Don’t Mess with a Classic Lessons from Coca-Cola

By: Jake Nawrocki

One of the topics that is front and center as we enter the new year is AI. It is everywhere we look, and clear is here to stay. Should we rush to implement this into our business as much as possible? Should we reject it completely?

Does anyone remember the “cola wars?” Maybe I am dating myself, but at one time, it was hard to believe that two enormous companies (Coca-Cola and Pepsi) spent so much money and energy competing with each other that their marketing campaigns were enough to actually change an entire culture. If you were around for the 80s and 90s, you might remember it. Competition between the soft drink giants was fierce, and they tried anything and everything to beat each other for market share.  

At some point, Coca-Cola, which already enjoyed a much bigger slice of the market, decided to do the unthinkable: change its recipe. They tried to make it better.  

Coca-Cola famously changed its recipe with the disastrous launch of “New Coke” on April 23, 1985, a sweeter, smoother version that sparked massive consumer backlash, leading to the rapid reintroduction of the original formula as Coca-Cola Classic just 79 days later because people hated it.  

People didn’t necessarily dislike it because it was bad, but because the flavor they had enjoyed for almost a century had changed. Now I am sure that it seemed like a good idea at the time, but very quickly it became obvious that the time-tested recipe, the formula that had created the success they had achieved, had stood the test of time, and nobody wanted to see it change. 

I really wonder whether we, as auto recyclers, may face a similar situation. Not that we are so cutthroat that we would make desperate business decisions to one-up a competitor, but that we run the risk of changing the “recipe” that has brought us success in the name of progress or improvement. But I have been thinking a lot about this as we navigate advances in technology, changing consumer preferences, and changes in the political landscape that affect our business. Let’s take a minute to look at this.  

One of the topics that is front and center as we enter the new year is AI. It is everywhere we look, and clear is here to stay. Should we rush to implement this into our business as much as possible? Should we reject it completely? Is it going to be more complicated than it seems, or less? The answer is simple: I don’t know. Chances are, neither do you. Not many of us in this industry have ever let the unknown keep us from success yet, and we will not start now. 

There are companies that have tools for pricing and bidding on salvage. There are applications that will improve your inventory pictures, help you prioritize your tasks, and even answer your phones. The list seems to go on and on. Is this good?  

I am inclined to think it could be, if done well. The pros are the consistency that an automated process can provide, as well as the reliability we come to expect. (It is as good as our internet connection and hardware anyway.) The cons are that we may cause problems due to incorrect settings, incorrect data, and, most importantly, that if we become dependent on the technology, we will lose the “feel” for the business. Knowing something is off because you are in tune with your operation is vitally important.  

If you don’t believe that, think back to when you put a portion of your operation into the hands of a manager and then walked away for a year or more without ever checking how they were doing. I would be surprised if any of us has ever done that, and for good reasons. As leaders in our companies, that is our responsibility. I am concerned that if we become dependent on AI, we will lose that skill to a degree.  

There is also the socio-economic aspect. While we may use technology to improve customer service and profit margins, we do have to consider that we may be eliminating positions that could otherwise have supported families and our communities directly. Of course, the struggle to fill positions with the right people is the counter to that, but it should still be considered, I think. As business owners, we have a real privilege in what we can do for our communities. 

So, as we navigate all this, let’s make sure we don’t completely overhaul and end up doing something our customers hate or haven’t even asked for. 

Let’s not change the recipe if it has driven a large share of your market to you and made your customers love you.  

Don’t mess with that. On the other hand, maybe we can identify an ingredient in our “recipe” that is outdated, unnecessary, unsafe, or unhealthy. While we protect what has gotten us to where we are, let us also identify what could make us better by removing it or changing it.  

I am so grateful to be part of an industry that is always doing this, and I am grateful to all those in it who have helped me along the way. Let’s start the new year off working together to get even better!