Key Points From The Latest Issue of Asset 2.0, “The Investment Recovery Business Journal”

• Like any other business, creating an investment recovery (IR) department requires a solid business plan. Day-to-day operations may work for sometimes, but in the long-run, everything may fall apart if nothing is planned.

                “Investment Recovery professionals are trained to handle an assortment of products and look for the best method to dispose of an asset for a company. When utilized, the IR professional will ensure that a company’s return on investment and total cost/benefit are maximized by evaluating what is the best way for a company to remove an asset. Many times, however, the IR professional is bypassed and others take on the IR role who aren’t trained, oftentimes looking at retired assets as an afterthought and just something to get rid of. This duplicative effort exposes the company to unnecessary risk and loss on investment that the IR professional reduces and eliminates.”

“Look upon your IR function as a separate business. As with any business, you are much more likely to succeed if you do the following: Have a plan, work your plan, review your progress, refine your approach. Be especially honest about your situation, your capabilities and your potential for improvement with yourself and your team. And don’t ever lose sight of the critical foundation for building your successful business … long-term client trust and satisfaction.”

• Is video a good way to advertise the surplus assets you are trying to sell? The answer is yes. Using pictures is a must when you want to reach potential clients. But Youtube videos are more and more used and well appreciated by companies, as they are not expensive, efficient and help customers have a better idea of the conditions the assets are in and may answer many of their questions. The video can be linked to the auction catalog and boosts its reach.

• How does your investment recovery department align? Survey results carried out by the Investment Recovery Association bring 3 statements. It is common for IR departments to handle fleet transactions. IR departments tend to manage “all” IR functions: large equipment, smaller items, scrap and other salvage projects, sometimes with the help of a third party. The IR departments often get involved in decommissioning and demolitions for their business. “Unless you’re an IR professional, the IR work is a process considered more a secondary task to your core duties and many times results in poor business decisions being made on IR activities.” This is why numerous companies choose to work with an external IR partner, such as our company Veracity.

• “Data is King when Selling Fleet Vehicles”. Data is key when you want to sell fleet vehicles. Information needs to be accurate and offered along with pictures. “When we as buyers have two identical units to choose from, we are always going to pay more for the unit that has the best description and photos, just like any buyer in the market for a used car would.” The more information the customer has, the better he/she is ready to make a decision in your favour. We can mention for example make, model, age, condition, mileage, condition, additional equipment and location. Vehicles tend to be sold online, more than at traditional auctions, as customers have a better access to uniform information.

• What do companies do with extra “Maintenance, Repair and Operating Parts” (MRO)? These parts help the facility running, such as light bulbs, bolts and motors. Managing inventory helps provide the right parts at the right time, and with a minimal cost. But, “of the $100 billion worth of parts purchased in 2012, approximately 15% of that inventory will remain on the shelves and potentially never get used.” The following questions need then to be asked: “Are we sure we cannot use it here?”, “Can any of our other sites use this material?” and “Can I sell it back to the Original Equipment Manufacturer that I bought these from?”. There are several options that can be chosen to recover value from these items, such as redeploying them, returning them or reselling them. Learn more about the whole range of investment recovery solutions through this blog post: http://wp.me/p2EjZw-3m.

Find the full issue at http://ow.ly/zzYMY.

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