Originally published February 2006
Dent repair has got to be one of the few professions where you know you’re good, but you also know you could get better. If you’re just starting, this is frustrating. Getting past this frustration happens from the inside out. Learning to embrace it, to take it as a sign you are on the path towards Mastery, this is the key.
“When will I be good enough to fix real cars?”
It’s more of a feeling than it is a time frame. Some know right away. Some never quite feel qualified. I’m in the latter group. Yes, I still wonder about my skills. Do I have what it takes to fix this one? There is a fine balance between self confidence and arrogance. Sometimes the toughest sale to make is on yourself. Some dents leave you feeling sure no one could do better. Others leave you wondering why you chose this business in the first place. It is this uncertainty that keeps you coming back for more.
The best part of starting in Paintless in it’s infancy (PDR as we know it came on the scene in 1990, I started mid-1992.) is not knowing what we didn’t know. I’ll never forget the discussion with my boss and trainer (he started six months before me) about where to start a dent. Was there a tried and true formula? Should we use tape or not? The magic was in asking the question, but still we knew we didn’t know. Ignorance really was bliss.
Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t trade my knowledge for anything. The joy was in the journey.
I showed you the path as being a series of plateaus. It’s actually much more. I recommend reading “Mastery- The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment” by George Leonard. Never have I found a book that so closely fits what we do. If you stay on the path to mastering this business or any other endeavor you choose, you have a fine gift indeed. Once you understand this nothing can hold you back. You will begin to see your life as a constant journey of self improvement. Want to be a better father, mother, husband or wife? It all follows the same path. Maybe you’re not invincible, but you have the ability to get better.
Selling is the greatest skill you can master
I used to get very upset at the used car manager who would cut to the chase and say, “What do I get out of this deal?” For a while I nurtured the illusion that all were greedy and dishonest. No doubt some are, but the above statement is really a gift. Sales mastery starts with understanding human behavior, yes even your own.
This bottom line focused manager just pointed to what every one is asking even when they don’t say it. “What’s in it for me?” Turn that into an acronym and burn it in your memory. WIIFM. Think of it as the radio station all people have playing in their heads one hundred percent of the time.
If you find this disturbing as I did, take some time and consider your own patterns. You may love someone unselfishly, but if your love is not returned, how long you gonna keep it up? Even when we give we really do so for selfish reasons. Sometimes just because it makes us feel good.
Selling your services becomes easy when you embrace the truth of WIIFM. Take the manager above. At first you think he’s asking for a handout. Maybe he is. But you’re not going to give it to him. See, you’re in a negotiation. It is at this point where you will be tempted to bring out your features. Better service, better quality, honesty, dependability. All of which is very nice.
Trouble is, it doesn’t answer his primary question, of “What’s in it for me?” Do you see that your real job here is to build a bridge between your features and his primary question? You’ll do this by turning your features into his benefits.
Better service becomes, “When a car hits your lot, I will inspect it for free and give you a price that won’t change to remove the dents.”
Better quality changes to this, “When I’m finished, your buyers will think it’s the cleanest, freshest car they’ve ever seen.”
Honesty? “I will charge you a fair price for a professional job. I might not be the cheapest, but I am the best (cleanest-cut, most dependable, whatever you think will sell the best for you.)
You can turn dependability into, “I’m looking to build a relationship where I can count on you and you can count on me. When you need a car ready for the weekend, I’ll work late on Friday night so you can sell it on Saturday.”
Different folks will respond to different things. How will you know?
Dan Kennedy says you can read anyone’s mind. All you have to do is listen. Instead of thinking you have to go in and sell this guy, switch to thinking you want to go in and get to know him, make him a friend. Open the conversation with a compliment. Avoid flattery by looking for real things to commend him for. “The cars on your lot are aligned perfectly. That tells me you run a tight ship.” Or if you’ve done your homework, “I hear you guys are number 2 in the 5 state region, I’d like to help you get to number one.” Using this method, you will find out quickly what’s most important to him.
All that’s left is to adapt your benefits to fit his needs wants and desires.
Most managers are subjected to once a week meetings with owners and other managers. Their feet are held to the fire in good times and in bad. If it’s good, how can we do better? If sales are off, what do we need to fix?
Understanding that everyone answers to someone above is key. Even in retail. You won’t believe how many times I’ve heard a man or woman say, “If you make my (husband, wife) happy, that’s all I care about.” I love it. They just told me how to sell them. “I promise your spouse will be so happy, they’ll take you to dinner (or whatever reward you think they want).
Sales mastery is making the leap from the ugly reality of WIIFM to realizing your job is just to make people feel good. To get what you want, give them what they want. Make them feel good about themselves, about how they’ll look to the boss, etc.
Shameless Self Promotion
At some point in this process a good salesman will check your level of self confidence. Sometimes it’s a direct question, “Why should I give you my business instead of all these other guys who want it?”
It is at this point where you must promote yourself without shame. Self aggrandizement is the most distasteful thing you and I have to do. While I don’t like it personally, without it you can’t sell. Yes, I want to be accepted, noticed and appreciated simply on merit alone. I’m good can’t they see that? Trouble is no one notices.
Everyone has a story to tell. People like stories. Figure out yours and tell it over and over. You will get sick of it, but you gotta use it.
There’s something about you that uniquely qualifies you to be the best option for the customer. Even if it seems totally unrelated. For example, there’s two touch up guys in Tulsa who are big fellas that work out a lot and wear Hulk Hogan muscle shirts. You’d think wearing that would be inappropriate on a lot and for me it would be. For them it’s what makes them unique. Every one knows about the “Football Player touch up guys.” Funny thing, I don’t know they even played football, but it looks like they did. Their size doesn’t make them do better touch up. In fact, they’re really just daubers but it’s tough to take an account away from them.
Whom do you look to?
Earl Nightingale said it best 30 plus years ago. “If there is no one in your industry you can look to as an example of outstanding achievement, look at what every one else is doing, and do the exact opposite.”
You will find this tenet in every successful person’s experience. They went in the opposite direction of the crowd.
Early on, most of my income came from door dings at dealers. Still an excellent way to start. But as I was exposed to people who were purely hail chasers, the question arose. Is there a difference between a door dinger and a hail chaser? Sure, I’ve met hail chasers who didn’t know an eyebrow from an elbow, but they made good money. And I’ve met door dingers who wouldn’t touch a hail car to save their life. What I was really interested in is how the way they thought affected their income.
This is why you must be careful with online forums. You don’t really know how everybody is doing. Easy to see how they think by what they say. You might be getting advice from an underachiever. Or worse a know it all new guy. Yes, it sounds arrogant, but really it is self preservation.
Author Ken Roberts says it best, “No one knows what you think they know”. So who do you listen to? The best advice I ever got was, “Only listen to the people who have what you want.”
So here’s some shameless self promoting you’ve yet to hear from me. I’m leaving the closet.
I’ve pushed dents for fifteen years and spent the previous eight in body shops, mostly as a painter. I’ve worked in, at or for 45 different body shops in six different states, even owned my own body shop for 2 years. I’ve worked thousands of cars, millions of dents, broke 2 door glasses, and cracked paint at least a few times. I’ve worked on hail crews as big as 20 and as few as one.
What I am proudest of is your achievement. Even if you’ve yet to work for pay, I see your potential. Your gains could surpass mine by a long shot. Like one of my employees who launched his own company and now has a crew of 6 he brokers for at hail storms. His company will cross the million dollar mark this season. He’s worked in five different countries doing PDR. Another employee moved to another state, opened his own PDR business and helped his father in law double his income by teaching him this craft.
I’ll immodestly take a smidgeon of credit for helping these guys find the path and expanding their thoughts. Then I’ll humbly say I’m still on the path to Mastery and there’s lots more growth to come. I don’t know what I don’t know. But I can learn it.
Market Saturation
A common assertion is “check your market for saturation of PDR techs”. In other words, don’t come ‘round here and ruin our favorable situation of supply and demand. As long as we techs are in short supply we can demand whatever we want.
Don’t you think there were plenty of pizza places around when Tom Monaghan launched Domino’s? He even preferred to put them close to college campuses where you know there were plenty of pie joints. What he offered was something different. “Fresh, Hot Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or it’s free.” So, where did all his business come from? You got it. From the other fellows. Love that free enterprise.
Here in Tulsa, there are around 200 body shops. If you count the guys moonlighting on the side, maybe more. If a shop does about $100,000 a month in collision, that’s respectable. Two shops have entered this market in the last 3 years and are at the $500,000 a month level. Where did all that business come from? From body shops who were good technically but not so great at marketing. Part of their success comes from just being the hip,cool and new place to go. One shop has a Starbuck’s style coffee bar in it. Gives them a Unique Selling Proposition. Which also attributed to Domino’s success. They were different. The question is not how much market share is left for me to grab, it’s how can I grab the market that already exists. Or how can I create more?
What do you bring to the market that makes you different? Or what do you have that’s the same, but no one is talking about. If you’re doing big dents, use those to the full. Post befores and afters in your ads. Carry a book of them with you for mobile work.
Highlight your guarantee. Don’t hide it for fear someone may not pay. My guess is you already stand behind it, why not scream it out as your USP?
Ford Freestyle Quarter Video
This video’s great for figuring out access. A little awkward and definitely a challenge. Watch as another step towards Mastery is taken. Another footprint to show you the way.
Next month: why I’m switching to steel hammers and knock downs and why I assaulted a guy in the Red Lobster parking lot.
Till next time,
Tim Olson