Practice key to auction success

As the branch manager of Elders Bathurst for the past nine years, he has certainly achieved that goal.

Mr Bickford was just 23 when he won the NSW Young Auctioneers Competition and said it was among some of the best experiences he had as an agent at the time.

Since then he has built up a great swag of loyal clients across the Central Tablelands.

"It was a real eye opener at the time to compete in Sydney for the competition," he said.

"The year I won it was the second time I had been to Sydney for the NSW finals."

He said the benefits he gained included not just improving his skills as an auctioneer, but also broadening his client base and meeting a lot of new people.

"I really enjoyed meeting new people during the competition and also during the training days," he said.

By the time he returned to Sydney for the national finals a year later, he had four auctioneer schools under his belt.

At the same time, he said he had been practicing his selling skills at any opportunity.

Even while driving in the car, he would practice auctioneering.

Mr Bickford grew up at Rye park near Yass and started working as an agent straight out of high school at 19.

Back then he said he found auctioneering exciting and that was his inspiration for becoming an agent.

He scored his first job working at Pitt, Son and Bender in Yass in 1997.

Not long after, that agency became part of the Elders group, and with the change to the business it opened up a range of career opportunities for Mr Bickford.

"From Yass I transferred to Elders Glen Innes and that was a big change for me," he said.

Mr Bickford said not only was it the first time he had been away from the place he grew up, the business in the north of the State was also quite different to Yass.

"That's the great thing about working for Elders, there's the opportunity to work for branches right across the country," he said.

"It's a great way to get experience and expose yourself to a whole range of different people.

"That's most beneficial when you are doing business, as it means you already know people in a range of different areas of the State."

Mr Bickford stayed at Glen Innes for about five years before he was offered a position at Elders Millicent in South Australia.

It was a promotion to livestock manager and he said it was yet another opportunity to broaden his experience and develop new skills as a manager.

"The time at Millicent was rewarding as I got a chance to see the way farmers operated in both the north and south of the State," he said.

When the opportunity came up to take the reins at the Bathurst branch Mr Bickford grabbed it with both hands.

Since then he has seen a huge change to the way livestock are marketed in the Central Tablelands.

Gone is the Bathurst saleyards and in its place is the modern selling facility at Carcoar.

"The building of the Central Tablelands Livestock Exchange (Carcoar) made a huge difference to the way we do business at Elders Bathurst," he said.

"We now have two sale days instead of one and the monthly store sale is one of the most successful in the State," he said.

"It's also expanded our client base and we are dealing with producers from other districts, not just in the Bathurst area."

He said one of the highlights during his time at Bathurst had been the success of the Millah Murrah Angus stud cow sale at Bathurst.

Last year Millah Murrah principals Ross and Dimity Thompson and family cleared all 112 stud cows to average $7960, representing a new Australian Angus female sale record, the second record set for the family in as many years.

It was also believed to be a national female record across all breeds for a single vendor on-property sale.

The confidence in the Millah Murrah breeding program was evident when 109 registered buyers from four States pushed the cows to a high of $28,000.

Mr Bickford said for any new agents the Young Auctioneers Competition is an opportunity they should not pass up.

"It's a great learning experience and the training schools have also been very beneficial to the industry," he said.

"For the competitors this year, my advice is to practice as much as you can before the competition."