Steffes Group | "Without a buyer, there is no sale."

Industry InsightsNews and insights from across the industry

Share this article

"Without a buyer, there is no sale."August 21, 2025

“We made a friend, not just an acquaintance.” – That’s how Ken and Carol Kluz describe their experience working with Steffes Auctioneers and Sales Representative Frank Kovach for their farm equipment auction. Here is their story, in their own words.

“Carol and I were both raised on family farms and after we married, we operated a fair-size farm in the 80s and 90s and then decided we needed a change. We sold our machinery by live auction in 1999. After farming we managed an insurance office for 25 years and decided to set up a hobby farm as a retirement project. Even though it was a hobby farm we still felt tied to the operation as it was time sensitive. Our neighbor decided he would rent our land and we had a decision to make on how to disperse our machinery.

Since we were familiar with auctions, we decided on an auction sale and started contacting auction companies. After a couple of calls with Frank Kovach, the representative of Steffes, we decided on a meeting. With his knowledge and understanding of how a sale should be handled and with Steffes having a large market exposure it was an easy decision to contract with them to manage an auction for us.

The care and attention pre and post sale was almost unbelievable. Carol and I both feel we made a friend and not just an acquaintance through the process. We set up a coffee bar on the first day of load out and got to share many stories with the buyers that picked up that day. They liked the sale process and appreciated the promptness of the billing and payment system that allowed them to pick up quickly and even on sale day if they chose to.

I thought online auctions were an easy way to do a sale for the auction company and the seller. Having done an auction both live and online I realize how much work there is to put on a successful auction and can say that an online auction is a lot of work for the seller and auction company, as so much goes on behind the scenes, but an online auction has so much more exposure and is definitely worth the effort.

To do a successful auction, we listened and agreed with Frank’s advice on how to catalogue, line up machinery, and so many other things. We also encouraged potential buyers to view our machinery. We enjoyed meeting with many people during the equipment viewing and at times it was almost overwhelming at the positive responses we were receiving, which I believe was from a concrete advertising plan. I suggest to spend as much time as possible with those that contact you by phone and in person as without a buyer there is no sale.”

-Ken Kluz

Bankend, SK