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.

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.

As the holiday season quickly approaches we, at Atlas Frontiers, find ourselves gearing up for the dental portion of our sales activity. This area of equipment resell always astonishes me because it is amazing how many dentists throw away or store their older equipment. Often times this unused, older equipment is quite valuable and can be put to great use overseas.

I am reminded of a dentists office that we visited last year. After perusing through some of their newer equipment, that the doctor needed help selling, we reached the deeper recesses of the basement. The doctor mentioned that this equipment was undesirable and was most likely headed for the landfill. We immediately stopped the doctor and told him that this equipment was still very valuable and could be used to advance the dental care in many different countries. We left the office with saved “junk” and after six weeks of going through our selling process, the doctor received a check for almost $500. This is money that was destined for our local dump and is now being used in many countries across the globe.

The moral of this story is not to say that our company helps keep the environment green and reduces waste (though these are true). The moral of the story is that practically any piece of dental equipment, no matter how old or used, can be purchased and put into good practice by someone else. It is very interesting to see where our equipment goes and our upcoming dental run has me excited for just this reason.

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

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.

The Olympics are in full swing which means patriotic inertia and a warm blanket of goodwill are fast becoming the overriding emotion in most of us. The intermingling of cultures and a diverse spectrum of people representing their nations on our screens makes the world seem much smaller & more interconnected than we thought it was. It is.

We can all talk ’til we’re blue in the face about the fiscal benefits of our service, but let’s not forget to recognize some ancillary goodwill benefits of our service. Humanitarian rewards that harness the powers of an interconnected global marketplace to benefit people on a higher level than just monetary savings. The redemption of equipment that has been cast aside.

A medical facility in Tanzania now has the ability to perform full panoramic X-rays, vastly improving the quality of healthcare in the area. That same X-Ray machine had been used in a thriving American suburb less than 6 months before. An anesthesia machine made obsolete by emerging technology in America ended up in Chile where it was used during a critical surgery. Or perhaps the story of some patient monitors sold by a well funded metropolitan hospital that ended up at a struggling, under-funded rural hospital in America.

Just a couple of examples of thousands of similar transactions that occur every year. Maybe you sell an un-needed X-Ray machine to a doctor just a few states away who is able to stay afloat with the money he saved buying used. Or maybe you sell a piece of equipment that goes to a village half-way around the world and becomes a critical part of the local healthcare infrastructure.

We aren’t talking about saving the world one pulse oximeter at a time. We know that these positive effects are just small drops in an ocean, but they still add up. This is just one way our world has benefited from the interconnectivity created by new technologies and emerging markets. When you choose to resell your old or no longer needed equipment not only does that equipment get a chance at redemption, but it might give someone else a second chance at better health.

As human beings, we often find ourselves sifting through years of collected treasures. Many of us place these treasures in closets, basements, crawl spaces, random cabinets and even storage sheds as a way of creating order and organization without having to fully let go. As you take the time to sift through your own idle treasures, keep the following in mind as you consider the possibilities of what to keep, donate and sell.

1. What to keep

   1. This is something only you can determine, but the easiest thing to remember if an items been sitting for more than 6 months without any use, then you most likely won’t miss it in the end.

2. What to Sell

   1. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

      1. This is only true if you have the ability to find that man and for some assets that ability can be greatly hindered with time.

         1. In the medical, dental, veterinary, and industrial equipment industry assets depreciate at a rapid rate, if you wait too long to make a sale then you may be left with only the cost to take it to the local dump.

      2. Value can be found in almost anything, our clients are often surprised at what we are able to sell. It’s always in your best interest to routinely look at what might be sitting in your closet, basement or storage facility.

3. What to donate

   1. This question is often best answered by the needs of the local organizations you might donate to. With today’s economy, many businesses are having to greatly reduce their routine donations of equipment and instead sell the equipment in an effort to return that value back into the system.

   2. Consumable goods are often high in value, but difficult to resell for this reason its many times better to donate them to a local organization that may benefit from the donation and take advantage of that value in the form of a tax write-off.

Twenty years ago the idea that folks would be making expensive business purchases from strangers thousands of miles away with simply the click of a button existed only in science fiction and cheezy Sandra Bullock movies.  You can hardly trust the guy down the block at the hardware store, how could you ever possibly trust an anonymous stranger who you only know by their online handle?

Thanks to the evolution of multiple technologies and a constantly evolving online culture, it’s now easier to experience a satisfactory online transaction and there’s millions of them occurring.  One of the keys to a smooth transaction comes from delivering on expectations and a clear communication of those expectations.  Good photography needs to be in your aresenal of online commerce weapons if you want to compete in today’s crowded markets.

I want to share a few quick tips and resources that we use around here to guarantee quality photos that clearly communicate what is being sold (expectations) and does so in a professional manner (increasing trust).  Please feel free to use these tips as your own, just don’t use this knowledge to ridicule or mock those that take inferior photos. 

Keep it Simple
You’re not looking to make profound metaphors or advance the culture through a picture of a used exam chair.  You #1 priority is to accurately portray the item for sale.

Keep it Interesting
You can mix up the composition of pictures and get some interesting angles on some of the equipment that will make your listing stand out in the online galleries.  But don’t forget to keep it simple, if you’re convoluting what the item is, it’s not worth trying to make it interesting.  Just be wary of any item that has reflections and please keep your clothes on when photographing.

Mix it up
Get plenty of up close, medium and long shots.  If you are including a bunch of accessories, get a long shot of EVERYTHING that is included in the auction.  If there’s a small detail of note, get up close and snap it. Keep in mind that the buyer has only your pictures to decide if they are going to send a wad of cash two thousand miles away.  A small scratch on the underside of a curing light may seem insignificant to you, but including that in the photos can convey an accurate condition of the item and instill trust in the mind of a potential buyer.

Get Technical
Make sure you have a basic understanding of your camera and it’s capabilities.  Learn how to use the automatic and manual features.  The holy trinity of photography that separates a great picture from “what is that?!” : Color Balance, Framing, and Focus.  Make sure you adjust the focus to ‘macro’ for close up shots and make sure you properly white balance. Here’s a great site that simply explains white balance.  Here’s another great tutorial on color theory that helps explain in advanced detail all about color and light for those that are more inclined.

Here’s a couple of examples.

This first picture is not properly white balanced. There’s too much yellow showing up, and not enough blue. This creates a dingy, aged aesthetic.

Now here’s a picture in which the Red channel is being overrun by Cyan, which creates a cold, steely visual.

Finally, third time’s a charm. Here’ we have an accurately balanced picture with even distribution among all color channels. This provides the most accurate representation of the product being offered.

There’s a lot that goes into providing accurate information for prospective buyers. But you’ll find that if you take the extra few minutes to do a thorough job you will more effectively communicate accurately and it’ll save you time and headache down the road.  A simple case of miscommunication can lead to buyer dissatisfaction and distrust, and can cost you money in the long run. 

Here’s a few other helpful photography sites chock full of good info to help you along the way:
Here.
Here.
& Here.

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!