Auctioneers Use Marketing Skills & Urgency

Auctioneers Use Marketing Skills & Urgency to Sell Property FAST!
January 15, 2008

257.2 billion in 2006

Auctioneers are trained today to be experts in marketing so they can bring exactly the right bidders to their auctions, making an effective sale with a good price for the seller in a timely fashion. In fact, a typical schedule today for an Auctioneer to sell a home or commercial property at auction is 45 days from the time a contract is signed with the seller to the day of auction. And immediately after the contract is signed, the marketing begins.

In that 45 day period, the auction company is sending targeted emails, direct mail brochures, placing newspaper advertisements, putting signage at the property and nearby locations and using other marketing techniques. All the advertising conveys a sense of urgency that the property will be sold on that upcoming auction day.

This increased effort in marketing property, above what can usually be done in a tradtional real estate listing, is often what draws bankers, attorneys, court appointed trustees and others to turn properties over to Auctioneers for a rapid and successful sale.

Potential bidders get the message that this property is not languishing in a traditional real estate listing, but is in an auction process where there is a set time for parties to preview the property, place a deposit to bid, and show up on auction day. It is this sense of urgency and structure that often moves bidders to act, instead of allowing them to delay, consider further, and delay more.

Auctioneers are learning ever-more sophisticated marketing techniques in seminars, real estate auction programs and by networking with peers who are using technology well. Auctioneers today know the real key to making an auction successful is not talking fast during the auction, but it is getting the right people at the auction and moving them to bid.

In a slow real estate market, like today’s, more sellers are turning to auctions because they have investigated this method and see it is successful. Real estate auctions are the fastest growing of all auction categories.

The general public is hearing more about the auction method today because of eBay and other online auctions, and the average person is more willing to try selling any property at auction, including real estate. The wise seller, buyer and Auctioneer will all work together for a win-win-win deal using the auction method.

{Article written in the National Auctioneers Association “Auction Advantage Newsletter – Winter 2008 Edition”}