As the hail work winds down and work slows a bit, a breather is needed, deserved. Jeremy wants time off before next years hail season. Before he took off, I caught him on film working on aluminum. Read about it at the end of this letter.
Taking time to fix up the work space and will share some thoughts about lighting with you.
Do you want to work for the rich and famous? I met a guy who does and I’ll share some points from his business.
It has been a good year and I thank you for sharing it with me.
Secrets I heard from Garth Brooks’ pool guy
The shop I rent is in an industrial area. Across the street is a building with manicured green grass and lush landscaping. It really stands out among the asphalt paving and steel buildings. A customer who is an architect told me the guy who owned this well cared for building was a swimming pool installer. He said he was the best pool guy in town.
Now I had to meet him.
One day I saw a guy pulling weeds from the flower bed and I took the chance to walk over and meet him. Sure enough it was the owner. After introductions I spent only fifteen minutes talking to him. But in that brief time I got three very important business lessons from him.
Business lesson #1
When I complimented him on the landscaping, he told me it was part of his sales process.
“I’m not a landscaping guy, but customer’s associate swimming pools with nice yards so I must present my business in the best light possible. When they come here for a pool design, they can see I will give them what they want.”
How you present yourself can sell for you. Do you look professional?
Wearing a button up or polo shirt with your business name embroidered says you’re a pro. Throw in some Khaki’s and you stand out as high quality in this baggin’ and saggin’ gangsta looking world.
Business lesson #2:
“I am at the very top of the market in swimming pools,” he told me.
“When I started years ago, I made the decision to charge high prices. I estimate a lot of jobs I don’t get, but I stay very busy.”
Confirming his position, he continued, “You heard Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood have a house near here? We put in three pools at his new house.”
Now, I was not so much impressed with his installing pools for a once famous country singer as I was with what led him to that point. It was the decision he made when he first started his business. Then everything he did after that was all just backing up the decision. The building he bought and how he landscaped it. The way his trucks look. The way he leaves a job site clean. How he goes the extra mile not to tear up people’s yards. All started with that one decision. Here is how this can help you.
Whose car do you want to fix? Is there someone rich, famous or both who lives near you that drives a car? Visualize yourself working on this person’s car. This will affect a lot of the decisions you make.
The choices you make today about what you will and won’t do for money affect how your tomorrow will look.
Think about the pool guy. Would his life be different had he not made the choice to be high priced?
He’d still be working out of the back of his pickup and certainly wouldn’t own his own building.
“How do I keep employees from competing with me?”
This is a question asked by some of you and it’s a good one. The pool guy had some advice on this.
In business lesson #3 he told me he has eleven employees. Without asking, he told me some leave, buy a pickup and start their own pool company. He never frets about this and told me why not.
“When you own your own business you eat it, sleep it, drink it. If someone wants to take on that much stuff, let them.”
So he understands not all are cut out for self employment. But I believe it has more to do with his marketing position.
He doesn’t fear his trainees because he knows few are going to do what he has been willing to do. I’ll bet his employees are looking at the jobs he doesn’t get and saying, “man, we could do better if we got more of these jobs.”
If he’s smart, he’ll train his guys to be the best pool guys they can be. Forget about explaining marketing to them. Don’t teach them everything you know.
Positioning gives Dominance
The real reason he doesn’t care about competition is his position in the market. If you’re willing to charge high prices you have to be prepared to do all that goes along with that. Good news is most aren’t willing to do it so you own that market.
Reminds of a shop meeting I once had with three employees. Business was slow and we were trying to strategize our next move. What could we do to get more business? We had several dealerships but they were slow, too. They were loyal to us as long as no one showed up that day and walked their lot and asked for business.
One employee Chip, thought we should lower our quality and charge less. Never mind the years spent doing quality work, just buzz through everything as fast as possible.
Of course we never did this but it opened my eyes to a truth about any business. If you are going to be at the top of the game, you won’t find customers at the bottom. If you want to charge high prices, you have to find customers willing to pay more.
Used car dealers do not meet this requirement. Not because they’re cheap or bad guys. Because they have to pay as little as possible on each car to make a profit. The economics of their situation will not allow you to make what you deserve.
For me, it was Chips’ backwards business proposal that woke me up to the fallacy of continuing in the dealer field.
Does this mean you should stay away from dealers as I have?
Maybe. It’s still a great way to get good fast. Do lots of dents and your skills go up in a hurry. Many techs have this experience at a hail storm.
They start out a little green, but by the end of the storm, they come out excellent with speed and accuracy. Dealerships are a great place to start. But remember you won’t always be stuck there. The day will come when you will know you are good and ought to receive pay worthy of your skill level.
It’s amazing to me to do a hail damaged fender today and get $250 for it when not so long ago I would have only charged $25. Getting a ten times raise feels pretty good.
Begs the question, why would someone pay this much? Because I ask for it with a straight face.
Seriously, consider all the emotional reasons someone would choose to have their dents fixed paintless.
- No one wants to feel like a fool. If they paint it and it looks bad, they gotta look at it for as long as they own it.
- They secretly love their car and want only the best for it.
- They want to appear smart. While this might seem the same as number one, it is different. Going paintless gives them bragging rights. When they brag, none of the emotional reasons will be used. Instead it will be all about not painting, saving money, saving time, etc. These are all the logical reasons, but it was the emotional reasons that made them give you the business in the first place.
Knowing the emotional reasons a person buys our service should be clear in your mind. This will help you see why a dealer is concerned mostly with price. He has to be.
The dealer’s emotional reasons are different than the retail customer. Where does a dealer find pain? What scares him?
Spending too much on reconditioning. A car staying in inventory too long. Not buying low enough to make a profit for the lot.
All of these emotions force the dealer to chisel all of his vendors as much as he can. He has to, it’s compulsive.
Remember dealers are wholesale and retail is retail.
Customer came in with a big fist dent in his fender and I charged him 125 for it. This was low, but apparently still higher than the used car techs he had been to. When he picked it up he was happy and said, “That’s why I brought it to you. I knew you were meticulous.”
“We don’t do any dealer work, just the nicest cars in Tulsa,” I replied.
“That’s what I mean, I looked at the work those guys were doing on the used cars and I could still see where they had been. I don’t mind paying more for good work.”
You need a position
My pool building neighbor chooses the position at the top of his market. You can bet he tells every customer he is high. Then he tells them why.
My position is: I am high because we do only the best cars in Tulsa. No dealers.
What is your position? If you do used cars do you have a client that sells nicer cars? When we had Lexus we used that as a position or selling point.
Many have the illusion that if you do XYZ dealer you must be good. If you do dealers use it to your advantage. If you don’t, then shatter that illusion and tell them dealers buy dent repair on price. Make the situation work to your advantage. Use what you got.
Extreme Makeover (Dungeon edition)
In the 14 years of my paintless career, I have had five shop locations. This sends chills up many a spine. I have never been one to get stuck in place.
Last couple of years the decision was made to keep overhead low and be lean and mean. Make as much as could be made, spend as little as possible. No employees.
So the little 800 sq foot shop behind my house was fine. Much of the Paintless Mentor System was filmed there.
Then we had a hail storm. Needed a bigger, better location so we found one. The seven guys who worked the storm dubbed it the “dungeon”. The walls were brown paper sack colored unfinished dywall. There were only 4 overhead lights in its 1500 square feet. Dark. Depressing.
It was fine in the summertime when the 12 foot tall overhead door was open. Lots of sunlight to light the darkness of the soul. Now it’s winter and we need more light.
Best move was having the walls painted. Immediate difference. Chose a bright white with no tint. Made the painter scratch his head, but this ain’t high fallootin’ designer stuff. It’s functional and utilitarian.
Next will be more lights. If you have a shop or will someday, adding lights is the best investment you can make. Of course the more reference points you have the better, faster at dent repair you can be.
Years ago as an auto painter, fluorescent strip lights were all we had. Their greenish glow played havoc on color matching. Rule was: always tint your paint outside for best match. What looked good inside would be way off outside.
The big breakthrough then were called daylight bulbs. These were expensive replacements for the old school tubes.
Today this technology is available cheap at home stores.
Still, cheap is relative and the old, make your skin look green 8 foot fluorescents are only 30 bucks with bulbs. The daylight models are twice that. Is it worth it?
Only if you think sunlight is healthy.
Can light make you sick?
There are studies that indicate being inside under low quality lighting can contribute to depression. This has been dubbed Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD for short). Being slow in the winter is all the seasonal disorder I want. So we bought the good ones.
The science has reached the point of creating a scale for light color quality. It’s called the Color Rendition Index and it goes from 1 to 100 with the Sun being the highest.
The old bulbs have a CRI of 50, the new daylight versions are rated at 85. So yeah, worth it.
Added bonus: makes car look good to customer.
Next time you’re in a newer retail store, look up. Betcha see these kinds of lights. Why? Makes the products look better. The science of retail has learned more sales are made when stuff looks natural.
Will basking in the glow of these babies make me feel better? Don’t know but I’m buying in. If nothing else, I’ll force the placebo effect by telling all who will listen.
New DVD: Working Aluminum
Nothing is as terrifying as the unknown. Aluminum is the ultimate unknown in dent repair. Yes it’s harder to fix, if only because it takes more effort, more “push”.
Aluminum is “work hardened” when it is shaped into a panel. This puts you a step behind from the beginning. If we didn’t care about the paint, we could anneal, or soften it with heat. All that’s needed is a paint frying 475 degrees.
Since we’re out in the cold, we just have to accept the limits. I will turn down a dented aluminum panel if it is overstretched. Very deep sharp dents won’t shrink like Cold Rolled Mild Steel. Sometimes you just don’t know till you try.
You will have to push harder, raise the dent more than you’re used to. When you release pressure, you may find not much moved. Be patient and move slowly and up evenly to avoid pressure traps. Paint can crack more than steel because of the extra pressure.
You will also find a phenomenon that is strange indeed. Slide a sharp tool under pressure under aluminum and you make an upward crease, right? Wrong. Most times it will leave you with an inverted downward crease and a case of confusion. How and why? I don’t know. It happens and you’ll know it when you see it.
Like most unknowns, the terror diminishes with experience. “That’s not so bad,” can be heard from many a tech once they try it.
That is the experience I hope you get from this film. Hey, aluminum’s OK.
Some things to watch for:
- Jeremy’s 2 lights
- Using both sides of tool
- Aluminum panel identifiers
- Bonus intro to a new tool
Enjoy,
Tim Olson