Every Sunday I see social media posts about how the auctioneers sold 5 out of 5, sold 10 from 10. The one question I would ask all auctioneers of the world is: how many properties would you have sold under the hammer if the agent hadn’t provided you with bidders?
I think we all need to understand there’s a lot of hard work done by agents that provides the platform for auctioneers. When it comes to auctions, it takes two to tango.
McLeod and clear 
HI Mark – Yes – very true – we have been working with Justin – we have mutual respect – the respect that we have acknowledges the commitment from both sides – we have this in place to ensure the best possible outcome for the client – we place ourselves in Justin’s shoes and he in ours. Great experience and creates great enthusiasm around auctons
Maca, along the same lines, agents have to stop spruiking by how much over reserve they achieved at auction. Not a good look for them in the eyes of their vendors or purchasers! By all means promote a great result for all, but when the market turns, we won’t be promoting by how much under reserve we sold a property for! A bit of humility will go a long way
Thanks for saying this Stu, as likewise on this tangent, perhaps this well over reserve self fluffing is in fact a demonstration of how wrong the reserve was in line with the markets feedback throughout the campaign … yes yes, there are always exceptions, but we as an industry wonder why the public fear auctions. Respecting all parties involved should surely be our primary goal.
An auctioneer without cattle (bidders) can’t sell the property – funnily enough, I judge an auctioneer by their ability to put on a show when they have no bidders. When you’ve got 5-6 paddles flying its like shelling peas.
A strong auctioneer creates the excitement and urgency but what drives the premium price is the agent’s relationship with those bidders in the 30 days leading up to auction day.
Agree with Stuart, promote another strong result but keep the ego in check.
Quite right Macca, as an auctioneer I can look at my catalogue for the day and have a pretty good idea of which ones will sell based on who the salesperson is… and as an auctioneer I can tell you there is nothing more frustrating when the salesperson cannot give me details of the buyers (i.e. how are they positioned for the auction) or worse they cant remember what they look like!! or if they are coming to the auction.
And previous comments are correct, I cannot perform without the salesperson having run a strong campaign and even if there are genuinely no bidders (as sometimes happens) I still need to know what is happening so that I do the best job for the vendor…