Vehicle consultant and auctioneer

By ANGELA MCCARTHY

Name: Graham Green

Age: 26

Role: Vehicle consultant and auctioneer at Turners Auctions, Penrose

Working hours: 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday, plus every second Saturday from 9am to 1pm

Average pay: $35,000 to $38,000

Qualifications: In-house training, including Integrity Selling course, an auctioneer development programme. Customer services courses through the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. Can also do management trainee programme (in conjunction with Turners Auctions and Unitec).

Q. Describe how you got this position

A. I started at Turners Auctions five and a half years ago as a part-time driver. I used to be a green-keeper before going overseas.

Driving cars was a pretty cool job for a 20-year-old. I then moved into a full-time customer services role and then auctioneering and this current position.

I wanted to do auctioneering because it looked like fun and a challenge and added to the skills I had.

Q. Describe what you do

A. There are two parts to my job. I evaluate privately owned vehicles for selling at auction by looking through previous sale records and using my own knowledge and experience. I explain charges and the auction process, and negotiate for vendors. I also auction cars.

Q. What was auctioneering like the first time?

A. It was incredibly nerve-racking. The first time I felt weak at the knees but I had practised my banter, so once I got going it wasn't so bad. Once I'd done it a few times I started to enjoy it and practise different banters, adding a bit of humour. It is now fun.

Q. What sort of training or experience do you need?

A. We do a two-day in-house auctioneer course to learn about auction laws and get practical training. But the only way to build experience and confidence is to get up and do it. There is also in-house training, such as selling and management trainee courses.

Q. What skills and qualities do you need?

A. You need integrity, a sense of humour and ability to think and talk on your feet. Auctioneers have to be in charge, so you need a strong personality.

You also have to be able to relate to people well because you're dealing with people all the time and they are relying on you to help them buy or sell something really important to them. It also helps to have an interest in cars, of course.

Q. Best part of the job?

A. I really enjoy the people contact. It is great having a happy seller and buyer. Auctioneering adds more excitement but it is a small part of the job because we only auction between 12 and 2pm.

The rest of the time is involved in consulting, negotiating and organising sales for people. This is also a great job for me because I love anything to do with cars but I don't have a mechanical background.

Q. Most challenging part?

A. We are working for the vendor and buyer and need to keep both happy and that can be challenging because we're buying and selling vehicles that people have invested time and money into and are often passionate about.

A big challenge with auctioneering is recognising a real bid from someone who has chosen to wave to a friend on the other side of the room at a crucial moment and found themselves in the bidding.

It isn't the best place to meet people! When that happens the auctioneer announces the last bid was a mistake, that person didn't want to bid $25,000 on a car, and we return to the under-bidder.

So you have to be on the ball, watching for people's movements, emotions and reactions so you know what is going on.

We have bid watchers to help us with that too.

Q. How do you define success in this job?

A. Satisfying the needs of both buyer and seller, which means that the buyer has just gained a good investment and the seller has received a good price.

Q. Advice to someone wanting to find similar work?

A. They're constantly on the look-out for good people to employ at Turners Auctions so you need to keep an eye out for advertised positions.

Doors can open through starting in a part-time role too, like it did for me.

You don't need experience in vehicles but a background in panel beating or car sales or mechanical work does help. But so do any customer-service skills.

Q. Career hopes for future?

A. I could look for experience in other departments, then manage a branch somewhere in New Zealand. It is such a diverse industry.

I could move into damaged vehicles, commercial goods, trucks over 1.5 tonnes. There are plenty of other areas requiring consultancy and auctioneering skills.