Robert Counts 
Well Toto We Are Not in Kansas Anymore Recycled OE parts have never been in demand more than they are now. Anywhere and everywhere, if you have high quality products you can find a buyer. With eBay selling over 12 billion dollars in auto parts and accessories online last year, you can sell all over … Read more
Few things cause changes as rapidly as crises. For the most part in our lives, things start down a path we maintain a certain sense of inertia. This is often true of business relationships, partnerships, customers, vendors in that they tend to stay unchanged until certain inflection points. I think we can all agree that … Read more
Man alive, if ever there was a global stress test, surely this is it! How healthy are you? How healthy is your business? How secure is your job? How stable are your customers? At different points, we have all had to consider these questions from a variety of lenses without the benefit of past data … Read more
Creating a Climate for Potential Leaders You will not grow your company unless you are able to grow people. Even if you are to go into the marketplace to hire an experienced manager/leader you will still need to provide a climate and culture that allows them to grow into their new position. The author John … Read more
What your company needs the most is optimistic leadership. As the owner or manager your staff are looking for someone to provide them with direction. There is so much negative thought in the mainstream media and on social media that positive words need to be spoken into your staff. This negativity is deadly on the … Read more
Close the knowledge gap: get your salespeople to qualify customers more effectively to improve close rates and generate more sales revenue. Having trained hundreds of salespeople in the recycling industry, and after listening to thousands of hours of recorded sales interactions, I’ve encountered a symptom that is as prevalent with new salespeople as it is … Read more
We live in a time with access to more inventory, information and options to products than ever before. The Recycled Original Equipment space is no different. The impact has been felt across all areas of our business from the acquisition of inventory to pricing or listing to efficiently fulfilling demand. Because of this phenomenon, many … Read more
As life continues to evolve and technology becomes a part of our everyday lives, so too is the Salvage Yard industry changing and evolving. With this change comes great fear of the unknown and the notion that the old ways are better than the new. Gone are the days of traveling across the country to … Read more
You will harvest what you sow. The thing about a business, a field or a garden is that to get what you want to grow there you have to do quite a bit of work. At this time of the year you most likely are doing a review of how this year went. You have … Read more
What does managing social media in our industry mean? For some companies it can be simply posting pictures of their inventory and then leaving it there for the world to see. Other companies post memes with the hopes of building traffic to their page. But before we go into that we need to understand what … Read more
To many of us, succession planning has a direct application to our family-owned companies. For example, we need to resolve how we address ownership considerations versus management and operating considerations. Situations in which ownership and operations or management responsibilities are vested in the same people can be devastating to a family or closely held corporation … Read more
Hiring new employees can be a daunting task. We know it’s difficult to hire … time consuming and costly. Where do you need to begin? Do you need to hire another salesperson? Or perhaps a dismantler because you are busy buying but you are missing engine and transmission sales because you are bottle necked in … Read more
Is your tenured sales staff continually looking for new sales opportunities? Are they working to grow their book of customers? They need to be! After having spoken with dozens of sales managers and yard owners, an area that frequently gets “back-burnered” by a seasoned sales team is outbound calling. Here are three calls they need … Read more
Nothing is more valuable that a good employee. They show up on time, they do what is expected of them, and they solve more problems than they create. Good employees are eager to improve and are willing to make the effort to learn. They are respected and trusted not only by their employer, but also … Read more
Everyone thinks I never forget or miss anything. Boy, do I have them fooled. I have a terrible memory. In the earlier days, I propped it up with a pocket notepad. Today, it’s my iPhone. I send myself an email every time I think of something that needs a look, an action, or a follow … Read more
If you search for “automotive recycler” in your zip code area, what would show up? There are two spaces that you want. The first is the one to the right side of the screen that shows the name of a company, its location, hours, link to directions and its website. The second is on the … Read more
Customer Experience — Outperform the Competition How sensitive or aware are your customers to the price of your parts? Most of us have the experience of looking at the costs of a product and its impact on our buying decisions. This is especially true on our first purchase with a vendor. But my experience and … Read more
Sales managers already know that salespeople in the auto recycling industry love an easy sale. Shooting fish in a barrel usually takes precedence over a sale that might require a little bit more effort. In-stock part sales are easy to make so brokered sales are some of the first that fall by the wayside. Here … Read more
I recently started to train a team of salespeople, at a medium sized yard, in a major metropolitan area. During an initial analysis of untapped profit centers, I was surprised to find zero warranty sales from the previous 90 days. Most of us know the importance of taking advantage of these sales, here are some … Read more
There is a business phenonium know as “Growth Stall”. It is when your company sales go flat or in many cases income drops for two quarters as compared to the same time in the previous year. Most companies have experienced this. Some data says that 80% of companies experience this and that a large number … Read more
Why? Because it Will Cost You Less to Hire Today A strong economy, more and more jobs, manufacturing on the rise, high employment rate, low unemployment rate, higher wages, bonuses, health care and benefits, low interest rates, baby boomers retiring – what does that mean? A competitive and very tight hiring market. Currently, the US … Read more
As we head into the new year, it’s a great time to make sure that your recycled auto parts sales team is consistently executing on sales fundamentals. After training and coaching hundreds of sales teams, I know it’s just as easy for a veteran salesperson to slip away from basic techniques as it is for … Read more
In Counts Business Consulting we have spent a great deal of time thinking about and researching the issue of employees. Much of that has been on how to best measure, train and improve performance. The last couple of years we have increasingly been focused on hiring and retaining employees. We have a vacancy – Why? … Read more
Often times we like to think of superior sales people transactionally. Dominant closers and persuasive at the close of sales. While this is certainly true on a call by call basis, there is something equally, if not more important, to the long-term growth and development of any salesperson in this industry. What separates the truly … Read more
We all want the W at the end of the game. When it comes to a hiring “Win” it starts with a few other W’s first – Who, What, When, Where, & Why. The “Who” comes last in this situation, but the prep work needed is key to making sure it is a success. … Read more
In the last few years, we have had the chance to train auto parts sales reps from across the country. We hone sales pitches, learn to deal with customer objections, and work to always move towards a close. Regardless of their location, there are some common sales training roadblocks that every sales manager will have … Read more
All companies should always be looking to the future in such a way as to be prepared for what is to come. This forward look should include: Sales People Facilities Sales All facilities are looking for more sales. Trying to navigate the future with the same revenue is a slow way of going out of … Read more
In order to grow, you must coach employees up by training them or you must replace them and hire better employees. Otherwise, your company will fall further behind in a growing and expanding industry when faced with such a tight labor market. As you have heard us say, there are only two types of companies: … Read more
Most companies struggle with hiring and retaining good people and also struggle to get new employees trained for success. Most companies do not have the background in these processes. With the increasing demand for skilled labor it is more crucial than ever to be successful in hiring and training. Hiring Hiring takes place in three … Read more
Eliminate Unproductive Movement All movement should have a purpose. Have you ever looked out at your sales counter, warehouse or your yard and seen your equipment moving and your employees moving and wondered: What are they doing? Why do we still have 40 unfilled work orders? Do I have the correct number of people? Where … Read more
Sales people are the group that are most likely paid on some commission structure. Within the idea of commission for sales are many ways that companies pay sales people. Most new sales people will start on salary with the goal of taking them to commission in 6 months or less. Regardless of how you chose … Read more
It is a rare event that you hire an employee that knows what you expect them to know and does what you expect them to do the first day they begin work. No major corporation hires people and expects them to be ready to begin work the first day on the job. Although their competitors … Read more
As we go through our evaluation process, I want you to begin by answering these questions for yourself. Where have you gained? Where have you struggled? Where did you encounter unexpected turbulence? Who stepped up? Who stepped back? Who needs to be added? Who needs to get lost? No doubt, a lot of change has … Read more
Strategic plans are only as good as the paper they’re printed on. But the thinking that goes into them is extremely valuable. The process is sometimes more important than the actual plan. How and who you involve in this critical thinking process will ultimately determine the success or failure. Change Any plan will involve change. … Read more
If your employees aren’t motivated to excel then the problem lies first with you, the owner/manager, and then with the employee. The owner/manager controls the work environment and creates the atmosphere that fosters the employee attitude. The level of motivation is dependent on the level of trust that the employee has in the consistency of … Read more
Respect Everyone wants to be respected. We do care what people think about us as workers, neighbors, friends, etc. Respect is one of those things that can be both earned and given. You earn respect by doing what you say you are going to do. You are a stand-up person. Your word is your bond … Read more
Parts are sold in one of three categories: As a part sale to replace a damaged or non-functioning part, Sold to a core buyer to be refurbished or rebuilt, or Sold by weight. Bullet number one is what we hope for and buy the vehicle for. We will place into inventory somewhere between 40 and … Read more
We hear this over and over again. Why can’t we get good applicants from our job postings? Statistics The hiring environment favors people that are looking for employment. The June 2017 statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the following: 6.2 million job vacancies and 5.2 million hires These numbers tell us that there … Read more
What do the following names have in common? Intel – Mobileye Alphabet Tesla Apple Waymo Delphi Uber Qualcomm – NXP GM Ford Chrysler The answer is that they are all involved at some level with artificial intelligence that will usher in the era of the self-driving vehicle market. Waymo has retired its original self-driving vehicle … Read more
It always starts and ends with management. ]Being a great owner and manager is the rarest of people. Many owners have an understanding of their core products, but far less understand the business of business. There are many reasons for this in business. It is especially true of startups. If you do an internet search … Read more
Baby Boomer Generation are at a point in the industry where most baby boomers have retired, are retiring or are thinking about retiring. Seasonal Retirement (Florida/Arizona) Taking off several months in the winter has been an activity that many of the baby boomer generation, especially those in the snow belt and further north, have done … Read more
All things are growing or dying No living thing ever reaches a stage of development where they no longer change. They are either growing or they are dying. Staying alive takes energy and it takes having the right environment and the correct intake. Your business is the same. It is either growing or going away. … Read more