Creative Solutions

When people ask me about my job, I tell them that I work for fundraising auction consultants, handling client support and scheduling the consulting time for two auctioneers. And, I get to work from home, along the banks of the Russian River. Sound easy? Sometimes, but sometimes not. Founder Colleen Buckley calls us “wranglers”; she wrangles for her husband, David Reynolds and I do the same for Ed Gold and Greg Quiroga.

It really does feel like wrangling at times. My guys each have many clients and are working with them as early as six months prior to their auctions, guiding, educating and advising. Coordinating times for those meetings/calls with many members of each auction team can be like herding, well, cats. Fitting the results into my guys’ already tight calendars sometimes seems to require—a shoe horn, a crow bar, a hammer—all seem appropriate at times.

I do a little of this and a lot of that, such as:
* Educating new clients about our services, making sure they take advantage of Greg and Ed’s expertise at an early stage in their planning
* Checking in with clients periodically: Do they want to meet? Do they need anything
* Reminding auction chairs to inform us of their print dates so we can plan for ordering their live auction lots
* Obtaining the final programs from the auction team so Ed and Greg can write their scripts for the live auction
* Coordinating with the event team for my guys’ arrival, sound check and training times on auction day
* Facilitating and organizing our periodic workshops
* Maintaining our email contacts for our newsletter
* Inputting and minor upkeep on the website
* Enlightening, nudging and cheering as needed

There are a variety of items that come up each week that I need to create a solution for. Once while Greg was on the road, I was able to feed him the information so he could do a-last-minute-need-it-right-now lot order redo. A few years ago, one of Ed’s main point persons for the auction had never even been to an auction and didn’t know what a “lot” was. We had a little Auction 101 right there on the phone.

Mostly I act as both a champion for their clients’ needs and a guardian of their time, making sure that they have what they need to do their jobs. And, always juggling, herding and wrangling.

I feel fortunate to work with two really great men, who are committed to the non-profits they work with. Another great perk  of my job, is the friendships I’ve made with some of my regular contacts.