A Happy Customer is a Steady Customer
We will talk about Sales, getting orders, fulfilling them, and managing the sale after the sale. So, to start off with, what drives sales? The obvious answer here is having what the customer needs. Once you have taken the order, now the real work begins, which is fulfilling that order, getting that part to the customer, and then dealing with any issues thereafter. This is service after the sale. So, for your facility, once you take an order what does it take for you to get this order fulfilled? This all falls back on what I refer to as your “system,” which is your people, your product, and the most important: your process. Is this part on the shelf and ready to go, with just a final QC and a little spit and polish needed? Or, does the part have to be pulled?
How accurate is your inventory?
Can your salespeople take what they see on their screen at face value, or do you need to bring out the Russian, (Mr. GoCheck)? Does this part get pulled, only to find hidden damage, or is the part missing or unusable? If so, now what? In cases like this, as we all know, problems always occur at the point of sale. It’s usually the only part that you have. Your salesperson has done all of the work to get the order. Do they now have to scramble to find a replacement? Or worse yet, tell the customer they don’t have what they said they did? Again, what needs to be understood here is that whatever happens at point of sale, whether good, bad, or ugly, it is a byproduct of your process. The more thorough your inventory, and by using your data to make sure you are pre-dismantling the parts off of the vehicle that have a high probability of selling and having them on the shelf and ready to go will make fulfilling orders dramatically easy.
I have spoken to other recyclers and the most successful ones are now focusing on using their data to insure they have the popular parts on the shelf and ready to go. It has been said by others, “why go through the expense and the labor into pulling/removing the part, when you haven’t sold it yet?”
If you are buying the right vehicles, the demand is there for the parts. Your data shows you this. So, why not do the work up front now, instead of waiting for the sale? Every time you touch a vehicle, it costs time and money, as well as the increasing potential for damaged and lost parts.
This can also be said for your trading partners. The whole idea of this is being able to say yes to your customer. With this being said, you need to choose them wisely. Will they be able to fulfill your order for your customer? Can you pretty much take what they tell you at face value? Are they providing you with the parts on time and as described? Remember, your customer is calling you. They have the same expectations whether you have it in stock or are sourcing it from others. What you take, (or don’t) to your customer has a direct reflection on your company.
Now we will talk about servicing the sale, after the sale. If your customer has an issue, are you resolving it quickly and in a timely manner? Are you also looking at why there is an issue and what you can do to correct it, (mis-inventoried parts, mishandling, or damage in transit)?
If you look at Amazon and how it has grown into the monster that it is, the answer is that they have what the customer needs, for a fair and competitive price, and they are very clear as to when the item will be delivered. They also do a good job of managing any problems after the sale. It’s all about fulfillment, and they have mastered it.
Orders don’t mean anything until they are fulfilled and delivered to the customer. A deal is not done until the customer is happy. Take a look at your facility. See what you can do to achieve this. As you improve your process, your bottom line will follow. The best operators are always the most profitable.
Our industry is only as good as we make it, there is no easy button.
The harder we work, the luckier we will get!
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Marty Hollingshead
ARA Secretary · Northlake Auto Recyclers — Hammond, IN
Hollingshead has been in the professional automotive recycling industry for 45 years, including 34 years as President/Owner of Northlake Auto Recyclers, one of the industry’s leading facilities. Hollingshead prides himself on taking a hands-on approach in the business, employing the use of checks and balances for quality control to ensure customers only receive the highest quality parts. Northlake was one of the first automotive recycling facilities in the state of Indiana to receive from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management the Indiana Clean Yard – Gold Level Certification in 2009. Northlake was certified as one of the Indiana Certified Automotive Recycler Exemplary Standards (INCARES) program’s inaugural medalists and was the highest scoring facility in Indiana in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and tied for first place in 2018. Northlake was also the recipient of the 2016 ARA Certified Automotive Recycler of the Year award, having been nominated by his peers in the industry.