just, trying to
wrap their heads around what this might
look like or, you know, thinking about
their businesses or things that you've
done in your business, through, you
know, shifting or thinking, rethinking
your relationship with marketplaces?
Jodi Amaya: I think at this point you
probably know me well enough that I
could talk to you forever about this.
but I just think it's so important to,
to constantly be looking at how you can
grow, personally and for your business.
we show up every day to
do well, and to do better.
so that's what I wanna help my
customers do and to help them look
at the value of their business, the
thing that they're trying to build.
And, that's what I love helping people do.
Brandon Giella: Awesome.
Awesome.
Well, we are just getting
started in this story.
We talked about that in the first episode,
and this is the second episode now.
And then we've got
many, many more planned.
And so if you want to stay abreast
on what is happening with Innova,
please go to innova llc.com.
That's I-N-N-O-V-A-L-L c.com.
And there you will see.
Very soon you'll see blogs, newsletters.
Articles, these podcast resources
available to, uh, help grow your business.
And we're here to serve you.
So thank you for listening,
and we'll see you next time.
Jodi Amaya: Thank you, Brandon.