I received a referral by a Senior Move Manager who I work with regularly, with this introduction, “Her house is filled with items I believe would be perfect for your auctions at Kamelot, but I won’t be working with her, as she asked me to leave when I tried to move the conversation along.” This was quite a surprise as I had never heard of a Senior Move Manager being asked to leave before. “Alright,” I thought, “let’s see what happens,” and so this adventure began.
I met the client and saw wonderful items throughout her historic, large and beautiful home. I was happy to find she was friendly, interesting, knowledgeable and highly educated. She was also retired, lonely and loved to talk. She explained she would be offering her home for sale in the next few weeks. A few items which caught my attention initially were an original Andy Warhol, a Joan Miró lithograph, a fabulous old music box, some classic vintage advertising posters, a beautiful polychrome metal shield, and significant mid-century modern furniture items. The house was more than a bit overdecorated. I was certain quite a few items she wanted to sell would need to be removed before her house was offered for sale, and others after her house was sold. I took pictures for our specialists to review. Given the prior warning, I was careful not to rush our conversation.
At my next visit, I accompanied our specialists as we visited her home. I asked them to be patient in conversation with her. I also shared with our potential client that the specialists would be identifying the items which worked for our auctions. I further explained they were on a somewhat tight schedule and I would be staying as long as necessary to answer questions.
This was an opportunity which was tailor-made for Kamelot. The midcentury pieces included Knoll, Herman Miller, Eero Saairnen and several rare & early Eames storage units. We would have loved offering the Andy Warhol but she was keeping it as she and her husband knew him personally well before he was famous. I heard more about Andy Warhol’s piece than any items she actually did want to offer! I put together an outstanding presentation explaining our auction process and spent close to two hours answering all of her questions. I felt great about our rapport and our proposal. She then told me she had proposals from three other auction houses (and shared who they were) and would be in touch tomorrow. She called the next day (it was a Friday) and told me she had selected another auction house. After briefly sharing my disappointment, I quickly summarized why we were the proper choice. I thanked her for the opportunity to be considered and for her warmth and friendliness.
I was much more than simply disappointed after all my hard work. We were her best choice and I had failed in my attempt to help her. I was restless and did not sleep well on Friday night. I decided on Saturday morning to write and mail her a hand-written message on a beautiful thank-you note sharing I was sorry we were not going to be helping her. I thanked her for considering me and Kamelot Auction House. I also offered to answer any questions she has about auctions going forward, the auction process, downsizing and in any other way I could be helpful. I closed with “call me anytime”.
To my delight, she called me on Tuesday and said she would like me and Kamelot to help her. She also was restless and had not been comfortable that she had made the right decision. She said my note convinced her we were the correct choice.
She took my “call me anytime” offer literally. She liked to talk but not as much on the phone and would ask me regularly to visit when she had questions. This became problematic… my creative solution was to let her know in advance when I was passing by her home and let her know how much time I had available. My specific request was that she ask all her questions first. With the remaining time, I would talk about whatever she wished (most often her only daughter and grandchild on the West Coast and her many years with her late husband).
I am extremely glad I made the offer to visit her. I began to notice items she had planned to auction were no longer in her home. The first one I noticed was the fabulous music box. When I asked where an item was, she said she sold them… to some nice man with a truck offering her cash. The typical amounts offered were several hundred dollars. In each case, the amount they paid was not nearly the likely net auction value. I explained to her what was happening and reminded her not to talk with these “truck guys” at all. I told her to tell them that if they left a card, we would be happy to let them know when the items would be auctioned and give them an opportunity to bid against other interested buyers.
An unfortunate reality I come across is there are resellers taking advantage of people (especially lonely widows) with a cash and carry approach. It is a very sad reality I see far too often. I would explain this to her each time. However, she was lonely and vulnerable. I have come to have a serious disdain for these guys with trucks, $100 bills and an unreasonable profit motive for themselves. She lost at least several thousand dollars!
After she moved, she continued to call me to sell a few remaining items and to talk. She also asked me for referrals for professional services she needed; insurance, auto body and furniture repair come to mind. My friend helping her with auto body said, “Tim, she can really talk and she is a ‘hugger’ too”. It felt very good to help her through our auction services. It also felt good to provide her trusted professionals beyond our auction services.