Client Testimonials

We are a small nonprofit that developed from the social ministry of a church. Before hiring Sherry and Red Apple Auctions to plan and work at our fundraiser, we held our annual spring Gala in the fellowship hall of the church. It was a good event, but we had outgrown the space and the event had become stagnant. Sherry introduced our Committee to new ways of thinking about the functions of our event, i.e. what was working and giving us the most return on our investment, and where there was room for change and improvement.

The year we hired Red Apple Auctions, we moved the event to a local hotel and had a record breaking year in attendance and revenue. With Sherry’s advice, we changed our silent auction, our raffle and the timeline of activities for the event. As a result the staff and volunteers spent less time trying to check in guests and sell raffle tickets and more time ensuring that the guests were having a great time spending their money for our cause!

The Red Apple Team is personable, professional and definitely knows how to get the most bang for the buck from an event! My advice for those thinking of hiring Sherry and her team is: Just Do It!

In 2017, our organization’s auction celebrated its 25th Anniversary. While steeped in strong tradition, the committee agreed that we needed a fresh approach to breathing some life into the 2018 event, but we each had different opinions of what should occur. Our silent auction was strong, but the performances of our live auction, appeal, and raffles were spiraling downward. We decided to utilize the professional services of Red Apple Auctions to help us identify new opportunities and address the challenges we faced related to our financial goals.

Sherry provided consulting services to the committee by proposing a host of new ideas, helping to dispel some myths and bring focus to what was needed to positively impact our bottom line. With Richard Craney as our auctioneer on event night to implement our new ideas, we enjoyed the highest levels of guest participation and satisfaction with an impressive revenue increase of 59%! Sherry and Richard were the perfect additions to our team!

Prior to hiring Red Apple Auctions/Sherry Truhlar to help plan and manage our live auction at our annual fundraiser, we were in need to pull this together in a short timeframe, requiring streamlined creativity to meet/exceed our fundraiser goals. As a result, our guests were excited and engaged to participate and we exceeded our goals. STEM for Her was very pleased with our results and our investment in hiring Sherry and her team.

Thank you so much for the outstanding job you did for us on April 1! I have received so much positive feedback from so many who attended. You even earned Sister Suzan’s (our Vice-Principal) seal of approval!

I am so thrilled with the whole event, the outcome, you, your professionalism, and command of the audience, the way you closed the silent auction tables, the Raise Your Paddle … can’t thank you enough.

I’m also really glad I persuaded our Principal to try something new and someone new – one of the best decisions I have made in quite some time!

Safe travels to all your many events and thank you for making our biggest fundraiser of the year our best ever!

I would like to thank you for the many suggestions you made in order to improve our outcomes and the changes you recommended – I received so many positive comments about the new layout of the room – it does makes sense to have all the Silent Auction items located in the one segment of the room! I had been anxious about closing all of Silent Auction before the Live Auction because I had never done it in my 17 prior Auctions – but I followed your advice and the results amazed me: the percentage of value received for all items sold was 84.57%, compared to 2017: 57.04% and 2016: 79.32%!

The 21st Annual SJA Spectacular Auction certainly had some very interesting twists and turns with the many changes we had introduced, especially the Best of Live Raffle! I am so grateful for your rock-solid support that assisted me throughout the evening and your experience and expertise that helped our guests navigate new waters and enjoy the ride!

Thank you for leading and guiding our crowd through the Silent Auction closings in a fun and exciting way, for speaking up for the cause and letting the audience know how important their participation is and how much the Annual Auction benefits our students. Thank you for entertaining our guests and strongly encouraging higher bids with humor and your dynamic presence and personality.

Our Raise Your Paddle was well received and raised $17,400 this year – a 102% yield if you don’t count the 2 large donations made in order for us to reach our goal in 2017. We did not declare a goal this year – a lesson to be learned there for sure!

You have transformed our Annual Auction into an event that is anticipated with great excitement and thoroughly enjoyed by all our patrons. As I mentioned last year, if Sr. Suzan is impressed with someone, you have the golden seal of approval for all time. Her first comment to me after this year’s Auction was: “I love that Auctioneer!” You have officially arrived Sherry!!

My heartfelt gratitude for a job executed with care, finesse, polish and poise and your genuine passion for the cause.

Wow! Working with Sherry was so helpful in planning this year’s auction. Although we did not hire her until 11 weeks out, the information that she shared with us in our training sessions via phone was invaluable.

We were preparing for our 14^th year and our auction had grown tired. It was time for a fresh approach. Our only regret was that we did not hire her sooner. We would have done things differently as she definitely showed us an easier, more efficient and profitable way to get things done.

Although everyone was excited about our theme, the quality of our auction items and the increase in the audience size (by 25%), we still felt that we were lacking that oomph to make this auction the one that you did not want to miss. This is where Sherry really shines! She engages and interacts with the audience in such a way that, of course, they want to play the game. She added some fun new elements that kept the audience in suspense about what was going to happen.

After a very successful year, what to do about next year. We are so excited that Sherry is already booked and that we can start working with her much earlier. Imagine what we can do if we have her onboard for more than 11 weeks!

We often have difficulty coming up with new ideas for our live and silent auctions. Sherry has saved us many times with great suggestions, that have been major hits at our gala!

We can not thank her enough for her 4 p’s: professionalism, patience, practicality, and positive attitude!

You know that quote about Ginger Rogers? The one saying that she did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels? Well, that’s you running an auction.

Sherry, oh, Sherry! You were an invaluable asset to this year’s gala. With your assistance we were able to add so many new elements that truly made a difference in taking our event to another level. This year was the most successful yet! Everyone loved you and the amazing energy that you brought to the event. We look forward to having you again in 2018!

2017 was our second year having Sherry be our auctioneer! We have had 15 auctions and the last two auctions have been the best. Not only are they more organized, feature amazing items, well attended and fun, we have received a sizable increase in net proceeds.

All of this is due to Sherry! From start to finish Sherry focused on our organization and event like it was her only one. She was well prepared for each auction item, professional, and made every guest laugh!

My advice for those thinking of hiring Sherry and her team is DO IT! You will not regret it! Thank you, Sherry, we can’t want to work with you in 2018!