The secrets of how an auctioneer gets your hand in the air

​Imagine changing someone's mind in a matter of seconds — not with English, or a Jedi mind trick, but with pure gibberish.

That's the work of a great auctioneer. The best in this business typically do this type of unique work anywhere from five to eight times a week. Automobiles, antiques, livestock — everything under the sun from real estate to real chickens gets auctioned off by a group of experienced professionals who have learned through thousands of auctions (and tons of practice) how to create the urgency to buy.

There are a lot of ingredients in this unique recipe that is an auctioneer's powers of persuasion.

These include...

Rhythm: Auctioneers are able to keep people in rapt attention for long periods of time, thanks to a rhythmic chant that makes time go by like a river. This rhythm is used to please and excite the audience, and to also build a sense of climax whenever the final bids for an item are about to take place.

Clarity: A lot of folks complain about not being able to understand an auctioneer when they're new to this particular "bidness." More times than not, this has to do with simply "getting a good ear" and understanding what "filler words" the auctioneer uses between the numbers.

As a former full-time auctioneer, I often used "How-about-a give" which I always abbreviated to "habadagive" (try saying that fast ten times and you'll see what I mean.)

Others in my business use pretty much anything that flies off the tongue as a filler word, from the Fred Flintstone-esque, "Yabba-dabba-yabba-dabba" to the more brutally blunt, "Money!-Money!-Money!" The best auctioneers are always able to be understood by their audience while simultaneously getting people off their heels and into the action of the live sale.

Eye Contact and Hand Motions:

For a public event, auction buyers often want a surprising amount of privacy. At many professional auctions where millions of dollars in property are at stake, such as auto auctions and livestock auctions, highlighting a bidder can expose them to competitors who may have a bone to pick with that particular buyer.

Auctioneers want all their buyers to stay comfortably involved with the sale. That's why an experienced auctioneer will often stare in the general vicinity of a specific bidder for a few seconds with an open hand to show they're acknowledging them, and then go on to other areas where potential buyers may be present. At the same time, an open and outstretched hand is universally preferred over the accusatory pointed finger and intense stare.