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The Muster- Mick Withers: Young Auctioneer Of The Year · The Muster on Hokonui

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  Speaker 1: If you like pina coladas And getting caught in.
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  Speaker 2: The rain If you're not.
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  Speaker 3: Into yoga This is the muster on Hakanui.
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  Speaker 1: Mick Withers is one of the organisers of the New
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  Speaker 1: Zealand Young Auctioneer of the Year competition, which happened on
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  Speaker 1: Tuesday in Christchurch. Now, we had Elliot Wanderer on the
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  Speaker 1: programme last week. Yeah, Mick's going to give us a
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  Speaker 1: bit of a rundown on the competition and just the
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  Speaker 1: life of.
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  Speaker 3: An auctioneer as such. Good afternoon, Mick, and welcome to
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  Speaker 3: the muster.
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  Speaker 2: Good afternoon. It's really good, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Firstly, is there a congratulations being made a life member
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  Speaker 1: for New Zealand Young Auctioneer Society?
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  Speaker 3: That's quite an accolade.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, it was out of the blue, really. I had no, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: absolutely no idea that was going to happen, the buggers.
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  Speaker 2: But no, I'm very proud and humbled.
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  Speaker 1: You work for Rural Livestock based up there in Canterbury,
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  Speaker 1: but in being involved with the auctioneering scene as such,
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  Speaker 1: what's your back story, mate?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I started with auctioneering with I was rural livestock
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  Speaker 2: back in the 90s. That's a long time ago, isn't it?
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  Speaker 2: So I auctioned for them for 30 odd years and
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  Speaker 2: set up the Young Auctioneers competition 15 years ago.
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  Speaker 1: Did you find there was a real niche out there
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  Speaker 1: for people to come and put their skills to the test?
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  Speaker 3: Was there the appetite as such?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, 100%. I think that first year, we had 13
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  Speaker 2: competitors in our first year, which really surprised me. But
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  Speaker 2: it's really morphed into something quite significant now over the years.
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  Speaker 3: So how do you become an auctioneer?
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  Speaker 1: You're a young person getting into the stock selling game
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  Speaker 1: or just anything in general that involves live bidding.
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  Speaker 3: What makes a good auctioneer?
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  Speaker 2: It's a $ 100, 000 question, really. Well, getting into it, you've
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  Speaker 2: really got to show this interest for a start. There's
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  Speaker 2: no point in having a go if you're not really...
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  Speaker 2: wholeheartedly believe in yourself really. So you're on stage as
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  Speaker 2: a thing and you're at the front of your company.
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  Speaker 2: So I guess you go along and you watch other
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  Speaker 2: auctioneers and you pick up what they're saying and why
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  Speaker 2: they're saying it. And then you get in your car
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  Speaker 2: and you practice and you practice in front of a
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  Speaker 2: mirror and there's a lot of work that goes into it.
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  Speaker 2: The most frightening thing you'll ever do is your first auction.
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  Speaker 1: But they're encouraged to get up there straight away when
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  Speaker 1: they get into the role, or it's like a mentorship programme?
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  Speaker 2: In the day, it was just thrown in the deep end,
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  Speaker 2: but I think these days we try to do a
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  Speaker 2: bit more mentoring around it. You really let loose and
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  Speaker 2: then decide whether you have an aptitude for it or not.
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  Speaker 1: And I suppose being, well, when you got into the
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  Speaker 1: game back in the 90s, being a stock agent, it
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  Speaker 1: was a ruthless game. You had no cell phones. You
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  Speaker 1: went home and lived on the landline for about two
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  Speaker 1: or three hours a night.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly, that's the interesting thing, is your deals were
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  Speaker 2: done at night and what have you, and so, you know,
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  Speaker 2: organising transport and getting space and all those sort of things,
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  Speaker 2: it was a lot to the phone, for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Dylan Ford, he won the prize proper on Tuesday.
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  Speaker 3: It was his fifth attempt.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought it was his fifth.
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  Speaker 3: That's all about perseverance, I suppose.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, and I think, yeah, Dylan's won it and
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  Speaker 2: he's a totally different auctioneer to what he was even
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  Speaker 2: three years ago. He's worked really hard. He's really given
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  Speaker 2: it a lot. And he's the sort of fellow who's
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  Speaker 2: always asked for feedback and takes constructive criticism well. And
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  Speaker 2: the thing about it is there's sort of two different
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  Speaker 2: dynamics to the auctioneering competition. It's the physical auctioneering itself,
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  Speaker 2: but they also put through an interview process with the
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  Speaker 2: judges which covers all theory and what have you And
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  Speaker 2: that's often what trips young auctioneers up. They don't understand
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  Speaker 2: fully the terms and conditions of the sale.
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  Speaker 1: So it's not just getting up there and rattling off
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  Speaker 1: the numbers and closing a deal.
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  Speaker 3: It's the whole thing.
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  Speaker 2: No, so they've got to go through and understand where
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  Speaker 2: you stand legally as an auctioneer, how to settle disputes
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  Speaker 2: and how to... and what is expected of you as
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  Speaker 2: an auctioneer.
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  Speaker 1: Now, they had training on Monday, voice coaching, which is
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  Speaker 1: something I'm aware of for days.
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  Speaker 3: Gone past, like to.
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  Speaker 1: and all these stupid things to loosen up the tones.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. How did they find that? That can be intimidating.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. I was really concerned as to how it
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  Speaker 2: was going to go because it's quite a daunting thing
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  Speaker 2: and you sort of open yourself up to all your
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  Speaker 2: colleagues and so they happened to do that. I wasn't there,
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  Speaker 2: so I don't know exactly what they did, but that
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  Speaker 2: went off really well, and every guy I spoke to
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  Speaker 2: just thought it was so enlightening and informative. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: we really hit the nail on the head on that one.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Mick, there was a change this year with the
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  Speaker 1: running of the competition now being structured as an incorporated society,
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  Speaker 1: and you've got a committee of young people involved as well.
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  Speaker 1: So what does this mean for the competition going forward?
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  Speaker 2: I think just... It's really interesting when you bring that
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  Speaker 2: up because I think it's given it a real professional
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  Speaker 2: edge that it hasn't had in the past. And I've
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  Speaker 2: got these young guys who are full of enthusiasm and
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  Speaker 2: just want to see it succeed. And they've come to
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  Speaker 2: me on their own back sort of thing. I haven't
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  Speaker 2: asked them to do it. They've said, look, we want
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  Speaker 2: to be part of this going forward. So which is really.
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  Speaker 3: Heartening for me.
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  Speaker 2: That means I can step back a bit now. But
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  Speaker 2: it's just really added a lot of professionalism to the show.
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  Speaker 1: But you've got to be pretty chuffed at the way
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  Speaker 1: the competition's evolved, though, when you sit back and just
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  Speaker 1: have a bit of an afterglow.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I look back when we started, we had mock
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  Speaker 2: auctions and two days of wondering what the hell was
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  Speaker 2: going to happen next sort of thing, and now it's
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  Speaker 2: just got this sort of, this happens, this happens, this happens,
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  Speaker 2: and it's not by accident anymore. It's pretty smart, pretty operative,
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  Speaker 2: but it's quite a structured event now.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's got to the stage now.
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  Speaker 1: There is now the North Island versus South Island, the
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  Speaker 1: grey-hatted shield on the line, which you're calling the Ramfriley
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  Speaker 1: Shield of Young Auctioneering.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, yeah, cheeky beggars. Yes, I think it's a
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  Speaker 2: really nice take because it's come about going to Australia
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  Speaker 2: where at their Young Auctioneers they have an interstate competition
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  Speaker 2: as well. And so these boys have been over there
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  Speaker 2: and seen that and thought, well, this will be quite
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  Speaker 2: fun to bring back to our competition, so... Yeah, hats
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  Speaker 2: off to them. It was bloody good.
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  Speaker 1: Because I've seen online as well, over in the States,
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  Speaker 1: they have actual auctioneering schools.
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  Speaker 2: Yes. So, yeah, in Australia, they've been doing that for years.
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  Speaker 2: And to compete in their competition, you actually have to
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  Speaker 2: attend two schools a year, I think it is. So
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  Speaker 2: we are in the throes of doing that here in
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand. So we have a school in the north
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  Speaker 2: and a school in the south. It's a proposition we're
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  Speaker 2: putting to the New Zealand Stock and Station Agents Association.
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  Speaker 2: I might let the cat out of the bag, but
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  Speaker 2: we want to be able to replicate what we've done
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  Speaker 2: for the young guys here to the guys out in
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  Speaker 2: the field who are not competitors. They might be too
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  Speaker 2: old to be in our competition, but we feel we've
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  Speaker 2: still got something to offer them, and I think the
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  Speaker 2: voice coaching is one of them, and the other is
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  Speaker 2: help from senior auctioneers.
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  Speaker 3: Good on you, Mick.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for your time this afternoon. Congratulations on the accolade
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  Speaker 1: this week, too. I've enjoyed the chat.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks very much. And I appreciate the interest in our
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  Speaker 2: competition that means a lot.
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  Speaker 1: Mick Withers, recently made a life member of the New
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  Speaker 1: Zealand Young Auctioneer Society about the Young Auctioneer of the Year,
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  Speaker 1: which happened in Christchurch this week.
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  Speaker 3: Nathan Burden's up next. If you'd like making love at
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  Speaker 3: midnight