Auctioneers and auction companies sell a wide variety of properties worldwide. In the United States, a wide variety of specialized auctioneers primarily focus on a particular auction segment. For instance, yellow iron, real estate, cars, sports collectibles, etc.
Today, we attempt to isolate what makes one auction company better than another. For instance, let’s look at this above woman playing the piano. Does this performance sound wonderful because of the piano, the musical score, the acoustics, or this woman’s ability to play?
More and more auctioneers are discovering that the level of talent their company has, the better their music sounds, borrowing from our previous example. In other words, how talented are the auctioneers, clerks, cashiers, ring personnel, product writers, salespersons …
Another related phrase I’ve heard for decades goes like this, “You’re only as good as the people in your organization.” I know many auctioneers and auction companies and while memorable logos and fancy websites go a long way, it often boils down to the personnel — who are the people in this auction company?
Therefore we would offer to seek out talent if you want to take your auction company to the next level and beyond. Don’t baseball, football, and basketball teams know this? Don’t most all businesses know this? Don’t colleges and universities know this? The more talented your “team” the better you’ll be, right?
We’ve certainly been privy to many talented legal teams as well as some of these attorney groups reaching out to other out-of-state attorneys [“pro hac vice”] with special expertise (talent.) Certainly, as the potential damages reach millions or billions of dollars, having the right talent on the team is paramount.
These legal teams also rely on fact witnesses and expert witnesses to assist them in litigation — and having the right fact/expert witness can make all the difference. We frequently provide such expert witness services in auction-related litigation: https://auctionlegalconsulting.com/.
Given the nature of much of my own work in this area, I’m often unable to disclose any particular facts about subject litigation. Nevertheless, there are sometimes general principles I’m able to share which might help other auctioneers avoid the same risk.
In surveying the United States auction marketplace, it’s obvious many auction companies have successfully built teams of exceptionally talented auctioneers and support staff, and the results speak for themselves. While talent can cost money, the lack of talent can cost even more.
While talent is important, it possibly goes without saying that it’s better to show me your talent than have you tell me you’re talented. Many auctioneers are obviously talented when measured by their results, while others are not so obvious because they keep merely telling us how talented they are.
If your [auction] company is not where you want it to be, possibly you don’t have the right personnel to take it to where you want to be. By bringing in — or reallocating — the proper talent, you are very likely to see better results.
Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, CAI, CAS, AARE has been an auctioneer and certified appraiser for over 30 years. His company’s auctions are located at Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, Brandly Real Estate & Auction, and Goodwill Columbus Car Auction. He serves as Distinguished Faculty at Hondros College, Executive Director of The Ohio Auction School, and an Instructor at the National Auctioneers Association’s Designation Academy and Western College of Auctioneering. He has served as faculty at the Certified Auctioneers Institute held at Indiana University and is approved by The Supreme Court of Ohio for attorney education.
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