Page 118 • September 1, 2021 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT GUIDE
Potential buyers now can bid on a lineup of heavy machinery from the comfort of their own homes due to J. Stout Auctions’ newly-constructed auction studio.
The live auctions are broadcast via a live stream on three platforms: Proxibid, Equipment Facts and BidSpotter (broadcasts also are shown on YouTube and Facebook live steams).
During the course of the past 18 months, many companies have needed to evolve and adapt to a new business landscape caused by the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 has forced many professionals, companies and business owners to think differently about the future and to find ways to pivot in a new direction to keep their bottom line sustainable. Among those companies is J. Stout Auctions (JSA), a privately-owned, full-service heavy equipment, commercial truck and industrial support auction located in Washougal, Wash. The global pandemic forced a break from in-person auctions across the construction industry, but that did not stop the Pacific Northwest auctioneer from conducting sales. In fact, the pause from in-person auctions caused the company to rethink and revamp its strategy. Behind a newly-built studio — which carried a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars — JSA moved its heavy equipment to a live, online-only format. JSA also upped the frequency of its auctions, moving from quarterly auctions to now conducting them on a monthly basis. The live auctions are broadcast via a live stream on three platforms: Proxibid, Equipment Facts and BidSpotter (broadcasts also are shown on YouTube and Facebook live steams). With this new format, the company expects to double its revenue. “After the first heavy equipment, live, online-only auction, we didn’t have the drop-off in registered bidders,” said, Ned Burleigh, JSA’s inventory manager. “After viewing the auction from the bidders’ perspective, we eventually figured out that we needed a way to give the customers the same live auction experience. Live audio was good, but the bidders couldn’t see who was bidding for them or against. We needed to build that bidder confidence again. That’s when [Owner/President] Jake Stout had the idea for live video. But the question was how would we do it? We could set up some web cams in the warehouse where we were holding the live online auctions, but it was dark and the sound quality wasn’t great.” see AUCTION page 120
