FenderBender - November 2019

FENDERBENDER.COM / NOVEMBER 2019

DEVELOP THE NEXT GENERATION OF MANAGERS PAGE 60

Strategies & Inspiration for Collision Repair Success

THE NEW WAY TO MARKET YOUR EQUIPMENT PAGE 49

RAINS:

CULTURE MASTER Your guide to building team chemistry that retains all-star employees PAGE 36

HOW TO COMPETE AGAINST GOLIATH

PAGE 33

Vision Focused Florida shop operator Sheryl Driggers' visionary leadership style means that the mission statement and company values are a constant topic of conversation at the shop and among staff.

5 WAYS TO SPEED UP HIRING

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 1 E 50 PAG

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Poised for Success Shop operations manager Nick Edwards is a study of perpetual motion, but frequent communication with employees leaves him supremely organized.

F E AT U R E

C A SE STU DY

S H O P TA L K

36

54

64

Building great team chemistry at a body shop requires both careful hiring and plenty of group collaboration.

Adding a towing service can put a body shop in position for financial growth.

COHESIVE CULTURE TOWING THE LINE EMILY GRIFFITH PHOTOGRAPHY

BY KELLY BEATON

BY MELISSA STEINKEN

PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST

Nick Edwards has inspired his staff to achieve a 97 percent CSI score by utilizing frequent check-in meetings.

BY MELISSA STEINKEN

Printed in the U.S.A. COPYRIGHT ©2019 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.

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 5

TAB LE OF CONTENTS

NOVEMBER

QUICK FIX

10

20

30

Producing stellar customer service

Collision repair decree in limbo

Herbers Autobody Repair

12

23

33

The merits of attending training

Analyzing Driven Brands' expansion

15

26

The importance of offering the highest level of service

Bolster vendor relationships

Chevy issues recall for software bug

PAST THE PAGE

ANALYSIS

NUMBERS

VIEWPOINT

17

DRIVER'S SEAT The importance of occasional time off

THE BIG IDEA

BY KEVIN RAINS

LIGHT HITS

Exterior Decorating Herbers Autobody Repair is a growing MSO in western Canada that frequently upgrades the exterior of its multiple facilities.

6 fenderbender.com | November 2019

28

COURTESY HERBERS AUTOBODY

AWARDS INSIGHT

SNAP SHOP

S T R AT E G Y

49

60

70

How to advertise your shop's equipment upgrades

How to pinpoint future shop leaders

Contact customers effectively

63

80

A next-level approach to standardize blueprinting

How to find your focus

IDEA SHOP

50

HUMAN RESOURCES Tips for researching job applicants

LEADERSHIP

UPDATE

IN THE TRENCHES

OUTSIDE THE LINES

BY JASON BOGGS

BY STEVE MORRIS

53

PROCESS DRIVEN GET T Y IMAGES

How to quickly improve efficiency

60

BY RYAN CROPPER

I push the limits and do what i love Because i'm a tech.

GET HANDS 0N. Sitting behind a desk all day? That’s not you.

Jumpstart your technical career in the transportation industry at TECHFORCE.ORG November 2019 | fenderbender.com 7

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TECH USA

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EDITORIAL Bryce Evans Vice President, Content and Events Anna Zeck Editorial Director Kelly Beaton Associate Editor

COLLISION

Melissa Steinken Staff Writer Nora Johnson Special Projects Editor

C A S T

Jordan Wiklund Special Projects Editor Jason Boggs Contributing Writer Ryan Cropper Contributing Writer Steve Morris Contributing Writer Kevin Rains Contributing Writer

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Jason Boggs Boggs Auto Collision Rebuilders Justin Fisher CARSTAR Yorkville Bob Pearson Pearson Auto Body

FenderBender’s

PODCAST NETWORK

Mark Probst Probst Auto Body Randy Sattler Rydell Collision Center Doug Voelzke Doug’s Custom Paint and Body

ART AND PRODUCTION Zach Pate Art Director

SERIES WITH NEW EPISODES EACH MONTH. Explore the industry’s biggest trends & most pressing topics.

Mitch Bradford Graphic Designer Fue Vang Graphic Designer Lauren Coleman Production Assistant

SALES Chris Messer Vice President and Publisher 651.846.9462 / cmesser@10missions.com Andrew Johnson Associate Publisher 651.846.9459 / ajohnson@10missions.com Nathan Smock Sales Manager 651.846.9452 / nsmock@10missions.com Ross Kirgiss Regional Advertising Sales 651.846.9485 / rkirgiss@10missions.com Shayna Smith Customer Success Representative 651.846.9460 / ssmith@10missions.com

ADAPT. DISRUPT.

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 Katie Cornet Event Coordinator Tiffany Fowler Senior Digital Media Strategist Kasey Lanenberg Marketing Communications Specialist Corey Steinhoff Administrative Assistant HOW TO REACH 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 ISSUES Past issue single copies are $8.

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HOW I DID IT. MSO PODCAST. VISION.

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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.

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November 2019 | fenderbender.com 9

PAST THE PAGE DISCUSSIONS, FEEDBACK, CONTENT AND MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB

PODCAST

COLLISION C A S T

Podcast Primer: Creating Shop Floor Efficiency

STREAMLINING CUSTOMER SERVICE For the website’s weekly blog post, FenderBender recently spoke with Susanna Gotsch, director, industry analyst at CCC Information Services, about how collision repair facilities can provide impeccable customer service (find the full blog entry at fenderbender.com/topservice).

In 2019, Gotsch feels it’s imperative that body shop staffs provide customers with frequent updates during the repair process.

“One of the key variables to [modern customers’] willingness to recommend a shop is the fact that they were kept informed throughout the process,” Gotsch says. “Putting that capability of streamlined communication into the hands of customers, in a way that they want” is important.

Gotsch says it’s equally important to be as transparent as possible with clients, speaking to them in “real-world speak” and not complicated collision repair jargon.

She also noted that more and more customers want the vast majority of their communication with businesses to be via text message.

“When you engage the customer in the process and put more tools in their hands that are easy for them to use,” she says, it “gives confidence to the customer that they’re selecting the right shop.”

LET’S GET SOCIAL The FenderBender staff recently hosted the magazine’s annual management conference, in the Minneapolis area. To see photos of the well-attended event, visit FenderBender’s Instagram page by searching @FenderBenderMag on that social media app.

10 fenderbender.com | November 2019

JOIN US ONLINE fenderbender.com fenderbender.com/facebook twitter.com/fenderbendermag fenderbender.com/linkedin instagram.com/fenderbendermag

GETTY IMAGES

REPORTER'S BLOG

FenderBender produces five podcasts per month, with topics aimed at offering advice on how to navigate life as a shop leader.

For a recent episode of CollisionCast, FenderBender sat down with one of this month's Snap Shop article sources, Rodd Hallett, the director of operations for Herbers Autobody Repair, an MSO in Edmonton, Alberta. The topic touched on how Herbers has earned a reputation for boasting extremely efficient shop floors.

Perhaps the biggest key, Hallett says, is Herbers’ focus on planning repairs as swiftly as possible.

“We bring the vehicle in, we’ll do a preliminary dismantling of the vehicle, with a journeyman technician and an estimator on hand, and we’ll try to discover 100 percent of the damage of the vehicle,” Hallett notes. “ And then schedule them for repair when 100 percent of the parts will be available.

“Because the largest inefficiency with the collision repair industry is if you don’t do a comprehensive estimate at the start of the repair and you bring the vehicle in and wait on a supplement.”

To hear more insight from Hallett, access the podcast episode at fenderbender.com/podcasts.

Essentials for Safe and Proper Honda and Acura Repairs

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November 2019 | fenderbender.com 11

BY THE NUMBERS THE TOPIC S, TRENDS AND METRIC S DRIVING YOUR OPER ATION

THE VALUE OF ATTENDING TRAINING Some would say the value of education is immeasurable.

But the 2019 FenderBender Industry Survey put that adage to the test, to an extent. While shop operators that said they personally attended industry-specific management training at least monthly tended to have solid net profits, they weren’t better than those that attended such training just once per year, for instance.

In general, shop operators that attended management training on a quarterly basis tended to have better annual revenue and shop floor efficiency than their industry peers.

Here’s a closer look at the survey findings.

FREQUENCY OF TRAINING SHOP OPERATORS WITH

NEVER

ANNUALLY

QUARTERLY

MONTHLY OR MORE

YEARLY SALES VOLUME OF $2.5M+

CYCLE TIME OF 7 DAYS OR LESS* *key-to-key cycle time

OVERALL NET PROFIT OF 11%+

AVERAGE TECHNICIAN EFFICIENCY OF 140%+

Sticking with the subject of training, not long ago, FenderBender provided indepth analysis of various effective training methods that Auto World Specialists in Honolulu used to educate technicians. For starters, the Hawaii shop gained insight from vendors on how the facility could utilize more effective, in-house continuing education courses. Read the full report, examining several such tips, at fenderbender.com/techtraining.

12 fenderbender.com | November 2019

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14 fenderbender.com | November 2019

FINES HE

T

T

AWARDS INSIGHT

CO

LLI

AI

IN

R

AWARDS P SION RE

FenderBender Awards Insights feature past FenderBender Award nominees. For more information, go to fenderbender.com/awards.

Tips for Building a Rapport with Vendors B Y K E L LY B E AT O N

Domenick D’Amore focuses on keeping customers comfortable and happy. He also tries to foster staff camaraderie.

But, the shop manager also takes a step that helps set Lino’s Auto Body Repair apart from many of its competitors: He puts an onus on making vendors feel truly appreciated. And, in the long run, that pays off.

“About a year ago, there was a new compound, and the [vendor], because I always talk with them, wanted to come show me the product,” recalls D’Amore, whose father, Lino, has owned the Illinois shop since the 1970s. “And the finish was beautiful. We’re using that product now, and it’s also saving time.”

In D’Amore’s experience, collision repair industry vendors aren’t always just trying to sell something. On many occasions, they’re trying to aid the industry and make shops more efficient. He tries to always keep that in mind—even when vendors visit Lino’s on an extremely busy day.

“When a vendor understands that you care about them and you show them respect, you’re going to get good results out of them,” says D’Amore, who was nominated by a coworker for a FenderBender Award due to his selfless nature.

“If you start discouraging [vendors], you’re probably going to have some problems,” he adds.

D’Amore, who has worked in numerous shop roles since starting in the industry at the age of 16, explains the keys to building a great rapport with vendors.

Embrace a team mindset.

COURTESY OF DOMENICK D’AMORE

One reason Lino’s has forged a few decades-old vendor relationships, such as with a local Honda dealer, is that D’Amore consciously strives to avoid any adversarial exchanges.

“We work together,” he says. “It’s supposed to be a team effort. You need them as much as they need you.”

D’Amore learned long ago that his shop needs to have a symbiotic relationship with vendors. That’s why he bites his tongue if his shop experiences an occasional parts delay, knowing that, by being understanding with vendors, that they’ll typically reward the loyalty at some point.

Try to display patience.

Similarly, D’Amore strives to avoid any tense conversations with vendors, even on the rare occasion that they deliver an incorrect part, for instance.

“To develop a good relationship,” D’Amore says with regard to vendors,

“you need to understand that, if a part doesn’t come in in the morning like it’s supposed to, that you’re not the only body shop out there. You need to have a little patience. Human errors happen.

“I mean, every shop wants their parts yesterday, but we have to [realize that vendors] are under a lot of pressure as well.”

If D’Amore encounters a parts delay at his shop, or, if a part arrives mislabeled, he tries to call vendors and have a calm, level-headed discussion.

“When you do something like that, and you give out positive energy with them,” he explains, “they’re willing and wanting to keep you happy. If you’re that body shop that’s constantly calling your vendor and complaining, eventually that grows tiresome—it develops bad blood.”

Be proactive.

D’Amore makes it a habit to let paint vendors, especially, know that he’d always love to hear about any new product

AWARDS NOMINEE:

DOMENICK D’AMORE — MANAGER LINO’S AUTO BODY REPAIR CAROL STREAM, ILL.

they have to offer. By doing that, he puts Lino’s near the front of the line for new offerings that could benefit the facility.

“I always talk to the paint vendors I use,” he says, “and just let them know that, if there’s a new product out that simplifies things, to let us know. Don’t feel like you’re going to be a bother if you stop by and have new products to show us.”

Yes, sometimes vendors visit his shop during less-than-ideal times, when the lobby area is overflowing with impatient customers. Still, D’Amore tries to set work aside for at least a brief visit with parts reps, paint vendors, or representatives of shop management companies.

Eventually, he has learned, cordial gesture pays off.

“I try to make them feel welcome here,” he says, “so they know that, if they have a new, efficient product that’s going to make something look nice, possibly cut costs, or make the job quality a bit better, I want to know about that.”

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 15

READ WHAT THE PROS READ. “I HAVE TO TAKE MY HAT OFF TO FENDERBENDER. IT’S DEFINITELY BETTER & ABOVE THE REST.” - Greg Lobsiger, Owner Loren’s Auto Body, Bluffton, IND.

Grow your collision repair business with ideas and insights from industry experts.

TO SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW FOR FREE TODAY, VISIT

FENDERBENDER.COM/SUBSCRIBE 16 fenderbender.com | November 2019

DRIVER ' S SE AT

Confessions of a Workaholic While there's never a perfect time for a vacation, they're undeniably important As I write this in mid-October, I’m four days away from a week-

long vacation—also my first time taking more than 1.5 consecutive days off work all year. I know, I know—it’s bad.

But it’s been a crazy year! We restructured the company, we’re launching a new brand, we were hiring and onboarding—I couldn’t possibly take vacation during that time! I just need to get over this hump and then things will calm down and I’ll have plenty of time for vacation! Right?

Have I convinced you with my desperate excuses yet? Or maybe they’re starting to sound familiar to you, too?

I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic. At my core, I just like working. A couple months ago, when my boyfriend and I were watching an old episode of “Mad Men” in which some of the employees were forced to head into the office at midnight for an emergency meeting, he turned to me and said, “That is so you!” I’m still trying to figure out whether that was a compliment or not.

Even my zodiac sign (Capricorn) is a dependable mountain goat, slowly but surely climbing the mountain.

I get a lot of personal satisfaction and fulfillment from working; as business owners, I’m sure many of you agree. And, it’s especially easy to justify those workaholic tendencies when that hustle can feel like the reason for a lot of business success.

At the recent FenderBender Management Conference, I heard similar sentiments from a lot of shop owners about the long days and hours they put into their businesses. But, I also heard an even stronger refrain from our speakers: the need to take care of yourself as a leader. We’ve all heard the studies about the importance of time off—it reduces burnout, increases productivity and boosts creativity. The underlying takeaway? Time off actually makes you a better leader. Having a personal life, pursuing hobbies, not checking emails on the weekends—it makes you a leader who is fulfilled in all areas of life, not just one.

That concept might sound obvious, but it can be surprisingly difficult to implement. As Jason Boggs said in a recent column, just because something is simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy. In this issue of FenderBender, there are a variety of stories all intended to help your business become more self-sufficient, grow as a leader and become the business owner you set out to be. There’s never going to be the perfect time to step away from the shop (or, in my case, the magazine) for a week. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t or that you don’t deserve to.

ANNA ZECK EDITORIAL DIRECTOR a z e c k @10 m i s s i o n s .c o m

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 17

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E C SV I N .CO M 18 fenderbender.com | November 2019

1 - 8 5 5 - 5 - E C S -V I N

QUICK FIX NEWS

|

IDEAS

|

PEOPLE

|

TRENDS

Meticulous Inspections Herbers Autobody Repair in Edmonton has developed a fine-tuned pre-inspection process aided by a state-of-the-art 3-D measuring system.

ANALYSIS VIEWPOINT LIGHT HITS SNAP SHOP

COURTESY HERBERS AUTOBODY

SN A P SHOP

30

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 19

QUICK FIX

ANALYSIS

1963 CONSENT DECREE HANGS IN BALANCE The U.S. Department of Justice is considering terminating a decree that could impact collision repair competition

BY MELISSA STEINKEN

“Can Your Business Survive Without Enforcement of the 1963 Consent Order?”

In the early 2000s, those articles covered the topic of the 1963 Consent Decree, which was initially created when the Justice Department settled a class action lawsuit brought against over 200 insurance companies, when three insurance trade associations agreed to refrain from practices like steering and setting prices. The question earlier this decade was whether or not the 1963 Consent Decree should be enforced.

And, in recent weeks, that question has been posed once more. The U.S. Department of Justice is currently considering terminating the decree.

The 1963 Consent Decree was enacted to legally instruct 265 insurers and other entities not to conspire to unreasonably restrain trade and commerce in the collision repair market (see Sidebar: 1963 Consent Decree Timeline).

They were restricted from setting prices and steering repair work away from certain auto body repair facilities.

“To us, we saw it as a perpetual decree that can’t be sunsetted,” says Tony Lombardozzi, collision repair industry consultant.

“To us, it was evident that, at the time, if someone made another insurance company not named in the original decree aware that the terms exist then it applies to them.”

Lombardozzi, who began his repair apprenticeship in 1957 and went on to open his own body shop in 1978, is a supporter of leaving the decree in place for many reasons, but one of the most 20 fenderbender.com | November 2019

important being that it “keeps insurance companies on their toes.” In other words, if insurance companies know that the decree is in place, they’re more likely to avoid practices like price-setting.

If enacted in the future, the motion to terminate the decree would be filed in the U.S. Southern District of New York.

Lombardozzi would like to see the decree enforced so that it could aid competition.

1963 Consent Decree Impact

A complaint was filed against the Independent Appraisal Plan in 1963.

The plaintiffs accused the insurance companies of eliminating competition, forcing lower labor rates and steering customers to preferred shops. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York enacted a decree to end the dispute.

Following the consent decree, insurers and co-conspirators were barred from placing into effect any plan, program or practice that has the purpose or effect of: 1. Sponsoring, endorsing or otherwise recommending any appraiser of damage to a vehicle; 2. Directing, advising or otherwise suggesting that any person or firm do business or refuse to do business with a) any appraiser of damage to automotive vehicles with respect to the appraisal of such damage, or b) any independent or dealer franchised automotive repair shop; 3. Exercising control over the activities of any appraiser of damage to vehicles; 4. Allocating or dividing customers,

territories, markets or business among any appraisers of damage to vehicles; 5. Or fixing, establishing, maintaining or otherwise controlling the prices to be paid for the appraisal of damage to vehicles.

When the decree was initially enacted, Lombardozzi says there was much more public acceptance of insurers controlling how much they have to pay for certain items, whether that was collision repair or property insurance.

Today, the courts are lenient, he says.

A judge is more likely to say that an insurer has the right to control the cost of the repair. The decree helps force the use of manuals, and make it so shops are able to price parts based on a normal, free enterprise system.

According to the consent decree,

GETT Y IMAGES

“’63 Consent Decree: Enforceable or Forgettable?”

1963 CONSENT DECREE TIMELINE 1946: Pennsylvania Council meets to consider collective action by its members to depress automobile material damage repair costs in Pittsburgh.

1947: The Pittsburgh Council adopts program known as the Independent Appraisal Plan, which was intended to depress and control automobile material damage repair cost.

1949: The Independent Appraisal Plan becomes a nationwide operation.

1961: The Plan is in effect in 177 localities throughout the U.S.

insurance companies were instructed to cancel and abandon their Independent Appraisal Plan and not revive, renew or again place that plan into effect.

For instance, insurance companies might only pay prices in manuals created by third-party providers like CCC, Audatex and Mitchell. They also might base repair time on those in the manuals. And those practices, of course, violate the consent decree.

How to Address the 1963 Consent Decree

Lombardozzi emphasizes that if collision repair shops want to be able to file class action lawsuits against companies for mandating prices, the shop owners and industry members need to speak out.

Some organizations like the AASPNJ, have issued public statements on the

decree. Jerry McNee, the president of AASP-NJ, strongly believes every business entity in the collision repair industry needs to get involved in the discussion.

“It takes a village to raise a kid, [and] it’s going to take everyone in the industry to go to meetings and pick up the phone to call their representatives about this decree to make a difference,” McNee says.

Lombardozzi recommends shops reach out to the DOJ and go onto the website to state three to four bullet points as to why they believe the decree should remain in place.

“Right now, no one is really paying any attention to the decree,” McNee says.

“If it goes away, it is going to be the Wild, Wild West out there between the collision repair shops and insurance companies.”

October 1963: A complaint is filed by the U.S. that alleges the defendants (ACSC, AMIA and NAMCC) violated Sections 1 and 3 of the Sherman Act, designed to regulate competition among enterprises.

November 1963: A final decree called the 1963 Consent Decree is enacted, instructing insurers to refrain from practices like steering or setting prices.

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 21

22 fenderbender.com | November 2019

QUICK FIX

VIEWPOINT

Dean Fisher President CARSTAR

The acquired franchise locations will keep the ABRA name, right?

Yes. They come in as a wholly-owned subsidiary within Driven Brands, under the ABRA name.

DRIVEN BRANDS ACQUIRES ABRA FRANCHISE LOCATIONS Driven Brands’ recent acquisition illustrates the company’s desire to strengthen its positioning with insurers, vendors and OEMs B Y K E L LY B E AT O N A N D A N N A Z E C K

COURTESY DE AN FISHER, GET T Y IMAGES

Driven Brands’ collision vertical continued its growth recently, when it acquired ABRA Auto Body Repair of America’s franchise locations.

In acquiring ABRA’s 55 franchise locations, Driven Brands strengthened its size and scale at a time when consolidation persists throughout much of the collision repair industry.

The transaction, which excludes the more than 300 corporately owned ABRA facilities, left Driven Brands with a slight shakeup of its executive staff, yet poised to strengthen its positioning with insurers, auto manufacturers, and vendor partners, according to Michael Macaluso, the president of Driven’s collision vertical.

Shortly after the acquisition was announced internally on October 1, FenderBender spoke with Dean Fisher, a longtime CARSTAR executive who will now assume the position of president of CARSTAR. Fisher addressed what the future holds for Driven Brands’ growing collision vertical and the industry at large.

How exactly did this acquisition come about?

Driven Brands is always looking to add franchise locations to their vertical, especially in the automotive space. … When ABRA purchased Caliber, we [had] enough relationships with the other consolidators in the marketplace to understand franchising is not their forte—the

franchising, they weren’t really working to build that out. [ABRA] grew to about 34 franchises in their organization and then sat there for a while. They then continued to build to 55 stores over time and Caliber elected to stop at that point.

Bottom line is, Caliber and Driven Brands coordinated a meeting and had a discussion around their franchise vertical.

Do you envision some overlap with elements like the EDGE Platform, or certain processes?

Driven Brands has a shared-service model, so, some things will remain proprietary processes to CARSTAR, and some things will be in our shared platform. For instance, human resources is a shared platform. IT is a shared platform.

Finance is a shared platform.

There will be things that will be specific, or priority to the specific brand. The EDGE Performance platform, right now, is specific to CARSTAR. ABRA’s operational excellence used to be their playbook, so that will be a process for them.

Now, under the Driven Brands family of business, we share verticals and information. And we love being part of Driven Brands because, in a shared-service model, we power each other up; we gain strength from those shared opportunities between brands. There’s a lot of purchasing power in that brand.

What has the reaction been like internally?

The reaction has been positive. We have learned with the Driven Brands family of businesses to embrace growth and change. The name is appropriate, right?

We like to drive hard, we like to run fast, and we like to grow. And CARSTAR is that way; we recently announced our 700th store this year, which means we’re adding at a pace of almost 100 stores per year right now.

And we compete against consolidators who are growing. So we actually embrace this. … [We are] the Ace and the True Value Hardware of the collision repair industry. We’re the guys that are November 2019 | fenderbender.com 23

SPONSORED CONTENT

THE IMPORTANCE OF LIGHTING FOR GLUE PULL REPAIRS PROPER LIGHTING ALLOWS TECHNICIANS TO VIEW THE FULL EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE AND MAKE MORE ACCURATE GLUE PULLS

Glue pull repair (GPR) is a method of auto body repair that gets the job done faster, more efficiently, and with less effort.

The results are better than traditional methods and yield ways your shop can develop and retain more customers and earn greater profits.

A key ingredient to successful GPR is the lighting. Superior lighting allows technicians to clearly see the areas needing repairs, and accurately correct damage without causing further harm to the panel or its finishes.

CLEAR COAT, TRADITIONAL REPAIRS, AND GPR Traditional stud welding versus GPR is no contest. GPR does not penetrate the metal so there is no need to fill, sand, and finish holes. Instead of stud welding, the technician uses removable glue to attach a “tab” to the dented area, then pulls the dent out. Significantly, with GPR, you retain the OEM finish coat on the vehicle.

On the other hand, when you install a weld-on stud, you’re most likely asking for trouble. After the pull, you have to remove the stud and work the surface, which sometimes involves filling and can lead to inadvertently pulling the stud out completely, especially with ultra-thin and aluminum panels.

With GPR, you eliminate most of this. Plus, not only does the finish coat remain, but the clear coat stays, as well. If there is any damage to the finish or clear coat, it is extremely minor and easy to repair.

GOOD LIGHTING AND THE GPR PROCESS The initial step in repairing a dent is assessing the damage.

Good lighting is essential. Using a professional GPR light, the tech views the panel, revealing the subtleties of the dent. This allows him to define clearly the area he will repair, make an initial assessment, and begin to develop an approach to the task.

GPR necessitates placing the tab correctly. The objective is to locate the tab in the center of the dent; placing it on a crown or high spot can cause even more damage. With good lighting, technicians can see the crowns and the lows around the damage and therefore can more easily determine the exact center of the dent.

AFTER THE PULL Good lighting is important after the pull, too. Because the OEM finish remains, the technician can see if any “shoulders” have occurred in the metal after pulling the dent and removing the tab. These are small elevations in the metal around the primary area of the dent that residual pressure in the metal sometimes causes, creating slight bumps and knuckles. With superior lighting, you can see shoulders and high spots to easily knock them back down.

IMPORTANT FOR ESTIMATORS Effective lighting is valuable for estimators, too. A good reflection up from the panel allows them to take accurate photos and measurements to include with the information they provide to insurance companies. An exact determination of the extent of damage saves time and effort for everyone involved in the repair: the estimator, the shop owner, manager, technician, and ultimately the customer.

KECO SHOP LIGHTING Most shops do not have quality lighting, or they rely on shop lights for seeing and working with dents and repairs. Shop lights from KECO are specifically designed to provide the type of light and light blends for clearly seeing areas on a car or truck that require repair.

The premium 36x8 inch, 12-volt, four LED shop light and stand is lightweight and durable, providing maximum light and visibility for car and truck collision repair, body restoration, and detailing. The four LED strips in a warm-cool-warm-cool setup provide three light configurations to help in a variety of work environments. The single-stage, vertical adjustment, extendable boom arm finds hard-to-reach angles. Non-mark endcaps protect finishes and body paint. The locking swivel castor with integrated battery tray allows for easy mobility between bays and around other areas of the shop.

NEW LEVEL 2 COLLISION MANAGER KIT This kit, developed especially for the body shop, is ideal for Level 2 work, which covers smaller and/or more complex dents and involves tools and techniques to take the repair to a more finished state, using even less filler (if any at all), and preserving more OEM finishes. Level 2 includes aluminum panel repairs and advanced lighting techniques.

OTHER LIGHTS We also carry other industry-compatible choices. These cool/ warm lights use LEDs, which provide a bright, steady light so technicians can more distinctly see imperfections in the panel.

Battery power makes these lights portable and easy to move around jobs—no chords to battle.

Order today from KECO and find out for yourself what a difference professional lighting makes in your shop’s repair efforts. For 5 percent off of your next order, enter the promo code: FENDERBENDER5 at checkout. Orders placed before 2 p.m. ship the same day and collision kits all come with free shipping.

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QUICK FIX

VIEWPOINT

going to take the independents that may be in jeopardy against Home Depot and Lowes and we’re going to put them under a consolidated umbrella and provide protection for them.

Is it for everybody? Probably not. Are we a savior? No, we’re not. There’s some independents that will probably go out of business in this industry. … We do enough research, have enough analytics, so we know who’s in trouble, because of the technology of the automobile and the demands on cash, frankly, and the cost to invest in repairing the vehicle.

So where does that sit? Mergers and acquisitions.

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Race on over to our social media to avoid missing Fuji Spray Auto™’s big reveal.

What do you think other companies don’t understand about the value of running franchise shops?

Franchising is hard work. The hard work of franchising is the independence of the franchise owner. I always say, our greatest asset is the independent owner. And, our greatest nemesis is the independent owner. It’s hard work to manage that process.

You coach, counsel, and consult.

The work is in helping independents understand what’s good for them, and how we partner. And, for them, to give feedback.

We embrace their feedback. Performance groups—our 20 Groups—are powerful advocates for our franchise organizations, because we learn from them and they learn from us.

In this industry, think about it: The consolidators were probably five years ahead of us in moving toward insurance contracts.

We built all the things that a consolidator has, to allow an independent to operate in that process—it being an independent store, under a brand protocol, looking like a consolidated process to the insurer.

The hard part is helping independents understand that they’ll need to embrace [insurance performance-based agreements].

You can say, “I’m just going to be DRPs,” or “I’m going to be certified,” and the OEs are going to force them into that. I think the independent needs to recognize that insurers will always be in play. … You don’t know who’s going to consolidate on the insurance side and how big that’s going to get.

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YOUR 24/7 COLLISION COMMUNITY fenderbender.com/linkedin fenderbender.com/facebook fenderbender.com/twitter fenderbender.com/instagram

Can we expect more of these types of acquisitions coming from Driven Brands?

Well, we’re Driven Brands; you can always expect more from us. That’s the way I’d say it.

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 25

QUICK FIX

LIGHT HITS

HENDRICK AUTOMOTIVE PLEDGES $1 MILLION TO NEW TECH FACILITY In late September, Hendrick Automotive gifted Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, N.C. $1 million, according to the community college’s website. The new facility will also bare the name of “Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence.”

“There is a major demand for auto technicians throughout our industry,” said Rick Hendrick, chairman of Hendrick Automotive Group. “At our company alone, we currently have 500 openings for techs, and that need will only grow in the coming years. With so many opportunities out there, it’s important that we find partners like Wake Tech.

“They care about their students and teaching advanced skills. As our manufacturer partners look to the future, Wake Tech will give people the training they need to build rewarding careers.

When they graduate, our company and

others in the auto industry will line up to hire them.”

The new 100,000-square-foot facility will allow more than double the number of students into its program (from 90 to 200) and will add a new degree program in collision repair.

Hendrick Automotive’s gift will provide funds for new technology and equipment, scholarships for students, and help recruit and retain expert faculty.

Construction is expected to be completed by the start of classes in the fall of 2021.

CHEVY MALIBU RECALLED FOR SOFTWARE BUG In late September, the Chevrolet Malibu was recalled for a software bug that could have led to disabled fuel injectors.

Approximately 177,276 Malibus model year 2018 were recalled. The issue involves an error that can occur in the engine control module (ECM).

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26 fenderbender.com | November 2019

Should the fault occur, data may become corrupted in the ECM, and in turn, the computer could disable the fuel injectors.

That issue could lead to engines not starting and in some cases, stalling while driving, which increases the risk of a crash.

Malibus without the 1.5-liter turbo-4 do not house the same ECM software and were not included in the recall.

CAPA ANNOUNCES NEW STANDARD FOR AUTO GLASS In late September, the Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA) announced its technical committee has approved the CAPA 801 Standard for the certification of automotive glass.

The standard applies to windshields but may be expanded to include side and rear windows in the future.

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The Advanced Vehicle Design Shift From diagnostics to telematics to the connected car, data and technology have drastically shifted the way collision repair businesses operate. And as many shops struggle to keep pace, technology shows no signs of slowing down.

In the last 2019 installment of FenderBender’s webinar series, we take a look at the latest in those changes, their impact, and recent research that points to just how much technology could impact crash prevention.

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News

For your daily collision repair news visit

fenderbender.com/lighthits

In the past, fit and clarity were the primary concerns when using aftermarket glass; however, with the growing trend of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) being incorporated with automotive glass, considerations surrounding the functionality of ADAS equipment must be also made.

Following feedback from the collision repair industry regarding the quality of aftermarket automotive glass, CAPA created the 801 Standard, which requires demonstrated compliance to applicable sections of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 205, Glazing Materials, as well as ADAS-related hardware, appearance, materials and dimensional requirements not addressed by the Federal standard.

The standard does not include requirements for glass installation.

THREE STATES RECEIVE GOV. FUNDING FOR AVS Virginia, Michigan and Ohio are set to

receive funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation for self-driving research.

The U.S. Department of Transportation plans to award a $7.5 million grant to the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan, the University of Michigan and the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti according to reports. The funding, granted to a collective of the organizations known as the Michigan Mobility Collaborative, comes from the Transportation Department’s Automated Driving System Demonstration Grants program. It is part of $60 million being doled out for autonomous-car testing by the Trump administration.

The U.S. DOT awarded an Ohio-based team of industry, academic and community partners a $7.5 million grant to develop autonomous cars. The grant will be used to develop and deploy automated transportation systems on the state's rural roads and highways.

The Virginia Tech Transportation

Institute (VTTI) in Blacksburg, Va., will receive $15 million in federal funding.

NHTSA PROBES 553K NISSAN SUVS The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in September opened a preliminary investigation into Nissan, according to a report by the Reuters news service.

NHTSA planned to investigate 553,000 Nissan Rogue sport utility vehicles after reports of their emergency braking systems engaging without warning or an obstruction.

Automatic braking systems typically activate when the technology senses objects ahead and the driver does not slow down.

The Center for Auto Safety petitioned NHTSA to conduct a formal investigation. NHTSA said it had 129 reports alleging triggering of the system and three reports about crashes with injuries.

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HERBERS AUTOBODY REPAIR

1

BY MELISSA STEINKEN PHOTO COURTESY HERBERS AUTOBODY REPAIR LOCATION:

5 facilities in greater Edmonton, Alberta OWNER:

Peninsula Capital Partners LLC (majority shareholder) SIZE:

22,000 square feet (head office location) STAFF:

135 (total for all locations) AVERAGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT:

150

ANNUAL REVENUE:

$5 million

1. EFFICIENT 3-D MEASURING The Edmonton, Alberta area features harsh, unrelenting winters, with an average annual snowfall of nearly 50 inches. Animal hits—including moose hits—are a frequent byproduct of the cold weather. As a result, Herbers Autobody Repair, with five locations in the Edmonton area, is well-equipped to handle such accidents.

To handle the relatively steady stream of animal hits, Herbers’ staff has developed a fine-tuned pre-inspection process featuring a full teardown, a full assessment of damage, and confirmation that parts are available. And, that inspection process is aided by 3-D measuring systems like a AccuVision model.

Thanks to that 3-D measuring system, Rodd Hallett, the Canadian MSO's director of operations, says his staff “can basically predetermine the underhood dimensions of a car in about 10 minutes.”

2. CERTIFIED ALUMINUM REPAIR To cater to the abundance of trucks and SUVs that are built using aluminum that are in Edmonton, a pair of Herbers locations have attained aluminum certifications. The MSO,

30 fenderbender.com | November 2019

3

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submissions@10missions.com.

which recently entered its fifth decade in existence, load levels the aluminum repairs by funneling that type of work to its location on the western edge of the city.

It’s not uncommon for 70 percent of the vehicles at that facility to feature aluminumbased platforms.

Thus, the shop features aluminum welding equipment, aluminum rivet guns, and a truck hoist system that aids in box panel replacements.

2

3. ESTIMATING STATION UTILIZATION The company produces a cycle time that far outpaces competitors: roughly seven days during warm weather months. Hallett says a key reason for that is its “estimation station,” at which an employee is located in the middle of the shop floor, in an effort to maximize efficiencies while minimizing miscommunication.

It’s a key element of Herbers’ overall lean initiative.

“With a file that has a supplement,” Hallett notes, “the traditional method would be to run the vehicle outside, write down the supplement, and then the technician would go try and find an estimator in the office; they would stop and talk to people, and it minimizes the efficiency of two or three technicians.

“What we’ve done is put an estimator centrally located in the shop, in order to minimize any inefficiencies, or downtime, on the part of technicians.”

4. TEAMS FOR REFINISHING

4

Another element that separates Herbers from competitors is its utilization of teams in the paint department—two painters, along with four preppers, per team. Fred Mueller, Herbers’ president, said the MSO learned that throughput technique thanks to past consultation from the Repair Plan Network in Colorado.

“We’ve taken out a lot of the wasted time that typically creeps in,” Mueller says. “A typical team is comprised of six people—and everybody jumps on the car when it comes into the refinish side. So, you don’t have one guy then overloaded with a big job.

“Everybody jumps on the job. Somebody does the priming, somebody does the sanding, some masking. We have dedicated painters where all they do is paint, all day long. That helps us to really push a car through much quicker than we had traditionally.”

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 31

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COLUMNS

THE BIG IDEA KEVIN RAINS

The Transformation Pyramid What can the coffee industry teach us about providing value?

MICHAEL HOEWELER, GETTY IMAGES

In my hands, I’m holding some raw cof-

fee beans. What are they worth? Pennies on the pound? A few dollars? Several dollars? The answer is: It depends.

I learned the bulk of this idea from a book called The Experience Economy

by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore. In the book they argue that our economy has entered a new day. What people are willing to pay for these days is mostly experience. But then they curiously end the book talking about transformation as the only thing above experiences and that will never be superseded. We’ll come back to that.

Let’s look at the hierarchy of value and what I’ve come to call The Transformation Pyramid. As we go through each layer of the pyramid I hope you’ll see that this applies equally to the overall customer experience as well as internally to our teams and cultures inside our shops.

First, the answer to the opening question. Technically those raw coffee beans are worth next to nothing. A few pennies at best. This is because in their raw state they reside on the bottom of the pyramid as a commodity. Commodities are the lowest value items in our economy. Do you think we’re experiencing commoditization as an industry? Absolutely! I heard someone a few months ago say that with insurance companies and the contracts they are putting into place it feels like a “race to the bottom.” In other words, it’s often no longer about doing a quality or safe repair or even delivering incredible customer service. It’s doing all that as cheaply as possible. Now, on one level that is understandable. Collision repair is all loss for them and they are trying

to mitigate losses for their shareholders.

Yet, on our side of the equation, it seems like the demands can sometimes conflict with quality, safe work and a great customer experience. In our industry and most others, there’s constant pressure to move down the pyramid to be the lowest cost solution.

On the second level and moving up the pyramid we have a good. Sticking with the coffee illustration, if we roast those beans and package them for a grocery store to sell they go up in value, right? Now those same beans once roasted and labeled and transported can be sold for around $10 per pound. What are the goods in our industry? We are at the end of the supply chain for goods like parts, paint and shop materials. The cost of these goods fluctuates based on what’s happening in the wider economy as well.

For instance, as I write this column, GM is on strike and we’re having a hard time getting GM parts. It’s starting to affect other elements of our business like cycle time and customer satisfaction. Would I pay more for a GM part right now due to

this scarcity? Yep! The value of goods affects us every day as shop leaders.

Moving up another layer we find services. Services are where humans interact. It’s where one person is literally serving another person and creating value because of that interaction. The interaction leads to the transaction. For coffee, this again increases the value. Think about when we go to a coffee shop or restaurant. Someone has taken the time to prepare and serve roasted and packaged beans by grinding those beans, adding some very hot water and then bringing it to our table or at least handing it to us over the counter. Now, there’s human interaction, a literal handoff from one person to another. What is that worth? At most restaurants and coffee shops now it’s a least a few dollars and we’re only using a tiny fraction of a pound. That one pound, if split into cups served, might be worth around $30.

In our industry, whenever we are face to face with our customers, or even just talking to them on the phone, we’re providing a service. That might be updating

KEVIN RAINS Kevin Rains is the owner of Rains CARSTAR Group with locations in Cincinnati, Ohio, West Chester, Ohio and Lexington, Ky. He is also an industry consultant and founder of Body Shop 2.0.

E M A I L : kev i n r a i n s @ g m a i l .c o m A R C H I V E : f e n d e r b e n d e r.c o m /r a i n s

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 33

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KEVIN RAINS

THE BIG IDEA

them on repairs. Service. Welcoming them to our shop. Service. Delivering the completed repair. Service. Yes, we fix cars but the business we are in is service. The human element is never going away. And I’m keenly aware of all the talk of AI and autonomous vehicles.

But there will still be humans dictating those transactions. If not, we have bigger problems and the machines have taken over and we’ll be living in a science fiction horror at that point.

The fourth level is experience. The true coffee experience reminds me of my favorite coffee experience of all time. You can likely picture walking into a favorite coffee shop to a multisensory experience.

As soon as you walk in you are hit with the wonderful aroma of recently roasted coffee. There is just a distinct smell and even many people who don’t like the taste of coffee can’t deny that the smell is out of this world. In this particular coffee shop, I was smelling coffee from all over the globe. Kenyan coffee. Indonesian coffee. African coffees. South American coffees. My nose literally circles the globe in seconds. In the background, there was classic jazz played by the masters from decades gone by. John Coltrane on sax.

Miles Davis on trumpet. And the visuals were all planned out, as well. Everything seemed to fit together in a beautiful color scheme. As I picked up my warm cup of freshly brewed coffee I was literally immersed in an environment that touched every sense I have.

What is that coffee worth now?

You already know it’s at least $4 but worth every penny for the value of the overall experience.

Our customers have gotten used to a very high level of service and experience as the wider economy continues to provide more and more. How can we live up to this? We have to keep pushing up the pyramid to offer the highest levels of service and experience if we want to stay in business. The days of the dusty, grimy office with papers everywhere and the customer waiting area being filled with out of date magazines is over. Shops that don’t really care about the overall customer experience will be a thing of the past.

Next month, we’ll look at how a transformative experience beats all the other levels of this pyramid and we are poised as an industry to deliver just that.

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HOW I WORK: CREATING A GREAT SHOP CULTURE A guide to making your ideal workplace culture a reality B Y K E L LY B E AT O N PHOTOGRAPHY BY TREW MEDIA

36 fenderbender.com | November 2019

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 37

FE ATURE

CREATING A GREAT SHOP CULTURE

S

heryl Driggers feels workplace cultures funnel down from the top.

A business’s leader sets the tone, she says. That’s why Driggers, a co-owner with Universal Collision Center in Tallahassee, Fla., speaks clearly, in an effort to command the room.

And, it’s a big reason why she takes an interest in the lives of her staff members.

The boss is the mood-setter, says Driggers, who helps lead an MSO with three locations.

“If we come in and we’re in a bad mood, or all we wanna do is pick out what’s wrong, everyone’s going to follow suit,” she says. “If we come in with energy, people follow suit.”

It’s what they call the vitality quotient in cognitive science.

And it’s vitally important for businesses like body shops. Because a leader’s energy often permeates a workplace, impacting an entire staff.

Of course, several elements factor into a collision repair facility’s culture, from the overall personality of the staff to compensation. And, if just one element of the workplace atmosphere is less than ideal, it can be extremely difficult to correct a culture.

And that, eventually, can impact a shop’s bottom line.

Yes, building a great culture starts at the top. But, in order for an ideal workplace atmosphere to truly take root, everybody needs to embrace their bosses’ philosophies.

When that happens, nobody has a mentality that ‘That’s not my job,’ and employees tend to help each other. And, when that happens, shops tend to succeed.

FenderBender spoke with several individuals to discover the most overlooked steps to building a great shop culture.

38 fenderbender.com | November 2019

Pacesetter

Sheryl Driggers (foreground) has helped Universal Collision Center achieve success by taking great care to assemble a staff that welcomes collaboration.

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 39

FE ATURE

CREATING A GREAT SHOP CULTURE

Step 1:

HIRE TO IT Of all the elements that can create a great workplace culture, hiring might be the most underrated, industry veterans say.

“Knowing the people on your team, and knowing and having the willingness to meet them where they are, really gives you an opportunity to develop real trust in those relationships, where people will go to battle for you,” says Mike Jones, the founder of Discover Leadership in Houston.

When Jones consults with body shop leaders, he instructs them to truly learn not just their own personal leadership style, but to also learn the way that their new employees want to be led. And that can be accomplished rather simply, really, through personality testing.

Performing such tests can help shop leaders identify the exact characteristics, talents and skills they’re looking for when hiring employees like CSRs or estimators.

“We’ve gone through and identified the personality traits they want at the front desk, meeting their clients when they walk in the door,” Jones says. “So, I can hire to that. And, if I hire to it then I know who’s in my building, and I know how to meet them where they are” as their boss.

Troy Hummel, who leads 48 employees for Michigan’s Champion Automotive Group’s five collision repair centers, keeps a close eye on personality traits during the hiring process.

Hummel, who served as the GM of a large independent shop earlier in his career, tries to weed out any candidates who have trouble embracing a team concept.

“When I’m interviewing,” Hummel says, “it doesn’t matter if it’s a porter or an estimator. I hire them first [based on] their ability to work within a system.

“If I’m looking at a candidate who’s an Atech, but he stirs the pot, he’s moody, he’s a prima donna, to me he’s less desirable,” adds Hummel, who oversees facilities that often produce $1 million per month in combined collision repair sales.

By thoroughly learning about their employees before they’re hired, a shop leader can ensure that their staff shares their vision.

“I’m going to give you my word,” Jones tells employees. “And, you’re going to give me your word—that this process, and our procedures, we’re going to follow them this way, every time.

40 fenderbender.com | November 2019

L E A D E R S HIP P R O F IL E

SHERYL DRIGGERS, CO-OWNER, UNIVERSAL COLLISION CENTER, TALLAHASSEE, FLA. My leadership style: “Visionary. We keep the vision and the mission as a continual topic of conversation, so we don’t lose sight of where we’ve been, and where we want to go, and what we want to deliver to our customers.”

An impactful leader in my life: “I went to school at Liberty University in Virginia, and I worked for the president of that university, Dr. Gillerman. He made such an impression on me.

He taught me what it meant to start building relationships with people, and developing people around you, and not just fixing it all on your own as a leader.”

Constant Communication

An often overlooked way to get employees to buy in to an overall shop culture is by seeking their input regarding various business matters.

Step 2:

FIRE QUICKLY Brad Wiersma tried to absorb as many of his father’s business lessons as possible, before Randy Wiersma left the collision industry in 2008. The elder worked exhaustively, listened to his employees, and earned respect.

Of course, you don’t achieve long-term success in collision repair without the ability to act decisively, either. And that’s one trait Brad Wiersma displays when necessary these days at Randy’s Body Shop in Paducah, Ky. If an employee has developed a habit of acting unprofessionally, Wiersma doesn’t let the wound fester. First, he issues a verbal warning. The next misstep results in a termination, documented in writing.

34%

Amount of shop owners, according to the 2019 FenderBender Industry Survey, that utilize a "visionary" leadership style in which they inspire their staff to succeed. Fifty-four percent of that group operate businesses that bring in no less than $2.5 million in annual revenue.

L E A D E R S HIP P R O F IL E

BRAD WIERSMA, CO-OWNER, RANDY’S BODY SHOP, PADUCAH, KY. My leadership style: “I’m a hands-on guy. I mean, it wouldn’t be unusual for me to help tear down a vehicle, or go up front and write an estimate. If employees see me doing it, they think, ‘He can do it; he can step in my shoes and do this role.’”

An impactful leader in my life: “My father. I’ve worked for my father all my life. Back in the day, he always had employees coming to him and asking for personal-life advice. I get a lot of that today.

Employees say, ‘Give me your input on this.’ And I just think about what’s going to be best for everybody involved.”

Because, if the hiring process is paramount in building an ideal shop culture, then firing quickly isn’t far behind. After all, an easy way to improve a poor workplace culture is, ultimately, by eliminating its root causes.

Before any firing takes place, though, shop owners need to make an effort to unearth any unforeseen issues that might be impacting an employee’s work.

“Maybe they’ve got something going on in their personal life,” Driggers says. “Or, maybe there’s something that we’ve done as leaders, like broken their trust. Get down to the root of the problem. If someone’s not adopting the culture … most of the time it’s something deeper.

“But, if we can’t reach something that’s beneficial for me, and that’s beneficial for you, we’ve got to walk away from each other.”

In Michigan, Hummel eliminates workplace cancers quickly, even if they’re generally productive employees. He’d rather have a technician who accepts and embraces their role within the team dynamic than a high-

23%

Amount of respondents to the 2019 FenderBender Industry Survey that have their technicians work in teams. Of that group, 30 percent are at shops that boast a technician efficiency of 140 percent or better.

Meanwhile, 26 percent of respondents have one tech per repair start to finish, and, of that group, just 22 percent claim a technician efficiency of 140 percent or better.

producing employee who creates tension throughout the shop floor.

Similarly, at Randy’s Body Shop, there is no “three strikes” policy. After the second unacceptable offense, disgruntled employees are shown the door.

Wiersma simply tells the soon-to-be-departing employee, “We’ve discussed this in the past, I don’t see any changes happening, so it’s time to part ways.”

Of all the difficult decisions shop owners are required to make, parting ways with a frustrating employee doesn’t need to be one of them, Wiersma says. At times, authoritarian leadership tactics are appropriate, because a shop’s positive trajectory can be thrown off course quickly by just one selfabsorbed employee.

“If it’s somebody that just isn’t going to get on the same train that you’re wanting, you’ve just got to sever that tie as quickly as possible,” Wiersma says.

“You don’t need to taint your whole facility because of one personality complex.”

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 41

FE ATURE

CREATING A GREAT SHOP CULTURE

Step 3:

COMMUNICATE AND COLLABORATE Every employee can impact a workplace dynamic.

Driggers saw evidence of that when Universal Collision Center added locations in recent years. In those cases, as the roles of shop leaders evolved, it had a noticeable domino effect.

“When we first opened,” Driggers says, the shop’s owners “absolutely drove the culture, because we were there from the start of business each day until close. Then, when we started to grow, and we weren’t at every location from open until close, we realized each location took on a culture of its own.

“And we had to create the culture we wanted.”

Eventually, Driggers and Universal’s other owners, Jason Driggers and Frank Gandy, found that. By emphasizing collaboration among coworkers, their 49-person staff became more cohesive than ever.

So, the shops began utilizing a “repair planning team,” in which young, fledgling technicians began working alongside veteran body techs, for instance. And, once those longtime shop workers took younger coworkers under their wings, Universal reached rare heights. The three-shop MSO currently produces a combined $9 million in annual revenue.

Now, Driggers notes, “We work as a team to make it happen.”

At Champion Automotive’s collision repair centers, Hummel seeks feedback from all employees, including from assistants during monthly sitdowns. He feels the roundtable discussions help his entire staff pinpoint procedures that are especially effective.

Another relatively easy way to build an ideal shop culture is by having employees take part in charitable events as a group. At Randy’s Body Shop in 2018, for example, Wiersma had employees work as a unit to refurbish a vehicle for a Recycled Rides event. The staff then presented the vehicle in Nashville, as part of an industry symposium.

That charitable endeavor helped galvanize his staff, Wiersma says.

Workplace cultures are fragile dynamics. As a result, it requires frequent work to build a harmonious shop atmosphere.

42 fenderbender.com | November 2019

Working in Unison

Exemplary workplace cultures can often be achieved by encouraging employees to collaborate with one another throughout each day.

57%

According to findings from the FenderBender Industry Survey, among the shops that pay for OEM-specific training for their staff, 57 percent boast an annual revenue of $2.5 million or more.

As a point of comparison, of the shops that pay for I-CAR training for employees, 45 percent of that group have an annual revenue of at least $2.5 million.

“What’s the trust level? What’s the communication level? Are we collaborating?” Driggers asks. “Because, if any of those three things are out of alignment or not working properly, then the culture starts to suffer.

“If we’re not building relationships with each other, we’re going to assume the worst about each other,” she adds. “So, go sit down and listen to [an employee] at lunch. Make the person feel heard.”

Ultimately, in order to build a great culture, shop leaders need to be compassionate, approachable, and, to an extent, inspiring.

That’s why Wiersma, for example, invests heavily in training for his staff, whether it be for in-house, continuing education courses, or to send members of his staff out of state for training.

“When a technician sees that their boss just spent $4,000 on them to go to training,” Wiersma explains, that’s “when the ‘a-ha moment’ is.

They think, ‘This guy sees something in me, this guy trusts me, this guy wants me here.’

“And I think that’s when you get your buy-in— that’s where you get your culture.”

L E A D E R S HIP P R O F IL E

TROY HUMMEL, BODY SHOP DIRECTOR, CHAMPION AUTOMOTIVE GROUP IN MICHIGAN My leadership style: “Hands-on. I talk to the techs. I know them. I know their hobbies. I try to build a rapport with them. And they see that I’m willing to do anything.

They see me carrying parts to them from the parts department. I’ll do anything for them.”

An impactful leader in my life: “My high school soccer coach. He was very mild-mannered. He didn’t yell at referees. I remember once I got in this tiff with a teammate. And, rather than saying we couldn’t play in the next game, he made us run laps holding hands. He was one of my biggest problem-solving mentors that I’ve had.”

Step 4:

ADDRESS IT 48% CONSISTENTLY Perhaps the most direct route to building a great shop culture is by focusing on improving it on a daily basis.

That helps explain why Hummel makes a point to speak to every technician he encounters on shop floors in Michigan.

“I know what they did last weekend,” he says.

“I know their kids’ names. They know I care about them and not just the hours they produce.”

There are several additional, easy-to-implement measures shop operators can take each week to work on their workplaces’ atmospheres, beyond simply performing employee surveys or

Amount of respondents to the FenderBender Industry Survey that say their shops use a flat-rate pay plan, representing by far the most utilized pay plan among respondents.

Of that group using flat rate, 37 percent were at shops that had a technician productivity of at least 100 percent.

The next most common pay plan, hourly (18 percent of shops), resulted in 16 percent of facilities having technician productivity of 100 percent or better.

creating employee newsletters. They include the following:

• Review payroll. Hummel consistently performs a payroll review with various employees, so they understand why their compensation is what it is.

“Payday,” he says, “should not be a surprise.”

• Offer coaching. Offering guidance is a fre-

quent focus for Driggers at her facilities. She makes a point to coach employees in areas where there’s a gap in goals and performance.

She tries to point out why each element of an employee’s job description is vital to her team’s overall success.

“If you have kids, you provide every resource for them to be successful,” Driggers notes. “We should be doing the same thing for our team members.”

• Review SOPs. By periodically reviewing

your shop’s procedures, it helps employees understand what is truly expected of them.

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 43

FE ATURE

CREATING A GREAT SHOP CULTURE

Attentive Leader

Sheryl Driggers helps achieve workplace harmony by staying attuned to the personal lives of employees and listening to their issues.

Shop employees tend to be more engaged when working in an environment with clearly stated standards and objectives.

At Champion Automotive Group’s collision repair centers, Hummel has helped shop workers get on the same page by emphasizing processes like those utilizing quality-control check points as vehicles move from the body area to paint, for example.

“The bodyman gets the painter and an office staff member to review that repairs were completed properly, all parts that need to be painted are available to the painter and have been checked,” Hummel explains. “This relieves [possible] tension between the body techs and the paint employees.”

More than anything, though, shop operators simply need to try to make meaningful connections with their employees. Because, when employees know that their bosses care, it often fosters trust and a desire to embrace one’s role on their team.

“Leaders and managers tend to be focused on tasks and outcomes,” Driggers says. “That’s very much the way I used to lead—by being focused on tasks, data, and outcomes, thinking if I just said it enough, and sometimes loud enough, it would lead to success. But we need to connect with our team and get to know them as human beings.”

As a shop operator, she adds, “Our mission is to care for people and deliver excellence. That [entails giving] the same level of excellence to our internal customers that we provide to our external customers.”

44 fenderbender.com | November 2019

How to Fix a Negative Culture TROY HUMMEL , WHO OVERSEES 48 EMPLOY EES AS THE BODY SHOP DIR ECTOR FOR THE CHAMPION AUTOMOTIVE G ROUP IN MICHIG AN , PROVIDES TIPS FOR TUR NING AROUND A POOR SHOP CULTUR E .

A S T O L D T O K E L LY B E AT O N

We do what’s called a PIP—a personal improvement plan. Some people think of it as a writeup, but it’s more of a formal discussion where we sit down with an employee and say, “Hey, you do really well at this, this, and this, but how can we help you do better at this?” It’s not, “Fix it, or hit the bricks.” It’s more of a conversation like, “You’re struggling with this; how can I help you get beyond this?”

NUMBERS OF NOTE

T H E S TAT:

Frequency in which shop staff attends industry-specific management training

A LOOK AT FINDINGS FROM THE 2019 FENDERBENDER INDUSTRY SURVEY THAT HELP SHAPE THE CULTURE WITHIN BODY SHOPS

T H E S TAT:

Number of body shop employees

NEVER

22%

WITHIN LAST 5 YEARS

23%

ANNUALLY

34%

QUARTERLY

16%

MONTHLY OR MORE 1-2

3-4

8%

13%

5-6

7%

7-8

13%

5%

9-10

10%

46% 11+ EMPLOYEES Cultural Significance: Of the shops with 11 or more employees, 81 percent claimed an annual revenue of $2.5 million or more. And, of that same group of shops, half (50 percent) had overall net profit margins of 11 percent or better. No other category of staff size produced such strong financial figures.

Cultural Significance: The majority of survey respondents work at shops where team members attend industry-specific management training annually. But the shops that have employees attend such training at least once per month reap the biggest benefits judging by the fact 82 percent of that group boast CSI scores of 90 percent or better. Of the shop staff that attend such training just once per year, 72 percent post CSI scores of 90 percent or better.

T H E S TAT:

Benefits offered to shop employees DISABILITY INSURANCE 44% BONUS PLAN 36% RETIREMENT PLAN/ 401(K) 57% TRAINING REIMBURSEMENT 49%

T H E S TAT:

Frequency in which shop operators work hands-on doing repairs

37% 44% 19% NEVER

OCCASIONALLY

EVERY DAY

Cultural Significance: Results from the survey suggest that it’s not advantageous for shop operators to spend time working hands-on on vehicle repairs. Consider: Of the 37 percent of respondents who said they “never” work hands-on repairing vehicles, 55 percent of that group run shops with an annual revenue of at least $2.5 million. Forty-four percent of respondents said they “occasionally” work hands-on, and 38 percent of that subset had annual revenues of $2.5 million or more. And, of the small group that works hands-on everyday, just 9 percent can claim an annual revenue of $2.5 million or better.

HEALTH INSURANCE 67% LIFE INSURANCE 33% OTHERS 24%

Cultural Significance: Findings from the survey suggested the specific type of benefits offered by shops makes no noticeable difference with regard to elements like technician productivity or CSI scores. The same can largely be said with regard to net profit margin. However, bonus plans tend to help lead to slightly better net profit margins than other benefits. Of the responding shops that offered bonus plans, 51 percent enjoyed net profit margins of 11 percent or more. Meanwhile, of the shops that offered health insurance, 45 percent had net profit margins of 11 percent or better.

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 45

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STRATEGY LEARN

|

GROW

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WORK SMARTER

Offering a Lift By offering a round-theclock towing service, Porter's Body Shop in Brookhaven, Miss., has virtually guranteed itself consistent repair work.

IDEA SHOP HUMAN RESOURCES CASE STUDY LEADERSHIP

AMANDA LAYNE PHOTOGRAPHY

CASE S T UDY

54

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 47

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48 fenderbender.com | November 2019

STR ATEGY

IDEA SHOP

faster than before. Tell the customer that you now have new technology to make their car look even better after a scratch or dent.

Facebook ads catch attention.

Advanced Advertising

A shop can share its equipment updates with customers without spending much money Customers might take one look at your body shop and decide whether to walk in the door or keep looking for other options.

While a common turn of phrase when trying something new is, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” customers can be persuaded to try an establishment based off how up-to-date the facility is.

As a collision repairer, part of advertising the business means that the shop’s new technology, tools, equipment and processes are also shown to customers. The only way to break the stigma of a greasy, dirty body shop is to show customers clear proof that your facility breaks the mold.

Don Bushman highlights new services online. As one shop advertising new tools and equipment, Legend Collision Repair Inc. in fact directs customers visiting its website to click to read more about its quality equipment within five seconds of scrolling down the page.

“It’s important, when advertising, to address a specific group because it can be so easy to just throw money into it and not see any action,” says Kasey Bayne, a marketing consultant with over 15 years of experience at companies like DataTrue, Olark and FreshBooks.

She explains how a shop owner can directly show they’re facility isn’t falling behind.

AS TOLD TO MELISSA STEINKEN

GETTY IMAGES

Lead generation yields results.

Spend time on keywords. It might sound rather jargony, but if you include words and phrases about the types of vehicles you repair, then you can garner more traction to the website.

Don’t just write phrases like, “quality service” or “family business.” Instead, write that you specialize in Japanese cars.

List out the brands of cars you work on so that a customer can easily access the information. Even if you can work on every type of vehicle, this will let the customer know they won’t have any surprises when bringing their car into the shop.

Posts solve customer problems.

Tailor advertisements to a needs-based service. Do not just try to “sell” to the customer. Instead, focus on creating a post that offers a solution to the customer’s problem. Create a type of informal case study post that goes over a common problem and offers a solution.

Say you’ve just bought new equipment like aluminum repair tools. Don’t write a post that says, “Hey! Look what we have!”

Write a post on social media that paints a scenario in the customer’s mind. You can write a post about a new tool and explain how it will help the shop repair door dings

When it comes to advertising on social media, small businesses thrive on Facebook.

Think about it; even when you pick up your phone, you’re probably opening a Facebook app and scrolling through a mixture of followers’ posts and advertisements.

Facebook allows the business to create advertisements that target specific customers. When making a post, you can choose which geographic area you’d like to target, or target a group of people based on demographics like age, employer or interests. So, you can target customers interested in a specific type of vehicle.. A business owner could easily invest only $100 in advertising or choose what to invest when boosting posts.

Surveys create long-term results.

When advertising in any form online, it’s important to get the customer’s basic information so it can be used to retarget the customer.

Ask the customer to sign up for a newsletter by providing an email address. Or, ask the customer directly when invoicing them to review the shop on Google. How did they hear about you? Maybe the customer saw an advertisement on Facebook but didn’t click the ad.

If your business is up to date on Google My Business and customers are providing feedback on that platform, then Google offers a free Analytics tool for the owner to track advertising progress.

Follow these steps to set up your webpage so you can track future marketing progress.

1. Update your Google My Business page with business address, phone numbers and office hours.

2. Get a snippet of free code from Google, copy it and paste it onto your business’ web page.

3. Judge the traffic and look at how many people are coming to the website, where are they coming from and what they are clicking on.

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 49

STR ATEGY

HUMAN RESOURCES

Efficiently Research Job Candidates

Breaking down the best methods for researching job candidates beyond a simple check of resumes

These days, Daren Fristoe, a human re-

sources expert, feels business leaders need to put job candidates’ credentials under a microscope.

“The market right now is so tight in terms of talent,” he says. “You really need to focus on the right person.”

Fristoe, the president of third-party HR company The Fristoe Group, adds that, given the collision repair industry’s technician shortage, solid shop floor job candidates are in a power position. Plus, making a hiring mistake can deal shop owners a costly financial blow.

Taking that into consideration, it behooves business leaders to research job candidates in as many ways as possible, beyond looking at resumes.

“The game has changed in terms of identifying candidates and really hiring the right people for your organization,” Fristoe says. “It used to be very driven toward phone calls. … Now, it uses that tool as well as the Internet.

“You have the ability, as an employer, to pull up a candidate on social media, whether it’s on Facebook, or LinkedIn, or any one of the other common platforms now.”

FenderBender recently spoke with Fristoe and other HR experts to gain their insight on the best ways to research job candidates beyond a simple check of resumes.

Establish a process.

In order to research job candidates effectively, business leaders need a clearly defined procedure for doing so, notes Elle Aldridge, the executive vice president of national recruiting firm TalentCare.

An added benefit of establishing a clear process is that it helps hirers stay objective.

50 fenderbender.com | November 2019

“Make sure you’re building in objective sets—things that are measurable,” Aldridge suggests. Such as “do they have two years of experience, yes or no?

Do they have experience with this type of tool, yes or no? Then, you can integrate those objective things into a phone screen or a main interview.”

Creating a quality control checklist can be a valuable element of a business’ hiring process. Creating such a checklist can help hirers avoid costly oversights.

By establishing a checklist for researching job candidates, body shop owners can ensure that candidates get questioned about any concerns about their job history, for example.

Fristoe suggests including the following items on a hiring quality control checklist: • Progression of positions during a candidate’s career • Relevant soft skills training • Job skills training • Communication skills • Personal reference checks • Why they left prior jobs • Their professional goals He also suggests asking multiple questions that gauge a candidate’s ability to fit within a shop’s staff “chemistry,” such as, “Does this person fit within our culture? Can this person help us grow?

And, is this person coachable?”

Use several elements of social media.

Social media can help hirers learn countless details about a job prospect’s life. That can be valuable when trying to gauge whether a candidate will fit in with a shop staff.

As such, Fristoe strongly suggests combing over candidates’ pages on social media platforms like LinkedIn and, to an extent, Instagram and Facebook.

However, he also says that hirers like body shop owners should tread carefully when looking at social media sites, lest their research stray into areas that could be considered discriminatory.

“There are a number of things that are a hazard of social media,” Fristoe says. “This is a growing area of employment law, and it’s a challenge right now. The challenge you have is, obviously an employer needs to stay within the rules and not use discriminatory practices to weed out candidates. You want to flesh out who the candidate is on the business side.

GETTY IMAGES

B Y K E L LY B E AT O N

candidates by conversing with members of the local chamber of commerce, the Jaycees, or various civic organizations.

“Find out if anyone, anywhere in the marketplace, knows this candidate,” Fristoe says. “And then please tell me: Is this someone we need to pursue, someone we need to interview twice?”

Perform multiple interviews.

“You’ve got to focus on: What [information from social media] are we looking at, and why are we looking at it? Focus on job and professional experience relevance. Also, look for consistency between a resume and a social media profile; maybe one indicates a gap in employment but the other doesn’t.”

Perform background checks.

Performing criminal checks or motor vehicle records checks are typically inexpensive (often less than $50), and can provide valuable peace of mind for employers. Depending on a job prospect’s

potential job responsibilities, the results of such background checks can be key.

Think about it: Would you want a technician driving customers’ vehicles with a suspended license?

Results of a background check can be valuable, for example, “if a candidate had a history of criminal convictions that could affect their performance in the shop, such as theft, vandalism, or assault,” Fristoe notes. “Better safe than sorry. These background checks are typically inexpensive, and response time can be same-day.”

There’s also value in researching

Aldridge, the TalentCare executive, feels there’s great value in bringing in blue-collar workers like collision repairers for on-site, working interviews.

After all, such interviews provide many clear, indisputable answers about a candidate’s weaknesses, and offer an indication of how they might interact with a shop’s staff.

“Give the applicant the opportunity to show you how they’d perform,” Aldridge suggests. “If they would be required to diagnose a problem and identify a solution, have them do that. If they need to work with particular tools, have them show you how they would use them.”

Most HR experts suggest that body shop owners conduct two job interviews with intriguing candidates, because some interviewees can prepare themselves for a standard, initial interview by memorizing responses to common questions.

“Second interviews are reserved for roles which require more peoples’ input to decide whether someone is truly a fit,” Aldridge says. So ask “thoughtful questions of the applicant about the role, and the company culture.”

Fristoe feels second interviews offer hirers a great opportunity to truly gauge a job prospect’s personality.

“It allows the interviewer an opportunity to do a deeper dive,” he explains. Ask candidates “What type of environment works best for you, and why? What types of communication styles do you respond to best? And I’ve always liked [this] question: If you were king or queen for a day, what would you do with our business?

“This interview allows the candidate to be more relaxed, in a more conversational style, and should yield insight for the hiring manager as to whether this person is someone we want to add to our team.”

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 51

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COLUMNS

PROCESS DRIVEN R YA N C R O P P E R

Finding Efficiency is as Simple as a Square Utilizing the Ohno Square lean concept can help shop operators improve workflow

FUE VANG, GETTY IMAGES

These days, when I’m channel surfing,

I often land on a couple reality TV shows that, to me, are extremely intriguing: “Bar Rescue” and “Hotel Impossible.”

When the hosts of those TV shows visit struggling businesses, they often observe staffs that do things simply because that’s the way they’ve always been done. What really stands out to me is how often you notice staffs get complacent. Employees walk past a situation where a wall needs to be painted, for example, and never take action.

A lot of times, those issues can be fixed by someone viewing things from a different perspective and pointing it out to the struggling business’ staff. You could have trusted colleagues from 20 Groups come visit your shop and observe your shop floor, for starters.

But here’s another, extremely helpful solution that can initiate positive changes at your shop: Utilize the Ohno Square.

The Ohno Square gets its name from Taiichi Ohno, who’s mentioned in the book Toyota Way, about that automaker’s extremely efficient production system and its lean processes.

When Toyota used to hire a new manager, they would literally draw a square on the ground in a factory and make that new manager stand and watch employees work—have a notepad and observe what people were doing, and become aware of what the workload was for their staff.

Sometimes, the answer to solving your shop’s inefficiencies comes from simply being observant. I’ve used the Ohno Square method in my shop before. I used to put on a safety vest on the shopfloor, and no one

was allowed to talk to me because I was observing the staff at work.

As shop operators, we tend to assume a lot of things. The more that we can move away from simply assuming things and actually verify and track employees the better off we’ll be. Track employees and their movements, to learn, for example, if you have your shop’s tools and equipment placed in the proper areas.

It comes down to being aware of what your team members are going through.

Because when we, as shop operators, sit in our corner office and simply make assumptions based off our business’ history, it can lead to problems like not being properly staffed. Maybe you’ll become aware that, ‘Holy cow, I’ve got to get my staff some additional help.’ Sometimes you might discover that “Hey, my staff can actually handle more.”

When I used the Ohno Square method a while back, we were one big shop team, and we were thinking about breaking our staff into multiple shop teams. I

had to become more aware of what the day-to-day workload had become for my employees. And I learned it helps to just sit back and watch them, and to, eventually point out elements of our workflow that have become complacent.

One shocking thing for me at that time was my staff’s tool placement—how often, and how far employees would have to walk to track down tools, and then walk to put them back. I said to my staff, “Okay, if you have to walk all the way over here and grab this welder every time, I’m going to move it into your stall.” And, of course, I got feedback from my staff, too.

Another issue for us at that time was materials; that whole process had become inefficient. So, what we did was use material carts; each team now has material carts so that, when they’re working in a certain area, the cart rolls to that area, right where they need it to be.

If you want to avoid letting complacency set in on your shop floor, using the Ohno Square is a rather easy solution.

RYA N C R O P P E R is the owner of Able Body Shop, with three locations in Anchorage, Alaska, and Total Truck Accessory Center.

E M A I L : r c r o p p e r @ ab l e b o d y s h o p .c o m

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 53

STR ATEGY

CASE STUDY

TOWING T A Heavy Load While offering towing services involves a few logistical issues, Porter's Body Shop has found it to be an ideal supplement to its collision repair work.

54 fenderbender.com | November 2019

TAKEOVER Offering a 24/7 towing service can provide customers with a one-stop-shop experience

BY MELISSA STEINKEN PHOTOGR APHY BY AMANDA L AYNE

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 55

STR ATEGY

CASE STUDY

Eye on Efficiency Clay Smith has built a reputation on being able to tackle multiple tasks simultaneously, which serves him well as he spearheads a tow service.

R

ain, sleet or ice, the tow truck for Porter’s Body Shop can be seen out on local roads and major highways.

On one occasion, the shop’s tow truck service reputation preceded itself. Clay Smith was called to a scene late at night and asked to drive four hours from the shop. It was snowing heavily (yes, even in Mississippi, it snows) so most of the town hunkered inside. Roads were treacherous, but, because Smith had training and was one of the few tow truck services open in the conditions, he was asked to tow a car out of a lake.

Having a tow truck service can often be precarious and unpredictable, Smith says. Yet, for all the times that Smith and his general manager, Patrick Porter, have been called out to an unusual wreck, the service has brought along advantages that have helped the business grow.

“At any given time now, you can look out the window of the shop’s front office and see about four cars in our lot that came from tow-ins,” says Smith, the assistant manager, wrecker service and estimator for Porter’s Body Shop in Brookhaven, Miss.

The Backstory

Porter’s body shop has served southern Mississippi customers since 1960.

Smith has driven the shop’s tow truck for nearly 20 years. In that time, he’s built a reputation of being able to tackle multiple tasks effectively.

Smith manages the shop’s one tow truck and works a typical 40-hour workweek between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Or, a typical workweek, that is, until he receives a call in the middle of the night to tow a customer. If he’s not available to work, it will forward to his apprentice, a shop technician that’s training to become another tow truck driver. Over an average weekend, he tows 3–4 vehicles.

During the week, he might tow as many as 12–15 cars.

The shop isn’t the only one in the area that offers a towing service. Early on, the team knew it needed to develop a relationship with law enforcement and highway patrols. Despite having a relatively good relationship with local police departments, most of the shop’s business came from word-ofthe-mouth referrals.

Smith needed to increase the tow truck’s business.

The Problem

While the Mississippi shop had a wellestablished presence in its community, there was one relationship it was miss56 fenderbender.com | November 2019

REQUIREMENTS FOR ROTATION LIST Always on-call In an effort to stand out in a competitive market, Porter's Body Shop accepts tow work well beyond a standard daytime schedule.

ACCORDING TO THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THESE ARE SOME OF THE REQUIREMENTS A SHOP OWNER MUST MEET TO BE PUT ON A HIGHWAY PATROL ROTATION LIST.

1

ing, Smith says.

When he came on board, he realized the shop was not on any highway patrol rotation. While the tow truck service is a separate entity and simply part of Porter’s Body Shop business, a beneficial way for the service to get more customers is to be on a highway patrol list.

That way, when there are accidents or customers have their cars stall, Porter’s and Smith get a call to pick up a customer.

The Solution

While it’s different in every state, Porter’s Body Shop needed to figure out how to be added to the list of highway patrols.

Customers can choose which body shop to be towed to, but when no customer preference is indicated, department personnel will request service based on a rotation list.

To get on rotations, the shop needed to fill out a form for a city rotation, a county rotation and then an overall state rotation. The forms typically include a document that outlines all requirements (See Sidebar: Requirements for Rotation List), and has the owner of the shop sign off on them.

Porter says that the shop had to send in a certificate of insurance for the facility and the tow truck. Then, the state had to send out inspectors

PORTER’S BODY SHOP

Standards, Equipment Rollback Wreckers

One truck with a 14-foot bed and dual wheels, one power winch with 8,000lb. capacity, brake lock device and a minimum of two safety tied down chains or nylon straps 10 feet.

OWNER:

RONNIE PORTER

2

LOCATION:

BROOKHAVEN, MISS. SIZE:

16,000 SQUARE FEET STAFF:

17 (12 IN BODY SHOP, 5 IN FRONT OFFICE) AVERAGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT:

Standards, Equipment for Large Wreckers

Air control valve to provide braking capability for a car being towed, air brakes constructed as to lock the rear wheels automatically upon failure, supply air to disabled cars, external air hookups and hoses, hydraulic spade or two metal chock blocks to prevent rolling, a minimum of 200 feet of cable at least ⅝-inch diameter on each drum or ¾-inch diameter cable on a single drum, one pair of bolt cutters with a minimum ½-inch opening. At least six safety cones and two fire extinguishers.

65

ANNUAL REVENUE:

$2.2 MILLION

3

Record Keeping

Date and time the company was contacted, name of person requesting service, location of car, description of towed vehicle, owner or driver of the car, service charge and fee, response time from call to arrival on scene.

4

Company Contact Information and Hours

The company will be staffed during normal business hours, between 8 am and 5 pm, each wrecker company will maintain 24-hour service availability, provide the Troop Commander with one telephone number to be used for service requests during hours and one for after hours, with call forwarding.

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 57

STR ATEGY

CASE STUDY

body shop of his or her choosing, Smith does say that when the customer chooses his body shop, it makes the repair process very convenient.

“For the customer, we can do it all from start to finish,” Smith says.

During the ride, Smith also hands out his business card to the customer.

He makes sure not to persuade the customer one way, but he does give out his card with his direct number on it in case they need help down the line.

Providing a Lift Porter's Auto Body gets a little more than half its business as a result of tow-ins, providing a significant boost to the Mississippi body shop.

to inspect the shop’s equipment and make sure it was up to date and running properly.

Since the change was pretty straight forward and the process for towing cars didn’t change, Porter says the shop did not add staff or change production to accommodate the extra work.

The Aftermath

Incorporating a towing service and

making sure the body shop is getting calls for its service are vital to offering customers a one-stop shop experience, Smith says.

After joining the rotations, the shop received an influx of calls, specifically from the state highway patrol. Now, the shop repairs $8,000 jobs when it tows in a wrecker to the body shop.

While the customer that gets picked up by the tow truck can be towed to any

The Takeaway

Through the towing service, roughly nine times out of 10, the shop will repair a vehicle that is towed to the shop. That’s 50–60 percent of the business coming directly from tow-ins, says Porter.

“The wrecker service gives you the exposure that some shops don’t have,” Porter says. “I have found that it makes a difference if the tow truck driver is customer-service oriented and great with customers.”

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STR ATEGY

LEADERSHIP

Developing Leaders from Within A look at how to recognize growth mindsets in your employees

BY MELISSA STEINKEN

global analytics firm.

So, if you’re observing your staff, how can you tell what makes one person a leader? Look for the growth mindset, experts say.

“A leader will be hungry to grow personally and professionally, and hungry to grow with a team that is growing, “ says Doug Conant, a former CEO of Campbell Soup company (SEE Sidebar: Conant’s Concept of Leadership for more on his career) and a New York Times bestselling author.

Conant, who has written multiple leadership books, including The Blueprint: 6 Practical Steps to Lift Your Leadership To New Heights, says it all boils down to 10 important words: “If it is to be, it is up to me.”

Meanwhile, Lisa Siembab, currently a part-owner of CARSTAR Berlin (Conn.), says that a leader needs to be a resource provider.

With over 25 years of experience, she’s a leader today, but a few years ago, she was working her way through the CARSTAR ranks as part of its corporate marketing team.

“A part of being a leader means that you love what you’re doing and have the proper resources to do your job well,” Siembab says. “My job is to provide those resources so [employees] can become leaders themselves.”

Developing leaders in the shop might not always be an obvious choice and requires close observation and consideration, she says.

Conversely, Jeff Feasel, general manager for Feasel’s Frame & Collision, views leading as empowering others. He says that in order for him to recognize management qualities within his team, he takes a step back from micromanaging and focuses on employee empowerment.

60 fenderbender.com | November 2019

Feasel’s shop has nine technicians that have been developed through training programs with local technical and vocational schools.

Below, Conant, Siembab and Feasel share tips that have helped them develop leaders within their companies.

Observe your team’s work ethic.

One of Siembab’s best performers in the shop is her customer service representative or front desk receptionist. She says she hired the CSR because the woman displayed qualities of empathy and quick learning, even though she came from the retail industry.

Siembab always seeks passionate workers. If an employee isn’t passionate about the work he or she is doing, then he or she will perform in a sub-standard manner.

Feasel recommends that a shop owner observe employees while they work and not step in immediately when trying to finish a project. Often, an employee will come to the manager and ask what they did wrong and ask for advice. That type of initiative shows Feasel they’re potential shop leaders.

Conant recommends a leader look for employees that have a growth mindset and want to grow personally. These people demonstrate curiosity regarding how they can perform better. Avoid employees with a fixed mindset because they will only show up to accomplish their tasks and go no further.

“Look for the employee’s strengths and assign them work based those characteristics,” he says.

Talk with your employees one on one.

Even if an employee demonstrates leadership qualities, the manager won’t recognize it if he or she doesn’t check in with their staff periodically.

CARSTAR company policy is to have

annual reviews with employees, but Siembab says she also likes to go and talk to staff members one on one about continuous improvement.

“I have 10-minute informal conversations with them,” she says.

During that meeting, she asks the following three questions: “What are the three things in the job that you value?”

“What are the three things that you value in the company?”

“What are the most important ways you can show up?”

For example, Siembab had a young prepper at her shop who started out as an entry-level worker but quickly displayed an exemplary work ethic. When she brought him in for an annual review, she asked him about his future career goals.

“I want to be a painter,” he said.

Siembab had to take the initiative herself to find out where this prepper wanted to go in his job.

GETTY IMAGES

Roughly one in 10 people possess the talent to manage, according to Gallup, a

One way she reinforces the drive to improve is by offering to pay for training for employees to learn a new skill. Then, she’ll work to find a role that can allow the employee to gain a new title.

Feasel focuses on showing his team the positive outcomes of their hard work every day. When a customer leaves a positive review, he prints it out and brings it to the employee.

“Congratulate your team for the little things,” Feasel says.

Conant agrees. He says to honor people that are part of the enterprise and give them opportunities to move into senior roles. Or, a leader can merely recognize a job that was completed correctly, like finishing a to-do list.

He also recommends having the employee work on one or two projects in a critical way instead of numerous projects.

When working on a large number of items, the employee is more likely to miss important steps due to haste.

CONANT’S CONCEPT TO LEADING Feasel, meanwhile, speaks casually with his staff each morning. He’ll hand out daily assignments and discuss the game plan. He sets these talks up so his team knows they can use it for addressing concerns or ideas they have.

Try a hands-off leadership approach.

Seimbab often steps back from controlling the situation as a leader so that she can determine if someone is adept at dealing with a challenge or isn’t comfortable with the status quo.

“You can’t assume that just because you have them in the body shop department for example, that this person doesn’t want to take on a challenge and become an estimator,” she says.

By stepping back, Siembab is also able to see who comes in late to work on a regular basis, for example. The employee’s true patterns will emerge when the manager is not always noticeably present.

In a similar vein, Feasel tries not to micromanage his staff, and his shop has very little turnover as a result.

“You have to be patient because everyone is human,” he says. “When you get frustrated, remember that you make mistakes, too.”

Instead of directing employees, ask them how you, as a leader, can be helpful in the process, Conant says. The employee should give his or her two cents into the conversation. If the person has an appetite to grow, he or she will tell you what is needed to succeed.

Doug Conant, a leader in brand management for over 40 years, says that when he took over a business like Campbell Soup, he had to re-assess who to keep in the company and who to let go. He turned over 300 of the top 350 leaders in his early years as CEO. And, he promoted 150 people from within and hired 100 leaders from outside the company. Through the turnover, he increased his employee engagement and created a culture of high trust. Conant asked himself these three questions to make the tough decisions in his career: No. 1: Why do I want to lead?

Provide positive reinforcement.

Emotional support, training, equipment and a positive work environment help cultivate an individual who’s driven to improve in the job, Siembab says.

When she sits down with her staff, she covers the positives of their performance and always makes sure to ask, “Do you like what you’re doing?”

No. 2: How will I show up in a way that is beneficial for me?

No. 3: How will I be effective in the culture I’m operating?

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 61

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IN THE TRENCHES STEVE MORRIS

Bolster Your Blueprinting SOP A small addition to your SOP can do wonders for preventing unwanted surprises during the repair process

NICK SPAETH

We’re continuing on with our quest

to develop a robust and detailed standard operating procedure for blueprinting. Because, if you don’t have a thorough SOP, your body shop will struggle to overcome preventable roadblocks in your workflow.

I’ve found that most interruptions to flow are preventable, but shops (even sometimes my own shops) still experience self-inflicted delays, often near the end of a repair. With that in mind, I want to share a few additional ideas on how to bolster your blueprinting SOP. Stop me if you’ve experienced this scenario before: You’re near the end of a repair, post-repair scans are done, and all that remains is a final road test and final clean up. But, during the road test you notice the car is pulling a bit. So, you take the car to have the alignment checked and, lo and behold, the alignment specs are out of tolerance because a tie rod and the strut are slightly bent.

In this scenario, you’re likely a bit panicked because the customer is expecting the car today and there’s no way you’ll be able to get the parts you need in time to install them and do the alignment and detail the car.

Shoot! Nobody likes making that call to the customer.

Most of us have had this sort of surprise occur before but it’s almost completely preventable. If you take time to assess the situation and do some root cause analysis you’ll be able to backtrack to your blueprinting process and discover that a small addition to your SOP will do wonders for preventing such unwanted surprises.

When we’ve had situations like this occur at my shops we learned they usually happened when there was minor cosmetic damage to a road wheel, or there was some sort of impact to a tire. We couldn’t see any damage to the suspension, but the alignment machine (at the end of the repair) always picked up that the camber, caster

or toe was out of spec and not adjustable because parts were bent and needed replacement. Our analysis also showed that if a wheel was damaged enough to require replacement, we would put the alignment operation on our repair plan but wouldn’t perform the alignment until the end of the repair sequence, and we were still getting surprises. The same situation would sometimes occur when just a tire was damaged and needed replacement.

Finally, our analysis showed that we often encountered additional damaged suspension components after we replaced the parts that were obviously and visually damaged.

So, what’s the next logical step after the root cause analysis was completed?

If you subscribe to the idea that the blueprint process should be designed to discover and describe all damage, then it seems logical to include possible suspension damage in your discovery process. Once you have a good collection of data on what types of conditions can cause suspension damage, you can use these conditions as a trigger point for conducting more thorough suspension diagnosis at the time of blueprinting. For example, you could put in a rule that says “if there was contact to a wheel and or tire at the time of the collision, we must put the vehicle on an alignment machine

and do an alignment check with a printout of the specifications.”

Damage to suspension components can be tricky to recognize. Such rules could be implemented in order to know the extent of any possible suspension damage or misalignment. Rules like that are the only way to eliminate a lot of grief caused by lastminute suspension issues. Plus, you’ll have documentation to present to the customer or third party payer that clearly validates the condition of the suspension components and alignment specifications prior to beginning the actual repairs.

An alignment check can reveal suspension crossmembers and engine cradles that are bent or out of position. An alignment check can also detect steering axis inclination issues that may point to a strut tower that is out of position.

One primary purpose of blueprinting is to create predictable outcomes on every single repair. The elimination of supplements, delays and surprises is the way to get the predictable outcomes. Adding an alignment check when warranted should be a key addition to your blueprinting process.

Next month I’ll suggest a few other tips and tricks for you to consider in your blueprinting SOP and move in to systems and procedures for measuring the productivity, efficiency and profitability of your SOP.

S T E V E M O R R I S is the director of operations for Pride Collision Centers, a seven-location MSO located in Southern California. He is an Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) and ASE-certified master technician.

E M A I L : s t ev e m @ p r i d e au t o b o d y.c o m A R C H I V E : f e n d e r b e n d e r.c o m /m o r r i s

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 63

NICK EDWARDS Operations Manager

CAR CENTER COLLISION & MECHANICAL Greenville, Mich. area

64 fenderbender.com | November 2019

P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y E M I LY G R I F F I T H

SHOP TALK

“FI X ING CA RS IS OUR JOB, BU T HELPING PEOPLE IS OUR BUSINESS.”

Service with a Smile Michigan shop operator Nick Edwards has used a boundless desire to improve to forge a business with a 97 percent CSI score.

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 65

SHOP TALK

NICK EDWARDS

Nick Edwards has three main workplaces.

Two are body shops, while the third business is typically a coffee shop.

As owner and operations manager of Car Center Collision & Mechanical in Greenville, Mich., alongside his father, Edwards oversees all operations of the shop’s three locations.

Edwards has one main goal when he steps into a shop. He wants to empower every manager to make decisions and run the business as if it were their own. He accomplishes this hands-off management style by focusing on his 80/20 rule—eighty percent of the time he’s working in the business and 20 percent of the time he’s working on the business.

“I go to a location and I’m basically just a support piece for my managers,” Edwards says.

Car Center Collision & Mechanical is a $7.5 million business, with roughly $5 million of that coming from the collision repair side. Edward’s tight schedule for operations helps managers run the multiple locations smoothly, but allows him to focus on future growth of his business.

AS TOLD TO MELISSA STEINKEN

66 fenderbender.com | November 2019

CAR CENTER COLLISION & MECHANICAL OWNERS:

BILL AND SYLVIA EDWARDS LOCATION:

GREENVILLE, MICH., AREA (4 LOCATIONS) SIZE:

9,000 SQUARE FEET (AVERAGE) STAFF:

47 TOTAL AVERAGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT:

75

ANNUAL REVENUE:

$7.5 MILLION (COLLISION AND MECHANICAL)

Right now, there are two store locations I go back and forth to. When I’m not at

those locations, I work remotely. Usually, I’m sitting at a coffee shop because I don’t have my own office. I just take my laptop with me and prop it up wherever I go.

When I go into the shops, I like to be able to sit back and observe what’s happening. I like to keep my ears open, and not having an office helps a lot in being able to watch the staff interact with customers.

It’s kind of a catch-22 as an owner when it comes to the hours that we work. I get

into my “office” for the day, around 7:30 a.m. I like to get in a little bit before we open our shop doors at 8 a.m., Monday through Friday.

I typically stay to the end of the day, as well. I’ll stay a little after close, until 5:30 p.m. The only time I stay longer is if we have a customer waiting on a car.

Common Ground At Car Center Collision & Mechanical, operations manager Nick Edwards (right) works tirelessly to stay on the same page with employees.

I don’t really take breaks during the day.

Since we’re in the process of adding more locations to the business, it gives me the chance to work off site from a body shop most days. This helps me reset my mind and take a step back from the hectic shop if I need to. But, I typically don’t take any breaks except for a short 10-15 minute lunch break.

Balance is definitely an on-going battle as an owner. I need to be able to stop thinking about the business sometimes but it’s hard because it’s so important in my life.

In order to stay organized throughout the day, I use the Microsoft app, Sticky Notes. I love to make to-do lists. Right

now, I leave them on sticky notes that are on my computer. I prioritize everything on the notes according to four categories: urgent, non-urgent, important and not important. Usually the tasks that come up fall into two categories the

most often. The most-used categories are the important and non-urgent, and important and urgent.

When I work on the future of the business, I focus on documenting our processes. We use Microsoft Office 365

as our cloud-based storage for all the shop’s documents, SOPs and schedules.

I switched to Microsoft after I got sick of housing all the documents on my computer and having to share them every single time that I updated one.

So, I did some research and played around with Google Docs and Microsoft.

I chose Microsoft because most of our documents were already in the format of Microsoft Word documents.

We also as a whole, work on the entrepreneurial operating system (EOS). This

is a framework that we use to grow the business. From this platform, we have

quarterly and annual strategic planning meetings. At our quarterly meetings, we set 90-day priorities for the business.

These are priorities like spending. Right now, we have about four of them.

One of our priorities is focusing on future marketing contributions. We’re also working on how to give away $20,000 for 2020. Our goals include deciding which organizations to team up with, how to give the money away each month and how to market the charity campaign.

During the quarterly meetings, my right-hand team member, myself and a business coach meet.

As a team, we have bi-weekly meetings.

We call these meetings “bird’s eye meetings.” This is a meeting that we do with all of the shop managers and myself. We look at our goals and see if we’re on track to meet them.

Shop managers facilitate weekly November 2019 | fenderbender.com 67

SHOP TALK

NICK EDWARDS

Meticulous Detail In an effort to make his body shop’s workflow efficient, Michigan shop operator Nick Edwards prioritizes each of the facility’s daily tasks.

meetings on their own. These meetings are called Level 10 meetings—the terminology comes from our EOS—and include all shop staff. Level 10 meetings are 90-minute meetings that rate employees on a scale of 1-10 for productivity and effectiveness.

During the weekly meetings, the managers will go over the 30-day rolling numbers for the shop, equipment updates and processes, and a general health-check of the store. The whole team will walk away with a to-do list for the week.

I follow the slogan that we should never allow people to become numbers. It’s im-

portant that we never make our staff or customers feel like a number in a crowd.

For our employees, I try to not micromanage them. I’m more soft than I actually should be, but I like to just be a presence in the shop that they feel they can come to with questions and concerns.

We try to gauge how the customer 68 fenderbender.com | November 2019

is feeling by asking them when they pick up their car to provide feedback on the service. For instance, we ask if they’re satisfied with the repair. Then, I look through the survey reports we get through our CCC ONE management and estimating system in order to find out their thoughts on the process. CCC ONE sends out an eight-question survey to customers.

Right now, our CSI is pretty high for the industry. We have a CSI of 97 percent.

And, we ask them to leave us Google reviews, too. We have about 170 reviews on Google , with a rating between 4.8 and 4.9 out of 5 stars.

collision repair. We have the chance to upsell to customers to have their engine or oil checked out. On average, we see a customer once every seven years but with the mechanical side of the business, we’re able to see that collision repair customer another four times per year for oil changes and more.

While the business is great for customers, it is difficult from a scaling perspective. Collision repair and mechanical are still two different businesses, with different management systems and payroll and processes to consider.

We’re able to be a one-stop shop for the customer but it does come with challenges. Roughly 60 percent of our busi-

lose; we only win or we learn. I heard this from somebody else in the industry a couple of years ago and it really resonated with me. I think it’s important as a leader for you to make sure you learn from challenges and mistakes. Don’t count them as losing but a learning opportunity.

ness comes from collision repair and 40 percent comes from mechanical.

The services compliment each other, so it’s easy to offer health checks on the vehicles when they come in for a

At the end of the day, I try to repeat this mantra over and over: We never

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 69

UPDATE

JACK’S COLLISION CENTER OF BONITA

Give extra attention to detail.

Providing Peerless Customer Service A successful Florida shop owner notes the keys to offering unmatched customer service B Y K E L LY B E AT O N

Kevin Lipscomb had become consumed with catering to insurers. The Florida body shop owner had begun spending less and less time conversing with customers and more time making sure all invoices and receipts were in order.

Eventually, by 2009, his business’ customer satisfaction started to wane, as he noted to FenderBender in a 2014 article (fenderbender.com/timeforclients).

“I did lose touch with my customers,” Lipscomb recalled recently.

Fortunately for Lipscomb, who operates Jack’s Collision Center of Bonita, he learned his lesson rather quickly. And nowadays, customers receive a memorable experience at the Bonita Springs, Fla., facility, highlighted by a vehicle delivery process that features thorough car washes, shinings, and vacuumings.

“We wash every vehicle—it doesn’t matter if we just did a bumper job,” Lipscomb says. “The biggest compliment I hear [from customers] is, ‘Oh my gosh, you cleaned my car; My car has never looked that good.’”

By focusing on giving customers a memorable experience, Lipscomb’s shop now boasts an average review on Google of 4.6 stars out of 5. Below, he elaborates on what it takes to provide exceptional customer service.

Hire for life.

First and foremost, great customer service stems from having exceptional staff members, who are in ideal roles that fit their skillset. When that happens, employees are fulfilled, and impressive CSI scores usually follow.

Lipscomb tries to avoid simply making any quick fixes when hiring. Instead, 70 fenderbender.com | November 2019

during the hiring process he works hard to pinpoint candidates with the character traits he seeks—namely, energetic workers who are eager to please their boss and clients alike.

“I don’t want turnover,” he says. “Turnover costs money. So, take care of your employees. A ‘thank you,’ or a pat on the back goes a long way for” employees.

Don’t overwork employees.

A key ingredient to great customer service, Lipscomb says, is making sure your employees rarely get overtaxed. After all, an exhausted employee is far more likely to be short in a conversation with a customer than one who strictly works 40 hours per week.

“When you push you employees, and have them stay late,” Lipscomb notes, “they’re not happy. We work 8 to 5, Monday through Friday, and it’s optional on Saturday.”

If his staff can’t do exceptional work within a 40-hour workweek, Lipscomb says, it’s time to re-evaluate shop processes.

Stay in contact with clients.

The crew at Jack’s Collision Center goes to great lengths to keep customers informed. They frequently text photos to clients during the repair process, if requested, for example. But Lipscomb prefers to make periodic phone calls to those who are waiting on their vehicles to be repaired in Bonita Springs.

“I don’t want a customer to call me for an update—if they call me, then we’ve already failed. I keep informing them all the way through. I try to give them a call, because it’s more personable. And, we call them back within 24 to 48 hours [after repair work] and make sure that they’re happy with the car.

“I’m here for the long haul,” he adds.

“And I want to do this for the rest of my life. So, you take care of your customer.”

COURTESY CHERILYN NOCERA

Instilling Trust At Jack's Collision Center, the staff makes an effort to constantly update clients on repairs.

In Bonita Springs, Lipscomb’s staff focuses on listening to customers and following through on every request.

Case in point: “I always ask customers up front, ‘What’s your biggest expectation when you pick up the vehicle?”

Lipscomb notes. “And when they pick it up, I have that written down—‘Your biggest expectation was color match; Did we achieve that?’

They say, ‘Oh, yeah. And I can’t believe you remember that.’ It means that you listened, you cared.”

SEMA 2019

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November 2019 | fenderbender.com 71

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1.3 O

1.4 O

Standard with one each RPS multipurpose cup 0.6 l / 0.9 l, with swivel joint Part No.

1095125 1095109 1095133 1095167 1095175 1095183 Go to www.satausa.com, click on “go to the approvals” for a list of approved RP districts

The exclusive independent distributor of SATA products in the US and Puerto Rico

Phone: 800-533-8016 www.satausa.com E-mail: satajet@satausa.com SATA, SATAjet and/or other SATA products referenced herein are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SATA GmbH & Co. KG in the U.S. and/ or other countries.

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PROMOTION

THE FINDER

SPECIAL PRODUCTS, OFFERS AND EVENTS FOR FENDERBENDER READERS

CROMAX® EZ. IT'S WATERBORNE MADE EASY.

An easy-to-use basecoat system from Axalta that doesn’t compromise quality.

Looking for a simpler waterborne basecoat system? Cromax® EZ is an easy-to-use basecoat system that doesn’t compromise quality.

Cromax EZ packs premium quality into a paint that’s easy to mix, easy to match and easy to apply. Cromax EZ is designed to deliver better coverage than competing waterborne systems. With less material consumption and essentially no flash time between basecoat and clearcoat, Cromax EZ isn’t just easy to use—it’s better for your bottom line. We’re dedicated to helping you achieve your goals, so we’ve designed Cromax EZ to work with the existing Cromax portfolio of undercoats and clearcoats, making it the preferred choice in waterborne systems. See how easy waterborne can be.

Visit us online at axalta.us/ez or call 855.6.AXALTA.

ENSURE CONSISTENT COMPLIANCE AND QUALITY WITH CCC® CHECKLISTS CCC® Checklists empowers shop owners and staff with the tools they need to provide outstanding service and quality repairs, every time.

DEFINE STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES Checklists allows repairers to define unique operational processes to build dynamic checklists that all employees can use to ensure that each relevant procedure is completed with high quality and consistency on every repair.

Define events and rules for every task you want completed. Each task can be configured based on phase of repair, type of damage, insurer, role and other parameters. Once configured, CCC® ONE automatically computes and updates checklists throughout each job, giving your team space to write notes and attach images to certain tasks.

PHOTOS COURTESY COMPANY

REDUCE COMEBACKS With Checklists, events completed in the repair process are automatically logged based on the task type, allowing shops to track quality and document this highly variable process to reduce comebacks caused by avoidable errors. Enable a standard operating process to complete a safe and quality repair—every time.

Add CCC® Checklists today. Visit cccis.com/checklists or contact us at 877.208.6155.

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PROMOTION

THE FINDER

CHIEF COLLISION TECHNOLOGY AND BURKE PORTER GROUP PROVIDE FOOLPROOF ADAS CALIBRATION The Mosaic ADT calibration system is powered by the same end-of-line technology the OEMs use.

Chief and Burke Porter Group have teamed up to create the Mosaic ADT (Advanced Diagnostic Technology), the industry’s first-ever automated ADAS calibration system that’s powered by the same end-of-line technology that OEMs use. Other systems rely on measuring tape, plumb bobs and manual setup, leaving plenty of room for human error. Why risk it?

CHIEF’S MOSAIC ADT IS DIFFERENT BECAUSE: • It’s automated. Self-diagnostic target and vehicle sensor checks as well as enhanced radar and laser information sequencing means no manual measurements or adjustments are required.

• It’s future-proof. The state-of-the-art software automatically updates with the latest OEM repair procedures before new vehicle models even hit the street. No reverse-engineering repair procedures are required.

• It’s accurate. Each technician using the Mosaic ADT goes through training and certification to operate the system. Once the OEM scan tool is plugged in, an ASE-certified technician operates it to facilitate remote diagnostics. This provides an added layer of support and protection to ensure error-free calibrations.

• It reduces the risk of liability. The Mosaic ADT system captures and records the full calibration process and repair history of a vehicle to document that the OEM repair procedure was followed.

• It’s trusted. Product partner Burke Porter Group has almost 30 years of experience developing this same technology that OEMs use for end-of-line calibrations.

For more information on Chief’s Mosaic ADT visit chieftechnology.com/mosaic.

PROTECTION FOR YOUR CAR

The revolutionary metal parts protection duo of Rust Prevention Magic (RPM) and Magic Guard

RUST PREVENTION MAGIC (RPM) Rust Prevention Magic (RPM) will protect the surface of bare metal components and keep unwanted oxidation from altering the natural patina and finish. It is impervious to corrosive chemicals such as acids, saltwater, and all types of damaging moisture. Extreme durability! Just clean the bare metal, warm the part with a heat gun or hair dryer, brush RPM on and watch it melt right into the pores of the metal, and as it cools wipe away any extra. That’s it! Your metal is now protected.

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MAGIC GUARD An easy-to-apply product that protects your chrome, aluminum and magnesium parts and wheels against brake dust, white chalky residue, oxidation and corrosion. Protects bare, coated and plated metals by creating a durable impenetrable barrier. Use on glass to enhance visibility with water beading technology and to prevent water spots.

Easy application! Apply a thin coating to the cleaned surface with the microfiber cloth provided. It’s also a terrific wheel sealant.

For more information about Rust Prevention Magic (RPM) and Magic Guard visit www.MagicGuard.com or call 855-532-7846.

PHOTOS COURTESY COMPANY

Rust Prevention Magic (RPM) and Magic Guard are a revolutionary combo that protects all metal parts: bare, coated and painted. Made in the USA, this SEMA award-winning patented formula continues to pass test after test! Developed by a car enthusiast, it is invisible to the eye and dry to the touch while protecting your metal parts from rust, oxidation and corrosion.

PROMOTION

SPECIAL PRODUCTS, OFFERS AND EVENTS FOR FENDERBENDER READERS

FUJI SPRAY AUTO IS POISED TO REVOLUTIONIZE COLLISION REFINISH

The new V8 series of spray guns are state-of-the-art, reliable and efficient.

With over 30 years of experience in the spray equipment industry, Fuji Spray is introducing an innovative new venture to the family—Fuji Spray Auto.

This new division is specifically designed for the collision repair and refinishing industry. Combining the best in industry technology with a tradition of quality and excellence, the new line will enhance both the performance and quality of refinishing. This includes Fuji Spray Auto’s MPX-30 Compressor Spray Gun—the perfect gun for any collision repair expert. The MPX-30 can handle all types of coatings, including high-solid materials, and is designed to function flawlessly in production settings.

Fuji Spray Auto is also proud to annouce the new V8 Series, including the MPV8 and H-V8. This new, top-of-the-line design and innovative spray experience isn’t just the newest thing for Fuji Spray—it’s an innovative take on Fuji Spray’s classic legacy.

Please visit FujiSprayAuto.com for more information.

increases the booth’s overall spray zone—eliminating dead air zones and allowing technicians to paint more parts in each booth cycle.

ULTRA® XD PAINT BOOTH

Produce exceptional paint finishes and meet the unique needs of your shop

With superior lighting and contamination control, Ultra XD Paint Booths from Global Finishing Solutions® (GFS) enable shops to produce exceptional paint finishes. Choose from a variety of high-efficiency heat systems, intuitive control panels, and downdraft or semi-downdraft airflow to customize your Ultra XD Paint Booth to meet the unique needs of your shop.

SUPERIOR CONTAMINATION CONTROL & EXPANDED SPRAY ZONE Downdraft Ultra XD Booths feature GFS’ exclusive Controlled Airflow Ceiling for superior contamination control and lighting. The patented ceiling design maximizes the effectiveness of downdraft airflow and

ENERGY-SAVING ECONOMY MODE Shops can save up to 60 percent in electricity and 75 percent in fuel costs with economy mode, standard on all Ultra XD Booths. Economy mode automatically ramps the booth down and runs on idle when the booth is not in use. Providing further energy savings, SmartFlash on optional Logic controls allows up to 90 percent of the air to be recirculated during flash mode.

RECOGNIZED QUALITY Since 1999, GFS’ proven and sought-after Ultra Paint Booth line has been providing body shops and collision centers with high-performance finishing environments for painting automotive vehicles and parts. Shops of all sizes continue to come back to GFS for consistent, quality equipment every time.

SERVICE & SUPPORT YOU CAN COUNT ON Shops can rely on Global Finishing Solutions and its experienced distribution network for lifelong support and service of your paint booth.

GFS’ unmatched Technical Services department and a local distributor are available to assist you with any emergency repairs or maintenance issues to ensure your booth is always running in peak condition.

For more information about Ultra XD Paint Booths, visit globalfinishing.com or call 877-658-7900.

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PROMOTION

THE FINDER

MINIMIZE CYCLE TIME AND INCREASE REVENUE WITH THE PHOENIX

US Autocure’s groundbreaking paint curing technology will save time and increase revenue

US Autocure has developed the “Phoenix,” an industry-changing gas catalytic autonomous paint curing technology. Its robotic system has been engineered by auto body veterans Tim Beal and Byron Davis as well as aerospace engineer Mickey Meyer. This team brought extensive, first-hand knowledge of body shop bottlenecks, particularly relating to the curing stage.

The Phoenix is the first and only infrared curing system that is in full compliance to Canadian & U.S. Fire Prevention Class 1, Division 2

SIMPLIFY YOUR BLUEPRINTING AND MEASURING PROCESS

The Matrix Wand is the body shop’s tool of choice to quickly identify hidden damage and improve workflow through the shop.

The Matrix Wand was developed by leading experts in the automotive and aerospace industries to assist in the 3D measuring and blueprinting processes. Launched in 2012, the system won Best New Product Award for the collision repair and refinish division at the SEMA New Product Showcase.

Innovations include: • Upgrading from a 32- to a 64-bit system • Higher-resolution imaging • An enhanced self-calibration board • A shorter, more portable Wand design

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standards. As a result, the Phoenix can be installed in pre-existing paint booths without separate enclosures. The Phoenix is built and supported in the United States.

The Phoenix is available exclusively through Industrial Finishes & Systems, Inc. Visit industrialfinishes.com/infrared-curing-system/ or call 800.531.1305 for more information.

The Matrix Wand is the body shop’s tool of choice to quickly identify hidden damage and improve workflow through the shop. Prior to the Matrix Wand, blueprinting each vehicle that arrived in the shop was time-consuming and often cost-prohibitive. Tearing down each car to find hidden damage on the frame machine consumes valuable time, labor and shop floor space.

With the Matrix Wand, every vehicle that goes through the shop can be measured in a matter of minutes. The Matrix Wand can be used to: • Ensure accurate estimates the first time. This reduces supplements and increases efficiency and profitability throughout the repair process.

• Blueprint the work to be carried out and the parts required.

• Verify the repair by comparing points to the Mitchell Reference Database, which is integrated into the Matrix Repair Software.

• Provide documentation for insurance companies and customers to improve customer satisfaction and reduce liability.

For more information on the Matrix Wand, please visit www.thematrixwand.com.

Matrix Electronic Measuring, Inc. Tel: 1-785-823-8800 Email: matrix@thematrixwand.com Web: thematrixwand.com

PHOTOS COURTESY COMPANY

The system utilizes medium-wave infrared light sources following a programmable pattern to greatly reduce curing time, resulting in shorter overall cycle times and greater shop output. The Phoenix moves along 11 points of articulation, allowing it to follow vehicle or component contours for a thorough cure and remarkable finish. The system dramatically reduces cure times, allowing shops to increase output without expanding facilities or adding technicians. Lower energy requirements that accompany infrared curing allow shops to reduce their overall utility bills while enjoying increased production.

PROMOTION

SPECIAL PRODUCTS, OFFERS AND EVENTS FOR FENDERBENDER READERS

AN OPTION FOR EVERY SHOP AND EVERY BUDGET Polyvance Gives technicians the ability to repair virtually any plastic on a vehicle.

Polyvance, the pioneer of nitrogen plastic welding technology in the collision repair industry, has focused exclusively on plastic repair and refinishing products since 1981.

Polyvance currently offers nitrogen plastic welding machines for shops of every budget, and Polyvance’s welders give the technician the ability to repair virtually any plastic on the vehicle, including bumper covers, headlight tabs, washer bottles, inner fender liners, rocker panel moldings, and much more.

With the recent release of their 8000-series nitrogen plastic

welders, Polyvance offers an option for every shop and every budget.

The 8000-series is the sixth-generation nitrogen plastic welder since Polyvance introduced the technology to the industry in 2006.

Polyvance also offers a full range of paid training options from handson training in your shop to online training for your estimating staff. Since Polyvance is an I-CAR Sustaining Partner, I-CAR credits are included at no additional cost with their training.

After the plastic weld is complete, you’ve got to restore the appearance to pre-accident condition. Polyvance offers a full line of refinish products that are compatible and designed for use on plastic every step of the way: • Plastic cleaners, both solvent- and water-based • Adhesion promoters, both national rule and low-VOC • Flexible, easy-sanding epoxy and polyester fillers • Flexible, easy-sanding waterborne primer surfacers, both in light gray and in black • Flexible texture coatings that allow you to vary the texture from fine to coarse, in both national rule and low-VOC formulas Polyvance demonstrates its commitment to training technicians in the proper techniques of plastic repair with its support of both SkillsUSA and I-CAR as a Sustaining Partner. And, with its new smartphone app, Polyvance puts on-demand plastic repair training in the pocket of every technician.

Visit www.polyvance.com or call 800-633-3047.

Sealers generate a level surface with minimal texture in the blend edge, which allows the Envirobase High Performance waterborne basecoat to lay flatter. The result is a smoother transition from sealer coverage to original color foundation and the look of an invisible repair. The improved foundation—coupled with the appropriate gray shade undercoat—will achieve an invisible repair with less basecoat material while maximizing hold-out and final appearance.

PPG'S NEW, ADVANCED SEALERS IDEAL FOR BLEND REPAIRS

ECS8X A-Chromatic Sealers help achieve invisible repair and refinish with less basecoat PPG has developed three new sealers to provide the ideal foundation for ENVIROBASE® High Performance basecoat when performing blend repairs.

Featuring PPG’s advanced resin technology, ECS8X A-Chromatic

The new sealers are available in three A-Chromatic shades: G1 white, G5 gray and G7 dark gray, which can easily be blended into shades G3 and G6.

ECS8X A-Chromatic Sealers are ready to topcoat in just 15 minutes and can be applied over unsanded OEM e-coats, sanded original finishes or properly prepared and treated bare steel, aluminum, fiberglass and plastic.

For more information, please visit ppgrefinish.com or contact your local PPG distributor.

PPG 800-647-6050 ppgrefinish.com

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 77

PROMOTION

THE FINDER

PRO SPOT ANNOUNCES NEW i4EVER TRADE-UP PROMOTION

The promotion will offer trade-in credits of up to $5,000 for the customer’s current i4 Spot Welder

Pro Spot International announces their i4Ever Trade-Up Promotion for current users of their ever popular i4 spot welder to their new i4s Smart Spot Welder.

The promotion will offer trade-in credits of up to $5,000 (condition

dependent) for the customer’s current i4 Spot Welder towards the purchase of the new i4s Smart Spot Welder.

In 2018, Pro Spot introduced the i4s Smart Spot Welder, a completely new and updated resistance spot welder with brand new automated welding software that provides a true quality weld, meeting the strict OEM standards time after time.

They’ve also included on-board training that teaches technicians how to properly use the i4s in a matter of minutes. On-board WiFi makes job reporting a snap, digitally sending your weld report in seconds.

The i4s’ WiFi also enables the shop to keep the resistance welder completely up-to-date! Technicians can automatically download any new welding software updates.

Traded-in i4 welders will be refurbished and offered to trade schools to help promote the education of future technicians on current technology.

Trading in your used i4 Spot Welder is fast and easy with the i4Ever Promotion; an authorized distributor will come to the customer’s shop, do an evaluation and arrange the appropriate credit right there. The distributor will handle all of the details and have a new i4s in your shop in no time.

Thinking of leasing? Pro Spot’s distributor has a great leasing package available!

For complete details, visit www.prospot.com/i4Ever, or call 1-877 PROSPOT.

BREATHING SYSTEM TO PROTECT YOUR HEALTH The SATA air vision 5000 is the latest in safe breathing technology.

Painters are exposed to solvents, sanding dust and overspray every day. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for painters to effectively protect their respiratory tracts, heads, eyes, hair and skin.

The SATA air vision 5000 hood protects the respiratory system and the complete head area and comes in a modern design offering maximum comfort and perfect fit. The head component can be adapted to fit every head shape and is easy to adjust. The soft stream

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flow-optimized breathing air and a large field of vision further enhance wearer comfort. The sound level inside the hood has been reduced to a comfortable 64 dB while the field of vision has been enlarged by almost 50 percent. In addition, the SATA air vision 5000 is also equipped with a rigid bump cap, which makes it safer to work in hardto-access areas.

For more information, call 800-533-8016 or email satajet@satausa.com.

PHOTOS COURTESY COMPANY

The newest full-face breathing protection system is the SATA air vision 5000. The air vision 5000 consists of the supplied air respirator—a belt unit—which allows for easy attachment of different add-on modules.

Depending on the quality of the supplied compressed air, there are two options of air regulation units: either the SATA air regulator or the SATA air carbon regulator, which includes an activated charcoal absorber. To enhance breathing comfort for the painter, there are three additional optional modules that can be mounted on the belt: the SATA air warmer, SATA air humidifier or SATA air cooler.

PROMOTION

SPECIAL PRODUCTS, OFFERS AND EVENTS FOR FENDERBENDER READERS

INTRODUCING THE 3M™ PERFECT-IT™ 1-STEP PAINT FINISHING SYSTEM. Eliminate compounding and the swirl marks that come with it

The system combines new 8000-grade 3M™ Trizact™ Abrasive Discs, 3M™ Perfect-It™ 1-Step Finishing Material and a family of polishing pads— all engineered to revolutionize paint finishing repair.

The steps are simple: first, remove dirt nibs, dust and level excess texture using a 3M™ Purple Finishing Film Hookit™ Disc (P1500 or P2000). Next, refine the remaining scratches using the 3000-grade 3M™ Trizact™ Hookit Foam Disc. Further refine the scratch, and skip compounding, using the Trizact™ 8000 Foam Disc. Finally, to remove the final sand scratches and achieve a high shine, use the 1-Step Finishing Material and the matching foam pads.

Ultra-micro-fine 8000 grade discs produce a scratch pattern so fine that they easily achieve the same results as compounding—without the compound. That means cleaner, easier and more efficient results. Paint finishing with 3M™ Trizact™ abrasives can reduce overall polishing time by up to 75 percent while providing consistent paint finish results.

“It’s an amazing product,” says Marcus Schneider, Senior Application Engineer at 3M, “and the extremely fine grade gives a beautiful finish.

Getting the scratches out of the clearcoat is difficult, and the Trizact 8000 disc makes that job easier.”

Finishing is completed with the specially formulated 3M™ Perfect-It™ 1-Step Finishing Material and matching foam finishing pad. Together they deliver the cut of compounding with the fine finish of polishing. The result is deeper, glossier finishes with no swirl and less clean-up.

Learn more at 3MCollision.com/1-step.

THE TECHNICIAN SHORTAGE W IL L N OT D E FE AT U S

autojobcentral.com

November 2019 | fenderbender.com 79

COLUMNS

OUTSIDE THE LINES JASON BOGGS

Aim Small, Miss Small

Narrowing your focus is the key to achieving larger goals

attention span of humans has shrunk to 7 seconds—one second less than a goldfish.

My first thought is: How do you study the attention span of a goldfish? But let’s ignore that part.

When you think about our teammates, and ourselves, having such short attention spans, how are we, as business leaders, supposed to get through to anyone? How do we get a group of people pulling in the same direction for longer than 7 seconds?!

The answer might be found in an 80’s classic movie, “The Karate Kid.” Mr. Miagi always reminded his student Daniel to focus.

I have been fortunate enough to take part in some very impactful leadership training classes throughout my career.

One of the main themes they all share is how beneficial it is to focus. Now, I know that may seem like an obvious statement, but how many of us can actually say we have a singular, narrow focus that we use to approach our jobs everyday? A common day can see us pulled in several different directions.

The magic potion to getting things accomplished is to focus on the smallest target possible.

Years ago, I took an intensive two-day class that Franklin Covey taught, called the “Four Disciplines of Execution.” The first discipline was to narrow your focus.

They had all kinds of data from thousands of companies. They found that companies that had more than three goals would typically crash and burn, rarely achieving success in just one of their many goals. However, companies that had anywhere from one to three goals almost always achieved complete success in each one. They concentrated on the two or three goals that would have the biggest impact on our business.

It reminds me of an article I read by Warren Buffett. In it, he discussed his secrets to success. He instructed the readers to make a list of the top 25 things they wanted to accomplish in their lives.

His next instruction really stood out: He said to cross out the bottom 20 and only 80 fenderbender.com | November 2019

focus on doing the top five within their lifetimes. He said the people who do that will accomplish all five of those. And the reverse of course is that the people who have a list of 25 things to do will rarely accomplish any of them.

I also participated in training with Discover Leadership. This was by far the most intense training I have ever taken.

One of their key sayings is, “What you focus on will expand.” I have found that to be so true in business and in life. If I focus on something negative it just seems to grow and get worse. I've found it's best to focus on the positive.

One of my all-time favorite stories about focus involves the 2000 British Olympic rowing team. In 1998, the team realized it could never finish better than seventh place in an international competition. The rowers knew if they didn’t make any changes they would end up finishing seventh or worse at the Sydney Olympics. The team got together and developed what it called the “Golden Question,” which was, “Will it make the boat go faster?” Everything those rowers did from that point forward was evaluated by answering that question.

When they got to Sydney, they skipped the opening ceremonies, a great honor for any Olympian, because it wouldn’t make the boat go faster. And, lo and behold, they ended up winning the gold medal!

There are countless lessons on making our focus as narrow as possible. Talk to any good dart thrower or archer and they will tell you the spot they concentrate on is incredibly small. A great adage comes from the movie “The Patriot”

when the father is teaching his kids how to shoot a rifle: “Aim small, miss small.”

So, how does this all apply to leading a collision shop?

As shop operators, we can be faced with myriad distractions throughout a day, week, month, and year that create a challenging environment to stay focused on our ultimate or overall goals. Franklin Covey calls these everyday distractions the “Whirlwind.”

How do we focus on our big goals when it seems like every day we get pulled in several different directions?

One exercise I would suggest is to take a couple of normal working days and write down everything you did during that time period. Then separate the list into two categories: things you need to handle yourself, and things you can delegate.

You might be surprised at how long the list is regarding tasks you can delegate to others.

The main theme of all the successful people and groups I’ve mentioned is to narrow your focus on a short list of things to accomplish. Doing that will drastically increase your chances of reaching those goals.

At our shop, we focus on two goals each day. The first is to make sure we deliver a set number of hours. The second is we track what percentage of vehicles go through production without needing a second parts order.

When we sharpen our focus on those two measurements, everything else falls into place. I would encourage you to figure out what is the key to success in your company and focus solely on that.

JASON BOGGS 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.

E M A I L : j a s o n @b o g g s au t o .c o m A R C H I V E : f e n d e r b e n d e r.c o m / b o g g s

FUE VANG

A recent study indicates the average

Get A New i4s Today!

Get Up To $5000 For Your i4

With The i4-Ever Trade In Program!

Trade in your used i4 Spot Welder for a credit towards an all new i4s Smart Spot Welder.

The i4s is the most technologically advanced spot welder on the market, with on-board training, WIFI data retrieval and all new Autoweld Programs, making this, still, the most versatile and easy to use welder on the market!

Contact your local Distributor for more details or visit prospot.com/i4Ever.

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