Jim Counts Speaks to the Crowd at the 2009 IT Show

If you are an auto recycler and were not in Southington this weekend then you missed a great event. The "Meet Us At IT" Show that took place on Friday and Saturday was packed with educational seminars, workshops, a lively trade show and great food.

East Coast Auto Salvage Inc. was in attendance as well as other auto recyclers from New England and around the country.

One of the highlights of the show for us was the inspirational seminars given by Jim and Robert Counts of Counts Consulting www.countsconsulting.com.

Sometimes we get stuck in a rut when it comes to the way we run our business and the way we approach sales. It can be difficult to take a step back a really analyze if what we are doing is the most efficient and productive way or if it is just a bad habit.

The Counts brothers make you rethink your approach to daily operations and costs of production. Here at East Coast we will be re-thinking some of our systems business organization and hopefully be able to make some changes to improve our operation.

Another highlight was the seminar on Hybrid vehicles given by Craig Van Batenburg of ACDC, Automotive Career Development Center, www.auto-careers.org. He brought to our attention that there are already 1.4 million hybrid vehicles on the road in the United States and near 2 million worldwide.

Crain Van Batneburg of ACDC speaks about hybrid dismantling.

Just today in the Wall Street Journal an article was published about the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid which has been revamped to better compete with Honda's leading hybrid, the Insight. Toyota aims to sell 300,000 to 400,000 of the new Prius world-wide per year.

This growing population of hybrid vehicles means some big changes for the automotive recycling industry. Just like any other vehicle a Hybrid also has an end-of-life. In fact a few hundred thousand hybrid vehicles have already been in accidents that have rendered them inoperable. So what happens to these vehicles? They must be broken down and properly disposed of. But by who? Well automotive recyclers of course.

As you may guess dismantling a hybrid requires different knowledge and safety procedures than with a traditional gas powered vehicle. Van Batenburg has made a career out of training automotive professionals how to work on these vehicles.

If you own a hybrid and have had to replace a part I am sure that you are very aware that the cost from the dealer can be astronomical. The more auto salvage yards that are able to properly dismantle hybrid vehicles and salvage the good parts for re-sale, the better off the consumer will be in the end.

The seminar that we attended was informational and encouraging but was not an official training. We hope to bring hybrid dismantling to East Coast Auto Salvage in the near future. When we do we will be sure to post to our blog, so be sure to check back often.

The third extremely exciting highlight of the show for us was the release of the Parts Hotlines e-commerce system for auto recyclers.

The Parts Hotline is a system that has a history of over two decades of connecting and matching inventory from auto recyclers from across the country. This has allowed the recyclers to locate out of stock parts for their customers in an instant.

Hotlines has now developed a system that will bring the recyclers inventory right to the consumer in a live on-line search with the ability to purchase over the web.

The main website for this nationwide parts search is www.partshotlines.com. If you are a consumer and have not checked out this site yet it is not to be missed. If you are an auto recycler and not a hotlines member then you can not afford to overlook this opportunity.

The other part of the new system that Hotlines is offering to recyclers is the option of installing a live ecommerce store on their website that allows the customer to look up the part they need, order it and pay for it all without ever picking up the phone.

We know that there is a growing demand by consumer to be able to purchase auto parts on the web in this manner, but as an auto recycler we have faced many challenges while trying to populate our inventory to online market places like eBay and Amazon.

Currently we only list about 2,500 parts in our eBay store (East Coast eBay Store). Part Hotline will allow us to make our 100,000 part inventory available 24/7 to our retail customers. We hope to have this new e-commerce store installed on our website www.ecautosalvage.com  by the end of this week. As soon as we do we will be sure to let you know.

Overall the IT Show 2009 was a great success. We took away a lot of great information to help improve our business. The event also helped raise thousands of dollars for charity, specifically the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Hartford Children's Hospital. To see more photos and details of the event please visit www.meetusatit.com.

Clam Bake at the IT Show

If you haven't reviewed the schedule for the IT show lately you should have another look. eBay motors has just been added to the program with a workshop on Friday morning and afternoon and a Seminar on Friday after lunch. As many of you already know eBay is a great marketplace for used parts. We have been using it for over three years and continue to grow each year. You can check out our eBay store by following this link. East Coast Auto Salvage eBay Store

For those of you that are not familiar with the benefits of selling on eBay this is a great way to learn about it. From my understanding eBay will be going over the basics of how their on-line auction website can help your business generate revenue by marketing your parts on a nationwide level. If you havent considered this as an option for your business you certianly can not afford to miss this oportunity to learn about it.

The schedule for the IT show - aka - Meet Us At IT - is packed with many educational seminars and workshops. If you are planning on attending then we will see you there! If you haven't signed up yet it is not too late, don't miss "IT"! To see the complete updated schedule for 2009 and registration information please visit www.meetusatit.com

Hybrids

As many of you already know the annual IT show - Auto Recyclers Reunion and Review - is to be held in Connecticut May 15th and 16th. The complete schedule has been released and is packed with great seminars and workshops! With DJ Harrington as the Master of Ceremonies the show should get off to an exciting and inspirational start.

DJ's introduction on Friday will be followed by some very important information presented by Car-Part about the NMVTIS VIN Reporting Requirements for auto recyclers. Later in the day we are looking forward to two different seminars by Counts Consulting. First Jim Counts will present his seminar "It's All About System and Focus" which will provide us with some insight into how to create more efficient systems to run our business. The second seminar will be presented by Robert Counts, "Sales Made Easy", will teach how to better approach phone calls to increase sales. We have found the Counts consulting seminars very inspirational and informative in the past and we are really excited to see them on the schedule again this year. The whole day Friday is packed with great seminars and workshops, too many to mention in this quick blog post and we are looking forward to them all. Of course the grand finale on Friday night will be the clam bake and the famous IT Charity Auction. If you plan to go to the seminars during the day be sure to stick around for the evening events as they are not to be missed!

Saturday offers another full day of seminars and workshops. We are particularly looking forward to the presentation by Craig Van Batenburg, "Hybrid Salvage . . . Keeping It Safe and Profitable". As more hybrid cars are introduced to the market the demand for parts of course will increase. But as you can imagine dismantling a Hybrid vehicle has different requirements and safety precautions than what is standard for non-electric vehicles. Specialists such as Van Batenburg have a lot to offer the automotive recycling industry as he can help us prepare for this change in demand. The days events will also include a semnar by ARA University, two more seminars by Counts Consulting and several workshops presented by Car-Part.

Below is a list of some of the Seminars and Workshops being offered at this years IT show. This list is subject to change and for the complete schedule with times and more detailed information please visit: www.meetusatit.com

Friday May 15th

Welcome by Our Masters of Ceremonies DJ Harrington and Bo Wroten

Presentation by Jeff - Car-Part

Seminar by Jim Counts - “It's All About Systems and Focus”

Seminar by Brian Ripon on Mercury Switches

Seminar by Dr. Tom Rogers - Essential Pillars of Dynamic Leadership

Seminar by Robert Counts - “Sales Made Easy”

Seminar by Mike French Advertising

Workshop by Car-Part - Jeff Shroder - CAR-PART GOLD

Workshop by Pinnacle

Workshop by Car-Part - Roger Shroder – BIDMATE

Workshop by PhoenixAutomotive Cores - Wyatt Rivas and Jeff Farrs - Maximize Your Investments

Workshop by Hotlines

Workshop by PhoenixAutomotive Cores - Mike Sabori - What Is A Rebuildable Core?

Workshop by Tom Rogers - How to Turn Your Employees into Superstars

Famous "IT" State Association and Charity Auction followed by Entertainment

Saturday May 16th

Welcome by Our Masters of Ceremonies DJ Harrington and Bo Wroten

Seminar Dismantling Hybrids by Craig Van Batenburg - Hybrid Salvage...Keeping It Safe and Profitable

Seminar by ARA University

Seminar by Robert Counts - “Cold or the Flu"

Seminar by Jim Counts - “The Upside of a Down Economy”

Seminar by Fuss & O'Neill - Property Transfer Environmental Opportunities

Seminar by Frooition - Painting the Web

Workshop by Tom Rogers - Seeing Success in Succession

Workshop by Car-Part - Jody Prather - PARTMATE by Car-Part.com

Workshop by Car-Part - JC Chastain - CHECKMATE by Car-Part.com

Workshop by Car-Part - Roger Shroder - RECYCLER EXECUTIVE ROUNDTABLES

We are really looking forward to attending the 2009 IT - Auto Recyclers Reunion and Review - and we hope to see you there! For all of our customers - we will be sure to post updates about the great things we learn at this show and hopefully you will see a positive and progressive change in our business. Please sign up to recieve updates about our blog so you don't miss a thing!

It Convention (Click for Details)

Title: IT Convention
Location: Southington, CT
Link out: Click here
Description: Annual Auto Recyclers Reunion and Review.
Start Date: 2009-05-15
End Date: 2009-05-16

What is "IT"? IT - aka - Meet Us At IT - is an annual auto recyclers reunion. Unlike the annual ARA (Automotive Recyclers Association) convention, held every year in the fall, the IT convention is

IT Auto Recylers Convention New England

independently hosted and not affiliated with the national association. The first IT convention was held in the spring of 2001 in Virginia and has been hosted all over the country in the past years including Georgia, Texas, Florida and upstate New York. I can not tell the complete history of how the annual event came to be but I do know that it was started by Bill Weaver in an effort to bring auto recyclers from across the country together to learn and share business ideas and experiences. His efforts have been rewarded as IT has turned out to be one of the most successful industry events ever. Indeed, auto recyclers from around the country gather to sit in on informational seminars and to network with other yards and organizations that they may have never met otherwise.

The 2009 IT convention is coming up in May and this year we don't have to go far to attend. The 2 day event will be held at a local salvage yard in Southington Connecticut, the first time that it will be hosted in New England. Last year the show was hosted in Atlanta Georgia at the Manheim Drive center, http://www.manheimdrive.com/, an absolutely amazing facility. I am sure that the modern technology and the ideal set up of the Manheim Drive center will be hard to beat. However the salvage yard where the event is hosted has a lot of space and I am sure they will be able to accommodate the event comfortably. If you are anticipating coming to the IT convention this year please take a moment to visit the Connecticut Auto Recyclers Association website, www.ctautorecyclers.com for a complete list of salvage yards in the state.

Besides the informational seminars and the industry trade show the IT show is also known for the "IT Auction". This is a lively event to be held at the Friday night Clam Bake and not only will raise money for the local auto recyclers associations, and the ARA Educational Foundation, it also will contribute a good share of the profits to a local charity. In fact since its inception in 2001 the IT Auction has raised over $500,000. Last year it was able to raised nearly $25,000 to donate to Heat to Hearts, a local children's charity in Georgia. I can't wait to see what interesting items are being auctioned off this year and I am sure that the generosity of the attendees will again amount to a substantial charitable donation.

We will be sure to update our blog with photos and details of how the 2009 IT Convention in Connecticut goes down!

Last Tuesday afternoon, Bill, German and I headed down to Kansas City Missouri to attend the 65th annual Automotive Recyclers Association convention. We arrived early this year to listen in on some of the committee meetings that took place on Wednesday. We were interested to see what ARA has been up to this past year and we were impressed with all that we heard. The committees deal with a myriad of important issues within the industry; everything from setting standards for used parts grading, customer service and facility operations to the legal and government issues that affect our business. Aside from these important issues the association also dedicates efforts to raising money for a scholarship foundation. We found the convention to be filled with informative sessions that will help improve the way we do business. We hope that we can put into practice all that we have learned to better service our customers. Below I have shared a few photos and some highlights from our experience at the ARA Convention 2008.

"Women Under the Hood" Seminar - This was an outstanding presentation by three accomplished woman in the industry; Fran Reitman, Krystyn Roberts and Kelly Roepke. They all spoke of how they became involved in automotive recycling and shared their individual experiences learning how to balance work and family. As a woman in the industry I found it a particularly interesting and inspirational seminar. Like many automotive related fields, the auto recycling industry is also heavily male dominated. However several women have come along that have fought their way to be respected and have made a name for themselves. This year the incoming president will be the third woman to hold the position and all three have done exceedingly well in their own auto recycling businesses as well as brought value and progression to the association. I applaud ARA for dedicating a time for these women to share their business experiences and open up discussion about what a good industry it is to work in, whether you are male or female.

Annual Networking Dinner - The dinner was a wonderful way to end the convention and perfect way to present the succession of past ARA President Sandy Blalock to current President Linda Pitman. Not only was it a good meal and commendable awards ceremony, the ARA also took one last opportunity to raise more funds for the Scholarship Foundation. A full sized car-themed quilt made by Linda Pitman that was auctioned off in 1995 to raise money for the association was re-presented by its owner to be auctioned off that evening. Of course its value has drastically increased now that its maker is the incoming President of ARA. The former owner also agreed to match whatever price the quilt brought that evening. The winning bid was for over $12,000, which raised nearly $25,000 for the scholarship fund. I personally feel very proud to be a member of an association that not only hosts such an informative convention for people within the industry but also emphasizes the importance of education by supporting such a worthy cause.

Quilt by Linda Pitman Auctioned Off at Networking Dinner to Support ARA Scholarship Fund