Auctioneer’s no-show led to new career

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The new Illinois State Auctioneers Association president found his “calling” by happenstance while attending a golf outing benefit 23 years ago.

Jeff Prochnow of Prochnow Auctions was at a charity golf tournament to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

“After the golf outing, they had a dinner and awards, followed by an auction and a band.

During the band’s intermission, they were looking for the auctioneer and he didn’t show up,” Prochnow said.

After being prodded by his brothers to be the auctioneer at the benefit, he took the microphone.

“When I was done after about 45 minutes there was nice round of applause and I had several bankers and attorneys who asked me how long I’d been auctioneering. I said about 45 minutes. They said, ‘Jeff, seriously, how long have you been auctioneering.’ I said it was the first time I’ve ever done it. So, one of the bankers said go get your license. That is how I got into it,” he explained.

Prochnow received his Realtor’s license in the fall of 2000 and attended the Missouri Auction School for his auctioneer’s license.

“It’s an honor to be in this position.”

—  Jeff Prochnow, licensed auctioneer and real estate agent, Prochnow Auctions

Once licensed, he began doing benefit auctions and working with other auctioneers.

“I opened up my auction house in Chenoa with my partner and after eight years and right before COVID hit we decided to back away from it, and about that time we were forced to do almost everything online. As a result, when I went online it started growing more and more and then finally the live auctions starting coming together more, too,” Prochnow noted. “So, right now the technology and the online auction is just tremendous.”

Prochnow Auctions conducts onsite and online auctions, nonprofit and charity auctions, farm sales and real estate and personal property auctions, and he is licensed in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Prochnow also has been a real estate broker for Berkshire Hathaway Home Central Illinois Realtors for 23 years.

Bakery Business

Prochnow’s career path began in the bakery business in 1973 when he opened a Mister Donut in Bloomington-Normal as a 19-year-old, making him became the youngest owner in the United States of that franchise.

He operated that business for 10 years before becoming a sales manager for a bakery supplier in the Illinois and Indiana market.

After three years in the bakery supplier business, Prochnow launched a new business — The Bakery Banc — in Bloomington and was owner and operator from 1986 to 1999.

Then came that fill-in auctioneer role at the charity golf outing that completely changed his career direction.

“I really enjoy it. I was in the bakery business for 28 years and got into real estate and auctioneering 23 years ago and I wish I would have gotten into it 50 years ago. It’s a business that I love. You can set your own pace. You can make as much money as you want,” he said.

“It’s a learning curve every day that you’re in it. Some of the goofiest stuff comes up. To give you an idea, I was helping another auctioneer and he had a simulcast auction going where I was auctioning to the crowd. I had the a 60-inch screen TV monitor in front of me to the right of me, and five computer operators to my left. It was an auction of sports memorabilia.

“How many times have we taken a baseball card and put it on our bike spokes to make all sorts of noise when here’s a card I sold for $20,000 online. When you do stuff online it goes worldwide and you never know what it’s going to be.

“I’m very thankful. I have auctioneers that call and want me to help them and if I have that date available, I’m going to do it.”

Big Family

Prochnow is a longtime member of the ISAA and looks forward to his term as president.

“This whole entire thing of being an auctioneer is we’re a big family. The introductions of the hall of famers at the conference today was tear-dropping. These people have worked so hard to get in that position, it’s just unbelievable. I’ve seen a lot of my fellow auctioneers who are now deceased that it meant so much for them to be in the association,” he said.

“You are meet all sorts of different other auctioneers, whether they’re in the auto auctions, land sales or whatever, and it’s just amazing. You meet those in fine arts, land auctioneers, heavy equipment auctioneers, auto auctioneers, you just meet every branch you could imagine and you’re going fit in one of them somewhere down the line you’re going to have specialties.”

ISAA Benefits

Beyond the networking and continuing education benefits ISAA offers, the organization also provides support at the legislative level.

“We were kind of thrown into the ringer so to speak with a sales tax issue where the auctioneers had to pay sales tax. The association with the help of some of our representatives and congressmen went to bat for us and got that sales tax thrown out. That was a big plus as an association,” Prochnow noted.

“We’re not as big as the Realtors association and we’ll probably never be, but we have a good organization here. We have a lot of good people, we have a lot of good connections and hopefully that takes care of it.

“It’s an honor to be in this position. They always say, ‘Why in the hell do you want to do this, Jeff?’ Well, this is something that’s meant a lot to me in my heart.”

Charity work and supporting the youth has always been important for Prochnow.

He served as Past Potentate in the Mohammed Shrine in 2010.

“I had a big territory and enjoy doing things for the kids and I enjoy what we’re doing in the association with the scholarship. We just raised over $1,500 for our scholarship fund today with an auction. We give back,” he said.