"We've got to make it count more” - Dan Robinson
A decade ago, Dan and Phil started to discuss a model they had been mulling over. Having recognised how poorly assets were managed when a business closed down or downsized, with many items ending up on the black market or going to landfill, Dan and Phil noticed that assets rarely travel through the correct channels to ensure customers receive the best possible return.
Phil recalls how dealing with contractors on a previous job for Tesco’s cemented the desire to make the system more transparent:
‘There's no love, no process there. I used to strip a lot of cafes out for Tesco’s, before we came along the contractor had no remit for what happened. The contractor just arranged, somehow for the contents of these kitchens to just disappear on the back of a van, into the marketplace somewhere.
It wasn't a traceable nor a professional route. So, we've always said that we could asset management better and be more organized and do it in a more efficient way. Um. We had been playing around with that idea for a while and eventually Resolve was set up a couple of years ago.’
As the business evolved, Dan furthered the model brining in an ethical angle to allow a percentage of their efforts to benefit the environment and others.
Dan shares his most poignant memory of those early days in the evolution of Resolve that, for him, epitomise the business models ethical side to him the most:
“A number of Burger King branches had been closed; we were tasked with the job of clearing them. The main assets of equipment have a financial value, usually you would stop there, park the equipment that was there and leave the building shell empty.
We noticed there was marble on the walls that needed removing, instead of just disposing of this we found people, we took the marble off carefully and people used it as kitchen worktops. We then went down to the basement which probably contained about 15 years’ worth of all the glassware, different children’s straws and toys, materials and boxes and packaging that had been discontinued.
At this time my wife was working for a scrap store, which is basically charity, but they work with things that children can utilise, mainly craft items. So, I linked the two together, and this is where the ethical asset idea came in.
We knew this was a really great cause and we had been contracted to clear everything at Burger King as waste. Rather than use the money on skips, I used that money for labour to transport it to the scrap store. Upon arrival it transpired they didn't have enough shelving for all the items, but they had been hoping to take it all.
Back at the almost empty Burger Kings, there was a small intrinsic value of empty shelving in the now cleared basement. So, as they were classed as unwanted waste, I repurposed the shelves and installed them at the Scrap Store for all of the items to be stored on. At this point that's where I realised, well actually these organisations need these assets.”
So, the real value to Dan and Phil is the percentage of the Business Model that allows them to repurpose assets to help others, as Dan states:
“We've got to get to work. We've got to make it count more”. When you do something good for someone else and have that positive feeling that you get that stays with you and you can recall it. You can go back to it and you think, do you know what, this feels really good!”
Dan and Phil are not motivated by financial gain, so long as they are able to provide for their families, they both feel that helping others is the real reward here, whilst ensuring that they are environmentally and ethically conscious, as Phil shares:
‘Regarding environmentally recycling, that would have, in the old days, been a costly and no benefits situation, but I think as more and more people are driving towards carbon-neutral, this is a better USP for us to be able to offer as a service” setting Resolve above the rest when it comes to asset management, letting clients know that their model allows something positive to come out of their negative situation.
To ensure that asset removal is traceable and to ensure clients get the best possible return Dan and Phil run online auctions, knowing that transparency is most imperative and achieves market value, a far cry from the previous experiences of black market dealings they had noticed over the years before Resolve began.
Dan and Phil always ensure that any redundant equipment is refurbished at a fraction of the cost that their clients would usually have to purchase brand new equipment at. So, if they cannot gift organisations in need equipment, they ensure that they source the items needed at the best possible price. They then maintain and ensure that if items require repairs, they carry that out for them too. A recent example of this was the recent donation of a fridge and freezer to the Hull4Heroes Charity as they supported vulnerable families during the current COVID-19 pandemic, with food parcels.
The current model Resolve use allows them to work with just a small number of corporate clients, delivering assets to those who require them the most and allowing room for growth as demand increases. Dan and Phil spend a large amount of time managing the process themselves to better understand how their model is evolving and to grasp firmly how the auction process can benefit everyone involved the most when dealing with organisations who require support. The Resolve team even deliver media packages to clients, giving those who are closing a business the positive media coverage of a donation or repurposing within the community they are leaving behind, recognising the power and value to charities and the business moving on when it comes to the media.
Dan and Phil both believe they are “on the tip” of their own model, they are currently trialling record keeping and working on a few other systems to further grow and improve it.
It is clear to see, as they self-proclaim, that their real driver is the “desire to do something better, with a clear conscience, to know that you are actually bringing some benefits to the world as opposed to just turning a dollar”.
