Atlas Frontiers CEO Plans Trip to Quito, Ecuador

Atlas Frontiers Resell Management is in a unique position to help deepen relationships with the healthcare community worldwide. Rotary International awarded Mason Fuller a travel grant to travel to Ecuador to find opportunities to help outfit underserved areas with medical equipment.  On April 25th, Mason will travel with his wife Angie Fuller, RN,  Tami Brandstetter, CEO of Delta Dental, and Terry Gustaval, DDS, a retired Dentist from Boise.  The Rotary sponsored project will combine the competencies of healthcare professionals, equipment experts, and public health advocates to improve the daliy lives of people in the South American country.

The goal of this project is to travel to Quito, Ecuador and establish contact with the local Rotary club that our district has worked with in the past.  We will likely stay with Rotarians from this club and accept assistance from them in identifying medical equipment needs in impoverished areas of the country.   We will visit those areas and assess their equipment needs while members of the group with medical training will provide patient care with local doctors. The group then returns to Boise and makes efforts to fill these needs with the help from local hospitals and equipment vendors.

The following goals will be accomplished:

1. Establish contact with the local Rotary club and find supporters for continued assistance
2. Identify areas of the country with the most critical equipment needs
3. Devise criteria for selecting recipients
4. Establish logistics channels for delivery
5. Locate in-country partner groups that currently provide assistance to underserved areas
   1. Other medical missions
   2. Local physician groups and internists
   3. Current equipment suppliers

The idea came together in November of 2008 and now that funding has been approved the team is gearing up for the 8 day trip. Mason hopes to find a home for aged medical equipment that is scattered around the northwest US.  As a Rotarian, Mason is committed to the motto, “Service Above Self” and hopes that the trip will be beneficial and build goodwill for everyone involved.  Constituents from equipment donors in the US, Rotarians, non-profit partners, and the Ecuadorian recipients will all benefit from this project.

Atlas Frontiers Expands Services

Part of our mission states, “… Providing the most accessible venue to sell valuable commercial assets online.”  To me this means that our service must extend beyond our home territory of Idaho’s Treasure Valley.  We have made significant improvements in our ability to service other areas and today we can provide face-to-face management services to customers throughout the Northwest US.  Through advanced logistics, Atlas Frontiers can physically handle high-value equipment in any US city.  Additionally, our Resell Managers will have a regular physical presence in many states throughout the Northwest US.

Last week, Adam Hutchings and I travelled to Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Salt Lake City, Utah to assist several new customers with asset resell projects.  We collected dozens of valuable pieces of equipment and carefully transported them back to our facility in Boise.  The trip was a huge success and it showed us that we can provide the same great services to dentists, doctors and hospitals in surrounding states. Currently we send Managers to the states of Washington, Oregon, Montanna, Utah, Nevada, Idaho and California. On any given day we will have Resell Managers in the customer’s area to help them identify what idle equipment has value and make plans to recover that value.

We are all excited about the opportunities this offers to our customers. We can physically manage the resell process for customers across the United States and provide face-to-face asset advisory services far beyond our home base of Boise, Idaho.

Just Married

I know that I am going to get a ton of flak for posting about this, but the point of this blog is to share important information with people connected to Atlas Frontiers. This includes personal information as well as professional thoughts. So naturally when a person gets married it’s a significant enough personal event to warrant a highlight even at work. So here it is, at work, in public that Mason Fuller is now married man.

On October 4, 2008 Mason Fuller and Angela Marostica were married in McCall, ID at Whitetail Resort. A bunch of the Atlas Frontiers guys came up for the event and we all had a great time. Drink and dance was had by all and my brother’s girlfriend caught Angie’s bouquet hinting at a possible repeat of the wedding production in the near future. Perhaps, Scott would care to elucidate on these thoughts in his next blog post? Stay tuned for more…

- Mason Fuller

More Sales Internationally of Used Medical Equipment

We have been noticing a significant amount of interest in our products from international buyers.  In the last 12 months our international transactions have quadrupled as a percent of our total transactions.  I have a few theories on why we are seeing this.

1. The drop in the value of the US dollar has made our equipment more affordable.
2. Our worldwide logistics capabilities have reduced the costs and barriers to complete international transactions. We can usually move equipment by air or sea at a rate that is equitable to the rates we pay for domestic ground transportation.
3. Sophistication of international buyers has risen to a point that they can support the rapid change in technology. Because foreign technicians have access to information and trade journals, they can stay abreast of current best practices.
4. Our reputation has risen to the point where buyers have a high degree of trust in us.

I am excited to continue increasing this section of our business because it connects us with more opportunities for growth beyond our boarders.   We are seeing both buyers and consignors sign on with our company and everyone involved is benefiting from these capabilities.

In the News – University Recognition on the Radio

Today we were introduced on the radio! Nancy Napier PhD, from Boise State University unveiled our company on her show, Idaho Business Matters.  Nancy interviewed me a month ago and turned our conversation into a week-long radio spot on our local NPR station. Thanks to Boise State Radio, our company received great publicity and our customers and stakeholders can learn about 5 aspects of our business from a well known university professor.  The topics and link to each MP3 are listed below.

1. IBM 8/04/08 – Virtual Business – High Value Asset Sales
2. IBM 8/05/08 – Virtual Business – Virtual Business Survival
3. IBM 8/06/08 – Virtual Business – High Value Asset Resale and the Economy
4. IBM 8/07/08 – Virtual Business – Virtual World Micro-communities
5. IBM 8/08/08 – Virtual Business – Competition and the Future

Thanks Professor Nancy Napier and Boise State Radio!

Explaination Through Video

I am currently trying to write a script for a short 2-minute video that will explain our service to someone who has never encountered us.  The challenge we face in our company is that we must explain the concept of Resell Management from the foundation to the roof.  Resell Management is a comprehensive resource that a customer will use when they want a professional to convert valuable assets to cash.   I’d like to use a simple web-video to help explain our value to our customers.

The approach I’d like to take in this is to present a common problem that our customers face such as too many idle pieces of equipment, not enough storage, no time to sell unused assets, or unsuccessful previous attempts at selling equipment themselves.  The begininng of the video can either incorporate each of these common problems or center on 1 specific area of difficulty.

Next, I would like to present Atlas Frontiers as a solution to all of these problems.  I will show the viewer how we convert assets into cash (step-by-step), and finish with some of the added benefits we offer to customers.  Our process should focus on:

1. An accurate initial appraisal of the equipment
2. Request for pickup and storage of the equipment in our facility
3. Preparation of a detailed advertisement
4. Selection and submission to the best marketplaces for a given asset
5. Negotiation of sale with a qualified buyer
6. Collection of funds
7. World-wide logistics to get the asset to the buyer
8. Settlement with our customer, the previous owner

I believe that if I can distill this information into a short 90 second web video, we will be able to quickly show interested visitors how our service works.

 

-Mason Fuller, Founder