Ewaste Buying from Stores

Originally Posted by HipoGear

Beware of the arrogance of some of these guys. I stopped in to my first repair shop today. I introduced myself and told the guy I was just getting started. His response was that he just couldn't give me the stuff and asked what I was willing to pay. I told him I would pay $1 to $3 per tower depending on its age.

He chuffed at me. Then I had to listen to him spew all his knowledge and experience for the next 10 minutes.

He said he was refining all his scrap for about 5 years until the prices of metals went down. He said he had a pole barn with about 30 ton of eWaste and had worked through about half of it. I asked if he would be more interested in selling by weight. He said maybe, but you'd have to take all 15 ton. Then asked me if I had a floor scale, if I was certified, yada yada yada. Again basically just imparting his vast knowledge and telling me how I will never make a go of it.

WTF is wrong with some of these people? He knows he is sitting on a mountain of, in his mind, unprofitable electronics. Yet he has no desire to pass it along at a fair price.

I think part of the problem is that I'm a woman, and I was able to go toe to toe with him on facts. Sheessh!

I think you did well. This is really the sales part of the business you are getting into. It sounds like you left the door open to the possibility of doing business with him. He is a jerk with material. Is there really 15 tons?? Doubtful but you never know. Stop by from time to time and make certain you leave a business card so he knows you are really in business. Don't fret over what you need to offer on 15 tons of material, make him tell you what he wants per pd/ton.

Here is a sales technique you need to learn now. Its the one who speaks first looses. Few people can stand up to silence. So if you say to him "I need to confirm what you have before going further. What is the price you would accept on your material?" Then stand there and wait. This technique is very difficult for some. Some get very uncomfortable quickly filling the empty space giving the client an easy way to defer the question back to you.

You can practice this technique on those who you love, children, husband, wife, parents, you get what I mean.

When making a sale call practice the following:
My name is _________
My company's name is ________
We recycle computers and other similar material(make up your own explanation of your business)
The reason I am here today is _______(I used to use "to determine if we should be doing business) This is the most important point to make. It shows respect for the person you are talking and their time. You get right to the point with out doing any of the sneaky salesman tricks.

I have a few clients that I deal with now so my pricing is simple S.W.A.G. (scientific wild a$$ guess) because of my experience.

The next thing I will pass onto you is its difficult to reduce prices. Many of the members who have doing this for a while will have experienced the trouble of lower prices with long term clients. I started this business getting $4+/lb for small and large motherboards. Now I get $1.55/lb for mobo and instead of $0.12/lb for shred now I get $0.06/lb. I just had to tell one of my long time clients that I was again cutting the price and he was not happy.

Like every thing else experience and hard work will get you where you want to be. Let us know if the 15 tons ever shows up as being real. Best of luck Mike