COVER STORY » Small Shop Survival
“We get lots of mileage out of dollars invested, facilitating group advertising and marketing.” — Jim Keller, president, 1Collision
ranging from marketing to Web presence to compliance. “We wanted to help independents see our vision of how to compete with MSOs, how consolidators do what they do and what a group of commonly branded shops can do to compete,” says Keller.
Fix Auto » “Through a network, shops implemented for consistency, paperwork, the customer service process and claims handling. “Our insurance marketing piece will demonstrate our network shops are compliant to SOPs,” says Keller. “Our brand means something. This includes meeting CIC’s Class A Standards. “Working with insurers is part of our growth strategy. We’ll be meeting with insurers regionally first, then nationally later. As we grow through the region, we’ll show our KPIs to insurers, confident that
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our performance will earn us some of their business. “We have a recruiter on board to reach out [to shops], one on one. We’re looking for shops with good insurance relationships, and we’ll reach out to them or them to us. We’ll grow our network with good performers, one at a time.” Keller recently hosted 1Collision’s first seminar titled, “Competing in 2013 and Beyond.” They brought in a veritable “who’s who” from the collision repair industry to cover topics
October 2012 | BodyShop Business
Circle 26 for Reader Service
gain access to resources they otherwise could never afford,” says Fix Auto CEO Erick Bickett. “We leverage the combined energy, capital and resources of disparate, highly fragmented pieces into a common delivery that will create more than the sum of its parts. “A small location, by itself, cannot compete with the consolidator model. They don’t have the scale necessary to have enough influence with suppliers and customers. Communicating with consumers, branding and advertising are still rarely used by independents.