U-R-G On the Go
An informative podcast for the United Recyclers Group. Each week we will feature an entertaining guest that will share their knowledge and information with you, providing you with tips and tools to help you become a more profitable business.
U-R-G On the Go
Transforming Automotive Recycling: Expert Strategies with JC from VinMatchPro
Discover the secrets to transforming your automotive recycling business with our latest episode featuring John Cahill, better known as JC from VinMatchPro. With years of experience as a consultant and CEO, JC offers a treasure trove of insights into optimizing recycling operations. From addressing family dynamics to uncovering new profitability opportunities, JC's expertise promises to guide recyclers through the complex landscape of the post-pandemic world.
Maximize your sales potential by mastering inventory management techniques that JC swears by. Learn the benefits of dynamic pricing, accurate descriptions, and quality imagery to stand out in the market. We'll dive into tools like BidMatch Pro and the importance of standardized ARA damage codes to ensure consistency and broaden your sales opportunities. Hear firsthand how accurate data and strategic pricing can fast-track your part sales and elevate your business.
Operational excellence is within reach, and JC's advice on tracking canceled work orders could be the game-changer your business needs. We discuss the immense value of industry conferences, networking, and collaboration within the United Recyclers Group (URG). With actionable tips on leveraging e-commerce platforms and ensuring a tenfold return on investment through proper inventory processes, this episode is packed with strategies to help your recycling business thrive. Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn from one of the industry's leading experts.
Welcome one and all to URG on the go podcast. You are there and we are here. The URG podcast is the true voice of the automotive recycling industry. It was created for the pros that are on the go who have a need to know. This is DJ Harrington, your co-host. I knew you liked that, Tracy. Your co-host, better known as the cardiologist, and the other co-host, the most talented Amanda Morrison, who is director of member and vendor relationships for ERG. Amanda, how are you this beautiful day?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great, dj, thanks for having us on today. It's always great talking to you.
Speaker 1:You like that opening?
Speaker 2:I loved it.
Speaker 1:Only DJ could say I love that Opposed that have a need to know. Amanda, tell everybody about our guest today, because this is a wonderful human being, a good friend of ours, of course, of the podcast, but a great friend to our industry. So go ahead.
Speaker 2:I agree. Yes, today we have John Cahill, jc from Venmatch Pro. He is well known in this industry and he has been a good friend of mine for the past few years. We've been conference buddies. We'd love to have JC on the show today and, jc, I'd love to introduce you.
Speaker 4:Well, amanda and DJ, thank you for having me on. I'm just so excited. I've been on the podcast a couple of times and, dj, you guys always bring such a nice energy. Amanda, what you guys are doing with URG is just so exciting you and Christy and the team you know. Seeing what you guys have done recently with going out and seeing customers and kind of seeing how the field is and how your products are being worked, is just awesome. Of the harder problems that we couldn't necessarily tackle by ourselves, but you guys bring a consolidated group together and are able to come up with some great solutions that really move this industry forward. So I applaud both of you guys for having me on the call and having me today. I really appreciate it. But you guys are the ones doing the heavy lifting.
Speaker 2:So thank you, jc. Yeah well, I mean you have been out and about with a lot of different yards in this industry, obviously working with different facilities. Can you tell me a little bit about what you've been doing to kind of help the recyclers out there on your own for consulting-wise?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so we obviously. So I'm the CEO of BenMatchPro and that's a data consolidation company and that takes up a portion of my time, but I still keep about 10 clients, a total of 20. So a small group of clients that I work with monthly, weekly and sometimes quarterly, and I help them from all different things, from growing their business to family relations, working through opportunities to build their business, opportunities to make their business more profitable. Sometimes it's just having somebody to listen to, that's just outside of their company that they can bounce ideas off of. It's a combination of all those things and I work directly with some of the other consultants, but this particular group that I consistently work with every day.
Speaker 4:I've been seeing some nice opportunities with them and you and I kind of got discussed. What has the last year felt like to be a recycler? Post-pandemic, the change of. We just got through this big hockey stick of demand and supply and really there wasn't a part we couldn't sell, and now we're coming back to the normalization and even we may be going below the waterline. And what are you, as a qualified recycler, doing to fix some of these problems?
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yep, no, and I think that's something that you are really good at at doing is kind of taking yourself out of the you know the day-to-day and being able to look at the big picture, and I think that's one thing that a lot of recyclers have a tough time doing. You know they start their business and they're have a tough time doing. You know they start their business and they're they're in it and they're doing the day-to-day tasks but they're not necessarily taking themselves out of it and really evaluating the different processes and how to make it more efficient. And I feel like that's something that you're really good at at pinpointing for people.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So a little bit about from from my background. I worked for both major consolidators at, at, at different levels, and working, you know, working every month, reviewing my financials, reviewing my quarterly financials, making sure that my business was moving forward and it was. It was working towards a profitable position was what I'd done for everyone else. And then taking the last 10 years and owning my own yard and then selling that to Phoenix, which worked out to be a blessing in itself, and then taking on some of these new clients and seeing what they're struggling with and what, and they're all a little different.
Speaker 4:Everybody, everybody has some geographical differences. They have, they have family differences. They have a opportunity to work in a group or opportunity to work alone. There really is, there's very different ways to make money in this business and I I stated really simply do you want to sell $5 hamburgers? Do you want to sell $30 bourbon steaks? Or do you want to sell Ruth, chris and sell, you know, a hundred dollar prime rib? And there, there, just there isn't a right answer here. And you, fortunately, your G gives a lot of different opportunities for everybody to touch, but over the past year I've seen the recyclers that are really moving the needle and making real positive change.
Speaker 4:They're working on three things. One they're working and obviously we can't talk about price but they're actively pricing their inventory Because of the change in supply. Inventories a few years ago had gone through the roof and our prices had gone up for the very first time, not just continually gone down roof and our prices had gone up for the very first time, not just continually gone down. And so people working their pricing understanding that components have been in and out of act-order scenarios, unavailable, things like that People that are actively working their pricing seem to be really at the top of their food chain. That's number one. Number two people working on their inventory. They're making sure that they're purchasing and buying and describing the inventory correctly. So not only do they price it correctly but they take the time to picture it correctly and describe it correctly so that the part sells within the platforms there's, I want to say, five or six different platforms that people are seeing their inventory on.
Speaker 4:And how you represent your inventory matters as much as the inventory that you purchase. So the example that I'm going to give you is the very first time when someone purchases a vehicle and they take the pictures and let's say the vehicle was hit in the left front and it was damaged, but the motor was good and the transmission was good and, let's say, the three doors around it were good. Well, the first picture that they represent is the picture of the vehicle hit in the left front, and that may not be the most flattering picture or even the right picture for the component they're representing. And by them not taking the time to either privacy, flag or picture match the parts, they're losing opportunity with their customer.
Speaker 4:People buy with their eyes and so you see that on a regular basis, the part goes out to an estimating platform. They see a picture of the car hit in the left front end. They say I'm not going to buy any parts off that car, it's too damaged. I'm sure that the parts are not good when the parts are actually completely fine on the right rear and on the other side, but people are looking at the wrong picture. So therefore they make an assumption on what the part is.
Speaker 2:Right? No, yeah, definitely, representation is going to be 100% of the game, right, there is just being able to see what the inventory is, and I feel like you know, so many people are shopping online, especially now these days, and having good pictures to represent your inventory is a key thing. And that privacy flag that you mentioned I feel like a lot of people don't necessarily know about that and that's a key part of that as well.
Speaker 4:Well, part of being a good consultant is giving information that helps your recycler be better, and this is a free tidbit that I would give any recycler that any pictures that you have on your MBR record the first three pictures that you represent in your MBR record or your master vehicle record or your 900 record in Holland or AUT record, in in checkmate, any of those three the first three pictures are going to be the parts that are going to show up if you're not picture part matching. So what I mean by that is that the pictures that you take that are damaged or whatever, you can show those to your internal staff, but you may not want to show those to your external staff. You may not want to show it out to the world. You may just want to take the pictures that represent the car the best and then drop and drag any pictures that you need to on the specific part to make it so that the part picture part level pictures are accurate and correct. That will increase that will increase your ability to sell the part by a factor of 10.
Speaker 4:We've actually done some tests recently with some yards and we took two or three yards that just took, put the part in, did standard descriptions and they and they just and they priced the part kind of right down the middle and they had.
Speaker 4:Then we had another yard that took very accurate description pictures, described the part correctly and they use the tool, bid match pro, which I'm going to give myself a little plug, but there's some very good descriptions of bid match pro. And then the last piece is that they that they were actively pricing their part, and by actively pricing didn't mean it was the lowest price or the highest price, it was a price that fit the quality and condition of the part. So the combination of those three things, the parts sold significantly faster when, when recyclers took the time to spend a little bit more time in inventory, make sure the part was accurately described, make sure it was pictorially described and make sure that it was priced correct to what the quality of the part was and when. Those three things, those have been the key driving factors to the people that I've seen success in the last year.
Speaker 2:I love it. That's awesome. Well, and and giving them those tools you know, as someone that's been in this industry for so long you've you've gone through all the different types of tools that are out there I feel like that would be the best fit for each yard. You know, I feel like you know, okay, you see an issue and you know exactly what's what's going to fit. That problem and I think that's that's one thing that you're really good at is being able to find that fit for that tool.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we were finding that there's just so many programs out there and you guys have done a really good job recently of kind of getting people to understand what means what, and you know that there's platforms out there that your parts are being represented on, whether it's your website, whether it's carpartcom, whether it's CCC1, whether it's APcc1, whether it's apu, whether it's parts trader. Um, I mean, there's just there's so many different, different channels that your parts are being represented on and if you're not taking the time to one, describe the part correctly, to picture the part that you're looking at, three accurately price the part for the people that are that are they're going to be purchasing it, you're missing. And I and I say this to everybody right now and within the people I'm working with, so the 20 people I'm working with I've said listen, if we're going to take money today, double down on your inventory. The inventory piece is the most accurate inventory and accurate ability to describe the part, find the part and and and actually represent it to what your customer is going to get is going to give you the highest bang for your buck.
Speaker 4:Because when you make mistakes in inventory ie you check ID or not, verified the part or not verified the picture or not verified the paint code all of those little things will drive down the ability to get the most for those parts. And when you do it accurately and describe it correctly, it's the sales process becomes so much easier and and your sales team becomes such more more confident in what they're selling. So the not only is it, the confidence in what they're selling is what they're, what they're representing to their customer. It gives them the ability to close more because now they're, like DJ says, you know, they know what they're doing and they're doing it well. So if they push that forward and their ability to sell the part correctly to the correct customer and get the most money for it, we win as recyclers 100%, yep, completely agree.
Speaker 2:And yeah, the salespeople will thank you later for all of those tools as well. You know I feel like that. You know, if they do well, you know everyone's going to do well. So being able to set them up for success is huge. Dj, is it about time to take a break.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's take a break. I hope that all of our listeners are taking notes, because this is like going to graduate school JC is explaining to you how you become an expert, so that your consumer calls you all the time because you're the parts expert. We'll take a break and we'll be right back.
Speaker 3:URG can help you streamline your business for maximum efficiency and increased profits. Access powerful software and unique tools. Receive top-level training with industry experts. Network with hundreds of recyclers. Employ e-commerce solutions to boost business. Receive support, resources and discounts Starting at just $150 a month. It's the smartest investment you will make for your business this year. Go to u-r-gcom and click on becomea member. Your path to a profitable future is just a click away. That's u-r-gcom.
Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. You know you're listening to the URG On the Go podcast with DJ Harrington, amanda Morrison and the one and only JC Cahill for this episode. Now I want to remind all of you each week we do our best to bring you informative episodes. Make sure you download and listen. I can't thank you enough for letting us grow this podcast so well. We're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iheartmedia the number one podcast and Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts. Without further ado, amanda, get JC Cahill back on here.
Speaker 2:Yes, we've got lots of great information for all of our recyclers listening. Jc Cahill from VINmatch Pro is on and he's given us tons of different feedback for all recyclers to hear and learn from JC. We were talking about inventorying processes. What do you suggest for training purposes, for training the dismantlers, for training the inventory guys, training the salespeople, getting them ready to get that inventory correct in there? What does that look like for when you're consulting with these yards?
Speaker 4:So the first thing that we want to do is make sure that on the sales side and everybody understands the acronyms in our business If you take a second and you're looking at description of a part, take a moment and understand that the ARA damage codes are important and that the process of that works really well. Ara has done a ton of work around that process and a lot of people tell me well, I want to describe it in words, I want to describe it in letters, I want to write out the description small scratch on door or small ding here. And if you're going to do that, make sure you're putting that in the private notes In your public comments. Follow the ARA damage codes, which is really simple. The damage is the very first part with a comma and then you can put the color or paint code and then you put a comma and then the description of the part. If you follow that process and you teach your people that process, it will one, give you the ability, your salespeople to describe the part correctly to the customer when they're on the phone Number. Two, follow the electronic platforms that the majority of our parts are being found upon. I recently worked with a recycler that had done a bunch of unique descriptions and when they went to the URG control center and they found that the majority of their parts were being flagged and being told that they were unavailable. So imagine, taking the time buying this car, you've inventoried it correctly, you think you've done the best job you can by describing the part with words that say small thing on handle or small scratch on glass or something like that, and that disqualifies that really good part for the body shop and you don't get a chance to represent it to your local shop because now you you've gone off and done it, done it unique.
Speaker 4:So my one, my one thing that I would leave everybody with is know the area damage codes, follow that process and then, at the point that you have any descriptions, put it in the private notes, take your private notes underneath there and say you know, if you have a question about whether there's damage that's hidden or that there's something in it that's particular, put it in the private notes. But try to make the public notes follow suit with how ARA's got it done. It's going to allow you one to go on platforms correctly. Two, it's going to allow you to. The parts are going to read correctly on Carpart and on all the other platforms, and then three your recyclers.
Speaker 4:There's a uniformity to what you're doing. Everybody understands. Hey, this door has a small scratch in the middle of the door. You know where. If you make up your own kind of rules, your company is the only one that knows it. And then also it disallows you to trade with some other networks.
Speaker 4:A lot of people in the PRP group and URG group are all high level recyclers and they trade within a network. So they trade within the PRP transfer network or they trade within a local network with like RCD or CDC and those, when you make yourself unique and you do it your only way, the other recyclers that have followed suit and do use those codes and do train their people. That way you've just disqualified your parts from someone else selling them correctly. So part of those opportunities is making sure that you describe it a certain way that everybody else understands what you're doing. So therefore, you just have increased your sales people, not just in your location but by nationwide location. So you're on a trade network with the PRP. There's 160 yards on that network and each one of those yards, let's say, has 10 salespeople. That means that you could have up to a hundred and six or, excuse me, 1600 salespeople selling your products, because, because you've chosen to describe it uniquely, they may not do that.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm yeah. Well and checking those data acceptance reports too. You know URG has a data acceptance report and I know Carhartt does as well. Making sure that those parts are being visible within those platforms is key as well.
Speaker 4:Checkmate and Hollander are really, really important because there's coming soon.
Speaker 4:Those statuses are going to mean even more when hopefully when Carpart and some of these other platforms have an e-commerce option and obviously when you guys I know URG has created some e-commerce options the status of that part could also dictate how fast the part gets shipped. When the part gets shipped and what the accuracy of the part is. So if it's in a W status where a warehouse, or a U status unbolted in the car, or a Y status that's still bolted to the car, all of those really matter and they're very particular. The more accurate you can do it. The actual and this is what I showed somebody recently they doubled down on their inventory process so they actually had twice as much inventory people as they needed. That inventory savings and I say savings they were able to accurately inventory the cars, they were able to put better pictures, better descriptions, better pricing and they were also able to decrease operational expense. Let me explain to you why by them accurately describing parts the first time and giving the customers and giving the salespeople the confidence that the part was right, described right, accurately, put in the right position or located correctly, post dismantle, what they did was they saved a lot of running around. So one of the key factors and I'll give you another really simple insight to look at.
Speaker 4:If you're a recycler and I want you and this is a tidbit that I train all my customers, but I'm going to give it away for free today because I think it's a really important metric If you're a recycler, follow how many canceled work orders that your company creates at the end of the day. So if you're producing 50 orders a day and you had five canceled work orders because the part was unavailable, it was broken, it was lost, it was damaged, whatever, every time that you have a canceled work order and your salesperson is unfulfilled, you have a customer that could be let down. So you to give yourself an operational score. And I say this if five work orders are canceled and you do 50 work orders a day, you're running about 90%, and what you can do with those work orders is you can look at them and say, hey, I'm seeing that I'm having a lot of problems in the yard, or I'm seeing I'm having a lot of problems in this location, or I'm seeing I'm having that. It's always a backlash that we're doing. So. It allows you to make adjustments in your inventory process, let your salespeople be and your team be part of that process and it gives you a rating on your company.
Speaker 4:So if you're looking back and saying, hey, I'm canceling one work order, you know one work order a week out of my warehouse, your warehouse is in very good condition. But if you're canceling 20 work orders a week and your warehouse only gets a couple hundred orders, it may not be in that good condition. So these are all things that I preach about operational excellence and operational sameness. And if you're one of those recyclers that wants to be on the top and they want to move the needle and they want to deliver the right part to the right customer and make sure that they don't make a lot of mistakes, this is the number one way I've seen people to do really good business Add labor to your inventory department, make sure that your parts are accurately described, make sure they're where they're supposed to be and make sure that there's a really strong salesman competence in how the orders get fulfilled.
Speaker 4:And if you can keep an operational excellence in your warehouses about 99% and your yard at about 96 or 97%, you're doing really well. Those are really good benchmarks. But if you kind of if you're doing 90% in the yard and 95% of your warehouse, what that means is that your salespeople, out of, let's say, 10 orders they're going to, before they even make the order they're going to give up one.
Speaker 2:So it takes away from their confidence in them. Selling recycled parts? Yeah, that totally makes sense, and having that kind of organizational excellence through the logistics process of dismantling and inventorying is so key, especially when selling online too All the URG websites if your comments are incorrect or anything is incorrect on there, then obviously it's not going to be the correct order and it's already hard enough for customers. I feel like when they're shopping online, you know if it's not a body shop or it's not. You know those kinds of customers. They're going to need as much information as they can. Otherwise, you know that part's potentially going to be returned as well.
Speaker 4:Well, it's not easy. I mean, if you've ever taken looking up some parts there, it's the some of the descriptions and how we do it is not intuitive to people buying parts, it's just. It's just what it is yeah, yeah, 100.
Speaker 2:Well, jc, I know you're um heading out to some conferences, are you? You're heading to taranis, is that correct?
Speaker 4:I am, yeah. So we're going to see this, the one that's going to see the great state of texas, and we're headed to Austin. We're actually headed in your direction, so we're pretty excited.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So we're going to get, we're going to get down to Austin and go see, go see some of our Texas recyclers and that shows just a great show for us. We, we always, we always have great feedback from our customers about Vimex pro and we always have some nice, some nice conversations with people you know working on their business, and so we get a little bit of everything in Texas. You get some self-service guys, some full-service guys, you get some core guys just a little bit of everything and everybody's really active recycling in their space. So it's just a great show for us and I'm really excited to be getting there.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, we've got the Dan Snyders and the Peter Nugent and all those guys. They're going to be there and I feel like it's just a great group of recyclers to get with. And all these shows, the state shows, are good to just kind of touch base with all the different customers that you have. And you know, I think that's one of the things that people notice is that you're always out there, you're always active in the industry and on the forum and I feel like that's what makes it so that you're a trusted voice in this industry and people come to you. How do people get a hold of you, jc, if they're looking for either VinMatch Pro or a consultant?
Speaker 4:So, simply, vinmatch Pro is pretty easy. It's JC at VinMatch Pro, which is the email. Or, on the consulting side, it's JC at VinMatch Pro. So it's pretty simple. Or, if you want to give me a ring on my cell phone, my phone number is two, five, three or nine five, three, four, two, three, but the best way is just shoot me, shoot me an email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Speaker 4:What I'm, what I'm really seeing and what I would, what I want to kind of bring forth one more, one more, just one more nugget of information is is this year, I think, with URG, with all the programs that are coming out, with what you guys have created, with the data tiering and exceptions, and what the future looks like.
Speaker 4:I'm telling you that the work that you're putting today in your inventory is going to pay out tenfold in the future.
Speaker 4:We're going to see platforms in the very, very near future that are going to be the ability to sell the part accurately and sell the part in a much timelier fashion.
Speaker 4:So the more time that you spend on working through this process now, the better that you are at getting your inventory to be accurate. I 100% can prove to you that the ROI on it is a 10x and that people I hear people all the time well, I need to hire another salesperson and I need to hire another parts builder, I need to hire another delivery driver, and I'm going to tell you if you can get this information correct on the first time and you hire an inventory person or put more time into your inventory, the rest of those departments become significantly more efficient and your ability to run your facility becomes better and we as an industry and as recyclers just look better. I mean, it's just a lot nicer process, when everybody knows what they're getting. It all fits within the platforms we're doing and you're able to execute not only to your local customers, but you're executing to the people, to the world, once you're on these e-commerce platforms.
Speaker 2:Completely agree. Yeah, and you know eBay, all the different platforms that URG offers and all the different programs that we offer, can help kind of get them to that point too. You know, being able to evaluate, you know, like you said, the data acceptance report, all the different programs that are out there, you can utilize that to kind of make sure that it's getting in line and then also with you as a consultant too, or you know anyone that's kind of been in the industry for a while kind of reaching out, anyone that's kind of been in the industry for a while kind of reaching out. You know that's what United Recyclers Group is about is reaching out to other recyclers and learning how they process and what their success stories are. And that's kind of what we're trying to do with all these different interviews as well is just kind of get the word out there of what that process looks like and trying to get more of these yards to be more successful.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean the exciting part is you don't have to be anything. I mean, it's not like there's one size fits all.
Speaker 4:It's not always about everybody thinks that they have to have, buy the latest model cars and do the best. It's really about just fulfilling your commitment to what you say you have on your inventory. And if you have an accurate inventory even if it's older, newer, damaged, undamaged, as long as you're accurately describing it and accurately pricing it and you're giving your salespeople and everybody else that's looking at it the true vision of what you're selling, your sales are going to go up. It's just really simple a meter about. You know this was about 12 years ago.
Speaker 4:We didn't have great inventory, but you know we did have.
Speaker 4:We had the ability to describe it correctly, price it correctly and make sure that what we, what we said we had, we had and and you know very some of the early days, we were posting every vehicle that we had on Craigslist and we and today, today, I would be looking at posting some of the vehicles of marketplace and you're saying, well, why would I post a vehicle that I'm dismantling?
Speaker 4:I already have it on Carparts, I already have it on my website, I already have it in my Checkmate Hollander or Pinnacle system. Why do I need to do that? And the truth of the matter is that there's people out there that are buying parts and they search different channels Sometimes it's on eBay, sometimes it's on Marketplace, Sometimes it's on whatever and you'll find that each platform brings a different level of customer or a different process. And what I found is I want all the requests so that it allows me to find the right customer for the right part at the right price. And if you can follow that standard the right customer for the right part at the right price, with the right description, all of the all, all the rest of the things come true.
Speaker 4:And you know, and so as we move forward, you know, for you guys and especially for URG, urg is building relationships, with always Christy's always working on the next relationship to get our parts into, into a different platform or into a different process which allows us to sell more parts. And when people make decisions like they try to cheat descriptions or they try to put things in the wrong categories and they make stuff difficult and they say, well, this works for me, but it doesn't work for anyone else, I can prove to you that if you do it right and you do it accurately and you do the best you can with it, other recyclers will see it and you have the ability to sell more parts.
Speaker 2:And it's just that simple 100% yeah, and I feel like you always have a good saying. Your salesperson, what's your salesperson? Your best salesperson is the one that's in their seat. What do you say?
Speaker 4:Yeah, my favorite salesperson is the one that's sitting in a seat answering the phone. Yeah, my favorite salesperson is the one that's sitting in a seat and the joking part of it is why would I want him to go out?
Speaker 4:And so I have people all the time why does he have to go out and look at it? Why do we have to go check it? Why do we have to go put our hands on it? Why can't someone take a picture and give me the answers that I need? You know, and we we're we're talking about this in our, in our self-service yard right now. We're discussing we have a uh, we have a process where we actually go out in a customer calls and say, hey, does this car have this on it? And we will go out and charge them for that process. Like, yeah, we go take pictures of the car and we set it back to them and say, yep, the car is available and these are the parts that are left on it, and it's a nice customer service thing.
Speaker 4:But we actually charge as a labor thing, where in the full service side, it's like they think that the old joking gym counseling was go check. It's like do you fire, go check the guy that works for you and and the truth of the matter is, if you do a really good job, post-dismantle inspection. So this is a tidbit when the vehicle's leaving the bay and you make sure that all the parts that are pulled off it are what they're supposed to be and all the parts that are left on the car are what they're supposed to be and the car gets put in the correct location and doesn't get damaged from the removing of the bay to where it goes. That process of making sure that happens is one of the most powerful processes for reduction of labor. Everybody says well, what do you mean? How is that going to reduce labor? You're putting more time into it. At the end, the answer is that little bit of time that you're going to spend to verify the parts that are cord, verify the parts that are good, double check the sheet metal that's on the car. Double check the descriptions on the car and make sure that post-dismantle that car is 100% correct. We'll reduce yard pulling labor time. We'll reduce part pulling labor time. We'll reduce mistakes that are getting sent to customers. We'll reduce loader time. That your loader's running on the fuel all day long. Every part of your business ties to it.
Speaker 4:So the example that I give is that when a salesman writes up an order and they go out to pull the part and the parts dealer drives all the way out of the yard. He goes to find it and he can't find the part. Then he goes to the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and he can't find any of the parts. And now he drives back and he says, oh, none of these parts are available. And the first thing that we trained our sales, our parts dealers, to do was hand it to the next guy. And the reason we did it was hand it to the next guy was because sometimes you ever if I don't know about you, but if you've ever been cooking at your house and you're looking for the spice and it's sitting right in front of you you just have that mistake and it just sits right in front of you and you're like I can't find the garlic.
Speaker 4:And the garlic is just looking you right in the face.
Speaker 4:So that's one of the ones that we do.
Speaker 4:So we give it to the next guy and the next guy goes out and he finds it.
Speaker 4:By giving some of those redundant processes, by making sure that you're doing those things, you reduce the stress of the salesperson.
Speaker 4:You reduce that the salesman has confidence in their inventory, that the parts get shipped out on time. And it doesn't mean that you have to have the nicest parts. It just means that you're accurately describing and you're doing what you're committed to, that your salesmen are doing what they're committed to, whether it be a part going on the PRP network, whether it be a part going to your customer across the counter, whether it be a part that's getting delivered to your customer somewhere else or, last but not least, a part getting shipped we somewhere else. Or, last but not least, a part getting shipped. We're using VinMatch Pro and people are putting that into play and verifying VIN numbers before they ship out orders to customers on LTL. So one of the processes that our customers has indoctrinated is, before they ship any LTL rear axle, motor, transmission or bed box they're running a VinMatch Pro verification and they're giving the customer confidence that this is what we have, this is what you have and this is what you're getting.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, makes sense. That totally makes sense. Awesome, this is great information, dj, I think we need one more commercial break.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we need one more commercial Duck Camp. Our producer will be shooting us. The best thing amanda makes is reservations I don't know about.
Speaker 4:She does make good reservations.
Speaker 1:I would agree with you there all right, let's take a break and we'll come back for our final segment, okay, folks?
Speaker 3:the urg scholarship foundation was founded in 2014 in honor of individuals who give their talent, time and, very often, their own finances, to ensure the growth and success of the automotive recycling industry. So each year, the foundation offers substantial financial scholarships to auto recycling employees and the children of employees that are attending four-year and technical or trade schools, to assist with their education. Don't leave money on the table. If you have a child or if you're interested in attending continuing education, this money is available to you. In attending Continuing Education, this money is available to you. Go to u-r-gcom and click on the Scholarship Foundation tab. Urg keeping our industry strong through education.
Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. Of course you know you're listening to the number one podcast in the automotive recycling industry, urg on the go. Our guest today is JC Cahill from VINmatch Pro and I want all of you to know this is the guy. We went to Bill Weaver's memorial he, paul D'Adamo and wife Lynn, bo Wold and myself. We all sat together and then we ate lunch together and I had said to JC, I'm gonna start working with Tunnel to Towers so that we give a vehicle in April. And JC looks at me and said, dj, you go for 100% and I'll help. And sure enough, in next month's article in the Power Source magazine you'll hear all about joining JC Cahill, dj Harrington, both and our dear friend Paul D'Adamo on a committee because Conoco Towers is going to be at URG in Florida. It has just, it's going to be wonderful, jc. And all of a sudden things came together oh, I'm excited about dj.
Speaker 4:I mean, you're, you're, you're a consummate professional and you always put together the right people in the right room, so the least I could do is help out with any of that process. So you've been a you know, a blessed friend.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, well, vice versa all right. So before the break, amanda, this will be our last segment, so get the very best. Look how much we've got for Manny.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:The only thing is he's speaking at ARA, so we need to know a little bit more about that too.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, let's talk about that. It sounds like you're sponsoring at ARA, jason.
Speaker 4:I am so. So we're we're're doing a pretty big sponsor this year at ARA and we're also announcing some new products that we're really going to be announcing just at ARA, so we're very excited about those. I don't want to quick teaser. We're going to be able to give some customers the ability to buy some of the lower-end cars using a formula. That's exciting and I think it's going to be good for some of the guys that buy street cars and some of the stuff. Come see our booth for that. That's super exciting. And we've also got some enhancement in Bin Match Pro that I just I can't wait fast enough for it to come out. And really what our next steps are.
Speaker 4:Our speak engagement is about kind of the industry discussing what this year has meant for a lot of recyclers. Working with some of these top 20 recyclers across the country, I've had different experiences on what's moving them forward, what's not. They're all different and the part that's been interesting is there hasn't been one thing that's changed everybody the same way. And by saying that is, people that are active in their business, people that are buying cars in their business and they're actively working their inventory and working their processes, are the ones that seem to be doing the best, everybody else that it's a little slow or stagnant or does it the same way they used to do it. They're not looking to make changes, they're not looking to be aggressive or they're not looking to kind of work through their business are struggling. And I'm going to tell you, the people but the people that are actively involved in their business, they're working with their employees, they're trying to make their business better every day. The people that I've been working with, I've been very fortunate of the 20 people and I work with, about 10 monthly and about 20 quarterly. And of the 10 people that I work with monthly, seven out of 10 had their best months, quarters or year, even post-pandemic, which is really surprising. And it's been because of a lot of the programs that URG has put out. It's been some of the coaching that I've put forth and it's been that they've been active. They've been active in their business, they're looking at all the angles, they're engaged in what they're doing and they're working each process to make sure that they're giving their customer the best net result.
Speaker 4:But back to I want to hop back just a little bit, but a BidMatch Pro is going to be launching and for the first time ever at URG, we're going to be white papering our VINmatch Pro, meaning your information, your logo, your business card. You, as a salesperson, are going to be able to represent this to your customer. So in the near future, you're looking up a part of our customer. You run a VINmatch Pro and you want to be able to send them a PDF or a text or an email with the information that you got from VINmatch Pro. It's actually going to say all of your information. It's going to say your yard name, your business card and then the exact information that we pulled from Vimatch Pro, represented as yourself. And so we're announcing some new, some kind of a new process of how we're doing that. And it's just going to be. It's going to go really well. I think it's going to give the recycler the ability to be so much more professional and just get rid of the concern.
Speaker 4:The question is well, how do I know it fits my car? Well, because we've run it through this program. We know that it fits, we know it's the right year, the right model, the right make, the right manufacturer, the right year, the right ratio, the right style, whatever those things are. That's the information to give us to give to the customer, give confidence and give us just a better ability to close the parts. And the less mistakes we make, the more profit we make. So the example that I tell everybody is you don't have to do it twice. What does it cost to do it twice? And in this business we tend to be okay with it's okay, we'll just go get another one, and if we can do it right the first time, it definitely.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm seeing in the recyclers I'm working with no-transcript going to want to come back, Whereas if you, you know, get it wrong, you know it's the first time shopping with, if it's your customer's first time shopping with you and you get the part wrong, you know, likelihood of them coming back to you might not be as good as if you got it right the first time as well. So, and that, and that includes body shops too, so I think that's that's definitely key.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean we're seeing, we're seeing like with with a nice statistic that we're seeing is people that are actively using good match pro. We're seeing a one to 3% credit return rate reduction of some, some people all the way up to 3% credit return rate reduction on some, some people all the way up to 4%. And we're seeing an increase in close rates between five and 10%. So the salesman has confidence that they're selling the right part. The customer is confident that they're buying the right part. The information that they have is the correct information to make sure that they're at the right part, the right description, and, at the end of the day, we look.
Speaker 4:we look more competent as recyclers because, this isn't easy, it's not for the faint of heart and some of the stuff is just downright hard. But giving the tools and getting the information and allowing us to correctly describe, inventory and price these parts correctly puts us at just such a higher level. And this is what I'm seeing in the recyclers that are performing today. They're spending a lot of time on finding the correct inventory, putting themselves in the right position, staying in the right networks and being and giving yourself cups for constant. So customer confidence. And leaving that with, I'm going to leave you with a couple of tidbits. Follow your canceled work order report and see where your mistakes are in your yard. Take the time and see where your mistakes are in your yard. Take the time and invest a little bit more in the inventory process. It'll pay back tenfold on the backside. And then take a minute and use VidMatch Pro to double check any of your customer's information or your information, to make sure you get them the right part the first time.
Speaker 2:I love it. That's perfect. And then so do you guys go and do yard tours whenever you do all these conferences. What's the question?
Speaker 4:Like well, my question is is how do I know if I buy this vehicle, this does the right thing and how do I know if this does the right thing and how do I know if this does the right thing? And what I say to everybody is take the time, understand your data, take the time, look at the look at the cars you're purchasing and and you know we get caught up in our day-to-day work all the time but the but but understanding where the cars that are doing well and doing more of that, and also stop buying the cars that don't do well for you. I have people all the time that tell me this is a great car for me and I look it up and I go really. And then they and on the other side to it. They tell me they go, they don't like let's call it an ugly Dodge van, and they look down and go I don't care about those. I get those all the time and you go well, that's one of your best vehicles.
Speaker 4:So what we think really is great for us. It's kind of like the diet thing, like when you're eating granola bars all day long. You're like I'm eating healthy, I'm eating healthy, but it's full of sugar and M&Ms. Well, the ones I eat are heaven.
Speaker 2:I love it, not the nutrition ones.
Speaker 4:Not the nutrition one, not the nutrition one. But you know, I'm eating nutrition all day long and really I'm just filling myself full of candy bars.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've got to make sure you're using the correct tools and doing the right thing first off, otherwise you're not going to see any kind of return. But yeah, we just went to Michigan and did a bunch of yard tours and it's really cool to kind of see the day-to-day and utilizing those tools and we saw them using you know, vinmet Pro and the URG hotkeys for tiering and for you know all the different reports. So it's pretty cool and it is a lot more than I had ever, you know, really expected. Just the process of all of it the inventorying, the dismantling, and then you know the process of selling. So it's definitely something that you want to hone into and get good feedback from other recyclers in the industry and hone in on people like you for advice to try to make sure you're doing what you can do to get those parts sold.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're very fortunate in the fact that we've had some nice clients and we've had some good just some nice opportunities, and you know everybody. Like I said, anyway, there's a lot of ways to do it in this business. There's not one right answer. What works for you works for you, and I will tell you it's not based on the year of the car you buy. A lot of guys go I want to do what he does and the answer is be who you are. If it works for you, if it works for your business, just do more of it. And that's what I preach. That to all my guys is don't try to be somebody else, just be who you are. Lean into it, be the best at who you are. And if it's selling retail, it's selling retail. If it's selling wholesale, it's selling wholesale. If it's selling to the groups, it's selling to the groups. Whatever that is, try to lean into it and try to get the best from whatever you're doing.
Speaker 2:Perfect, awesome. Well, dj, I think we're ready to wrap it up, do you?
Speaker 1:have any questions for JC. Jc, all I want to tell you is that I'm proud to know you you do so much for this industry and that everybody that's going to these state associations meetings and the ones that are going out to ARA by all means you go by and visit JC and his team. You'll learn a bunch.
Speaker 2:Ton of information, wealth of knowledge. You're always a great contact.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you guys. Well, I appreciate you taking the time to have me and I hope this helps some recyclers that listen to the podcast, and if anybody has any questions, feel free to reach out via phone number or email. I'm always available. I always will help anybody with any questions that they have.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, JC.
Speaker 4:Thanks, guys have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1:All right, amanda, that was it. This was a great one. I want to remind all our listeners you might know your business, but URG will grow your business. See you next week.