Silent Auction Pro: A User-Friendly Auction Assistant

Jim Donnell, Founder & President

In the ballroom or online, today auctions are held by organizations of all sizes across the country with billions of dollars in assets and goods being sold every year. Though auctioning has evolved over the years, organizers can realize substantial benefits from software designed to help plan, execute, and get valuable insights from these events, not to mention improving the overall event experience for the attendees. Fundraising isn’t the same as organizing an event. It requires a lot of dedication, team effort, and mainly lots of persistence to execute it successfully. In a recent interview with the founder and president of Silent Auction Pro, Jim Donnell, we discuss how the company was founded with the vision of making fundraising events smarter with the use of Silent Auction Pro’s Software-as-a-Service auction platform.

What is Silent Auction Pro?

I created Silent Auction Pro out of an identified need for better fundraising tools for my club. All of our employees also have experience in organizing fundraising events, and they still actively engage in fundraising for their charities using our Silent Auction Pro platform. As a result of over 15 years of experience, Silent Auction Pro is carefully tailored to streamline all of the organizers’ tasks simplifying running the event while at the same time improving the guest experience. Silent Auction Pro’s interface is intuitive and easy-to-use from the first click, enabling organizers to deploy proven strategies to set up an unrivaled fundraising event.

What are the benefits of Silent Auction Pro’s online auction applications MobilePlusTM and MobileProTM?

With Silent Auction Pro's MobilePlus and MobilePro options, people who are not physically at the event can bid against those that are at the event. This is a way to increase the revenue of the auction by encouraging more bidding. Every bid - regardless if it is the winning bid increases the revenue to the organization. The platform automatically sends text and email notifications when a guest is outbid in addition to the guest being able to see their bid status directly on their device.

The success rate of an auction multiplies when there is a larger crowd of bidders competing against each other for an item.

What are the main pain points of a fundraising event, and how is Silent Auction Pro handling it?

Check-in and check-out are typically the biggest challenges for event organizers. Silent Auction Pro streamlines the check-in process, first by allowing the event organizers to sell tickets to their event online which also signs them up for online bidding and securely stores their credit card on file for later use. For those who do not pre-register for the event, we simplify the on-site check-in process by minimizing the information required to only the information that is truly required. Once the guest is checked in, the check-in clerk can send the guest an instant login link to allow the guest to start bidding on items immediately.

Silent Auction Pro simplifies the whole process of running a charitable fundraising event helping organizers raise more money while improving the guest experience

Once the bidding is over, guests are notified by text and email if they have won items and can pay on their device or by check or cash. We also offer batch checkout functionality to quickly process hundreds of outstanding invoices at a click of a button.

In addition, Silent Auction Pro helps event organizers by simplifying the process of tracking donors and donations, and creating auction items thereby allowing extra time to focus on securing better auction items and coming up with other creative ways of raising money at their event. We can also help with consignment based items for groups who need a few one-of-a-kind items at their event.

Why use Silent Auction Pro?

Silent Auction Pro simplifies the whole process of running a fundraising event from online ticket sales, seating management, tracking donations, creating auction items, and creating all the printed material for an event. Credit cards are securely stored on file with our processor and guests can easily get signed up and bid on items. Check-out is a breeze with guests being able to pay for their items right from their phone. After the event, the system provides detailed reports showing which items and auction formats raised the most money, making it easy to know where to focus on their next event.

In addition to great software, Silent Auction Pro provides world-class technical support. Our Event Coaches partner with our customers in every step of the process to ensure that they have a successful event. We are ranked #1 in auction software on Capterra with over 265 reviews and a 5-star rating.