NEW YORK—At the forefront of today’s cash-happy art market are the big three U.S. auction houses. In their fall 2006 contemporary sales alone, Christie’s reached a staggering $239.7 million; Sotheby’s soared to $125 million; and the smaller boutique Phillips, de Pury & Co. raked in $27.9 million—almost $400 million between them.

Along with those colossal figures comes the pressure to sell more and more, making auction houses—and the personalities behind their podiums—an even more imperative part of the market.

It’s enough to give even Simon de Pury, an auctioneer with comparative rock-star status in the art world, the jitters.

“I still get nervous before each auction,” he said, adding that, for luck, he spends the afternoon before a sale in isolation and eats an apple right before the main event.

After all, a significant portion of those millions are riding just on his performance (and many a weaker man has been known to buckle under such pressure).

The Cult of Personality

Both de Pury and top auctioneers from Christie’s and Sotheby’s agree that an auctioneer’s blend of experience, personality and panache—or lack thereof—can make all the difference at a sale.

“It’s difficult to quantify, but you could sell the same object through four different auctioneers and you would probably get four different prices,” said de Pury, the chairman of Phillips de Pury who is known for his witty personality and dynamic podium presence (so much so that the auction house’s reputation is partially built on his charisma).

Richard Brierley, an auctioneer at Christie’s and the head of its North American wine sales, believes it’s the subtle things that count the most. “Personality really does come out,” he explained. “A smile, a gesture, can often yield one more bid. That difference is where an auctioneer really earns his pay.”

And that one last bid can mean big money, commented Sotheby’s super-star Hugh Hildesley, executive vice president, veteran auctioneer and principal auctioneer trainer for the auction house. “If you think of a bid as 10 percent, if you get one extra bid from two competing bidders, you’ve made a 20 percent difference,” he said.

In fact, Hildesley, Brierley and de Pury are convinced an auctioneer has more control over a room than the audience might realize. He or she sets the tone for everything from mood to focus to pacing. “It’s a bit like being a frustrated actor, the conductor of an orchestra and a lawyer presenting to the bench,” Brierley said.

Where It Matters Most

Though all three auctioneers have conducted sales all across the globe, they say charisma is most crucial to sales at the comparatively relaxed U.S. auctions, which host some of the market’s wealthiest and youngest collectors.

“The American style, at least at Christie’s, is that the auctioneer is more of a sort of party host, where one makes sure everyone has a good time and people feel comfortable and want to bid,” Brierley said. “It’s creating energy in the room. We talk about a conversational approach; we try to make it a more convivial atmosphere.”

Increasingly, auctions in this country are becoming more like swanky soirees and less like staunch sales. (Phillips has taken the notion even further with its designed-to-be-hip Saturday auctions, and other houses also are striving to create a less intimidating atmosphere.)

Which translates into a crucial and growing need for auction houses to find the right auctioneers, someone with that special joie de vivre, someone with verve.

Molding a Sale Maker

At Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips, intense training programs have become an established necessity, and they often recruit from within their companies, with trainers spotting employees who possess the winning combination of passion and poise.

The rigorous training is aimed not only at schooling potential auctioneers on auction rules and the ins and outs of the art market, but also of teaching them to be intently focused yet still alert to everything that’s happening in a room. For instance, auctioneers need to be able to pick up on even the smallest signals from bidders, keep a positive attitude and mask disappointment when sales are less than ideal.