Don Bailey
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Are you a tech? Have you tried to get involved with your industry association? It’s a frightening and discouraging experience attending an auto collision industry gathering as a tech, all by your self. However it was one of the best experiences in my life… I observed and learned a lot about the auto collision industry in that one day of attending a Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF) [url]http://www.ccif.net[/url] meeting than I learned in the twenty plus years I’ve been working in the industry.
If your interested stop by my blog [url]www.dontek.tektalk.net[/url] I wrote all about the whole experience from the very first day [url]http://dontek.tektalk.net/2008/01/ccif-meeting-request.html[/url] I contacted CCIF.
It’s hard to get techs involved in anything other than them selves more or less attend an industry association or group. Anyhow, if a group of techs (5) got involved with an association it would send shock waves throughout the auto collision industry.
The industry just might start to improve!
Now you’re talking, sites like these are great for the industry. Keeping informed, participating in industry forums, reading and responding to articles and magazines, just been part of the auto collision industry discussions on a whole is a step in the right direction.
The majority of techs in the industry like to play the victim roll…HOOO… look at me pretty little me, the industry is taking advantage of me. Complaining it’s who they have become or it’s what the industry has turned them into. For years I used to complain to my family, friends, co-workers and boss but, now I realize there’s no resolve in complaining.
Complaining is what repairers are doing with insurers, look where that is getting them and now we complain about repairers.
The truth of the matter is repairers don’t have the power to change things in the industry that would be satisfactory to techs financial and technical needs.
If you do think repairers have the power to change things for tech lets us here your response.
In the mean time let us keep the ball rolling. Every time you talk to a tech that is complaining suggest to them the only way you can resolve your issues is to be proactive, take charge of your own direction by get involved in online forums, blogs, reading magazines and attending industry trade shows, conferences, symposiums, conventions what ever you here or can do that pertains to your profession.
Lets increase the communication activity in all tech portals and resources.
It’s not about unity among repairers, that’s old news. If repairs want to slash there prices and work for next to nothing under cutting the market that should be there problem…that’s what you call competition.
When a whole industry is affected by this kind of business practice you must look towards the internal structure of the auto collision industry. Imagine the Financial, Medical and Real estate industry operating with out a governing infrastructure.
What I think has a lot of implication (far more than shop unity) for insurers, independent repairers and techs is the controlling desires of banner networks and their push for accreditation. You want motivation then you better start taking a good look at who is setting your industry agendas.
This industry’s situation is bigger than repairers uniting in order to compete with insurers, it’s more about total unification – all participants’ insurance, repairer, tech and supplier must collectively consort on a transparent compromising effort for a better internal process.
I have the answer to the issues affecting the auto collision industry – I’m not willing to say what my answer is “based on some sound advice”. However talking from a place of assurance there is a solution to the industry’s problems allowing, me great resolve. To understand what I’m truly writing about you must read in between the lines only then will you start to realize change for a stronger and unified industry is possible.
In reply to Jimmo from [url]www.refinishnetwork.info[/url] forum, I agree that there is a communication breakdown between insurers and repairers concerning labour rates as wells a slue of other issues. Insurers and repairers turf battles have been going on for years, it’s like “if I don’t get you, you will get me”. The battles and the pointing of fingers has been documented and overly stated (it’s a distraction) I read this article today – Fed Up – Excuse me, but your foot is on my neck by Tom Bissonnette in the Collision Repair magazine online site. [url]http://issuu.com/mediamatters/docs/crm722v2?mode=embed&documentId=080516191433-aea16e5c00344530a98a4ed5b9403945&pageNumber=15&layout=grey[/url]
You’re not the first person that has mentioned to me the lack of unity when it comes to repairs standing together to confront the big bad insurance wolf. If it is not two shops trying to under cut the competition it would be one shop, if its not one it would be a banner network, if not them it’s a DRP, if not them it’s an independent. Do you see what is going on here?
Insurance companies no, ENTERPRISES are very wealthy, smart and register to the art of “divide and conquer”. Actually insurers don’t care about the internal fighting in the auto collision industry, they see it more as a joke. They are able to see our industry from the out side looking in and manipulate it with an estimate here and there. And, what the big joke is we fall for it.
Insurance companies are not the problem with the auto collision industry’s issues nor, are the door rates they pay out. Insurance companies have adapted better and created a beneficial advantage in a fractional auto collision infrastructure that lacks foresight.
We as participants in the auto collision industry allow insurers to feel like they are powerful and control the industry. We continually reinforce this thought by complaining about their actions and its effect on present and future industry directions. This complaining, justifying or laying blame is insurers’ barometer to the impact of their control…if we are complaining they must be profiting.
Okay, insurers don’t control the industry consumers do!
They is no use in complaining, pointing fingers or trying to change insures profitable stance unless what you have to say to them is compelling and can change the auto collision industry’s landscape as we know it. I believe, we need to look at the industry from a different angle to create new solutions. Dontek Proposal Manuel (DPM) is that solution looking at the industry from an angle of implementing human resource procedures.
Support Dontek Proposal Manual as a start to positive change in the auto collision industry by visiting [url]www.tektalk.net/d_p_m_overview.html[/url]
After visiting [url]www.tektalk.net/d_p_m_overview.html[/url] post your comments on either one of these locations.
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