2011 REIV Novice Auctioneer of The Year
Nelson Alexander is proud to announce Mark Verrocchi as 2011 REIV Novice Auctioneer of the Year. Mark shares with us the preparation that went into the competition; Nelson Alexander’s mentoring program and his advice for other agents looking to enter.
Mark’s successful real estate career started in advertising, which led to him living and working in London. Whilst home and abroad, Mark has spent time working with various agencies alongside leading Art Directors from around the world. His passion for design and architecture led to his return to Australia where he began work with one of the most prominent and successful estate agents in Melbourne – Nelson Alexander.
Not long after this, he set his sights on Auctioneering and began the preparations for the 2011 REIV Novice Auctioneer of the Year competition. It wasn’t long before his passion, and obvious talent for auctioneering had blossomed.
“I love the atmosphere that encompasses an auction – the control and the performance, the excitement that comes with spirited bidding and competition. The fact that I can shout at the top of my voice – I love that!”
Throughout the year, Mark has been dedicated to his training and preparation in order to develop himself as a confident and successful auctioneer. He credits Nelson Alexander’s mentor program to his success, whereby the mentor program aims to identify talented professionals at an early stage of their career – providing both professional growth and career progression opportunities.
“A lot of people within the organisation gave up their time to help me prepare for the competition. It was invaluable to listen to their insight and experience during my preparation. Duncan McPherson dedicated his time to me every Friday for six months leading up to the competition and would go above and beyond – often making time outside of the standard training schedules to talk over improvements” Mark explains.
“Without the support, encouragement and backing of my mentors, as well as my fellow participants, Tom Kennon and Peter Stratakos, I don’t think I would have been successful. Michael Fry, Nuno Raimundo Jonathan West and Tom Roberts were all incredibly helpful – and of course so were the whole Fitzroy/Carlton sales staff team who had to go through the ordeal of listening to me conduct a mock auction after every sales meeting!
The value of a good mentor is immeasurable and one of my most important objectives is to actively and continually seek out mentors that can assist and guide my individual and professional development. I sought tutorage of Australia’s finest Auctioneering coach Phil De Fégely, meeting fortnightly since January to develop and evolve the skills learnt through my training at Nelson Alexander. I also took vocational classes with a former professional opera singer. These were all great experiences, both personally and professionally, which obviously had direct impact on my success.
The best advice I was given is “If you’re going to go in it, give it your all” – you can’t go into a competition like this and not want to take everything out of it
If you want to do it – go for it! Speak to other auctioneers, give up your Sundays to watch as many auctions as you can. Mid week commercial auctions were great for me because I got to see a variety of styles, which I could in turn draw upon.
This competition has been an exhilarating experience for me and one that I would strongly encourage anyone thinking about entering to certainly do so.”
You can contact Mark at our Carlton North office on 9347 4322 or directly on 0413 135 935
