Ringmen and Bid Spotters

We have mentioned ringmen a few times in a couple of our articles but we have not provided a true explanation of their place within the auction arena. In our opinion, there are two versions of ringmen. There are professional ringmen who actually go through a training process and then there are bid spotters, also referred to as ringmen. Just like auctioneers have the National Auctioneers Association, there is such as organization for professional ringmen. It is called the Professional Ringmen Institute.

A professional ringman can really add to your bottom line if your auction business specialty is one that is used to this type of selling atmosphere. A good ringman develops a quick rapport with the audience prior to the auction by talking to them and learning which items they are interested in. During the sale they help promote bidding by trying to prompt the bidder to put that card up one more time. They let the auctioneer know when they have bids by yelling "yup" or something similar and they usually do it pretty loudly. Like auctioneers, they too are performers using special hand gestures and movements to entertain the audience. They can put on quite a show.

Professional ringmen are common to the world of automobile auctions, fundraisers and livestock auctions. Some auctioneers work with the same ringman on a regular basis. Many auctioneers began their careers as ringmen so they respect the contribution that a good ringman can make to the success of an auction. A number of professional ringmen are also auctioneers.

True professional ringmen are not as prevalent in the personal property (antiques) auction arena. We have been to thousands of antique auctions and I have never seen a true professional ringman in action. Our experience has pretty much been with what professional ringmen would call bid spotters. When we owned our auction, we usually had at least one bid spotter and sometimes two. I can only speak for our auction, but our audience would not have been happy with a real professional "ringing" for us.

On a few occasions, another auctioneer would volunteer to "ring" for us. Everyone has a different style and if whoever was ringing for us used the standard tactics normally employed by a professional ringman, our audience would have been very uncomfortable. Most people don't like to be singled out when they are bidding. They don't want a ringman right in front of them pointing at them and pressuring them into another bid.

Don't misunderstand us, this works and is successful at many auctions. We did not want to pressure our bidders because they would resent it. If you want an item, you want an item and if you don't, you don't. Period. We were not interested in having customers later regret buying items they really didn't want.

Unlike the livestock business, personal property auctions get a lot of retail as well as trade business. Retail customers are usually inexperienced and nervous enough at an auction without having to face a needless sense of urgency to do something they may not want to do.

There are most definitely two schools of thought on this. We preferred to look at the bigger picture placing more importance on getting customers to feel comfortable so they would come back week after week. Weekly auctions need to have a consistent following. It's their bread and butter.

Auctions that only happen once a year or every couple of months are in a different position. They do in fact need to capitalize on the moment at hand and can't necessarily look at it long term. Professional ringmen and their techniques work well for those types of auctions.

For us, the bid spotters we normally used were there to help the auctioneer catch bids. Missed bids definitely cost an auction house and its consignors money. Our goal was to capture the bids people wanted to give us. We were not into dragging additional bids out of people. It would have hurt us in the long run.

Depending on the size of the building, the layout of the building, the lighting and some other conditions, an auctioneer can have a very difficult time seeing every bid. Large auction houses have bidders standing everywhere. It is especially difficult when some of the buyers think they are secret spies. These people only want to do discreet bidding.

An auctioneer is expected to know that a raised eyebrow or someone clearing his throat constitutes a bid. Are you kidding? We had a 10,000 square foot metal building with roughly 200 people talking to each other, an auctioneer yelling into a microphone and a bunch of ringing telephones. Under these hectic conditions, the bid spotters can really help the auctioneer maintain his sanity.

Also, most auction houses have dealers there buying for their shops, malls or Internet businesses. They do not want other people seeing what they are bidding on so they hide all over the place including behind the auctioneer or behind a pole. We've never fully understood this since, as soon as they pay their bills, they are going to be carrying their items out the door right in front of the audience.

There is a place for bid spotters as well as professional ringmen - each has a niche that they serve and serve well. They really earn their money and we have a great deal of respect for both of them.

Written by Anne Benedetto, Auction House Talk
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