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“Every Auction Tells A Story”

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I wanted to take a moment today to share some reflections on just how interesting the auction business really is — and the wide variety of things I’ve seen over my nearly three decades in this profession.

When someone calls me, it’s usually one of two moments in their life. Sometimes, it’s a happy occasion — they’re retiring, downsizing, and moving to a sunny place to enjoy the next chapter. More often than not, though, it’s a stressful or emotional time. Families call to settle the estate of a parent who has passed, a surviving spouse needs to sell a home, a business is closing and needs to be liquidated, or a lender needs seized assets or real estate sold. And everything in between. As you can imagine, after nearly 30 years, I have truly seen it all. I often say I could write a book.

One rule has guided me throughout my career, and it’s a principle we live by at our firm: this is someone’s entire life we’re handling. Many times, it’s one of the most significant financial transactions they will ever make. We are entrusted with something bigger than just “selling stuff” — we are entrusted to tell their story. That’s why our motto is: “Every Auction Tells a Story — of People, of Legacy, of Things that Matter.”

Just in the past few weeks, I was reminded again of how unique every situation is. One day, I visited a non-descript country home. The family called after their brother had passed away and asked us to help. Walking through the barns on the property, I certainly didn’t expect what I found — four helicopters, along with a treasure trove of other unique items. It was a glimpse into a fascinating life.

Later that same week, I met with a family whose parents had decided to take life easier and move into a senior living community. The father, a remarkably handy and resourceful man, had spent his retirement restoring wooden boats. I stepped into his garage and found nearly 100 antique boat motors, carefully collected and preserved over the years.

Every day is different in the auction business. Every story is different. And that’s what makes it so special. I always say: to be a good auctioneer, you have to know a little bit about a lot of things.

It’s an honor to do what we do — helping families transition to their next chapter, preserving legacies, and sharing the stories behind the things that matter most.

As always, keep dreaming big, investing wisely, and remember—whether it’s homes, businesses, treasures, or transitions, we’re here to help you move forward.

Until next time,

Brandon Steffen

The Ever-Changing Auction Industry

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Remember the days when you would get up on a Saturday morning and drive to a live auction? It was a great place to grab a hotdog and coke and catch up with the neighbors under a tent while, at times, trying to outbid the same neighbors when the item you both wanted came across the block. The atmosphere was electric. The chant of a great Auctioneer is mesmerizing, exciting, and enticing. Any auction that could pull 100 bidders to attend was considered a huge success!

That all changed in 2020 when Covid hit. While the online auction platforms had been growing steadily since the mid-1990’s, they went into overdrive with the onslaught of Auctioneers needing to market their customer’s goods but not having the ability to have a crowd present. Honestly, everyone thought that this would be temporary and that most auctions would go back to the old way of business after things settled. However, there were unanticipated benefits to moving the bidding online; The reach of the auctions went global!

People ask us “Will you ever start doing live auctions again?” Aside from a unique circumstance that would be in the best interest of the seller, we do not see the live auction days returning.

As much as we miss the atmosphere and all that goes with the live auction, we believe that online auctions are the future of the industry. We have seen both growing and lasting benefits to online auctions. Among those is that auction registrations have risen from around 100 (at a good live auction) to a point that it is more common than not to have 500 plus bidders for an auction. The pool of bidders has also expanded to the entire world.

We have also observed that we are reaching a new market of younger bidders who will stay on their phone or computer all day long to watch items that they are interested in. In the latter years of live auctions, it was difficult to maintain a strong crowd presence after only a few hours. I am thankful that so many of our long-time bidders have easily made the transition to bidding on their phone or computer. I recently helped a 95-year-young woman set up her iPad to be able to bid at an auction. She showed up on pick-up day and, when I asked her how it went, she said “It was a blast!” with a huge smile. For my part, I have to say, it is pretty nice to sit in my easy chair and bid on something that I am interested in, especially when the weather is bad.

We will continue to have open house events for our auctions. We believe this is a true benefit to our local buyers who have the chance to walk through the auction and personally inspect the items that they are interested in.

Auction customers who sell with The Steffen Group receive the benefit of our in-house shipping service. This gives us an opportunity to ensure things are safely packed and affordably shipped which, in turn, helps create customer loyalty to our auctions. We have multiple out-of-state buyers who regularly buy from our auctions, and we have shipped items all over the world.

So, as we consider all that has changed in the auction industry in the past five years, we see that auction industry is healthy, strong, and continuing to grow. With eight Auctioneers and a complete support group to help with everything from setup and clean up to photography and marketing, we have the ability to help you market your merchandise to the world.

Rod Fetters