RECRUITING AUCTIONEERS

Recruiting auctioneers is constantly changing field.  The tactics you’ll in recruiting use haven’t changed much over the years, but the world has.  How will you stand out? Attract the right people? Convince them to join you? Whether you’re looking to expand your offering, launching into a new market territory, want to grow your team or taking on a new niche, you need to learn how to hire the right people. Having the right plan in place and executing it consistently is the key effective recruiting.

Developing Your Value Proposition

In order to recruit talented auctioneers, you need to put your company’s value on display.  To convince candidates that your business, culture and brand are worth their investment, it’s crucial to get your message out.  A value proposition can be defined as ‘an innovation, service, or feature intended to make a company or product attractive to customers.’ A Value Proposition is most compelling when it is written with the needs of the customer in mind.  In the case of recruiting, auctioneers are your customer. By knowing what motivates the candidates you are looking to hire, you can craft a statement that resonates with them. This is how you attract them to your culture.

  • Determine your audience
  • Know what motivates them
  • Create a short statement that addresses each motivator
  • Determine the evidence that backs up your statement

Take an honest look at your value proposition compared to your competitions.  When recruiting, you are “selling” the services of your company. There are two ways to sell anything … price and value. If you do not have any “value”, you will need to offer very high splits to the auctioneer you are recruiting. Conversely, if you provide a lot of “value”, you can derive a better split.  Is the price you are asking (i.e. splits) equal to the value (i.e. services, leads, education, etc) you are providing? The auctioneer you are interviewing is weighing the price you are offering and the value that you are providing against the price and value that they’re currently positioned under.  Are your commission splits in balance with the tools and services you provide? Are there any tools / services that you need to add? Do you need to adjust your commission splits up or down? Does your office need updating? Is your equipment up to date? Do you fully use the tools and services United Country provides and can you articulate that value proposition?

When recruiting, you might focus on presenting prospects with compensation packages that match their talents, but be sure to add some perks and benefits that align with key motivators as well. Consider some flexibility toward commission arrangements. Think about offering referral fees to motivate your current staff to invite their peers to join.  Sweeten the pot by offering benefits beyond financial compensation with things like healthcare insurance, personalized gifts or customized marketing or benefit packages.  Making your perks and benefits hard to resist will provide you a leg up on your competition.

*Disclaimer:  In accordance with state and national real estate laws and in compliance with legal guidance regarding price fixing, United Country Real Estate Inc., its affiliates or any of its management team or representatives do not establish, recommend or influence in any way the agreed upon arm’s length commission rates negotiated between its brokers or agents/auctioneer and their clients for the provision of real estate sales, marketing, brokerage or auctioneer services.

Identifying Potential New Auctioneers

United Country recently sat down with the top auction offices to determine what characteristics they look for when recruiting new auctioneers. The following is the full list of what they collectively came up with:

  • targeted geographic locations; passionate about or background in niche market; competitive/aggressive work ethic; “Type-A personality”/positive/energetic/self-motivated/outgoing; looking for a life change/groomable/newly licensed/ambitious/eager; minimal obligations (has time to learn and pursue auctions); financially stable & willing to invest in and market themselves; clever; history of success in other areas; organized/regimented/disciplined; loyal/”sticktivity”

Newly licensed auctioneers and experienced auctioneers looking to transition to a new company will have different sets of expectations. Just as a good sales person adjusts their pitch depending on the client, you should advertise different elements of your business to recruit different candidates. Here are some techniques to attract either new or experienced auctioneers:

  • Experienced Auctioneers:

    • How to Find Them:
      • - Google “Your City auctions” or take a look at your local newspaper’s auction section, do you see a company with multiple upcoming auctions? Go to their website and see who’s who.  You’re not looking for the lead auctioneer (the one running the show), you’re looking for one of the next in line.
      • - Check with your state Auctioneer’s Association for a directory of members.
      • - Search the National Auctioneer’s Association’s membership directory.
      • - Look up license information with the local Auction License Board and/or the Secretary of State’s office.
      • - Place a job posting on LinkedIn (tutorial HERE), Facebook (tutorial HERE) or Indeed (tutorial HERE).
      • - Set up a referral program within your office. Referred talent can make the best additions to your office. Provide your team with an easy way to refer their friends and colleagues to your company.
    • How to Recruit Them:
    • - Show off your innovative marketing & technology services – Marketing is a crucial for the success of all auctioneers and technology is just as important. Show your prospects exactly what United Country provides. Tell them all about EMS, the Specialty Marketing Groups, the auction listing presentation templates, the virtual postcard program, the UC catalogs and websites. Show them Bullseye, your company website, an example of what their “agent” website will look like, the buyer database, the list of webinars available on the intranet, the partnership arrangement with AuctionFlex, AuctionTime and more.  Show them everything you can provide them.  Need inspiration or guidance? Show them THIS. 
    • - Invest in your company culture – Culture fit is an important focus when recruiting experienced auctioneers. How they will meld with your existing team is not only an indicator of how they will perform but also how long they will stay. However, do not limit your list to people who do business just like you. As long as an auctioneer meets your production standards, is ethical and able to get along well with others, include them on your list.  Stretch your comfort zone! It will be worth it! Conversely, if any are missing any one of these three qualities, leave them off of your list (they will cost you more than they make you!).
    •  - Create a winning office space – Office space is an effective way to show value to experienced auctioneers. Having office space your auctioneers can use to stay organized and feel at home in helps build relationships within your office and builds a culture and place to grow.
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  • Newly Licensed:

    • How to Find Them:
      • - Follow auction schools on social media. They typically post about their recent graduates. 
    • How to Recruit Them:
        • - Help them develop their personal brand – In the Become an Auctioneer section of this manual, you’ll find an entire section dedicated to personal branding. Help your new auctioneers design business cards, make your logo easily accessible for use online, and help coach them to refine their own unique value proposition for their clients.
        • - Offer a mentorship program: Offer a mentorship program that pairs new auctioneers with experienced auctioneers or other team members.  Cross training not only benefits new auctioneers eager to learn the best practices within your office, it helps seasoned team members invest in their personal growth and increase their standing within your company.
        • - Advertise Career Growth: Career growth is a great selling point for any candidate.  During the interview, introduce candidates to members of your team who began their career within your office.  This direct visual example will provide an unrivaled advantage in showing what you can provide and how you will help foster their development as an auctioneer. 

** NOTE -- Do not attempt this if you are unfamiliar with auctions. This is a long term approach that works only if you are already a licensed auctioneer or have an existing auctioneer within your office that can provide apprenticeship and mentorship.

  • The “Bird Dog” Approach
  • Look for an energetic “sales” person in the area you want to expand into or with existing specialized/niche knowledge, provide them with collateral and instructions to begin pursuing auctions on your behalf. They already know how to sell. All you need to teach them is how to position this new, higher-priced item they’re representing. The beautiful thing is, they can get their license while they’re learning. You will need to conduct quite a bit of training up-front but this method will open the door to the prospect’s acceptance and knowledge about how to pursue auctions that can ultimately lead to them taking on auction school and getting their real estate and auction licenses all while they’re sourcing new auction projects on your behalf.

 

  • Sample Conversion Timeline:
    • 0-30 days – You Watch Me. During this stage, they are shadowing your day-to-day activity.
    • 30-60 days – I Watch You. Now it’s their turn to practice what they’ve learned while you monitor them. Auction school and licensing happens in this stage.
    • 60-90 days – You Go Do. After watching and practicing, they’re now licensed & ready to perform with minimal supervision.

 

  • Case Studies of this Approach:
    • One auctioneer within UC works with 2 young farmers currently in real estate school to look for farm equipment for his equipment auctions, he offers them a “finder’s fee” and has been mentoring them to get them accustomed to the industry and meeting potential clients. Their ultimate goal is attending auction school and becoming auctioneers within his office.
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    • Another auctioneer within UC looks for existing personal property auctioneers and uses their existing interest in auctions to introduce them to real estate sales.

Recruiting Methods

You will want to have both “passive” and “active” forms of recruiting.

Passive should include:

  • - Regular targeted social media campaigns (click HERE for full tutorial)
  • - Drip Marketing with a monthly email (1st of the month)
  • - Drip Marketing with a monthly mail campaign (15th of the month)
  • - Visiting open houses and auctions of the recruits (at least once a month, if possible)
  • - Dropping in quarterly to “network” - make small talk, see what they’re up to and leave them something non-branded like a bottle of water, newspaper, etc. as well as something small that is branded like a pen or koozie keep it friendly and non-sales oriented. (check out the UC Company Store for UC deals)
  • - Attending all local Auctioneer Association functions (usually quarterly)

Active should include calling them every 1‐2 months.

Your Call Script:

“Hello John / Sally, this is “Your Name” with United Country XXX. How are you today? Good! The reason for my call is I’d like to see if you have time to have lunch with me next week to get to know you as I’m sure we will work together in the future and also I would love to talk a little bit about United Country XXX and help you better understand our unique program?”

    • - If they say yes, Great! Schedule the lunch.
    • - If they say they are happy where they are at, you can say:  “I understand and this is by no means a high pressure lunch. What I would like to suggest is that we have lunch now, understanding you are happy where you are at and not wanting to move. We both work in the same business and will run into one another in the course of our businesses. I hope to work on an auction together in the future and it is always better to get to know one another and build a rapport beforehand. The worst case scenario is you get a free lunch and we get to know each other a little better! Do you have time next week?”
      • - If they say yes, Great! Schedule the lunch.
      • - If they say no, say “Good enough. Maybe we’ll be able to get together in the future.” and move on.

 

At the Lunch:

Spend the first 30 minutes asking subtle probing questions and letting them speak. The purpose of this approach is to find out what the agent likes about their current situation and what the agent doesn’t like about their current situation. Try not to speak about your company at all. Ask such questions as: “How long have you been in the business?” “Do you enjoy auctions?” (listening for their commitment level) “Where does most of your business come from?” “Do you generate most of your own business?”(this will tell you if their broker, floor time, etc gives them leads) “Is the team in your office supportive?” (listening for the cohesiveness of the office) “Do you attend many educational sessions?” (listening to see if the broker provides education) “Tell me about your family.” (is the family supportive?) 

Check out the Mastering the Initial Consultation section of this manual for more information about SPIN selling. 

 

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE YOU CAN MAKE IS NOT ASKING QUESTIONS AND GOING RIGHT INTO LISTING ALL OF THE REASONS YOUR OFFICE IS SO GREAT!

 

Your Presentation:

Once you have spent the time getting to know their needs and wants, you now know what to present to them. DO NOT present to them everything about your office. Only present the following:

    • - The services and tools you offer that they like at their current office.
    • - The tools and services you offer that they would like to have but do not currently have. (you will know this after listening to them)
    • - A few of the quality services you offer that will make a difference in their career. (again, you will know this after listening to them)
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  • When you are presenting the items, casually ask them if they think they would benefit from that item if they had it available to them (you should already know the answer). If their answer is “yes”, reply “let’s assume this would generate one more sale for you” and mark a “1” down next to it. Go through each item you are presenting and ask the same question. When you are done with the presentation, go back and tally all of the “additional deals” the agent will receive if they joined your company. Also explain how since you do more and unique marketing, you earn higher commissions with the UC program.  Then, put a dollar value on those additional transactions and commissions based on an average sales price / commission.

Ex. – 5 additional transactions, $100,000 average sales price, 3% average commission ‐ $15,000 additional GCI!

  • - After calculating the amount, don’t say anything for a little while ... Let the number sink in and read the expression on their face! At this point in the conversation, you should have a good idea whether or not the agent is interested. Read their expressions and body language throughout these four steps.
  • - At this point, it is time to ask for the sale / go for the close. Good Luck!
  • - Leverage JoinUC.com
  • - Leverage Agent/Auctioneer Recruiting Brochure
  • - Leverage Agent Auctioneer Recruiting Webinars HERE, HERE and HERE
  • - Request a Home Office Rep on recruiting calls
  • - Home Office visits
  • - Business Consulting meetings
  • - Regional training, webinar and convention guests

 

Add To Home Office Agent/Auctioneer Recruiting Campaign

    • - Facebook
    • - Email
    • - Postcard
    • - Print ads
    • - Online targeted job posting
    • - In-bounds, opt-in, warmed leads
    • - Passed to UCRE offices
    • - Follow-up on your part is critical
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Home Office Recruiting Materials Available:

    • - Introduction letter
    • - Job posting description
    • - Postcard templates
    • - Facebook recruiting guide and images

Retention

It’s not enough to know how to identify and recruit your top auctioneer prospects.  All those efforts will lay to waste if they leave prematurely.  Keeping top talent is just as crucial as hiring them. Avoid the revolving door and retain your team by constantly nurturing their skillsets with the right mix of ongoing training, productivity tools and marketing programs that will help them close deals and keep them happy for the long term.

Your current team is one of your most valuable resources for recruiting. By either bringing in referrals or successfully representing your brand in your community, your team is indispensable when recruiting.  Your next great prospect can come from anywhere, so make sure you have the right support for your existing team.

Your office culture should show candidates the advantages of joining your team.  Celebrating your team’s individual successes is important. To help demonstrate how you value your team, be sure to recognize the little victories like work anniversaries, reaching sales goals, birthdays and more on your social media networks, company blogs and newsletters.

Hosting events in your office is a great networking tool for your current team and new candidates. It also demonstrates that your office is a place that fosters career growth and development.  Invite an industry expert or local business to give a presentation, host a happy-hour, or sponsor a recruitment night.  Live events not only get your name out into the local community, they get your message out to both potential auctioneers and potential new clients.

Provide your team with the means and opportunities to further their individual career growth. Commit to continued education and skill development.  Your support can be the morale boost that spells the difference between competent work and career-defining excellence.

Your team looks up to you as their leader. You have the advantage of experience that’s been enriched and refined over years in the industry.  Use this to your advantage to train a new generation of experts that shares your unique insights and values.  You will not only make your voice resonate throughout your own company, but across the industry.

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