For more on Amy Martin, go to www.amymartinauctioneer.com.
Try saying this out loud: “Do I hear 25, 30, 35? Thank you sir. Now 35, 40, 50. Come on, it’s only money.” Nothing to it, right? Now try saying it at warp speed like Amy Martin, the first woman to win the Georgia Auctioneers Association bid calling championship. “The first question most people ask when they hear I am an auctioneer is, ‘Can you talk fast?’” Martin said. “The answer is yes.” Martin’s main job is vice president of Atlanta-based Auction Management Corporation, where she specializes in commercial real estate auctions. But she still loves auctioneering for charities, schools and other contract jobs and explains why there’s more to the craft than talking fast.
Q: What is bid calling?
A: Bid calling is essentially a chant and what most people think of when they think of auctioneering. It’s been called the second oldest profession. It is conversation where I’m the only one talking and I set the pace. The conversation is done once I say, “Sold.”
Q: How did you get into bid calling?
A: I was an antique dealer and I found myself buying items at auctions. I just love the chant. At this one little country auction, I started dancing a little jig. The auctioneer stopped and said, “You get up here.” I tried it out and I was at auction school within a month.
Q: There is an auction school?
A: There are auction schools everywhere. I went to the Missouri Auction School. It was a great experience.
Q: Is bid calling hard?
A: Depends on who you ask. I love doing it and I had a knack for it. Still, there is work involved. I put my attention on the audience so I can have a relationship with them, so I am not talking at them but with them.
Q: Is it fun?
A: The best compliment I get from people is when they say they had fun. My goal at charity events is to have people say they spent a little more than they thought and they feel good about it.
Q: How many words a minute can you speak?
A: I don’t know but we can sell one hundred items an hour. That is a pretty fast clip.
Q: Does each auctioneer have their own personal style?
A: There is some commonality. You put in filler words in between the numbers. Your personality will come through your filler words. I do a lot of “thank yous” and teasing. What is fun is when another auctioneer does one of your lines. I have stolen lines from other auctioneers.
Q: Have you ever messed up?
A: Oh gosh yes. Knock on wood, I haven’t done anything that hurt anyone or cost them any money.
Q: Do you ever get tongue-tied?
A: Sometimes. If I find myself getting tired after 90 minutes or so, that’s when I can start to stutter and when I get someone to tag out with me.
Q: Why is the auctioneering profession so dominated by men?
A: It is just like every other career, the way it had always been. It is not that women weren’t capable but you have to have a tough skin to be a woman and venture out into a man’s “job.” I’ve been completely supported by most of the men I’ve run into in the business.
Q: How big a deal was it to win the Georgia Auctioneers bid calling championship?
A: It is a big deal to me. I never get as nervous as when going up in front of my peers.
Q: You have kids. Will they follow in your footsteps?
A: They are pretty good bid callers but they are teenagers so they don’t want to admit it. Right now they would take doctor or writer over auctioneer. Whatever they decide is fine by me.
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