FenderBender - June 2022

FENDERBENDER.COM / JUNE 2022

A MODERN

MENTALITY

Strategies & Inspiration for Collision Repair Success

UTILIZING PAST CAREER EXPERIENCES TO TRANSFORM A SHOP’S FUTURE

OVERCOMING MARKETING CHALLENGES

PAG E 30

PAG E 4 0

SHOULD YOU RENT OR OWN?

PAG E 36

BOGGS:

WORK YOUR CERTS

PAG E 50

A Fresh Perspective Kelly Huard’s experience in real estate and finance, coupled with her husband’s collision repair expertise, has resulted in a shop that’s running at the highest levels from front to back.

June 2022

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CONTENTS

0 6 . 2 2

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JUNE V O L U M E

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N U M B E R

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A Different Approach Kelly Huard, middle, made it a priority when she opened her own shop to have it mirror a “mom-andpop” business, yet have corporate support most single shops find difficult to secure.

FEATURE

PROFILE

24 TAKING CARE OF YOUR

30 FROM FINANCE TO FENDER BENDERS

MILLION DOLLAR BABY

A shop owner’s journey from real estate into the world of auto collision repair.

Once your repair shop has become a sales success, the real work has just begun.

BY CALEB BROOKS

BY STEVE BAUER

Printed in the U.S.A. COPYRIGHT ©2022 BY 10 Missions Media LLC. All rights reserved. FenderBender (ISSN 1937-7150) is published monthly by 10 Missions Media, LLC, 571 Snelling Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55104. FenderBender content may not be photocopied, reproduced or redistributed without the consent of the publisher. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTERS Send address changes to: FenderBender, 571 Snelling Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55104.

June 2022

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CONTENTS

JUNE

QUICK FIX

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10

PAST THE PAGE

The importance of production meetings

11

DRIVERS SEAT

Iron-clad paper protection

15

BREAKDOWN Setting future repair standards

17

NUMBERS

Who’s expanding services, utilizing mobile services?

19

LIGHT HITS

Service King close to reaching debt deal

20

SNAP SHOP

TNT Auto Body and Service Center

OEM wheels to you in 3 business days or less.

FIND US ON › CCC TRUE PARTS

› Mitchel

› OPSTrax

› APU Solutions

› Parts Trader

› Audatex

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OEM Wheel Solutions

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STRATEGY

34

COLUMNS

34

THE SOP

Build up before you bounce back

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FINANCE+OPERATIONS To rent or own?

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CASE STUDY

Collision repair’s greatest marketing challenge

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48

THE BIG IDEA

IN THE TRENCHES

BY K E VIN R AIN S

BY TIFFANY ME NE FE E

Why I’m giving up on ‘cramming’

39

PROCESS DRIVEN

Work your certs

BY RYAN CROPPE R

Put an end to free body supplies

50

OUTSIDE THE LINES

The power of making to-do lists

BY JASON BOGG S

43

ADAPT

The battle rages on

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SALES+MARKETING

The pros and cons of mobile repair services

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CONTENTS

ONLINE EXTRAS

CL ICK ON THE L OGO BEL OW F OR PRODUC T INF ORMATION Accudraft

Bosch

Industrial Finishes

ProColor Collision

AUTEL

Car-O-Liner

LKQ Corporation

SATA/Dan-Am Company

Axalta Coating Systems

Goliath Carts

Mitsubishi

Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes

Hunter Engineering

Polyvance

Spanesi Americas

Blackbur n OEM Whel Solutions

TechForce Foundation

June 2022

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EDITORIAL

Matt Hudson Content Director Steve Bauer Editor Noah Brown Senior Digital Editor Hanna Bubser Digital Reporter David Bellm Contributing Writer Jason Boggs Contributing Writer Caleb Brooks Contributing Writer Ryan Cropper Contributing Writer Zane Douglas Contributing Writer Tiffany Menefee Contributing Writer Mike Munzenrider Contributing Writer Kevin Rains Contributing Writer

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Jordan Beshears Steve’s Auto Body Sheryl Driggers Universal Collision Merry Green Precision Paint and Body Greg Lobsiger Loren’s Body Shop John Magowan Ernie’s Auto Body Stan Medina Certified Collision Works

READ WHAT THE PROS READ

ART AND PRODUCTION

Zach Pate Creative Services Director Jonathan Ricketts Art Director Olivia Curti Graphic Designer Morgan Glisczinski Graphic Designer Emme Osmonson Graphic Designer Lauren Coleman Production Artist

SALES

Chris Messer Vice President and Publisher 651.846.9462 / cmesser@10missions.com Andrew Johnson Associate Publisher 651.846.9459 / ajohnson@10missions.com Marianne Dyal Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 706.344.1388 / mdyal@10missions.com Chad Hjellming Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 651.846.9463 / chjellming@10missions.com Bob Marinez Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 216.533.8747 / bmarinez@10missions.com Martha Severson Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 651.846.9452 / mseverson@10missions.com Kyle Shaw Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 651.846.8480 / kshaw@10missions.com Dan Thornton Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 734.676.9135 / dthornton@10missions.com Sean Thornton Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 269.449.0257 / sthornton@10missions.com Kenzie Verschoor Associate Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 651.846.9472 / kverschoor@10missions.com Matt Harper Regional Sales Manager 651.846.9551 / mharper@10missions.com Melody Todd Senior Marketing Strategist (Regional Accounts) 651.846.9468 / mtodd@10missions.com Autumn Morey Customer Success Representative 651.846.9460 / amorey@10missions.com Jen George Client Service Specialist 651.846.9465 / jgeorge@10missions.com

10 MISSIONS MEDIA

Jay DeWitt President Mariah Straub General Manager and Production Manager Meghann Moore Bookkeeper and Client Service Specialist Kate Fahlen Event Producer Meghan Horan Community Development Associate Tiffany Fowler Senior Digital Media Strategist Karley Betzler Administrative Assistant

HOW TO RE ACH US

571 Snelling Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55104 tel 651.224.6207 fax 651.224.6212 web 10missions.com The annual subscription rate is $72 (U.S.A. only) for companies not qualified to receive complimentary copies of FenderBender.

BACK IS SUE S

LET TE RS TO THE E DITOR

“The opportunity to read about ways to improve your business from credible owners and manufacturers is priceless.”

ARTICLE RE PRINTS

—Stan Medina, Owner, Certified Collision Works, Corpus Christi, Texas

Past issue single copies are $8.

Go to fenderbender.com/backissues editor@fenderbender.com

For high-quality reprints or e-prints of articles in this issue call 651.846.9488 or email reprints@fenderbender.com.

Opinions expressed in FenderBender are not necessarily those of 10 Missions Media, and 10 Missions Media does not accept responsibility for advertising content.

T O S U B S C R I B E O R R E N E W AT FENDERBENDER.COM/SUBSCRIBE

AUTOMOTIVE GROUP

June 2022

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PA ST T H E PAGE

VIDEOS

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PODCASTS

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WEBINARS

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NEWS

THE IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCTION

UNSPLASH

FENDER BENDER EDITOR STEV E BAUER chats with process expert Chris Maimone on the importance of production meetings, and why you should be conducting at least one every day. In the podcast, Maimone gives specific examples of the items that should be covered in each meeting, who should be involved, and why sometimes it’s beneficial to have multiple meetings throughout the day to ensure that your workflow plan stays on track.

Whether you’re working off a whiteboard in your back office or using a software program to monitor your work orders, ensuring that everyone, from your production manager to your CSRs, are on the same page when the day starts can make the difference between an efficient shop and one that is constantly playing catch up getting cars out to customers on time.

“If you aren’t prepared at the beginning of each day, it’s

possible to finish it with a goose egg when it comes to sales, and that’s the last thing you want,” Maimone says in the podcast.

Maimone also notes that holding regular production meetings helps you fine-tune processes in your business that might be causing regular bottlenecks, skipping important final steps before delivering a car to a customer, and other areas such as customer contact with CSRs, etc.

If you don’t have a daily production meeting in place, there’s a good chance that you’re losing out on valuable revenue. The good news, however, is that with a few simple steps and due diligence on your part as a shop owner, you can have a team that’s on the same page when it comes to your business’s daily goals, creating a more positive and profitable shop for you in the long term. To listen to Bauer’s conversation with Maimone, visit fenderbender.com and click on the CollisionCast tab.

A New Digital Marketing Tool

Don’t Miss the News

In this fascinating podcast, 3P Marketing’s Megan Fulkerson discusses a new digital marketing tool that lets shop owners advertise to potential customers who own specific vehicle makes and models. Using information from TransUnion, shop owners can save time and marketing dollars by narrowing their advertising focus to degrees never seen before in the collision repair industry.

Don’t miss an ounce of June collision industry news. Join thousands of your industry peers who stay on top of current trends by visiting fenderbender.com/news for all you need to know, every day.

FENDERBENDER.COM/PODCASTS

FENDERBENDER.COM/NEWS

@fenderbendermag June 2022

@fenderbendermag

@fenderbendermag 10

fenderbender.com/linkedin

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DRIVER’S SEAT

IRON-CLAD PAPER PROTECTION

Every shop can benefit from utilizing an employee handbook O N E O F M Y B E S T F R I E N D S from college is a prominent employment and labor law attorney in Wisconsin. He’s the opposite of everything you’d envision in an attorney.

He prefers hugs over handshakes, loves to play video games, and lives by the mantra not to take life too seriously—except when it comes to the law.

I had the chance to visit with him recently, and when I mentioned to him that this issue included a story on employee handbooks, he paused for a moment, narrowed his eyes and with a stern voice uttered, “Too many handshake agreements out there, Steve. Way too many.”

I asked him what he meant, and was quickly schooled about the unnecessary risks employers take by sidestepping one of their biggest weapons available in shielding against liability.

Simply put, an employee handbook can be your best friend. A well-written one should leave no wiggle room or gray areas that can be exploited by an employee if their relationship with you sours. From the day an employee reviews and signs off on it, the expectations for the employee and business are laid out in black and white.

I bring up this topic because based on conversations I’ve had with industry experts and shop owners, handbooks are typically the exception to the rule in the collision repair industry.

If you don’t have a handbook, or the one you do have has been collecting dust on a back office shelf for the past decade, I encourage you to take the time to create something—anything—that lays out the basic operations of your shop.

And no, your handbook doesn’t need to

June 2022

be a 40-page novella covering every nook and cranny you can think of. Even a simple handout that addresses the golden rules specific to your business will put you in a stronger position to defend yourself if one of those boundaries are crossed.

And you don’t need to hire an attorney to create an effective handbook. There are plenty of free samples available online that you can modify for your needs.

The key is to make sure employees know and understand there is a standard on paper they signed off on and are expected to follow, and you can rest easier knowing that the pen is, indeed, mightier than the handshake.

STEVE BAUER

EDITOR

sbauer@10missions.com

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NEWS

Q U I C K

|

IDEAS

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PEOPLE

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TRENDS

F I X

A NA LYSIS

SETTING FUTURE STANDARDS

GETTY

I-CAR’s new IACET accreditation is solidifying the organization’s trusted reputation as it outlines what is next for collision repair

By HANNA BUBSER

June 2022

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N O O N E H A S a crystal ball that can specifically proclaim the intricacies of what promises to be a complex future in collision repair. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone did, though?

For now, we’ll just have to take what we can get. Luckily, some components of the abstract “future” may be easier to anticipate than others.

The crux of adequate preparation starts at the source with quality train-

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QUICK FIX

ing opportunities. To put it bluntly, there simply is no future for the industry if there are no technicians, and those technicians deserve access to education that keeps not only the industry in mind, but the landscape of tomorrow as well.

In practice, this may be easier said than done. In fact, it most definitely is. But that shouldn’t sway those within the industry from trying. Take, for instance, the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair.

They are a well established not-forprofit organization that provides access to information and skill sets that help provide complete quality repair care, and they have found themselves stepping up to the challenge.

I-CAR was recently crowned the first organization within the collision repair industry to receive accreditation from the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). This is no small feat, and means that their endeavors toward industry education have been given a big stamp of approval.

But according to I-CAR CEO John S. Van Alstyne, it’s about so much more.

“It’s not just having the logo that we can promote.” he says regarding I-CAR’s choice to embark on their journey to certification. “It really was about the underlying capabilities that we were able to bring to the table in terms of designing, developing, building, and delivering our educational programming.”

For one, this is not an accreditation

June 2022

that came easily. I-CAR certainly had to put in the work up front.

“We went through kind of an exhaustive internal self-assessment and audit process to make sure that we were ready to be accredited by the external auditors,” says Van Alstyne.

In the end, the hard work paid off.

They completed that process at the end of 2021 and IACET assessed them in Q1 of 2022. I-CAR passed the audit on their first try. However, in the words of Van Alstyne, it isn’t simply a “one and done” process.

I-CAR will have to continue to perform to the standards set in place by IACET on an ongoing basis in order to maintain their accreditation status.

But Van Alstyne doesn’t anticipate excellence being an issue, whether it’s now or in the future.

“It’s not just the IACET accreditation,” he shares. “We do that because that’s one of our core values. That’s how we run the place. IACET is just an affirmation of that.”

For I-CAR, along with affirmation comes purpose. Having an IACET accreditation in place allows them to continue with their successful educational training programs, while simultaneously working to develop and expand them further without compromising their integrity or the trust they’ve already established within the industry.

A concept like this is especially important now, considering the industry is facing a shortage of employable candidates.

“We certainly aren’t the only industry that has a talent shortage,” says Van Alstyne. “You see that in every business across the United States, if not the whole Western world. Collision repair is not immune to that phenomenon.”

According to Van Alstyne, part of navigating this challenge is establishing a strategy for getting information to the right pool of talent in order to properly plan for the technicians of the future. Opportunity may be found in some unexpected places, and Van Alstyne would know; he had a first-hand experience during a recent event for I-CAR. “I was having dinner the first night and I introduced myself to one of our new instructors who was sitting at our table,” he says. “It turned out that this individual joined in the Q4 timeframe and wasn’t even from the collision repair industry, which was interesting to me.”

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The individual Van Alstyne spoke to spent 25 years as a certified welder for the oil and gas industry. He was able to adapt the skills he used as a welder to work in the automotive industry as a successful instructor for I-CAR. “It’s like a lightbulb goes off in your head,” Van Alstyne says as he recalled the chance encounter.

“What are we doing about attacking that group of talent? We need to be clever and thinking a little outside of the box as we approach this going into the future,” he says.

Inspiring sectors of untapped talent is a huge motivating factor for I-CAR with regards to its overall approach to training. It’s important to set up these technicians for future success, and that’s why they’re adamant about including ADAS training into their curriculum.

“We’re striving to lead the industry as it relates to ADAS.” Van Alstyne explains.

“Whether that’s understanding equipment, understanding process, or understanding the technical aspects during training or having access to the repair information to guide that work and advocating for use of OEM procedures as well.”

Overall, I-CAR understands that in order to make progress it’s important to lean into the future without hesitation. This is a component of the approach that I-CAR is taking with a new state-of-the-art training center opening soon in Chicago, Illinois.

The approach is molded around helping the industry with understanding and implementing ADAS. They’ve offered ADAS training for several years now and are in the process of building it out further. This includes support, research, training, and best practices.

The intention is to not only educate, but also acknowledge that the future of automotive technology is here, and it is only going to continue evolving. The IACET accreditation will aid I-CAR in continuing to do the work of inspiring innovative and critical technical training for collision repair shops across the country.

The first step is trust, and Van Alstyne hopes the IACET accreditation will continue to enforce the industry-wide work that I-CAR is known for. After all, it’s a lot easier to face the future when you’re not doing it alone, even if there is no crystal ball in sight.

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QUICK FIX

NUMBERS

WHO’S EXPANDING SERVICES, UTILIZING MOBILE SERVICES?

W H E N I T C O M E S T O expanding their businesses to include additional services to what they currently offer, approximately one-third of shop owners say they’re content with their current setup, according to the 2022 FenderBender Industry Survey.

In addition, nearly 90 percent of owners surveyed say they don’t utilize mobile services such as paintless dent repair, windshield replacement, spray painting, and more.

Have you considered adding additional services to your shop?

6.58%

What percentage of your business utilizes mobile services such as dent repair, window replacement, or others?

2.82% 4.7%

33.86%

1.28% 0.64%

UNSPLASH

52%

June 2022

0.32%

88.82% 8.95%

Yes — mechanical repair: 6.58%

0-10%: 88.82%

Yes — glass: 2.82%

10-20%: 8.95%

Yes — mechanical repair and glass: 4.7%

20-30%: 0.32%

I already offer multiple services: 52%

30-40%: 0.64%

No — 33.86%

50% or higher: 1.28%

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QUICK FIX

LIGHT HITS

SERVICE KING CLOSE TO REACHING OUT-OF-COURT DEAL FOR DEBT

Service King is close to reaching an outof-court deal to help address some of its debt load, according to Bloomberg Quint.

The auto collision repair company began to face major monetary trouble during last year’s third quarter when Service King maxed out its sources of credit and then got a $15 million loan from sponsors in order to support its operations.

The new proposal involves bondholders led by Clearlake Capital Group taking control and bringing in $100 million. Clearlake and the company’s majority owner Blackstone Inc. declined to comment on the matter.

Service King has struggled to return to business as usual as the effects of the pandemic have resulted in a continued hardship in obtaining automotive parts and getting access to mechanics.

Nevertheless, the deadline to repay Service King’s debts are fast approaching.

“About $375 million of unsecured notes mature in October, and the company invoked a 30-day grace period after missing the April 1 interest payment,” the article says. “Service King is required to cut its bonds outstanding to less than $135 million by July 1, or else a $775 million term loan could become due.”

The company had $75 million of restricted cash to repay its notes, and according to data from Bloomberg the $775 million loan due in December 2025 is quoted at 92 cents. The 7.875 notes due in October trade at around 103 cents.

HONDA PLANS TO INVEST $40B ON EVS, LAUNCH 30 MODELS BY 2030

Honda has announced that it’s ramping up its investment in EVs, spending around $40 billion on its electrification efforts over the next 10 years.

According to a story by Yahoo!

Finance, the company also says it plans to launch 30 EV models by 2030 with a production volume of 2 million vehicles a year. The aim is for electric vehicles to make up 40 percent of its fleet by the end of the decade.

June 2022

Honda plans to introduce an ultracheap mini EV model in Japan by 2024 that costs around $8,000. It will also release the Prologue and Acura electric vehicles, both being co-developed with GM in North America in the same year.

In early April, Honda and GM announced they’re working together to co-develop a series of affordable EVs based on a global architecture and GM’s Ultium battery technology.

Honda has plans that don’t involve GM, however, and is using part of its $40 billion budget to develop its own electrification platform. It’s also exploring the possibility of teaming up with other companies for battery production. In addition, it’s investing $343 million into building a demonstration line for solid-state batteries by 2024.

NISSAN COLLISION-AVOIDANCE TECHNOLOGY IN DEVELOPMENT

There’s a new driver-assistance technology in development at Nissan, and its goal is to help avoid collisions on the road.

According to Green Car Congress, this technology uses real-time information that allows the vehicle to consistently be aware of its surroundings. This means that the vehicle can have an instantaneous response to a potentially dangerous situation, as it can accurately detect the size and shape of objects as well as factors such as slow moving traffic and other driving obstacles.

Once an issue is detected, the vehicle can then react accordingly by performing collision-avoidance operations as necessary.

In the long run, Nissan is planning for Nissan Ambition 2030. This is a vision to utilize next-generation LIDAR technology in a way that reduces accidents. This mission is motivated by the potential of more selfdriving cars coming into existence in the near future.

CRASH CHAMPIONS ACQUIRES OREGON-BASED ARTISTIC AUTO BODY

Crash Champions, which operates more than 190 centers across the country, has just added another state to their list

19

of coverage with their latest acquisition.

Artistic Auto Body, is an independent two-location collision repair center based in Oregon and is known for its electronic and hybrid vehicle repairs in the Northwest. The Artistic locations are in Tigard and Wilsonville, Oregon, and contain over 75,000 square feet of space combined.

Founder and CEO of Crash Champions Matt Ebert is looking forward to adding these Artistic locations into the Crash Champions sphere, according to a recent press release.

“Artistic’s highly accredited technicians, multiple factory certifications and state of the art electric vehicle repair center have made them one of Portland’s best and most trusted body shops.” Ebert says.

As Artistic owner Terry Mostul prepares to pass the torch, he says he looks to the future full of positivity that the high standard of care that Artistic has come to be known for will continue on under the Crash Champions name.

“It has been a privilege to help restore our customers’ peace of mind in difficult times through high-quality repairs and compassionate service,” Mostul says. “And I know that while the sign on the front will change, people will still find the same level of professionalism and repair excellence when they walk through the doors.”

TESLA TO OPEN COLLISION REPAIR FACILITY IN SAN ANTONIO

Tesla is planning to open a collision repair facility on the Northwest side of San Antonio, Texas.

According to an article by My San Antonio, the facility would be around 40,200 square feet This would further expand Tesla’s presence in Texas, following the recent opening of a 1.9 million-square-foot Tesla “Gigafactory” in Austin earlier this month.

The Tesla Collision Center is estimated to cost around $6.5 million, with intentions to start construction in July and finish in April 2023. This center is part of a larger plan that Tesla has to establish its own collision repair centers going forward.”

fenderbender.com

QUICK FIX

SNAP SHOP

TNT AUTO BODY AND SERVICE CENTER

1

By STEVE BAUER Photos by DAN MCDILDA

L O C AT I O N :

GLADE HILL, VA.

OWNER:

TARA AND TIM WALL

SIZE:

10,000 SQUARE FEET

S TA F F :

14

A V E R A G E M O N T H L Y C A R C O U N T:

58

ANNUAL REVENUE:

$1.1 MILLION

2

Submit Your Shop Proud of your shop and want to show it off to your peers? Tell us about it at

SUBMISSIONS@10MISSIONS.COM.

June 2022

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1. RISING UP FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

It’s no exaggeration to say Tim Wall started his career in the collision repair business from humble beginnings. He graduated high school in 1992, and while attending completed its auto body program. After graduating, he worked at a few dealerships before getting the opportunity to work as a technician at Advanced Collision in Attica, New York, where the shop’s owner, Jim Cooley, mentored and trained him. Wall eventually became what he describes as a “working manager.”

In 2001, Wall and his wife, Tara, made a fateful decision to attend a two-year bible college in Franklin College, Virginia, where he worked side jobs to make ends meet until the two graduated.

“I had a homemade tent made out of 2x4s and plastic that was inside a barn that I rented from a guy. I’d do just about everything from painting tractors to fixing farm equipment,” he says. “Back then, I was still figuring out what I wanted to do as a career, but I’d always had an interest in doing collision work. I remember that I had a cardboard box that would hold two gallons of primer, and I had a few other hand tools in there and that was my toolbox.”

In 2002, the Walls rented a body shop that was part of a larger salvage repair business. The 1,200-square-foot shop could fit approximately four cars at a time, and housed a frame machine and a homemade paint booth that was basically a cinder block room with an overhead door, which Wall jokes was a huge upgrade from his tent.

“We eventually built a little office on the side of it, and spent the next six years there,” he says. “We had DRPs there for State Farm and AllState, and got started in the business and really worked hard to build our clientele.”

While Tim ran the shop, Tara took control of the business side, handling finances, payroll, taxes, etc. Wall notes that the TNT name stands for Tara and Tim, making sure to add that the first ‘T’ in the name stands for Tara, not Tim.

2. A GROUNDBREAKING WORTH THE WAIT

3

June 2022

In 2008, the Walls built a new facility on three acres directly across the street from the building they’d been working in. When deciding to build, Tim says he wanted to keep the shop small, but it was Tara who encouraged him to increase the shop’s size.

The process wasn’t an easy one, and Wall says the first time he went to a local bank

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looking for a loan, he was in for a surprise.

“I went in there looking to borrow a few hundred thousand dollars and I couldn’t even put up a building for collateral, and I basically got laughed out of the bank,” he says.

A few months later, Wall went back to the same bank with a solid business plan in hand, and this time he and Tara’s prayers were answered when the loan was approved. When the family had its grand opening, the shop was 6,000 square feet. Wall says sales tripled the first year in the new facility. Since then, they’ve added on twice to the building, bringing the current total to 10,000 square feet.

The pair had their logo redesigned, and their distinctive green and white color scheme is the result of their use of waterborne paint and its benefits to the environment, compared to solvent-based paints.

“We were definitely one of the first shops in our area that switched to that type of paint, and I tell everyone it’s not lime green and it’s not neon green, it’s TNT green,” he says.

The front of the shop is designed to be customer friendly, with plenty of comfortable seating, a fireplace and entertainment options for visitors. Next to the customer area is a counter with two workstations for the shop’s CSRs. The shop floor is designed with an efficient workflow in mind, where cars come through one of two stalls, which are located backto-back. Essentially, the design is set up like an assembly line, with different stations for measuring, disassembly, etc.

“We have it set up so the cars come through and then drive straight out; it’s designed so you don’t have to back a car out,” he says.

3. A FAMILY BUSINESS

The Walls are the proud parents of seven children, two of whom have gotten heavily involved in the business.

Wall spends a lot of his time now working on a salvage yard he recently purchased, and has passed a lot of the day-to-day body shop responsibilities to his son, Andrew. His daughter Abby is focusing her time learning about the salvage business.

“To be honest, if Andrew didn’t have so much interest in the body shop side, I might be looking for a buyer,” he laughs. “But he really wants to run with the shop, so it’s great to see my children diving head-first into all of this , and I love the fact that we have truly become a family-run business.”

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COLUMNS

THE BIG IDEA

Why I’m Giving up on ‘Cramming’ Following the AGES strategy will ensure you retain what you’re learning When it comes to taking tests or accomplish-

ing school projects, were you a “crammer?” I was.

But an article I read in the NeuroLeadership Journal helped me realize that cramming doesn’t promote long-term learning or retention. And now that I’ve admitted that I was a crammer, perhaps another confession is in order. I often allowed my teams to cram I-Car classes just so we could check the boxes for Gold. I’m not saying we didn’t do the work. We did. But often, the classes were in service of just getting them done as opposed to actually cultivating a culture of learning, professional development, and retention.

If I had it to do over again, I’d do my best to apply the learning from the story in the NeuroLeadership Journal that employs the acronym AGES. There are main components needed for effective learning to take place. They can inform how we train and onboard new team members, how technicians receive ongoing training and accelerate the pace of an estimator’s mastery.

JILL MATTHEWS

‘A’ is For Attention The first order of business is you must have someone’s full attention. This is harder than it may seem and frankly, it’s getting more difficult as distractions are constantly multiplying. Add to that how much we’re addicted as a culture to our phones. Getting someone’s full attention and maintaining that for any meaningful amount of time takes real skill.

The article discusses three key ways to help people with attention. First, the learning has to be relevant and the learner has to see direct connections to their life. Answering the question “How does this make the work I do every day easier and more productive?” could help. The second way is that the learning needs to be social. How can you get learners to interact with their peers who are also learning this new information or skill? And lastly, keeping someone’s attention happens best when there’s physical movement and interaction.

‘G’ is For Generation Generating connections with existing knowledge is the second key to learning. It was once thought that repetition of new information is what solidified learning. Did anyone else have to memorize things and then regurgitate that information for tests in school? Well, it turns out that isn’t a very effective tactic. Learning, and especially reten-

June 2022

tion of learning, occurs best when the learner takes an active role in integrating the new information with something else they already know.

One of the most effective ways to improve retention is to get the students to talk to each other.

The teacher can present a new idea or concept, but then have the students talk about it in pairs. They can discuss how this new information connects to something else they already know, or maybe a personal experience they’ve had. We’re hardwired to remember experiences and stories much easier compared to loads of raw data.

‘E’ is For Emotions Emotions are a topic that many shop leaders would simply like to avoid. Are we supposed to be counselors in addition to all of our other responsibilities? For better or worse, sometimes the responsibility falls on us. But that’s not what this section is all about. Emotional connections in a learning environment significantly aid learning and retention.

One of the best ways to trigger positive emotions in a learner is to tie new information to them on a personal level. Explaining how this training is unique and sets them apart from their peers triggers a sense of pride and confidence. If learners feel like the training will increase their competence and elevate them in the eyes of their manager or coworkers, they’ll be more motivated to learn.

‘S’ is For Spacing This one is my favorite. Have you ever been to an all-day training and just felt drained at the end of it?

That’s because the trainer likely didn’t understand the importance of spacing. Research shows that turning an eight-hour training into two four-hour training sessions is better for retention. Why? Because having time to digest information and begin applying it greatly enhances the learning experience.

So why don’t more trainers do this? I believe it has to do with costs and a desire to be efficient.

If we’re simply trying to get people to complete a training and “check a box” saying the task is done, then all-day training is great. But if we really want people to learn, giving room and time between training sessions is the best route.

Cramming is overrated. I encourage you to integrate the AGES method as you foster a better culture of learning and professional development in your shop.

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KEVIN RAINS

After 18 years in the industry, Kevin Rains sold his network of shops. He now coaches body shop owners and leaders and is the author of the upcoming book Launch to Legacy: The Small Business Roadmap to Success and Significance.

You can reach Kevin at kevinrains@gmail.com

EMAIL:

kevinrains@gmail.com

ARCHIVE:

fenderbender.com/rains

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TOPICAL

Maintaining Your Million Dollar Baby UNSPLASH; ILLUSTRATION BY OLIVIA CURTI

Hitting the $1 million mark in annual revenue is exciting, but building on that success is where the real work begins

By STEVE BAUER

June 2022

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FOR MOST BODY SHOP OW N ER S, a key measuring stick on how well their business is doing comes down to one number: $1 million. Getting to that seven-figure mark in yearly revenue isn’t an easy task, and with so many independent shops competing for customers against much larger competition, sometimes that figure can seem like a mountain too tall to climb.

In fact, most industry analysts say the new “magic number” is now closer to $2 million, as inflation, labor costs and low insurance reimbursement rates have combined to eat into an owner’s bottom line.

If you have reached that magic million mark, however, take a moment and enjoy your achievement, but be aware that maintaining and growing your shop’s financial health has just begun.

According to the Small Business Administration, 30 percent of small businesses fail within the first year, 50 percent within five years, and a staggering 66 percent at the 10-year mark. If that last number takes you by surprise, it shouldn’t. Factors such as retirements, consolidations and most important, outdated business practices prompt many shops to close their doors for good far sooner than intended.

Once you’ve hit the $1 million mark, Classic Collision’s Alaska Regional Director and FenderBender columnist Ryan Cropper says that while you are allowed to take a moment to celebrate the milestone, the last thing you want creeping into your shop is complacency.

“The feeling that you can now take it easy, sit back and let your business run itself is a dangerous and often fatal flaw for many shop owners,” he says.

So what steps can you take now to ensure your business continues to thrive for years to come? Depending on who you ask, the answer comes in many forms.

There are certain areas of your business, however, that all agree need the most attention to ensure continued success.

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TOPICAL

Depending on your business goals this can mean paying money out to investors, creating an emergency fund, or investing in areas like marketing and customer service. And if your ultimate goal is to continue to expand your business, upgrading technology, expanding inventory or hiring additional workers are also smart choices.

Maintain a steady cash flow.

Many owners will tell you this sounds much easier than it is, but Cropper notes cash flow shortages are typically the number one reason nearly all businesses fail, not just auto body shops.

“If your business continues to grow, keep in mind that your expenses will climb as well,” Cropper says. “When your cash flow is tight, it’s tempting to reduce expenses by using your receivables from the previous month. But you can’t keep that practice up forever, because eventually it will catch up to you.”

He adds that if you’re not already, you should be utilizing cash flow forecasting and management accounting so that any financial decisions you make are proactive.

Richard Lancaster, recently retired owner of Tri-Star Collision (when Lancaster permanently closed the doors on the business earlier this year, it had an annual revenue of $2.7 million), says that was a major

June 2022

struggle for him, as he found himself spinning his wheels financially because he’d use money from the previous month’s receivables to cover his current expenses.

“Going that direction was a lose-lose situation for my shop,” he says. “If you have a solid revenue flow, it’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming you’re going to continue experiencing exponential growth. But I quickly learned that growth comes in phases, and you can’t just count on your monthto-month revenue to constantly make up the difference.”

Cropper adds that it’s vital to adjust the way you manage your revenue, how your business operates and constantly search for new opportunities to reach whatever you want your next milestone to be.

“If you’re smart early on and can create a healthy profit margin, then you have free cash flow that can be used to continue to grow your business however you want,” he says.

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To get to this point you’ve done a great job of creating a solid customer foundation, but as Troy Campbell, owner of Campbell Collision (annual revenue of $3.4 million) can tell you from experience, dropping the ball on growing a solid customer service and marketing team will trip you up in no time.

“Early on, I was stubborn when it came to putting extra time and money into properly training my CSRs when it came to staying in contact with our current customers and ensuring (the customers) were kept in the loop throughout the repair process,” he says. “And on the back end, we were inconsistent when it came to ensuring our customers were completely satisfied with the repair job and had all their questions answered before handing them the keys to their car.”

Campbell adds that for your shop to really see solid growth, it needs to retain its existing customers, plain and simple. If your team is doing their jobs correctly from front to back, you’ll often gain a customer for life. On the flip side, however, if you just go through the motions with them during the process, it’s likely they’ll seek out a different shop the next time they have a vehicle repair.

Campbell also says he didn’t pay close enough attention to how few leads were actually being converted into new customers.

That all changed when he sat down one day and realized how much money he was losing with every lost lead.

“For a while our lead conversions took a big nosedive, and after running the numbers on my cost of conversion, I knew I had to immediately create new protocols to not only ensure we were turning those leads into customers, but upping my marketing budget to create a steady supply of new lead generations,” he says. “I quickly realized the value of using tools like digital marketing programs to gain the attention of potential customers. I wish I’d invested more time in

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UNSPLASH; ILLUSTRATION BY OLIVIA CURTI

Focus on customer retention and acquisition.

my marketing strategies sooner, because I know I lost out on a lot of potential business that I’ll never get back.”

Campbell says it pays to look hard at your numbers to understand the total price you pay to convert a lead into a sale, including the cost of research, lead generation and sales personnel. Do you know what your company spends per each customer acquisition or how much revenue you gain from each customer acquired? If not, he says it’s crucial to crunch the numbers so you know exactly where you stand.

UNSPLASH; ILLUSTRATION BY OLIVIA CURTI

Keep your business processes updated.

Business complacency comes in many forms, but Cropper says the worst mistake is to maintain old standard operating procedures, even when your business has clearly surpassed business processes you created when you first started your shop.

“Especially now when this industry is dealing with not only a technician shortage, but a significant supply chain shortage issue, old processes that used to be effective for you and your employees are likely now outdated and need to be revisited,” he says.

Cropper adds it’s likely you remember a time when fighting for every customer was standard, but now you likely have decide which jobs to take and which to turn away.

“Again, that goes back to your SOPs,” he says. “There are shop owners out there that now only take vehicles they are OEM certified in, or will refuse to take in any cars from overseas manufacturers. It comes down to knowing exactly what you and your staff can handle, while at the same time ensuring that the quality of your processes don’t suffer because you’re taking in more cars than you know you’ll be able to turn around in a reasonable time.”

Specific processes that should be updated include how much inventory you should have on hand, expanding your vendor base to find new ways of securing sought after parts. It’s also important to include all members of your team when rewriting your SOPs, so each employee is aware of any new policies and what their role is in the process.

Understand the value (and costs) of your employees.

As your shop grows, you’ll quickly realize that your employees cost your company

June 2022

Top Five Pitfalls to Avoid When Growing Your Business TRY ING TO DO IT A LL: Just like any other person, you have

one or two natural talents. As an owner of a thriving business, now’s the time to take those talents and immerse them in a management role. Surround yourself with people who are strong where your talents are weakest. Great companies are built on the foundation of exploiting a few strengths, not on trying to be masters of everything.

NOT BEING TRA NSPA RENT: If your business tries to cover

up a mistake, in today’s digital-first environment eventually word will leak and before you know it you’re wearing the label of “liar.” Be the one to break your own bad news, and you will be perceived as honest and trustworthy. This is especially important when it comes to your own employees. Once you’ve lost someone’s trust, it’s nearly impossible to get it back.

NOT H AV ING A CLEA R M A RK ETING STRATEGY: You

never know where, when, or how a potential customer is going to hear of your business. If your marketing strategy isn’t consistent, it’s likely to confuse customers and shy them away. Always be sure to present a consistent, clear message.

NOT CLEA RLY DEFINING YOUR SHOP’S PURPOSE:

It’s not necessary to create a mission statement, per say, but it’s important to clarify the purpose of your company beyond just making money. By doing so, both your customers and employees know what you stand for. In addition, you’ll likely attract future workers who share the same values, which creates a focused work culture you can be proud of.

BEING A LL A BOUT BUSINESS, A LL THE TIME: So

many successful shop owners put their lives on hold to focus exclusively on their businesses. If you follow that path, both you and your business are likely to suffer. Be sure to give your business the attention and effort it needs, but don’t make the mistake of making it your only priority. Balance your personal and business life, and it will pay off in the long term.

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TOPICAL

Learn to Delegate

Although it’s always going to be tempting to be on the shop floor working on vehicles

June 2022

or assisting employees, as your business grows you have to understand that your focus needs to lean more toward management, which means spending more time in your office and less time in the shop.

Tri-Star Collison’s Lancaster knows first-hand how difficult that transition can be, as your natural tendency is to want to ensure everything in the shop is running like you want it to.

It definitely leaves you with less time to wear multiple hats,” he says. “As the owner, your most important role is to provide solid leadership. If you’ve trained your employees correctly and you’ve built a mutual trust, in time you’ll learn it’s OK to lessen your grip on the day-to-day operations.”

It’s likely that when you first opened your shop, you probably handled almost everything. But if you don’t hire and train your employees to do their jobs as well, if not better than you, then your company’s growth is bound to take a hit.

“Give your employees that freedom to take over some of the responsibilities you once managed alone,” Lancaster says. “Your goal should always be to hire like-minded people you find, and then train them to think like you. If you do that properly, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how smoothly your shop can operate without you feeling the need to be in there all the time as a quality-control supervisor.”

He adds that the best way to make that transition to full-time manager is to start thinking about which jobs only you know you can do, and after that don’t be afraid to delegate or outsource the rest. If you’ve hired and trained your employees with that goal in mind, then your business should be

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able to operate efficiently even when you’re not on-site.

Small Changes Can Make Big Impacts

As your business grows, what once might have been a minor hit to your shop’s finances can transform into major issues. Seemingly minor cost fluctuations, like a wage increase or a rise in supply costs, for example, can wreak havoc on your profit margins. In the collision repair industry, losing a technician, estimator or front office employee can have major impacts on your bottom line when the U.S. is facing a massive labor shortage.

“The loss of that one employee reverberates across your entire shop, because now there is extra pressure on your employees to pick up that slack until you can hire someone new,” Cropper says. “We’re currently in the middle of an era of overcapacity, and while in the past it might have been smart to keep only one or two extra bumpers on hand, for example, but ordering 20 when you know they might sit on the shelf and gain dust while you wait for other parts to come in can leave you with a ton of extra inventory that will only eat into your bottom line.”

Cropper adds that as you grow, always keep in the back of your head the fact that every change you make will have an impact in some fashion. The key, he says, is to always look ahead and understand who or what that change will affect, and to stay in front of it.

Like every major transition in your business, achieving substantial growth will require you to adjust the way you manage, the way your business operates and how you search for new opportunities to reach the next milestone.

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UNSPLASH; ILLUSTRATION BY OLIVIA CURTI

more than their wages in terms of revenue.

Factoring in their downtime on the job, vacation and sick leave, insurance, taxes, healthcare costs, training costs, turnover expenses and even minor items like holiday parties and break room essentials need to be accounted for before deciding to take on a new employee.

“I view my employees as my biggest asset, but at the same time when I put together my budget I make sure to account for everything that I’ll likely spend to ensure my workers are well paid, trained to do their job and know that I care about them more than just as a boss,” Campbell says. “Every employee has different needs and values, and I’ve learned that you can put a monetary value on those things so they don’t come back to bite you when you’re reviewing your finances.”

He adds that by investing early on in a strong bookkeeping and accounting department, however, you can determine exactly how much your employees cost and how much each generates. As your business expands, he adds, make sure you’ve accounted for any potential financial barriers that might prevent you from hiring a group of new employees.

“You need to be certain your shop will benefit from added workers, he says, “and I know it sounds cold to think of them in terms of dollars and cents, as an owner looking to grow you do need to understand that it’s a necessary part of the budgeting process.”

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PROFILE

From Finance to

A shop owner’s journey from real estate into the world of collision repair

By CALEB BROOKS Photos by EL AINE KESSLER

T H E O L D A D A G E G O E S that a fresh pair of eyes can identify problems better than a worn out pair. This is the exact mentality that Kelly Huard, co-owner of Painters Collision, brought to the collision repair industry.

Before stepping into the auto collision industry, Huard primarily worked as an underwriter before launching a career in real estate.

“I credit my time as an underwriter for my ability to work well with banks during my real estate career,” Huard says. “Really any job that I have worked, I was on the financial side.”

Huard’s experience set her up for great success in every area of her professional career. But her love for financials started pushing her toward collision repair while

June 2022

she was working for a real estate development company.

“It was in that industry that I discovered a love for identifying underperforming assets and turning them around,” Huard says.

“There is a real beauty in flipping assets.”

While Huard isn’t the one doing the actual flipping, she plays an integral role in the project’s success.

“I am a support system for the business and the people getting the work done,” explains Huard. “The people doing the work cannot perform it without strong financials and cashflow.”

Finally, Huard found herself working as a controller. “I was getting pretty bored in the role,” says Huard. It was at this moment that Huard decided to start her own company.

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Collision-Based Consulting

“I credit some of my initial foray in the collision world to my husband, Jim,” Huard says. “When I started looking to start my own company, he suggested that smaller collision shops need the kind of financial support that I can offer.”

Huard started by offering a corporate package to shops that included doing their books, setting up entities, running payroll, filing for LLCs and tax numbers; really everything that you would expect a financial expert, like Huard, to offer. Essentially, Huard started a collision-based consulting firm.

One of the main snags that Huard ran into was shop operations who didn’t see the value in hiring a consultant.

“Many of the owners’ mentalities were ‘I am getting along just fine,’” Huard says.

“When a shop’s operations are doing fine, they don’t necessarily want bigger or better.”

Fortunately for Huard, the clients she worked with really wanted to grow their businesses, giving Huard invaluable experience in her future field.

“I did pretty well,” Huard says. “I had a healthy company with a few great clients.”

While Huard did get enough business, “it wasn’t enough to make a living on, so that’s when I decided that I wanted to go all in and start my own shop.”

Making the Leap

Huard says that it wasn’t easy to convince Jim at first. After all, he was a collision executive and had a minority ownership share in a line of shops. He was making a good living, and was comfortable and happy.

Huard’s plan could potentially jeopardize his career.

“He really had to weigh the risk-toreward for a while,” Huard says. Did they want to gamble and take a leap? Jim was unsure and had a lot of doubts.

“I am a logical person,” Huard says.

“So, eventually, I wrote him a letter going through each of his fears and doubts line by line, demonstrating why we would have nothing to be afraid of.”

Jim credits this letter for alleviating his doubts and for inciting him to take the leap.

The main driving point is that they needed to build something for themselves.

So, they purchased their first shop.

The Huard Master Plan

Before the Huards purchased their first shop, they sat down to create their master plan.

PROFILE

Huard says. “Oftentimes, mom-and-pop shops aren’t able to offer these things.”

At its core, Huard’s dream was to create shops that could offer large MSO benefits while still maintaining that single-shop and family feel.

The final element of Huard’s plan is to identify underperforming shops and flip them.

“Jim is known as the turnaround guy,” Huard says. He, like Huard, “has a knack for taking underperforming shops and building them into what they could be.”

This was the core of their plan: to combine Huard’s corporate knowledge and Jim’s shop knowledge into the perfect team to flip shops.

“From the beginning, we identified shops whose owners were in over their heads or who didn’t know how to get their shop off the ground,” Huard says. “Then, with Jim’s and my complementary sets of expertise, we could bring these shops to new heights.”

Implementing the Plan A Trusting Partner Huard had to convince her husband, Jim, who was already a successful collision repair owner, to take a leap of faith with her when she approached him with the idea of opening her own auto body shop.

PAINTERS COLLISION OWNER:

KELLY AND JIM HUARD

LOCATION:

QUEEN CREEK, AZ

STAFF SIZE:

15

AVER AGE SHOP SIZE:

10,000 SQUARE FEET

NUMBER OF SHOPS:

2

AVER AGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT:

96

ARO:

$2,740

TOTAL ANNUAL REVENUE:

$4.5 MILLION

June 2022

“Our ultimate goal is to build a MSO,” Huard says, “but not your typical corporate MSO—one that integrates family values and appreciation for the team.”

They decided to frame their company on two values above all else: to maintain a culture that mirrored a mom-and-pop shop, and to offer corporate support to their shops that are typically difficult for single shop operations to provide.

The first half of their plan was born out of listening to technicians who had been treated like just another number in other MSOs. Huard quickly decided that she wanted her shop’s culture to be different.

The second half of their plan was created because mom-and-pop shops have a hard time offering the benefits that larger MSOs can.

“We really wanted our team members to have great benefits and a stable payroll,”

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Those goals are evident the minute Huard steps into a shop in need.

Immediately, she gets to work identifying issues in the front office and starts working on solutions.

“I start with the financial side,” Huard says. “I file any entities that they need, establish a payroll structure, get their IT online, and I focus on getting their management systems established so they can track their cars and repairs.”

Really, Huard ensures that the entire front office infrastructure is intact and running.

“While I am working in the front office, Jim heads out to the shop floor,” says Huard.

“Above all, he focuses on addressing equipment and knowledge shortages.”

Huard explains that in today’s day and age, you absolutely need the proper equipment to repair cars to OEM standards, especially with ever-increasing technological aspects of car production and repairs.

“To gauge the knowledge of the employees, Jim conducts personal interviews with each person,” Huard says. He then creates a training plan to fill any gaps.

“Our first goal is to train everyone who is there, no outside hires,” says Huard. This is just another way that Huard demonstrates her commitment to her employees.

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PROFILE

A Difference You Can See The Huard’s successful shop is combination of Kelly’s financial know-how, and her husband Jim’s expertise when it comes to creating an efficient flow on the shop floor.

The next major focus is on the quality of the repairs.

“Jim is very OEM-driven,” Huard says, “so he focuses heavily on quality and implementing the proper before and after scans for collision repair.”

Another initial emphasis is placed on making the shop comfortable for customers and insurance companies.

“We never want to take their business for granted,” says Huard. “We very much want to make sure that customers and insurers know that we appreciate their business.”

This is accomplished by cleaning and updating the waiting room and front office.

Ultimately, they want the space to be calming and welcoming.

A Staggering Change

When it comes to the outcomes of Huard’s master plan, there are almost too many positive elements to share.

“Jim calls himself the cycle-time guru,” Huard says. A name that is well-earned, considering that after they purchased their first shop, the cycle time dropped to six days in-house at five hours per day.

Even with a cycle time like that, the shop guarantees that the car will be returned to the owner in either pre-accident condition or better. The quality of the repair isn’t sacrificed for expedience.

Huard is happy to report that their shop has become very successful.

In addition to increased quality and decreased cycle time, their master plan has also returned on its initial investment.

“When we took over our first location, the shop averaged around $100,000 per month,” says Huard. “Now, the same shop does around $400,000 per month.”

Finally, the culture has really taken off at their location.

“While the culture wasn’t bad before we took over, the drive and push to succeed weren’t present before Jim and I took over,” Huard says. “We had a good foundation, but we were able to take it to the next level.”

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LEARN

|

GROW

|

WORK SMARTER

S T R A T E G Y

EDUCATION+TR AINING

BUILD UP BEFORE YOU BOUNCE BACK

GETTY

Six steps that will help make your collision repair shop more resilient

THE PAST FEW YEARS have presented unique challenges to body shop owners unseen since the Great Recession, and that feeling of uncertainty doesn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon.

Battling through COVID-19 protocols, employee shortages, supply chain issues, high gas prices, and more, takes a resilient business with the ability to bounce back from adversity.

June 2022

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or negative way. In his work with large corporations to independent collision repairers, Jones focuses on the individuals within each business, treating them not as interchangeable parts, but as individuals driving the engine for success.

“If I have a clear picture in the midst of the storm of what I’m supposed to bounce back to, it makes it easier to bounce back,” he says.

Read on for more from Jones on building resiliency into your business.

As told to MIKE MUNZENRIDER

1. Start With People

This is the absolute foundation of resilience in a business—you’re not going to get to resilience if you don’t start with leadership and people. Creating an environment where no matter the circumstances—a pandemic, supply chain issues, economic uncertainty—if we have created a resilient team that can handle anything, we’re going to find a way to deal with it and the team will get stronger.

I’ve said it to plenty of people during the pandemic: you’re either going to get better because of it or you’re going to be bitter.

2. Build an Identity

How does a business become resilient to these challenges and those of the future? To begin, you need to have a level to bounce back to—that’s according to Mike Jones, a master trainer and founder of Discover Leadership Training.

Jones says he promotes the idea that every individual human commodity within a business is going to affect its success or failure in a positive

June 2022

A business, be it a small MSO or a single shop, needs a clear vision of what it is in order to build resilience. That true clarity of vision allows people to know who they are, what they stand for, and it allows them to do it the “ABC Body Shop way.” Building a culture is a business’s way to determine if it’s on track or off. It makes it clear for employees, even if they did just fine at “XYZ Body Shop,” that they now know they have to go the “ABC way.”

If employees imprint that way of doing things on customers—they finish a job, talk to customers, make it clear—then word will get out into your wider community that you do things right.

3. Empower Employees

Lots of shops we work with were built by one or two people from the ground up and have been managed with a command/

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control leadership style. These businesses will have production meetings each morning, but they’re not meaningful because the owner/manager runs the meeting. Employees need to offer their input to create a synergistic team. It’s important to understand that authority doesn’t mean leadership.

4. Manage Expectations

Manage your expectations and manage the promises you make. You have to be clear about what you want out of employees, how they can fulfill that, how it will be measured, and what happens when it’s fulfilled. Putting success just outside an employee’s reach because of unclear expectations damages trust; there’s no resilience there, nothing to bounce back to when times get tough.

5. Speak the Same Language

Talk about exactly what your business and team are trying to achieve. Those words create pictures, and those pictures create meaning, energy, action, and follow through. Create a picture of what everyone will be bouncing back to, and what it takes to recreate that picture. Create your business’s jargon, know what it is to do it the “ABC Body Shop way.” Strive for effective communications and speak the same language.

6. Build Authentic Trust

It’s important to develop authentic trust.

Lots of leaders operate on “assumed trust” because they’ve done it so long they think, “They trust me because I’m the boss.” We teach against that. Assumed trust only lasts until a boss gives an employee reason to drop it. Build authentic trust by doing what you say you’re going to do. People bounce back better when they know someone has their back.

Create an environment of resilience; a place where employees know they can make a mistake and the world won’t end.

That’s so critical to boss/employee relationships. It’s at the heart of everything else that happens, being able to feel like the game can be played out full, where you can drop the ball but still have trust.

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STRATEGY

FINA NCE+OPER ATIONS

TO RENT OR TO OWN?

The answer depends on a shop owner’s long-term plan

By M I K E M U N Z E N R I D E R

says Matt Lachowitzer, owner of Matt’s Automotive and Collision Center in Fargo, North Dakota, alongside four more mechanical repair shops in the Fargo area.

Though Lachowitzer prefers to own the buildings his businesses operate in, he un-

derstands the challenges inherent to taking on the investment of ownership.

“My biggest thing is understanding that if you buy the building you have to be able to save money and think about the roof and snow removal, taxes …” he says. “If you GETTY

IS IT ALWAYS best to own your shop’s building? Are there any upsides to renting?

How those questions are answered depends on where a given collision repair shop owner is at in his or her career.

“I’m a big fan of ownership in general,”

June 2022

36

fenderbender.com

A Passive Income Stream Ian Morton, who owns two southern Arizona shops, Fix Auto Tucson and Fix Auto Sierra Vista, is also a commercial property landlord—it just

so happens he rents a building to a large MSO.

Owning the property prior to ac-

quiring his two shops, Morton says it had the necessary zoning for it to be

a collision repair shop, so he rented it out as such.

“The goal there was to definitely

have a passive income stream,” he

says. “I’m not solely focused on owning body shops.”

Morton says he’s always on the

hunt for more commercial proper-

ties, though properties for collision repair are in short supply—zoning

and compliance are a hurdle, as is the potential investment needed to make them suitable.

Those challenges, he says,

haven’t turned him off from being a landlord.

“It’s been going well; I’m learning,

we made some mistakes through the process, and as my legal team and I write up these new agreements, there are some things that we’ll

definitely do differently in the future,” Morton says.

don’t want those added stresses, then renting is a good option for you …. Some people, [especially those just starting out], just want to run their biz and go to work.”

Here’s more on what to consider when it comes to renting versus owning.

Mind Your Lease

Lachowitzer got his start as a mechanical repair shop owner more than a decade ago. He acquired his collision repair shop, which has annual sales of $2.4 million, five years ago.

He owns the body shop’s building, planning this year to double its space

June 2022

with a $1 million addition. He rents the space for one of his four mechanical repair shops, having bought an existing shop that was an original tenant in its strip mall location.

The shop’s legacy, coupled with favorable terms and longtime control of the lease, make that situation work, Lachowitzer says.

Ian Morton, the owner of two southern Arizona shops, Fix Auto Tucson and Fix Auto Sierra Vista, says he rents the space for his Tucson location, although “not by choice.” He acquired his Tucson shop, along with his landlord, in January 2019.

“Renting comes with more restrictions on what I’m able to do and what I want to do in terms of capital investments,” Morton says. “I’m very strategic about investing money into the property that I rent.”

That means that while he remodeled the Tucson shop’s office space, he says he didn’t do it to the extent he would have if he’d owned the building.

Still, the situation has its upsides.

Though Morton says the opportunity to buy the building likely isn’t coming anytime soon (it’s been owned by the same family for decades), he negotiated the lease and, with some work, has first right of refusal to purchase the building should it go up for sale.

The building, a distinctive pink with a layout that can produce strong revenue ($4.2 million per year), also has the advantage, he says, of having been a collision repair shop for some 40 years.

“Moving the business is probably not what we’ll look at doing,” Morton says.

“We’ll just look at expanding the footprint in the market.”

Why To Buy

Morton, who started in the business working at his family’s shop before serving in the army and then returning back to the shop (along with stops at the corporate level for a couple of large MSOs), owns the building where his Sierra Vista shop operates.

He purchased the building, a 9,600square-foot former electrical supply warehouse, for $400,000 in October 2019.

Though Morton says the previous owner of the building was initially not interested in selling to him, once that owner understood the extent of renovations planned

37

for the space, which ended up costing $200,000, he opted to sell.

“Now, anything that I want to do, I don’t have to call and get my landlord to agree to letting me knock out a wall,” he says. “It’s just, ‘Talk to my construction team, get the permits, and make it happen.’”

Morton’s investment is already showing returns–he says the property value of his Sierra Vista shop has doubled since he purchased it. The shop is posting annual sales of $2.2 million per year.

Morton and Lachowitzer both say they have plans for expansion, and are only interested in acquisitions where they’d have control of the property.

“Every location we look at, for mechanical or collision, we disqualify them if they’re not a building I can buy,” says Lachowitzer.

Morton says he’s on the same page.

“I’m at the point where more than likely, any acquisition would require the ability to acquire the land,” he notes.

Think Long Term

While control of a property is a major benefit of ownership, the most significant one, Morton and Lachowitzer agree, comes down the line.

“It’s a long-term investment; you have to think about it that way,” Lachowitzer says, explaining that after a couple decades of work, you could build a business that’s worth some cash, though the real payoff is in the real estate.

Pay off the mortgage on a building over 20 years and you might be in for a payday of $1 million or $2 million, he says.

“That’s where you’re going to get the return on your hard work,” Lachowitzer says.

Morton, who also owns a commercial property in Sierra Vista that he rents to a large MSO (see box), says he sees his future expanding beyond what’s been a working life in collision repair.

“The long-term strategy is the financial freedom and security that are in the property,” he says. “That’s it.”

Getting both his shops going just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic means he’s faced any number of challenges, says Morton, something that’s shifted his perspective. He says he’s not necessarily in the collision repair business—he’s in the investment business.

“Being in collision,” Morton says, “is funding my investment strategies.”

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COLUMNS

PROCESS DRIVEN

Work Your Certs

If you want to see significant ROI on your OEM certifications, precision marketing is the key to success During my time in the collision repair indus-

try, I’ve learned that as a general rule, people who complain the most about OEM certifications not being worth it are, frankly speaking, expecting something that’s not going to happen. They often think to themselves, “OK, I’m (insert specific OEM here) certified now, so they’re going to send me a ton of work. The fact is that it just doesn’t work like that.

OEM certifications are definitely a marketing tool more than anything else. If someone calls and you’re Honda certified, for example, there is such a lack of awareness at the CSR level where if someone calls and says, “I have a Honda,” for example, and your shop is Honda certified, almost never do the CSRs say, “I’m so sorry, but you’re in really good hands because we are a Honda certified shop, and we’re the only ones who have advanced training for your car.”

Your goal should be to sell that certification from the first phone conversation all the way to the end of the repair process. The shop owners who aren’t doing that are the ones who I hear complain the most, because they believe having that plaque on their wall should result in bigtime returns.

Unless they have highly restricted parts, which most of them don’t, you need to expect that the OEM isn’t going to just hand you business. In fact, the manufacturer isn’t necessarily going to send you anything. You might be placed on a website locator or something similar, but you have to make sure that your insurance companies are aware of your certification, as well. For example, an insurance company might list on their website what certifications you have, but again, too many shop owners think that just having that plaque on the wall will get it done, and that just isn’t the case.

When you get certified, it’s often the case that the OEM requires a shop owner to buy tools that the shop rarely uses. Tesla, for instance, makes a shop purchase all kinds of stuff that it will likely never utilize.

For my shops, we have Teslas in here every day, and they make us buy stuff for a oneoff scenario that rarely happens, and we end up having these tools that are hardly ever touched. When I was an owner, I had a locked room where we stored all the OEM tools. A few people had access to a key, and if we needed

June 2022

something we’d pull it out. And to be frank, a lot of the stuff are things a shop should have on hand anyways, regardless of the vehicle make or model.

I do believe this is going to change in the future, however, especially if manufacturers begin to further restrict parts. Parts are really what an OEM certified shop wants, because then that brings more value because they’re the only ones who can get quick access to them while other shops have to wait in line.

If you’re on the edge deciding whether to make that jump and become certified, make sure you commit to using the certification to your advantage as much as you can. If you and your staff aren’t prepared to do that, it’s going to be tough to have any ROI. From what I’ve seen, the industry isn’t adding more locations, and in fact there are fewer body shops, which makes it more competitive, so anything you can do to be in tune with this industry is still worthwhile.

I wouldn’t say, however, that the smart move is that more certifications will result in a better return. You really have to look at your market.

If you’re in a market, for example, that doesn’t have many luxury cars and the cost of certification is expensive, I’d give that a hard look before deciding one way or the other.

Another important aspect to consider is if a certification is restricted to how many shops can be on it. In those cases it makes a lot of sense to get the certification if you know there aren’t other shops in your area that have it. If there are no restrictions on a certification and you know every shop in the area has them, I’d be likely to shy away from that.

In short, don’t put on the blinders and just look at revenue. Make the right decision based on research you’ve done for your market. Regardless of the certification you have, the key is you have to work your certifications for whatever you want to get out of them.

Nothing is just going to come to you business-wise because you have that plaque. If your customer has a vehicle you’re certified in, it should be brought up so many times during the repair process that a customer feels so comfortable in your expertise with their car that they believe they have no other choice but to get it fixed with no one but you.

39

R YA N C R O P P E R is the Alaska regional director for Classic Collision, formerly Able Body Shop.

EMAIL:

rcropper@ablebodyshop.com

ARCHIVE:

fenderbender.com/cropper

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STRATEGY

A Marketing Breakthrough Tom Bemiller struggled for years figuring out ways to market his shop so he could see if the money he was spending was being converted into actual repair orders. He finally found a solution when he utilized geofencing.

CASE STUDY

THE GREATEST MARKETING CHALLENGE

A shop owner shares his journey into hyper-targeted marketing

By MIKE MUNZENRIDER

June 2022

40

The Backstory

The backstory starts in a familiar way.

Bemiller says he started sweeping floors in a body shop when he was 14, in need of a job close enough to his house so that he could ride his bike.

He did that for a couple years, moving from grunt work on the shop f loor to helping his boss in the office. He went off to college to study pre-med while still helping the shop owner with presentations, spreadsheets, and letters, working via email.

fenderbender.com

MICHAEL REEVES

A S I N G L E C H A L L E N G e looms largest when it comes to marketing a collision repair business.

That’s according to Tom Bemiller, the owner of three shops in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area that have a total annual revenue of $7 million.

“The biggest challenge with marketing in this business is people don’t need us until they need us,” he says, explaining auto body repair isn’t like marketing a cool new gadget—need doesn’t occur just because the product exists.

“Nobody says, ‘I need to get my car fixed,’ when it doesn’t need to be fixed.”

Bemiller, with some two decades of experience in the collision repair industry, says he’s searched high and low for a marketing tactic that meets that challenge.

“I’ve been experimenting with marketing for my entire career,” he says, noting that not a single tactic has allowed him to reach customers when they need his shops—except for one.

THE AUREUS GROUP OWNER:

TOM BEMILLER

LOCATION:

ZIEGLERVILLE, PA., AND BROOKHAVEN, PA.

STAFF SIZE:

25 TOTAL

AVER AGE SHOP SIZE:

21,000 SQUARE FEET TOTAL

AVER AGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT:

160 TOTAL

NUMBER OF DRPs:

8

TOTAL ANNUAL REVENUE:

$7 MILLION

Upon graduation, Bemiller says, he realized medicine wasn’t what he wanted to do, so he moved back in with his parents, and found his way back to the body shop, working on various projects.

“That’s ultimately when I decided to make my career in this industry,” he says.

MICHAEL REEVES

The Problem

Bemiller admits he’s never been into cars, but, at 22 years old and with his decision made, he says he saw opportunity. And something else, too.

“I saw an industry that kind of sucked,” he says bluntly. “I thought I could change the industry, figure out new ways to do things. I thought I could do it better, and that still drives me today.”

Moving on from his job at that first shop, he acquired Dave’s Autobody in Zieglerville, Pennsyvania, changing its name to Aureus Auto Body. His threeshop operation is rounded out by two other later acquisitions: Mercer Auto Body in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and Ed’s Auto Body in Brookhaven, Pennsylvania.

He kept the two latter shops’ existing names (see box for more details), and the three operate together under “The Aureus Group” umbrella.

“I’ve tried lots of different marketing tactics over the years,” he says. “Most marketers create what I call the ‘marketing cloud of confusion.’”

That cloud, Bemiller says, is made up of factors that don’t matter. He remembers when he first got started, he worked with

June 2022

a website builder who always talked about how many page views his shop received.

The problem, however, is there wasn’t any proof that eyes on his site were helping his business.

“That didn’t translate into revenue for me,” he recalls.

In his experience, Bemiller says, marketers seek to get paid for activity— digital ads, for instance—but they won’t seek to get paid for results, i.e. jumps in revenue.

With that biggest marketing challenge in the industry in mind—reaching people when they need collision repair— Bemiller says he’s come to a specific line of thinking.

“An accident is traumatic,” he says.

“People call the cops, then the insurance company, and that insurance company is grabbing them and saying, ‘This is what we want you to do.’ If I’m not grabbing them right then, too, I might as well light my [marketing] money on fire.”

So how does Bemiller reach customers in their time of need for his shops?

The Solution

“Geofencing,” Bemiller says, “is the very first tactic that anybody has shown me that I can use to hit the customer when they need us.”

The way geofencing works is by tracking cell phone IP addresses as they come and go from digitally “fenced” properties, which, in Bemiller’s case, are his competitors’ sites. Those phones and IP addresses equate to people likely in need of collision repair, and having indexed that digital information, Bemiller can then direct those individuals to his shops.

“If they get into an accident and need a body shop, then I can show them ads,” he says. “They click, they land on my website.

Now I have an opportunity that I can convert into a repair order.”

How has geofencing worked in practice for Bemiller’s shops?

He says he’s been running a particular campaign for five months, seeing on average of 21 potential customers visiting one of his shops after visiting a competitor. That works out to 105 total people over the fivemonth span.

Those potential customers were turned into 83 captured jobs, which equates to an impressive capture rate of 79 percent.

41

The average repair order for those jobs, he says, has been $3,000, which comes out to a total revenue generated by the campaign of $249,000.

Should those numbers hold, Bemiller says, he’s looking at an annual geofencing-related revenue of $597,600, at an annual cost of $24,000 for the marketing service.

The Aftermath

With the success of his geofencing efforts, Bemiller notes his other marketing efforts have all but stopped.

He says he still uses some hyper-targeted Facebook advertising, and that he continues to support local teams and community organizations.

“That does have an effect that’s more difficult to measure,” Bemiller says. “Over a long period of time it’s effective. Outside of that I really don’t do anything. I do the geofencing and I continue to optimize my website.”

That optimization can come down to design tweaks, like if a red button or a blue button gets more potential customers to submit their information. He says he knows that from experience, if individuals fill out a form for his business, they’re likely to show up at his door.

“My biggest opportunity for growth right now is increasing the conversion rate on my website,” Bemiller adds.

The Takeaway

The collision repair industry differs from many others, Bemiller says, so be wary of how you spend your money on marketing if you want it to be effective.

“I’ve wasted a lot of money over the years and a lot of time and frustration dealing with marketers,” he says. “If they really don’t understand our business I would be shocked to see a digital marketer have success in our industry. It’s very different from many businesses.”

Keep in mind when your customers will actually need your body shop, Bemiller notes, and understand what happens to the cash you spend to get the word out about your business.

“You have to understand the entire journey your marketing dollar is going to take,” he says, “from the time you spend it to the time you’re going to get it back as revenue.”

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STRATEGY

ADAPT

THE BATTLE RAGES ON

Massachusetts’ right to repair law is now at the center of a national conversation on aftermarket repair GETTY

By N O A H B R O W N

T H E S T RU GG L E F O R the right to repair is nothing new.

The automotive aftermarket—and other industry aftermarkets alike—have been working to get the tools and information they need from OEMs to make safe and complete repairs on a wide array of devices ranging from phones to cars for decades.

According to the Repair Association, the struggle for access to repair data can be

June 2022

43

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STRATEGY

traced back to a U.S. Department of Justice antitrust order filed against IBM in 1956 that forced the company to allow for aftermarket repairers to have access to proper equipment and information.

Fast forward more than a half-century, and the front line in the battle for the right to repair in the automotive sector has been shifted to Massachusetts, where in 2020 nearly 2.6 million residents voted to implement statewide legislation that ensured the right to repair for all aftermarket providers.

In the nearly two years since then, the law has been challenged by the Alliance of Automotive Innovation (AAI)—an industry lobby group made up of more than 30 automotive and technology OEMs, and a decision in that suit has been delayed by at least 12 months.

The Backstory

When Question 1 was presented to Massachusetts voters, it clearly laid out what a “yes” vote supported and what a “no” vote opposed. Just under 2.6 million voters—or

roughly 75 percent of the votes cast in that election—voted “yes” and chose to enact a state-wide measure that would require OEMs to install in their vehicles a standardized, open-data platform that would allow aftermarket facilities to retrieve diagnostic information and repair procedures through a mobile app starting with model year 2022.

Aaron Lowe, senior vice president of government and regulatory affairs for the Auto Care Association, says this very clearly and plainly indicates overwhelming support for the independent repair industry.

“Anyone who has wireless data access has to make sure that the customer could direct that repair and diagnostic data to an independent shop from the vehicle if they want to do business with them,” Lowe says.

“That was to ensure there was continued competition; that companies could compete for repair business.”

Two weeks after the measure passed in November 2020, AAI filed a suit to challenge the decision, and a trial was set for June 2021.

In the meantime, automakers such as Kia and Subaru began disabling all telematic systems in their vehicles in Massachusetts as a way to comply without having to develop the system required by Question 1.

After a week-long trial in June 2021, Lowe says it seemed a decision was imminent; Judge Douglas Woodlock had expressed wanting to have a decision within a month or two.

Then came a delay. And another. And then three more.

The most recent one, which Woodlock issued in April, pushed a potential decision for the suit to July 2022, well over a year since the trial started.

“It’s an amazing amount of time, and the delays are surprising, considering that in the earliest stages of the trial he was wanting to get this decided as soon as possible,” Lowe says.

What does that mean for the aftermarket?

Lowe says it’s a concerning trend—auto-

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makers continue to install telematics technology and other ADAS systems without a way to ensure competition for repairs.

The main issue isn’t a lack of ability to comply with the voter-approved mandate, Lowe says; the tech and systems needed are already available and can be implemented fairly easily.

“We’re really not that far off at all. It’s really a case of the manufacturer deciding they’re going to comply rather than just saying ‘we’re just going to stick our feet in the ground,’” he says. “There are a lot of different avenues where data is being shared and is done so securely and safely. This technology is not really rocket science. It can be done.”

Instead, it’s a matter of control, and right now OEMs have done everything they can to make sure they remain the “gatekeepers” of a vehicle’s data for as long as possible.

This is where the lawsuit in Massachusetts becomes even more important. Judge Woodlock’s decision would be the first of its kind in the automotive space, and it has the

ability to set the tone of the right to repair debate for the rest of the country.

“It’s hard to speculate on exactly what the impact is going to be until we actually see what he says,” Lowe says. “He has a lot of different options and how he can rule on this … we need to see what the substance is.”

This drawn-out process has already benefited OEMs, who have been able to delay compliance on the grounds that federal law preempts the state initiative. To make matters worse, whoever loses the lawsuits is likely to file an appeal, which will drag the process out even more.

“The more this judge delays actually issuing a verdict, the longer we go without actually addressing this whole issue of data, access and compliance,” Lowe says. “It’s a loss ultimately for the car owners in the state of Massachusetts, but it’s a loss for the aftermarket as well.”

Hope on the Horizon

As frustrating as the current situation is for

the aftermarket, Lowe says there are reasons to be optimistic.

He points to the fact that a bill such as the one Massachusetts voted for received such overwhelming support as key evidence that the general public is siding with the aftermarket.

A similar bill to the one in Massachusetts is currently working its way through the federal legislature that would impose similar mandates.

As long as shop owners continue to help educate their customers on why the right to repair is important and how they can support local efforts to pass legislation protecting that right, Lowe says the aftermarket is in–and will continue to be in–good fighting shape.

“It’s critically important that, with technology changing, the owner of the vehicle continues to be the one deciding who’s going to be able to access their vehicle to do the repairs. That’s ultimately what’s at stake here,” Lowe says. “We’re going to continue to fight to make sure that repair continues to be open and competitive.”

FOLLOW WHAT THE LEADERS FOLLOW CONNECT WITH FENDERBENDER FOR THE L AT E S T C O L L I S I O N R E PA I R C O N T E N T June 2022

45

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STRATEGY

A S A S H O P O W N E R , there’s a fine line to walk between deciding whether to complete all repair orders in-house or use a mobile repair service to assist you in high-volume work such as dent repair or window replacement.

On one hand, many shop owners are hesitant to partner with another business that will typically pocket between around 25 percent to 50 percent of the revenue for repairs being completed. On the other hand, some shop owners will argue that any revenue is better than losing a customer to an outside vendor.

SA LES+M A R K ETING

THE PROS AND CONS OF UTILIZING MOBILE REPAIR SERVICES

Choosing whether to work with a mobile repair service can have positive impacts if you pair with the right partner GETTY

By S T E V E B A U E R

June 2022

46

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So is there a formula shops should follow when it comes to picking up the phone to call in extra help? The short answer is no, and factors like location, competition from other shops, and finding a reputable vendor to partner with all weigh into a complicated equation.

The Pros of Cultivating Vendor Relationships

According to FenderBender’s 2022 Industry Survey, an overwhelming number of shop owners (88 percent) say less than 10 percent of their business is through outside vendors.

What that number doesn’t tell you, however, is when those shops are taking advantage of outside help.

According to Rodney Vance, owner of PDRUSA1, a Nashville, Tennessee-based company that specializes in paintless dent repair, body shops won’t hesitate to use companies like his when there are major weather events, particularly severe hail storms.

“When there are big weather events across multiple states, we get deluged with calls from shops needing help because they don’t have enough technicians to handle the volume of cars coming through their front door,” he says.

Vance estimates that in the event of severe hail storms, a shop may receive hundreds, if not thousands, of inquiries from potential customers looking to repair dent damage. In situations like those, he adds that it’s important to vet who you choose to work with, since many “pop-up” businesses will sometimes offer a shop 40 percent or more of the revenue share, but as the saying goes, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

“As a shop you’re going to get a lot of cold calls from mobile vendors offering you their services,” he says. “I offer shops 25 percent of the revenue back to them, but what I do for the shop owners is much different than the guy who’s offering a much larger discount.”

Vance says the first thing he’ll tell a body shop is that he writes in CCC One, a popular collision estimating software. By doing that the body shop simply needs to take his estimate and download it onto their system, which frees up their service writer to focus on other jobs.

“We do all the estimates, do all the im-

June 2022

agery, take all the pictures, and try to make the process as simple as possible for the shop,” he says.

He adds that reputable companies will also ensure they stay within the framework of a shop’s DRP guidelines, and should have an in-depth knowledge of what each insurance company allows as far as payments, etc. Partnering with a vendor that doesn’t stay within that DRP perimeter puts a shop at risk of being redflagged by the insurance company.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re working with a dent repair company, glass repair, whatever,” he says. “If they aren’t doing things the right way, it’s going to immediately make you gun-shy about partnering with an outside vendor in the future.

He adds that if the job isn’t done to the standards you hold for your shop, your reputation will take a hit. If a customer is happy with the work you’ve done they might tell three or four people, but if the job was done in a shoddy or unsafe fashion he says you can be sure they’ll let 10 times as many know about it.

Should You Invest in Adding Services?

Jim Osborn, owner of Concho Collision and Auto Glass in Texas, says after running the numbers he realized he was paying his mobile glass vendor as much as a full-time employee. He made the decision to make that person a permanent member of his shop’s team.

Osborn is an example of a trend of more body shops bringing traditional mobile services in-house, and says he’s seen a notable jump in the shop’s revenue.

“We were losing as much as $5,000 or more depending on the month on outside glass vendors,” he notes. “In the end it made sense to add someone who could focus on bringing that money back to the shop.”

And, as Vance mentioned earlier, Osborn struggled getting his glass vendors to perform proper work and service his accounts to fit his shop’s processes. The shop went through several different vendors before making the move to bring the service in-house.

“The vendors were busy themselves, and had trouble coming to the shop for same-day glass repairs. As a result, cus-

47

tomers at the body shop often had to wait an extra day or more before they could pick up their vehicles,” he says.

While Osborn initially had a vendor onsite full time, eventually he realized that financially it made sense to permanently add the glass service for his customers.

“We decided at first to hire a full-time glass repair technician to work here just to remove windshields or install new glass,” Osborn says. “But he was bringing in so much work we decided to go into the glass sales side of the business.”

The new glass repair area gets roughly 50 jobs per month. In addition to the physical, non-moving location, the team also added mobile glass repair vans so they could work for other businesses outside the area and capture more fleet work.

“We do service a couple shops located outside our area if they don’t consider us competition,” Osborn says.

Osborn adds that the team at the body shop and his glass repair business began working seamlessly to coordinate repairs so customers were back into a safe car in a shorter amount of time.

Finding the Right Partner to Fit Your Needs

The bottom line when it comes to mobile repair is deciding whether the extra revenue source is worth the potential pitfalls that can come with pairing yourself with an outside vendor.

Vance suggests doing your research by searching for mobile services being offered in your area, checking the Internet for customer reviews, and deciding exactly how you want the partnership to work before coming to any agreement.

“There are some bigger names out there that you’re likely familiar with, or a more established name like Dent Wizard or Safelite,” he says. “It doesn’t mean that a smaller business can’t be a great long-term partner, but doing your due diligence before bringing anyone in will save you from big headaches down the road.”

And as was the case with Osborn, if you want to bring an extra service in-house, make sure you’re considering more than just your bottom line.

“In the end it’s about giving the customer the best repair experience possible,” Osborn says.

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COLUMNS

IN THE TRENCHES

Put an End to Free Body Supplies It’s time to start getting insurance companies to pay for your shop supplies auto body shops consistently give away body supplies for free. Why isn’t it standard practice to charge body supplies and how do we effectively charge for them? My favorite insurance company argument regarding this topic goes something like this: Adjuster: It’s “standard practice” to pay for paint and supplies because paint leaves with the vehicle.

Estimator: Body filler doesn’t leave with the vehicle? I am pretty sure body filler does leave with the vehicle. Would you like me to show you?

Adjuster: Body filler is just the cost of doing business; it’s the same as your tools and equipment and that is why we don’t pay it.

Estimator: Body filler isn’t the same as a frame machine; it’s needed to complete the repair and leaves with the vehicle. The frame machine, however, stays here.

My second favorite argument typically follows along these lines: Adjuster: We already pay for body supplies; that’s why it’s called paint and supplies. The supplies part covers for all paint and body supplies needed in the repair.

Estimator: Then why is it only calculated off paint hours and not paint and body hours?

I’m sure most of you have had this argument with an insurance company at some point. Charging for shop supplies is standard practice for nearly everyone else in the auto industry, so why isn’t it for auto collision?

You may be saying, “OK, I get it, I need to be charging for body supplies, but how do I effectively do that?” It’s easy to implement this on self pay customers by charging a standard amount for body supplies calculated off the body labor hours sold, just like paint and supplies are calculated off paint labor hours. I’d estimate the average is $5 to $10 per body labor hour.

Insurance repairs are going to take more effort and tracking, but you can get insurance companies to pay for body supplies. The key is to not call them body supplies and charge a standard rate. Instead, itemize the body supplies on the estimate and send in a supplement for them at the end of the repair.

If you have an online supply tracking system that’s linked to your RO, and your techs can mark

June 2022

down supplies as they use them, then you’re already off to a good start. A lot of these supply tracking systems generate invoices for you so you can bill the “list” cost out to the insurance companies.

If you struggle to get your techs to track supplies in your system,or you don’t have an electronic system, you’ll have to find a way to track body supplies for your shop that works for you and your team. I struggle with this and it’s an ongoing battle, and have learned that what’s worked for my small shop is dealing with it in two ways.

I’ve placed a white board next to the area where my supplies are stored. As the techs gather supplies for a vehicle, I have them write the RO number, part number, and quantity on that board. At the end of each day one of our team members enters what’s been written on the board into a parts tracking system that generates our invoices.

I also have a supply sheet that goes with each vehicle, and the techs can mark down supplies there, especially ones they may have already had at their work stations. At the end of the repair that sheet is turned in so we ensure we’re charging for all supplies needed.

If you don’t have a similar computer program you can create template invoices. They’re easy to generate and great to supplement with. I had my jobber create a template invoice with all of their information and mine on it, but left it blank. We then went in and created template invoices for all of the shop supplies we use on a regular basis and purchase in bulk (body filler, clips, seam sealer, grinding disks, sand paper, epoxy, etc.). On each template we imputed the part number, name, and individual cost, and left the quantity and total sections blank to be filled in later. We then named each template (seam sealer template, body filler template, etc.).

At the end of the repair we’d go into the templates and find the ones we needed, and then simply plugged in the quantities we used on the repair and printed out those invoices for the final supplement with the insurance company. It’s a fast and easy way to provide the invoicing for documentation to justify why they are paying for those body supplies.

List each supply item by name and part number and mark it in the section of the repair estimate it was used for. Expect to get kickback for some items, but with time and effort, hopefully body supplies will just be another standard item insurance companies pay for without giving it a second thought.

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TIFFANY MENEFEE

has more than 20 years experience in the insurance business and now runs a collision repair shop in El Paso, Texas.

EMAIL:

tiffanykaymenefee@gmail.com

ARCHIVE:

fenderbender.com/menefee

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JOE GRETO

I think it’s fair to say it’s common knowledge that

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COLUMNS

OUTSIDE THE LINES

The Power of Making To-Do Lists Maximize your efficiency and empower yourself by creating a daily list wife. The day before we left, I realized I hadn’t done anything to prepare for our trip. Not only had I not packed, but I hadn’t even checked the weather of our destination to see what type of clothes I needed to pack. I usually research the area we are going to beforehand so I know what restaurants are available, and what other things we can do while there. With everything I had going on in my life, I just plain forgot. I decided to make a list of what I needed to get done before we left, and I started to get concerned when I looked at how long it was.

The following morning my wife texted me to see how I was doing with the list; it was approximately 10 a.m. I told her I only had one thing left to do, and that everything else on the list was already done. She was impressed, and I was left feeling relaxed and comforted knowing I was now ready to embark on our vacation. Literally 24 hours earlier I was in panic mode.

There is power in making lists. There are tons of books written about the things that successful people do, and included in almost every one of them is that successful people make lists. There’s something unique that happens when we write things down versus leaving them floating in our heads. The first thing it does is free our mind to concentrate on other things, instead of remembering what needs to be done.

Daniel Levitin wrote in his book, “The Organized Mind,” that most people can only hold up to four things in their mind at once. If you think about the number of things you need to accomplish in a collision center on any given day, it would be four multiplied by 1,000. There’s just no way to keep everything you need to do in your head. When we go without lists, we’re usually left with one of two outcomes: we stay late into the night finishing things up, or we get home feeling defeated thinking about all the things that didn’t get done that day.

Making a list at the start of each day of the important things that must get done is an almost surefire way to ensure they get accomplished. If you don’t believe me, I’d invite you

June 2022

to try an experiment where one week you don’t make any lists, and the next week you make a list at the beginning of each day. It won’t take you more than five minutes to make a list. Yet I’m willing to bet that those five minutes will save you more than two hours of your day.

Besides saving you time, I think you’ll find that making a list will empower you.

It will give you a clear understanding of what you can say “no” to throughout your day. Running a collision center can be chaotic at times; there’s almost always a fire to put out somewhere. Putting these fires out is usually the main reason we don’t accomplish what’s most important.

With a written daily to-do list, it allows you to prioritize one item over another.

With a clear focus on what needs to get done, you’ll find yourself getting the list completely checked off early in the day.

That will leave you the afternoon to put out fires, or deal with the general distractions that are likely to come your way.

If you’ve never made a habit of creating to-do lists, I’d suggest starting small.

Write down two or three things you want to accomplish in a given time period.

Make sure that you’re specific when making a list. If the first thing you write is “solve all the shop’s problems,” you’ll have no idea where to begin. Be as specific as you can with your list. If you need to add on to your building, you could start by putting on your list that you need to get three bids from different contractors.

It might seem overwhelming to put an addition onto your building, but it’s simple to call three contractors to get quotes.

Making lists is an easy habit to start, and I think you’ll find it’s life changing. It doesn’t cost you anything, but it will cost you significantly by not making them.

List makers get things done. The people who don’t make them are usually the ones who dream of getting things done. Which type of person do you want to be?

50

J A S O N B O G G S is the

owner of Boggs Auto Collision Rebuilders in Woodbury, N.J. He has attended the Disney Institute and Discover Leadership, and has studied lean manufacturing processes.

EMAIL:

jason@boggsauto.com

ARCHIVE:

fenderbender.com/boggs

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I just returned from a 10-day vacation with my

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