LIAM KIRKWOOD
Young gun Ray White Rural Geaney | Kirkwood principal Liam Kirkwood has made a name for himself as one of the top up and coming livestock auctioneers in Australia .
He won the prestigious ALPA Queensland Young Auctioneers competition at the 2019 Royal Brisbane Show . He then continued his success in 2021 winning the ALPA National Young Auctioneer title from a pool of 16 national auctioneering finalists from around the country . And he ’ s one of the youngest principals in the Ray White Group .
For anyone not familiar with a livestock auction , they look quite different to a property auction . There is a very different audience of buyers and a much faster pace of selling at a livestock auction compared to a property auction . The buyers at a livestock auction are mostly trained professionals who work to a price guide or limit which enables an auctioneer to determine the best price quickly .
“ Buyers at a property auction are more likely to bid beyond their limits based on emotion which means the auctioneer at a property auction must engage their audience and try to play on that emotion to achieve the highest price which in turn takes longer to do ,” Liam said .
Liam loves being in full control of the sale of his clients ’ cattle and being able to play the audience to achieve the most desired result .
“ If the sale is slow , you can speed it up to gain momentum , if the buyers are being difficult , you can add some humour to brighten things up , you must do whatever it takes to stay in control of the market ,” he said .
LIAM ’ S TOP TIP
It ’ s nice to be important but it ’ s more important to be nice .
JAMES KEENAN
James ‘ Keeno ’ Keenan is a seasoned pro , having been an auctioneer for 28 years and anyone wanting to break into auctioneering should pay close attention . While Keeno is a sales agent himself , he also auctions for two of our top Sydney offices , Ray White Double Bay and Ray White Surry Hills | Alexandria | Glebe | Erskineville .
As an auctioneer , he always makes a point of reaching out to the vendors before an auction to have a chat and introduce himself .
“ I think it works well because it gives them the opportunity to ask questions , people go through this process so rarely in their lives that it can be pretty stressful and I think the onus is on us to take some of the stress away ,” he said .
“ It also helps the agent too , I can relay the same message but from a third party prior to the auction .”
The most important part for James is putting the final deal together . But ultimately , he said the credit goes to the agent because they do all the hard work .
“ It ’ s them that gets the buyers to the auction . It doesn ’ t matter how good an auctioneer is , my job is to put the finishing touches on a campaign . If I can create a good atmosphere and a competitive environment then it might be the difference between getting a little bit extra ,” he said .
JAMES ’ S TOP TIP
To go out and just do it . And be prepared to do big numbers and take every opportunity that comes along . You need to learn and listen , you can ’ t be top of the tree after a month . You have to build relationships with selling agents . They are relying on you to seal the deal on all the hard work they ’ ve done . We have to be professional and very empathetic in our approach . At the end of the day , we are at the centre stage of the business because auctions are so public .
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