Once we had a marketing system in place, we focused on operational efficiency and improving the customer experience.
The bulk of this phase involved building a custom Java-based web system that would quickly process large utility and construction equipment, passenger vehicle, and small item sales for 15 different states. This included all of the necessary, forms, tax processing, and reporting. You name it, and we sold it. And we sold and processed up to 700 vehicles per sale. Try that at a dealership!
Once our backend data was online, we created a customer
portal that enabled users to interact with the business by making account information and routine data collection available online rather than only in-person.
These efforts along with other process improvements allowed us to shorten our lines and reduce wait time for our customers. Rather than customers waiting in line for hours, we were able to reduce or eliminate most lines altogether.
This significantly improved customer satisfaction, drove additional buyers to the auction, improved our average hammer price per item, and made our sellers very happy.