Chris Pletcher is the Business Developer (and “Jack of all trades”) at Finger Lakes ReUse. I met him at the 2019 Build Reuse conference in Pittsburgh, PA and saw a presentation he gave about the metrics and data he uses at the reuse store to improve sales and manage expenses.

We had a lengthy discussion about the following topics:

* Chris’ background in solar, deconstruction and reuse* About Finger Lakes Reuse and what they accept and resell* How they track sales and inventory throughout their stores and locations* What key metrics (KPIs) he uses to decide how each store is doing* Decision tree on how he uses the data to make decisions about how to improve* Customer behavior with a reuse store based on inventory turns* How they use a 6 color pricing system for discounting items* Criteria for “culling” or removing items off the shelf to make room for new stuff, and where those items go* How he measures productivity* How they’re dealing with COVID and volunteers* New “dollar tree” reuse store they are opening soon and how they’re making new items more visible* Working with local college students* How they have learned to collaborate more closely in the community so all businesses thrive as a system

This podcast is almost 2 hours in length, but there is so much good content I didn’t want to take anything out. I also don’t like when podcasts are split into two episodes, so you’re getting it all at once.

Links

* Chris Pletcher* Email: [email protected]* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-pletcher-b706915b/* Finger Lakes Reuse @ IthacaReUse.org* Cascadia Alliance* Build Reuse* Read full show notes | Subscribe or rate this podcast

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