Marty Hollingshead 
Back in January of 2017, I wrote an article about the Five-Year Plan, and what does the future hold for Auto Recyclers? So, now four years later, I just want to recap the problems facing us and what changes we have seen. We will start off by looking at problems that were facing us and … Read more The Five Year Plan, Four Years Later
I want to talk about the importance of safety and compliance and its return on investment, as well as the cost and potential liabilities. Let’s start off with the question of what exactly does compliance mean for the Automotive Recycler? For this article, we will talk about two main areas of compliance, the first being … Read more ROI: Realizing Organizational Importance
I’m writing this article to talk about all of the challenges we are facing as an industry, all the adversity that we will need to overcome, as well as the uncertainty about current events facing all of us with COVID-19. One thing is for certain, we are living in a different world now. These are … Read more Associations: Who Needs ‘Em?
I would like to talk about the future role of commission-based salespeople in the auto recycling industry. One of the byproducts of the COVID-19 pandemic is how it has accelerated the shift to internet/e-commerce purchases. With the advances in information and technology that we have, anyone can find almost anything online in short order. There … Read more Endangered Species: The Commission Based Salesperson in Automotive Recycling
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR I started in this business back in 1973 and like the saying goes, if you live long enough, you pretty much will see and hear everything. In May of 1983, I left my former employer of seven years to come to work as a salesperson here at Northlake. I … Read more Employees: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Whether you are a small business owner, a fortune 500 company, or the average working person, this is the question that you are now pondering. This has hit us fast and hit us hard, and the bad thing is that we are really not sure when it will end. Also when this is over what … Read more What Will the new Normal Be?
Let’s look at current practices in place at the Salvage Auctions we attend. Vehicles are put up for auction on the sale date. Now, these auctions are live, online-only. You can, of course, preview these vehicles before the sale, but you have a limited amount of time to do so. Who are the buyers at … Read more SOLD to the Highest Bidder…Maybe!
I recently attended a research study on reuse and recycling of batteries in electric vehicles on November 7th and 8th at Argonne National Laboratories in Lemont, Illinois. Delanne Bernier and I were there to make a presentation and represent ARA at this event, which was called the “Recell” Conference. This was a well-attended event by … Read more HEV BATTERIES: A Shock to the System
THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: SURVEYS, REVIEWS & FEEDBACK In previous articles, we covered Sales Basics, Employees, Inventory, Procedures and Processes. All of these areas revolve around the three Ps, which are People, Process, and Product. We will tie all of this together with the importance of Customer Service and the perceptions that are created for individual … Read more Focus on Fundamentals Part 5
The Importance of Consistency in your Process In previous articles, we covered sales basics, employees, and inventory. We will now talk about your procedures and processes and how doing these things properly can lead to a quality product and top-notch customer service. First, ask yourself this question: Which people in your company are involved in … Read more Quality is Job One
The important thing to remember here is that sales and revenue are a by-product of your inventory and your process. Purchasing When I was new to the business, a wise person told me, “Always remember, you make your money when you buy the car.” He also said, “The parts that come off of these cars … Read more Your Inventory; What You Buy, How Your Show It, and How You Price It
At 3:30 on Sunday, July 7, I was ready to leave after working all day. At this moment, I saw on my server screen what turned out to be one of my worst nightmares. It said all of my files had been encrypted. After making a few calls, one of them being to the person … Read more Ransomware: Hacked & Jacked
While this will show up on any Balance Sheet or Financial Statement as an expense, your company’s most valuable asset is your people. They represent your company and project an image of who you are and what you do. This image and perception can be either positive or negative. The employees in your company make … Read more Employees — A Company’s Best Asset
In my role with ARA as a mentor, I created some basic instructions for Recyclers that I am mentoring. After looking at this first one, I said to myself, “This is something that is relevant and of use to all recyclers, myself included.” I think that we all from time to time need to focus … Read more Focus on Fundamentals: Core Competencies
I’m back at work here after attending the ARA Legislative Summit and Hill Day, and this got me to thinking about our association, its history, where it is now, and where it is going. 75 years is indeed a long time for an association to have survived. Even back in the earliest days of automobiles, … Read more Your ARA Past, Present & Future
There have been a lot of changes recently with ARA, our National Association. ARA and its leadership are focused on how to better serve its members, and the biggest need as I see it is in training and education. ARA is reinventing itself, and more importantly, each and every Recycler in this industry must participate, … Read more The ARA (Peer to Peer) Mentoring Program