free tips

ive not been on much lately been pretty covered up, been reading some of the posts this afternoon and got me to thinking about advice

1. when you go buy something keep your eyes open, i almost always get extra batteries, rotors, brake pads or even a few cans at the cars i buy, if you dont see it ask. ive got a mechanic that has traded me two cat converters and a automatic tire changer for an old car i traded him
2. use your phone, call those adds on cl, ive gotten some of my best contacts like this, i told you guys about the wrecker service ive got now, picking up a f150 from him this week, you can make 20 phone calls in the time it takes to drive around looking in dumpsters

3.offer a referral bonus, we give 10 bucks, got a ford taurus the end of last week from a referral
4 when you make an appointment for a pickup do everything in your power to make it on time, your time is valulable, but so is theirs and people talk
5. my favorite is kiss @$$, donuts for your best clients, and of course you old guys know we got pizza for the whole yard.
6. pay if you can and if its worth it, unless they tell you to take it and get it off their hands, if the latter happens and you make a chunk of change make sure to take them the donuts the next day, like i say people talk, if its free and recyclable dont turn it down even if you dont have time, i got a load of huge propane tanks to cut up when i get time, and 4 to 5 more loads to pick up this week, not counting the fire extinguishers and computers we have. i also got a dozen or so of the medical oxygen tanks like i cut up a while ago
7 read old posts and new posts you can learn as much from a new guy as an old one
8 ive said this before, use some of your profits to buy some new tools, something you have been wanting to try out to make your job easier or faster, there is not a week go by that we dont buy at least something, even big boys like toys

like most of you know im full of ideas some are good and some are not, use what works for you, this is for some of the newbies trying to get some contacts

my contacts since ive started are two repo guys, a wrecker service, a mechanic, two used car lots, a fire extinguisher company and got lots of other things im trying to work on, plus a great relationship with our yard every single employee knows who we are and says hi every day

Great advise. Some of what I've attempted to say you have explained very clearly. Thank you, Mike

Following cory's tips by reading the old threads.

Great advice, Cory. I actually nailed down a second pickup from a store in the mall just by being the reliable guy. Now, this second job isn't going to be as lucrative as the first in the long run, BUT I met the district manager for those stores last night so talk about networking. I have some work to do to prep these pieces but I don't mind, I'm just gonna throw them in the truck, find an empty parking lot and use the NEW tool I bought last night to get it all ready.

Calling and following up on every CL ad I can has definitely yielded much more scrap than I would have gotten otherwise. Sometimes it's better to use a harpoon to catch a big fish than use a net to catch some smaller ones.

Cory, great advice. You could write a book, "Scrapping for Dummies" with all of your insight. I would buy a copy.

Great thread, thanks for posting