BOB DESCHAINE ESTATE AUCTION

 OCTOBER 30th, 2010

I wish I had the time to write blogs about ALL of our auctions this year, and unfortunately I do not.  Bob's auction was exceptional in many ways though, so I would like to share some of the adventures connected to this auction.

I never had the opportunity to know Bob personally, but I always admired the immaculate condition of his lawn....seriously!  Bob's home is across the street from the YMCA and on a road that I travel frequently. 

His home and yard were always kept in pristine condition! 

We were commissioned by a local bank to sell the personal and business assets after Bob passed away, and appreciate very much the confidence that they placed in us, as this was a very large estate with some very unusual one-of-a-kind merchandise.  Bob was a plumber by trade, but I would classify him more as an engineer...inventor....and definitely a good-hearted person that very generously gave his time and service to help others -

usually anonymously.

One of the featured items that we sold was a snowblower tractor that Bob created, AND which won an award from Mechanics Illustrated Magazine!  The lucky winner of this top-of-the-line equipment is from the Crivitz area, and I'm sure they are hoping for lots of snow this winter!!

The diaphragm pumps that Bob built were in demand, as several area contractors were determined to take one or two of them home with them!  A good friend of Bob's, Ron Axtell, was very helpful with the equipment that Bob built - thanks Ron and Nate!  There were several of Bob's friends in attendance, as well as buyers from across the state of Wisconsin and the U.P.  At peak crowd time, the body count was over 300!

It was one of the most challenging of auctions this year, and required a TON of labor!  We sold in two rings for a part of the day, but also sold in two locations during the same day!  Talk about having to do some intense planning!  I am so appreciative of our loyal and hard-working staff! 

As is typical for a large auction, there were a few "curve-balls" thrown our way, and I am happy to report that we handled them all in a satisfactory way.....

16 years of experience and auction education

pays off on a large auction like this one! 

Buyers, Sellers, and Heirs to the Estate responded very favorably!!

Superior Auction's service to the client continues on, sometimes for days after the auction date.  Bob's auction required two scheduled days of "loading out" for much of the heavy equipment that was sold, and a few individual appointment dates for special circumstances.  I have GREAT video of one of these days, which shows the buyer's joy over Bob's installation of a steel beam with an electric chain hoist for moving that heavy equipment to and from the basement workshop! 
Check our website frequently for more exciting auctions! http://www.superiorauction.net/

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL (AND FUN) AUCTION

THANK YOU to all of the buyers at today's auction. The September 18th auction at Equity Hall in Pound, WI. was a lot of FUN, and it was good to see so many of our regular buyers, and many buyers that we haven't seen in awhile....

It was a beautiful day outside, and the breeze flew in and created a very comfortable atmosphere. We were a little worried about the truck and tractor pulls next door creating too much noise, but even with the doors open it was not noticeable. Equity Hall has great accoustics, and we will most likely use that facility again. Vern and his staff were very acommodating - thanks!!

As usual, we had a few "characters" sitting in the front row......(Loren & Jeff were misbehaving as usual, and were quite entertaining)! It's not a bad idea to sit towards the front at one of our auctions as you get to hear a lot more of the humorous coments (and MANY auction items have interesting comments attached to them...)

The majority of this selection of merchandise offered at auction was from a Green Bay Estate, and we added a little bit from an upcoming Estate Auction that has an ABUNDANCE of Fenton and depression glass. I had hoped to alleviate the pressure (from a selling point) of having so much quality glass in one auction, and I was only somewhat successful in that, as most of the buyers were after the advertising signs and the sporting items. And let's not forget the OVER 300 FISHING POLES!!

Watch Superior Auction & Appraisal's upcoming schedule for the next six weeks - it's FULL of GREAT MERCHANDISE!!! Antiques, tractors, vehicles, jewelry, quality glassware, antique and modern furniture, MANY TOOLS, firearms, boats, snowblowers, real estate, and MUCH MORE! Information about November auctions will be coming soon!

Wisconsin State Auctioneer Championship Contest

After a very busy weekend of selling at auction, I traveled to Milwaukee for the State Championship Auctioneer Contest held at the state fairgrounds. It was nice this year to not have a leadership role, and I was able to just enjoy the contest. I brought a good friend along, and she and I not only experienced the contest but also attended the Betthauser Auction Company auction that evening at the Serb Hall in Milwaukee.

There are so many people that have worked (or attended)for multiple years that don't get the recognition that they deserve...WAA President-Elect Bob Hagemann and his wife Sally, buyer Leanne from Chicago who atttends religiously, Gene & Rosemary Schmidt, Tom Kleist and his wife, and a multitude of other auctioneers and buyers!! THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US!

It was a very fun day at the fair, and because of the heat & humidity, my friend and I limited our grazing of "fair food" to just Wisconsin cheese curds and the famous "Wisconsin Cattlemen's" ribeye sandwich.

The highlight of the contest to all, of course, was the announcement of the winners! The top 6 finalists held some surprises for me personally, but you never can doubt the judges, who are all experienced in the trade. The finalists were ALL worthy of the title, and I was pleased to see two female auctioneers in the final round. (Male auctioneers typically have an advantage due to emanance of their voice) and our state contest does not allow for separate male and female categories (as the International Contest does).

Getting to the quick of things, when they announced the runner-up, reserve champ (and there were still 4 auctioneers standing), and said "SHE" dada tada....we knew it was CAROL MILLER who won!! She was the only female standing amongst the remaining six finalists!! FIRST TIME A FEMALE WON IN THE HISTORY OF THE CONTEST!!

Carol is very deserving in so many ways and will represent the Wisconsin Auction Industry well! Her next debut in competition will ocurr in Orlando, Florida during the July 2011 NAA Convention, where she will be sponsored by the Wisconsin Auctioneer's Association in the International Auctioneer Contest.

Cichocki Moving Auction Results

The Chichocki Moving Auction was one the most fun and succesful auctions of the year! After almost sixteen years in the auction business, I am confident in relaying that the main components of a successful auction include good merchandise, targeted marketing, and the cooperation of the seller.

We definitely had all three going on with this auction! The beautiful log home, barns and outbuildings are currently for sale and include acreage AND a whole lot of Menominee River frontage! Diane and her late husband were avid antique collectors, and there was an abundance of high quality merchandise available on auction day!

Our crew pulled into the auction site at 6:30am and were amazed at the activity going on! I bet there were at least 25 family members - from little kids to octogenarian Grandma Laveta, working already!! We are so appreciative of that, as the merchandise being offered that day grew somewhat from my original visit...Talk about a cohesive family!! AND they were HAVING FUN!!

The weather was pretty good - not as hot and humid as usual, but we still opted for tents so that people could get in the shade if they needed to. Crowd sizes at our auctions this year have been amazing - this auction produced over 350 buyers !!

One of the eventful parts of the auction day included the "Waterfront Festival Motorcycle Ride" that passed on River Road while we were selling. At the time, we had two rings going, and BOTH auctioneers had to shut their auctions down until the 300 or so motorcycles passed! Customers from both rings got into the spirit of the motorcycle ride, waving and cheering the cyclists on! (I heard from a reliable source that Cozzy's mentioned the auction they would be passing, and encouraged the cyclists to be careful - thanks Cozzy & team!) And thanks to the motorcycle riders that were suporting our local St. Vincent de Paul Store!

Our office manager Jennifer. will be posting result of the Cichocki auction soon on our website - take a look!

National Auctioneer's Association Conference & Show

The National Auctioneer's Association Conference & Show was held in Greensboro, North Carolina in July. It's hard to miss a National Conference, especially when it's held in a state that I have never visited. The educational opportunities for professional auctioneers, as well as the networking that it allows, is worth much more than the convention fees and travel costs.

Eli Detweiler, a former Wisconsin auctioneer, holds a leadership role with North Carolina and was very instrumental in this year's convention. Some of our customers will remember Eli as the very energetic Amish auctioneer that worked with us occassionally when he was still residing in Wisconsin. It was VERY EXCITING to be there when he won the INTERNATIONAL AUCTIONEER CHAMPIONSHIP CONTEST this year! Last year he was runner-up, but it doesn't always work out to mean that you will win the next year...there are SEVERAL professional auctioneers that are also very deserving of this title. Yeah Eli - I'm proud of you!

I traveled to North Carolina a few days early to visit friends in Hendersonville and enjoyed a couple of days with Pete & Judy. They own a very large produce operation and I went to the convention with a case - plus of the best tomatoes ever! Airport personnel, rent-a-car people and several auctioneer vendors and friends were able to enjoy the tomatoes also - thanks Pete & Judy! Kathy Kingston used the tomatoes and an ice bucket/cooking pot to demonstrate a wonderful Italian recipe.....

My roommates were Wisconsin auctioneers Shirley Baumann & Carol Miller - three women in one hotel room!!! We had a very interesting week, and all still loved each other when it was ending....(Shirley & Carol are surprised that I didn't mention bathtubs or snoring...right)???

The technology seminar by Peter Gehres was OUTSTANDING! Check out the auctioneerchannel.com to see one of the projects that Peter has been involved in. He made all of the new technology that auctioneers must keep up with very understandable - thanks Peter!

Just a very few of the other educational opportunities include seminars I attended on "Legal Issues for Real Estate Auctioneers", "On-line Only Auctions", "Art & Collectibles", "Social Networking for Business", "Selling Firearms at Auction," and the "New Era of Real Estate Auctions."

Several FUN things about attending NAA Conventions included seeing old friends and making new ones...attending the "Great Ideas Forum"...listening to auctioneer's stories about "Auctions Gone Wild"....and meeting up again with CAI graduates....

Attending NAA Conventions helps me to remain focused on what I intended to do when I first became a part of the auction industry, - providing a professional, honest and fair service to the communities that I serve. I am very appreciative of the opportunities that the NAA provides!!!

"Surround Yourself With Good People"

One of the best things that was brought to my attention by a favorite college professor years ago, was to "surround yourself with good people." It's a simple concept but Jerry Anderson made an impact on me with that statement. (We won't go into his "fly with the eagles" communication:)

I am so grateful for our Superior Auction staff! Many of our current employees are "core" staff that have been with us for all or most of our 15 years in business! The majority of them have full-time careers in other fields, and work with us because it's "fun" and they love the auction environment!

My husband Gene is one of the best people that I could have "surrounded myself" with....although he works full-time as a helicopter mechanic, he is always there for business advice, a sounding board, putting up signs, providing "ring" and customer service at our auctions, and so much more!

My first office manager 15 years ago was my nephew, Eric, who was still in high school at the time. He was (and is) an awesome business manager and currently manages one of my brother Jeff's travel business operations in Orlando. Kris Anderson was my first "official" office manager and managed to work productively in a very small office that she shared with me in our home , and with her newborn daughter Cassidy Johnel. Jennifer Nowack, our current office manager, is lucky enough to have a large office all to herself in a separate office building. Jen's been with us full-time for over six years and puts out a huge amount of work, managing "behind-the-scene" duties both for our live and on-line only auctions.

Kathy Sackman (Kat) has been with us for several years in many roles, most recently taking over the management of the prep duties for our auctions. Jerry & Karen Stujenske are a big part of the prep crew and have been very helpful in many ways to our success!

Clerks, cashiers and ring people are essential to the business also. Linda, Kristina, Terri L, Terri K, and Penny have been contributing for many years, and are much appreciated! We also are very grateful for all of our high school students (many of which it is their first job opportunity), and for all of the occasional personnel that work for us.

Without a doubt, contract auctioneers are a very important part of "surrounding yourself with good people." They are the people that are most noticeable to the buyers, so it's important that they present themselves positively, are honest, entertaining, and have good customer service skills. Joe Cicero, has been a part of our business for "forever" and we snag him whenever we can get him! He's been pretty busy lately though, presenting seminars on Internet security all over the nation!
Carol Miller (Bailey's Honor Auction in Oconomowoc) has been a favored contract auctioneer with us for a long time, and we are honored to have her expertise as an auctioneer whenever she's available. Carol is an excellent example of "surrounding yourself with good people!" We're excited that she will be joining us for the August 7th auction in Wallace, and participating in the Waterfront Parade with "Opal, the famous duck boat."

Client Testimonial from May 1st Auction in Amberg

Dear Nellie,

On behalf of my family, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the wonderful auction we had on May 1st. From the moment you met with me you understood the situation, and projected an efficient and professional demeanor. Your entire team mirrored those traits in every step that was taken.

I can't thank you enough for the assistance you offered when determining what should be placed in the auction (and you didn't turn away much!). You made certain that all of the vehicles started and where in operational condition, therefore bringing top dollar. I'm not sure if you have control over the weather, but we couldn't have asked for a better day.

The most amazing part to us was that EVERYTHING was sold. The only evidence that anything had occur ed on the property was a little bent grass. Thank you so much for the very positive experience. I recommend your services to anyone who might need them.

Sincerely,

Ron Abele