Joseph Tilley has won the Novice Auctioneer title at the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) Awards for Excellence, months after taking out Barry Plant’s internal novice auctioneer competition.
Joseph, who has been with the Barry Plant Manningham team for five years, entered the REIV competition against novice auctioneers from across Victoria, each with fewer than 20 auctions or one year of auction calling to their name.
He progressed through the initial heats to reach the final five, where a second auction secured him the top novice honour.
Joseph credits Barry Plant’s Novice Auctioneer School with transforming his skills, describing the difference between his ability before and after the course as “night and day”.
“I had auction experience before starting the course, but after completing the training, I realised just how much I’d improved, and how much everyone else had improved as well,” he said.
One of the most valuable lessons from the training, he said, has been mastering “light and shade” – using changes in tone, pace and delivery to keep buyers engaged.
“You have to be clever with how you change your tone and the speed at which you speak. If you’re talking in the same tone for five or ten minutes, people are going to switch off,” he said.
“You can have an average spiel, but if you deliver it well, it can sound incredible. On the other hand, you can have the most polished spiel in the world, but if you deliver it poorly, it doesn’t make a difference how good it is.”
The Novice Auctioneer School sits under James “Jimmy” Hatzimoisis, who stepped into the newly created corporate role of Chief Auctioneer at Barry Plant HQ after more than three decades in business ownership. James has nearly 40 years of real estate experience and more than 5,500 auctions behind him.
“Joseph’s success is a great example of what the school can achieve,” James said.
“He’s put the work in and clearly taken on board the fundamentals, from reading the room to connecting with his audience. To see him win both the Barry Plant and REIV competitions is a fantastic result and well deserved.”
Barry Plant CEO Lisa Pennell said the result reflected both Joseph’s effort and the program behind him.
“Our Novice Auctioneer School is designed to give our people the training, coaching and confidence to reach their potential, and seeing Joseph take what he has learnt and succeed on the state stage is a great example of the program in action,” she said.