Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Industrial auctions high on the agenda
ESTEVAN – In the past five years since he retired from auctioneering, Jason LeBlanc’s Twitter/X account bio said he missed the pie and the people.
Well, he’s not going to miss them anymore, because the auctioneer is getting back in the saddle with a new outfit to Canada, Steffes Group, based in Fargo, North Dakota.
On Oct. 18, Steffes announced it had purchased Bruce Schapansky Auctioneers of Tisdale, its initial move into Canada. And along with that, they specifically recruited LeBlanc to join them as chief strategic officer for Canada.
LeBlanc is well known in agriculture circles, having had his own auction service, LeBlanc Auction Service Ltd. from 1989 to 2004, before it was purchased by Ritchie Bros. Joining Ritchie Bros., he spent the next 15 years leading their agricultural auction efforts in Western Canada for the first half of those years, and then stepped down to a lead auctioneer for the second half.
How well known is he? Back in 2019, LeBlanc was one of the organizers of a protest truck convoy to Regina, protesting federal energy policies. When then-NDP Leader Ryan Meili made some rather nasty comments about LeBlanc in the legislature, the number of participants in the convoy quadrupled overnight, with strong participation from the agriculture industry in addition to the energy sector.
And when he’s not reeve of the RM of Estevan (acclaimed to a second term last week), he has a 16,000 acre farm west of the city.
But what does all of this have to do with energy? Steffes Group plans on entering Canadian auction arena offering both in-person and online auctions in agriculture and industrial sectors.
MAGA – Make auctions great again
“We’re making auctions great again,” LeBlanc told Pipeline Online, “They’re very successful company. They just kept growing and growing and growing their agriculture and land and industrial is a big play.”
There has been a trend in recent years for auctions to go entirely online. That was reinforced by the public gathering restrictions and social distancing implemented during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. But it turns out, some people missed the pie, and the people, that came with auctions – one of the social highlights of prairie life. The gathering of the community for a retirement auction has long been a staple, both in agriculture and in energy.
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LeBlanc said, “We’re going to grow this baby and see what we can do. We’re bringing back live auction. The majority of the people say it can’t be done. So, we’re going to give an option: you can do live auction, or online only, or whatever you want. And we’re just bringing it back and making it fun, back to the way it used to be.
“While we offer the live-in person auction, the majority today will choose the proven format of online only. It’s customers’ choice.”
LeBlanc said Steffes Group is big on promotion. “They’re giant marketers and giant promoters, probably one of the bigger companies in North America for promotion. And they will market your sale and the types of equipment that you have.
“And it was just a really, really nice fit. It was something that I didn’t think I was going back in. But I get asked every week by somebody, ‘Are you going back? Are you going to go back?’ Or ‘If you ever went back into business, can you do my sale?’ And I just got so many requests like that, I’m pretty excited about it. I’m back. I’m back in the game.
“I’m not doing the day-to-day. I’m not the operator. I’m not running the company, but I am definitely going to be promoting the company within Canada, and will show up and to be part of it.”
He added, “I’m just coming with a totally different format. Some of the companies have chosen to go away from live auctions, or have chosen to even take their auction companies into different markets altogether that have nothing to do with the auction business. That’s not what Steffes is about. It’s 100 per cent family-owned auction business. There is no other business that they’re in, and it just totally aligns with my way of thinking. So it’s a great merger.”
The company is headed by Scott Steffes, the second generation to run the company.
Transitions
Asked how he’s going to do this while farming, he replied, “Well, I did it for 30 years. It’s no different. I was always a farmer, and being a farmer is what makes this business good. I don’t auction in May, and people don’t want to sell in May. I auction in April and June and October. Any other month, that works for online auctions. The month where I need to be farming is where I’m going to be. And I think that’s what people are attracted to, is the fact that I am a farmer, I understand the business, or I can help them transition into retirement pretty easy.”
Part of the motivation was the fact their three daughters have grown up and moved out. It wasn’t a coincidence that the day before the announcement he posted on social media they were “empty-nesters” now.
“We’ve done our part,” he said on that front. One daughter just opened her own fitness business another is in agriculture and the third is going to school in that field.
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LeBlanc said, “I was in the auction business for 30 years prior to retiring. I stepped out for five years, and I just simply miss it. It’s a fun business. I was one of the people that were lucky in life to find your calling. And I miss it. I miss it every day. I just, I just don’t miss the way it’s ran in today’s world. So I want an opportunity to bring it back the way it should be done, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
While he notes online auctions have their good points, there’s a deeper meaning to being an auctioneer, and int comes with the personal touch. LeBlanc explained, “We don’t have just bid callers. We have auctioneers. And what I mean by that is the auctioneers are the people that will shake your hand, take you and lead you through the transaction, into retirement. And if you want to go online, online only, that’s fine, but Steffes has their own domain, their own IT department, their own everything. It’s not a third-party sender. Therefore it’s, it’s much more affordable to conduct the auctions that way.”
As for industrial auctions, LeBlanc said, “Industrial is going to be a big play. And we have options now. We’ve got yard sites set up in several different states. Now we’re going to bring that into Canada, too.
“We’re in expansion mode, and we want to build this thing up. And on day one of the announcement, two fellow farmers called me, and we booked two sales on day one.”
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