What customers do you go after?

After discussing this with one of my fellow yard owners in the local area....wanted to ask the forum...What customers do you actively go after....."Harry Home-Owners" or other "Scrappers/ Resellers/ Refurbishers"...as in do you spend your time going after the enduser or more of the middle man?
My thoughts are this...yes you can make more $ off of the end-user...but it tends to take up more time...where as other scrappers/ B2B is less $ but more volume and more consistency...and I've found that if you actively go after both....the scrappers tend to see you as competition and the trust factor isn't there so your business ethics tend to come into question....(just my .02)



Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by MisScrap

After discussing this with one of my fellow yard owners in the local area....wanted to ask the forum...What customers do you actively go after....."Harry Home-Owners" or other "Scrappers/ Resellers/ Refurbishers"...as in do you spend your time going after the enduser or more of the middle man?
My thoughts are this...yes you can make more $ off of the end-user...but it tends to take up more time...where as other scrappers/ B2B is less $ but more volume and more consistency...and I've found that if you actively go after both....the scrappers tend to see you as competition and the trust factor isn't there so your business ethics tend to come into question....(just my .02)

Any thoughts?

I go after other scrappers that do curbside shopping for PC towers. I tell them that I will pay them $5/tower COMPLETE, and $2.50 for incomplete towers, and if it is missing everything except for the motherboard, then it will be $1.

I have had a few bring them to me. They generally try and wait until they have 5 or more at a time.

Besides them, I work on building relationships with commercial business owners/managers.

I prefer to deal with "pickers" or general scrappers who I can pay more for their ewaste than they get at the scrap yard. This has saved me a lot of running around for one or two towers and make to feel like I owned them more than the $5 per tower. It more like dealing with professionals rather than the more uninformed. Mike.

Originally Posted by happyisthealero

What is your selling point with the commercial business owners/managers? Im having trouble finding the right words, and what to offer them. I don't have a lot of one to give right now because I'm unemployed and my only income is scrapping which is paying just enough to pay my half..

Depends on what kind of business they are really. When it comes to big corporations that are always recycling pc's and pc components, I offer them FREE pickup and disposal. They like the idea, considering most spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars to other big name companies to dispose of them.

I offer them data wiping for free, as long as they are willing to allow the time it will take to get them all wiped. If they need it all done in a quick rush, I charge them a fee, so I can hire my brother in law or another family member to help me out on them.

When it comes to construction sites, they set it to the side, and I will pick it up when they call for it to be done. If they have a large pickup, it is FREE. If it is a small pile, I charge them enough to cover fuel expense, so I can make a profit.

I used to do telemarketing when I was young and was great at it. Its all about becoming friendly with the client, and figuring out quick the pros and cons of them working with you, and explain all the pros to the point they want to do business.