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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
another episode of the Innovate Podcast.
Today is a very exciting episode.
I'm, I'm really excited to jump in
because for the last several episodes,
Jodi and I have been talking about a
lot of, uh, the themes or the underlying
theses or basis to, um, to how you.
Use technology in your auction business.
But today what I, what I'm
excited to jump into is let's
talk about the practice of that.
What is the roadmap, let's say,
okay, I buy into these arguments.
Jodi, you are very compelling.
There's huge ROI.
I'm ready to grow my business.
I'm ready to stop grinding.
I love this.
What do I do?
What is the next step I can take?
So I'm really excited about this.
So this is all about reducing
the marketplace dependency that
we have, protecting your brand
and building a business that
can stand on its own long term.
Now, what we've talked about might
feel daunting to some people.
And so, Jodi, where do you start?
Jodi Amaya: Absolutely.
You know, this is one of my favorite
subjects, um, because I think this
is where people can get the most
reward and most value immediately.
So when I'm meeting with a prospect,
I like to start with clarity
because I think I.
We all know that we're dependent
on marketplaces, but I don't think
sometimes it's very clear how dependent
we are on a marketplace and how,
how long and what power we we're
turning over to the marketplace.
So where I like to start is to help
them access, um, where they currently
stand today so that they can look at
where they are and then decide what
a clear path forward to independent.
Independence looks like
and what that path is,
it's very achievable.
Um, sometimes people are in fear because
we've been doing something for so
long, so it doesn't feel achievable.
But I can show you exactly
how it is achievable.
And by this I mean we can look at
what percentage of your business
is going through the marketplace.
Is it 60%?
Is it 80%?
How many of those people.
Or return bidders.
Um, what does that
buyer traffic look like?
What does that bidder
registration look like?
Um, because it's so important,
uh, for the customer to
understand where they're at today.
So they get, if they don't
understand that, it's very
hard to see a path forward.
Brandon Giella: Hmm, that's so important.
You, you and I know as, as
business owners, you have to have
clarity on what you're doing.
You have to get your priorities right.
Where are you trying to go
and how do you get there?
So where are you trying to go?
We've talked a lot about that,
but now how do you get there?
So start with clarity.
Assess your business, is
that what I'm hearing?
Where understand how many people
are coming to these events,
whether online or in person.
What you're offering, like really
count that, measure that kind of thing?
Jodi Amaya: And that's hard for
some business owners or office
managers or whatever because you're
so busy running your business,
you don't have time to take a look.
Or sometimes we're emotionally
connected to our business and
so sometimes it takes an outside
advisor to, to show you the obvious.
Um, even though they know it
and it's a gut feeling, a lot of
times they don't make dedicated
time to do something about it.
And that's why it's so rewarding for
me is because I can see that those
light bulbs go off to go, oh, okay.
Like, I'm spending so much money.
Yes, I'm making money.
I'm not saying leave a marketplace.
I'm saying let's figure out how to use
it strategically and I can help you.
Brandon Giella: That's
right, that's right.
So, uh, what we've talked about be
before we started recording, is we're
gonna lay out a roadmap of how to look
at your business and what to do over
the next 30 days, 60 days, 90 days,
maybe six months, 12 months, all of
that, depending on some variables.
And so.
Please, please reach out to Jody.
She can help you with this.
Get in touch with Jody and
talk about these variables.
'cause they're very important
for understanding the roadmap.
So, uh, there's some of these variables
like buyer, buyer, traffic, bid,
registration, number of customers,
number of events that you're
running, all impact this timeline.
Okay.
But in general, what is your approach, uh,
for when you're wanting to get started,
that 30 day, 60 day kind of timeframe?
Where does somebody start?
So talk to me about the things
that you're going to be assessing
and, and where to go from there.
Jodi Amaya: The first thing I like
to do is look at your customer list.
Um, you may have a mail list of,
let's just call it 50,000 people
or 5,000 people that you, you call.
Uh, your customers, however,
how many of them have purchased.
Where are they purchasing from?
Are they purchasing from a marketplace?
Are they coming directly to
your website and you're sending
them to the marketplace?
Um, are you advertising with an
external advertising company like a b,
c newspaper or X, Y, Z online platform?
Or, you know, where, where are you
spending your marketing dollars?
Where are your bidders coming from?
Are they looking and uh, leaving?
Um, do you have inventory
listed on your storefront?
Your storefront is basically
replacing your brick and mortar.
In a lot of cases.
What's happening when they
come to your storefront?
Do you have inventory for them to look at?
What does your inventory look like?
Do you have photos?
Do you have videos?
Do you have good descriptions?
What is your brand positioning?
Do your customers know your name?
Are you just sending
them to the marketplace?
There's a lot of little tweaks that mean
a lot, and that becomes very overwhelming.
So if you can have me look at it or we
can discuss it, then I can come back
to you with an entire plan and give
you steps eighth, eighth, one through
six, even just a couple of steps.
And Innovate can do that for you.
I can teach you how to do it on your own.
Of course, I want new
innovate customers always.
Um, but we, we can show you whether
it's for Innova or, or not for Innovate.
Brandon Giella: It is something that
you've talked about before is, and I,
and I know, uh, uh, folks listening might
feel this way, is that there, there might
be this risk if I'm off the platform.
Off the marketplace.
There's a, a risk to revenue, but there's
also risk for being on the marketplace.
And we've talked about those things
before, but can you touch briefly on
those that why you would wanna, like,
during this period, there is risk,
but can, can you talk about that?
Like how does this impact revenue?
How do you think about that?
Jodi Amaya: yes.
And in some cases I, I may be too direct
on this because I have a, a strong opinion
about it, um, because I've seen the data,
uh, across many different customers.
Um, and 80% of your customers
are return bidders on average.
Now, if you are a local consignment
company and you've got local consignors
that are, are, are buyers that are
walking in the door, that that's a
different type of auction and, and maybe
all of your floor bidders are, are.
That's a different type, but when
most of your business is online
through a marketplace, 80% of
your bidders are return bidders.
So if you want to be honest,
you're renting your bidders,
you're, you're just, you're,
they're not your customers.
Um, they're, you're sending
them to the marketplace so
that they can shop everywhere.
So.
I wanna show you how to own that
relationship, how to create a
brand presence, how to build your
own marketplace so that you're
not so dependent because there
is risk in you living a 100 of
your business in the marketplace.
Hands.
What if they have, uh, technology errors?
What if they decide to sell out
overnight to a another company?
What if they decide to
increase you from.
10% or 2% to, to double
that amount overnight.
What does that do to your
business, to your salary, to
your employees, to your legacy?
It there, you, you have put all of
this in the hands of what is working
for you today, but we need to be, my
opinion is we need to be proactive
and make a, a plan for how that
marketplace could impact your business.
Brandon Giella: First of all, I love
your directness, but second of all,
um, I, I have experienced this myself
on a very small scale, uh, where
you know, you're on a marketplace.
Like I, I, I read a newsletter and it's.
Produced by a newsletter
platform and they shut me down.
They shut my whole business down with
no explanation, and I had to appeal it.
And it took days to, to get back
online, but they had no reason for it.
It was just a algorithm that
changed or whatever on their,
their side and just shut me down.
So yeah, there's
Jodi Amaya: absolutely right.
Brandon Giella: Yeah.
Um, okay.
So what I'm hearing is first gain clarity.
Assess your business by
some of these metrics.
Consider the variables, you know, the,
the number of bidders, the events that
you're running, these kind of things.
And then you can start to take
some quick wins to achieve
this, this kind of process.
And you've talked before too.
We, we have a slide, I, I can,
um, uh, talk about in a second
about a buyer conversion program.
So talk to me about like the 90 days
of, you know, trying to, to move toward,
uh, independence for an auction owner.
Jodi Amaya: Right.
So the first step that we look at
is the list, um, of your customers.
We review that data, um, clean it up.
Um, we all know there's a lot of systems
out there that your data ends up dirty.
You know, we re, we remove like.
Um, duplicate emails, um, and we get
ready to build an email campaign, um,
or even a text campaign, however we
wanna do it, and so we'll together.
And it would be branded in, in the auction
house name Innova is always behind the
scenes where you're consultant advisors,
um, technology providers, and we will
get an email campaign out that says,
this customer is having an auction.
On December 15th, um, here
is a direct link to register.
So they are gonna go
directly to your storefront.
Um, I ha they're gonna go directly
to your storefront and they're gonna
register because you're not gonna
send them to the marketplace anymore.
I had a thought while I was
right in the middle of that
because I had a customer that.
Started with me, um,
less than four weeks ago.
Um, and they've had, um, two auctions
and 218 of their customers have created
accounts on their storefront with no
email campaign, with no marketing,
just because at the top of their
storefront it says your account.
So people are just curious and
they self-serve when you tell 'em
to.
So they've clicked on this button that
says your account, and they've created.
Um, 218 people just on their own.
You know, we didn't tell them
to do anything that shows
you how easy this can be.
So 218 people that ended up being,
some of them ended up being buyers or
not, did not bid on the marketplace.
They bid through the white label because
it was suggested by clicking the link and
then, um, that saved that auction house.
A lot of money.
Um, so we can do the same thing for you.
So this email campaign goes out,
your buyers click the links.
Now those are your return bidders.
When you advertise your auction
next week or next month or in three
months, um, they know to return back
to where you're telling them to return
to where you list inventory that
they're interested in purchasing.
So the time can be as little
as 30 days, 60 days, 90 days.
Depending upon how frequent your
auctions are or how frequent your listing
inventory that they can engage in.
So many of my customers are having
monthly auctions, some bimonthly.
So the results de, uh, depend
upon the event timing, but it,
it's really, it's not as easy.
I mean, it's not as hard as we all fear.
Um, your buyers do what
you tell them to do
in most cases.
Brandon Giella: In my, you have
to educate your clients or your
Jodi Amaya: yes,
Brandon Giella: uh, as much as you can.
Yeah.
So, so presumably for those 218 that
transferred over 80% being return
customers, you have 190 of your
customers that are return repeat
bidders that are now on your platform.
That, and that
Jodi Amaya: that's right.
Yep.
I mean, the formula is
what is your total sales?
How what percentage comes
through a marketplace?
Take that percentage and assume 80% of
that number is return, bidders, times,
whatever the marketplace is charging
you, and that is your potential savings.
And it's so easy to make the change,
but it's not just about the money, it's
about, I mean, it's a lot about the money,
but, um, I love money.
So anyways, it's about creating you, I
mean, your brand is, it's a revenue risk.
Let's just say the marketplace changes.
Um.
Everything you know, or just
one simple thing and it, or they
start changing your inventory.
I hear this from a lot of prospects, is
that the marketplace goes in and makes
changes to my inventory that I don't wanna
change and or they take down pictures and
I didn't know they took down pictures.
You're not in control.
I'm a control.
I like control too.
That's another thing.
But you want, it's your inventory.
It's your consigners it's your commitment
to your consigner, and then you've got it.
You're putting it in the
hands of somebody else.
I call that revenue risk.
I would not take money that I have
cash in my hands today and go give it
to a stranger and trust them to do the
same thing that I would do with it.
It's my brand.
It's, it's my reputation,
it's my integrity.
It's, it's what matters to me.
So I used a marketplace for many, many
years, and I'm not saying they're bad, I'm
just saying let's, let's get smart about
it and you can take your customers and
your, uh, business and those relationships
and start building them for you
Brandon Giella: That's right.
Something we talked about too is
it's, it's about legacy as well.
You know, if you're, uh, trying to
build asset value in your business.
Selling the business,
transitioning the business,
transferring it to somebody else.
Your legacy is how you, you, uh,
relate to your current customers.
Do you own that relationship or not?
Yeah, that's really key.
Okay, so we know that this is.
Obviously not the flip of a switch.
This is not something you can do
overnight, but you can get some
significant wins 30, 60, 90 days from now.
But it's also a long-term strategy.
So talk to me about what does
six months from now look like?
If somebody wanted to
embark on this journey, how?
How does that go?
Jodi Amaya: Right by six months.
Um, I think it's really related
to the inventory that you sell.
So if you've got a buyer list of 5,000
and at six months, um, we have not
captured 80% of those, I would assume that
that number is gonna be very low from.
from.
what I've seen.
So at this, at this point, at six months,
you're gonna be marketing for whatever
marketing dollars that you were marketing
before or potentially reduced, um, because
you're gonna see that you've converted
the majority of your bidders over, so
you could reduce your marketing spend.
But what you're gonna start seeing in six
months is that your new bidders are coming
in from your white label and that you're
saving dollars on your return bidders.
On new bidders.
Hopefully you're still gaining new
bidders through the marketplace as
well, but that's costing you less.
And at this point, we're gonna be able
to measure what your cost is per bidder.
So per bidder, what is your cost?
What is your advertising cost per bidder?
What is the advertising cost per item?
We're gonna be able to tell a lot of
things and give you data based upon
your customers and your inventory
and the traffic that you have.
Brandon Giella: That's so important
because you, you can help folks like a
partner, like you're coming in and you're
like, Hey, here's what we are seeing
in data now that we can see everything.
'cause I, you know, I, I've
been part of, uh, you know, tech
transformations where just having that
data and that visibility is so key.
'cause then you can
actually make decisions.
And so you guys use that data to help,
you know, create these kind of like.
Performance plans and you know,
okay, what are we gonna do in the
next 90 days, the next six months,
because of the data that we've seen.
Is that all?
Is that how you guys like to think of it?
Jodi Amaya: Absolutely.
I, I met with a customer a couple
of weeks ago and he was like,
Jody, this all sounds great, but.
I don't understand it.
I don't have time for it.
I'm running everywhere.
I said, that's fine.
Just let me do it.
That's fine.
Just gimme the permission.
Let me do it,
and I'll talk to your marketing person.
I'll talk to your, you know,
website guy, whatever it is,
me and my team, we will do it.
That that's what we do.
So at N of A, yes, we sell technology.
Absolutely.
But we also, this is, I, I can, hopefully,
you can tell I'm passionate about it,
but this is the biggest reward for people
is they go, oh, I can do this and I have
a partner that's gonna help me do it.
And then every 30 days, 60 days,
90 days, we're gonna sit down and
I'm gonna show you the results and
we're gonna say, uh, you love it.
You don't, you know, whatever it is.
But I know you're gonna love it.
I, I've seen it.
It's, it's been amazing.
Brandon Giella: I love that.
I love that.
Okay, so somebody's taking on this,
this journey, uh, this year, and
they're wanting to revamp things.
They're going through the 90 day steps.
They're watching the six month marks.
What about a year from now?
Like tell me that first year, what are
you really looking for and how would you
help people kind of navigate their first
year of this kind of independence journey?
Jodi Amaya: Again, it's
gonna go back to the data.
The data is gonna tell you and,
and I think you're gonna be amazed
in the first year how you beca you
went from reactive to proactive
and how this change that
felt overwhelming to you.
You're gonna be like, how,
how did I live without it?
Like, how,
how did I run my business before?
Because I, I did it, I did it myself, and
I was very reactive and very disheartened.
Whenever, you know, somebody would say,
you know, this inventory description is
wrong, or You're trying to deceive me, or.
When that, that was never our intention.
It's just that we were running like
crazy people and we, we just forgot
to write that the transmission was bad
or, or we didn't have videos online.
So we, you know, forgot that
that one truck out of, you know,
the 10 that looked alike was the
one that had a bad transmission.
It was never my intention
to deceive or to hide.
But we, we were just running
crazy or maybe uploading
inventory the night before.
But, you know, I know that the processes
that are in place, uh, with technology
and creating logic and technology
automation, um, making those little
tweaks, the 2%, the 10% and 12 months,
you're gonna go, okay, I get it.
Brandon Giella: You gain
control of your business.
That's something you've,
you've talked about.
Yeah.
I love that.
I love that.
Okay, so I want to, um, start to end this.
So the overall, uh, strategies,
if I could summarize here, is you
want to build a consistent buyer
experience across every sale.
Strengthen your niche, use analytics,
create this kind of predictable
marketing cycle, and use the buyers
that you have for targeted outreach
so that you can gain more in a
kind of a land and expand approach.
And then you could start to offer
these kind of like hybrid sales
marketplaces and things like that.
So
what I'm, what I'm gathering is.
There's a lot of things that you
can do once you start this process
that are not really available
to you on the marketplace, so
it, it gains value over time.
Okay.
Jodi Amaya: You're limited to, to
marketplace Strat or marketing strategies.
Um, that's the other things that,
you know, we don't think about.
Like how hard is it for a
marketing company to advertise your
auction when they get inventory
descriptions at the last minute?
Or not complete inventory descriptions.
So it's gonna improve the
services that you're paying
for in a lot of different ways.
That we create this consistency.
That's not a flip of a switch.
It is something that's built over
time, but it doesn't take that
much time if you just believe
in the process of consistency.
It's hard.
I struggle with it personally, but you
know, it's, it's, I, I believe in it.
I've seen it happen so many times.
Brandon Giella: That's right.
And so a year later.
Reflecting back, you have some metrics
that if you are measuring how you're
performing, let's say you're on this
independence journey, how you're
measuring that, you talk about, um,
buyer origin, brand loyalty, marketplace
spending, seller pipeline, buyer
engagement, and predictable revenue.
Can you, can you talk touch on each
of those a little bit just to say
like, okay, I'm a year into this, or
I'm just starting and I want to aim
towards some quantifiable metrics,
like those, those kinds of things.
Like how do you, what are you
measuring and what are you
looking back on a year from now?
Jodi Amaya: Okay, so if
we say buyer origin, what?
What I mean by that is that your
buyers that are coming through to
your storefront now, a year later, 75.
Let's say 70 to 80% are those
return bidders, but they're,
they, they're trained now.
They're coming directly
to your storefront.
You've created brand loyalty.
Um, they're used to it.
They're used to the sign on.
They like the conveniences
of the storefront.
You can pay from there.
You can, um, get your
invoices, release tickets.
They, they love the interaction so that
you've, you've created this brand loyalty.
You've reduced your marketplace
spend, so you can take those dollars
and do other things with them.
Maybe it's marketing, maybe it's hiring
more staff, just different things.
Now, inventory on your storefront, which
is also what I would consider consistent
seller or consistent consignors.
When you consignor's inventory
is on your storefront.
Everybody likes to see their stuff.
So when they see their stuff
with better descriptions.
More photos, more videos,
or, or even just adding.
Many of my prospects today don't have
inventory on their storefront at all,
so I promise you that inventory on your
storefront photos, videos, and great
descriptions means more bids, higher
bids, and more often more of everything.
That's good.
So more money.
Consignors will return and also
be loyal to loyal to your brand
if you're doing a good job.
So if you've got more buyers
for to buy their stuff, that
that's positive for everybody.
And, um, so direct buyer and engagement,
that, that basically means that
you're engaged with your bidders.
They know and understand what your.
Expecting them to do.
They're used to your communications.
They know your auction schedule.
They know where to go.
They know when to pre-bid.
They know how things worked.
They're gonna stay engaged
because they like the service
that they're getting from you.
And if you get all of that, then you
are gonna have revenue predictability.
You are going to be able to project.
80% of my bidders came
when I had 200 lots.
My estimated value on 200 lots was
X, Y, Z, and now I have 500 lots.
We can take that calculation and, and we
can estimate, we can start forecasting
to make decisions or maybe even
like planned vacations or something,
you know, those kinds of things.
Brandon Giella: We were just
talking about that, Yep.
Jodi Amaya: that that
you're just not used to.
Brandon Giella: That's right.
What I love about the way that you
describe this transformation, this,
this kind of independence journey,
is at any point where you are in
your business journey, you can start.
So if you want quick wins in the next
30 days, maybe making little tweaks.
You know, you, you don't want
to jump wholesale into this.
You can make some little tweaks and get
some quick wins in the next 30 days.
Or you can think about 12 months from
now how it's transforming your business.
Or you can think about 10 years
from now thinking about how
it's transforming your legacy.
I mean, there's so much in
every, uh, you know, stage of the
journey that somebody might be on.
Jodi Amaya: Absolutely.
And honestly, the biggest thing
that I hear from people is, oh,
Jody, you make it sound so easy.
And it, it really is.
And we will hold your hand and we
will help you do these things, um,
because it's gonna be so worth it.
And
if you wanna adopt me, that's fine too.
Brandon Giella: Hey,
Jody is up for adoption.
Please Google her.
You will find her contact info.
No, but seriously, uh, it's, I
want people to get in touch with
you because I've heard from you,
you know, this, this process.
I've seen a lot of like, like kind of
internal material about how you guys do
what you do and it's just so amazing.
And so please get in, in
touch with Jody and the team.
You can go to innovate llc.com
where you can just literally
Google her and find her on
LinkedIn or something like that.
Um, but Jody and her team have
been amazing.
Jodi Amaya: I.
Brandon Giella: That's right.
That's right.
You guys have been amazing to, to
really create this, this journey for
people, taking them from wherever
they may be in their journey and
taking them to the next step.
And so I'm
Jodi Amaya: there's
always room for growth.
Brandon Giella: in touch.
That's right.
That's right.
Okay.
Any final words, anything to, to
let people know about if they're
wanting to embark on this this year?
Jodi Amaya: No, I don't think so.
I think it's a good time to
start New Year's resolutions and
to think about these things and
figure out what 2026 looks like.
Brandon Giella: That's right.
That's right.
Amen.
Okay.
Well, Jody, thank you very much
for your insight as always.
Uh, I'm excited to get
some of this material out.
Again, please go to innovate llc.com
and get in touch with Jody and the team,
and we will see you on the next episode.
Jodi Amaya: Thank you, Brandon.