Public Homepage - Counts Consulting, Ltd.

Pinnacle Pro Management & Best Practices: On November 13, 2010 learn how to use more tools from Work Order Manger. Understanding Accounting features. Remote work orders and sales. Management reports and their functions.

Sales Management & Top Salesperson School: Leading a super sales force; turning a sales star into a superstar. increasing sales performance; growing your customer base.

......The Clunk in Clunkers Apr 20, 2010

Should I Sell To LKQ Feb 15, 2010

How To Budget and Predict Future Sales (in: Sales Training): Do you ever wonder what sales will be next month?
Do you wonder why sales fell off this or last month?
You can very accurately understand why sales have gone up or down and predict futures sales from your inventory. This video discusses what you can do to control your sales levels, how to budget sales and know when your salespeople have sold all they can with the inventory you currently have.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts.

..........When its time to move on Apr 21, 2009

Advertising that actually works: When should you advertise and who should you target. Advertising recycled parts works, IF you have the proper plan, correctly targeted customer and the parts to sell. Most auto recyclers waist 90% of their advertising dollars because the do not understand know when to advertise to and how to increase profits by effective advertising.

How To Pay More For Cars And Sell The Parts For Less (in: Buying Inventory): With buying becoming more and more of a problem for auto recyclers we need to better understand both how and why we need specific vehicles. By properly evaluating our needs and controlling the cost to process vehicles we can out bid other recyclers and sell our parts for less than the competition. This video covers the steps and thinking processes that make this system work so well.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts.

How To Measure Your Buying - Part 1 (in: Buying Inventory): Ours industry does not have what the customer is looking for over half the time. That is why buying is the most important job in our industry. By improving our buying and measuring what we buy we can predict future sales and therefore budget sales for upcoming months.

We simply cannot sell more inventory than we have. However, since many recyclers don't measure what they buy they don't realize they sell everything they buy. This is often the reason sales fall off and we think it just a bad week or a bad month.

Seven of the most important issues in our industry are covered in these videos. This information is so important that we broke it down into three videos. This is part 1 of 3 videos. This way you can view them as you are ready for the next measurement and what each means

Counting The Cost: Dealing with people who make it difficult to maintain order or keep good employees can be a very trying issue.

Failing to deal with the situation can handicap your companies growth.

Counts Products Store

Part Grading Standards

How To Write-off Inventory And Have An Accurate Profit And Loss Report (in: Accounting Issues): Are you or your accountant trying to figure out how to write-off your used parts and vehicle inventory cost? If so, this video was made for you. The video discusses both the good and bad practices the recycling industry uses when deciding how to value and write-off the cost of inventory. It also covers the type of profit centers needed on a good Profit and Loss report and how to make the report more accurate.

To view the video click on the title and then on the word "here" in the red box which will appear on the next screen.

How To Broker Parts At A Profit (in: Managing The Business): The auto and truck recycling industry does not have what customers are looking for 50-65% of the time. Therefore, it is imperative that we be prepared to find parts for customers in order to maintain our status as their used parts supplier. However, recyclers often find they do not make money on brokered parts or don’t seem to be able to pay for them when the statements come in each month. This video addresses the 6 common reasons given for NOT brokering and explains why they are not valid. We also explain the most efficient methods of brokering and now to make this an extremely profitable and important part of your business.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts.

How To Reduce Your Parts Handling Payroll (in: Managing The Business): You have probably heard me make the comment that most auto and truck recyclers are about 15-20% overstaffed. At the same time you probably could not imagine how you could get by with fewer employees.

This video is designed to explain how this works in the parts handling portion of your business. We can do this at the same time we show the listener how to have more employee accountability.
Folks we can't keep paying more and more for inventory, cut our prices to match other recyclers and stay in business unless we can pick up income somewhere else or reduce overhead. Learn how to get more done with less people by having better work flow and payroll utilization.

Click on the article title and then the word HERE which will appear in the red box on the next page to listen to this video by Jim Counts

Do I Need A Full Time Inventory Person (in: Managing The Business): I see a lot of recyclers who are behind in getting salvage vehicles inventoried. One of the main reasons is lack or productivity by the person assigned to this task. Keep in mind that if they get caught up we give them more work. If they get behind we pay them overtime or hire them an assistant. This video breaks the steps down and assigns times to each step so you can evaluate whether your person is truly overloaded. Normally, we find the inventory person has expanded their work to fill the day to avoid doing other activities.

Click on the title and then on the word HERE in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts.

Inventory Write-Off Video: Writing off what recyclers pay for inventory is a major issue. This video explains what is expected by the government and why some methods of writing off used parts cost may not be acceptable.

"I have one" is not selling video: There is more to selling than just answering the phone.

Enjoy this free video on selling issues.

Recyclers Power Source

Hollander Training Feb 5, 2008

Hollander Sales

Checkmate Website

Pinnacle Website

Bid Buddy Website

How To Measure Your Buying - Part 3.. (in: Buying Inventory): Ours industry does not have what the customer is looking for over half the time. That is why buying is the most important job in our industry. By improving our buying and measureing what we buy we can predict future sales and therefore budget sales for upcoming months.

We simply cannot sell more inventory than we have. However, since many recyclers don't measure what they buy they don't realize they sell everything they buy. This is often the reason sales fall off and we think it's just a bad week or a bad month.

Seven of the most important issues in our industy are covered in these videos. We will cover the last 3 in this video. This information is so important that we broke it down into three videos. This is part 3 of 3 videos. This way you can view them as you are ready for the next measurement and what each means.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to viewthe final part this series.

How To Measure Your Buying - Part 2 (in: Buying Inventory): Ours industry does not have what the customer is looking for over half the time. That is why buying is the most important job in our industry. By improving our buying and measureing what we buy we can predict future sales and therefore budget sales for upcoming months.

We simply cannot sell more inventory than we have. However, since many recyclers don't measure what they buy they don't realize they sell everything they buy. This is often the reason sales fall off and we think it's just a bad week or a bad month.

Two of the most important issues in our industy are covered in this video. Measureing buying is so important that we broke it down into three videos. This is part 2 of 3 videos. This way you can view them as you are ready for the next measurement and what each means.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view Part 2 of this 3 part series.

How To Keep Part Prices Up To Date (in: Part Pricing Issues): Keeping the prices of your parts current with supply and demand is one of the most important ways to sell parts for the most amount of money in the shortest period of time. Learn how to use your inventory management system to spend the least amount of time and re-price the maximun number of parts.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts

Job Descriptions and Procedures for Delivery Drivers (in: Job Descriptions & Procedures): Ready to use practical job descriptions and procedures for your drivers, which are based on industry best practices. The job description outlines responsibilities, knowledge's, skills and abilities required in today's recycler operation. They also provide step-by-step detail in how to perform the jobs you need done. Each set provides you a 3 to 4 page job description and a list of procedures that can be easily modified to your business practices.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to download this product.

Job Descriptions and Procedures for Parts Pullers (in: Job Descriptions & Procedures): Ready to use practical job descriptions and procedures for employees who pull sold parts from shelves and vehicles. These are based on industry best practices. The job description outlines responsibilities, knowledge's, skills and abilities required in today's recycler operation. They also provide step-by-step detail in how to perform the jobs you need done. Each set provides you a 3 to 4 page job description and a list of procedures that can be easily modified to your business practices.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to download this product.

Job Descriptions and Procedures for Inventory (in: Job Descriptions & Procedures): Ready to use practical job descriptions and procedures for inventorying vehicles, which are based on industry best practices. The job description outlines responsibilities, knowledge's, skills and abilities required in today's recycler operation. They also provide step-by-step detail in how to perform the jobs you need done. Each set provides you a 3 to 4 page job description and a list of procedures that can be easily modified to your business practices.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to download this product.

Job Descriptions and Procedures for Sales (in: Job Descriptions & Procedures): Ready to use practical job descriptions and procedures for your sales department which are based on industry best practices. The job description outlines responsibilities, knowledge, skills and abilities required in today's recycler operation. They also provide step-by-step detail in how to perform the jobs you need done. Each set provides a 3 to 4 page job description and a list of procedures that can be easily modified to your business practices.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to download this product.

Company Policy Training for New and Current Inventory Person (in: New Employee Training): Making sure new and current employees are following company policy and procedures is a major challenge for our industry. Most training is little more than "go watch Bill for a day" and then we throw them to the wolves. When they make a mistake, we lecture them, which is their next training session. And on and on it goes until the employee finally learns all the unwritten rules, we fire them or they quit in frustration.
Our manuals have the employee train themselves because you provide them with a daily questionnaire which the new employees must fill in each day as they work with a current employee. This way you can make sure they understand there job responsibilities because they have to write the current policy and procedure for each question on the sheet.

You can also use these questions to verify that current employees know what to do when a situation arises. These manuals take the work out of training and keep employees learning at a rapid and verifiable pace. You can also add questions to the training manuals to customize them to your business.

ick on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view the video and download the manual.

Company Policy Training for New and Current Drivers (in: New Employee Training): Making sure new and current employees are following company policy and procedures is a major challenge for our industry. Most training is little more than "go watch Bill for a day" and then we throw them to the wolves. When they make a mistake, we lecture them, which is their next training session. And on and on it goes until the employee finally learns all the unwritten rules, we fire them or they quit in frustration.
Our manuals have the employee train themselves because you provide them with a daily questionnaire which the new employees must fill in each day as they work with a current employee. This way you can make sure they understand there job responsibilities because they have to write the current policy and procedure for each question on the sheet.

You can also use these questions to verify that current employees know what to do when a situation arises. These manuals take the work out of training and keep employees learning at a rapid and verifiable pace. You can also add questions to the training manuals to customize them to your business.

ick on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view the video and download the manual.

Company Policy Training for New and Current Parts Pullers (in: New Employee Training): Making sure new and current employees are following company policy and procedures is a major challenge for our industry. Most training is little more than "go watch Bill for a day" and then we throw them to the wolves. When they make a mistake, we lecture them, which is their next training session. And on and on it goes until the employee finally learns all the unwritten rules, we fire them or they quit in frustration.
Our manuals have the employee train themselves because you provide them with a daily questionnaire which the new employees must fill in each day as they work with a current employee. This way you can make sure they understand there job responsibilities because they have to write the current policy and procedure for each question on the sheet.

You can also use these questions to verify that current employees know what to do when a situation arises. These manuals take the work out of training and keep employees learning at a rapid and verifiable pace. You can also add questions to the training manuals to customize them to your business.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view the video and download the manual.

Company Policy Training for New and Current Dismantlers (in: New Employee Training): Making sure new and current employees are following company policy and procedures is a major challenge for our industry. Most training is little more than "go watch Bill for a day" and then we throw them to the wolves. When they make a mistake, we lecture them, which is their next training session. And on and on it goes until the employee finally learns all the unwritten rules, we fire them or they quit in frustration.
Our manuals have the employee train themselves because you provide them with a daily questionnaire which the new employees must fill in each day as they work with a current employee. This way you can make sure they understand there job responsibilities because they have to write the current policy and procedure for each question on the sheet.

You can also use these questions to verify that current employees know what to do when a situation arises. These manuals take the work out of training and keep employees learning at a rapid and verifiable pace. You can also add questions to the training manuals to customize them to your business.

Click the title to visit our store, view the video

and download the manual

Company Policy Training for New and Current Salesperson (in: New Employee Training): Making sure new and current employees are following company policy and procedures is a major challenge for our industry. Most training is little more than "go watch Bill for a day" and then we throw them to the wolves. When they make a mistake, we lecture them, which is their next training session. And on and on it goes until the employee finally learns all the unwritten rules, we fire them or they quit in frustration.
Our manuals have the employee train themselves because you provide them with a daily questionnaire which the new employees must fill in each day as they work with a current employee. This way you can make sure they understand there job responsibilities because they have to write the current policy and procedure for each question on the sheet.

You can also use these questions to verify that current employees know what to do when a situation arises. These manuals take the work out of training and keep employees learning at a rapid and verifiable pace. You can also add questions to the training manuals to customize them to your business.

Click the title visit our store and view the video

and download the manual

Do I Need To Hire Another Salesperson? (in: Managing The Business): Hiring another sales person may reduce your sales and your ability to buy inventory. This is too important of a decision to be left to chance and feelings. Here are the facts you should consider before making this important decision. This video could save you 30-50 thousand dollars if you can grow without hiring another person.

Click on the title and then the word "here" in the red box which will appear on the next screen to view this video by Jim Counts.

The Pond and Lake Story (in: The Pond and Lake Story): The amount of saleable inventory is one of the most important and misunderstood issues in our industry. As a result we often believe we have lots of inventory to sell, when in reality sales may be down because we are starving for saleable parts. I agree that we have a lot of parts, but that is different from the SALEABLE parts. Saleable parts meet the demand of the customer who is calling TODAY.

This video explains in simple terms how inventory flows like water thru out business. Once we can visualize the concept presented it will be easy to understand if you are buying enough to support current demand and sales goals.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts.

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A Simple Half Page Partnership Agreement (in: Managing The Business): Partnerships can be a wonderful way to get a business started. However, many turn out to be far less than our original expectations and sometimes one party wishes to get out of the relationship or buy out a partner. If you failed to establish a way to accomplish this at the beginning of your partnership it is often difficult to establish an unemotional and reasonable method of parting friends after the business is started.

Several years ago someone provided me with this downloadable agreement. At the time I was in the process of setting up a partnership to buy our first auto and truck recycling business. The person who gave it to me had just dissolved a partnership and they swore this agreement kept both of the parties’ friendship and he was very satisfied with the results. I have executed it twice and both times it worked very well .

You should run this by your lawyer just to make sure it is legal in your state.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to download this product.

Welcome to your one-stop source of information on recycling vehicles: We want this website to be the one stop shop for all those interested in automotive recycling and the issues of profitably operating a recycling business.

Take a couple of minutes to look at the many subjects which provide "right now" answers to major issues facing the industry.

About Jim Counts

About Robert Counts

The Real Cost Of Processing Your Vehicles (Adjusted Overhead) (in: Managing The Business): Have you ever figured the real cost of processing a vehicle or selling a part? If you not sure how to get this figure you may be handling vehicles that loss money without realizing it. It is not uncommon for recycles to be selling half their parts at a loss.

Are you having trouble buying trucks, SUV’s and other much needed high dollar vehicles? This video explains in detail how to calculate your overhead per vehicle and how you may be able to buy vehicles you previously thought were out of your price range.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts.

Should I Do Late Model Vehicles (in: Managing The Business): Late model vehicles seem to have a exaulted status in the auto recycling industry. This video explores the issues of dealing with both the vehicles and the customers who buy this product. The video also covers the how this product affects inventory turnover and warhousing costs.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts.

Why Do The Phones Stop Ringing (in: Managing The Business): How can you sell used parts when the phones are not ringing? It may seem like a helpless situation. After all, what can we do if we aren't getting the calls? Actually, you have more control than you think. This video covers the real reason the phones normally stop ringing and what you can do to get them ringing again.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts. and learn the real reason
the phones don’t ring.

Who Should Get A Discount (in: Managing The Business): There are many ways to give discounts. These include discounts to customers who buy a lot of used parts, graduated discounts for different purchase goals, discounts to trading partners and other recyclers and of course discounts to friends and employees. In this video Jim discusses the different ways discounts are handled and who should or should NOT get a discount.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts.

Pay For Performance - Delivery Drivers (in: Pay For Performance): Have you noticed that the drivers always get back to the shop about the same time every day, not matter how many stops they have. That's because they have no incentive to get back and every incentive NOT TO. If they get back before quitting time you give them more work or send them home early. Most recyclers get from 25-35 stops a day using incentive pay. Learn how to set up a pay-per-stop system in your business no matter whether the driver has to drive a 100 miles to the first stop or they are local deliveries. Don’t hire another driver when the ones you have can handle all of your deliveries.

Click on the title and then the "here" in the red box which will appear to view this video by Jim Counts and download the manual.