We Are Selling with Lee Woodward

The Vendor Bid & Planning for Auction Day with Danny Grant

• Realtair • Episode 12

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We break down how to communicate vendor bids, manage buyer depth of interest, and adjust strategy when the market shifts. Through live role-play and practical dialogue, they show how clear communication, transparency, and digital tools lead to better outcomes.

• explaining how and when to use a vendor bid strategically
• avoiding wasting the vendor bid as an opening move
• using buyer callbacks to assess depth of interest
• keeping buyers engaged without overplaying price
• managing pre-auction offers with confidence
• repositioning marketing when buyer interest slows
• using transparency and digital platforms to improve outcomes

A practical guide to auction communication, buyer engagement, and adapting to modern selling conditions.



Hosted by Lee Woodward Training Systems

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Lee Woodward:

Hello and welcome to the podcast We Are Selling. My name's Lee Woodward of Realtair. Realtair is the one platform of choice of real estate professionals allowing you to pitch, sign and sell real estate. Joining us today is the incredibly talented Danny Grant, and we're going to discuss how you communicate the vendor bid to your owner. Danny, let's discuss the chat required for the vendor bid and how that works. The auction reserve meeting could have gone well. The owner, as we've heard, had that concern. But how do you communicate through to them the vendor bid?

Danny Grant:

It's discussing where we place a vendor bid. So I say to my vendors that look, we only get one go at it, one legal bid, and we need to announce what that is. But we can use it in two different ways. Normally I don't like to waste a vendor bid to opening bid. So that is that no one starts, no one wants to begin, so we have to start at fairly low. So if we had to use it in that instance, it would be pretty low because we want to entice people to bid, and the more that buyers see that people are bidding, the more it'll keep going. And at the end of the day, we know at a certain level we've got buyers in the room that'll pay a certain amount. So it doesn't matter if they start 100,000, 200,000 under where we've had feedback. How we get around wasting that opening bid is that we offer a bottle of champagne for the first bidder. It has to be a bid that we have accept. And normally people go for that and we'll will jump in with something. But as long as we're prepared to start quite conservatively, then we'll be able to retain vendor bid. And why I want to retain it, it may get to a certain point where I feel that our strongest bidder is a little underdone, hasn't been pushed enough, and that's when I want to come in with a vendor bid quite high to get them to try and bid over the top of it. So in that case, we've talked about our reserve being somewhere between 175 and 1.8. We could actually put it at 1.775 or 1.8 to be a little bit bullish. Now they may not bid over the top of that, but it's enough for me to pass it in and negotiate with them afterwards and just narrows that gap for me to work with. But at the end of the day, I hope that we don't have to use a vendor bid and it just all happens for us, but we need to prepare for it.

Lee Woodward:

You don't think that a vendor bid indicates that's our reserve to some people?

Danny Grant:

Not at all. And look, it can change on the fly. I mean, I'll always say to my vendors it's going to change. And the reason is that we might think that there's two great buyers and then suddenly they don't do anything that day. There might be a certain nationality buyer that I've got to deal with in a different way, so the vendor bid will change, or sometimes I won't use it at all. So it just depends on every situation. But no, it's not an indication of reserve. And I explain to the buyers why we're putting in a vendor bid, and normally we're doing it because we don't want to pass it in to the highest bidder. We want everyone involved afterwards. So trying to work out further depth of interest.

Lee Woodward:

Danny, I just love that term depth of interest. And I know you do this very well when you are working with the purchasers to work out that buyer engagement level. So I might get you to make a phone call now and explain depth of interest because this is like a double tip today for our listener. Danny, let's make a phone call to work out our further depth of interest with the buyers out there. Not everyone gives the full signals that we're looking for. When you're making these callbacks, let's hear your approach and voice for doing this. I'll be the purchaser who's been through the property. Ring ring. Hello.

Danny Grant:

Lee, just a quick call. Uh you had a look at one of my properties on the weekend 5 Smith Street, Willoughby. I was just calling to see if you had any further interest in that home.

Lee Woodward:

Look, I thought it was very good. I'm just finding the market very confusing at the moment, especially with the transition of price. Danny, what do you think it'll go for?

Danny Grant:

Well, we originally had a guide over one point eight. I think um we've had three or four contracts go out, which would indicate that we've probably got interest um at least in the mid-1.8s. I guess if we project forward to auction, competition might take it a little bit further closer to one point nine, but it's a little bit hard to tell which end of that scale there is interest.

Lee Woodward:

Uh if it went in that range, would you be willing to put your hand up at auction or one point nine's getting above where I think we are. I I I I'm not saying it's not a beautiful home, but one point nine's getting up there, Danny. Sure.

Danny Grant:

Well look, as I said, I don't have an offer at that level. Um I'm just trying to guess where I think buyers might be. It might be that you know it is at the other end of the scale and it's more early one eighth to maybe mid. If I do get an offer sort of around that mid one eighth, do you want me to sort of keep you posted? Yes.

Lee Woodward:

No, we we would like to be kept informed with the property. Is there any chance of it selling and we don't get informed?

Danny Grant:

Look, at this point the vendor's pretty keen to take it through to auction and look, there is a bit of competition on it, so it can get complicated to sell it beforehand and we end up having an auction before the auction. But look, I never rule it out. Things happen, people throw in good offers or vendors find other properties to buy or get sick of doing the open houses. So a couple of weeks in that can change. I'm more than happy to keep you posted if somebody does jump in with an offer or I feel that it's going to happen, and I'll give you that warning. Um but otherwise let's just assume it's going to go through to auction.

Lee Woodward:

What if I want to put a bid in before the auction? Would the owners look accepting our offer?

Danny Grant:

Well, the worst thing that can happen is they just say no. So sometimes it is worthwhile. But look, if you did try them on with an offer, I don't be offended if they say no, because it might be something they end up taking on the day. If you like, I can touch base with you again in a few days and let you know if I feel that they're a little bit more open. Look, I like my owners to be a hundred percent. So if they say to you that look, we might sell prior and then you make an offer, I like them to be hundred percent committed to it. I don't want you to kind of show your hand too early if we're still going to go through to auction anyway.

Lee Woodward:

Okay, well keep me informed, Danny. I I do like the property. We're just concerned it's gonna go more than we can afford.

Danny Grant:

Yeah, no, look, that's understandable. But look, there's nothing worse, Lee, than missing out on a home that for a price you'd be prepared to pay as well. So I wouldn't want that to happen to you. How about I send you through a contract and let's touch base again in another few days.

Lee Woodward:

Okay, that sounds good.

Danny Grant:

Thanks, Lee.

Lee Woodward:

Danny, that was excellent, and we're definitely getting the buyer involved in what's going on with the opportunity. However, let's say, like we are right now, the marketing the marketplace has gone from nuts to normal and we're not seeing that high interest that we've seen previous. How do you chat with the owner about maybe we've got to increase the marketing in these last couple of weeks to get a better result?

Danny Grant:

Well, sometimes this is that I might have recommended something in the marketing initially that the owner didn't go with. Um, so it's referring back saying, Look, initially I thought that we needed to do this, so I would refer back to that element that we need now, or perhaps it's not. Um I'll say to my vendors that look, I just don't think we're getting enough buyers through, and I'm worried that we're not connecting with enough people. It's uh sometimes a good idea if we add a few things to our campaign. A few things that I would recommend is that we take a couple of different photos, maybe take them from a different angle. Perhaps a dusk shot would help get us a little bit more attention that we we may not be getting. And I think it's probably worthwhile increasing our subscription on the website just to get a little bit more exposure, particularly from out of area buyers. And look, would you be open to doing this if I can prepare a budget for you and let you know how much that would be?

Lee Woodward:

Danny, I I really don't know. I I really thought I'd spend all the money I could on marketing. I was hoping I'd get a better response. Now you want more money from me.

Danny Grant:

Oh look, I can understand it. I don't want to spend your money unnecessarily, but look, Lee, if nothing changes, nothing changes, and I don't want to go forward in another two weeks and regret this moment that we didn't actually take our chance and and market more. The reality is, you know, a day is a long time in real estate. We do something different today, we could track to buy tomorrow and we could be sold in a few days.

Lee Woodward:

Danny Grant, as always, absolutely amazing. To our listener, the world of auction has changed dramatically. And for those of you that started on auctionnow.com.au, the online bidding system for the consumer and the agent to collaborate with the purchasers, that's now been renamed to sell. Because as you know at RealTare we have pitch, sign and sell. The reason we did that change was every sale should go through the platform. Every buyer deserves a notification that there is another offer. Every owner deserves to know instantaneously that there's been an increase bid or offer and everyone has been notified. Versus traditionally trying to hit the phones, ringing everyone as fast as we can. Those days need to come to an end. And the digital transparency has brought so much harmony to our real estate world. The cell platform is changing the face of real estate. It has now become your own real estate web business. From listing a property, grabbing your photos, you can have it online within ten minutes, and people can be making offers or bids, registering to bid, and best of all, it creates a listing stream of future sellers. As it is amazing that people scan that QR code either on the signboard or the DL, and they want to follow the property. So to everyone listening to this audio today, I urge you to learn the skills of the or the art of the digital sale. And that is a webinar that we run every week. You can attend free of charge because we know how important it is to move the agents into the future. And during that session, you don't only learn the technology and how you can facilitate any kind of offer, we also teach you the importance of communicating through to your owner the different types of sale. As a modern real estate professional today, we all must understand all methods of sale. And yes, we have for sale, we have auction, but now we have a timed sale, a timed auction, a hybrid auction. There's people bidding on the lawn and then there's people bidding in their car twenty metres away because they prefer the digital interaction and non-public display of their offer and they can do that today. Or they're anywhere in the world and they are participating in the sale. In the last six months, I've seen such incredible results from the art of the digital sale. But I'm also seeing a lot of agents who are out of step, out of date with the modern world. And the purchasers absolutely love the transparency and notifications that the platform gives them when someone increases their offer or their bid. And the fact that they are engaging in auction-based conditions, this is not a new method, it's just a new way of facilitating the digital sale. The purchasers are understanding their chance to purchase. And the greatest thing I've seen, and it's my final point today, is watching the purchaser dramatically increase their offer in a couple of days. And on the lawns, auctions are amazing. Sometimes people hop in the car and say, We should have gone up another 20,000. And with a timed sale or a timed auction, they see those increased bids and three days later they increase their bid. And that's what we call allowing the purchaser to breathe, allowing the auction to simmer, letting the owner have that engagement and well-informed information that this is where we are versus on the day we should have taken the offer and we didn't. We've seen that happen for decades as the prices settle, grow, and it's out of step with our consumer. So I urge you come along to that webinar. It's every week on a Thursday at the RealTare Academy. You'll get us online. Please call to register either 1300-367-412 or go straight to our site at RealtairAcademy.com.au, look at this week's webinars and join us. I'm Lee Woodward. Big thank you to Danny Grant today, and I'll see you on our next edition of We Are Selling.