Everything we do in the collision shop today seems to revolve around the concept of time. Body shops train their technicians, buy the latest technology in tools, and spend a lot of money on management and estimating software, all in an effort to be more productive. Somehow all of this is still not enough to satisfy the customer or the insurer, and even more importantly many shops are still struggling to be profitable. All the while customers and insurers are asking for shops to complete repairs faster. Considering shops are paid according to the time they bill on the invoice, faster is certainly not better, unless we can bill for more units in the same time period. In order to do this, there are three things we must do.
First, you have to make use of every minute of the work day. Scheduling repairs all the way through the process is key. You have to know what each department is capable of and achieve as much balance between departments as possible to prevent bottlenecks. Cars cannot sit in the parking lot for part of a day while your employees do administrative tasks.
It is necessary for shops to figure out a way to complete the administrative tasks before the vehicle arrives, and put the vehicle immediately into the repair stream. Repair plans are absolutely necessary as soon as the repairs are started. If the repair process is not blueprinted delays are almost certain. Once repairs are completed, billing and delivery need to be as efficient as possible.
Second, you have to communicate and negotiate successfully. Even if you schedule, plan, and execute perfectly, it is not enough if you do not communicate this to the customer and insurer. A repair that is completed perfectly in three days is still late if the customer was expecting it in two. It is also necessary for you to negotiate the needed time to do the repairs, and all the administrative operations, with the insurer. Not doing so will result in poor cycle time scores with the insurer. We typically don’t think of negotiating with the customer on scheduling. We just try to get them in the door when we can, however it is more critical than ever to get away from the “Monday through Friday” scheduling. Cars need to come in every day of the week and leave every day of the week. What other business takes all their orders on Monday and makes all their deliveries on Friday? It is impossible to do this and use all your employees effectively, unless every single employee is cross trained to do every job in your business.
Last of all, you have to track and invoice every completed operation. You can schedule, execute, and communicate perfectly; however, if only eighty percent of what you complete is invoiced, it will be difficult to be profitable. Over the last few years, I have reviewed nearly two hundred estimates for accuracy of operations. Each time judgment times were not changed, and replacement parts and part prices were not changed. All that was added to these estimates were operations that were omitted according to the procedure pages for the estimation software used or operations recommended by the manufacturer of the vehicle. Some of these procedures were even recommended or required by some insurers. One example of this would be repairing pinchwelds after a pull. More than fifty times estimates had pull time as well as “setup and measure” listed in the repair operations but there was no time to repair the pinchwelds. Another example is weld in panels as a line item with no repair time on the adjoining panels. The result of these types of omissions led to an average of twenty percent of a shop’s time, which translates to profit left on the table. Each time I reviewed one of these estimates with an owner they agreed that at least five percent of what I found could probably have been collected. Since these were cars that had been repaired, at least five percent could have been added directly to the bottom line. I do not know any business owner who can afford to allow five percent to escape their business.
When it comes to managing time, whether it is making sure we are using our time wisely, keeping our customers informed on how we are using their time, or making sure we are getting paid for the time we invest, it is time management and it is crucial.
If you are challenged with any of these three items you may want to seek outside help; after all, you probably don’t have enough extra time to change it yourself. •
Tony has worked in the collision industry for over 30 years. Starting as a technician and working up to manager as well as spending time as an estimator and vocational instructor have given Tony a wide-angled look at the industry. Tony currently works as Business Development Manager for COLORMATCH and travels several states regularly. Tony is also Tennessee’s busiest I-CAR Instructor and the Executive Director for the Tennessee Collision Repair Association. Call 731-267-5627 or E-mail Tony at tony.nethery@colormatch.com.
