Rogersville auctioneer nabs state title

Kevin Thompson's a fast talker. But in his business, that's just what he needs to be.

The Rogersville auctioneer last month won the Missouri State Auctioneering Champion-ship at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. The title is presented by the Missouri Professional Auctioneers Association each year. In July 2002, he will represent Missouri at the national competition in Or-lando, Fla.

Thompson, who owns and operates Thompson Auction & Realty LLC, said at the state competition, contestants in the first round must sell two items at a live auction held at the fairgrounds. Each contestant is allowed to take one item to sell, and the other one is assigned to the contestant by the association. The item Thompson took with him was a piece of southwestern art a wall-mount for hanging hats, lariats and spurs. His assigned item was a two-ton ratchet tie-down.

"That's one of the hardest things to do, to get up and sell two items and sit back down ... I probably don't warm up and really start going until I've probably been selling for 30 minutes," Thompson said.

In the final rounds, the finalists are on a level playing field. They have to sell two miniature Ertl tractors, which Thompson said are collectors' items. Of the 40 contestants in the event, Thompson came out on top.

Family tradition

Thompson's certainly no stranger to auctioneering. He's had his own company for about nine years, but he said he grew up around auctions. In fact, it's a family tradition that he's keeping alive. Thompson said his uncles, Earl and Wilbur Blansit, founded their own auction company in 1945 and operated it for many years.

"I guess I give them the credit for me being in the business," Thompson said. And while Thompson is a graduate of the Missouri Auction School in Kansas City, he said it takes more than education to make a good auctioneer it just might be in the genes, so to speak.

"I do believe that there are people who are just born to do it. It comes more natural, I guess, to some people than it does to others," he said. "I've always been teased that I was kind of gabby. I like to talk, and I think that helps ... to have kind of an outgoing personality."

Skills for the trade

These days, Thompson travels Am-erica coast-to-coast, literally, selling purebred livestock primarily cattle. In the southwest Missouri market, he handles auctions for "everything from estates, farm sales, real estate and business liquidations." Thompson also sells automobiles at different car auctions, in-cluding Springfield's 1-66 Auto Auction.

Steve Agnew is assistant general manager of the 1-66 Auto Auction, a dealer-only auction.

He said all of the auctioneers at 1-66 Auto Auction are contract labor, and there are several skills he looks for when considering auctioneers with whom to contract, including "how well they work with the dealers and how well they perform in their chant ... if they're clear ... (and) everybody can understand them. And they've got to be able to work with the dealers and work the crowd and keep everybody involved in the process."

He noted that there are other auctioneers who work at 1-66 Auto Auction who have earned the state championship title in the past, and one auctioneer is a world champion auctioneer.

"We try to go after the guys who have a lot of recognition." Agnew added.

Thompson estimates that in a year's time, his company, which includes two other auctioneers and a three-member set-up crew, will handle 150 to 200 sales. The fees he charges for his services vary depending on the type of merchandise.

Thompson said experience is a key ingredient for success. When he first started out, Thompson did a lot of charity auctions and a lot of small auctions just to get experience. But he said it's important, too, to have some general knowledge about what's being sold.

Thompson's a licensed real estate broker, and he said no matter what he's selling, he tries to learn more about it so that the starting bid price he sets is reasonable. However, training, experience and product knowledge aside, there are some things that will have an unexpected selling price.

"I sold a bull back in January in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, (that) brought $85,000," he said. "If you had asked me before the sale started what that bull calf was worth, I wouldn't have been close. He just took off like a ball of fire."

Changes in meaning

These days, auctions are simply another option for selling merchandise, be it land, livestock real estate or other items they're no longer "distress signals," Thompson said.

"It used to be, when people thought of an auction, it was ... whoops, they're broke, they've got to liquidate in a hurry,'" he said.

While an auction still provides quick liquidation, an auction might be something that a property owner chooses as a first option.

"If you put your auction sign up before you list it, it's what we call fresh property. Property that has not been on the market and everybody has viewed it and knows the price," Thompson said. "At auction, you take it, and you actually find out what is the true market value for that day. That day, what is it worth? And a lot of times, what you'll find out is it's worth as much, or more, than what they were going to list it for."

Auctions bring out the competitor in potential buyers, and that can help drive up the price for which a particular item will sell. But, Thompson added, if the highest bid received on property isn't as much as the owner wanted, they don't have to accept the bid.

"Ninety-nine percent of property is going to sell with the owners' confirmation, or approval ... of the final bid price. If it is acceptable, they can take it. If it's not, they still own the property," Thompson said.

(Almost) anything goes

Sometimes, auctions don't work, because "there's just some property that's hard to sell," Thompson said. However, most things will sell. In terms of estate auctions, Thompson's come across some strange things to sell, with the oddest, he said, being gallstones in a jar.

He's also sold a box of rocks before, and other unusual items belonging to people who he said have "Depression mentality" they don't throw anything away because they might need it later.

Thompson said that's OK in fact, he tells people who are planning for an auction not to throw anything away, because someone will buy it.

"And they do. You can put that stuff in a box, and line those boxes up in a row, and people will pay you money for stuff that you would've hauled off," he said.