FenderBender - September 2016

Groom your next shop leader PAGE 23

Keep customers through total losses PAGE 21

What to know before investing in gas-catalytic drying equipment PAGE 52

Awards The 2016

FenderBender

Meet five of collision repair’s finest in our ninth annual tribute to the industry’s top professionals PAGE 29

MELEAH MONTGOMERY COLLISION WORKS

KYLE WHARFF ACE SULLINS CARSTAR

KEN COOK NORWALK HIGH SCHOOL

SEPTEMBER 2016 // FENDERBENDER.COM

PHIL GILLINGHAM BALL BODY SHOP

CHRIS CRAWFORD DAVE’S AUTO BODY CO. — His devotion to helping others has made him a standout technician and a motivator of his peers.

Productivity Without Compromise ADVANCED AQUABASE PLUS W AT E R B O R N E B A S E C O AT ®

Precise color alignment Industry-setting cycle time Clearcoats geared for production

©2016 PPG Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. www.ppgrefinish.com Nexa Autocolor and Aquabase are registered trademarks of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.

CONTENTS

ON THE COVER

Cover artwork created by FenderBender staff

SEPTEMBER 2016 // VOLUME 18 // NUMBER 9

29. The

Industry’s Finest

Profiling the winners of the ninth annual FenderBender Awards.

BY FENDERBENDER STAFF

42. Passion for

Painting

How Jeremy Winters leads a four-man paint team to a 34 percent average gross profit on paint and materials.

JENNY PRATER

BY TRAVIS BEAN

Fired Up Jeremy Winters, paint shop foreman at Harrison’s Body Shop & Glass in Macon, Ga., in his element in the mixing room.

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. COPYRIGHT ©2016 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 Twin Cities, MN, and additional mailing offices. FenderBender is a member of BPA Worldwide. POSTMASTERS Send address changes to: FenderBender, 571 Snelling Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55104.

SEPTEMBER 2016

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CONTENTS

7. Past the Page 9. Driver’s Seat 11. Light Hits

52

23. The Big Idea

Grooming future shop managers » BY KEVIN RAINS

12. Snap Shop

The lean shop floor at Frank’s Accurate Body Shop in Slidell, La.

15. Quick Fix

ANALYSIS The impact of large-scale

collision/mechanical partnerships NUMBERS Cycle time’s impact on

customer satisfaction HOW IT WORKS eSpray by Haydell

Industries AWARDS INSIGHT Inside Service

King’s apprentice program IDEA SHOP Keeping customers

through totals

26. On the Business

No shop owner can win in isolation » BY MIKE ANDERSON

63. In the Trenches

Age discrimination as a growing trend » BY DARRELL AMBERSON

64. Questions

Virendra Chhikara of the Louisiana Small Business Development Center on building your brand

66. Innovations

A simple solution for materials management

STRATEGY 49. Leadership

Leading collision repair operators share the top takeaways from some of their favorite business-building books.

52. Tech+Tools

Key considerations any shop should make before investing in robotic drying equipment.

54. Case Study

Elizabeth Mayoral retooled her hiring approach after an employee nearly ruined several client relationships.

EDITORIAL

SALES

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

PUBLISHER

Jake Weyer

Chris Messer 651.846.9462

MANAGING EDITOR

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ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Andrew Johnson 651.846.9459

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GRAPHIC AND PRODUCTION DESIGN INTERN

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Robert McSherry North Haven Auto Body Greg McVicker Budd Baer Collision Center Steven Morris Pride Collision Centers Mark Probst Probst Auto Body Randy Sattler Rydell Collision Center Kerry Woodson Jungerman CARSTAR

Becca Sugden

» HOW TO REACH US SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE tel 800.869.6882 fax 866.658.6156 email fndr@kmpsgroup.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. Go to fenderbender.com/backissues OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER 10 Missions Media, LLC, 571 Snelling Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55104 tel 651.224.6207 fax 651.224.6212 web fenderbender.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR letters@fenderbender.com ARTICLE REPRINTS For high-quality reprints or e-prints of articles in this issue, call 651.846.9473 or email reprints@fenderbender.com.

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SEPTEMEBER 2016

STAFF GRAPHIC, COURTESY SYMACH

49

U-POL REVEALS ALL! NEW BRAND IDENTITY INNOVATIVE NEW PRODUCTS DYNAMIC NEW PACKAGING

ooth B A EM IN S t i s W Vi and s given 1 2 152 3 iPad ! of one each day y awa

U-POL 108 Commerce Way, Stockertown, PA 18083. www.u-pol.com

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PAST THE PAGE

COMMENTS, DISCUSSIONS, FEEDBACK AND MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB

ONLINE EXTRAS

FROM THIS ISSUE’S SPONSORS Click on the logo below for product information.

Axalta Coating Systems

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» ONLY AT THE [INSTAGRAM]

2015

To ensure more opportunities for shop leaders to meet, share ideas and have some fun in the process, FenderBender has scheduled its FenderBender Management Conference 2016 reception party at Pinstripes bistro near the event site at the Westin Lombard just outside Chicago. Register online at

@FENDERBENDERMAG

THE NATURE OF THE BUSINESS Shelton Collision’s aluminum exterior was inspired by the nature of the business: metal work. See the rest of the Snap Shop in the July issue. #collisionrepair #autobody #bodyshop #autobodyshop

Car-O-Liner

fenderbenderconference.com

Polyvance ®

www.car-o-liner.com | 800-521-9696

» COLLISION CAST COLLISION

CCC Information Services Inc.

PPG

ChemSpec USA

SEMA Show

C A S T

2013

Less jobs, more focus on the customer—that’s what has set Kyle Wharff apart. This month, staff writer Travis Bean interviews the Ace Sullins CARSTAR owner, who discusses a customerfocused repair process that has led to 6.6-day cycle times and a 100 percent net promoter score.

[TWITTER]

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General Motors

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Innovative Tools & Technologies

Valspar

Kia Motors America

Vehicle Services Group

THOUGHTS ON VEHICLE SCANS Mike Anderson: Industry Needs to Find ‘Path of Resolution’ to Vehicle Scanning @FENDERBENDERMAG

CONNECT WITH US ONLINE facebook/FenderBenderMag @FenderBenderMag

FENDERBENDER STAFF

FenderBender - The Collision Repair Professionals Forum youtube.com/FenderBenderMag fenderbenderlive.com fenderbender.com/googleplus

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More power for the curves, tight turns and straightaways.

Valspar Automotive brings more power to your business. That means you’ll have better access to more of the high-performance refinishing products you want, including advanced technology paints, coatings systems and accessories. Plus, you’ll get the technical assistance and expert help you need, all in one place, for great results from start to refinish.

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DRIVER’S SEAT

Setting the Bar This is the most rewarding issue of FenderBender we produce all year.

That’s saying something, as we take a lot of pride in producing valuable content each and every month to help you grow your business—improving livelihoods is what makes this job worth doing. But in this annual issue, the FenderBender Awards issue, we get to formally recognize some of the most talented, dedicated and inspiring industry professionals—those setting the bar for everyone else in the industry.

If you’re new to FenderBender or just need a refresher, the FenderBender Awards recognize peer-nominated collision repair professionals in five categories: executive, management, shop worker, administrative support, and wild card (open to individuals in or outside of the shop who do not fall into the other categories). Anyone can nominate. All it takes is filling out a form at fenderbenderawards.com that asks for details on business achievements, industry and community contributions, personal influence and any other relevant information.

After nominations close, the editorial team takes on the heavy task of reviewing every entry, selecting finalists, interviewing nominees, and choosing winners. This marks the ninth year of our awards program and the sixth that I’ve been involved in, and this was the best round of nominations I’ve seen yet.

Nominating someone only takes a few minutes, but it’s clear that nominators are pouring a lot more time and effort into the process. In a fast-paced industry that often commands so much of our readers’ time, it’s impressive to see. It’s also reflective of all the good taking place in collision repair.

You’ll see nominees sprinkled in the magazine throughout the year in our Awards Insight section on page 20, but the winners are profiled in this issue.

And this month, they’ll be recognized at the FenderBender Management Conference, a first for this program that we plan to carry into future years.

Congratulations to the 2016 FenderBender Award recipients and thanks to all of the nominators.

Jake Weyer, editorial director jweyer@fenderbender.com

SEPTEMBER 2016

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10 F E N D E R B E N D E R . C O M / / S E P T E M E B E R 2 0 1 6

LIGHT HITS

Your Industry’s News, in Brief TOYOTA NOW REQUIRES PRE-, POSTREPAIR SCANS Toyota Motor Sales announced that pre- and post-repair scans should be performed on all Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles, according to a bulletin provided to FenderBender by both a collision repair facility and industry consultant Mike Anderson.

Toyota said that these vehicles have electronic control modules, actuators, sensors or wiring that could possibly be damaged in the event of a collision. The damage may cause these electronic systems to perform incorrectly following the repair, and not all of the systems illuminate a malfunction indicator light on the dashboard, but they are designed to trigger diagnostic trouble codes.

To ensure that all systems are performing as they should, Toyota requires that collision repairers perform a scan if a vehicle sustained damage as a result of a collision and “strongly recommend” scans be performed both before and after every repair. This will ensure the customer receives their vehicle back with all systems working properly.

Toyota said that its Techstream and Techstream Lite scan tool and software can retrieve and report all DTCs for all Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles.

Honda and FCA have also announced that pre- and post-repair scans are required for their vehicles.

HONDA ANNOUNCES SCAN REQUIREMENTS American Honda announced that all vehicles involved in a collision must have diagnostic scans to ensure a proper repair.

Honda said a preliminary diagnostic scan is required to determine if any diagnostic trouble codes (DTC)

are present, and a post-repair scan is required to ensure that no DTCs remain. The post-repair scan will ensure that any electronic part that had to be disconnected during the repair process is reconnected and functioning properly. Honda said that damage requiring body part replacement will always require a post-repair scan, as well.

Safety and driver assistance systems will also require inspection, calibration, and aiming after the repair.

Honda said the presence or absence of dashboard indicators or warning lights is not an acceptable method to determine if post-repair scans are necessary since many DTCs do not activate a dashboard indicator.

Honda recommended the i-HDS software to check the status of all Acura and Honda vehicles after the repair, though it noted that some systems, such as Honda LaneWatch, are not accessible using the i-HDS. The i-HDS software requires a Bosch MVCI or Denso DST-i to use.

FORD TARGE TS FULL AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES BY 2021 Ford announced that it aims to have mass-produced, fully autonomous level-4 vehicles available for commercial applications by 2021.

The SAE level 4-capable vehicles would not require a steering wheel, gas or brake pedals, or any other driver input. Ford said it would introduce the vehicles in a ride-hailing or ride-sharing service application.

This year, Ford will triple its autonomous vehicle test fleet, raising the number of vehicles to more than 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid sedans. The vehicles will be tested in California, Arizona and Michigan. Ford plans to triple the test fleet again next year.

Ford will invest in or collaborate with four startups to increase autonomous vehicle development: Velodyne, SAIPS, Nirenberg Neuroscience LLC and Civil Maps. The four startups will contribute in the areas of advanced algorithms, 3-D mapping, LiDAR and radar and camera sensors.

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS INTRODUCES HAIL SOLUTION Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes announced that it has introduced its hail damage repair process, a new turnkey solution for collision shops repairing hail damage.

In 2015, there were 5,411 major hail storms. Sherwin-Williams saw a need for body shop owners to repair dings, dents and hail damage cost effectively without the need to replace panels or subletting to PDR technicians.

Sherwin-Williams’ solution, the High Build Polyester Primer Surfacer HDR22, allows owners to keep work in-house as opposed to PDR or replacing panels. It is a fast-drying polyester primer with excellent filling and sanding characteristics. In two or three coats, with less than 10 minutes between coats, HDR22 will fill surface imperfections and small dents up to the size of a nickel.

“Hail storms never come with a warning and the repairability of damage relies on size and frequency of dents. Sherwin-Williams provides an ideal solution to body shop owners when repairing hail damaged vehicles. HDR22 provides an alternative to panel replacement and PDR,” says Bryan Draga, global marketing director, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes.

» For your daily collision repair news visit fenderbender.com/lighthits CLICK HERE

SEPTEMBER 2016

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SNAP SHOP

Frank’s Accurate Body Shop Slidell, La. OWNERS Frank and Sandy Rinaudo SIZE 11,000 square feet STAFF 13 AVERAGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT 70 ANNUAL REVNUE: $2 million SHOP

LOCATION

Frank Rinaudo started working on cars when he was 15 years old, and by 17, he was working in a friend’s father’s shop. He also started painting cars in the garage behind his house. Then in 1990, Rinaudo purchased his own body shop, Frank’s Accurate Body Shop in Slidell, La. Almost three years ago, the shop began practicing lean theory. Rinaudo toured Marshall Auto Body where Aaron Marshall explained lean production.

“A lightbulb went off in me,” Rinaudo says. “I hired him and he came and helped me implement this system into my shop. He’s been kind of a coach to me.”

2

“We’ve been studying and implementing lean for probably three years now,” Rinaudo says. “Our system is derived from the Toyota production system.” Each vehicle goes through repair planning, complete disassembly and thorough damage analysis.

“From there, it’s a single-piece workflow,” he says. “Once the car is injected into the flow line, it’s designed to stay there until it’s completed.”

“The single-piece workflow is designed to expose problems so you can learn from them and improve them,” Rinaudo says.

Though the building design doesn’t allow Frank’s to have the process run in a straight line, each part of the process has a specific location. It flows from repair planning, through parts into the heavy welding and structural area.

“We’re not the traditional shop where [vehicles are] pulled in and out a lot and one technician owns the job,” he says.

Rinaudo does not pay his technicians based on commission.

He believes that paying them hourly emphasises the teamwork needed to successfully implement the shop’s lean practices.

The hardest part, Rinaudo says, is changing the way he and all the techs think about how hourly pay would make the repair process smoother. Everybody is much happier to help each other out, he says. Each phase of the process has the related tools, parts, supplies and equipment so that phase of the process is only done in one area. After detail, the next part of the building, which is connected by an overhang, has a stall for light body work before vehicles head into paint and back up to reassembly.

“If we’ve done our job well, it goes all the way through production without stopping,” he says.

» To see other shop spaces or to submit your own, go to fenderbender.com/snapshop CLICK HERE

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SEPTEMEBER 2016

COURTESY FRANK’S ACCURATE BODY SHOP

In the next part of the process, vehicles go onto the alignment rack and then into reassembly and detail. Rinaudo is part of a 20 Group with other independent repair shops. They meet twice a year and tour shops around the country that are into lean theory.

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SEPTEMEBER 2016

DID YOU KNOW

QUICK FIX

Driven Brands will use referral programs to bring more business to its brands on the collision and mechanical sides.

NEWS // IDEAS // PEOPLE // TRENDS IN BRIEF

ANALYSIS

The Rise of Mechanical and Collision Industry Partnerships A number of large-scale partnerships between collision repair and mechanical companies signal a growing trend in the industry

BY TESS COLLINS

THINKSTOCK

In May, Fix Auto Canada acquired Prime

CarCare Group, which includes the brands Speedy Auto Service, 5 Gears Auto Care, Minute Muffler and Brake, and Novus Glass. A few months prior, in December, Driven Brands, the owner of Maaco, Meineke, Drive N Style, Pro Oil Change and Take 5 Oil Change, purchased CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Experts and, in doing so, added one of the largest brands in the collision industry to its paint and collision business segment. Both Driven Brands and Fix Auto Canada saw an opportunity for horizontal integration in the automotive repair industry and took advantage of strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

Steve Leal, president and CEO of Fix Auto Canada, and Jose Costa, group president of paint and collision for Driven Brands, are both leveraging their companies’ established presence in the industry to promote the new partnerships. Leal says that Fix Auto is

focused on the Canadian market right now, but he says that it’s inevitable that the company will begin looking to other countries, including the U.S., to do the same.

Costa points out that these new partnerships are creating opportunities for brands to save money when it comes to parts procurement. However, MSOs are not the only ones reaping the benefits of this trend. Ben Steinman, owner of Ben’s Auto Body in Mexico, Mo., added a mechanical segment to his collision shop 14 years ago and says that by doing so, he is able to attract more customers and increase the amount of work his shop sees on a daily basis. With powerful partnerships forming on both sides of the industry, it begs the question: Should all collision shops add or partner with a mechanical segment?

‘Owning’ the Aftermarket According to both Leal and Costa, the partnership between the two worlds is all

about dominating the automotive aftermarket. Leal says that Fix Auto Canada is always looking for strategic buys and this acquisition made sense long-term for the company.

“One of our goals was to make sure that we had many brands within all of the segments of the automotive aftermarket.

In Canada, we’re the No. 1 brand on the collision side,” Leal says. “It made sense to take our strengths and build into the mechanical side.”

For Driven Brands, it was about finding gaps in the company and filling them.

“Driven Brands had a strong position in the paint market, but we didn’t have that in collision,” Costa says. “It made sense to acquire CARSTAR because Driven Brands wants to own the automotive aftermarket.”

Steinman says he was surprised that it took MSOs so long to begin partnering with the mechanical side. Vehicles are more complex than ever, creating SEPTEMBER 2016

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When your craftsmanship gets paired with our high-tech tools, there’s no such thing as good-as-new – it’s just new. Breathe new life into your projects with our full line of innovative collision repair tools, training and unrivaled support.

chiefautomotive.com/nothingelse/fb 16 F E N D E R B E N D E R . C O M / / S E P T E M E B E R 2 0 1 6

NOTHING ELSE IS A

INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS

more mechanical work for the collision segment. Steinman says it didn’t make financial sense for him to continue to send that work elsewhere.

The Benefits of Partnerships

Costa says partnerships between the mechanical and collision side make sense because of the cost savings. He says that Driven Brands will use referral programs to bring more business to its brands on both the mechanical and collision side. Driven Brands companies are now incentivized to refer customers to other Driven Brands locations through discounts. If a car that was in an accident still needs mechanical work, a CARSTAR owner will receive a discounted price on the work if it refers that customer to a nearby Meineke shop rather than an independent shop.

“In the past, the work was being subleased to independents,” Costa says.

“Now, we have the opportunity to keep work within the company.”

Steinman had the same reason for adding a mechanical segment to his collision shop. He says that customers that come in for a mechanical service will remember the shop if they ever need collision work, and vice versa.

In addition, the mechanical segment helps his collision shop’s cycle time because vehicles with mechanical work needed no longer need to be transported. Mechanical work doesn’t generate as much revenue as collision jobs, he says, but the amount of mechanical work that comes in outnumbers the collision work. At Ben’s Auto Body, the team has a goal of doing $1,000 of mechanical work daily, which it almost always hits. Steinman estimates that his shop performs four collision jobs and between 15 and 18 mechanical jobs per day.

For shops that do not want to add a mechanical segment, Leal and Costa say competing will be an uphill battle.

Steinman points out that adding a mechanical segment may not be a viable option for all shops, but there are other options. Shop owners that don’t have the space or the resources may not be able to add a segment within his or her own facility, but

CONTINUED

partnerships can still be created with local mechanical shops.

If a mechanical partnership is simply not an option, Leal says that independent shops should find a niche.

“General repair will result in pricing wars, which the MSOs will win,” Leal says. “Find a niche market, a niche vehicle. Find something to specialize in.”

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How to Compete Steinman points out that independent shops that add mechanical segments may actually have an advantage over MSOs. “When it comes to turning out quality work, smaller shops are able to monitor work better,” Steinman says.

www.car-o-liner.com

SEPTEMBER 2016

info@car-o-liner.com 844-833-9419 //

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QUICK FIX

NUMBERS

Does Cycle Time Affect Customer Satisfaction Scores?

Cycle time ( days)

Historically, it is believed that cycle time is key in driving customer satisfaction. However, according to a recent CCC Information Services report, cycle time may not have the large impact previously thought. According to the report, customer service, managing customer expectations by keeping them informed and quality of the repair were what matter to customers the most. That analysis is consistent with the results of the 2016 FenderBender KPI Survey, as well, which found only a slight difference when comparing key-to-key cycle time and CSI scores above 90 percent.

82%

11 or <

72%

8-10

71%

5-7

81%

2-4

67%

<2

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

CSI above 90% ( percentage )

YOUR 24/7 COLLISION COMMUNITY FOLLOW US:

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• SEE PHOTOS & VIDEOS • GET THE LATEST COLLISION CONTENT • TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK

100

HOW IT WORKS

SHOP REVIEWS OF COLLISION REPAIR PRODUCTS

eSpray by Haydell Industries

eSPRAY WEBSITE: haydell.com COST: $30,000–$40,000

The compressed air paint system cuts down on material waste and drying time

USES: Spraying paint TRAINING: Mike Haydell, president of Haydell, provides technical training support

BY TESS COLLINS

THE SHOP: CK Collision Centre is a four-shop Canadian MSO that has locations in the greater Toronto area and one in Cottage Country. The shop opened in 1978 and has maintained its I-CAR Gold Class qualifications since 1987.

COURTESY HAYDELL

THE REVIEWER: President Terry Bradimore began his career in collision repair as an apprentice. From there, he worked his way up to store manager and eventually purchased his first shop. After learning about mergers and acquisitions, Bradimore found his calling and began expanding. He is currently looking for his fifth location.

Bradimore always struggled with humidity in his shop and was looking for a product that would help speed up the paint-drying process.

When Bradimore was disappointed he couldn’t find any products on the market that directly addressed humidity—until his son, Terrence, vice president of operations for CK Collision, told him about Haydell’s eSpray.

HOW IT WORKS: Haydell’s eSpray converts the air in the spray gun hose attached to the machine from compressed into patented blended gas. During the conversion, the eSpray system removes all oxygen, moisture and particulates from the air used in paint guns. The system then ionizes the gas and paint/material mixture and creates a positively charged combination that is attracted to the negatively charged surface.

The painter has control over the temperature and air pressure used and once those features are set, the painter can attach the spray gun and begin the job.

THE REVIEW: “I’ve heard some of my painters say if I ever get rid of this, they’ll quit,” Bradimore

says. “How many machines can you say that about?”

Bradimore installed the system in his Bowmanville shop. The plan was to move the system after a short trial period to another shop, but when he went to move it, his Bowmanville painter refused to let him take it away. After getting such a positive reaction, Bradimore ordered the system for the rest of his locations and has received the same feedback from all of his shops.

Bradimore says the system does have an adjustment period, but Haydell president Michael Haydell provided all of CK Collision Centre’s painters his cell phone number in case of questions and personally spent a week with John Dalziel, refinisher at the Bowmanville location, to help him get used to it.

Bradimore says that when using the system, he’s noticed that primer lays down smoother, there’s less overspray, and overall he sees a better refinishing job. The eSpray allows paint to be applied at 110 degrees Fahrenheit, which means Bradimore’s painters can paint wet on wet instead of waiting for clear to dry.

The built-in ionizer removes all of the static, which Bradimore says causes metallics to lay down better and results in better overall color matching.

Dalziel adds that the system has fixed CK Collision’s humidity problem. The shops use temperature-controlled booths. These booths pull air in from the outside, which in the hot summer months means that moisture is entering the booths. Dalziel is able to spray at a temperature between 100 and 110 degrees

thanks to the temperature setting, which eliminates the moisture problem.

Bradimore’s shops have been using the product for about a year and a half and have seen improved cycle time and reduced material waste.

“This is the biggest game changer our shop has seen since a management system came into our business,” Bradimore says.

THE RETURN: The results have varied based on shop, but Bradimore says that the MSO has saved an average of 30 percent on clear because the system cuts down on overspray, leading to an overall reduction in wasted materials.

“Everyone in the shop is making more money because we’re able to get more work through,” Bradimore says. “At the Orillia location, painters are coming in earlier to spray and are finishing all of their work by 3:30 p.m. That’s extra time they get to spend with their families.”

Bradimore says that a conservative estimate would be that each shop can easily do three more paint jobs per day, and typically 10 more a week. Terrence says an average repair is around $2,000, which would bring in around $10,000 each week.

He reports that sales were up 10 percent six months into the 2016 fiscal year. The only change to the repair process was the addition of the eSpray.

» Interested in knowing the impact of a particular collision repair product in the shop? Send your suggestions to submissions@fenderbender.com.

CLICK HERE

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QUICK FIX

AWARDS INSIGHT

Properly Mentoring Technicians As a dedicated mentor for Service King, Ralph Gonzales gained unique insights on apprenticeship programs AS TOLD TO TRAVIS BEAN

I feel I am now doing the most important work of my life. You work your whole life to build knowledge and the skills you’ve got. You carry them with you, and you should pass them on to young students, have them take over your steps.

It’s frustrating that apprenticeship programs aren’t more popular. The 20

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problem is most shop owners don’t want to start all over with an open position. Why try finding somebody with years and years of experience when you’ve got a senior tech on hand that’s put in his time, paid his dues, and is ready to pass it on?

Technicians have to learn through handson experience. At most of these technical schools, they learn quite a bit on the books side, but I’ve found out they lack a lot of experience and it becomes difficult for them to get a job. We give them the chance to work on real jobs that come through our shop.

We take these kids step by step on how to properly repair cars. The way I learned to repair a car was watching others. Every shop you go to, there’s always a good tech that’s better than you. They’ve always got their opinions and techniques on fixing a car, and that’s how I learned.

I designed a list of repairs that they need to complete before finishing the course, and we just send real jobs their way as they come through the shop. Then I’m checking their work, pointing out things they missed, what they could have done differently.

In the morning, between 9 and 10 a.m., I have them go over the vehicles and plan their day. They must inspect their list, and then they must check and see if their orders are in. And then I help them schedule the day, specifically which cars need to go in what order.

Then pretty much the rest of their day

is booked. I’m just there making sure everything is running. It’s just all quality control for me. I make them repeat all their procedures day in and day out, every day. I have them measure and check suspension, check for previous damage, hidden damage, and look up all the documentation on every car that comes in.

I’m really just trying to drill processes into their heads. Every manufacturer, every vehicle has a certain way to be repaired, but they can’t forget about the basic things that ensure we don’t get comebacks. It seems simple, but they need someone there constantly reminding them, leading the way. Once they get those basics down, then you see them develop their own styles and really start to flourish.

It’s really about them gaining the confidence to go out and do the work on their own. Young techs have a lack of confidence. Getting to talk to them and witnessing their accomplishments is overwhelming. These kids are eager to learn, and all they want is a chance. They tell me time and time again that they appreciate the knowledge I’m giving them, how unsure of themselves they were before. They can see their careers, their finances, their plans unfolding in front of them. These kids are now going to be able to go out and make a living.

CLICK HERE » FenderBender Awards Insights feature past FenderBender Award nominees. To nominate an inspiring collision repair professional, or for more information, go to fenderbenderawards.com.

FUE VANG

A lot of time, money and effort goes into setting up an apprenticeship program.

But if you don’t have the right mentor?

It all falls apart.

That’s why, in addition to training technicians, Service King Collision Repair Centers took on an initiative that cultivates mentors as well. Service King’s Apprentice Development Program hires experienced employees as full-time instructors to coach and guide first-year technicians for 52 weeks.

Ralph Gonzales, who has spent over 40 years in the industry, 15 of which have been with Service King, served as the guinea pig for the program at the company’s northeast Dallas location, spending 40 hours each week mentoring three technicians who achieved CSI scores over 98 percent, including one technician who experienced zero comebacks. All three technicians graduated from the program and are now employees at Service King.

Gonzales, who schedules his day around training technicians and tracking their progress, shares his observations as a full-time mentor and how that level of dedication ensures industry-ready talent.

IDEA SHOP

How to Keep a Customer Through a Total In 2015, nearly 20 percent of all claims were flagged as total losses, according to data from CCC Information Services, up from just 9 percent in 2000. And CCC says that those rates, coupled with difficulty for customers to replace their vehicles due to higher car prices, a competitive used car market and longer loans, lead to significantly lower customer satisfaction ratings for insurers when the vehicle is totaled versus when it’s repaired. That’s why, Jeff Bagley says, collision shops need to be making more of an effort with total loss customers.

“A lot of times, a total loss is a thing you just put in the back lot and you just forget about it because you’re not going to make any money on it and you don’t want to put any effort into it,” he says.

However, two years ago, Bagley, owner of three Fix Auto shops in the Las Vegas area that work on 170 vehicles per month (30 percent of which are totals, thanks to the heavy-hit location) decided to put into place a process to help customers through a total-loss situation and keep them as customers for life. The result has been not only an uptick in customer service ratings, but also five new customers a month due to that positive repair experience.

AS TOLD TO ANNA ZECK

There are different kinds of total loss customers: There are customers who understand the process and those who don’t; there are customers who just want their cars to total and move on, and there are customers who really want to keep their cars. Those are the basic sides you’re dealing with and it’s crucial you determine what kind of customer he or she is at the beginning of the repair process.

THINKSTOCK

When a vehicle is towed in or brought in, we typically know whether it will be a total loss.

The problem with total losses is that insurance companies don’t want us to tell the customer that the car is a total loss. They want to be the ones to tell them. So, right off the bat, we try to prep them. You tell them it’s a possible total and start explaining the process: how the valuation is going to go, the information the insurance company uses to evaluate it and that it typically takes 2–3 days for them to hear back from the insurance company. It’s also important to emphasize that the customer will hear from the insurance company, not from us. That’s how you lay the groundwork to find out what kind of customer you have.

Then you try to find out how the customer feels about his or her car.

The customers who know a little bit about it and want their cars to go away, it’s really simple—you just speak with them about what’s going on. But the customers who don’t know and don’t understand why their cars are totals and they don’t want it to be a total, those are

the ones that you have a good opportunity to create a bond with or help them with the process so they can make a good decision with what they want to do.

I think the challenge is that a lot of customers have no idea what their car is worth. We explain that, as well as the total loss laws in Nevada, which are unique and can be confusing to insurers and customers.

Essentially, the total loss law is 65 percent here. Some customers don’t understand that the used car market is difficult right now and if they have a car that has low miles and they put a lot of maintenance in it, it might be worth it to get the vehicle fixed. We have three or four totals a month that customers retain because they know they can’t go buy another car.

Next, you write the estimate, do your valuation and upload to the insurance company. This is the part that’s a little difficult for shops. Sometimes customers get the call from the insurance company before we’re made aware of the total loss status. We want to stay on top of that and touch base with the claims center, particularly because we frequently don’t receive any communication back from the insurer if a vehicle is a total loss. So, we use AutoWatch to keep in touch with the customer and try to call them every other day to find out if they’ve heard back from the insurance company.

As soon as they get that call and find out

their car is a total, they usually call us right after. Based on our initial conversation, we will likely know how this next conversation will go.

If they want to keep the car, we’ll answer any questions about how we can repair it. If they want to move on, we’ll let them know that the car is not going anywhere and to feel free to come by and get anything out of it or retrieve the plates, which Nevada requires you to turn in at the DMV. While some shops have relationships with dealers and refer customers, we no longer do that. We tried doing that years ago and the feedback we got from our customers was that they thought we were trying to push them to a specific person who gives us a commission. We have relationships with dealers, but we will not refer customers unless they directly ask.

What has been most crucial is following up with total customers. It was an opportunity that we weren’t following through on and for the last two years, we’ve made this tactic a priority. We’ve found a way to track our total loss customers by coming up with a database of those customers.

We send mailers through a third-party company and we have set that up in that company that when we have someone walk in, we try to ask our customers where they came from.

» Give us your ideas about customers and total losses by visiting fenderbender.com/ideashop.

CLICK HERE

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THE BIG IDEA

KEVIN RAINS

Train Your Next Shop Leader Filling a leadership void in your shop doesn’t have to be difficult; it simply takes a focused, three-step approach

THINKSTOCK

Recently we went through a season

of downsizing. We had staffed for growth, and while we grew, we were not growing at the speed that could sustain all the managers and leaders that we had on staff. The unfortunate consequence was that two seasoned managers had to be cut, one from each of my two locations. That is never an easy process for many reasons but one of the things that immediately happens is that there is a leadership vacuum created. And as we all know from science class, nature hates a vacuum. Vacuums get filled, so it’s best to be intentional about what they get filled with.

How can new leaders be developed? I have written before about

how most people tend to be either too harsh and uncaring as a leader, or too soft—someone not directive nor challenging enough. Most new leaders will have a tendency one way or the other, but the truth is that leaders need to be both highly affirming at times and highly challenging at others. It doesn’t come down to an either/or but rather a both/and. And then the trick is knowing when to utilize which style in those moment-to-moment opportunities that arise every day.

Sometimes teams will form into classic “good cop/bad cop” roles. This is where one person will always be the affirming while someone else will take on the challenger role. Quite simply, that is not sustainable. What

is needed is for each manager to learn the leadership skills of being highly affirming when that is called for and highly challenging when it is time to draw a line in the sand.

How do you develop these skills in others? In short, awareness, practice and noticing. Here’s how it recently happened for us.

1. Awareness: Seasoned leaders, including myself and our COO, started meeting weekly with the team of leaders and simply talked about the various styles of leadership. We talk about how they were led and what style they prefer to receive and what style they are most comfortable giving. Typically those are the same so that provides SEPTEMBER 2016

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23

TRAIN YOUR NEXT LEADER

CONTINUED

some opportunity to talk about how to use the other end of the spectrum in healthy ways.

One way to talk about the different styles is to talk about them in an exaggerated way. Each end of the affirming and challenging spectrum have “shadow sides” where things start to break down.

For instance, the shadow side of being too affirming is that you can start to manipulate people with flattery.

2. Practice: Once there is some basic understanding—and that only takes a meeting or two—have them start practicing and bring the results back to the team. These can become like mini-case studies for further learning.

It is always best to use actual attempts from the immediate context rather than abstracted examples from somewhere else. This is a critical aspect for the pace of learning. If you do this, there will be an immediate upswing in leadership and the learning will be accelerated.

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SEPTEMEBER 2016

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3. Noticing: Start to have them notice when others on the leadership team provide good leadership through affirmation or challenge. As soon as possible, have them start to highlight where they see results, not only in their own efforts but the efforts of others.

Developing leaders follows a predictable process, and it starts with having leaders get in touch with their preferred style and then lean into practicing other styles of leadership until they are comfortable. It’s all about repetition and feedback. This is true whether you’re teaching someone how to fix a car or lead other people.

It takes awareness, practice and feedback from someone who knows more than you do. If those basic things are in place, you will grow managers into leaders. And leaders can take your team’s performance to places that managers simply cannot.

Kevin Rains is the owner of Center City Collision in Cincinnati and Precision Frame & Body in West Chester, Ohio. He is also an industry consultant and founder of marketing website Body Shop 2.0. He can be reached at kevinrains@gmail.com. For an archive of his columns, go to fenderbender.com/rains.

Shop owner.

Claims negotiator.

Maestro of metal.

CAPA die-hard.

You have to wear a lot of hats to turn a mass of broken metal into a thing of shimmering beauty— all the while working with demanding insurance adjusters and picky vehicle owners.

But Materials Scientist, Micro-Weld Examiner, or Tensile Strength Technician you are not. That’s where we come in.

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ON THE BUSINESS

MIKE ANDERSON

Get Off Your Island Our industry is moving at light speed—or

at least, it feels that way these days, right? New vehicle design innovations; ever-evolving technology; new, more sophisticated tools and equipment. It is a daunting task to keep up with it all, and because of all of this, it is easy to isolate ourselves, put our heads down and focus on taking care of our customers and fixing cars in a safe and timely matter.

Focus on the little things, and eventually, we’ll get to the big picture, right?

Well, that’s not the way it works, my friends. Having such a singular focus on our own businesses forces us to lose our peripheral vision; we develop blindspots.

So, what’s the solution? How do you get off your island as a shop owner and utilize the resources available to better run your business, and set it up to thrive for years to come?

I like to think of it like a fighter pilot; really, I like to use the movie Top Gun as an example. Think about the characters in the movie, all the fighter pilots: They were in teams, right? You had Maverick, 26

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and right with him was Goose. You had Iceman, and right with him was Slider. Every fighter pilot has his or her wingman. None of them go at it alone.

Do you see what I’m getting at here?

Every shop operator needs a wingman.

You cannot isolate yourself and succeed.

And, no, this isn’t a selling point coming from a consultant or coach, even though I am one.

Let’s look at some numbers, friends: In my quarterly Who Pays for What? survey, we poll shop operators about reimbursement on various repair procedures. And there is without a doubt a link to reimbursement and where a shop is located. But there’s a more important correlation than you might think: The states with higher reimbursement rates are the ones with very strong associations.

It’s not a coincidence. Montana, North Dakota, California, states in the Northeast—they all have the highest reimbursement rates, and they all have strong associations.

So, the first step to gaining that full picture of the industry and removing the blindspots from your business is to join an association. All associations, whether on the state or national level, have resources to help you better run your business. They have trade shows, training seminars, newsletters. Your association should be there to help you understand overtime laws, understand trade, and what’s going on with the OEMs. There are three major national trade associations: There’s SCRS, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists; there’s ASA, the Automotive Service Association; and then there’s AASP, the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers. Then each state and region has its own, as well. Join. Gaining that network of peers is invaluable.

Another option, too, that I think is really important to thriving today (and not just surviving) is taking advantage of the opportunity to join a 20 Group.

A 20 Group is where shops that aren’t competitors get together and meet on

THINKSTOCK

You don’t need to face the industry’s myriad issues on your own

a quarterly basis; they’ll compare financials, best practices, listen to guest speakers and work together with their facilitator on improving their own businesses.

And when we’re talking about finding a wingman for your business, what better way than having a group of your peers who will hold you accountable to your goals? Most paint companies have one; there are also independent groups out there that are great. Get involved. Reach out to your paint company or one of these other organizations and start now.

And, really, there’s one more entity that I think can really help you— FenderBender. It’s why I came here; it’s why I wanted to be involved in FenderBender’s conference this month.

This magazine is a great way to keep up with the industry, to analyze trends, and to learn from fellow shop operators on the challenges, opportunities and solutions that are out there today. The conference will do the same. It’s here to get rid of those blind spots for you.

At the end of the day, each of us in this industry needs to find our wingman—and it doesn’t have to be just one person, one entity or one group. I couldn’t have been successful in running my own shops without my involvement in the Washington Metropolitan Auto Body Association or the Coyote Vision Group.

If you need suggestions on where to look, email me, and I’ll be sure to introduce you to someone that would be a good fit.

Expand your own knowledge base by expanding your own inner circle.

Learn from others, and let others learn from you. Network. Get out there. Be a part of the greater industry.

You can’t fly solo and thrive in this industry anymore. You can’t sit on an island and hope that taking care of that customer today guarantees that you still have customers in five years, 10 years, 20 years. That’s not realistic. Get off the island, and let’s move forward together.

Mike Anderson, the former owner of Wagonwork Collision Centers in Alexandria, Va., operates CollisionAdvice.com, a training and consulting firm that assists shop operators nationwide. He is also a facilitator for Axalta Coating Systems’ 20 Groups in the U.S. and Canada, and is an Accredited Automotive Manager. Reach Anderson at mike@collisionadvice.com.

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Final Reminder to Grow Your Shop The FenderBender Management Conference is almost here. A limited number of passes and discounted hotel rooms are still available but going fast.

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2016 SEPTEMBER 19–21, 2016 // THE WESTIN LOMBARD // CHICAGO

SESSIONS Using OE Certifications Lean Theory Workshop Shop Technology Panel Hiring Strategies Advanced Approach to Branding Advice on Shop Culture Maintaining Double-Digit Net Profits

Improving Insurer Negotiations Developing Apprenticeship Programs Social Media Strategies Understanding WIP Using KPIs Mastering Efficiency Leadership Lessons

NETWORKING EVENTS Roundtables Idea-building breaks Drinks, bocce ball and bowling at Pinstripes Bistro

KEYNOTE SPEAKER Mike Anderson Owner, Collision Advice Choice, Chance, Change — Practicing the Three C's to Grow Your Collision Repair Business

A limited number of passes and discounted hotel rooms are still available but going fast.

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A D M I N I S T R A T I V E

S U P P O R T

COMMUNITY ADVOCATE

MELEAH MONTGOMERY COMMUNITY RELATIONS DIRECTOR COLLISION WORKS DEL CITY, OKLA.

BY ANNA ZECK P H O TO G R A P H Y B Y E LY S E FA I R

It’s not unusual for a collision repair

shop to be involved in the community. Nor is it unusual for a shop to utilize social media, start an internship program or work on building a team culture. But there’s nothing normal about the work 41-year-old Meleah Montgomery has accomplished during her two years as the community relations director at Collision Works, an 11-location company in the Oklahoma City and Kansas area.

To wit: Montgomery is involved in eight chambers of commerce and sits on the board of three of those, for which she’s been named ambassador of the month numerous times. She is an active participant in multiple networking groups and has spearheaded food and clothing drives, community pancake breakfasts, community sporting events, networking events and entertainment events.

Just those efforts alone are enough to consume 40 hours each week. But that doesn’t even begin to touch on the work Montgomery does inside the business—all of which made her a 2016 FenderBender Award winner.

She oversaw the redesign of the 32

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SEPTEMEBER 2016

company website (twice), and her intense social media activity (she manages 20 social media pages daily) has resulted in increased SEO and Google rankings and a 400 percent increase in Facebook engagement. Montgomery created and writes a monthly company employee newsletter that highlights auto body news, employee achievements and company events, as well as a quarterly digital newsletter for customers and insurance agents.

“As we’ve gotten bigger and grown, we have to have some way to ensure that we stay connected as a family,” she says. “Part of the newsletter is to keep communication solid but also to keep that family feeling. Maybe you

didn’t personally meet that estimator in [our] Norman [location] but you know who he is, you know his name and that he just had a baby.”

She even leveraged her networking connections to develop and implement a mobile app that allows customers to track vehicle repairs, receive news and specials, and read blog posts, which has seen a significant take rate and cuts down on incoming calls from customers.

And somehow, between all those efforts, she manages to also help other employees and foster the next generation of collision repairers: Montgomery works closely with the customer service department to ensure

The Extra Mile Meleah Montgomery’s dedication to her role at Collision Works has helped propel the company forward and bring more people into the industry.

that the crossover capabilities are utilized most effectively, she utilized her skills as a former financial advisor to help employees sign up for the company 401K plan, mentored a high school student through a local job shadowing program, has gone to technical schools and universities to speak to students about opportunities within the industry, and started an internship program and hired her first marketing intern in spring of 2016.

“It’s almost like pre-interviewing someone in a much more detailed, how-do-they-work-with-us way,” she says. “I also thought, ‘I could probably learn something from them too.’”

How does she do it all?

“Part of it is, you just do it,” she says. “My personality is that way anyway. I’m going to be involved regardless. I’ve been blessed that I’ve been able to figure out a way to make it correlate with my work. That’s always foremost in anything we decide to do: How is this going to benefit the customer? How is this going to leverage our time? Is this going to keep us leading the pack in the industry? We don’t want to be the followers. We want to be leading the pack.”

It’s partly innate, Montgomery says, but it also comes down to organization, strategic scheduling and looking at those commitments as more than just a job duty.

“That’s who I see all day,” she says.

“That’s who is at my house for a BBQ. My work life and my social life have merged into one thing.”

“The woman does so much,” says nominator Shannon Qualls, customer service director at Collision Works. “In an industry where reputation is everything and some customers are wary of being taken advantage of, creating a transparent environment is critical.

Additionally, in our market you don't see body shops being such influences involved in chamber politics and in the community to such a large degree.

By doing so, she is demystifying the world of auto body and opening doors in the industry.”

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E X E C U T I V E

IN HIS FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS

KYLE WHARFF OWNER ACE SULLINS CARSTAR MIRAMAR, FLA.

BY TRAVIS BE AN

PH OTO G R A PH Y BY DA N I E L L AT EU L A D E

It feels like yesterday that Kyle Wharff

was sitting in the office with his dad.

Both anxious and excited, the thirdgeneration shop owner was ready for the future, ready to revive a once prominent shop, ready to make his father and grandfather proud.

But that seat opposite Wharff is now empty. His father, Mike Wharff, and grandfather, John Callicoat, passed away shortly after he took ownership, leaving the 19-year-old to run the Miramar, Fla., shop by himself.

It had all happened so fast: Wharff, with childhood ambitions of racing cars, put his lifelong passion on hold when a car accident paralyzed his father from the waist down and landed him in a hospital for eight months, leading to him selling the business. Not only that, but the new Ace Sullins owners were disparaging the 20-year business’s good standing in the community and failing to pay Wharff’s grandparents’ much-needed rent on the property they still owned.

With little business know-how, all Wharff could really do was lead the shop through his father’s simple, yet crucial, all-encompassing mantra: Treat the customer right.

So when Wharff decided to take the 34

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shop back over for his family and stepped into Ace Sullins, he did it with a level of dedication and drive that not only exemplified his passion for family, but also foreshadowed what would become one of the top-performing shops in the CARSTAR network—with industryleading cycle times and absurdly impressive CSI numbers—just 12 years later.

Wharff’s incredible story of perseverance and his business’s industry-leading performance made him a clear choice for a 2016 FenderBender Award.

Consider these achievements: Of

approximately 240 CARSTAR shops in the country, Ace Sullins ranked first and second in cycle time for 2014 and 2015, respectively; 97 percent of Wharff’s business comes from repeat customers or referrals; annual revenue has gone from $180,000 in 2004 to $1.15 million in 2015.

Oh, and because Ace Sullins owned the top performing CSI scores so many years in a row, Wharff was awarded the Esurance Lifetime Achievement Award.

And how did somebody with no collision repair experience pull all that off?

Overcoming the Odds Amid tragedy, Kyle Wharff has taken the business his family built and turned it into one of the CARSTAR network’s top performers.

“Trial and error,” Wharff simply states. “I’ve made my share of mistakes.

But I keep going back to it, questioning people from CARSTAR and reading publications like FenderBender. You can’t have one set plan, and you can’t be afraid to fail.”

After joining CARSTAR in 2009, when the shop reached $579,000 in annual revenue, the inquisitive young owner didn’t waste time taking advantage of the network’s depth of knowledge. Wharff spent weeks calling CARSTAR owners, picking their brains

and understanding their operations, noting where his shop could improve.

Wharff’s biggest problem? He was so desperate to please customers that he was taking on too many jobs, and it was affecting shop performance and creating stress.

“Once I realized I was just killing my staff and not keeping the customers updated or returning vehicles on time, it only made sense to schedule by hours and really start to look into touch times and cycle times of what we’re completing and how fast we’re getting it done,” he says.

Less jobs, more focus, higher quality work, happier customers—it seems almost too easy, yet Wharff is proving how far that attention goes: He gets to know every customer; he’s virtually eliminated supplements by sitting in on disassembly; he calls customers every 48 hours with updates through their preferred methods of communication; and he personally delivers every vehicle when it’s finished.

“I personally walk them out to the car, go around it and make sure they know that I care,” he says. “I don’t think a CSR or a production manager doing that has the same effect. Interacting with the owner goes a long way with the customers. They respect that, and they know that I’m here if they ever have an issue.”

What has resulted is a simpler, more efficient way of repairing vehicles that has carried the shop to impressive numbers: 6.6-day key-to-key cycle times; 100 percent of vehicles returned on time; 5.2-day length of rentals; and a 100 percent net promoter score. For 2016, 100 percent of customers felt they were kept informed, and there have been zero comebacks.

And while the awards and constantly improving KPIs are nice, for Wharff, the success has all been for the people who inspired him in the first place.

“I want my father and my grandfather to look down and be happy with what I’m doing now,” he says. “The business has evolved so much. I’m growing the business for them.”

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M A N A G E R

EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES TO EXCEL

PHIL GILLINGHAM BODY SHOP MANAGER BALL BODY SHOP MIDDLETON, WIS.

BY ANNA ZECK

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAUREN JUSTICE

Looking at the sparkling-clean, lean and

28,000-square-foot Ball Body Shop in Middleton, Wis., it’s hard to believe that only five years ago, the shop was cluttered, in disarray and a virtual disaster.

While the shop was still producing a respectable $2.58 million in annual sales, former body shop director Jeff Hepp says that it was an unpleasant environment: The processes were inefficient, equipment was outdated, techs were unhappy and leadership was lacking.

That was before Phil Gillingham came on board, that is. From the dozen nominations of Gillingham for this FenderBender Award—coming from a dealership president, sales manager, estimators, marketing directors, office manager, customers, service director and office managers—the consensus is clear: Gillingham’s steady leadership, enthusiasm and outside-the-box thinking are largely responsible for the tripling of sales (the business now does $7.5 million annually), the three-day cycle time and the 250 vehicles per month that the staff of 32 works on.

“He leads by silence,” Hepp says. “So when he talks, everyone listens. And they get it. He’s good at making change because there’s a ripple effect from what he says.”

Gillingham says that the shop strives 36

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to make a change every day, which is why getting the entire staff on board is so crucial to implementing those changes.

The shop has a daily morning production meeting, where the staff discusses any changes to implement or processes to tweak. From there, Gillingham says the key is delegation—a skill he’s worked hard to cultivate over the years.

“It’s hard to do. You’re used to doing it yourself,” he says. “You’ve done that process yourself for so long that you think no one can handle it. But 90 percent of the time, they can. It’s just a matter of being able to turn that over.”

One of the most important changes the shop has implemented is creating better communication between the front office and the back of the shop by creating a specific paperwork flow. Gillingham devised a process that requires all the paperwork to be housed in a rack organized by a technician in the production office. Then, copies of the estimate travel with the vehicle throughout the repair process. It’s a process that not only has saved significant time but that everyone—both in the front and back of the shop—is happy with.

“Day in and day out, Phil seamlessly manages the flow of work in and out of the shop, and keeps our administrative team focused and customer friendly,” says Blane Einbeck, the shop’s director of marketing.

Gillingham also worked to reduce cycle time by creating a “drop-andgo” program that means the shop is grabbing keys all day long and getting customers into free loaner vehicles immediately, rather than scheduling them for an estimate.

“We try to get them to leave their vehicle as soon as possible,” he says. “It reduces cycle time, even though you would think it wouldn’t. Even if you don’t touch that vehicle that day, it’s here, you disassemble it and order parts once. It’s a lot better for the customer because they only have to make two trips.”

From there, Gillingham designed a categorizing system that allows the shop to get through 30 vehicle dropoffs in a timely fashion. All vehicles are labeled either small, medium or large jobs, and

On the Ball After coming on as manager five years ago, Phil Gillingham has helped turn Ball Body Shop into a thriving, evolving business on the forefront of the repair industry.

then go through a structured vehicle repair process, which has significantly helped reduce cycle time on small jobs in particular.

“And if there’s something that doesn’t work very well, he goes right back to the drawing board and figures it out,” Hepp says. “He doesn’t give up.

He will fight until he figures it out, and that everybody’s happy and everything runs smoothly. So that’s really how we’ve tripled our revenue, just by grabbing those keys, and getting them

in here, sending them down the road and then scheduling them and trading havoc for convenience.”

It’s that caring nature—ensuring that employees are in a position they can excel in and be on board with changes—that most endears Gillingham to his employees.

“Phil’s guidance and support in the workplace has been such an asset teaching me the way around the shop,” says Dianna Jahnke, office manager. “Phil is very knowledgeable and really cares about the wellbeing of all the employees!”

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S H O P

W O R K E R

A NEW OUTLOOK

CHRIS CRAWFORD TECHNICIAN DAVE’S AUTO BODY CO. OMAHA, NEB.

BY TRAVIS BE AN PHOTOGRAPHY BY COLIN CONCES

Mark Schumacher walked up to Chris

Crawford’s bay in the shop, only to find it empty.

Five minutes later, Schumacher was in his office, writing out an extensive, heartfelt nomination for Crawford for this FenderBender Award.

You see, the owner of Dave’s Auto Body Co. in Omaha, Neb., didn’t discover his A-tech out goofing around, or pouring himself a coffee, or taking an early lunch break. No, Crawford was doing what he does best.

“An older lady had wandered in the back of our shop looking for help,” Schumacher explains. “She was parked at a nearby Walmart and came out to find she had a flat tire.

Chris had grabbed our air caddy and 38

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his electric impact and went over to help her.”

Crawford will be the first to tell you there’s nothing special about this action.

“People do nice stuff all the time,” he says when asked about his numerous philanthropic efforts, which landed

him as a finalist for the Omaha WorldHerald’s “Good Neighbor Award” four years ago.

But then Schumacher will be the first to point out it’s not just a random act of kindness. In addition to Crawford’s consistently high KPIs, incredibly high

Bringing It All Together Technician Chris Crawford’s infectious personality and willingness to help has carried over into the rest of the team at Dave’s Auto Body, improving all around performance.

work ethic and dedication to learning (he took night classes to finish his college degree and can often be found reading industry publications in the break room), benevolence and compassion are his modus operandi, and it’s been infecting Dave’s Auto Body for 23 straight years.

And it’s why Crawford is this year’s winner in the Shop Worker category.

The I-CAR Platinum certified technician’s numbers speak for themselves: Crawford consistently achieves 150 percent efficiency and 110 percent productivity. As a team leader of four at Dave’s, his technicians’ numbers aren’t too far off from his own. And with all technicians scored on supplements after teardown and the amount of comebacks based on hours produced, Crawford always ranks right at the top of 13 technicians. Schumacher says employees are constantly trying to reach his level.

But beyond those numbers, Schumacher says it’s Crawford’s uncanny ability to get all employees on his level, to treat collision repair as more than a job, to remember that helping others is the real reason to get into the business.

Kindness isn’t just something that came naturally to Crawford—it’s a learned behavior, and the road getting there hasn’t always been easy.

Twelve years ago, at the age of 30, Crawford found himself constantly short of breath. He thought exercise would help, but it only made everyday activities—including repairing vehicles—even harder. The culprit was a lemon-sized tumor resting between his lungs, which immediately required three months of energy-draining chemotherapy. “It really wipes you out,” he says. And heading back onto the shop floor after that treatment was both a physical and emotional test for him.

“It definitely gives you a different perspective on life,” he says. “You could easily give in to it all, but fighting through it gives you a different energy. You just realize what’s important.”

And what’s now really important to Crawford is helping others realize their full potential. By constantly showing that he cares, that life is precious, that there’s always more to be done to help others, he’s inspiring philanthropic attitudes at work. Take a recently purchased Ford F-150, which Crawford and his team bought for $300 and rose its value to $3,000. The vehicle is now sitting in Dave’s Auto Body’s parking lot, waiting to be gifted to a single mother.

“A lot of people can have things happen in their lives that are uncontrollable, that can change or devastate them,” he says. “We have great jobs, so if there are other people out there who need help, it’s a reward for us to help.”

Those team efforts are only accents to process improvements Crawford has helped establish over the years, such as team systems to improve efficiency and implementing 100 percent teardowns to cut down on supplements.

It’s that dedication to improvement, to the community, to the shop, to the team that marks how much of a difference one person can make, Schumacher says.

“We’ve got such a great group of people here, it really does feel like a family,” Crawford says. “It just makes coming to work and caring about your job that much easier.”

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W I L D

C A R D

INSPIRED TEACHING

KEN COOK COLLISION REPAIR INSTRUCTOR NORWALK HIGH SCHOOL NORWALK, CALIF.

BY TESS COLLINS PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEITH BERSON

Ask Ken Cook, collision repair instructor

at Norwalk High School in Norwalk, Calif., what one of the greatest moments of his life was and he’ll say watching an 8-year-old riding a bike for the first time. A response like that isn’t surprising, but what is surprising is that the child wasn’t his own. The child riding the bike was a boy that Cook’s sister had learned about on a Facebook message board.

“My sister is an administrator for a Facebook group and she told me about this mother who was looking for

someone to help create a bike for her son with special needs,” Cook says.

“It was a project that was right up my alley. I got in contact with her and told her nothing would make me happier than helping her son.”

Cook brought the project back to

Real Work? Ken Cook’s students at Norwalk High School’s collision program take on real jobs, but Cook never feels like he’s at work himself. The teacher jokes he’d do it for free.

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the students in his collision repair class and together they created plans and modified the bike to allow for the child to ride it. The class moved the seat back, added a seatbelt and training wheels and even added a “minions theme” inspired paint job from the movie Despicable Me, the boy’s favorite movie.

This isn’t the only project like this that Cook has taken on. The collision repair student population at Norwalk High School is made up of 41 percent special needs students.

Cook’s SkillsUSA team is 85 percent special needs. Cook’s involvement with these students sparked an interest in creating adaptive equipment.

His classroom’s project, “Inspired Inventions,” was awarded the State Farm Youth Advisory Board servicelearning grant which came with a monetary award of $97,321. With the money, Cook and his students have created a number of different pieces

More than Capable While 41 percent of the students in Ken Cook’s collision repair program at Norwalk High School have special needs, Cook says all are capable and willing to learn—and that’s what’s most important in building life skills and confidence, he says.

of adaptive equipment for people with special needs to use. Rather than focusing on what someone cannot do, Cook challenges his students to find a way to make it possible. His drive to inspire his students and create equal opportunities is what makes him a FenderBender Award winner.

“In my time knowing him, he has been all about implementing change for the greater good of the students in his program,” says nominator Barry Roopnarine, collision and refinishing instructor at Thomas A. Edison CTE High School in Jamaica, N.Y., and a past FenderFender award winner.

“In my life, I’ve been in the military, I’ve been in collision repair, which is an aggressive industry,” Cook says. “I think teaching is tougher than the military.

You become emotionally invested.”

Although Cook didn’t always want to be a teacher, he’s found a real passion for it. He says that his wife jokes that what he does doesn’t even

count as a job because he would do it for free.

Cook teaches in the high school from 7:55 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. and then runs an after-school collision repair program from 4–6 p.m.

The collision repair instructor and father of two credits his success as an instructor with two pivotal moves: joining SkillsUSA and getting involved with the Collision Repair Education Foundation. Since joining SkillsUSA, Norwalk has won state three out of the six years for collision repair and won one year for the job interview competition.

Norwalk was also awarded SkillsUSA’s gold-level Chapter of Distinction, an award that is given for a chapter’s impact on the community. All of Cook’s SkillsUSA projects are focused on helping people with disabilities within the community. One of the reasons Norwalk was given the gold-level Chapter of Distinction was

the portable BBQ trailer that Cook and his SkillsUSA students built last year for the culinary students at Norwalk. The project gained attention from local news outlets and the team began hosting events in the community, including a college and career fair and a Veterans Day celebration.

Through his involvement with the Collision Repair Education Foundation, Cook’s classroom has received a number of different grants and resources that have helped develop the program. Through a grant from the Ed. Foundation, Cook was able to provide more technology in the classroom, including two LED TVs with surround sound and iPads for all of his students. Many of his students work better with visual aids, and some of them are not able to work directly with the collision repair tools, so the iPads help keep all of the students involved. Cook’s pitch for the State Farm grant was that every single one of his students was capable and able to learn, and he’s proven that to be true.

“We need to build character, work ethic, compassion and confidence.

I have a lot of students that lack confidence,” Cook says. “By building the skill set, it all comes together.”

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THE FENDERBENDER AWARDS WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE PARTICIPATION OF NOMINATORS BOTH IN AND OUTSIDE OF THE COLLISION REPAIR INDUSTRY, AND THE SUPPORT OF OUR SPONSORS. TO THE MANY COLLISION REPAIR PROFESSIONALS AND OTHERS WHO NOMINATED THIS YEAR, AND THE COMPANIES THAT SUPPORTED THIS PROGRAM, THANK YOU. Check out our Awards Insight section on page 21 for write-ups on nominees throughout the yearâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;your candidate might be featured yet. And stay tuned to fenderbenderawards .com for details about nominating in 2017.

S P O N SO R ED BY

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A PAINTER FOR LIFE T E A M M A N AG EM EN T, THOROUGHNESS AND AT T E N T I O N TO D E TA I L KEEPS JEREMY WINTERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; PAINT DEPARTMENT R U N N I N G S M O O T H LY PH OTO G R A PH Y BY J E N N Y PR AT E R

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SHOP TALK

When he got the quote, he couldn’t believe it.

“Two thousand dollars to do a paint job on a truck?!”

Jeremy Winters said to himself 13 years ago. “Ain’t no way—it can't be that hard.”

While he’s worked in the collision industry for 13 years, Winters’ passion for painting goes back much further—all the way to the age of five. Growing up helping perform the painting in his parent’s woodworking shop, the now 31-yearold carried that passion over to vehicles after choosing to avoid the $2,000 bill and paint the truck himself.

And while his numbers prove just how impressive of a painter he is, Winters says it’s his detail-focused personality that helps his four-man paint team averaging a 34 percent gross profit on paint and materials and pumping out 180 vehicles per month. Just earlier this year, his team achieved a record-high month of $424,000 in sales.

His painting ritual has virtually eliminated comebacks, which he is now passing on to his team as paint shop foreman for Harrison’s Body Shop in Macon, Ga.

AS TOLD TO TRAVIS BE AN

First thing in the morning, I go over

We have a weekly list that gets updated as needed from the owner. Normally, we paint anywhere from six to eight cars each day. In the paint shop, we have myself, another painter, and two preppers.

We are paid hourly, and we are focused on quality over quantity. I know the stereotype is: If you pay hourly, people won’t work as hard.

But the main thing is that you have to love what you’re doing. If you don’t love what you’re doing, if you don’t have a passion for it, then it doesn’t matter if you’re paid hourly or salary.

I’ve worked for those people, and I refuse to be someone who becomes a cancer to the shop. If you can keep an upbeat attitude, you’ll be able to keep that morale going throughout your department.

So it doesn’t matter to us if this car has 18 hours and there’s a bumper job our schedule for the day.

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up next that takes three. There’s no jealousy on who’s getting more work.

We’re all on the same page in getting the cars out. We see what’s got to go, I coordinate with our preppers, and they make sure those cars are coming through in order and that they’re lined up out of the booth as they get them taped up.

parts we’re painting on it, grab the color code, and then I go over to my sprayout library. I’ll find the cards I’ve made for that color, match it, and make note of it right there on the paint line on an Excel spreadsheet. I’ll label it on the car with a marker and move on to the next one. That way, it’s matched and done, and I don’t have to see that car until it comes down.

In the morning, and usually with any downtime I have throughout the day, I

Moving into the paint shop foreman

If the car is in the body shop and there is an estimate on the dash, I go ahead and get the RO, the name, the car, the color, the

position has been a learning curve.

do my color matching.

Cars don’t always flow through the way you plan and then you have to coordinate. Doors get scratched,

HARRISON’S BODY SHOP

— LOCATION: MACON, GA. SIZE: 45,000 SQUARE FEET STAFF: 22 AVERAGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT: 180 ANNUAL REVENUE: $4 MILLION

hoods get burned through on buffing.

Things happen. If you’ve got a car that needs to get delivered by 3 p.m. and it gets scratched, you’ve got to stop what you’re doing to go and address it.

In the paint shop, we just try to keep the morale up. Over the years, I’ve found the biggest cancer in this industry to be a bad attitude. That will ruin everything. If everybody stays upbeat, if everybody stays motivated, if everybody stays in a good mood, then we hardly have any issues. Nine times out of 10, we’ll run completely smooth like we need it to. If a problem ever arises and one of us gets stressed,

we’re right there for each other: What’s going on? What can we do?

Do you need a hand? Are you getting backed up on something?

I have a really good crew. If they have downtime, they let me know they’re caught up and I can run through the shop and see if there’s anything I can get them working on, whether it’s trimming out parts or priming.

The rest of the day is just working

I’m a painter by trade. I’ve got my own tricks and rituals I do just like any other painters. Personally, I’ll blow off on the cars that flow through.

the car outside before it comes in the booth, look everything over, make sure they didn’t miss any chips or anything like that.

Then once it comes in the booth, we pull plastic, tape it down, and I go over the entire car that I’m painting and blow it all off again inside the creases and the jams. I’ll wipe down the grease, apply alcohol, and then just go to town. I like to spray down alcohol as a last step because it kills the static, especially on raw bumpers. You can just spray it on the bumper and let it sit. As long as you don’t touch it, you’re not creating any static.

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SHOP TALK

Proper Preparation Painter Jeremy Winters’ detailed process incorporates all the tools Harrison’s Body Shop has at its disposal.

Clear organization in the mixing room, cleanliness in the booth, and a thorough color library all set Winters up for success.

Our shop is made up of three sections:

We have the paint and body shop on one end, and then we have the detail/ buffing area, and then a big, open area where we keep an old spray booth.

Once a car comes out of the booth, I’ll bring it up to that third section and park it so it’s out of the way. It can sit there and finish drying. I’ll label when the car came out, when it’ll be ready to move outside or back to the body man. Normally I let them sit 1.5 to 2 hours. That way by the time they get it, it’s not fingerprinting and they won’t have any issues.

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Then I check all the jams, make sure there’s not going to be any trimout. I just make notes of everything on the car, right there on the windshield.

I make sure to label everything, that way whenever I move it out onto our car line that we have outside, or whether I move it down to the body man, they know if it’s going to need any additional work, when it was painted, etc.

The more information everybody has, the less they have to stop and ask questions. If you’ve got to stop and go find somebody to ask a question, that’s

wasted time. You could be doing something else. I’ve found that a lot of people don’t like taking the five minutes it takes just to look over a car after you get done painting it. It looks one way in the booth, but if you take a look at everything and make sure all your edges are covered, you might discover something you missed. It ends up saving a lot of time.

At the end of the day,

I like to get an idea of what cars we have left down here, what cars we have coming down from the body shop. Then we just restart the whole process the next day.

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STRATEGY

CASE STUDY

“We’ve been open one year, and we’re still trying to figure out how to run this business.”

Elizabeth Mayoral, owner, JC Collision Center USA — PAGE 54—

MAKE MONEY // SAVE MONEY // WORK SMARTER

LEADERSHIP

Three Inspiring Books to Become a Better Leader Top shop operators explain the takeaways from their favorite reads

BY ANNA ZECK

STAFF GRAPHIC

Whether it’s from formal training, going

to a movie, listening to a podcast, or talking to a colleague or mentor, learning to become a better leader can be achieved in a variety of ways. And one of those ways just might be from a good book.

From ideas about culture and people to processes and operations, books can be a source for business improvement. Three top shop operators share their favorite reads that helped shape the leaders they’ve become today.

The Book: Whale Done!: The Power of Positive Relationships by Ken

Blanchard, Thad Lacinak, Chuck Tompkins and Jim Ballard.

The Leader: Phil O’Connor, owner, POC Collision The Takeaway: Whale Done! begins with one seemingly irrelevant question: “What do your people at work and your spouse and kids at home have in common with a five-ton killer whale?” As it turns out, the answer is more than you think, says Phil O’Connor, owner of POC Collision in Saco, Maine.

“This book was basically saying to accentuate the positive. So, when an employee or your child does something good or right, compliment them on

it,” he says. “I remember that we had Chuck Tompkins speak at our 20 Group meeting with Mike Anderson, and [Tompkins] compared it with the way we treat puppies: When they pee outside for the first time we get all giddy and speak in a high voice to reinforce the good behavior in hopes that it will continue.”

Whale Done! was written with top SeaWorld trainers and explores how positive reinforcement techniques used with orca whales can have a similar effect on our relationships at work and at home.

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STRATEGY LEADERSHIP

we never give them notice or credit but when they do something bad or wrong, we harp on them and make an issue out of it,” O’Connor says. “I read this book when I had young children and starting my businesses and really taught me to congratulate things that they were doing correctly.”

Furthermore, O’Connor says it taught him to be more tolerant of mistakes and not to harp on those.

While this doesn’t mean those mistakes should be ignored or go uncorrected, O’Connor says he’s more careful in his delivery. The result is increased productivity, more trusting relationships and a better shop culture.

“To this day I make sure I compliment employees every day to reinforce what they are doing right,” O’Connor says. “This was very hard for me beforehand because I was the guy that would just say, ‘Do your job.’ I look back at that now and see that it’s kind of old-school thinking.”

The Book: Feel the Fear… And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers The Leader: Jim Shreve, collision director, Waikem Auto Family’s body shop The Takeaway: Earlier this year, Shreve unexpectedly received the news that he would have to undergo quintuple bypass surgery, which would require him to be out of the dealership in Massillon, Ohio, for 12 weeks of recovery.

The news shocked him, he says, and that shock turned into fear of going back to work. He worried that the stress of the dealership had caused some of his health problems, and that going back would exacerbate those problems.

During his recovery, Shreve—a voracious reader—read numerous books, including one that he says was not only one of the best he’s read in a long time, but also helped him overcome his fear. In Feel the Fear… and Do It Anyway, Susan Jeffers offers techniques and concepts to help readers identify what they’re afraid of and why, how to move from feeling like a victim and how to stop negative self-talk.

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of what you can’t control. Turn it around from a disadvantage to an advantage,” Shreve says. “She had a really good quote in there that I wrote down: ‘By re-educating the mind, you can accept fear as simply a fact of life rather than a barrier to success.’ That really hit home with me. How many of us do that? It’s about redirecting your thoughts, getting a different thought process and not letting the day-to-day humdrums beat you up so bad. When you have a bad day, there’s some positive everywhere.”

Shreve says that quote stuck with him so much that he reread the book almost immediately and began to take steps to overcoming his fear of returning to work.

“I had to accept the fear that it’s OK to come back to work. I can still work.

My heart is stronger than a 20-yearold’s now. I had to overcome that barrier,” he says. “I had to reprogram my mind. I’m not ready to retire. We’re going to move forward and keep going.”

Shreve started by going back to work part time, before eventually transitioning to full time. What he found, he says, was that not only was there no reason to fear going back to work, but that the collision center had run more than smoothly in his time away.

“With me being out for so long, these guys really had to jump in,” he says. “That was a leap of faith and a big goal for them and they did a tremendous job.”

The Book: The Game of Work by Charles Coonradt The Leader: Joe Martin, regional director, Gerber Collision & Glass The Takeaway: Joe Martin says the message of Game of Work can be summed up in one simple question: Why would people rather go ice fishing in the middle of winter and freeze their butts off to have fun than to go into work for a day?

“Why would you put yourself through that?” he asks.

It’s about environment and culture, and Martin says that same feeling can be created in the shop.

“The environment you create [at work] with having fun and getting competition involved basically makes the employees feel like they’re not going to work,” he says. “They’re going to win and to play a game.”

That’s the premise behind Coonradt’s book, which offers tips and strategies for creating a more enjoyable work environment by introducing the element of competition. The book suggests using a key matrix to identify the top key performance indicators to be tracked in a given business. For Martin, that’s cycle time, closing ratio, billed hours per day and customer service numbers.

“Find the key metrics that you believe are important to your business and have competitions with those,” he says. “Put goals in place and see if you’re winning or losing today. For us, perception is everything. You can either have the mindset that you hate your job and nobody cares or you can be part of a team that’s going to win.”

Because he’s the regional director of an MSO, Martin says the shops are able to easily compete against each other. But even if you’re a single store, he says, you can still have competitions by setting benchmarks and competing against yourself. The keys to a proper competition, he says, are accurate information, timeliness and proper rewards. He shies away from cash and instead likes to buy lunch, concert or Disney World tickets, tools, gift cards or iPads.

The result of implementing the ideas from Game of Work has been significantly less micromanaging, he says.

“People are taking the pride or responsibility to not be last,” he says.

“You don’t need to be all over them.

They’re driven. Those stores that were underperforming would get to the top faster. Those that were at the top would have to be careful and not get complacent because someone is always working harder to catch up to them.”

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STRATEGY FINANCE+OPERATIONS

The Future of Paint Full-arch robotic paint drying units, such as Symach’s (left), have the potential to help shops improve cycle time, save money and eliminate paint department bottlenecks.

Get Ready for Robotic Drying Equipment Everything to consider before purchasing a full-arch gas catalytic drying system

BY TRAVIS BEAN

ness, Greg Gilmore says his shop has reached its full potential.

Gilmore’s Collision Center, out of Wichita Falls, Texas, has come a long way from its humble beginnings, and the owner credits the recent elimination of paint department bottlenecks, reduction in cycle time, improved insurance relations and gas savings of $1,500 per month to robotic drying equipment, which allows his shop to rapidly dry and cure paint, primer and filler.

These are all typical benefits you can expect to see, says Steve Trapp, North American services manager for Axalta Coating Systems, who took a tour of nine European shops housing gas catalytic drying technology before returning to the U.S. to help several businesses implement what many 54

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consider to be the future of paint drying in collision repair.

But it will be impossible to realize those benefits unless you, your staff and your shop’s processes are fully prepared, he says. And while there are half-arch and handheld systems available, full-arch units in your paint booths or prep bays provide a great benefit, both Gilmore and Trapp say.

“If you choose to put in the full arch for drying, you don’t need a prep shop anymore,” Trapp says. “Your prep department can become body and you can push more cars through.”

Bottom line: If you’re prepared for that level of change, your bottom line will likely improve—but if you’re not ready, you’ll end up replacing old bottlenecks with new ones. To prepare, Gilmore and Trapp spoke with FenderBender to cover the research you

should conduct and what changes to expect in your shop once it’s installed.

Before You Start: Make Sure You’re Operating at Full Capacity When shops come to Axalta for a facility redesign, Trapp says, a majority of the time, they’re not running at capacity.

“What that’s telling me is they are equipment junkies and they like to add on to their shop, even if it’s not the smart thing to do,” he says.

To get the most out of robotic drying equipment, Trapp recommends your shop be “at 100 percent capacity,” which, in his eyes, is at least $30 per square foot per month. Otherwise, you won’t be feeding the paint booths enough work to make it worth the investment. He says the best shops using robotic drying equipment are pulling in $50 per square foot per month.

COURTESY SYMACH

For the first time in 70 years of busi-

Know the Companies As of now, three companies hold patents for full-arch robotic drying equipment: Symach, Robotica and Ionitec.

Since the technology originated in Europe, equipment and service within the U.S. is limited. A transaction may require a shop to deal with international shipping and customs. And if your equipment requires service, a significant difference in time zones could make that more difficult.

Depending on your budget and openness to training and renovations, each company will present pros and cons, Trapp says.

Symach requires months of planning and blueprinting to install in either a brand new, empty facility or an existing facility that will need to be fully renovated. Technicians are sent to shops for a few days of training to help implement lean repair practices that conform to Symach’s system. Visit symach.com for more details.

Robotica doesn’t require full-scale remodels, but the company that distributes it, Bodyshop Revolution, will only take on shops that are capable of housing its lean-focused production systems. It also offers technical training and offers a program on the Theory of Constraints to achieve full optimization. Visit bodyshoprevolution.com for more details.

Ionitec can be set up freely in any shop. The distributor, D&S Curing Solutions, has no shop requirements and doesn’t offer any sort of process training—although it will send out representatives for technical training. Visit dscuringsolutions.com for more details.

Conduct the Research Trapp says the complicated, costly technology can break your shop as much as it can make it and requires a deep understanding before implementation of the systems—so make sure to do your research.

Understand the technology. The full robotic arch, which is powered by electricity and natural gas, is a computer-operated system with touchscreen controls. It is mounted to the paint booth ceiling and passses

over a vehicle at roughly three feet per second.

Since this technology is new, Trapp says few have a grasp on how it works.

A breakdown of how gas catalytic technology functions can be found at fenderbender.com/robotic-drying.

Consider the costs and ROI. The price tag for each company’s equipment varies greatly, depending on whether you require full-facility makeover, whether your equipment is shipped from outside the U.S., and the level of training your staff will require.

The full-arch system at Gilmore’s shop came in around $120,000. While every setup isn’t that expensive, Trapp says you can expect to spend between $50,000 and $100,000. You can expect to add on thousands if your paint booth controls need to be updated to work effectively; you need to purchase a new booth; you purchase a bumper dry chamber.

Trapp says your return on investment will be made up of natural gas savings (expect reductions of 60-70 percent) over a few years (depending upon natural gas costs), plus the increased output of the paint shop.

Consult similar shops. Gilmore visited a Portland shop before purchasing his robotic drying equipment. Gilmore says that as the technology becomes more popular, you’ll have more opportunities to visit shops housing the equipment. He says it’s important to connect with shops that have a similar size and output and share the same paint supplier.

Be Prepared for Change While speeding up the drying process is the ultimate goal, Gilmore and Trapp state it will create some changes in your shop you should be prepared for: New bottlenecks. Eliminating one bottleneck could end up creating another. Unless you’re ready to alter your entire repair process, Gilmore says you won’t be fully optimizing the system and your cycle time will not improve. Be sure you’re blueprinting every vehicle and have a system that keeps a consistent flow through the booth.

“It eliminated the bottlenecks we had

in our paint shop, but that also meant our disassembly team was getting overloaded,” he says. “We were feeding them cars faster than they could put them together. We made some adjustments there, so that as soon as these cars had come out and cooled, we could jump right on them.”

Trapp says to be ready to refine your prep-to-stage-to-paint ratio.

“You need enough inventory to feed the prep. Then the prep then has to move to stage, and the stage has to be set so the moment that booth door opens, there’s something staged and ready to go,” he says. “Otherwise, this is a bad investment. If you don’t know how to optimize the full series, you will not get an ROI for this.”

Altered staff roles. With cars entering the reassembly stage more quickly, Gilmore’s shop experienced an overload that required staffing readjustments to keep up with the workload. He switched his employees to a team system and now transitions technicians into the reassembly process throughout the week.

“Guys that normally tear down cars and blueprint at the beginning of the week will shift over and reassemble more cars at the end of the week,” he says.

Extra space. Trapp says many of the shops he’s consulted have eliminated the need for prep decks.

“At the end of the day, the arch is drying the primer, so you don’t need the priming area,” he says. “Then you have a new layout. Your body area can become much larger as the staging and final prep areas are way smaller than they have traditionally worked.”

Trapp says this freed-up space has presented many shops an opportunity to open a lane for fast-track jobs. Gilmore says his shop is now capable of pushing out bumper jobs and small repairs within one day.

Different paint and chemicals. One major change that Gilmore’s shop had to make was choosing a clear that performed better with the new equipment. He says the same could go for any other chemicals—such as hardeners and reducers—and your paint line.

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CASE STUDY

A NEW BUSINESS OWNER MADE KEY CHANGES TO HER HIRING PROCESS AFTER HIRING A BAD EMPLOYEE

BY TRAVIS BE AN PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIST Y DAMERON

Finding the Fine Print After an estimator sullied her shop’s reputation, Elizabeth Mayoral had to re-evaluate the business’s contracts and hiring philosophies.

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CASE STUDY

As she wrote her signature, Elizabeth Mayoral was on the verge of tears.

“Writing that check was one of the hardest things I ever had to do,” she says. “It was honestly one of the worst days of my life.”

To put yourself in Mayoral’s shoes: You immigrated from Mexico with your husband at the age of 18. Nothing has ever been easy for you. Your husband utilized his repair skills to advance at various collision shops. And then, finally, 20 years later, with just $800 and a toolbox, you both made a gigantic leap of faith and took over your very own collision repair facility, JC Collision Center USA in Bakersfield, Calif.

And then one person almost squashes everything.

This particular person, who was hired as an estimator in September 2015, didn’t remain there long. But the damage was done by the time he left: This “estimator” was actually an area shop owner who, in addition to driving customers to his own shop, had been overcharging customers at JC Collision and pocketing the money.

He had also ruined several customer relationships, including a fleet account the $500,000 business extremely depended on.

To avoid legal issues once the estimator left, Mayoral sucked up her pride and wrote the man that check for his hours. The tears weren’t about the money—after years of hard, honest, ethical work, the Mayorals felt betrayed.

But almost one year has passed, and JC Collision has not only grown from the experience, but strengthened its standing in the community and improved its hiring tactics to ensure this never happens again.

THE BACKSTORY

JC Collision Center USA isn’t a huge company—operating out of a 5,800-square-foot building and employing six people—but its impact is large. Mayoral and her husband, Francisco, became ingrained in the Bakersfield community over the years, leading to a steady stream of business once they took control.

The shop pulls in a modest $500,000, but Mayoral says they are poised for growth after winning “Family Owned Business of the Year” 58

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through the 2016 Kern County Small Business Success Awards, due to their “hard work, ethical behavior and intelligent management,” said the Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

One thing to keep in mind: JC Collision won that award in May 2016, roughly six months after hiring the estimator that wreaked havoc.

THE PROBLEM

After a previous estimator unexpectedly quit, Mayoral hired the new estimator

out of desperation. He was the only quality applicant and Francisco hired him after the first interview without calling references. She now assumes the man forged his résumé.

He was hired part-time, splitting estimating duties with Mayoral, and she started noticing abnormalities when he showed up for work during outside assigned hours.

“He said, ‘If you want me to produce the income you want from me, then I need to be here to take care of customers,’” she recalls. “‘Don’t

worry about the hours. I’m not going to charge you for those hours. I’m just here to make this business succeed.’”

Mayoral mistook his selfish intentions for drive and initiative.

Eventually, she noticed the new employee was taking customers outside to (she assumes) make deals on the side.

“I’d ask, ‘What happened?’ and he’d say, ‘They’re going to bring it in on Monday.’ But they never came back,” she says.

After a couple months of odd

behavior, Mayoral called area shops and appraisers, inquiring about her estimator, only to find he owned a local automotive shop. She then let him go, paid him $7,000 for his final paycheck (he charged for overtime) and assessed the damage, which included several customers inquiring about abnormally high charges and a local fleet account that was billed an extra $3,000 for a supplement charge.

THE SOLUTION

Mayoral was not interested in pursu-

ing legal action, as she thought it would reflect poorly on her shop.

Instead, she chose to take a long, hard look at her business and work from within. Her solution involved two components that she says made her shop stronger: bringing back lost customers, and revamping the shop’s hiring process.

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hired a consultant to come in, go through the estimate line by line and point out discrepancies.

“So we went and talked to them in person and apologized and explained to them he was no longer with us, he was not doing the job, that we had hired someone who had a good reputation to come in and perform an audit,” she says. “We promised it would never happen again, and thanks to that we got the company back.”

Next was going through the past bills and contacting any customers where Mayoral noted unethical behavior. The shop wrote checks for overcharges that occurred, and ensured customers that the estimator did not represent JC Collision’s values.

She extended this message to the Chamber of Commerce, where she gained many business advocates who rallied around her story. She claims she actually received many referrals based on how she handled the situation.

On the human resources side, Mayoral is now dedicated to finding the most qualified employees that fit into the shop culture.

She started by revamping the shop’s job advertisements, which went from vague to heavy with details about job duties and requirements. She says being thorough immediately weeds out job drifters, and has attracted more quality applicants looking to be challenged. She asks for a résumé, a cover letter and multiple references.

“We start calling those references right away so we don’t have any problems,” she says.

Now the shop interviews several applicants, as opposed to one or two.

And nobody is hired without coming in for a second round of questions. When applicants interview, Mayoral hands them a hiring package, which contains information about JC Collision, its philosophies and standards, details about its repair process, and, once again, lays out all the job duties.

A huge part of finding the right employees has been changing how she ask questions during interviews, 60

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Mayoral says.

“I hired a consultant, and he gave me a lot of tools for hiring and asking a ton of questions I would have never asked,” she says. “Like, ‘What was your first impression of our shop?’ ‘What is the first thing you did to earn money?’

‘What was your first job?’ Questions that tell me about their personality and let me know if they’ll be a good fit.”

Once an employee is hired, Mayoral introduces a 90-day probationary period. Mayoral not only communicates the shop’s ethical standards, but introduces benchmarks and goals the new employee is expected to meet. He or she is evaluated through documentation for 90 days, at the end of which Mayoral will reassess the employee and have a one-on-one meeting about his or her future.

In addition, she makes all new employees sign a confidentiality form, which she says will protect the shop legally if shop processes or financial information are leaked to competing businesses.

THE AFTERMATH

Retaining individual customers and the fleet account saved the business close to $50,000, Mayoral estimates.

On top of that, she says referrals are up since reaching out to customers and her Chamber of Commerce, which played a large role in JC Collision winning “Family Owned Business of the Year.”

The revamped hiring approach has landed the shop a new fulltime prepper and a recently hired customer service representative/ estimator. She says new employees quickly integrate into the shop’s system and philosophies, and she believes the process will lead to long-term employees.

“They’ve been really good fits for our shop,” she says. “They like working in our system. They see we’re poised for growth.”

THE TAKEAWAY

The biggest lesson Mayoral learned was the importance of documentation

E XPERT ADVICE

Crafting Confidentiality Agreements Chad A. Snyder, founding partner of Rubric Legal LLC in Minneapolis, has seen enough confidentiality agreements to know what will hold up in court. If you’ve got trade secrets and information you want to protect, he says to take these precautionary steps.

If you’re somebody that has trade secrets that need protecting, my advice is to talk to a lawyer to construct an agreement that defines them appropriately, so you’ve got an enforceable agreement.

The most important thing in any contract is spelling out what you mean in words that people understand. There does seem to be a belief that if you make something sound really complicated, it’s more impressive. Really, if people can’t figure out what the contract means, it’s going to be construed against the employer and in favor of the employee. In plain language: What is it you’re trying to protect? Spell it out. If you’ve got specific things you regard as confidential, put them in the agreement.

You need to make part of your practice that you treat these things as confidential. It’s not information just sitting out where anybody can get it. It’s not distributed or made available to employees who haven’t signed this agreement or don’t have these restrictions. If you don’t absolutely protect it, then courts often say, “Well, if you didn’t treat it as confidential, then I’m not going to now.”

Every confidentiality agreement in your business should contain: • Agreement effective date • Names and addresses of parties • The type of business the parties are engaged in • The reasons confidential information is being disclosed • Length of time the information will be protected

and follow-up, which would have allowed her to spot the estimator’s ill intentions beforehand.

Although she felt taken advantage of at the time, Mayoral says she now views signing that check as a blessing, as now she and Francisco can look toward the future and build their business.

“It really kickstarted a lot of changes,” she says. “We’ve been open one year, and we’re still trying to figure out how to run this business. But we’re getting there.”

PROMOTION

THE FINDER

SPECIAL PRODUCTS, OFFERS AND EVENTS FOR FENDERBENDER READERS

Cromax® Mosaic™ Basecoat Brilliance

Axalta Coating Systems, a leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings, has introduced Cromax® Mosaic™, a fully featured low-VOC solvent basecoat for collision repair that provides outstanding coverage. The product blends just like traditional solvents, with excellent flake control and fast dry times that are not humidity dependent. It does not require blowers, stainless steel spray guns or new waste management processes. This new basecoat is available in a full palette of automotive OEM colors and alternatives, aimed at providing superior color match. It is ideally suited for any shop that wants or needs to meet low-VOC regulations and values an easy transition, with little training and no new equipment investment. For more information, visit us online at axalta.us/mosaic or call 1.855.6.AXALTA.

Glasurit® 923-210 Low VOC Ultimate Clearcoat

Glasurit 923-210 Low VOC Clearcoat gives the option of flexibility while delivering exceptional results. This outstanding glamour finish meets 250 gram/liter or 2.1 lbs/gal Ready-for-Use (RFU) regulations. It can be air-dried or baked at a multitude of temperatures. New climate specific reducers are available for optimal performance in all seasons and environments, while providing long-term durability and gloss. For more information, visit us online at basfrefinish.com/ glasurit_923210 or call 1.800.758.2273.

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Quality Spot Welds with All New High-Strength Steels

Car-O-Liner’s newest mid-range resistance spot welder, the CTR7, uses cutting edge inverter technology and powerful welding currents to 12,000 amps, making it ideal for the toughest welding jobs. The unique product design with a low center of gravity increases safety and provides for easy handling, while an aluminum telescopic support arm adjusts horizontally and vertically for flexibility with welding operations. Transformer gun technology provides greater working range up to 20 feet. With a wide range of accessories, an easy to read 7” color display and sophisticated software with semiautomatic control features, technicians can easily set welding parameters for the job at hand. For more information, visit us online at car-o-liner.com or call 844.833.9419.

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PROMOTION

THE FINDER

A Better Way to Manage Parts

Still ordering parts the old way? CCC ONE® lets you hang up the phone, unplug the fax, and place electronic purchase orders (ePOs) instead! Our simple, easy-to-use parts ordering tool makes procuring parts easier than ever, and it reduces returns and improves efficiency and cycle time. It helps eliminate rekeying and reconciling invoices, saving you time and money. You can even shop a real-time inventory of parts as you write an estimate, accessible from your desktop or tablet device. Our parts ordering tool is included with our CCC ONE® Repair Workflow shop management solution. For more information, visit us online at cccis.com/parts-a-palooza/ or call 877.208.6155.

METALUX® 9354™ HS 2K Clearcoat

Metalux® HS 2K Clearcoat offers high performance and productivity with a deep, long lasting shine that just won’t quit. The 9354™ is a high build, high solids clear offered within our METALUX® range of branded products. The clear offers excellent flow and leveling properties, high gloss, excellent durability and a reduction in booth time. The correct film build can be achieved after only one full wet coat. This means substantial savings in both application time and product usage. For more information, visit us online at chemspecpaint.com/ or call 1.800.328.4892 .

Breaking the Bonds with Chief’s Vulcan ADU

Chief’s patent-pending Vulcan ADU is the first product specifically designed to break the bond of structural adhesives in automotive applications. The Vulcan ADU uses very short waves of infrared radiation to quickly produce up to 600 degrees of heat concentrated at the surface of the material being treated. Even though the unit produces a very high output temperature, the lamp’s handles and sides remain cool for safe operation and prolonged lamp life. The unit has three modes of operation: Manual, Automatic and Programmable. Chief’s new Vulcan ADU can be used on any vehicle surface, including aluminum, carbon fiber and steel. For more information, visit us online at chiefautomotive.com/Shop-Tools/Vulcan-ADU/ or call 1.800.445.9262.

Innovative I-View Headlamp

Unlike a standard headlamp the I-View is designed with panoramic lighting which floods your entire work space while the others emit a single straight-ahead beam of light. Designed for mechanics, the I-View has been found to work great for detailers.

Perfect for those low light areas inside a vehicle as well as ideal for picking up paint imperfections, swirl marks and scratches. The I-View is dust, water and shock resistant and comes with a rechargeable lithium ion battery to provide up to 6 hours of continuous worry-free use, making it the perfect headlamp for any technician working in the harsh automotive environment. For more information, visit us online at innovativetools.com or call 651.415.0733.

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PROMOTION

Your One-Stop Shop for IT Solutions

From basic computer support to advanced IT services, Lighthouse Communications provides an extensive variety of services specializing in the Collision Industry. With our flexible business approach, you may select the specific services most beneficial for your unique needs, including remote desktop support and on-site technicians. We are able to install and support new and existing equipment ranging from computers, phones and servers. No matter how big or small your business needs are, we are your preferred vendor for exceptional customer service with an emphasis on communications infrastructure.

Give us a call today for immediate support or a free consultation! For more information, visit us online at lhclinc.com or call 855.335.2330.

Neutralizer AC: Anti-Static Blow-Off Auto Body Refinishing Gun

The Neutralizer AC is NRD, LLC’s exclusive lightweight, anti-static blow-off gun for auto body refinishing. The Neutralizer AC offers a portable solution to neutralize surface static charge and eliminate dust, fibers and other airborne impurities that stick to plastic, fiberglass, rubber or painted surfaces. Rechargeable, cordless and powered by lithium battery, The Neutralizer AC is convenient and flexible to your work situation. The Neutralizer AC uses air amplification for a wide range of coverage to allow for a smooth finish during all stages of surface prep, such as before and after priming, painting and the topcoat, reducing labor hours and reworking costs. The Neutralizer AC is also well suited for RVs, trucks and boats, allowing for shorter prep times and savings across a range of job applications. For more information, visit us online at theneutralizerac.com or call 716.773.7634, ext. 320.

Polyvance’s Bumper Pliers Kit Eases Tab Repair Headaches

Polyvance’s new 6146 Bumper Pliers Kit makes it easier for technicians to repair the rectangular “slot tab” features often found on bumper covers. The cross bars on these small rectangular holes are weak and often tear when simply removing the bumper. The Bumper Pliers Kit aids in the repair of these detailed areas. To use the kit, the technician selects the die that matches the torn slot tab most closely and fixes it in place temporarily with aluminum tape. The die fills up the hole and provides a backing plate, making the nitrogen welding repair process faster and easier, with less dependence on finesse and experience. For more information, visit us online at polyvance.com or call 800.633.3047.

PHOTOS COURTESY COMPANY

EC550 En-V® Ultra Gloss Clearcoat

Incorporating advanced resin technology, EC550 Ultra Gloss is the latest addition to the ENVIROBASE® High Performance clearcoat line. Designed for overalls and multi-panel applications in all refinish markets, this premium clear delivers superior gloss, excellent flow and leveling, and is ideal for use in hot weather conditions.

• Multi-panel and overall clearcoat jobs • Exceptional holdout • Ultimate gloss • No polishing needed • Ideal in hot, humid conditions This 2.1 VOC clear utilizes the same hardener/reducer combination as EC530 En-V Performance Clear. PPG’s En-V clearcoats are specifically engineered to work beautifully with the industry-leading Envirobase High Performance waterborne basecoat system. For more information, visit us online at ppgrefinish.com or call 800.647.6050.

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PROMOTION

THE FINDER

New RAPTOR® Display Unit

U-POL RAPTOR, the leading brand of bedliners and protective coatings, now offers an eye-catching point-of-sale merchandising system! This bold display comes with everything you need to get into the bedliner and protective coatings business. Its full color graphics on front and sides show multiple uses and ease of application. This unit ships complete with rack, graphics and 76 units of RAPTOR product. Available in both National Rule and Low VOC configurations, it is ideal for Automotive, 4x4, Marine, RV, Fleet, Agricultural and Industrial suppliers.

“When I saw this display, it got my brain thinking of all the places I NEED to use RAPTOR!” – Mike Sanders, VP Sales, U-POL US, Inc. For more information, visit us online at u-pol.com or call 610.746.7081.

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IN THE TRENCHES

DARRELL AMBERSON

Navigating the HR Minefield Age discrimination is the latest HR trend to watch in our industry For those of us who have been around long enough, we can remember when sexual harassment became a source of concern for business operators. It included all sorts of issues that could include almost anything that would be in violation of an employee’s personal values, especially those involving sexual advances and implications. It became somewhat popular as cases became relatively easy for possible victims to win, and potential penalties were high.

It was kind of the “new thing” that businesses had to be aware of and to take appropriate precautions to prevent as well as address promptly when issues arose.

Such is the nature of human resources (HR) regulation and policies.

I include the term “policies” because it’s not just about the regulation, but also about how they are interpreted by courts and other government enforcement agencies, complicating the matter further. For a business operator, it can feel like a minefield that we have to walk through, careful not to misstep and set off an explosion of unpleasant and potentially catastrophic consequences.

Over time, there are increasingly more regulations as well as changing emphasis on and interpretation of HR issues.

Ironically, those of us old enough to remember some of what I describe above have our own personal HR issue that has become a “thing” of increased prominence and concern: age discrimination. People age 40 and older are protected by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967. Its protections apply to both employees and those applying for a job. Perhaps it’s the aging baby boomers or perhaps

the evolving culture, but for whatever reason this HR issue has become more popular, with more successful suits, thus adding to its prevalence.

Age discrimination most commonly comes in four different forms: Search discrimination. This is when businesses in some way limit the age range of candidates considered.

Position discrimination. Older employees are treated differently through such actions as passing them over for promotion or advancement or by giving more favorable job assignments to younger employees.

Age harassment. An unpleasant or hostile work environment is created for older employees with the intent of causing them to leave, thus accommodating younger and often less expensive staff to take over.

Discrimination layoffs. Employers try to get rid of older employees through prejudicial layoffs, often targeting employees who presumably only have a few remaining years before retirement.

A brief online search revealed a number of cases in the automotive industry. In one example, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought suit against a car dealership. The suit claimed that car runners were dismissed before they reached the age of 75. As part of the settlement reached, the dealership agreed to a $70,000 payout as well as offering training for supervisors and managers regarding employee rights and employer obligations under the ADEA. Another reported case, also involving a dealership, included 10 employees.

Five were females who reported a sexually hostile work environment, including offensive comments, physical touching, failure to promote women, and salary cuts. The other five were older males who were reportedly fired because of their ages and replaced with younger, less experienced workers. They also reported that age-related comments were made by a young supervisor and that younger, less productive employees were retained. Though the business stated that the claims lacked merit and basis, they agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle the suit.

The obvious lesson to us as business operators is to understand not only HR regulation, but current trends as well. It’s admittedly hard to keep up with all of the changes. In most cases, it makes sense to have expert advice. It can be in the form of an attorney with specific expertise who offers consultation or an insurance provider or HR resource provider who offers such services. The size of your business and amount of company resources may dictate the best solution for you. Make sure they are keeping you up to date on changes, such as the recent Department of Labor regulation changes on minimum salaries for non-exempt staff people.

Another key factor is to pay attention to any concerns brought to your attention by staff. Any allegations should be promptly investigated and even subtle issues addressed promptly. If a case can be made that your business accommodates age discrimination, or other prominent HR issues, you have just become exposed to significant consequences.

Pay attention and do the right thing.

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QUESTIONS

The Importance of Branding for Small Businesses Virendra Chhikara of Louisiana Small Business Development Center shares his company’s strategy for helping small business owners AS TOLD TO TESS COLLINS

What can a client of LSBDC expect?

We help our clients with things like branding, social media, customer ser vice, human resources and all of the other aspects that go into running a business. We then check back in with our clients periodically, usually once a month or so. They are all welcome to come to the training that we of fer or to contact us with any needs that they have while running their businesses.

Are there any common issues that you’ve noticed with business owners 66

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in the collision industry?

I’ve noticed that collision shop owners are ver y technical and can sometimes miss the bigger picture when it comes to managing a business. Collision shop owners are ver y focused on fixing cars, but they need to remember that branding a shop is so important.

How would you advise a client that’s having an issue with branding?

I would explain to that client that if he or she is not dif ferentiating the business, he or she is not doing it correctly.

Imagine your car has been hit. When you pick up your car, the interior is spotless, but there’s also a smiley face bumper sticker that says, “Thank you for your business.” That will make all the dif ference in the world to a client and if that client is happy with the ser vice, they will recommend that shop.

What do you do with a shop that doesn’t realize they have an issue with branding?

Many of our clients may not realize they have an issue with branding. So, no matter what they come in for, whether it’s increasing sales or opening another location, we ask them about their referral rate and customer retention. A shop that has a lot of referrals is probably doing a good job branding, but a shop that doesn’t may need to rethink their strategy. We check our client’s website, social media outlets and client flow to get an idea of what they are doing when

COURTESY VIRENDRA CHHIKARA

The Louisiana Small Business Development Center (LSBDC) provides training and consulting services for small business owners across the state. The LSBDC is made up of 10 centers throughout the state of Louisiana and provides small business owners with no-cost training, information, and one-on-one consulting to help start and grow businesses. Virendra Chhikara, director of the Monroe center, started with the company in 2007 and explains how the consultants at LSBDC assist owners based on specific needs and why every shop owner should look at how his or her shop is being branded.

it comes to branding and we use that as a jumping of f point.

Once you’ve identified branding as a problem, where do you take it from there?

We make a plan with three phases.

When people think of a problem as a whole, they can become over whelmed, so we prefer to break it up. We make a roadmap for our clients. For example, if branding is a problem, we may tell them to hold of f on changing their website until they’ve updated their social media outlets. Websites tend to cost money to update it, but it’s free to go onto Facebook and other like pages to get more exposure. We give our clients homework. I may give a client two weeks to update their Facebook. After that period, we’ll meet again and then I may tell them to work on LinkedIn. After they’ve done that, then they can tackle their website. It’s

less over whelming that way. Those are just examples of online branding. It’s important to remember there are other ways to brand. We also advise clients to go to local chamber of commerce meetings to get more exposure.

Is your process for branding all the same or does it depend on the shop?

It’s usually customized and based on the client’s biggest issue. For example, if they want a 20 percent increase in sales, we will look at what will get them more exposure. Most of the time, businesses think that having an ad on T V or a radio spot is enough. It’s not like that. It’s so important to consider who the target market is. That market may not even be listening to that ad.

How would you identify the target market for the collision industry?

The collision industry is unique in terms of target market. For a collision shop, the

market could be anyone within a certain mile radius. People aren’t going to travel 200 miles to come to a shop, so there’s no point targeting an audience that far away. The market could be anyone within the shop’s area that was involved in a wreck. From there, look at car owners.

The age market we advise collision repair shops to look at is anyone that is older than 20 and younger than 50. People younger than 20 will most likely rely on input from parents. A person older than 50 is different because they are not tech saavy, so the way to approach them will be very different. In between those ages though, those are the people looking at social media and Google to find where to go for a collision shop.

What advice would you give to any collision shop owner?

The brand and the image of the business is so important. Treat your customers right and they will remain loyal.

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INNOVATIONS

Reorganizing in the Shop A system for organizing parts carts has increased efficiency during the repair process.

Corresponding Numbered Parts Carts and Vehicles T.G.I.F. Auto Body uses numbered carts and stalls to make sure a part is never misplaced

BY JEFF KNOESPEL

THE INSPIRATION: T.G.I.F. Body Shop wasn’t seeing the efficiency

it desired when it came to prepping for the repair process. Parts were scattered in different areas of the shop and technicians were wandering around to find the parts assigned to each job. T.G.I.F. co-owner Kathy Mello wanted to eliminate the waste of techs’ time and talent.

“We noticed that we were wasting a lot of time and there was a lot of frustration about parts,” Mello says. “Our intention was to have the parts totally available to the technician when they got their assignment. We didn’t want them running around looking for parts.”

Mello devised an organizational system that utilized custom carts to better catalogue the parts and match them with the correct vehicle that could be found in a specific location.

WHAT IT DOES: The system uses a set of 25 extra large parts carts

that help optimize parts organization. Mello dedicated a space for the carts so they would all be found in one location. Mello then had every cart numbered and created a system for deviations, which is noted on a clipboard attached to each cart. The cart numbers correspond to a numbered bay in the shop. When a tech is assigned a job, they get a number, grab the corresponding cart and vehicle, and bring them both to the assigned numbered work bay.

HOW IT’S MADE: Implementing the process required an overhauling

of parts organization. T.G.I.F. has 25 custom-fabricated powder68

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SEPTEMEBER 2016

coated parts carts. Each cart is clearly numbered and has a clipboard attached to it with cart inventory notes. The carts received numbered bins assigned to each cart, as well.

THE COST: The supplies T.G.I.F.

SHOP:

T.G.I.F. Body Shop Inc. INNOVATOR:

Kathy Mello LOCATION:

Fremont, Calif.

SIZE:

12,000 square feet

implemented to track the parts, STAFF: such as the clipboards, number19 ing, signs and bins, cost around AVERAGE MONTHLY CAR COUNT: $500. Because T.G.I.F wanted 115 extra-large optimized parts ANNUAL REVENUE: $3.2 million carts, the shop spent about $6,400 to have the 25 carts fabricated. Taking organization to the next level, the shop put up a small metal building for $8,750 next to the main building to house the carts.

THE ROI: Refining parts organization had an immediate effect

on the whole process, most notably by increasing techs’ efficiency.

“The big thing is that since the communication is there, it reduces the wasted time and talent,” Mello says. The shop has seen increased throughput, with sales up 10 percent.

» Did you develop an innovative shop tool or piece of equipment to improve your operation? Tell us about it at submissions@fenderbender.com CLICK HERE

COURTESY T.G.I.F. BODY SHOP INC.

WHAT IT IS: A system of numbered parts carts, cars and work bays.

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