We kick off the next 14 episodes with an interview I had the pleasure of doing with THE Mike Anderson of Collision Advice! We will talk with the speakers and some of the sponsors of the SE Collision Conference so we can all have a taste of what those in attendance had the pleasure of experience first hand. On today's episode Mike touches on several of the things he spoke about in his sessions: 1 - Utilize technology and give employees back more time 2 - When there is no communication, negativity...
Jul 05, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Many of you shop owners have an idea of what you'd like for your shop when your children or a manager takes over but how can you guarantee that will happen? You also have goals for your shop in terms of success and finances so how do you create a plan and execute it so it becomes a reality? We are talking with Matthew Di Francesco of High Lift Financial and he shares his process when helping shop owners with finances and succession planning. His motto is: Aligning Family and Business for Generat...
Jun 20, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Today we talk with Frank Rinaudo, owner of Frank's Accurate Body Shop in Slidell, Louisianna. I found Frank on LinkedIn and loved the videos he was making which showed the difference between an improper repair and a proper repair. As a non-DRP shop he understands the importance of education his guests and this was a way he could do so. He also shares with us some great information on becoming a non-DRP shop if that's the direction you are thinking of going in your shop. Full YouTube video showin...
May 02, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Greg Lobsiger is a body shop owner out in Indiana at Loren's Body Shop where he does about $300k/mo which is about 3.5 cars/day or 65 cars/month. He says "It's not about creating dollars. I want to take money home. I work very hard. I want my technicians to make very good money. Without question, I want to take care of those people. I better make stinkin' good money and that is what it comes down to." But how do you know if you are profitable in your shop? Greg gives us some great takeaways and ...
Apr 19, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Rachel James started in the industry over 20 years ago and went from the dealer side to a technician and now is crunching numbers for body shop owners and their employees on a daily basis at her practice with Northwestern Mutual! Although most of us don't like talking numbers she helps shops and their employees budget, helps us to know what numbers we should be looking at, we talk a little about retirement and what I found most intriguing is something she can help you provide to key people calle...
Apr 04, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 32
There are SO many hot topics in our industry right now so I grabbed my good buddy, Dominic Martino, who is owner of Gold Coast Auto Body with his brother, Mario. We are talking about all of the things they are doing that has helped them be bigger and stronger than EVER as a non-DRP shop! Dominic's team is incredible and is doing a few things you may think of for your shop. We are talking...rate increase, culture, Covid-19 changes and so much more. Connect with Dominic - Email: dmartino@goldcoast...
Mar 21, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 31
As we are all packed with work and having all kinds of issues I thought Michael Giarrizzo would be the best person to come on and talk about the lean processes he is known for running 65 stores for Sterling and training them to be lean and efficient. How is he handling these bottlenecks in production, parts issues and more? He shares with us his insight! Michael is the president and CEO of DCR Systems where they have 7 locations in 5 states that are dealer based and the stores all range in sales...
Mar 08, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Don't you wish you could get done in 1 day what would have taken you 1 week? I do! And, we can! Today we have Chris King, a performance coach with Status Flow sharing with us some key components for pique performance. At the end of the day - Chris shares with us that all responsibility for our life - is our own - and we can change it to become the Lamborghini that's living inside of us! Here's a great way Chris explains this: Your reality is the end result of a system. Any system can be hacked a...
Dec 28, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Two of the biggest pain points in the collision industry are PARTS and PEOPLE and today we are discussing both with the ever-popular Dave Luehr! Dave shares insights into how we can deal with the parts shortages plaguing us. He talks about how you can schedule properly by following the formula in the video (Elite Scheduling Secrets) and using tools such as ADAS CoPilot with Frank Terlep. (Link to the episode I did with Frank is below) We also talk about how to deal with the lack of qualified peo...
Dec 13, 2021•40 min•Season 1Ep. 28
This labor shortage has gotten worse and everyone is dealing with it. On today's episode we flash back to earlier in 2021 where we talk about the "War on Talent" on Episode #19 with Andrew Batenhorst. He discusses how it's affecting him and his shop and gives some tips to those employees thinking about making a move. We also talked with Steve Olson in Episode #4. Steve's flash back is a small piece of his excellent episode where he talked about the importance of investing in your people. For EVE...
Nov 30, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 27
As a business owner I understand the importance of staying ahead of any legal issues as best as possible. You do NOT want to get "caught with your pants down"! When I found out that body shops were being targeted because their websites were not ADA compliant I jumped into action. I found "accessiBe" which is a program that works in the backend of your website to make it ADA compliant. That is a very simplified explanation of what it does but you get the gist. I suggest all my clients sign up for...
Nov 15, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Body shops are looking for techs and painters and we have some great ones being developed in our local trade schools. We've talked with instructors about how to get involved with schools and "woo" these students to their shops but now's the time to talk directly with a student. In this episode with talk with high school student, Kenneth Stuart, to hear what his take on our industry is and how his experience has been in his trade school and with a local shop he did a co-op with. We also talk with...
Nov 01, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 25
As a current body shop consultant that's been in our industry for many years, John Shoemaker sees a major issue in the collision industry that you may not think is that big of an "issue" yet needs to be addressed. John sees shops run in to huge problems not measuring vehicles and talks about how measuring can help not only with the technical side of the repair but also getting from the insurance company proper compensation for necessary repairs based off of true data. Connect with John Shoemaker...
Oct 18, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Laura Gay, a former small MSO shop owner and now a certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional (M&AP), spoke with us in Episode #12 and since then the auto body shop landscape has changed even more so I wanted to have her back on for a much needed update! Today Laura talks about the Biden Tax Plan that will affect sellers in 2022, what consolidators are now doing and things to think about whether selling or buying. To talk with Laura directly you can email, text or call her. Email: lau...
Oct 04, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Charles Wilhite has been in our industry for over 40 years. He went from the shop side, to the insurance side, to teaching I-CAR and now is an independent appraiser. He talks with us today about what the appraisal clause is and when shops should counsel their customers to invoke it... For questions on the appraisal clause you can reach out directly to Charles. Email: chaswilhite@gmail.com Website: https://www.gamutservices.com Connect with Charles Wilhite on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in...
Jul 26, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 22
John Stuef is one of my favorite people in our industry and he had so many great topics and takeaways on his full podcast in Episode #2 of the Body Bangin' Podcast. Today's episode is a flashback on one of the highlights of that episode that is SO relatable! About John: John Stuef has been in the automotive industry for over 30 years and has a TON of knowledge and experience to share with collision centers. He's now an auto body shop consultant and is an author of the book "From Doing to Leading...
Jul 12, 2021•10 min•Season 1Ep. 21
We are all quick to complain about the lack of talent in our industry but where does most of that new talent come from? SCHOOLS! Why are we forgetting about these schools and instructors who are educating and training the up-and-comers to an industry that desperately needs them? Most of these schools and programs are severely underfunded and can't afford to provide the tools, supplies, safety equipment, etc they so desperately need. Then along comes CREF - the Collision Repair Education Foundati...
Jul 05, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Andrew Batenhorst talks with us today about this massive war on talent we are fighting. We discuss why it's gotten so bad, the "shady" practices many shop owners are using, how we can fight and win, and, also, what employees should be looking out for when these offers are rolling in! Andrew is the collision center manager at Pacific BMW in Glendale, California and has a heart to expose this major issue we are all going through. Connect with Andrew Batenhorst on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com...
Jun 28, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Claudia Morgillo owns 6 Fix Autos and 3 Novus Glass Locations in Southern Ontario and is also an Internationally Certified Leadership Coach & Trainer. She has taken her skills as a coach and trainer and applied them to her teams to create incredible success in our industry. Listens as she shares with us the biggest hurdle in growing your teams, your shop and yourself - YOU! - and how you can work on yourself so you can take your team to new levels. Connect with Claudia Morgillo: LinkedIn: ht...
Jun 21, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Jorge Navarrete is sharing a major issue he's seeing from his students with us today! Jorge is a highly respected instructor for our industry that has a huge following in his classes & his program as a whole yet he's seeing these precious youngsters either: A) finish with schooling and then go into another field or B) get into shops and within 2 years leave the industry for good. WHY IS THAT??? We need these up and coming students so desperately and Jorge tells us what his students have shar...
Jun 14, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 17
The last thing you want to do is to be working your tail off but getting scammed by someone you thought you trusted. In this episode John Lehman of the Micki Woods Marketing Team and I talk about 11 signs to watch out for when using a marketing company! For questions or help with your marketing email us now: admin@mickiwoods.com _____________________________ Connect with Micki on LinkedIn Now! :) https://www.linkedin.com/in/micki-woods-36374121/ For more info on Micki's Marketing Services to hel...
Jun 07, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 16
As shop owners and managers and even employees - we have a vision of what we'd like our shop to look like and how we'd like it to operate. We see the culture in other shops and want that for ourselves. We dream of a shop where things operate smoothly and everyone knows their role but we don't know quite how to make that happen. Team Outlaw (Kandy & Outlaw from NextProgression) join us today and share some of the things they work with shops on and help us as individuals, identify where we are...
May 31, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 15
On the body shop side of things we are frustrated by the way insurance does things. We get angry, we get defensive and we want it to be different. After talking with some friends of mine that work for the insurance companies they had some interesting takes on some of the things that we struggle with and also shared with me some of the struggles they are dealing with from body shops. In this episode I share some of those things on a high level and hope that they can help you and your shop in this...
May 24, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Many independent shop owners know they are at a disadvantage to the consolidators when it comes to buying power, bringing on DRPs and OE Contracts, having marketing and advertisers do the work for them, health insurance, 401Ks, etc. As independents we want to hang on to our ownership and independence but also want the benefits of the larger groups. Today we talk with Jim Keller (President/COO) and Joel Adcock (Director of Biz Development) of 1Collision and they give us a peek behind their curtai...
May 17, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 13
If you are even thinking about selling your auto body shop you need to speak with someone who knows our industry inside and out and who can be an ally in one of the, if not THE biggest transaction of your life. You will want someone who can make sure you get the most money possible and help you avoid the multitude of pitfalls that surround you. Laura Gay of Consolidation Coach talks with us today and discusses some things that come in to selling a shop that you may not have thought of before. • ...
May 10, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 12
So many of us feel like the only way to increase sales is to market yourself or be pushy and "get those keys". Justin Ryder with Velocity Collision Center has created a process that goes back to some basics. He organically grows customer satisfaction, hence cars to the door, using traditional methods like standing up and greeting each guest with a bottle of their own branded water and at the same time employs lean SOPs and accountability while "gassing up" his employees to get buy in. This combi...
May 03, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Mike Townley, current owner of Telesis Collision Center, talks to you from a real life shop manager/owner perspective. He knows how it feels to be burdened by the weights of the industry and he shares with us ways that he is dealing - both mentally and practically. We dive into a concept he implemented at Valley Motor Center years ago where the shop was open 7 days a week as well as knowing your customer's and employee's personality types and much more. **Support Body Bangin' & be a monthly ...
Apr 26, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Abe Sells is an i-Car instructor for technicians. He gives us a unique perspective of students coming up through tech schools and several ways that we, as shops, can be a help to those schools and participate in varying degrees to potentially hire those technicians full time. Co-op programs, advisory councils, shop tours, technician tooling, strategies for bringing on new techs, creating buy-in from techs in training and current techs, setting proper expectations for new techs, and MORE on this ...
Apr 19, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 9
As a veteran in the automotive business of almost 40 years, Jim Huard has a ton of real life, industry experience and prides himself on processes and procedures. Growing up in the industry he was able to develop these processes and was brought in by both Caliber Collision and Fix Auto to help run their shops more efficiently. He now owns his own facility, Painters Collision Center, and is here to talk with us about some important things he's learned along the way and a sneak peek at what those p...
Apr 12, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Christen Battaglia with WrenchWay really opened my eyes on today's podcast and showed me 3 EASY WAYS we, shop owners and managers, can begin to get involved in our local tech schools and not only start changing our industry but begin recruiting for our own shops. The best part is that getting involved does not require a massive commitment and it can be done from the comfort of your own shop. SUPER EASY!!! The industry as a whole feels the pressure to have new techs coming aboard but there seems ...
Apr 05, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 7
