Every rep is looking for that silver bullet they can use when the prospect tells them they’re not buying for another 24 months. What’s your plan B and plan C?

Recycling electronics is a service you can offer your customers through ARCOA. Not only does it solve a big problem for them, it’s a recurring revenue source your dealership can jump on.

Watch this episode of What’s Happenin’ to learn more about this lucrative program from Brett Apold.

ARCOA is a certified electronics recycler that offers safe and responsible processing of electronic waste, with R2:2013, ISO 14001:2015, and RIOS certifications to guarantee secure disposal of electronics. Their de-manufacturing process disassembles equipment to supply high-quality recycled materials, essential to manufacturing new products. Choosing an unreliable e-waste recycler can lead to data breaches, making ARCOA’s data destruction guarantee and audited processes for 100% product destruction within secure, certified facilities a priority for companies with sensitive data needs. With multiple certifications, including R2, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001, ARCOA meets industry best practices to protect customers’ sensitive information, making them one of the leading recyclers of e-waste in the country. Click here to learn more about ARCOA and Midwest Copier Exchange services.

 

SOURCE Industry Analysts Inc.

Full Transcript
what’s happening in Andy here I am

joined by Brett apold of our KOA group

how are you today Brett I’m doing great

how are you Andy I am awesome it is

great to see you where are you today

where’s where’s your own office I sit in

Florida so I work remote for for our KOA

down here in the great state of Florida

moved here last year so enjoying the

great uh winter weather here in Florida

I bet you I was just down there a couple

weeks ago it was wonderful it’s a little

colder up here in Western New York

I’ll be getting down there at uh to BTA

and I’m sure I’ll be seeing you down

there yeah absolutely I so I saw you the

last time I saw you was the executive

connection Summit we were in Arizona

uh I thought it was a great show

um which you know I think a lot of that

is being said this was a really good

show from a Content standpoint from an

attendee standpoint

um you know as being members of the

Consortium

um it’s been really good for us as our

KOA slash Midwest copier to get

visibility

um to some of those top dealers across

the country and I think just this show

just for us really felt like things are

starting to come together that the

message that we’re sharing around the

program that you and I will talk about

is starting to resonate with people and

um as you know at the show we had a we

had a really solid announcement with a

partnership with with all copy products

yes big big announcement with all copied

um so before we get into that let’s just

let’s just cover our bases um what do

you you know tell us obviously remarket

recycle relocation

sure so there’s two parts to our KOA we

were founded under Midwest copier

exchange uh where we buy and sell off

lease and Off Lease equipment copiers

printers that business has been around

for 35 years

um and then the other side of the

business is arcoa which is our

electronics recycling side so what we do

is we work with businesses to help them

um when they are end of use on their it

equipment right so if you think about

laptops and desktops networking gear

tablets cell phones Etc what are they

doing with that old equipment right I

mean it’s such a simple question to ask

everyone has used it equipment that

they’re no longer using and so what we

do is help them on a number of fronts

one is is there still value in that

equipment if there is great we can buy

that equipment from them we do a revenue

share out also making sure that their

data is secure right making sure that

all data is removed from those assets

prior to either remarketing or recycling

those assets

so I you know I was always under the

impression that you just put all of your

old laptops and cell phones and tablets

into a drawer and leave it until you die

so you’re telling me there’s a way to

actually get rid of this why you know

but you you can’t throw it out right

you’re not allowed to

um anywhere that I know of you’re not

allowed to throw it out because of the

batteries and because of the yeah inside

of these things these and what’s on

these boards it’s some of it’s toxic and

the Coatings that they use right so you

can’t just throw it out and even if you

could just throw it out you shouldn’t

just throw it out and and tell me what

why tell us obviously why did you just

throw it out well and I think it’s

interesting because I think if we look

at how we deal with I.T equipment

personally

it’s very similar to how businesses

handle it unfortunately and that is to

just put it in a storage area until

they’re forced to to get rid of it and

there’s two problems with that one

you’ve got data sitting on those devices

that you want to make sure at whatever

point you do get rid of those assets it

is destroyed wiped

um so that you know there’s no risk of

that data ending up in the wrong hands

because oftentimes a lot of those assets

do find a new home in other countries

right because there’s still value still

use in those assets and you want to make

sure that there’s no

um data sitting on those devices

other thing is a lot of acetab mercury

con you know Mercury components so you

don’t want those things to end up in

landfills you don’t want to just throw

that stuff in a dumpster is not good for

the environment and there are proper

ways to recycle that equipment and

that’s what arcoa does right we are an

R2 certified recycler we’re third party

audited every year we we follow

stringent protocols around how we handle

hard drives and data

there are a lot of recyclers out there

who will take your equipment for free

right I’ll come pick it up from you and

don’t you worry about it and you really

got to look out for that because you

really don’t know where that equipment

is going to end up

and so you’re certified at doing this

right so you pick it up

and and

what you’ve done is you’ve created a

product I mean you’re not just doing

this because you’re nice you’re doing

this because you’ve done is you’ve

created a recurring Revenue stream yeah

for your partners right so that’s that

junk sitting in my drawer that we were

just joking about

um that I can’t get rid of that I would

love for somebody to just pick up and if

they if I had to pay for it I probably

would but even if I don’t have to pay

for it if I could just give it away and

you know be done with it but no also

that it’s you know whatever’s on there

is secure and I don’t have to worry

about you know somebody can access

because you know we all know what we’ve

saved on our you know just just the

credit card information alone and you’re

buying um patterns and the fact that if

somebody accessed that and they can just

log in and and click buy buy buy and and

your accounts and you know you don’t

want to talk about that so so you’re

helping people get get away from this

and

um so this really started I would have

to imagine that you know one of the

things that got this really going was I

don’t know you must remember and I

remember and you know the older people

watching this will remember but the

younger the younger folk right you

probably don’t remember 60 Minutes

special at one of our you know one of

our partner companies that uh pulled

three random machines out and they had

Legal Information on there they had

Hospital information so this is real and

and it’s been you know probably 15 years

since the since the media went in there

but you don’t want your machines winding

up in a warehouse somewhere on a return

lease right and all of a sudden you’re a

customer and you’re and your stickers on

that machine when they’re pulling the

data off right I mean it’s all of the

manufacturers sell this overwrite stuff

but you guys take it to a to another

degree and then

once it’s destroyed is there anything

that you provide to the customer that

proves that like how do they how do they

know how do they document that this was

really

um

properly disposed yeah great question so

we do at the end of at the end of the

process we issue what’s called a

certificate of recycling so you have

proof that that equipment was properly

recycled if we audit your equipment we

provide you with a an audit of your

equipment as well as an audit of your

hard drives we’ll also issue a

certificate of Destruction on any of the

hard drives that we’ve destroyed that’s

important because as an I.T uh division

you want that documentation

um once that equipment has left your

facility so again proper documentation

and processes are are critical

so this started as copier as you’ve

evolved it into just about anything with

a hard drive anything with an

Electronics

um one of those Lithium-ion batteries

essentially because and and now you’ve

created a a

Revenue stream for for dealers so you

know as a dealer you’re going into a

customer and you’re saying look do you

have a bunch of old assets laying around

that you just don’t know how to get rid

of right that you just need you want to

get rid of and you just don’t know how

to do it and and so now you’re giving

the dealer the ability to either charge

for it or just ingratiate yourself to it

to the customer but then when they bring

this is it paid on weight how do you how

do you pay them on this right so there’s

a couple of Key Parts to it one is the

services that we provide right so we’re

doing this all behind the scenes

um we’ll go in we’ll uh there’s there’s

fees associated with audit equipment

with destroying hard drives

um if we pack the equipment right

there’s labor fees involved so there’s

the services side and then the other

side is that Revenue share on the

remarket of those assets right so if

you’ve got

100 laptops and I sell them for 50 bucks

then I give you 70 of that Revenue

um

instructions so you’re you’re

reallocating some of these assets and

yeah there’s actually money to be made

on this yes yep very cool very cool and

so tell me say the name of this program

again yeah so we call it eras so it’s

electronics recycling as a service and

the idea behind that is again offering

our services as a copier dealer to your

customers if you think about it’s a

natural extension they’re often working

with the same people that we are

connecting with who are managing the

office equipment right they’ve got the

relationships they’re in there on a

regular basis alls we’re saying is hey

when you’re in there and you’re talking

to the folks ask them a simple question

what are you doing with your old I.T

equipment

so this this is the big thing that we’ve

been talking about at last I’d say

probably last couple years now that

you’ve been you’ve been rolling this out

uh it seems very successful it gets a

lot of attention at the meetings uh

before we start talking about your big

news which for some reason I decided to

save till the end uh the other part of

your company Midwest copier exchange

tell us a little bit about that and then

I do want to get into your bigger news

yeah so you know they’re they’re the

foundation of our company

um they’ve been around for 35 years uh

the business is buying and selling Off

Lease copiers and again

there’s a there’s a remarket for those

assets that you know we provide

Downstream after we bring that equipment

in so we work with leasing companies we

work with dealers in taking the used

equipment and buying it from them and

then we turn around and sell it out so

again it’s another form of reuse of

equipment uh to help you know promote

this circular economy and make sure that

we’re continuing to get life out of used

used equipment office equipment and this

this used equipment you’re not reselling

this to end users you’re reselling this

to dealers who then so if you’re a Canon

dealer and you’ve got a customer that

just needs this one specific model and

and Canon doesn’t make that model

anymore right it’s not current you can

still possibly provide that or maybe

just something for uh you know for a

dealer that needs to do a favor for a

customer to get a unique yes so

um very very cool so focusing Switching

gears now the the real news that you

know I did want to follow developed from

the ECS conference you had a big

announcement a partnership with a top 10

dealer all all copy Brad nepper’s team

over out of Denver uh looking it’s all

over the Midwest and well the Far West I

guess really

um so tell us your big news with them

what did you guys announce at the

conference yeah so we we Inked a

partnership where they will be offering

our services to their customer base and

as you as you mentioned they’re they’re

a large dealer with a I don’t know over

10 locations

um so we’re excited because they get it

right they understand the importance of

data security they understand the

importance of helping their customer and

extending out their offering you know

it’s another tool in their toolbox and

uh we’re excited in fact tomorrow is our

our kickoff launch with the sales team

and helping uh educate them on what our

services are you know what to be looking

for you know a lot of what we’ve talked

about Andy is thinking about your high

compliance customers anybody who is in

Education Health Care Finance legal all

of them have strict data requirements

and how they handle data and those are

really great opportunities for the

services side as well as typically those

those businesses refresh their equipment

more regularly so there’s still value in

that equipment as well so it’s always

thinking about your largest customers

within your customer base and extending

out this offering to again Drive

additional revenues we have a spiff

program for the sales reps so they’re

incentivized to bring opportunities to

us right if you bring an opportunity to

me and it converts into uh to a sale

then they get they get a kicker for that

so it’s we believe it’s a really strong

program we’ve been pushing it for a

couple of years and we’ve added on you

know eight additional dealers here over

the last year and this was one that

we’re just really proud of because we

feel like we’re starting to get to that

upper echelon of dealers who

I think they’ve heard the pitch enough

and seen us enough at BTA and ECS BTA

has been great for us as well I mean

that show uh has proven for me that

consistency in attending and having a

presence there has really helped us

build this program well I I’ve said to a

lot of my partners and and you know I’ll

say it again it’s just if you want if

you want to be any if you have any

credibility in this industry you need to

be you know where the dealers are and

the one place that they’re all at is

they’re at the BTA shows and they may

not catch all four of them a year but

you know they’re going to be at some of

the shows and and the most active

dealers are heavily involved in BTA and

those are also the guys that are

involved in the cdas the sdgs the co-op

right the American Co-op so all those

groups bpca

um so it’s important and it’s such a

great access point to it and it really

is a great organization but I’m glad to

hear you you know you’re saying that I

would before we wrap up just a little a

couple more details about the training

that was really interesting to me so

yeah you know I I know that you have all

these programs because I work with you

but I don’t know what goes on behind the

scenes so when you sign someone big or

small uh like an all copied um or or

maybe a smaller company do you do this

training for everybody when you bring

them on is it always the sales reps and

you know it’s one thing to add it to the

to the pitch book right to the portfolio

but to go down to that level of

granularity to the sales reps and say

Here’s what you have here’s spiffs

here’s some free extra money you know on

your door so how does that go is it when

you do this training tomorrow is it um

are you going there or is it going to be

webinar are you gonna

to all the locations at once yeah great

question so for this for this particular

one it’s a webinar I’ve done it both

ways where I’m on site or I’ve done it

as a webinar because they’ve got so many

different locations it made more sense

to do this particular one as a webinar

but I would like to follow that up with

on-site visits to different locations

and really it’s just to educate

the sales reps and it can also be like

if you’re in the case of all copy and

you know impact networking is a customer

of ours oftentimes there’s vcios as well

right so if you’re in the managed I.T

side you’ve got these cios who really

are that day-to-day touch point with

their customers so we educate them as

well in fact we get a lot of leads from

vcios

um

so again just educating them on what to

what questions to ask what to look for

what has value what doesn’t

um the biggest thing with with this

program is that it’s very transactional

right so it’s not the the sexiest side

for it they’re not you know clamoring to

have to to want to deal with their their

old equipment

um but when if you keep asking at the

right time then the opportunity will

present yeah eventually they’re going to

want to get rid of it I mean eventually

I’m going to clean out this drawer

because

I mean why am I keeping this you know

laptop that’s 12 years old and a tablet

that that’s four generations old and I

don’t you know I can’t even give it away

anymore but I I just I just haven’t

wanted to drive to take it somewhere to

properly dispose of it and then yeah I

could wipe them properly yet and you

know it’s just a pain it’s and and

that’s just my desk and what about every

desk in the office you know for every

employee that’s been working there over

the last 10 years all the assets just

pile up and they don’t know what to do

with them I think it’s a great idea

um I love that you’re training people

because as the next rep that’s the best

thing for me to walk out the door after

you already shot me down and said you

know I’m not buying anything for you

know at least two years I’m between

leases right now well at least I turn

around and say you know I can get rid of

all this stuff for you you have stuff

yes you have a pile you have a dedicated

room of just assets you don’t know what

to do with

um we can and you know and then you’ll

help the customer maybe make a few extra

dollars too and to that point Andy it’s

been helpful with other dealers that

we’ve worked with in some of their

Market efforts it’s actually given them

an opportunity to talk to a prospect who

again may not have a need at the moment

for a printer or copier or managed I.T

but they saw your email and they reached

out to them because they had some I.T

equipment so it can help Drive leads

into prospects too I would say if I got

if I got that email right now

um I probably would schedule an

appointment at the very least come pick

my stuff up right and then by the way

you’re going to make some money on the

recycling of this hopefully it does and

now I owe you big time for helping me

and obviously when I need you know print

needs or or manage services or something

guess who I’m going to call so I love

the program love the idea

congratulations on all copy thank you

just thanks for spending some time with

me it was great seeing you yes and I

will say I look forward to seeing you

down there in uh in your neck of the

woods down in uh Sunny hopefully sunny

Florida last year last year we got kind

of hammered on on spring break if you

remember

the last day was like like the last

Chopper out of Vietnam people could not

get out of uh Orlando it was a massive

storm so hopefully the weather

cooperates a little more this year we’re

due uh but I’ll see you down there I

look forward to it thanks so much for

for taking some time with me today Brett

yeah thanks for the opportunity Andy

always good to catch up and we’ll see

you soon see you soon thank you