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The industry will rise to meet its challenges.
For many years our industry has had a desire for a level playing field. At least the honest, hard-working sector that know the difference between right and wrong and practice right everyday. This has been visible through various provincial initiatives started with the greatest of intentions and meeting a variety of success levels.
It is also visible through the desire for recognition of commitment which has been met with mixed results but shows the urge to differentiate within this huge industry. It has been a long-time desire to create distinctions between professional collision repair facilities and non-professional players that have plagued the image of the industry.
taking the lead
The reality is that both insurers and consumers alike have difficulty in identifying quality repairers. That is going to change.
Through the efforts of CCIF an initiative of national scope has been enacted. A committee has been formed with repairers taking the lead in moving forward with the onerous task of identifying the factors that separate the professionals in our field.
I have been given the privilege of chairing this committee, and I can say that this will be a program by the industry for the industry. Who better to define what is professional grade than the people that daily put their professional reputations on the line?
“Why now?” you may ask. Never before has there been such a convergence of factors that have culminated in such an opportune time for the industry to spell out for itself what is professional level commitment.
Is it not true that consumer demands are dictating a better experience in the accident claim/repair event? Do we not have a very different marketplace which continues to change in direction and size? Are there not unscrupulous or marginal operators that are at an advantage to the legal, compliant operator?
So the increase in pressure we feel placed upon our professional businesses, the increased quality demands of the consumer and a strong desire to upright a cock-eyed industry have come together. They have met at the time when we have technology that can help us manage this huge undertaking.
Enter the organization that has been helping professionalism grow in our industry through continuing education, I-CAR. I-CAR has seen the need to change the way they have done business with the industry under the leadership of Tom McGee. They knew that they had to offer a stronger value proposition in order to remain viable.
I-CAR had to change from the position of “you come to us…” to the position of “we come to you…” To that end they have developed new delivery mechanisms, new Industry Training Alliances and something that is going to help us get this task of accreditation done, an on-line tracking system capable of providing an unbiased, data driven information bank. When set up it will be easy to use, spelling out a clear pathway to the credentials necessary to be recognized as a professional facility.
So what will we be tracking? When we looked at the important features of our industry from a consumer perspective, it comes down to quality repairs delivered in a timely fashion within the framework of a seamless (dare I say painless?) experience. To this end there are three areas of influence that will have to be considered.
The first is the facility itself. This is what we are most familiar with as we are dealing with the stuff we can touch, the equipment, consumer comforts and licensing issues.
These things directly affect both the quality of the repair and the experience of the consumer. An interesting note is that this area of investment consumes approximately 15% of our gross business income.
The second area of influence is the licensed technicians. Obviously this is critical when considering the quality of the repair. There is a component that has to be addressed (as some provincial initiatives have done) which is the continuing education aspect.
today’s vehicles
We do not consider ourselves professional if we are trying to repair today’s vehicles with yesterday’s education. This area of our business consumes only about 10% of our gross business income.
Third, we have all the non-licensed workers. This is a very interesting area because it is where the actual experience of the average consumer is created.
This is because the area includes the Estimators/Salespeople, support staff, Porters/Detailers, Paint Preppers (with one province excepted), management (think conflict resolution and workflow) and the peripheral personnel that contact the customer.
These personnel create efficiencies (or not) for production, are involved with environmental and safety issues as well as provide the image of the business and ultimately the industry.
This area also consumes 15% of our business income. This is a hugely important and expensive area of the industry that has not been considered previously.
Yet it is responsible for so much of the success or failure of our industry. Professionals pay attention to this area so obviously it will be a great consideration in professional accreditation.
When we talk about accreditation we are really talking about taking charge of our own future. We have the opportunity NOW to set down the definition of what it is to be a professional in Canada in the industry. The tag-line designed by the committee is: Accreditation: Canada’s Standard for Professional Collision Repair.
We, the professionals in the trade are the ones that the duty falls upon to set that standard! We want this to be “For the industry - by the industry.”
We want accreditation to be self-directed. We want it to have a professional human resource perspective and to be fair and unbiased. We also want this to provide a tool for Provincial trade associations, something they can lean upon when they push forward regional initiatives. This program will work in conjunction with all existing requirements to do business in any province.
At this time it is simply starting as the repository for all the information on a national basis and can evolve (if industry commissions it) to include more.
We have a lot of work ahead and we will have challenges. As I said at the unveiling of the committee initiative at CCIF Edmonton, this industry is FULL of creative, hard-working individuals that have met every challenge that has beset them previously. The industry will rise to meet this challenge too!
One of the things that will be critical to its success is keeping transparency and inclusivity at their maximum level. So we will be preparing regular reports that will be delivered at CCIF gatherings across the country.
I hope you come out and help us when the meetings are in your neighbourhood. We are now working on a list of facility features that are the basic, professional standard.
You can email me with thoughts and questions before the next meeting. There are plenty of opportunities to help. I view it as the way the collision repair industry can be the one that is driving.
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