The MSO Project - April 2019 by EndeavorBusinessMedia-VehicleRepairGroup

FIRST-CLASS SERVICE—EVERY TIME PAGE 20

DON’T LET TECHNOLOGY BECOME A CURE-ALL PAGE 26

S T R AT E G I E S A N D I N S P I R AT I O N F O R M S O S U C C E S S

LEVERAGE YOUR TOP PERFORMERS PAGE 23

APRIL 2019

BUILD YOUR PERFECT EMPLOYEE

Create an apprenticeship program destined to churn out perfect hires PAGE 10

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Despite an increase in available technology, don’t forget about the basics.

APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

WHO’S BUYING

ACQUISITIONS Continuned Growth In the first three months of 2019, CARSTAR announced a number of acquisitions, including an 11-store network.

Caliber Collision Centers and ABRA today announced the closing of their merger. Going forward, the combined company will invest even more in enhanced technologies, specialized resources and innovative processes, officials noted in a press release. Steve Grimshaw, Caliber's chief executive officer, who now serves as CEO of the new combined company, says they plan on maintaining all existing centers from both companies.

CALIBER COLLISION ENTERS TEXAS

JANUARY

CARSTAR OPENS PREMIER FACILITY CARSTAR announced the opening of CARSTAR American Collision Experts in Waterford Township, Mich., owned by Ken Lawrence and with him and his main technician, provide over 50 years of collision repair experience.

GERBER OPENS ARIZ. LOCATION The Boyd Group recently opened a body shop in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. The location previously operated as Sofia’s Auto Body. FE BRUARY

CARSTAR CHILTON AUTO BODY ADDS SEVERAL LOCATIONS CARSTAR Chilton Auto Body has added 11 locations in the northern 4

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

California region. The acquisition is CARSTAR’s new, largest multistore owner.

CARSTAR OPENS FACILITY IN WASH. CARSTAR unveiled CARSTAR Cornforth Campbell North. CARSTAR Cornforth Campbell, Kurt Johnson’s first facility, has been in the community for more than 80 years. Johnson is owner of the second location as well, CARSTAR Cornforth Campbell North.

Service First Automotive Centers, a Caliber Collision Company, recently marked its entry in the north Texas market with the opening of its McKinney location, the first of 11 service centers as part of the company’s expansion plans in 2019. The automotive repair and lube company’s McKinney location joins seven existing Texas centers in Houston. It will be followed by five more locations in Plano, Carrollton, Ft. Worth and McKinney in the next three months with an anticipated six additional stores opening throughout the Dallas metroplex by the end of 2019. MARCH

CARSTAR COLLISIONTEC OPENS CARSTAR CollisionTec has opened in Clearwater, Fla. Owner of CARSTAR CollisionTec, Scott Robertson, originally established his business in 1992 and then joined CARSTAR in 2017.

NEW YORK'S LARGEST REGIONAL MSO SOLD TO GERBER Gerber Collision & Glass bought Carubba Collision, which was made official on February 27. Carubba Collision Super Collision Centers is the largest regional

MSO in New York in 2018 and has served the area for over 60 years. The shop is family-owned and operated by Joe Carubba. Carubba Collision has over 20 stores in the New York area.

FIX AUTO ADDS FIVE LOCATIONS Fix Auto USA has added five new franchise locations, bringing the total number of locations to 148. The additional locations expand Fix Auto USA’s geographic footprint in multiple markets including: Northern California, the greater Phoenix area, and Southern California. The new locations include Fix Auto Berkeley, Fix Auto Deer Valley, Fix Auto San Leandro, Fix Auto Scottsdale and Fix Auto Quartz Hill. “The world of collision repair is not what it used to be—it’s moving faster, different participants are getting involved, and the general dynamics have changed dramatically,” stated Fix Auto Scottsdale owner-operator Marc Dubowy. “Because we’re now part of the Fix Auto USA Family, I know there’s an entire enterprise that cares about my business just like I do, and that’s very reassuring to me.”

1COLLISION ADDS 10TH MINN. LOCATION The 1Collision Network shop owner, Jerald Stiele, has acquired The Collision Center in Golden Valley, Minn. The store is Stiele's second location, and the tenth 1Collision-affiliated location in Minnesota.

COURTESY CARSTAR

CALIBER, ABRA MERGER OFFICIALLY CLOSES

Everything your collision center needs and then some.

#SWrefinishsolutions sherwin-automotive.com APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

EDITOR’S LETTER

Shortening the Talent Gap

FINDING THE PASSION BEHIND WHAT WE DO IS KEY I started at the whiteboard, writing a short question:

Why journalism? It should be simple to answer, right? I mean, I was in front of a room of 20 mass communications students, all willingly taking an advanced-level course on magazine writing—these students want to be journalists. They should have that answer, right? Well, not so much, and I knew that was coming. At 10 Missions Media, publisher of FenderBender and The MSO Project, we ask that question of all editorial department applicants. Rarely do we get the answer we want, so I figured it’d be similar with students. But, clearly, it’s an important question, and when we use that in the interview process for a job applicant, it’s certainly one that we use as a way to “weed out” candidates who don’t share our same philosophy. So, I bring this up because of our main feature this month in The MSO Project: a look at two separate collision repair apprenticeship programs aimed at curbing the effects of what many believe to be a talent shortage across the industry (“How to Create a Successful Apprenticeship Program,” p.12). I won’t rehash the statistics for you—the numbers you’ve likely heard many, many times about how fewer teenagers look to trades as a career path each year. And I’m sure many of you have felt the strain in your own operations. How do you find your next wave of talent? How do you get them to buy in and stay? These are the questions the story works to answer, through the unique approach these two shop operators have taken in their own businesses. I won’t give away the details here, as it’s a must-read, but it comes down to one question: why? Similar to the reason I posed that question to my students, we need to understand why we do what we do and what about that makes it appealing to others. When I wrote that question on the whiteboard, most answers I got back were surface-level or even focused on random perks of the job (surprisingly, there are some!), all of which, while possibly adding some level of appeal to it, likely won’t be enough to carry you through the hard work of carving out a career path. The basic answer I wanted to hear (in some form or another): Create work that has an impact on others. It’s pretty simple, but drives at the heart of all that we do. So, how do you answer the question for yourself? Why should someone work in collision repair? I’d guess our answers are very similar.

Bryce Evans, Vice President, Content and Events

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

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TRENDS+ANALYSIS

DEAN FISHER COO CARSTAR NORTH AMERICA

CARSTAR’s Growth Plans CARSTAR COO OUTLINES THE PATH TO GROWTH FOR THE MSO BY MELISSA STEINKEN

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

WHAT CAN SHOPS EXPECT TO SEE IN 2019?

CARSTAR’s growth will come through four key initiatives—additional locations from current CARSTAR franchise partners, small MSOs joining the CARSTAR network, the independent shop owner, and expansion in automotive dealership body shops. Most of this growth will occur in the U.S. CARSTAR is continuing to grow its performance-based agreement (PBA) relationships with the top carriers. As the carriers streamline their business model, the MSOs are required to self-manage their programs. CARSTAR’s brand model aids in this consolidation and provides scale to insurers. This makes desk review, KPI

COURTESY CARSTAR

CARSTAR recently celebrated 30 years in business and now that the company has reached this milestone, only plans to grow more. Since the news of the Caliber Collision Centers and ABRA Auto Body Repair of America merger was announced on Dec. 5, 2018, an industry’s landscape has changed. Recently, the president of CARSTAR North America, Michael Macaluso, in a FenderBender article touched on how that merger has affected CARSTAR. “Something like this is big news that does require a lot of focus and attention,” Macaluso, who oversees a company with 325 U.S. locations in its own right, told FenderBender. “It doesn’t change our plans. It could potentially accelerate those plans. We would love to continue to build our scale quicker. “These types of changes within the competitive landscape may force individuals to think about their future in a different way.” In 2019, CARSTAR plans to open 120 collision repair locations and is on track to reach 1,000 locations by 2022. Since the company’s infancy, CARSTAR has been involved in charity organizations that have helped it grow. Beginning in Canada, CARSTAR began its work with cystic fibrosis research, when a franchisee partner’s grandchild was diagnosed. This initiative has expanded to North America. FenderBender sat down with Dean Fisher, chief operating officer, CARSTAR, and dived into how the company plans to grow and how factors like charity and operational structures affect that growth.

metric tracking, operational management, and customized reporting critical. Companies like CARSTAR have the scale and insurance expertise to deliver this. It is focused on key markets where it can build scale, underserved markets where it can meet the needs of an insurance partner, and new markets, like Minnesota, where it is now seeking franchisees.

HOW DO YOU GET EMPLOYEES TO BUY INTO THE CHARITY WORK?

It starts with corporate leadership on down. The corporate team members are hands-on working at cystic fibrosis events and this inspires the franchise partners and their employees to do the same. CARSTAR franchise

owners have a vested interest in their communities, and as independent owners, have a wonderful culture of giving back.

WILL THERE BE ANY MAJOR OPERATIONS RESTRUCTURING IN 2019?

CARSTAR moved its structure in 2018 to a zone structure for operations, marketing and insurance that is performing well for all parties. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll continue to structure ourselves to intake 100 plus stores per year, an maintain the integrity of our business model.

WHAT SHOULD SHOP OWNERS KNOW GOING INTO THE NEW YEAR?

Technology, training and certifications will

be key going forward. With ever-changing vehicle design, safety systems and advanced materials, repair professionals are tasked with a tremendous learning curve. Shop owners must be dedicated to ensuring their repair professionals have the training and certification to work on these vehicles. CARSTAR offers the proprietary CARSTAR EDGE Performance Platform and the revamped CARSTAR University to help franchise partners and their team members efficiently and affordably get the training they need. Our focus will on the industry needs to merge OE repair modeling with insurance needs that deliver a safe quality repair to our joint customer base. APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

H O W T O C R E AT E A S U C C E S S F U L

APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM THE KEY ELEMENTS

BY MELISSA STEINKEN

TO FORM YOUR OWN APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM IN ANY SIZED MSO

APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

CREATE A SUCCESSFUL APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

GETTY IMAGES

ob Juniper learned the collision repair technician trade through an apprenticeship program he worked in during high school. When he was 14 years old, Juniper started working at his father’s shop, Three-C Body Shops Inc., in Columbus, Ohio, and when he graduated in 1976, he went to work for his father full-time. Since he had been working half days at the shop since his freshman year of high school, Juniper was a “half-decent body technician” by the time he was hired on full-time in the family business, he says. Juniper took over the business when his father retired and by the early 2000s, he had 13 shops (he’s since downsized to three). During that time, he learned what it was like to not have enough people to hire to keep up with the demand of the business. The rapid growth period was the time that Juniper decided to start an apprenticeship program. For Erick Bickett, industry veteran and franchise owner of Fix Auto, he wanted to start an apprenticeship program to counteract the technician shortage he saw. “The reality is, there are very few opportunities for people to enter this business and introduced to a solid knowledge transfer,” Bickett says. He started to brainstorm how he could form a program that had structure and also bridged the gap from the technician’s education to working in a fast-paced, high-production environment like a shop. Bickett started working with Amber Ritter, chief operations officer for the Collision Career Institute, six years ago on a development pilot program for apprentices and, two years ago, the duo and other associates at Fix Auto formed the Collision Career Institute. Today, Juniper’s shop has roughly 7 apprentices. Juniper keeps seeing the baby boomer generation leaving the industry and retiring, and, in their place, an influx of employees who are savvy with computers. “I’m probably the only guy in Columbus, Ohio, who has hired more technicians than we currently need,” Juniper says. “I continue to hire more and overload on technicians.” Bickett and Juniper have formed programs that not only eliminate the technician’s need to relearn once inside a shop, but also have a set structure that promotes internal growth within the shops.

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

Eliminating the Need to Relearn Juniper noticed a pattern: He would hire a technician and the technician’s training would be behind in terms of technology and equipment being used in shops. “Kids today come out of school and have to relearn the processes because the technology has all changed,” Juniper says. Ritter says the Fix Auto locations also saw an issue in which the technician didn’t have the necessary skills to put his or her knowledge to practical use. For example, technicians did not know how their work affected overall cycle time or other shop KPIs, and how to work with the paint department during the repair. So, Juniper decided to create a program in which he could hire technicians and have them shadow the lead technicians in the shops. Then, the technician would get paid while learning the trade. At the same time, Juniper would keep the shop updated on the latest collision repair technology and tools. For the first year of the program, Juniper pays the apprentices $10 per hour. The second year, that salary increases to $12 per hour. Once the apprentices go through the program, he hires them at the shop. Eventually, if the new hires are patient, the technicians can earn a salary of $80,000, Juniper says. Through the Collision Career Institute’s apprenticeship program, an apprentice can sign up and learn how to become an administrative employee, painter, part of management or body technician, Bickett says. Then, the apprentices go through six phases including a bootcamp phase. Each phase takes three months to complete. If an apprentice already has some basic skills or has completed some type of technical college program, then he or she will be placed in the phase that correlates to their skill level. Everyone in the Collision Career Institute’s program enters with the knowledge that if they pass the assignments, assessments and retain knowledge from previous phases while completing the current phase, they will receive payment increases. 14

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

“They know it’s a transparent process and if they complete the segments, they’ll receive incremental bumps throughout the program,” Ritter says. Designing the Apprenticeship Program Currently, Juniper’s shop employs six to nine apprentices. After a year, roughly a third of the apprentices are ready to become technicians and are assigned a position under a journeyman technician, Juniper says. Juniper says that students applied for the program after hearing about it from friends and family. He did not partner with local schools because there were enough people interested merely from being a family member of someone already on staff or a friend of a friend. During the formulation of the program, Juniper says that schools and colleges in the Columbus, Ohio area stopped offering collision repair training programs. “I believe the industry is getting too technical,” Juniper says. Despite relying heavily on word-ofmouth, Juniper does advertise the program in the community. He puts 7 percent of his sales toward marketing and markets the program on the local radio stations. He’s redone the shop’s website to cater to women and bring more diversity in the industry, as well as display billboards in the town. The Three-C Body Shop technicians are primarily trained through assigned tasks, guidance from their journeyman technician and collision repair manuals. Juniper has the technicians go through the training manuals now and then, or

when there is downtime. The Collision Career Institute’s apprenticeship program is designed to have courses, time elements and phase assessments. The program runs for roughly 18 months. For every apprentice that is hired, the apprentice goes through a vetting process to make sure he or she is someone who is dedicated to the job, Bickett says. For instance, the apprentice goes through an interview with the management of the Institute and then another interview with the shop management. Then, the apprentice is evaluated for eight weeks so that management can determine if he or she can work well in that particular shop environment. “You’re going to spend a bunch of time and money on them,” Bickett says. During those weeks, the shop operator and any head of departments in the shop should evaluate if the technician shows up to work on time, what his or her work ethic is like, and how committed he or she is to the job. Some of the existing employees at the Bickett’s Fix Auto locations enter the apprenticeship program in order to move into a different role at the shop or work his or her way up more succinctly through the 18-month program. The apprentice in Bickett’s program shadows a journeyman technician or someone else in the shop and also learns through online courses, as well. Ritter says the online courses balance the “sometimes overwhelming” knowledge that can be given from a technician who has over 20 years of experience in the industry.

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CREATE A SUCCESSFUL APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

MSO NEWS AND STRATEGIES DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR INBOX “Reading FenderBender gives me the ability to see what’s new and trending in our industry without leaving the shop. Some of the best ideas and information are at my fingertips without trying to gather that information myself. I find that this magazine has helped me become more informed and a better shop owner over the years.” —PHIL O’CONNOR, OWNER, POC COLLISION, FIVE LOCATIONS IN MAINE

Grow your repair business with ideas and insights from MSO industry experts. TO SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE TODAY, EMAIL

SUBSCRIPTIONS@FENDERBENDER.COM APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

SNAP SHOP

Big Sky Collision Network BY MELISSA STEINKEN PHOTOS BY THOMAS LEE PHOTOGRAPH Y

Matthew McDonnell owns three Montana shops and has been in the collision repair industry his whole life. His father, Matt McDonnell, a 50-year industry veteran, founded Big Sky Collision Center in Billings, Mont., in 1978. Matthew became the primary owner of the business in 2015. Since then, the company has added two more stores, A&D Auto Body Repair in Bozeman, Mont., and Big Sky Crash Repair in Livingston, Mont., which now comprise the Big Sky Collision Network. McDonnell prioritizes how his facility looks and how it runs. He shares the elements that stand out in his three shop locations, from the in-shop library of business-building books to the shop’s refined process on mirror-matching parts.

BIG SK Y COLLISION CENTER

Mirror-Matching Parts The parts all get displayed, with broken parts going onto a parts rack. When the parts are ordered, the team needs to check off the correct parts number to make sure the part was ordered only once. Then, when the new part arrives at the shop, the old and new parts are zip-tied together. “If there is a clip or bulb missing from the new part it might be on the old part,” McDonnell says. The shop does not use any special equipment for the process but instead uses a bread rack like the ones from Costco, to hold and display the parts. McDonnell says in this case, something not fancy and priced under $100 can do the trick. A & D AUTO BODY REPAIR INC.

OEM Repair Department There are two employees designated at A & D Auto Body Repair Inc, in Bozeman, Mont, to pull OEM repair procedures. The two team members are in charge of researching the repair procedures and compiling a list of manufacturer requirements before the repair starts. In addition to researching repair procedures, the staff will often take the vehicles for a test drive to see if any other areas of damage show before the repair. Customer Safety The shop is currently in the process of developing a safety consultant role to take its customer service game to the next level. 16

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

Big Sky Collision Network Locations:

Big Sky Collision Repair Center Billings, MT Big Sky Crash Repair Center Livingston, MT A&D Auto Body Repair Inc Bozeman, MT Owner:

Matthew McDonnell Size:

10,000-25,000 square feet Monthly Car Count:

250 (total)

Annual Revenue:

$14 milllion (total)

The role will be finalized in April. The safety consultant walks the customer through what was checked on the vehicle in terms of safety like seatbelts and airbags and walks the customer through the vehicle after the repairs were completed. McDonnell is adding this role as a way to educate the customers on the manufacturer requirements in the repair and make the education process focused on keeping the customer safe. For example, if the consultant notices that the customer has a carseat, then he or she can offer the customer additional information on when to reuse a car seat or not reuse a car seat after an accident. BIG SK Y CRASH REPAIR CENTER

Convenient Estimating The shop implemented the Bodyshop Booster tool to make writing estimates easier for the customer. The tool can be sent directly to the customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s phone; then, the customer takes photos of his or her vehicle and sends it back to the shop. McDonnell says this has been a huge time-saver for customers who might work long hours and need to send in the information at night or on the weekends. The shop is located in a small rural town of Livingston, Mont., which has a population of 8,000-10,000 people. Often, McDonnell sees customers sending in estimates through the service when they live 100 miles away from the shop. The tool helps broaden the customer base. APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

BUSINESS BUILDING

ROBERT WALNE PRESIDENT AND COO HERB’S PAINT AND BODY

LEARN HOW TO MANAGE FROM OUTSIDE THE SHOP

While Robert Walne’s position now is not like most others at collision repair shops, his story to get to where he is now has threads of commonality with other shop operators. Herb Walne, Robert Walne’s grandfather, started the business in 1956, so, like many other shop owners, Robert Walne grew up in the collision repair industry. For more than 60 years—and to this day—the shop remains in the hands of the family in the Dallas Metroplex. After he graduated from school, he spent a lot of time doing odd jobs around the shop, Walne says. In 2004, after he graduated from Baylor University with a BBA in finance and real estate, Walne started full-time at Herb’s Paint & Body, a shop that has eight locations in Texas. Walne delved into estimating, parts and production at the Richardson location and eventually went to the corporate side of the business in 2005. Today, Walne is the president and chief operations officer (COO) for the operation’s eight locations. “I’m working on the company’s strategic plan and putting that in place,” Walne says. There are five main departments in the shop and people that carry out the yearly formed strategic plans, he says. At times, if it is needed, Walne will step in as general manager of the shops but currently works alongside his dad, Alan Walne, who is the business’ sole owner. Walne goes over how his typical days managing the shop locations and planning ahead are set up. AS TOLD TO MELISSA STEINK EN

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

I’m usually in the office by 7 a.m., maybe a little before, and typically wrap up around 5:30 p.m. While I try to stay within these

work hours, it’s not uncommon for me to pull a laptop out and work outside the office for a couple hours. Everybody can get a hold of me some way, somehow, whether that’s through email, text or phone call. I’m pretty much always readily available to come in and help. My office is in a separate building on the same piece of land as our third location. It is not connected to the body shop but it is in close proximity to the shop. As part of the strategic plan for 2019 that I spend my days working on, we’re focusing on KPIs. A lot of what we’re working on in

2019 is improving cycle time and improving our customer service index (CSI) score. Overall, our KPIs in these two areas are in the single digits but is that to say it’s where we want to be? No. It’s definitely an area that we want to focus on and improve. Right now, we do track cycle time and customer satisfaction on a daily basis.

COURTESY HERB’S PAINT AND BODY

How I Work: Robert Walne

Herb’s Paint & Body Location:

8 locations in Texas Operator:

Robert Walne Size:

16,000 square feet Staff:

185 for all locations Monthly Car Count:

1,250

Annual Revenue:

$40 million

I think time management helps me prioritize my work throughout the day. It’s

important to know that you need to have a delicate work balance between being available for an employee if he or she needs you and, at the same time, getting your tasks done for the day. I spend a lot of time at my computer, responding to emails and making appointments. I don’t keep track of a specific breakdown of how much time I allot for tasks and help sort issues, but I do set aside some time, whether that be an hour or half an hour for unexpected issues. I prioritize work based on the urgency. If

there is an email that needs to be answered, I send a response to the email before I do another task. I also have specific routines and reports that are associated with the days of the week. For example, I go over the company’s monthly reports roughly three to four days after the month ends. There are also some weekly reports that I call “snapshots” in which each location’s

performance is outlined for me. I go over these reports on the first Tuesday of every month. Then, my other time is spent working in person with the staff. I like to help them tweak processes or help with a problem, if I can. I think it’s important to spend time with each team member and tend to the needs of the employees. We’ve always been focused on giving back to the communities. We contribute to sev-

eral, local nonprofits, raise money from our golf tournament to the Down Syndrome Guild of Dallas and contribute to several of the schools in the communities we serve. We also partner with elementary schools, junior highs and high school booster clubs. We started giving back to our community because my grandfather was very passionate about this. He believed that if he was going to run a business in the community and accept money for his services from those community members, then he needed to give back to them. We’ve also started to look into Recycled

Rides events. Currently, we’re working on an event in our area with first responders to provide them training with vehicles. I do attend monthly 20 Group meetings through my paint company. Our paint com-

pany is BASF and I attend our 20 Group meeting in order to find out what is going on in the industry and hear perspectives from other leaders. The other leaders in our group are part of different markets than us so in some cases, if you bring an issue to the group, another owner could offer advice on how he or she dealt with that in the past. I also attend other meetings throughout the week. I meet not only with my 20 Group,

but also with parts vendors, software vendors, insurance companies and my management team internally. Internally, I meet with the human resources person, or IT person to see what they need and what they’re working on. Then, I can take that information and apply it long-term to our strategic plan. I probably have 15-20 official meetings in one week. When I meet with my staff, we meet in our office’s conference room and discuss goals for the week or month. It’s important for the team to understand what our quarterly goals are and what we’re trying to accomplish. Our overarching philosophy is my grandfather’s statement and something he proposed. Everything our team does goes back to

trying to make an unpleasant experience into a pleasant experience for the customer. An accident is an unpleasant situation so that is our No. 1 goal. So, if adding a location helps us make a situation more pleasant for someone in a new part of town, that’s what we’re going to do, or if improving our cycle time helps with that, then that’s what we’ll do. We don’t necessarily say we want to be at a certain number within eight months or another timeframe. We have goals and we take whatever we were at last year and improve on that, but if we improve on those KPIs, that’s going to accomplish our overarching goal. APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

BUSINESS BUILDING

Standardize Customer Service

HOW TO GUARANTEE THE SAME HIGH-QUALITY CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN EVERY STORE

AS TOLD TO MELISSA STEINK EN

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

TRAIN STAFF INTERNALLY.

Employees at each location go through our standard training process. We’ve never had to hire outside of the shop for estimators because we use our apprentices. Every estimator we have at the moment has come in as an apprentice. When we hire these apprentices, we look for character and a willingness to do whatever it takes to repair the car safely. You can train somebody on how to write an estimate but you can’t train someone on how to simply care and want to help the customers.

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Fortune Collision Centre is all about the customer first and foremost, says Josh Wilson, body shop manager. Wilson grew up at the collision center as a kid and had the opportunity to observe the inner workings of a body shop by watching his father, who also used to be a body shop manager for the same one, and through helping to wash cars and shadow estimators. Fortune Collision Centre has five locations in Kentucky including Georgetown, Lexington, Nicholasville and Frankfurt. To be able to offer a service for the customer that is the same whether the customer steps through the doors of the Georgetown location or goes to the Frankfurt location, Wilson’s business needed a standard procedure that could be taught to every employee. Body shops do not operate like a Starbucks but one thing shop owners might want to emulate is Starbucks’ customer service. Customers expect the same quality of service at every Starbucks location they walk into. So, if Starbucks can develop a widely known brand and standardized customer service experience, can a body shop as well? Wilson says that while there might be many locations, each shop location does its best to repair the vehicle back to pre-accident condition for the customer. Since Wilson is physically unable to be at every location at once and observe the training process, the shop has perfected the art of standardized operating procedures to provide the best service for the customers—and it uses 17 customer service representatives to do so. Wilson outlines four tips any body shop can start doing in their business to create a custom, yet uniform experience for everyone that walks in the door.

QUALITY CHECK THE PROCESS.

First, we have a growth plan for our apprentices. For the first 30 days, they’re shadowing and they don’t touch a vehicle at all. They’re not even writing estimates. This is the time that the employee learns how to interact with the customer and who our customers are. We’re not letting this new person lose in the shop until the whole team at that location feels ready. While I can’t personally check this individual’s progress, I do let every new hire know that there is never a dumb question. I want them to ask questions so they can learn and not just assume about the process later on. On Friday mornings, we have a logistics meeting with all the managers. At the end of the week is a great time to meet and see what issues arose throughout the beginning of the week and what we can do to fix some of them. We also make sure all the processes are running the same. We decided to have these meetings on Fridays instead of Mondays because we’re closed on the weekend. If we were to meet on Mondays, nothing would have happened yet.

ESTABLISH SOPS FOR EVERY LOCATION.

There is a growth plan for the apprentice. The apprentice shadows an estimator for a total of 30 days. Then, the apprentice learns how the shop operates and how to interact with the customer and the customer’s vehicle in the process. It can take as long as 6 months to a year before someone who was apprentice is asked work and write estimates.

SCRIPT SOME INTERACTIONS.

At each location, the customer service representative, which is usually the estimator, will answer the phones in the same

way. For example, we thank the customer for calling, state our shop name and then ask, “How may we serve you?” Then, the estimators and the trainees practice customer service situations through role-playing the scenarios. You know, sometimes if a customer walks in and has an issue with the repair process or the finished vehicle, it might have been a mistake on the paint department’s behalf or the insurance company but you have to remember that, at the end of the day, all the customer sees is the body shop.

Our marketing team created our website and made it very cohesive for the customer. The customer is able to go online, request an estimate, fill out four or five different fields of information and then send it to the shop. Our customer service representatives at each location use the same type of customer relationship management system. The front office staff can see who sent in a request and whether someone responded to the customer. All documentation of the customer’s vehicle’s repair is located in the notes section of the management system. The staff can search for the customer’s name and it’s located under the customer’s ticket. We also have standard operating procedures that are distributed to each location. For example, we have an SOP on vehicle teardown. We do also have each team member interacting with the customer asking about how the customer heard about our shop. APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

BUSINESS BUILDING

A Staffing Science

THE SECRET TO LEVERAGING MOTIVATED EMPLOYEES DURING EXPANSION

COURTESY OH’S BODY SHOP, GETTY IMAGES

BY MELISSA STEINKEN

Through an apprenticeship program, Dusty Clark Von Riese reinvested in forming a quality staff each time he purchased a new shop location for his operation, Ohs’ Body Shop in Kalispell, Mont. Clark Von Riese, co-owner of the shop, started expanding his business footprint in 2015 and discovered that, by purchasing other shops in the area, he had a high employee turnover rate when some existing employees at the previous collision repair shop decided to leave once new management came. So, he turned to incentivizing as many employees as possible to stay on during the transition and worked to find people that were motivated to be in the industry. For Bobby Cobb, he learned that expanding Today’s Collision Repair Centers in Massachusetts, required him to rethink which employees would best fit in each location. When he, co-owner of the shop, opened more than one facility, his employees wanted to take the opportunity and move into new roles. Cobb says his road to building three locations was not always easy and factors like his market being a heavily populated area for Tesla vehicles made him turn to obtaining more certifications. He partnered with five dealerships in the area so the shop could be sent work. Yet, today his business produces $13 million in annual revenue and he isn’t putting the brakes on building more stores. With the new year started, Clark Von Riese and Cobb outline how a shop operator can look internally to existing staff, hire new employees who fit into their culture and expand a business while not losing on revenue during the process.

DUSTY CLARK VON RIESE CO-OWNER OH’S BODY SHOP

APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

BUSINESS BUILDING

FINDING MOTIVATED EMPLOYEES

Clark Von Riese hires new employees through the Montana state apprenticeship program and promotes those employees from within. He attributes his success to hiring people with a passion for the technician career, training them and then moving them through the ranks. For every lead technician in a shop location, Clark Von Riese hires two apprentices to help that technician. Then, the shop pays for the employee’s technician education through I-CAR and provides toolboxes for them. Each month, he has his apprentices take $50 out of each of their paychecks and put that toward their toolbox. The program lasts a minimum of two years but he says most of the technicians are inspired to stay on with the shop. “We want the techs to have the ability to go to another shop, even if it’s not ours. We want them to have a certificate of education and learn that drive to invest in their future,” he says. Cobb looks from within to fill new positions. When he needed more employees at a new location, he sought out some of his estimators, technicians and other employees to relocate to the other location. “You don’t want to overlook people you have and then, in the transition, they leave because of it,” Cobb says.

BOBBY COBB CO-OWNER TODAY’S COLLISION REPAIR CENTERS

Originally, Clark Von Riese only looked for technicians with a large toolbox and the right credentials. But, he says that if an employee comes with a big ego, even if he or she is qualified, it can damage the culture of the shop. To keep tabs on how the staff is feeling during the changes, he manages his locations by “walking around.” He’ll visit each shop and walk around the shop floor. He spends roughly eight hours talking to the staff if he needs to and then will focus on any paperwork at night. Clark Von Riese put took his managers out of a shop office and put them directly on the shop floor. Now, the shop managers 24

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

are available, along with Clark Von Riese, to their team during the day and can physically see the issues that develop or how everyone interacts with each other. They remain working on the floor using their mobile estimating carts. Cobb’s employees work in teams, an aspect that helped the management easily transition staff over to new locations. The biggest location of the three facilities, the Malden shop, had three miniature teams within one, he says. So, when the other location opened in Stoneham, he simply

took one team that included a front office estimator, back-end estimator, lead technician, parts person, and moved the team to a new store. He found that simplifying the team process at the newer locations helped the transition. The Malden location has two teams now with a customer service representative, estimator, lead technician and dedicated parts person. The original shop, located in Chelsea, uses a more standardized approach of a front office reception team and estimators facilitating the flow of work.

COURTESY TODAY’S COLLISION REPAIR CENTERS

CARRYING OVER CULTURE

Staff Up When expanding his business, Bobby Cobb relied on his top performers—including painters, technicians and estimators—to ensure smooth growth.

By keeping most of the staff the same, Cobb kept his philosophy of customer-first service and building from the ground up.

TWEAKING THE SETUP

When Cobb can’t move all of his teams to fill every position in a new location, he hires from referrals and internal recommendations. He goes to his jobbers and vendors to find people to fit the open spots. The next step, Cobb says, is to get all the locations certified with manufacturers. Since Cobb is in a heavily populated

Tesla area, he has spent his efforts on maintaining a low cycle time, keeping customer service high and not working with any DRPs. Clark Von Riese focused his actions on increasing the income for his staff, as an incentive for them to stay through the transition and to produce high-quality work. Compared to other shops in his market that pay staff close to $10 or $11 per hour, Clark Von Riese pays roughly $14 per hour. “The high turnover rates put a lot of

stress on the organization,” Von Riese says. “If you’re hiring a new detailer every two months, how are you going to give a consistently good and detailed car to the customer?” He works with a temporary employment agency that offers its services for free and provides him help when he does have to fill an entry-level position. The temp agency provides various rates offered to other technicians in the industry and then Clark Von Riese offers at least a dollar more than those rates. APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

DJ MITCHELL GROW TH PL AN

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS LIES IN THE BASICS B Y DJ M I T C H E L L

In today’s industry, there are all sorts of tools, ideas, computer programs, and other things designed to speed up the repair process; make our jobs faster and easier; improve our quality; and maximize our customer service. A business could go broke trying to get with the latest magic pill, but, the fact of the matter is, none of that stuff is designed to be a fix-all. Shops must get back to the basics of doing things the right way.

Upon drop-off, walk around the car with the customer and explain what we are repairing, what we are replacing, what may be hidden behind, why we scan the cars, why we are going to align the vehicle and why we are going to measure it. We should explain any color match issues, any prior damage that could be painted over, and the chips and bug damage. Make sure the customer is aware of all prior damage on the vehicle. Reach out and touch the damage in front of the customer. Remember, it may be obvious to us, but not to them. Then, finish it off by putting a seat cover and floor mat in front of the customer so they know we will take care of their vehicle. If these basic steps are not completed, no matter what amazing tool or process we use, we are not going to get the desired result. Once the vehicle gets pulled into the shop, many companies are creating fast lanes, using designated blueprinters or disassembly technicians, using fancy tools to pre-measure or pre-align, or spending thousands on fancy computer carts to roll up to the vehicle. All of these ideas and tools can work in the right environment, but, if we don’t plan properly, these tools do not matter. Don’t wait until the end to figure out what is wrong with the suspension—let’s check it up front. Make sure the car is taken 100 percent apart; don’t just pull off the cover and leave it sit. If something is damaged, it needs to come off now. Don’t wait until later. Match the color early, don’t wait until it goes to the paint shop to find out it’s a three stage 26

THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019

or, worse, it takes a special order toner for which we didn’t account. After you have all your damage parts identified, double-check the good ones, too, for anything we missed. Make sure we have all the clips in the cabinet and that we billed for them. I know we all have run around the shop on Friday at 4:15 looking through every body man’s clip drawer for that green rocker clip. When you order the parts, check to make sure the part numbers and options are correct, and that you have the right pricing. Last, go over the repairs with the technicians one final time. Explain the expectations, what we are painting over, what we are repairing, what we are replacing, how we want the repair process to work, and when we expect them to have it done—and don’t forget to give them their paperwork. Now, our body repairs are complete, and the car is sitting over in the paint shop waiting for the bumper and belt molding to show up. Many collision repair shops have pretty, expensive red carts sitting against the wall.

Some have shelves built for the last digit of the RO number that are filled with parts we didn’t install or for cars that didn’t show up. Some have homemade parts carts that work just fine but probably don’t have enough. Maybe we have a dedicated parts guy but he is too busy to actually check the parts in because he is always dealing with missed and wrong parts. Let’s keep it simple by just opening the boxes and checking for damage and making sure they are right. If we open the boxes when they arrive, mirror match them to the old one, and inspect them for damage, all our problems get solved. Our correct bumper was just painted, and now it will need to be reinstalled on the car, along with reassembling our fender liner, mudguard, headlight and blend panel. But, before we build that bumper, we should make sure the paint looks nice and the color is right. Don’t wait until the end to look at your quality, and you don’t need a special process. Yes, processes work, but QCing cars consistently works well, too. Check the vehicle between phases. Touch those parts. Is the body work good, is it free of pin holes, did we blow it off, did we feather edge it, did we deliver all parts to paint? After the booth, buff it before it’s put together. How many times does a painter have to get mad at a body man for putting the handle back in and making it harder for him to get a run out until we realize we should buff it first? Check the color now too. It’s a lot easier to re-paint it while it is apart, instead of listening to someone say they aren’t getting paid to take it back apart and wasting all that time.

DJ MITCHELL is the regional director for Joe Hudson’s Collision, formerly Car Guys Collision Repair, a regional MSO located in Florida. He also hosts a podcast for FenderBender’s The MSO Project. E M A I L : D J M I T C H E L L @J H C C . C O M

COURTESY DJ MITCHELL, GETTY IMAGES

DOING “MORE” WITH “LESS”

APRIL 2019 | THE MSO PROJECT

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THE MSO PROJECT | APRIL 2019