FenderBender: March 2023

THREE SHOPS THAT SET THE STANDARD

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Matt Hudson Content Director

Todd Kortemeier Editor

Hanna Bubser Associate Editor

Leah Marxhausen Special Projects Editor

Drew Bryant Contributing Writer

Kimanzi Constable Contributing Writer

Tiffany Menefee Contributing Writer

Greg Lobsiger Contributing Writer

Lindsey Gainer Contributing Writer

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Jordan Beshears Steve’s Auto Body

Sheryl Driggers Universal Collision

Greg Lobsiger Loren’s Body Shop

John Magowan Ernie’s Auto Body

Stan Medina Certified Collision Works

ART AND PRODUCTION

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Mitch Bradford Art Director

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READ WHAT THE PROS READ

CELEBRATING SHOPS THAT WALK THE WALK

Our 2023 Best Workplaces honorees show loyalty to their employees through action.

EARLY IN MY CAREER I worked as a copy editor for a small publishing company. The work was less than enriching, but such are the entry-level opportunities for those of us who have chosen this field. Line-by-line proofreads of phone directories were not really my idea of a good time, but it was honest, if low-paying, work.

It was a weird little business. On Mondays, male employees were required to wear ties to work. This was a small, niche publisher in an office park. We didn’t entertain clients; we didn’t even have visitors. The ties were a show for nobody at all, I assume to satisfy the owner in some way about what sort of business he ran.

A quirky choice of dress code could be excused in a business that was otherwise rock solid. But at this company, employees by and large felt overworked, underappreciated and unhappy. The owner certainly had high expectations for his business. He just didn’t see investing in his employees as the way to get there.

The point is, I don’t think you can fake your way into being a great place to work. You can dress it up and talk it up but actions matter. The businesses we’ve selected as FenderBender Best Workplaces for 2023 all demonstrate with action how employees are the underpinning of a successful shop.

You’ll read about Lone Peak Collision, our small shop winner, where a small but dedicated group of seven employees work together as a team but also like a family. Our medium shop winner is Don’s Body Shop, where “Whiskey Fridays” are just one small way team members bond and blow off some steam. And finally there is our large shop winner, Dave’s Auto Body, where employees

receive whatever they need to make whatever kind of career they desire in collision repair.

Of course, in the rest of this month’s issue of FenderBender you’ll find more of the strategies and news you’ve come to count on. Maybe you’ll even pick up a tip or two to help land your shop a mention in our 2024 Best Workplaces awards. Thank you for your continued support of FenderBender.

TODD KORTEMEIER EDITOR tkortemeier@endeavorb2b.com

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CIF RAISES THOUSANDS AT 12TH-ANNUAL CHARITY EVENT

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF.—Taking something bad, a crash-induced piece of twisted metal, and making it into something beautiful is something the collision repair industry does every day.

So it’s fitting that an item transformed from scrap metal into jewelry was the first item up for auction in January at the 12th Annual Charity Event from the Collision Industry Foundation. That item, made from the wreckage of a Porsche 911 GT3, raised $400 for CIF, in addition to the thousands raised from attendance at the fundraiser at the Agua Caliente Casino in downtown Palm Springs.

A luxury trip to the 2023 Daytona 500 brought in thousands. Three additional prizes were distributed via raffle.

Attendees who didn’t take home a prize can enjoy the knowledge that they contributed to the mission of CIF, the charitable arm of the collision repair industry. Established in 2001, the foundation has been involved in numerous financial projects benefitting collision repair professionals. The 12th-annual charity fundraiser was held the night before the 2023 Collision Industry Conference in Palm Springs, held across the street at the downtown Hilton.

ANALYSIS

A TECHNICIAN-FOCUSED SHOP IN COLORADO

How one technician-turned-owner designed his shop and processes with employees in mind.

YOU HEAR IT FROM ANY INDUSTRY: How can management know what employees really need if they’ve never been in their shoes? At CARSTAR Fort Collins in Colorado, the employee perspective was considered from the first line on a blueprint for their new facility that opened nearly two years ago. That’s because owner Doug Kaltenberger designed the shop based on his 30 years of experience as a technician.

While not designed from the ground up for collision repair, the former granite storage facility provided just the blank slate necessary for Kaltenberger to craft the ideal shop. That means workstations with all the essentials a technician might need such as air hoses, inground lifts and specialty lighting. Kaltenberger has owned the business since 1989 but took the opportunity with his new space to finally build a shop the way he wanted it.

“One of the things Doug always said while he was building this was like, ‘At my age I don’t know why the hell I’m doing this, but it’s my dream so I’m going to do it,’” says General Manager Tylor Balistreri. “So it’s just so many little things that you don’t really think about unless you’ve, like, actually physically worked on cars.”

Balistreri describes the building as essentially one big box, with two garage doors on each side. That gave plenty of design freedom to craft the inside. Bays line the north and south side with a large aisle in the middle for vehicle flow. Curtains help separate areas to limit dust and noise and tools are placed so that techs never have to travel far to get what they need.

Just as important as the physical design of the space is the processes that utilize that space to maximum efficiency. It’s a process that’s been evolving under the entire history of Kaltenberger’s ownership, and the result is that CARSTAR Fort Collins reports cycle times two days faster than the average for shops in Colorado. Maintaining that process is one of the areas of expertise of Balistreri, whose first association with the shop was renting its customers cars as an employee of Enterprise. In making the jump to shop leadership, Balistreri did his share of self-education.

“I just kind of took it upon myself to utilize the same training that my technicians had, just so I knew what was going on myself,” says Balistreri. “I kind of always joke, like, I don’t know how to do the weld, but I definitely know where it should be welded and what that weld should look like.”

Balistreri credits resources from CARSTAR’s EDGE Performance Group (EPG) in which he was able to learn from other owners and tour facilities. Many of the shop’s pro-

cesses that Kaltenberger developed sprang from EPG and continue to guide the shop today. Summarized simply by Balistreri, everything in the shop has a place.

Color coordination is a big priority in the shop. Take a look at the back lot and every parking space is labeled. Balistreri gestures behind his desk to row after row of file folders of varying colors, green, orange, red, yellow and more. Green is for fast track jobs, orange for hail damage, red for large jobs and so forth.

“So there’s just so many visual cues around our shop to make sure that everyone knows exactly what’s going on just by looking at it at a glance,” says Balistreri.

The shop also uses mapping within its CCC software. The map takes a blueprint of the shop and allows anyone to track vehicles as they move through the repair process. Color comes in again to indicate whether a job is on track or falling behind.

One additional pop of color employees

see in the shop is flags on the vehicles to indicate the insurer. State Farm is one of the shop’s biggest customers. Red flags indicate State Farm vehicles so that managers have an immediate visual sense walking around the lot how many of those jobs are in waiting.

“There’s just so many different cues that we use to just be as efficient as possible in our shop,” Balistreri says.

While the shop’s processes have been de -

veloped and honed through years of Kaltenberger’s ownership, the business has also made use of CARSTAR’s “Five S System.” The five S’s are straightening, shining, systemizing, sustaining and supporting, but Balistreri summarizes it as a system of organizing and for ensuring that things stay organized. That’s the “sustaining” part that they take the most seriously, as the business already had a process worth keeping.

With the shop in sustain mode for so long, Kaltenberger is able to be in and out of the shop knowing that the process will keep things on track. When he comes in and something isn’t on track, it’s obvious right away and can be corrected. That makes everyone’s job easier.

“I’ve been in Doug’s shop for about five and a half years now, and we’ve been on the sustain side of things the entire time, which is really nice,” says Balistreri. “I just have to make sure things stay in place. It’s always kind of funny, because Doug’s kind of in and out. And so when he comes in, he’ll maybe see something that isn’t exactly where it should be … because he’s just been doing it for so long. He could just like walk through the shop and come back to me with five things that I need to go take a look at.”

No matter how strong a process is, it’s never self-sustaining. It takes effort from everyone involved and constant reminders to maintain. New employees are never sent off on their own without learning under another technician for at least a month. That’s so process becomes not just learned but second nature.

No process is ever perfect, either. That’s why shops like CARSTAR Fort Collins often elicit feedback from employees. They also learn from mistakes the employees make and work together to see if that was a one-time accident or a fault in the process. Any changes then involve the technicians who are going to be working within those processes.

“It’s not so much about, like, pointing fingers as much as it is about, like, identifying issues and solving them together,” says Balistreri. “Then it just changes the whole perspective on how you solve problems in your shop and get better.”

NUMBERS

CONSISTENCY IN LEADERSHIP

WHEN YOU HAVE A FENDERBENDER BEST WORKPLACE , it’s no wonder that you also have tenured employees, and that’s the case for the three shops you’ll read about in this year’s Best Workplaces issue. Consistency in who is setting the tone for the workplace is important too. And the results of the 2022 FenderBender Industry Survey show that when it comes to shop leadership, employees have decades of experience to draw on.

Years of experience in collision repair as reported by percentage of survey respondents

1-9: 8% 10-19: 11% 20-29: 22% 30-39: 28% 40+: 31%

THE BIGGEST CIC EVER

B y TODD KORTEMEIER

Photos by TODD KORTEMEIER

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF.—Shortly after “The Star-Spangled Banner” concluded on the morning of Jan. 19 inside the Hilton ballroom, Frank Terlep was really feeling the excitement as he presided over his first Collision Industry Conference as chairman.

“I feel like the starting pitcher on Opening Day,” said Terlep, to a packed room full of applause.

Just as a team’s ace sets the tone for the rest of the game, Terlep charted an energetic course for the first CIC of 2023. This one was a little bit more significant than most, not only for the start of Terlep’s chairmanship but for the 40th anniversary of CIC. And, as CIC Admin Jordan Hendler said, the attendance for this year’s event was the biggest in CIC history. One needed just glance around the Hilton ballroom to see nearly every square inch was covered in chairs, all of them filled.

It was fitting, then, that in a year that will be about celebrating the CIC legacy that the day began by looking back. CIC founding chairman Al Estorga was in attendance, and his fellow past chair Jeff Hendler relayed a story about how it was that CIC began. Estorga had traveled quite a distance to attend a national conference and ask a question about an industry issue. But Estorga was rebuffed by the moderator that day and told it was neither the time nor the place.

“And he kept saying,” Hendler recalled, “we have to have a room where it’s always the right time and the right place to discuss issues for the collision repair industry.

That was the founding of CRC—Collision Repair Conference, which later became Collision Industry Conference.“

From looking back Terlep then looked forward in his opening remarks, laying out his top 10 issues he sees having the biggest effect on collision repair in 2023. Alongside consolidation not slowing down, OEMs having a greater influence and more, there of course was the employee shortage. And that was a focus of two of the sessions later in the day.

First up was Dave Leuhr, outlining what shops can do to be an employer of choice in their market. Leuhr outlined five things employees ask themselves when considering an employer. They are:

• Does the work I do matter?

• Do I matter?

• How am I performing?

• Am I alone or a part of a team?

• Will this company help me reach my career goals?

By examining these questions, Leuhr said, employers can began to craft the kind of business and the kind of culture that appeals to today’s employees.

“I don’t believe we have a shortage of talent,” Leuhr said. “Oh, no. But I do think we have a shortage of great places for them to work.”

Other perspectives were on display as well. Attendees learned about the novel approach of Newgate School in Minneapolis, where students are trained for free working on donated cars. When they’re ready, they

can move on to an entry-level position in a real shop and continue honing their skills.

Twin Cities-based Darrell Amberson of LaMettry’s has established a working relationship with the school and employs several Newgate graduates.

“For the most part, the students that are applying there, they really see the value in a free school and see the direct path to getting a good job. And they’re ready to work,” said Newgate Operations Manager Todd Grothe.

Other sessions of the day focused on telematics, legal issues facing shops, emerging technologies and more. The day concluded with the CIC gala as attendees got some valuable time to relax and network. The next CIC event is scheduled for April in Richmond, Virginia, and based on the attendance in Palm Springs, interested attendees were advised to book early.

1. THE PALM SPRINGS HILTON WAS bursting at the seams with attendees at the biggest CIC ever.

2. NEW CIC CHAIRMAN Frank Terlep delivers some opening remarks.

3. THREE COLLISION REPAIR students from Oregon receive tools through the March Taylor Memorial Fund.

4. SEATS WERE also in short supply at the SCRS board meeting, held the day before CIC.

GUSTAFSON BROTHERS

B y TODD KORTEMEIER

Photos by JULIET PEEL PHOTOGRAPHY

LOCATION: HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA

OWNER: JOHN GUSTAFSON

SIZE: 10,000 SQUARE FEET

STAFF: 22

AVERAGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT: 170

AVERAGE REPAIR ORDER: $3,000

ANNUAL REVENUE: $6 MILLION

Submit Your Shop

Proud of your shop and want to show it off to your peers? Tell us about it at SUBMISSIONS@10MISSIONS.COM

1. A SHOP FOR ALL NEEDS

The genesis of Gustafson Brothers in Huntington Beach, California, was a love for cars and a need in the marketplace. John Gustafson started the business with his brother Frank right out of high school in 1971. They were simply “the neighborhood fix-it guys,” John says, and worked primarily on aircooled Volkswagens, a representative vehicle of car-crazy Southern California in the 1970s. Situated just a short drive from the beach, Gustafson Brothers maintains that California feeling with a landscaped

area out front featuring palm trees, which the customer lounge looks out onto. The business end of things is right around the corner with multiple bays opening out into the lot. The shop was mechanical only at first but eventually added collision repair, and now offers a myriad of automotive services for customers.

“All the expansion, everything we’ve done has been to meet demand from the customer, current customer needs,” says Gustafson.

2. GROWING THEIR OWN

The shop experienced solid growth and success in its first 30-plus years of business. But starting in roughly 2005, Gustafson says, technicians were getting increasingly scarce, and the business had to start looking at ways to keep growing through that. Despite the arrival of the 2008 economic recession, the business had enough cash to build a new 5,000-squarefoot space for two purposes.

One use for the space was as a collision parts warehouse. The other use was as a training facility, where prospective technicians get to learn from a certified instructor. They eventually get placed with a journeyman tech to get hands-on experience with live customer work.

“We hire people that are either interested in the trade, show definite interest, or somebody that’s in the trade that isn’t moving up,” says Gustafson. “And we bring them into the training center and give them like 90% hands-on and 10% classroom and we’re building the bench for the next generation of technicians.”

3. STATE OF THE ART

The training facility gives students everything they need to learn their trade. A new installation as of late 2022 was a 100inch monitor for audio/visual displays.

“Instead of a just a TV with a PowerPoint on it, it’ll be a 100-inch display with a super, super clear, super bright 4K resolution,” says Gustafson. “And we think that’ll be something they’ll talk about, like, ‘Man in our school, we got this big display.’”

Students also get access to all the electronic tools for scanning and so forth to help them not just learn to “fix metal,” in Gustafson’s words, but learn “to heal the damage to heal the car.”

Knowing Your Breakeven From Your

Owner’s

Breakeven

A little math can reveal difference makers in your bottom line

Last month I wrote about the importance of having thoroughly written repair plans to raise our gross profit (GP). Some owners even invest in online training/coaching for better estimating, negotiating skills, collecting copays, etc. I have seen some of these folks even raise their average estimate to the $8,000-plus range. Will this strategy guarantee high net profits? Unfortunately, no.

There are two crucial metrics that every business owner must understand. The first one is called their “breakeven” and the second one is their “owner’s breakeven.” When I ask shop owners if they know their breakeven, many respond with a false confidence of, “Yes, I do.” Then with further questioning, I find out they are really at a loss.

Let me try and explain by using an example shop that generates, say, $2.5 million per year in gross sales and has a yearly overhead cost of 35% or $875,000. The overhead costs equal all fixed & semi-fixed expenses (administrative payroll & payroll taxes, estimating systems, utilities, vacation pay, property taxes, phone bills, accounting fees, etc.). Overhead costs in this shop per month would be $875,000/12 months = $72,917 per month. This number is one of two numbers we need to figure out the breakeven. The next number we need is the gross profit and let’s say this example shop is at 45% GP. We take the monthly overhead expenses of $72,917/.45 (GP) = $162,038. This means that this example shop must produce at least $162,038 in gross sales every month just to get back to zero or break even.

Now the owner of this example shop might say, “That’s great Greg, but I want to make a 15% or $375,000 net profit at year end.” Well, we are now going to figure what is called the “owner’s breakeven.” There are only three numbers we need for this formula: Monthly overhead expenses, $72,917; Monthly desired net profit ($375,000/12 months), $31,250; Gross profit, 45%. Now, here is that math: $72,917 + $31,250 = $104,167, the new monthly expenses which includes the owner’s desired net profit. Now we take the new monthly expenses figure of $104,167/.45 GP = $231,482, the owner’s monthly breakeven.

Some of you may be saying, “Greg, with all this math you are making my head hurt!” Yes, it took me a bit too, but to the owners who are reading you must understand this, as so few do! Understanding this is the keys to the kingdom. In this shop’s example, they must produce $231,482 per month in gross sales to produce a $375,000 net profit by year end at their current 45% GP and overhead cost. If you are keeping up with me so far, just think about this one. If we can get better estimate training, higher total loss charges, demand higher labor rates, parts discounts, etc., and now raise our GP to, say, 47%, bingo! This shop can fix one or two less cars per month and still have the same net profit. Here’s that math: New breakeven of $104,167/.47 = $221,632 per month necessary gross sales. Let’s say this shop can really hit it out of the park with an average 50% GP. Here is that math: $104,167/.50 = $208,334. This is crazy stuff if you think about it. Just by going from a 45% GP to a 50% GP, this example shop can fix ($231,482–$208,334 = -$23,148) three or four fewer cars per month and still make the same net profit!

If we can consistently hit our breakeven by working day 13 to 14 of every month, for the remaining seven or eight working days left in each month we are at a zero overhead cost. So, what does this mean, you ask? Well, here is the flip side: Let’s say an insurer has a junk used hood on an estimate and it will take four days to get. We contact the vehicle owner, and the used hood is just fine with them. We contact the dealer and we can have a new hood in the a.m., but it will cost our shop $250 extra in the end. We are confident if we eat the $250 for the new vs used hood, we can get this extra car out by month end. Was this a good business decision? Some may be saying, “That is just dumb!” But let’s do the math to see: Say this job is $5,000 x 45% GP = $2,250 GP. We just lost $250 for a new hood over a used hood. $2,250 - $250 = $2,000. By losing $250 on the new hood to get the car out by month end, I just sent $2,000 more to the bottom line of our profit and loss statement in net profit by month end. Hopefully, your wheels are turning by now!

GREG LOBSIGER

Greg Lobsiger has owned Loren’s Body Shop in Bluffton, Indiana, for over 23 years. He has been a member of Mike Anderson’s groups for ten years and had extensive lean manufacturing training.

EMAIL: greg@lorensbodyshop.com

ARCHIVE: fenderbender.com/lobsiger

FENDERBENDER

2023 BEST WORKPLACES

WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES A GREAT WORKPLACE?

It is a simple question with no easy answer. And everyone has their own definition. We here at FenderBender heard many of them as we pored over the extensive and impressive list of this year’s nominees. Selecting winners for these awards is never easy—there are so many shops out there doing great work for their employees and those cases were made, persuasively and passionately. We wish we had the space to bring you every story, as there is something noteworthy about what every shop is doing to care for its employees and their careers. It’s not easy out there right now. Shops are struggling to find the employees they need and fighting to keep the great ones they have. The fact that the three shops you’ll read about in the following pages are being honored as 2023

FenderBender Best Workplaces is a testament to their success they’ve had in leadership, recruiting and retention.

If there is a single common thread in Best Workplaces nominees it’s that the shop treats its employees like family, and this year’s honorees certainly do that as well. From after-hours

socializing to team lunches to weekends spent bonding at the lake, shops offer all sorts of things to make for a family environment.

But Best Workplaces offer a lot more than just some feel-good perks like that. Best Workplaces aim to take care of the entire employee, not just their personal life but their professional life as well. They offer the best training opportunities so that collision repair becomes a lifelong career and not just a stop along the way among many jobs.

Employees help make a Best Workplace but leadership sets the standard. The shop owners of this year’s honored shops have taken steps to do what they can so that employees don’t have a reason to look for other opportunities. They boast employees who have been with their shop in some cases for decades, with many more on track to join them.

So, what makes a great workplace? It’s everything rolled into one. Take these examples not as a prescription, as not all shops have the same model for success, but as inspiration to what can be achieved when employees are at the center of everything a shop does.

WORKPLACES

LONE PEAK COLLISION

SMALL SHOP

There are special challenges to running a small collision repair operation. There isn’t an accounting department or a payroll specialist to assist. There isn’t as much time to stand back and view your operation from the 30,000-foot view when you’re in the middle of repairs each day.

Kendall Glines works this way in a crowded Salt Lake City market, where he can throw a stone and hit two or three operations that have those resources.

But Glines has spent most of his life in the business, and he’s steadily built a small operation with a stellar local reputation and a bright future. Glines is a common-sense, jack-ofall-trades type of shop owner.

“One of my old teachers said this life is common sense with a few tricks,” he says.

The shop, Lone Peak Collision in Midvale, Utah, is an operation that takes no shortcuts, participates in no DRPs and uses no aftermarket parts. Glines relies on a devotion to quality, both on the customer service side and when sticking up for payments by insurers.

That’s how Glines has been able to take care of his team and built a solid shop culture around quality, earning Lone Peak Collision a spot in the 2023 Best Workplaces Awards.

By MATT HUDSON

By SHEA CUTLER

SMALL SHOP, BIG BUSINESS

Glines first entered the industry at 12, when he was a shop sweep at an operation run by his neighbor and scout master. In high school, he was more drawn to the trades, and as he put it, “just started showing up” to repair shops.

Lone Peak Collision opened in 2011. Glines was ready to start his own business and found a facility that had been vacant for some time.

“Everything happens for a reason,” he says. “Our paint supplier salesman’s uncle had this shop, and it sat empty for about 18 months. He got wind that I was ready to branch out and do my own thing, and the pieces fell together.”

With training as a combination technician, Glines says he can perform repairs from start to finish, but he hasn’t stopped learning. That’s a great asset to have when you’re filling in for any role in the business.

Lone Peak has seven employees, three of whom are Glines, his wife, and his son. It has been especially fulfilling to see his son take an interest and join the work.

“My son is key. He's been with me since he was a little boy, being able to take him to work and teaching him,” he says. “He’s been here since the beginning, he would drive up after school.”

Today, his son works full time in the office.

Rounding out the Lone Peak team is a mixture of experienced technicians and two younger apprentices who show bright futures.

“To be as small as we are and do what we do, we have to work as a team,” Glines says. “We have one commissioned body man, and of

course myself, who does quite a bit. And an apprentice who’s a B+ tech, he’s my longest employee I’ve had.”

QUALITY WORK, QUALITY CULTURE

One interesting part of Lone Peak Collision is what’s missing from the list of costs.

“I've spent a total of $1,500 in advertising in 11 years,” Glines says. “I almost never advertise. I knew it was going to be more difficult to build a business this way, but the last five or six years it has been worth it.”

Lone Peak has relied on word of mouth, social media, and online reviews to advertise their quality, so the shop needs to let its work speak for itself. In part, Glines says he accomplishes this through a commitment to OE parts, and in turn, making sure they’re getting approvals and payments for the use of those parts.

Glines says he has purchased two of the same part, one OE and one aftermarket, and weighed them for an insurer to show that they aren’t “like kind and quality” in order to get paid.

“We’ve had to become very creative in getting OE parts approved, but it’s worth the effort for us as the reputation we’ve built in the area of getting a 100 percent quality factory repair,” he says.

That’s a big deal, because Glines is also a believer in making sure his small team gets competitive pay. Employees at Lone Peak also get paid holidays, vendor training, and an informal agreement on time off when family emergencies arise.

“Family comes first,” he says. “If my guys have a family issue, they drop whatever they’re doing and take care of family.”

Photography

MORE THAN LUNCH

It sounds like a small perk, but Lone Peak Collision employees get their lunch provided daily. Sometimes it’s takeout, but often it’s Glines cooking on a camp cook setup at the shop.

There is, of course, a cost that piles up when providing lunch for seven people each day. But the benefits have been huge, Glines says. It’s a chance for a built-in break that everyone in the shop takes together, making a plan for the afternoon and getting to know one another. It formalizes culture-building.

“Sit around and lunch and talk about successes and problems throughout the morning and kind of plan the afternoon,” Glines says. “Nobody is taking a two-hour lunch. The camaraderie is good, and it helps build the team on a daily basis.”

There’s something that the larger shops don’t have—a full-staff “sit around” lunch session. That’s a strong developer of culture.

Big or small, Glines says that it’s important for shop owners to demonstrate their worth—both to customers and insurers. Sticking up for the quality of work is a good rule of thumb, but it’s also the way that smaller shops like Lone Peak are able to provide for their teams.

“You’ve got to stand your ground. You have to get paid for what you do, and that means everything,” Glines says. “The answer is always no unless you ask. We ask for every single operation—everything we do, we get paid for. And that’s the key. That's how we’re able to do the quality of work that we do.”

LONE PEAK COLLISION

OWNER/OPERATOR: KENDALL GLINES

LOCATION: MIDVALE, UT

STAFF SIZE: 7

SHOP SIZE: 6,100 SQUARE FEET

AVERAGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT: 45

TOTAL ANNUAL REVENUE: $1.4 MILLION

2023 BEST WORKPLACES

DON’S BODY SHOP

MEDIUM SHOP

Don’s Body Shop closes at 5:30 p.m. on Fridays, but you wouldn’t be able to tell if you stepped into the shop.

At the conclusion of most weeks, you can find a large group of the shop’s 16 employees still there. The wrenches, paint guns and tablets are put away—and the whiskey is out.

It started with just two employees looking to unwind after a stressful week and has since blossomed into a near company-wide routine.

“Whiskey Fridays,” they call it. Employees rotate bringing in a bottle and the crew does a tasting after the shop closes. It’s a time to decompress after the week and talk about work, life and everything in between. Normally the group hangs around for about an hour.

“It’s not a shop that everyone races away from on Friday,” coowner Grant Sunday says. “And I’m not a whiskey guy, but I’m absolutely part of their team. It’s really enjoyable time.”

That event captures the essence of what Sunday and his wife and co-owner Shannon have tried to build the shop’s culture to be: A laidback, family-type environment that prioritizes work when it’s necessary but is intentional about cultivating and fostering relationships among the team. It’s what earned them a place among FenderBender’s 2023 Best Workplaces.

By PAUL HODOWANIC Photography By KEVIN ASHLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

UPDATING AND MAINTAINING

Grant Sunday has worked inside the walls of the 10,000-square-foot facility in Olathe, Kansas, since right around the turn of the century. Sunday spent about 10 years as a technician at the shop before he bought it from the original owner in 2010.

His goal? Maintain the family-style culture that the original owner put in place, but re-prioritize investing back into the shop and its employees.

“When I first started, it was old fashioned, good old boy, no formal plans or goals,” says Jay Stone, an estimator, who has worked in the shop for 11 years and joined right as Sunday was taking full control of the shop. “They’ve taken it into a new direction. We have yearly goals that three of us sit down and talk about. The amount of things they’ve put back into the shop, whether it’s tools or certifications, is great.”

It was something that wasn’t at the top of the previous owners' to-do lists and something Sunday wanted for himself when he was a technician and now wanted to provide for his employees. But it took time.

The first three years of owning the shop were “extremely difficult,” Sunday says. Much of the existing staff turned over and he was tasked with retooling his team without much experience. Sticking to the appeal of a laid-back atmosphere, he was able to build the employee base back up and slowly but surely invest back into the facility. The shop went from doing about $1.5 million in sales in his first year to $3 million by the end of the third year.

Sunday credits the culture and the shop’s upgraded equipment for helping them get through their latest trials and tribulations. COVID has inflated prices and employee costs and strained parts supplies which has put almost every independent shop in a pinch. On top of that, some of the national MSOs entered the Kansas City market right as the pandemic hit. Gerber, Crash Champions and Caliber are all competitors in the larger metro market.

That has required the Sundays to be more diligent about what they pay. Grant says they check pay rates for the surrounding shops about every six months to make sure they are still competitive. If they’re falling behind, they bump up the rates. The shop’s ultimate goal is to have the highestpaid employees in the market.

But what Sunday sees as an advantage for the shop, and something that hasn’t changed, is how the culture can attract.

“The way we treat people has never changed,” he says. “We’ve always taken good care of employees.”

LITTLE THINGS GO A LONG WAY

Employees at Don’s Body Shop receive a range of benefits, but it’s taken time for the Sundays to build that arsenal. As the shop went through its growing pains in the initial years under their ownership, they couldn’t offer everything all at once.

“We really did what was financially within our constraints,” Grant said. “Anytime we could add something we did.”

“You need to be in tune with your numbers,” says Shannon, who handles most of the back-ofthe-house work.

After working at the shop for three years, an employee will have 100% of his or her health insurance covered. The team gets yearly Christmas bonuses and Grant and Shannon host different events throughout the year for employees. After 10 years, the shop will foot the bill for an all-expenses-paid long weekend to the destination of the employee’s choice.

But the standard benefits are not what get employees’ attention.

“People are grateful for the benefits, but it’s the small things,” says Stone, who has taken on a managerial role in the shop. “They’ll cater in shop lunch or breakfast. In the summer we’ll close early and have a lake day. Those go further than the benefits.”

Stone has worked at the shop for 11 years. He’s one of the longesttenured employees in the shop, which has an average tenure of about 4.5 years. Those small things are part of the reason he thinks people continue to stay at the shop.

Most employees don’t think about their health benefits daily, Stone said. It’s not as tangible. The small, reoccurring acts that constantly reinforce Grant and Shannon’s commitment to the employees is what stands out.

It’s allowing things like music to be played in the back of the shop and the “Whiskey Fridays” that are a constant reminder employees can be themselves at work and can thrive.

“It’s really laid back, always with some sort of music going,” Stone says. “They’ll be joking and then they’ll put their heads down when they need to.”

It’s also the reinvestment into the employees. Grant sent the entire team to work with a leadership coach several years back.

“Some of them loved it, some were uncomfortable with it, but they’ve all done it, and it created a bond,” Grant says.

FROM THE GROUND UP

Grant’s hiring philosophy differs from most. Unless absolutely necessary, he tries to avoid hiring employees from other shops.

“I don’t hire people that are already in the industry,” he says. “We have an apprentice program. If we need help, that’s where we start.”

Grant estimates they take on a new apprentice about once a year. He works with them personally in the shop for the first month, then he assigns them to one of his more experienced techs. And to incentivize the tech to teach them, whatever profit the apprentice produces goes to that technician.

Trey Wadkins began in that program about nine years ago. He was 22. Now he’s one of the team’s top technicians.

“It helped me build my confidence and ability,” Wadkins says.

Some apprentices have turned into technicians, others estimators. It’s a core business tactic for Don’s Body Shop.

Only under extreme hiring pressures will Grant look for outside help. Grant acknowledges the strategy comes with pros and cons.

“I think it benefits us and hurts us. It benefits us in our culture and probably the reason we’ve had a lot of longterm techs,” Grant says. “But the reality is we’re not going to be as profitable.”

It’s a reality he’s happy to live in as he focuses on the long-term growth of the company. It further emphasizes the investment the shop is making in its employees and in turn the investment that many employees have made in staying with the shop.

Grant also feels it’s part of a larger responsibility to the industry. He is on the advisory committee for the Olathe Advanced Technical Center and the KCKCC-TEC Auto Collision Repair Department. Shannon is a member of the Women’s Industry Network and attends the annual conference to connect with women in the collision repair industry.

“We’re looking to better the industry,” Grant says. “We try to help the problem, not be a part of it.”

DON’S BODY SHOP

OWNER/OPERATOR:

GRANT AND SHANNON SUNDAY

LOCATION: OLATHE, KS

STAFF SIZE: 16

SHOP SIZE: 10,000 SQUARE FEET

AVERAGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT: 72

ARO: $3,472

TOTAL ANNUAL REVENUE: $3 MILLION

DAVE’S AUTO BODY

LARGE SHOP

By TODD KORTEMEIER | Photography By STACIE HART PHOTOGRAPHY

A SHOP’S PURPOSE

The days of giving out a gold watch in exchange for decades of service to a company may be long dead—but the spirit lives on, at least at one western Illinois body shop. Instead of the permanence of a timepiece, sufficiently tenured employees of Dave’s Auto Body—and their families—receive a lifetime of memories in a once-in-a-lifetime vacation to Hawaii.

“And we send them first class,” says shop owner Dave Dunn. “I mean, it's not a rinky-dink trip. It's a real classy trip.”

The award is only proffered after 20 years, but such is the loyalty of Dave’s employees that 10 have earned the trip so far with another five getting theirs soon. The average employee has been at Dave’s 12 years, with most falling in the 10 to 20 range, a few over 20 and a “significant” number with 35 years or more. A waiting spot on a Hawaii beach is a good motivator, but it’s far from the sole reason employees stick around at Dave’s, and only one of many factors that make the shop one of FenderBender’s 2023 Best Workplaces.

Dunn is by admission a high school dropout, but he left school at 16 a straight “A” student, motivated only by striking out on his own. He found work at a body shop and by 19 had started one himself. At 29 he was able to bid goodbye to the day-to-day operations of the shop and never looked back.

People wanted to know how a high school dropout was able to be an absentee owner by the age of 30, so that led to him starting Masters Educational Services 27 years ago. Masters is the only permanent school dedicated to collision repair management and is located just up U.S. 150 from the shop, in historic downtown Galesburg. Dunn even wrote a book, “Liquid Amalgam,” a book of management techniques specifically for collision repair leaders.

Dunn says that even with all that success, the thing he’s most proud of is his shop’s record of employee retention. As an educator himself, Dunn places a value on giving his employees the skills they need to grow and thrive in the business and the industry as a whole. But as to why exactly that model has been so successful, that answer isn’t so easy.

“It's never a single thing,” says Dunn. “In other words, if you do this one thing, it's not guaranteed you're going to be successful. But if you do enough things right, you have a greater chance.”

Owning both a shop and an educational center means that Dunn naturally has all his employees taking coursework at

some point. Furthermore, employees who have customer-facing roles receive Dale Carnegie Training for professional development, which Dunn says he’s never seen not pay off. Then there’s technical training such as paintless dent repair instruction for every member of the metal shop.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Training is just part of the equation for Dave’s employees. Every three months, they have a review that is less about performance improvement and more about employees getting a chance to be heard with management. There are two things that are always discussed.

One is a review of the company’s core values, not just a test of the employee’s memory but an evaluation of how the employee put those values to use in their work. The other topic is compensation. Dunn asks employees how they feel about their level of salary in each one of these reviews so they get a chance to feel heard before it becomes an issue.

“I want to proactively discuss compensation, benefits, money with people,” says Dunn. “Because what normally happens in the workplace, the employee becomes dissatisfied. So they go out and they start checking around to see what's available out there. And when you finally talk about money with people, you're already in a crisis stage.”

Dave’s offers employee medical plans similar to other businesses of its size but offers other forms of benefits that make it stand out such as the Medical Assistance

Fund covering the employee and his or her family, pets included. An employee can incur up to $3,000 of those expenses and have half covered by the company.

There is a bonus point program where employees receive points simply for doing the things they’re supposed to do like arriving on time for their shift all week. Those points go into a pool and can be exchanged later on for paid time off or for cash value if an employee has an unexpected expense they need to take care of. That’s a win-win, says Dunn, because the shop doesn’t miss out on the productivity of the employee taking paid time off and the employee gets assistance when he or she needs it.

There are other fringe benefits as well. A little bit closer to home than the Hawaiian vacation is the property the shop owns north of town with hunting grounds and a fishing pond for the outdoorsy employees. There are also campgrounds and bonfire pits for families to enjoy.

CULTURAL MAINTENANCE

All these benefits and initiatives lead to what Dunn calls a “harmonious environment.”

While that in turn leads to a culture in which employees are inclined to stay for decades, there are of course times when new employees are needed. Dunn takes a proactive approach to recruiting, saying he does it 365 days a year even if he doesn’t actively need someone.

One of the perks customers of Dave’s receive is four free details a year for as long as they own their car. The always-busy detail shop has then become something of a training ground for new hires who aren’t already skilled in collision repair. It allows managers to evaluate their skills and abilities as well as their fit into the shop culture. That helps keep the shop’s high standards going as well as provide a career path for new employees.

“We feel like we have a growyour-own policy that we've had now for many years,” says Dunn. “And the detail department is kind of the starting point for that. And it does require some investment, and it requires some infrastructure to be able to do that. But we have a waiting line of people working for us.”

DAVE’S AUTO BODY

OWNER: DAVE DUNN

LOCATION: GALESBURG, IL

STAFF SIZE: 30 (23 FULL TIME, 3 PART TIME, 4 SEPARATE RETAIL/DETAIL EMPLOYEES)

AVERAGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT: 175-200

ARO: $3,000

TOTAL ANNUAL REVENUE: $7.2 MILLION

CRAFT THE PERFECT JOB AD

How job ads can make your shop look like the perfect fit for candidates

By MATT HUDSON

SHOP OWNERS LIKE to work with the best information at hand. The same is true for hiring—it’s best to work from the largest possible pool of qualified applicants.

The 2022 FenderBender Industry Survey showed that the biggest challenge facing collision repair today is a shortage of quali-

fied technicians, adding to the challenge of hiring. In a competitive environment, you want to grab applicants’ attention quickly and tell the story of your operation.

That’s where an effective job ad comes in. Chris Lawson of TechnicianFind says that when a candidate is scrolling a job site like Indeed, most of the ads are going to appear to have the same headline, introduction, and requirements. But he has some tips about how to make your ad stand out among the rest.

Set the Stage

Having the right mindset going into the job ad is the first step toward success, Lawson says. It’s less about making your shop seem awesome and more about making your shop seem awesome to the specific person you’re hiring.

“The mindset is that you care, and that you want your employees’ lives to work both inside and outside of the shop,” Lawson says. “If you can communicate that in an ad, it completely sets you apart.”

Similarly, you want your ad to target and uplift the job candidate through your shop. It shouldn’t make the technician feel like they’d be lucky to work for you. Rather, it’s about making them feel like they would be supported and successful at your shop.

“It completely changes the whole feel of an ad, and all the time we have people saying, ‘Wow that ad was so great,’” Lawson says.

Appealing to Success

Creating that appeal to the job candidate means that shop owners need to take a close look at what their shop culture offers employees.

Lawson suggests sitting down with key shop leaders and take a “culture audit.” In what ways do employees support one another? How does the shop back that up with its culture and programs?

It also helps to define a set of values for the company, whether you’re a family-centric organization, you have a strong regional identity, or that you have a community service spirit. Through this exercise, you might come away with some additional perks that aren’t on the standard benefit list.

“You’ll start thinking about things that you really didn’t think were a benefit that you can fit into the ad,” Lawson says.

Building the Ad

Attention is crucial currency in online spaces, and the job advertisement site is no different. You want candidates to spend their time on your ad.

Lawson invites shop owners to think about how people will browse ad listings. They skim headlines and click on a few, with their mouse pointers on the “back” button ready to browse the next listing. So it’s important to catch attention.

When someone does click on your ad, they’re going to skim it first. Lawson says that it’s important to tell a story through items that grab attention during that skim. Bold sections, bullet points, and dollar signs are sure to catch attention on that skim, and you want them to tell that culture story that you spent time and resources to create.

“If you can tell the story of your shop just by doing that in 10 seconds reading those items only, you’ve got a good ad,” Lawson says. “Those things will catch the eye.”

Once they’re hooked, the reader will go back to the top of the ad and read through.

What about pay and compensation? Lawson says that it’s a good idea to include this information in your ad, but there are several ways to do this.

First, it doesn’t need to be one number. It might be more helpful to show a range, with the top of the range being available to the most excellent candidates. But you have to be ready to demonstrate why someone might be eligible for that top salary number.

“What I always tell shops is if you feel comfortable having a conversation where you can show a technician how you get to that number, then let’s put that number in,” Lawson says.

Other job ads might include a range of what actual employees make at the company, with the top experienced technician making the most. That shows that there is a salary growth path for employees.

One final tip: Don’t be afraid to leave your mobile number in case a candidate wants to send an informal text.

“The call to action should include a mobile number,” Lawson says. “You can increase your responses by 20 to 30 percent, we’ve found, by including a mobile number and a name.”

HUMAN RESOURCES

TIME TO STRETCH OUT

Flex work schedules could boost shop productivity and employee morale

By NOAH BROWN

THE CONCEPT OF A flex work schedule isn’t new by any stretch of the imagination. Data from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that more than 27 percent of full-time, salaried employees in the country in 1997 had a schedule different than a typical 9 to 5.

As technology has gotten better and as the nation’s workforce has seen a major change in how it prioritizes family and other personal needs, the desire for a flexible schedule is growing.

Kurt Barks, CEO of Complete Auto Body and Repair in St. Louis, Missouri, says even the auto repair industry is starting to see the transition.

“We’ve learned that if you don’t dictate an exact start time and allow them to figure out on their own and do a little time managing, they manage themselves on their own and are a whole lot happier,” he says.

Even though the auto repair industry can’t offer what people might see as a typi-

cal flex work schedule—namely working from home—for obvious reasons, giving employees a little more freedom in their work hours could help boost productivity and morale in your shop.

Trust Your Employees

Barks says he understands that some shop owners might be hesitant to implement a system that allows employees to show up a little later than usual, arrive early and leave early, or otherwise work unusual hours, which could mean they’re working without a supervisor for part of their day.

Having that level of trust is key, though. It makes employees feel respected and trusted to do their job, which in turn provides motivation to do better work.

“It has to be that way. Our culture is built around providing a work environment that they want to come to,” Barks says. “They can feel comfortable not having a boss over their

shoulder micromanaging them. We give them enough free reign to be themselves and make decisions, and because of that they take a lot more pride in what they do.”

The most common type of flex work schedule in the auto repair industry is letting employees work a full day at unconventional hours; for example, an employee who has to make sure their kids are dropped off at school will work 8:45 to 5:45 instead of the typical 8 to 5.

Wendy Ott, co-owner of Autobody Concepts in Gainesville, Texas, has also had a flex work schedule in both of her shops for “quite a few years.” She says employees still put in a full week’s work even if they’re coming in a little later or are leaving a little early because they have family business to attend to.

“They’re happier at work because they’re happier at home, and that works out best for everybody,” Ott says. “If that works for them and they’re able to get their work done, we

want them to be happy here because we consider them family.”

Plan Ahead

Complete Auto Body and Repair has seven locations throughout the St. Louis metro area with nearly 200 employees across the business. Barks says the company implemented a flex work schedule about seven years ago, and in that time, they’ve been able to refine their approach into a successful scheduling system.

“Our technicians and office staff don’t necessarily make their own schedule,” he says, “but we can be as flexible as they need us to be as long as the work gets completed.”

Barks says his seven shops see about 700 cars during any given week. In order to handle that weekly intake, each shop is scheduling out appointments nearly two months in advance. That kind of advanced notice makes it a lot easier to plan out sched-

ules ahead of time and make sure that all the work is covered.

“A lot of it is pre-planning, a lot of communication with the team, knowing who can be where and when, and allowing them to manage themselves from a local level,” Barks says. “That allows them to understand the workload coming in and adjust their schedules accordingly.”

That level of planning can go beyond just the amount of cars coming into a shop, too. Ott says work in Texas summers can get dangerously hot—because of that, some of her employees choose to come in around 4 a.m. and leave at noon to avoid working during the hottest part of the day.

Like with Barks’ shops, Ott says it takes a lot of planning and communicating with employees to make sure that everything is covered.

“It makes it a little difficult, but they get their work done and they’re happier,” she says.

Have Patience

When Complete Auto Body implemented its flex scheduling seven years ago, it had two locations. Even at that point, Barks says it took some time to get it running smoothly.

“It took a good year and a half to two years to really understand what everyone’s needs were, and for us to realize that we could not manage it from a high level,” he says.

Each store has to have a certain level of autonomy and be able to manage its own schedule, he says.

“When we first started … it just wasn’t personalized enough. There were bumps, and customer service did drop, which is why we had to fix it,” Barks says. “That’s when we went in and localized it, and it’s turned out quite well. By empowering those local store managers or location managers, it became a whole lot easier.”

Since implementing flex scheduling, Complete Auto Body has expanded to seven stores and has seen turnover rates fall to around two percent.

“Flex schedule has a lot to do with that,” he says. “By having a culture and environment where you care for your team and don’t treat them like numbers … it truly keeps them energized.”

The transition isn’t necessarily easy, but Barks says if your shop can be patient enough to navigate the switch to a flex schedule, the results are well worth it.

“Don’t get discouraged,” he says. “It will have some bumps and bruises, but if you follow the process, it will ultimately come up with employee satisfaction and the customer experience being the best.”

NAVIGATING HIGH-STRESS COMMUNICATION

Slow down, prepare, and be a friend when the conversation requires it

By MATT HUDSON

WHETHER YOU’RE speaking to an angry customer, dealing with an insurer, or going over sensitive subjects with employees in the shop, it’s best not to jump into those conversations without preparation.

There are times when it’s necessary to face issues head on, and a tough conversation is needed. Don’t fret—an expert in the area of workplace communication has some key strategies so that you feel confident before jumping into that stressful talk.

The Backstory

The American Psychological Association, which regularly surveys Americans on their stress levels and stressors, identified top sources of stress in 2022 that most can relate to: rising costs of goods, supply chain issues, and global uncertainty. Before you even have that conversation at work, the other person might be pretty stressed already.

“I also think that some people just don’t handle stress very well, and I think in the United States, we seem to have a crisis of capability of managing our own stress, because we’ve all been stressed in so many different ways that our resiliency can be affected,” says Claudia St. John, president of Affinity HR Group.

St. John has worked with automotive shop owners for years as a human resources partner, and she knows how stressors can affect customers and employees in the shop setting. Approaching those conversations with care is the key to finding solutions that will take a bit of that stress away.

The Challenge

Most shop owners know when they’re getting into a stressful conversation, but why is that?

“How do we know that we’re in a situation that is charged?” St. John says. “Usually it’s a situation where the stakes matter, the outcome matters and where there’s a difference of opinion and a degree of uncertainty.”

When you have a disagreement with a colleague or need to address discipline

with a staff member, the key challenge is that you see a problem that needs to be addressed, and you hope to bring the other person closer to a solution.

The Solution

Often, it’s not necessary to jump right into a tough conversation, St. John says. You can have a preliminary chat about the tough conversation to set the stage and create some anticipation. This can help defuse some strong emotions that could happen when you catch someone off guard.

Once the setting is right, St. John has an acronym to get into the right headspace. It is FRIEND

First, F ind your due north. St. John says that the first preparation is to determine what outcomes you want from the conversation, and anticipate that it might involve some compromise.

“By finding your due north, it’s not really knowing the conversation has to result in this,” St. John says. “But what would you be willing to accept? At the end of the day, what would you be satisfied with?”

Second, R eady your emotions. Outcomes tend to be poor in stressful conversations when emotions cause one or both parties to act or speak rashly. Take a deep breath, take a walk and anticipate that you want to remain calm.

Next, I nspect your stories. By this, St. John means that you want to be openminded to how the other party perceives the situation. The stories you tell yourself about another person’s motivation might not prove true, and you might get a response

that you didn’t anticipate. You don’t need to avoid assumptions, but be ready to have them challenged or changed.

E stablish safety for the next step. This has to do with how you set up the conversation. Picking the right place and the right time helps to ensure that everyone involved knows what is happening and that no one is caught off guard.

Navigate their story. This is a reminder to offer the other party the chance to speak and to listen to their point of view.

“Really listen to what their interpretation is,” St. John says. “And be open to what their stories are and how they see a situation.”

Finally, D evelop and document. Finding an outcome doesn’t always mean coming to a finite conclusion or reaching a direct plan of action.

“Sometimes you’re developing an understanding,” St. John says. “We’re just going to continue to talk on this and work on this. In the case of an employee and supervisor, usually it’s not a one and done.”

The underlying goal is to bring both parties closer to the same understanding, and hopefully everyone will be on better footing going forward. Other times, there might be a final conclusion or action, and a well-executed conversation will leave everyone knowing why the action was taken.

The Aftermath

Even if an outcome isn’t positive for the other party, you can still forge a stronger relationship with a customer or co-worker by taking respectful steps toward high-stress conversation. The preparation and care taken shows that you respect the situation and the other person.

“The critical conversations can shift a relationship from conflict to building trust,” St. John says. “They can actually improve relationships.”

It’s not always easier with time, either. St. John says she’s seen new managers who are great in these stressful situations and longtime managers who handle those situa-

tions poorly. It’s more about the preparation and execution.

The Takeaway

The key to success in these fluid situations is to be aware of your assumptions and be open to understanding.

“A huge piece of this is emotional intelligence,” St. John says. “The first thing about emotional intelligence is self-awareness, recognizing that you’re in an emotional state and not going to engage.”

Once you’ve got a better handle on your emotions, it’s important to understand that it might not always be “my way or the highway.” Different people experience the same situations in different ways. St. John says that we aren’t always in the same boat. We might be in the same storm, but in different boats and in different areas of the storm.

“If there’s one takeaway that I would encourage readers to try to embrace, it’s to be empathetic,” she says. “Really try to anticipate what the other person is going through, seen or unseen.”

F.R.I.E.N.D

Claudia St. John, president of Affinity HR Group, offers this acronym to help prepare yourself for high-stress communication:

F —Find your due north

R—Ready your emotions

I —Inspect your stories

E —Establish safety

N —Navigate your story

D —Develop and document

ADAPT

THE ETYMOLOGY OF ADAS

How do you discuss a topic that goes by so many names?

By MARAYA KING

KELLY FUNKHOUSER, program manager for vehicle interface and head of connected and automated vehicles at Consumer Reports says trying to talk about advanced driver assistance systems across multiple automakers is nearly impossible at its current state.

Due to the ongoing confusion when it comes to naming conventions in the ADAS realm, Partners for Automated Vehicle Education has hosted a webinar that not only pointed out the lack of uniformity in naming conventions, but offered the industry’s first steppingstone for standardization.

Let’s say we’re making brownies, Funkhouser poses.

“You have your own recipe to make brownies and I have my own recipe. Mine might be different than yours, but eggs are eggs and sugar is sugar and there is no confusion on either end about this.”

When talking about ADAS, it is not nearly that simple because each OE has its own naming convention. What Funkhouser found is that even when technicians were using the same terminology, they meant two different things.

When it comes to baking brownies, even if the recipes differ, the final product is still the same—freshly baked brownies.

By standardizing the lexicon surrounding ADAS, the hope is that even though repairs may be done in a variety of ways, the

final product is still the same: an accurately fixed vehicle.

Greg Brannon, AAA’s director of automotive engineering and industry relations, says cruise control has 20 different names across the industry, despite being around since 1948.

“It is very easy for consumers to get confused, especially in higher levels of automation,” Brannon says.

It is precisely this lack of communication that could result in an ineffective, and potentially dangerous adjustment of your car’s ADAS capabilities. For the consumer, it is not only about being able to identify various parts of their vehicle, but also knowing how they should be functioning on a regular basis.

Kelly Nantel, vice president, communications and advocacy for the National Safety Council, says, “Uniform speech is the first step in helping the consumer understand how the technology works so they know how they can best use it.”

Brannon fears that car owners are unaware of the scope of features their vehicles have, let alone how to identify them.

“We cannot have these conversations if we don’t even know what we are talking about,” he laments. “If we cannot decide what to call these individualized systems, how do we ever work on them beyond that?”

Nantel says this is precisely the question that is driving the innovation.

“First we have to create a common narrative, then we can dive into how they are supposed to perform,” Nantel says. But creating a common narrative is easier said than done when working across a plethora of vendors, parts manufacturers, and automakers.

Unifying the Narrative

The first step is to normalize the diction, says Funkhouser.

“We want to describe these systems in a convenient way so that the customer can adopt it into their own vernacular and feel comfortable using it,” she says.

The hope is that as individual consumers begin adopting the narrative, more will follow.

Brannon also emphasizes the importance of adopting the terminology throughout your entire company. He says the power of individual organizations talking with the media and the industry in general, gets the ball rolling towards uniformization.

As of now, there is only a preliminary list of industry-wide terms but it could not have come sooner. Given today’s technological capabilities coupled with the rapidlyevolving industry, Funkhouser says there is no time to waste.

“Everything is moving so quickly and we do not have the luxury to wait for everyone to catch up, we all have to get on the same page as early as possible while we are developing the technology,” she says.

EDUCATION+TRAINING MAKE THE MOST OF TRAINING

Investing in training now can make an impact later

By NOAH BROWN

IT’S NO SECRET that the automotive aftermarket is getting more technologically advanced. On top of the body and mechanical repairs, technicians are now having to do computer programming and calibration, EV battery maintenance and a laundry list of other high-tech tasks.

In an industry where bottom lines are getting higher, employees are harder to find and customers are becoming more demanding, it can be easy to look for places to trim back costs.

While it may seem easy enough to skimp on training and provide only the bare minimum to employees to save money and time, Jason Scharton, global expertise delivery senior manager for 3M’s Automotive Aftermarket Division, says that ultimately hurts you, your shop and your employees.

“Training is not an extra cost—it should be considered a reinvestment into the health of the business. Facilities need to be maintained, equipment upgraded, processes optimized, and employees trained— all on a regular basis to keep a business running,” Scharton says. “To stop that reinvestment is a sure sign of business stagnation and decline.”

Training is an essential part of today’s aftermarket, and having a robust plan for your staff can help make your shop a destination for both customers and employees.

There Is No Option

There are numerous benefits to offering training to your employees, but beyond that, it also offers a certain level of protection for you and your shop.

With how advanced vehicles are becoming, Andrew Batenhorst, body shop manager at Pacific BMW Collision Center in Glendale, California, says making sure your techs know their stuff is critical to ensure repairs are done properly.

“There is no option. With the way that cars are manufactured and the tech that’s involved in fixing these vehicles, we have no choice,” Batenhorst says. “The liability is so great for us to cause physical harm to a customer by fixing their vehicle incorrectly, it leaves us with no choice. It’s mandatory.”

Robert Molina, CEO of Collision Care Xpress in Pompano Beach, Florida, adds that shops should be investing heavily in training in order to keep up with how quickly cars are evolving.

“It’s the pinnacle to success in our business. These vehicles are changing so rapidly, in order to stay on top of it, you should have a whole training department,” Molina says. “We wouldn’t be able to repair the vehicles that we’re repairing if we stayed stagnant. It’s critical to today’s growth and today’s market.

Make It Personal

It seems that every aftermarket association and OEM has their own sets of trainings and learning programs, which can get overwhelming quickly when developing a training plan for your employees.

Batenhorst says focusing on a specific employee and their position can be a good place to start. Look at the job descriptions you provide when hiring new employees. From there, come up with a list of what the tasks are of that position, and that can help guide you to the right decision of what trainings and classes should be prioritized.

Batenhorst comes up with a personalized training plan for every employee to make sure they’re only getting training that will help them grow in their position.

“It’s important that you’re not wasting your money and their time on irrelevant training,” he says.

Collision Care Xpress has nearly 25 certifications from OEMs, and with 80 employees, Molina says that provides an opportunity for techs to specialize and receive training for a select number of manufacturers.

“It’s almost impossible to have every single employee train on every single manufacturer,” he says.

Molina’s shop also offers different trainings for different positions, and there is designated space in the facility reserved specifically for training.

With how much training is available, Batenhorst says it’s crucial to have some way to track who’s receiving what training and when in your shop. Even a simple Excel or Google spreadsheet can help you stay on top of which employees will be out for training on any given day.

“The bigger the (shop), the easier it is for employees to get lost in the fray and the easier it is for things to get left behind,” Batenhorst says.

Virtual trainings have become much more prominent in the last couple of years, and though they are still very effective for

some things, Scharton says it’s important to remember most techs are kinesthetic learners, meaning they need hands-on training in order to most effectively retain that information.

“Even the widest availability of on-demand options will most likely not be enough,” Scharton says. “You will need to bite the bullet and invest in the time away from work that will allow them to attend the hands-on, faceto-face, instructor-led training they will need to truly advance their skills.”

Train Yourself First

Effective training starts in the manager’s office. Batenhorst says managers need to reimagine what their roles look like in order to get the most from their shop and their team. Instead of putting out fires all day by yourself, investing in your team and training them can help make your job much more streamlined.

“They need to take off the fireman’s hat. That’s limiting your ability to see what’s going on in your shop,” Batenhorst says. “Once you are able to step out of that and having good processes in your shop and the right people on your team, you can begin to focus on developing the team and creating these training plans and investing in them.”

One key area where managers can improve, Batenhorst says, is in how they view training in the first place. He notes that some managers might be apprehensive to train their employees for fear that they’ll find a better job elsewhere, which is a fundamentally flawed way to view training and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“If you train them well and you treat them well, there’s no reason for them to leave. If you train them up but treat them poorly and you don’t show appreciation and keep them engaged and inspired, they’re going to go try to find that greener grass,” Batenhorst says. “I hope that people begin to realize that the old way of doing things doesn’t really work anymore.”

Making the investment in your employees shows a commitment to them, to your shop and to your customers.

“It’s not optional. It’s the minimum standard of what a shop should be doing,” Batenhorst says. “The cost of not training is far worse than a momentary dip in your production.”

And if that’s not enough motivation, Scharton says the alternative can be solid motivation, too.

“What if you don’t train them enough and they stay?”

CTR® 9 - CAR-O-LINER

Car-O-Liner CTR®9 Turns Tech Care into Smart Business

The CTR9 Resistance Spot Welder is known for its techniciancentric and industry-leading features often sought by OEMcertified programs. When it comes to broadly flexible automated welding, it doesn’t get better than the CTR9. Features include but are not limited to:

• Powerful 16,000 AMP

• Auto-detects metal type and thickness – no technician input needed

• Designed to weld through structural adhesive

• Ultra-Lightweight transformer “C” gun and “C” arms

• Unique 355° quick release swivel handle - rotates independently from the C-Arm rotation

Always Innovating.

In addition to a software upgrade that automatically sets parameters for welding through multiple grades of steel and adhesives, Car-O-Liner now offers accessory kits that take welding to a new level of efficiency. Kits include hooks, shelves, and rubber insulators for the C-ARM.

Shelves

• Three shelves with rubber mats

• Increased working storage

• High sides for security

• Height and swing adjustments

Hooks

• Four hooks – 2 vertical/2 horizontal

• Keep cooling and power line supply in place

• Easy “slide & clip” design

CCC I-CAR Expands ADAS Training Resources

As of September 2022, virtually all new vehicles are equipped with at least one ADAS safety feature. As this technology emerges, I-CAR is pulling together industry leaders to prepare collision repair professionals with the education and resources to support quality repairs and to get drivers safely back on the road.

The latest resources for anyone from a novice technician to an industry veteran are available at I-CAR.com/ADAS. View webinars, online training courses, and up-to-date trends and news related to ADAS technology to help automotive professionals understand how these systems work. Proper understanding

and the right tools and resources are critical to returning a vehicle to pre-accident condition.

Visitors to the site can also access a two-part industry roundtable where experts share their experiences, advice for where to start in ADAS education, and plans for what’s next.

Get the latest ADAS information at I-CAR.com/ADAS.

GAS-CATALYTIC, INFRARED CURING IS NOW PORTABLE

The new US Autocure Talon is a portable infrared incorporating the same unique emitters as larger, in-booth US Autocure systems.

The new Talon’s gas-catalytic, medium-wave IR emitters are the most efficient on the market, allowing you to reach curing temperatures faster and hotter than other systems. This impacts the time it takes to cure, but also benefits overall finish quality.

The Talon is controlled through a very simple user interface and utilizes patented infrared emitters with the ability to articulate. Emitter articulation allows for a far greater degree of flexibility than other IR systems. The system utilizes 2 standard propane tanks that should yield approximately 50 hours of curing.

The Talon is designed for a standard 15-minute cure time. This can be shortened or lengthened by altering the unit’s distance from the substrate and time of exposure. The emitters move up and down and can be tilted approx. 90°degrees forward and back to cure both the side as well as the top of hoods, trunk decks, etc.

Ideal for use outside of the paint booth, the Talon has a wide range of applications. For example, the system is perfect for spot repairs or curing individual components and small parts in the

prep area or where no furnace is available. It is extremely wellsuited for fiberglass repair. Seam sealers, panel bond, aluminum repair, plastic welding, and removing adhesives, decals/wraps, or clear chip guard are also great applications for the Talon.

For more information, visit www.usautocure.com/talon.

FOR PERFECT PAINT FINISHES WITH A SLEEK LOOK

The SATAminijet 4400 B and SATAjet 1500 B special editions are available in black for a limited time

Jet black is a flattering style staple, and one of the top popular colors when choosing a car.

Yes, black has the power to command attention, it’s elegant, bold and confident. SATA took that bold confidence and created the jetBLACK special edition.

Both the SATAminijet 4400 B and SATAjet 1500 B SoLV, are as always designed to ensure a perfect finish with cost saving transfer efficiency but are now available in the new sleek jet black look for a limited time.

The SATAjet 1500 B SoLV is an excellent value spray gun designed for full system applications: solvent-based basecoats, either Low VOC or National Rule as well as spraying sealer and clearcoat. The nozzle system meets the demands for topcoat applications and delivers even material distribution throughout the entire spray pattern. The SATAjet 1500 B SoLV is very flexible, and useful when spraying everything from lower solids alkyd enamels, and commercial coatings to high solids acrylic urethanes.

The SATAminijet 4400 B is the perfect compact spray gun, great for large repairs to small detail work, especially in areas of difficult access. If you are trying to touch up a small scratch on the edge of a panel or just small stone chips in a blend area, the fan size is flexible and functional and is easy to adjust. With the special SR nozzle, it’s excellent for spot repairs on vehicles. The fan size and shape with the 1.2 SR nozzle size is also an excellent choice for spraying UV primer.

The jetBLACK special edition is available in limited quantities at your participating authorized SATA dealer. www.satausa.com • 800-533-8016

SHIFTING GEARS

By Steve Leal

Global recession may have hit several industry sectors but is the aftermarket industry immune? Steve Leal looks at the situation and recommends how shops can insulate themselves against any uncertainty arising from the disruptions.

For quite some time, the global aftermarket industry has been resilient to all that has been happening around the world. We have seen it all – the industry survived the twoyear pandemic, we continue to cope with staffing shortages, we are keeping up with the changing automotive technology, and, together, we have addressed all challenges for the greater good of the industry.

Even as we adjust to the “new normal”, the information coming out of media channels these days is not very encouraging. The world is headed into its worst recession, the supply chain disruptions have impacted the automotive industry, and global disruptions have affected the procurement of critical automotive parts. I am hoping that the devastating effects of all these challenges do not impact our industry significantly.

Almost all industry leaders who I have spoken to in recent times seem to agree that the industry will be able to survive the latest recessional trends. Historically speaking, the aftermarket industry is large, fragmented and recession-proof. I would like to share that optimism, except that I believe being prepared and nimble should be the mantra for all those who have a stake in the automotive and aftermarket business.

Though the situation is volatile and hard to predict, recessions are not new to our industry. They have a certain life cycle and typically take place once every eight or 10 years. During that time, the most robust businesses survive, while those who haven’t kept up with the changes around them get purged. We have witnessed

some industry mammoths downing their shutters during seemingly minor recessions, while new names thrive from unexpected opportunities.

In all this drama taking place, there may be some good news and bad for the aftermarket industry. In the past, whenever recession struck, customers increasingly choose the lower-cost option of repairing their current vehicles instead of buying new ones. As per current global trends, demand for new and used vehicles are high and wait periods are typically between 5 to 10 months, forcing consumers to hold on to their old vehicles for much longer than before. Such customers prefer to have their vehicles repaired and making them last longer.

While we are yet to see any major impact of recession on our industry, my advice to shops is to consider the recession as a temporary setback (just like we did for the pandemic) and be ready to modify your operations every time, to keep yourselves ahead of the curve. Here are my Top Five recommendations to insulate your business from the ongoing economic uncertainty.

Develop a “Playbook”: Many smart entrepreneurs begin by taking a real, hard look at their operations to identify near and immediate risks to their business. Their “Playbook” recognizes impending challenges and is flexible to fine-tuning and change as they go along. They determine what’s required for the business, implement cost-efficient operations, and look for longer-term gains. Remember – those important decisions you make during this critical time may make or break your company.

Consolidate your business: Shops are increasingly keen to put their customers back on the road in the quickest time possible. This means, they are always looking to consolidate associated aftermarket services –collision repair, glass repair and mechanical services –under one roof. Doing so

allows them better control over the repair process and prevention of unnecessary operational costs, time and effort.

Joining a franchise network: There has never been a better time to align your business with an established aftermarket franchise network. At Fix Network, we have many inspiring success stories of shop owners who have benefitted from being a part of our family. Joining a franchise network opens a world of advantages –your teams learn from the finest minds in international repair and customer service, you have access to insurance partnerships and parts manufacturers, you have established KPIs for business success, and your shop receives 24x7 marketing, operational and technical support from the network’s team.

Training and Certification: I will always be a lifelong advocate of continuous training and certification. During this time, when business is slow, it would be a good time to invest in training your teams to repair the most complex vehicles. As an example, at our training centres, I am witnessing a greater demand from our shops to learn how to service and repair electric vehicles. Certification gives customers the peace of mind that their vehicles are being looked after by trusted hands and are being repaired safely.

Not everyone likes too many disruptions but adapting and adjusting accordingly will go a long way to protect your business from conditions beyond our control. Fingers crossed, this too shall pass!

Steve Leal is the President & CEO of Fix Network World, the leading global automotive aftermarket services network which includes ProColor Collision. The family of brands spans more than 2,000 points of service internationally.

To Blend or Not to Blend, Who Pays Is The Question

An unpaid blend can be better than the risk of a repaint.

Bumper to fender. Bumper to quarter panel. Trunk to quarter panel. Hood to fender. At some point in your shop’s life, I am sure you have had to blend paint for all of these groupings of parts. I am also positive you have gotten paid for some of those blends and some of them you have not. I am equally positive you have also NOT blended and wished you had because it caused problems down the line. My question is, do you have set guidelines for your paint department of when to blend and not to blend, even if you are not going to get paid for it?

First, let me preface this by saying, we always test our mixes on a spray out card for every single item we paint. If you are not doing a spray out card, then you are just taking a crap shot hoping that the color looks good and personally I am not gambler.

My rule in the paint booth is if we are getting paid to blend the paint then we better be blending it. If we are not getting paid to blend and we do a spray out card a couple of times and the color just needs to be blended into adjacent panels, then we just go ahead and blend it. Also, sometimes the spray out card looks spot on and then you lay the color down and because of the flop it just looks a bit off, and in that case, we fix it right then and there and blend. Why? Because I don’t want to have to repaint that vehicle at a later date and waste more money and time and throw off my production schedule.

If you don’t see repaints as a waste of time and money and completely throwing off your production schedule, then we need to talk. If you’re thinking to yourself that you’ve never had to repaint something because it wasn’t right, then you are lying to yourself. So, how much money is it really costing you when you have to repaint something because you did not get the color correct, or you did not blend when you should have?

To figure that out, let’s do a very long mathematical word problem. Let’s take an example of a bumper where the insurance paid 2.3 hours at $65 an hour and $42 an hour for paint & supplies with no blend time. That gives you $246.10 to paint the bumper, not including any state taxes. Let’s assume you are making 30% on paint & supplies and you pay your painter $25 an hour on commission that would make your cost to paint that bumper $125.12,

making you $120.98. Out of that $120.98 you made you still have to take out a cut for all of your overhead costs of doing business. Let’s be generous and say all of your overhead costs come out to 25% of your budget each year. So we take 25% ($30) out of that $120.98 we just made on that bumper, giving us a true profit of $90.98 or almost 37% profit, not bad.

Now what happens if we have to repaint this bumper? Do we just double all of our costs to find our true profit or loss? If we did, instead of making $246.10 on the painting of the bumper and profiting $90.98 of that, we go to actually losing $55.86, an almost 23% loss. But we also have to account for what happened to our production schedule because of that repaint. Did we have to push any cars back? Did we have to cover a day of a rental vehicle for someone? Did we have to pay any employees overtime to stay late to catch up the production schedule? All of those items add up and cost you money and make that 23% loss much greater.

What would have been the profit if we blended the fenders? Let’s say it’s an hour blend on each fender. What is our true cost for that? Our cost on paint labor is going to be $50 (two hours at $25 an hour) and supplies $58.80 (two hours at $42 an hour minus 30% profit we make on it). Add that to the initial cost of painting the bumper, $125.12, and our new cost to paint the bumper is $183.92. We add in our overhead cost of $30, making our total cost $213.92. Now we were only paid $246.10, so when we blend the fenders, we only end up making about a 13% profit.

When we run into this scenario, we always take pictures of the vehicle being blended and we always go back to the insurance company and request to be paid on that blend. Sometimes they pay us and sometimes they don’t, but in the long run I would still rather take a 13% profit over a loss because we had to repaint something or the consequences of a negative review or a customer that won’t come back to us. It’s just how I see business. If you haven’t run the numbers for yourself or given thought to your stance on blending panels when it’s not paid for, then you should.

This is Your Brain on Processes

Brain chemistry and the way people learn all play a role in process implementation

Workflow processes are often taken for granted in the workplace. We go about our day-to-day tasks without considering how they came to be or why they exist. However, developing and implementing processes are essential elements of any successful team's performance. Consistent processes and protocols provide the structure and repeatable steps necessary for staff to work productively, allowing team members to stay on track with their goals/ tasks. To be effective, processes need to consider the unique needs of your team members and the everchanging environment in which they do their jobs.

In this column, we’ll explore how brain chemistry can impact productivity and how it is a valuable tool in designing an effective process that will increase your facility's ability to develop foundational policies and procedures without sacrificing employee wellbeing. It is critical, however, that any process must be adhered to with extraordinary discipline if it is going to be beneficial. If well-planned and properly executed, processes are your vessel to a consistent, repeatable, and predictable work environment.

Brain Chemistry and Workplace Processes

It's easier to think logically when it comes to office processes and creating schedules or plans, but how can we factor in the emotional aspects of the workplace? Now, I promise not to take you on a journey back to get your neuroscience degree, as it's imperative that your teams can really wrap their minds around this. Our brains are composed of several different areas broken down into sections that all communicate with one another for us to produce cognitive thought, emotions, fear, logic, emotions, fear, or logic. To simplify its processing for your team, it's generally accepted that the left side of our brain is associated with logical thought, while the right half helps connect emotion to action. We must help our teams understand the power of knowing when to use the proper side of their brains in decision-making in order to structure some logical order into these emotions. By studying this left-right combination, we can use the recorded written data alongside our ability to schedule an intentional time to understand why certain workplace processes are needed, why some might not be successful and to help offer insights into what could improve them for everyone involved.

Developing and Implementing Processes

Developing systematic workplace processes can be a daunting task. It is, however, essential to ensure that all employees are on the same page in terms of understanding and following company procedures.

It is crucial to consider the power of the individuals within our facilities to implement effective processes. This involves having routines that allow staff to use their right brains to dump day-to-day emotions, feedback and hurdles into a list, then set a specific time to review that list using the left brain to develop cognitive solutions to the list topics. These regular meetings should be held to reflect collaboratively with either team leads or departmental supervisors. Therefore, when your team leads review the list of dumped day-to-day information provided by your front-line team members, the room can logically decide if a list item is a valid concern that deserves to be the next candidate to focus on implementing a process around, or perhaps the list item was just some emotional reaction within that team member’s afternoon last week. Either way, the team members responsible for dumping their daily emotions on the list develop confidence that their word matters, they are being heard and they play a vital role in the company's future success. By incorporating these thought processes into your workplace routine, team members can make more informed decisions efficiently rather than responding through immediate emotion. Your team will acquire process development momentum faster than you can write them.

Improving Employee Engagement

In every business, big or small, we all face the challenge of discretionary engagement. This is the gap between the level of effort a team member puts in vs. their full potential in the workplace. To help close this challenging gap, we created a simple image to visually demonstrate the right brain vs. left brain strengths and weaknesses. We attached this image to each team member's desk as a constant reminder to dump their daily feedback into a digital list to contribute to our future meetings. Utilizing this visual reminder that their feedback is critical and that we expect something to be on their list before our next meeting demands accountability. Those not contributing stand out to the rest of the team and are generally motivated to provide their two cents when they see the progress within a neighboring department being made.

To summarize, processes only work when they are consistent, repeatable, and implemented with high levels of discipline. Helping your team understand that they are humans and, as humans, if we rely simply on our instinctive abilities, we will inevitably let each other down. However, with a little structure, organization, and regular follow-up, the secret to foundational process development and implementation is in the hands of your people.

DREW BRYANT has been the owner of DB Orlando Collision since August of 2011. A 20 Group leader, in-demand conference speaker and award-winning shop owner, Bryant takes a non-traditional approach to process implementation, lean process development, & overall operational experience while remaining dedicated to his staff’s personal and professional development.

EMAIL: drew@orlandocollision.com

ARCHIVE: fenderbender.com/bryant