Live from the Lanes: Inside the Auction Sale
If you stand outside any of the auction lanes at Manheim North Carolina, one of the voices you may hear is that of Phillip Batchelor.
The Wilson, N.C., native has been an auctioneer in the auto business for 25 years, but he actually got his start as a youngster, auctioneering off cakes at a talent show in the third grade.
From an early age, Batchelor began to pick up his chant, tailoring his style to that of the Kenneth Aycock — the late father of Manheim North Carolina general manager and newly inducted NAAA president Ellie Johnson — listening to him auction clothing items at the stockyard in Rocky Mount, N.C.
(Aycock began auctioneering in 1958, before the family opened what would eventually become Manheim North Carolina in 1984).
“I listened to him all through the years, and never dreamed that I would work for him, or that he would help me get into this business, and he did,” Batchelor said.
In talking with Auto Remarketing in the offices of Manheim North Carolina this summer, Batchelor was a wealth of knowledge on the tools of the trade for being an effective auctioneer.
And interestingly enough, much of his success comes from what he does away from the block to build professional relationships and foster trust with buyers and sellers.
And whether you’re on the block or not, you have to learn to juggle, and do so energetically.
“You have to maintain a great energy level,” Batchelor said. “You have to keep your mind sharp. Multitasking, to me, is a major part of this business, because everything just happens in a microsecond, so to speak. And if you’re not on top of your game, then you fall backwards a little bit.”
When it comes to keeping his multitasking skills sharp, the little things can help. For example, Batchelor said that even at home, he will play around with his phone while watching TV — just to make sure he is doing two or three things at the same time.
That’s just one skill he has picked up along the way; Batchelor still learns on the job, even after 25 years.
“You almost learn something new every day,” Batchelor said. “Because the cars are changing, the auction business is changing some … when we started out, you had a printed block sheet. Now everything is computerized. Now we’ve got video and audio in the lanes; we didn’t have that many years ago.”
The Dealer
One of the changes in the auction business that Joey Boykin has seen firsthand has been the information available through the Internet. The Smithfield, N.C., independent dealer — who runs two dealerships and a mechanic shop — is both a buyer and seller at the auction.
And given the rapidly advancing information age of the Internet, he readily admits that this presents a double-edged sword.
“When I’m selling out there, I’m all for the Internet. But when I’m buying, I’m all against it,” he says.
It gets a few laughs among those seated with Boykin during an interview, but the challenge is very real: dealers have much more information at their disposal during an auction, but so do their competitors; and if they’re selling cars at auction, so do the bidders.
Boykin, who owns Boykin Motors in Smithfield, said he has adjusted his business model, given changes like these — among others — in both the wholesale and retail markets that have impacted him and other dealers.
“I’ve been in business 20 years and have been a truck and SUV man for all of those years. And I’ve had to learn to make changes to sell cars,” he said. “Trucks have gotten so expensive that we are not able to make a profit … I’ve learned that I can buy a car for $10,000 to $12,000, less miles, less money and I have less (to do to it) to get it ready.”
Another change Boykin has made a few years back was to start doing condition reports on any car he sold at the auction, an idea actually prompted by Johnson at Manheim North Carolina.
“She was the one who recommended I do it, because I was struggling a little bit. I would get the cars here on Saturday or Monday morning, and we weren’t doing the numbers that we needed to do,” said Boykin.
“She said, ‘Why don’t you try to do some condition reports? That way they’re online, people can view the cars over the weekend or at their convenience and they know what they’re trying to buy, whether they’re here or on the Internet buying,’” he added.
On that particular Monday he was talking with Auto Remarketing, Boykin had 47 Internet buyers, but he said that number has been as high as 90.
“When you’ve got that many buyers on the Internet … like I said, when you’re selling, it’s a great advantage; when you’re out on the floor trying to buy, it’s tough,” Boykin said. “If I was in the wholesale market, I would highly recommend you get the cars here on time to have a condition report.”
The Ringman
Jason Littlefield has been a ringman for more than a decade, and the biggest adjustment he has had to make in his job certainly has to do with cars, but it’s not what you might expect.
Littlefield said the first thing that comes to mind when he thinks about adapting to the ringman’s life has been the time spent on the road.
“Growing up, it was 20 miles to Spartanburg, which is where the mall was. And if we did that, it was on a Saturday and it was a big deal,” Littlefield.
He’s got a different perspective now, to say the least.
Littlefield — who is based in upstate South Carolina town of Gaffney — estimates he is on the road more than 1,500 miles a week across the Tar Heel and Palmetto states for trips to Manheim North Carolina and auctions in Greensboro, Charlotte and Charleston.
“You just get used to it, I think,” he said, adding that carpooling helps, as well. “It’s almost like you get used to being on the road; just like anything else, it almost becomes a habit and not quite as big a deal as you thought it was 15 years ago.”
And maintaining that sharpness and alertness in the lanes, especially after long trips, is key for a ringman.
“It does get hectic sometimes, especially some of the lease lanes, where you have a lot of people bidding,” he said. “If (the auctioneer is) locked in on two people, I try to look and see if somebody else is trying to bid that he maybe he didn’t see and try to keep all the confusion down.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned is trying to make sure there is no confusion after the hammer falls, trying to make sure that all the confusion — if there is any — is taken care of before the hammer ever falls,” Littlefield said.
As such, it’s also important to keep an open line of communication with the auctioneer. That includes maintaining eye contact, hand signals, pointing things out that the auctioneer may have missed and clearing up any confusion before the hammer drops.
“I always try to be courteous to the auctioneer,” Littlefield said. “To me, I work for that auctioneer at that point in time. I don’t try to override him; I don’t try to overrun him; I just try to work together.”
And in an industry where there are so many interwoven pieces moving at once, that seems to be sage advice.