Managing The Business - Counts Consulting, Ltd.

Do you sometimes feel like the business is running you instead of the you running the business. Do you ever wonder if the business is circling the drain. The following videos, manuals and forms were created to help you get contol of your future and take the business to the next level in sales and profits.

How To Broker Parts At A Profit Mar 7, 2008: 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 Feb 28, 2008: 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.

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Do I Need A Full Time Inventory Person Feb 27, 2008: 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.

How To Measure Your Buying - Part 3.. Jan 22, 2008: 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 Jan 22, 2008: 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 Jan 22, 2008: 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

Do I Need To Hire Another Salesperson? Jan 22, 2008: 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 Jan 18, 2008: 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.

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A Simple Half Page Partnership Agreement Jan 1, 2008: 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.

The Real Cost Of Processing Your Vehicles (Adjusted Overhead) Dec 14, 2007: 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.

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Should I Do Late Model Vehicles Dec 14, 2007: 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.

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Why Do The Phones Stop Ringing Dec 14, 2007: 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 Dec 14, 2007: 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.

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Pay For Performance - Delivery Drivers Dec 14, 2007: 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.

Pay For Performance - Vehicle Dismantlers Dec 14, 2007: If you can’t get your vehicles dismantled in a timely manner you are going to miss sales. Customers will only wait so long. Give your dismantler an incentive to process more vehicles without you having to stand over them to get it. Instead of you worrying about how many vehicle they can process they will be worried that you are not buying enough vehicles. This video comes with a complete explanation of how this works and worksheets with rule and expectations plus suggested prices for the tasks involved. Incentive pay really works.

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 worksheets and price examples.

Pay For Performance - Parts Pullers and Shippers Dec 13, 2007: You won’t believe the number of parts that can be pulled and shipped when the people have an incentive to do more instead of less work. Get ready, because they will run out of work the first day and all those special projects that you could never get done will become their top priority. The video comes with suggested prices and form so they can get paid for the special projects they now have time to do. This video explains how you can set up a program which can double the number of parts pulled and shipped. Incentive pay works.

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.

Pay For Performance - Sales People Dec 13, 2007: This video shows you why your sales people should be on an incentive pay system and how to set one up. Incentive pay greatly increases the person’s interest in making more sales. It will also allow your best employees to make more money, in direct proportion to the additional sales they make. The package comes with examples of rules and regulations and worksheets that help you determine what you currently pay your people as a percentage of sales.

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 fill in hte blanks worksheet.

How to Increase Sales by Controlling the Phone Conversation Dec 13, 2007: Selling parts can be as easy as asking the right questions. This video discusses how to control the phone call and close more sales. Your sales staff needs to see this video to learn just how easy it is to sell parts. The way you handle phone calls may never be the same after you see how easy it is to sell recycled parts.

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