Lesson #5 – Business on Batteries Reconditioning

Why shouldn’t you get a piece from $17 billion by reconditioning dead batteries?

In the United States, the market volume of battery replacement is $17 billion per year. Every day people throw (more rarely utilize) millions of automotive, industrial, medical, marine batteries, as well as computer, cell phone, and regular AA batteries.

It’s easy to succeed – there are no competitors on the market, the workflow costs a little, and the demand for batteries at a reasonable price is big. You don’t need anything to set up a business on batteries reconditioning, just a bit of knowledge and a small set of tools.

How much can you earn on reconditioning batteries?

• It costs about $5 to recondition a regular car battery.
• The average cost of a new battery is about $200.
• If you offer a customer a fully restored battery 2 times cheaper, also providing him with a replacement warranty for a year, surely, he will agree.
• Your net income will be about $90 -100.
• To earn $3000 a month, it’s enough to restore one battery per day.

If you take 5 orders per day, you will make $15,000 in a month. But to achieve this level, you need to think about serious investments, for example, money will be needed for organizing the battery exchange point.

This business is nice because it almost does not require your personal involvement in the process of reconditioning.

Work in the B2B sector

One of the options for starting earning a lot of money in this business immediately is to work with companies that use electric vehicles and other equipment that runs on batteries.

There are several advantages of working in B2B:

• There are even fewer competitors in niches.
• A long-term contract. Business people know how to get their benefit, so if you are able to clearly show in numbers, why reconditioning is more profitable, you will get a long-term contract.
• Repeated purchases. After you find one customer you actually start taking orders from him again and again and the more units of equipment he has in his company, the more orders you get.
• Larger average receipt amount. Batteries for loaders, golf cars, boats, medical equipment are much more expensive than regular car ones and the reconditioning cost will be higher for the same effort.

Two business models

To set up your own business on batteries reconditioning, first, you should visualize this process to yourself. What path do you prefer, service or store? We recommend starting with the model 1 – battery service.

Model 1. Battery service

It is better to start a business for reconditioning batteries for those customers who need their batteries repaired. Mostly, it’s autoists who don’t want to overpay for a new battery. But you can also help those who are stuck on the road or could not start their cars in the morning.

12 tips on how to organize a battery service

1. Start with studying the business. The main and most expensive mistakes we make are out of lack of knowledge.
2. Purchase the reconditioning set (after training).
3. Tell about your services to your future customers from B2B. Check out the local production companies, fleets, golf clubs, hospitals, warehouses, docks, and so on – offer your services and distribute business cards everywhere.
4. Order simple website at fiver.com and set up the Google Adwords advertising (preferably). When signing up for the first time, you get a coupon to advertise for free.
5. Deal with petrol stations about leaving your business cards, they will put them to every receipt, also put a banner at the entrance to the station or near the exit.
6. Arrange barter with automotive companies. For example, you can provide services to recondition batteries for car repair shops, car dealers, service stations, and they will promote you for free:
   • place your banner at the entrance;
   • advertise on their website;
   • arrange that they will clip your business card to every bill, paid by their customer;
   • and more.
7. Mutual advertising with garages and automobile firms. Try to organize cooperation with automotive companies in terms of mutual promotion.
8. Take all orders and build up the customer base. Car batteries are the best option, judging by the time you spend and the income you get. But in the beginning, it’s better to go for everything, including conventional batteries for toys, under the image of an ecology advocate. That is how you get experience, positive reviews and collect a large client base.
9. Come for rescue. “Battery recovery truck” is a great help for the drivers stuck on the way and for those who were not able to start the car. According to statistics, every third driver has no alternative recharger and in such a situation has to ask for help on the side. And you can come and help with starting the engine right on the spot.
10. Save time. Replace discharged batteries with the reconditioned ones for years. But the more profitable option for both sides is to take an old battery and for $100 give a reconditioned one with a 1-year warranty. You can recondition the battery, which you received in return, and change for another battery from another driver.
11. Expand the range of your services. The developed battery service works not only to recondition dead batteries but also to support and maintain still running banks (recharging, density restoration and so on). The more people know about you, the better and more stable your business will be. Giving free advertising through an environmental advocacy group would be a good idea. Certainly, they would want to support you. In our course about batteries reconditioning, you will find even more tips about the business.

Model 2. Battery shop

The idea of this model boils down to finding and reselling refurbished batteries in your store. This option requires some starting capital, so it is more suited to experienced entrepreneurs. Here, the most important thing is to keep calm, as in the beginning you will not have many clients, and hired workers will wait for paychecks from you. But after people find out about you, you get a stable cash flow and a lot of free time.

1. Find where you can get car batteries for free or very cheaply. Visit garages, gas stations, junkyards, auto graveyards, taxi and truck drivers’ parking, factories and warehouses, boat docks and all the hot spots, where batteries are stocked. Often, in these places, you can pick up the old batteries for free since nobody needs them. Take them to your place. Sometimes people want to sell your old batteries for next to nothing, but in most cases, the former owners of the batteries are only happy to get rid of the junk.
2. Arrange batteries sale with 50% discount and 1-year warranty. When you already have a sufficient number of batteries reconditioned, you can start a massive advertising campaign and offer reconditioned batteries for half price.
3. Offer complete replacement of the battery if it stops working throughout a year for free. The main objection among of reconditioned batteries buyers sounds like, what if the battery will fail me and will not work. When you guarantee a free replacement, in case it fails, it increases conversion in times and rises your income. Reconditioned batteries usually last for 1-2 years at least.
4. Get a helper and pay him for results. It will take him few hours to learn, how to recondition batteries and you will get enough time to deal with the customers’ acquisition.
5. Grow. Get back once in a while to the familiar “hot spots” and look for new sources of free and cheap batteries. Expand your range and don’t be afraid to experiment. For example, recondition the expensive batteries for yachts or rare batteries for medical equipment. If you do well, open a new store or second service point.
6. Work efficiently. Recondition batteries completely. The opportunity of purchasing a completely charged working battery for low price attracts both private clients and organizations. Gradually through “rumor mill” the flow of customers will strongly increase, your craftsmen will get enough experience, and, if you want, you can take a back seat and just come to the store to collect revenue.

The combination of the two models when a battery shop is a battery service at the same time is the most profitable option.

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Pros and cons of a business on batteries reconditioning

Pros

• High profitability. Virtually zero costs make this business supercost-effective.
• It’s easy to teach an assistant and put your business on autopilot.
• Eco-friendly. This business is making a tangible contribution to caring for the environment. Just two reconditioned AA batteries save 400 liters of drinking water from pollution. A single car battery reconditioning saves a small lake.
• Real savings for your customers. Batteries reconditioning is a demanded service all year round, which helps saving money.
• Free niche. There is virtually no competition on the market, it gives an opportunity to offer services with the maximum profit.
• Easy to manage and develop. The business is very simple and does not require much management experience. It’s ideal for those who make their first steps in business.
• Innovative technology. The advanced technology hidden by large corporations is used for batteries reconditioning.
• Quick start. Business requires almost no investments, a large number of staff or time. All you need is fairly simple training, the reconditioning kit, and your desire to make money.

Cons

It can be noted that sometimes you have to deal with sealed batteries that cannot be reconditioned, but their share is low and batteries are easier to recycle than to disassemble.

In this case, the client should be also offered a battery, which can be recovered. If you want, you can give an additional discount of $10-30 to get a loyal customer in the future.

The brief list of what you need to do to have a business on batteries reconditioning

1. The step-by-step instructions.
2. Portable power bank.
3. Jump start kit, to jump-start a car using another car.
4. Multimeter to check a battery charge.
5. Sandpaper or metal brush to clean the terminals.
6. Distilled water if you have the electrolyte level lowered.
7. A hydrometer to check the electrolyte density.
8. Gloves.
9. Goggles.