At the heart of Plano, you’ll find everyday citizens with anything-but-ordinary jobs. One of the few blessed to call auctioneering a full time career, Phillip Pierceall uses his fast talking and energetic enthusiasm to help others.
How did you become an auctioneer?
I attended the World Wide College of Auctioneering in Iowa, and I graduated from the Certified Auctioneers Institute (CAI) at the University of Indiana. I was honored to be named CAI’s Rose Award recipient in 2013. I’m a member of the Texas Auctioneers Association and the current Ambassador for Texas to the National Auctioneers Association.
What drew you to this career?
My best friend’s family raised me after my father passed when I was 14. They owned the local livestock market in Missouri and that’s where my passion came from. I caught the bug and you’d find me everywhere trying to get the chant down. While I’ve done all kinds of helping with auctions since I was 14, I’ve been paid as an auctioneer since I started my company at 29.
Do auctioneers each have their own unique cadence?
Auctioneers have a special way of asking called a chant. They use filler words. I use phrases like “put a bid now” or “took it down.” Each person finds those words that roll off the tongue and work well for them. We cater our chants to the events we do. For cattle or cars we go exceedingly fast. I can move 80-100 cars an hour. For charity events we slow it down, giving people the ability to follow.
Where can you find auctioneers doing their jobs?
You can find auctioneers anywhere something needs to be sold. There’s vegetable, furniture, cars, livestock and charity events. It’s our job to keep the energy and enthusiasm up in a room and to read a room to see where the money will be. I specialize in benefit and charity events. When I do events such as Irving Cares Great Harvest Gala or Hope’s Door Fashion Show, the money made helps people and that’s what I like seeing. I did an event for the Boys and Girls Club about a year ago to raise funds for transport buses and just last week one of those buses passed me going down the highway. It felt good to know I had a small part in making that happen.
You can find Phillip next on September 10 at the Bright Lights Shining Stars Gala benefitting Plano’s City House. Find out more about Phillip and his company Swing City Auction at his website link below.
City House Gala Tickets > Swing City Auction Company >
