By Stacey Phillips
San Diego, California — October 9, 2018 — “Hard work does not make you successful,” according to Dave Luehr, founder of Elite Body Shop Solutions and author of The Secrets of America’s Greatest Body Shops. “Working hard on the right things makes you successful and helps you achieve limitless potential in life.”
Luehr recently talked to a group of bodyshop owners and managers about the six secrets to running a successful bodyshop during the AkzoNobel Acoat Selected North America Performance Group meeting in San Diego, CA. Entitled “The Six Secrets Revealed,” Luehr’s presentation highlighted some of the main takeaways from the book, which was released in 2017.
“Right now is the best time in history to be in the collision repair business,” said Luehr. “But only for those with the right mindset.” The right mindset, according to Luehr, is believing in what you are doing, having the willingness to challenge everything we know and taking personal responsibility for our conditions. It also means looking at challenges as opportunities rather than problems. “Truly, there are opportunities in every problem that we’re faced with,” said Luehr. “Attitude is literally everything.”
Luehr shared highlights from the six secrets explained in the book:
1) Busting Old Beliefs
With the world constantly changing, Luehr stressed the importance of challenging everything you’ve come to believe that might be limiting your potential or not serving you well. Instead, he recommended replacing bad beliefs with ones that serve you better. “Challenging your beliefs doesn’t make you wishy-washy, it makes you wise,” he said. He also encouraged attendees to get out of the “victim’s zone” and not blame others for your situation. “Take personal responsibility for life, where you are at and where you are going tomorrow and be careful who you surround yourself with,” he said.
1) Overcoming Challenges of the Family-Operated Business
With 90 percent of small businesses in the U.S. having two or more family members working at the company, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Luehr pointed out that differing generational value systems can often cause stress. In addition, bodyshop owners don’t always see their sons or daughters as capable of running the business. He highly recommended all owners takes steps to engage in succession planning. “You always want to build your business with the intent that you are going to sell it or franchise it even if you’re not going to; think ahead,” he said. He also encouraged attendees to learn how to communicate and makes sure to discuss the always present “elephant in the room.”
3) Building a Sustainable Business Model
Luehr asked attendees, “Do you own your business or does your business own you?” Many bodyshop owners started as technicians and have little experience with organizational skills. Luehr recommended setting time aside to learn new skills and work “on” the business rather than only “in” the business. He also pointed out the advantage of building a good culture. “One way you can contribute to a good culture in your shop is having good Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs),” he said. Many employees aren’t clear about what is expected of them. Luehr noted that having a written process for consistency and standards in place can be beneficial for everyone.
4) Getting Customers to your door
Look closely at how your advertising dollars are spent and understand your brand to ensure you aren’t wasting money, Luehr suggested. “Get out of the mindset that we’re just fixing cars and what we’re doing is truly fixing people’s lives,” he said. When you take on that mentality, it can change everything—not only how you market your business, but also how in terms of business culture. When asked what the biggest opportunity he believes there is in the industry, Luehr replied, “…what’s going on at your front counter right now! Your customer base is the greatest salesforce ever.” By showing customers you can be trusted and provide excellent service, they will likely recommend your business to friends and family.
5) Modern Leadership
Modern leadership has many components including building a culture and being involved in the community. Luehr spoke about industrial-aged leadership versus modern “servant” leadership and stressed the importance of becoming a good servant leader. In his opinion, employees in general want to do meaningful work. In order to achieve this, business owners must explain their vision and how employees can contribute. “We’re all talking about how hard it is to find good employees; however, the conversation is rarely about how we keep the ones we have,” observed Luehr.
6) The Power of Peer Groups:
“There is power in numbers,” said Luehr. Peer groups, such as associations, franchises and performance groups, are extremely important to the industry right now. Not only are they helpful when you are struggling or have a question, but they also provide support. “Great industrialists like Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie always credited most of their success with the people they surrounded themselves with,” said Luehr.
In summary, he said it’s easy to feel overwhelmed but there is no need to make changes overnight. By spending time learning project management skills and blocking out time to work on the business, he said shops can achieve limitless potential.
“The secret to success is really no secret,” Luehr said in closing. “It’s simply a matter of accomplishing small tasks each day that move you closer to your vision of success.”
For more information, visit elitebodyshopsolutions.com or www.bodyshopsecrets.com.
