Data Sharing - The Secret to Increasing Sales

With the global lock-down affecting everyone’s sales, we are all looking for ways to find sales dollars. We also all know that the Automotive Recycling Industry is counter-cyclical - when the economy is hurting, we do better. When the lock-downs are over and demand for ROE parts is increasing because of the recession, will you be ready to convert demand into sales?

Many will truly excel in the coming months as demand rises and you are able to cash in on it. However, many facilities are not ‘connected’ correctly to capitalize on the opportunities that will exist. What do I mean by ‘connected’? Each customer type that we have uses a different method of finding our inventory. If you are not sharing your inventory so that it appears on the platform that potential customers are using, then you will not have the chance to sell your part.
  • Many retail customers search online to find parts: eBay, Car-Part.com, Hollander Storefront, TradeMe, Etc.
  • Body Shops using Estimate-Writing software will have access to your data through: PartsTrader, CCC, APU, Etc.
  • Other Salvage Yards will have access to your data through: EDEN, PinNet, Car-Part.com, Hotlines, URG, etc.
Are you sharing your data with the correct provider to reach the customers that you are targeting? When is the last time that you contacted each of your data-sharing partners to discuss your settings? Are your routes still up-to-date? Are your delivery times still up-to-date?

After a convention about 6 years ago, I came back to my office, closed the door and got on the phone. I called every data-sharing partner that I learned about while at the convention. I worked with each of them to fix routes, radii, deliver times, brokering partners, markups for tiered yards, etc.  I spent 3 days working through the settings with everyone. That was the most valuable 3 days that I have ever spent. Our sales took-off after all of the settings were correct.

Here are a few of the links that I keep in my ‘Bookmarks’ now:

https://www.hollanderparts.com/Admin/YardAdmin/WorkCenter#
https://www.hollanderparts.com/Admin/YardAdmin/StorefrontSetup
https://www.urgsalessupport.com/index.cfm/maintain/companyselection
https://www.urgsalessupport.com/index.cfm/maintain/tiers
https://my.partstrader.us.com/Profile/MyCompany/Summary
https://my.partstrader.us.com/Profile/MyCompany/RegionCoverage
https://my.partstrader.us.com/Profile/MyCompany/PreferredRepairers

Other providers work better through a phone call:

APU Solutions
Car-Part.com
CCC (Partnered with URG)
eBay
Hotlines
TradeMe (New Zealand)
PartsLink (Australia)

My suggestion is to use this downtime to work through each data-sharing partner. Review the settings with each provider. You have the time now. This may be the most valuable time you’ve ever spent on your business.

If I can help any of you with strategy development or you just want to bounce around some ideas, you can reach me at Chad@WiseCounselGroup.com.

Chad Counselman
Melbourne, Australia

Location: Melbourne VIC, Australia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frequency, Reach, & Yield

Frequency, Reach, & Yield How have you worked to increase your gross sales in the past? Have you sent out mailers? Hired an outside sales rep? Made cold calls? Shared your data through a third-party? I stumbled across a simple idea a few years ago that changed the way I focus on increasing gross sales. Before I get ahead of myself, let me backup and explain another truth I live by: You can’t improve what you don’t measure. By measuring anything, you focus on it and start working to influence it. An example of this would be weighing yourself every morning when you get out of bed. By making a simple, mental note of your weight, you modify what you eat and how much you exercise on that one day. If you weigh on a daily basis, you will probably be working to lose weight or, at least, maintain your existing weight. By measuring it and knowing where you stand, you empower yourself to make minor adjustments on a daily basis that allow you to eventually reach your goal. My goal is 175 l
Read more

Discouragement vs Imagination

Discouragement is the starvation of imagination. Does discouragement lead to a lack of imagination OR does the lack of imagination result in discouragement. Either way, we MUST remain imaginative during these times. Since its inception, the Automotive Recycling Industry has survived every economic downturn in the history of man. As a matter of fact, our industry actually grows during downturns in the economy. Once the Lockdown of 2020 ends, we will see an economy that will slowly return to normal - over a two year period. But, during that recovery period, people will be very hesitant to spend major amounts of money. We will see a prolonged dip in new car sales which will generate a major upswing in the utilization of Recycled Original Equipment (ROE) parts in the mechanical repair process. We are also hearing that insurance companies have concerns about the New OEM supply chain being affected for months and months following the Lockdown of 2020. They, the insurers, are now looking t
Read more