Introduction
Maverick Field Services (MFS) is an oilfield service company that specializes in everything from transportation to dirt work to rental equipment. When a key member of the company decided to end his partnership and strategically wind down the business, AllSurplus helped maximize recovery through the utilization of multiple sales options and a personalized sales strategy.
Attentive Approach to Understanding the Client’s Needs
First, we met with MFS’s stakeholders to ensure there was a clear understanding of the entirety of their wants, needs, and expectations from the beginning of our partnership. This first meeting was essential in making sure we understood what their time frame was and the importance behind it.
After setting a clear path of communication with stakeholders, calls were set up with each of the lien holders, where we served as an advocate for our clients’ intentions and addressed any questions or concerns.
Challenge: Combating Economic Downturn and Creating Asset Valuation
Upon learning our client’s ultimate goal, AllSurplus produced a custom strategy and solution that addressed their concerns holistically. MFS had specific needs and roadblocks that made this case unique and challenging, including:
- Equipment located at multiple locations
- Auction market values lower than many assets payoffs
- Satisfying lenders’ time constraints
- Economic factors due to a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and Oil & Gas industry downturn
Strategic Alignment, Management and Planning
Knowing our challenges, we needed additional time with the lenders to be able to market the equipment in a manner that would result in the highest ROI – satisfying the #1 request by each partner and lien holder.
Inspection comes next and is a key part of the listing process, as it informs us if something is wrong with the assets. The value of the inspection is what allows bidders to bid with confidence, regardless of logistics. In this specific case, we managed the equipment inspections through a third party inspection service since the equipment was spread out over multiple states.
Each listing was reviewed by our AllSurplus team to ensure we had the best pictures to create compelling first impressions prior to posting online. We strategically put the pictures in an order that flows best to the buyer, checked each VIN to ensure correct information is on the listings, and made sure that any value-adding options were clearly indicated in the listings.
To drive pre-listing interest, we shopped the equipment around to known buyers two weeks before posting the listings at auction. By the third week, the listing goes live on the AllSurplus auction with a “Buy Now” button where those not interested in waiting for the auction to end can pay a premium to have the asset now. The Buy Now approach is implemented across all auction items as a way to mitigate clients’ risk and ultimately drive up higher returns.
Once the equipment was listed, our AllSurplus marketing team, along with our sister company Machinio, drove existing buyers and new buyers to the listings for maximum exposure. We used a multi-channel approach to expose our auctions to more people to generate interest. Our team leveraged our buyer behavioral analytics to drive sales through impactful email and phone communication.
Results: Higher Net Returns than at Market Value
With AllSurplus’s sales team actively promoting this package to all known contacts from the start, we found a buyer, negotiated a sales price, and sold $1.2m of the package prior to the remainder of the equipment going to auction.
These units sold at 15% higher than auction market value, allowing us to cover more than the liens for many of the assets, which satisfied the lending institutions and partners’ desires. Our sale strategy, combined with the Buy Now approach and auction format, resulted in a net return for MFS that was exponentially higher than auction market values.
Look for a Partner that Looks Out For You
AllSurplus partners with companies to increase overall return and control on the sale of their surplus assets. Our main goal is to provide a higher net return built around each individual clients’ needs, not our own.
We empower all our clients through every sale to help them maximize return. Are you losing money at auction with your current seller?