I asked a prospective client why she was shopping for a new auctioneer. “It’s time,” she said, “there were some things that happened. He missed some bids last year.”
Did he miss bids?
Or did he ignore bidders?
That’s what I address in this video.
At auctioneer school, I was taught to focus exclusively on my two active bidders until one of them dropped out of bidding. If one dropped out, then — and only then — was I to start searching for another bidder.
Staying with my two bidders was considered polite (because as along as they were engaged with me, I was engaged with them) and speedier (it’s easier to focus on two people than be whipping my head / eyes around the room trying to find new bidders for each bid).
Yet sometimes I think this behavior is interpreted by some guests as “missing bids.” It might happen like this:
A guest raises their bid card at $1000 and leaves it up. The auctioneer proceeds to accept bids from other guests at $1500, $2000, and $2500.
As the auctioneer searches for a $3000 bidder, the guest drops his bid card because the price is now too high for him. The auctioneer finds a $3000 bidder and continues accept bids from others, finally selling the item at $4000.
The guest was never acknowledged as the high bidder — even though his bid card was raised. He wasn’t prepared to pay more than $2500, but complains to the organizer that the auctioneer “missed” his bid.
In this video, I explain that in such a case, the auctioneer didn’t “miss” any bids.
It would be more accurate to say that the guest wasn’t acknowledged when his bid paddle was raised. But that’s OK, because not every bidder in a live auction WILL be acknowledged.
I liken this experience to chatting at a party.
Imagine you are talking with two others. As long as the conversation (the auction) is flowing, you continue to talk to just these guests (the active bidders). But when one of the guests (bidders) decides to, for instance, excuse himself to go to the restroom (hesitate on bidding), the dynamic changes and another guest is invited to join the conversation (the bidding).
Listen to the video and see if it makes sense to you.
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