Toronto, Ontario — The keynote speaker set to address the now-canceled Ontario Auto Recyclers Association Conference and Tradeshow has released a statement to Canada’s recycling community.
“I cannot express how sorry we are that the OARA conference was postponed. No matter how painful it will be for everyone, the deferral of the conference, for the time being, was the absolute correct move to make for everyone,” wrote Mike Kunkel of Profit Team Consulting. “I wanted to take this chance to tell you that we have every intention of coming to the rescheduled show and will look forward to catching up with everyone at that point in time. I also wanted to let you know that OARA will be needing your support in the coming months. ”
Kunkel, a long-time member of the auto parts industry and has been the owner of Profit Team Consulting for the last five years. Alongside colleague Lee Worman, he was set to host a presentation called Sales School at the 2020 OARA conference.
“What we are going through is unprecedented and everyone is guessing as to what will happen. The one thing that is for certain is that the normal we operated in yesterday will be different than the normal moving forward. We will notice many changes and unfortunately, there will be some of us who might not be able to or choose to not try and recover from whatever happens.”
In the statement, Kunkel also shared some advice for how auto recyclers could still improve their businesses during the Coronavirus crisis.
“The one thing that is for certain is that a number of people will find a way to prosper during these times or at a minimum position themselves for success in the future. Those will be the people who spend time working on their businesses instead of complaining about the business,” the statement said. “Low unemployment has made it hard to attract good people. Our behavior now will determine if we keep our good people and potentially attract more of them because we do the right thing and our best to take care of each other.”
“The final note I would like to pass on it that we truly expect scrap metal to fall and overall volume of activity on the phones to suffer. That means that every phone call / request takes on even more importance. Work on your peoples closing skills to make sure we convert everything possible in case the phone traffic does go down. If we develop better closing skills now we will be able to grow sales faster when activity increases.”
Kunkel also confirmed his intention to address OARA, should the show be rescheduled.
