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Stokes Auction, Inc., at Port Orchard, Washington - Page 2

© Jerri Brooker

In those days Larry was the auctioneer, his wife Shirley ran the auctions, his sons Jeff and Paul showed merchandise and pulled bids (that's the act of recognizing a bid). His daughters LeAnn and Jackie ran the bullpen. When a bid is accepted, the item is pulled aside, tagged and kept in an area until the bidder claims it - this is the bullpen.

If you're not familiar with auctions, this is how they work. The bidder is allowed to preview items for sale and gets a number he uses for identification purposes. When the bidding starts, the bidder, upon making a purchase, shows his number. His articles are tagged and go to the bullpen until the bidder claims them.

Larry remembers his first auction on Woods Road, a $3,300 auction with 30-40 bidders and the help of his family. He just recently held a $300,000 auction at his place with 753 bidders and 26 workers. His goal of becoming an auctioneer in 1960 not only materialized, but grew into a successful venture with the help of his family. He now does about 200 auctions a year. He recalls he was pleased to get one car to auction at the beginning of his business; he just recently auctioned 173 heavy equipment machinery and vehicles at a sale. His first year he grossed $50,000 - this past year he grossed $8 million.

Larry went to auctioneer school in Billings, Montana in 1976. He now teaches there. As a matter of fact, he's been teaching there 25 years: this is his 100th quarter. In his spare time, right?

His son, Jeff, who began auctioning at age 16, also attended the school in 1976 with the intention of being the world champion auctioneer in three years. By 1976 he won the Washington State Auctioneer Championship title and in 1987 he won the Worldwide Stock Auctioneer Championship. In 1995 he was the winner of the World Auto Auctioneer Championship. He knew at a young age he would be a success following in his father's footsteps.

School was where the Stokes family learned voice tone and speed used by auctioneers, public speaking skills, sales methods and practices, advertising, bid calling, different methods of auctioning for different items and cattle auctioning skills. They also learned to recognize the value of the items they were selling so they could run the bidding properly. There's little time during an auction to twiddle your thumbs!

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