Springfield, Mo.--In 1987, Gary Allen, owner of ColorVision, a PPG Platinum distributor, said he acquired his first paint, body, and equipment store in West Plains, Mo.
From there, Allen said he continued to grow through acquisitions, purchasing other locations in Springfield, Olathe, and Independence throughout the 1990s, and two others in northeastern Arkansas and Overland Park, Kan., in 2004 and 2006, respectively.
Early in the acquisitions, Allen said he learned that purchasing an existing business presented several challenges.
“You have cultural changes, internal changes, and marketing changes,” he said. “I thought the employees at the stores we acquired would get right on board with our culture right away, and I found that that is not always the case.”
By the later acquisitions, he said he recognized that dilemma and began sitting down with an acquired store’s employees right away to explain his mission, culture, and goals.
“You can’t just assume that somebody will jump right on board,” he said. “There is a mentoring phase that you have to go through.”
Initially, Allen said each location kept its original name because that brand meant something in each respective market. However, after he purchased his sixth location, he decided to change the name, bringing all locations under one umbrella name, ColorVision.
That allowed Allen to take advantage of his multiple locations through a marketing campaign designed to generate brand recognition of ColorVision, including advertising, promotions, and a Web site, he said.
Following the sale of the Arkansas store and the consolidation of two Kansas City stores, ColorVision now has four locations in the Midwest and is in the process of adding a fifth in Lawrence, Kan.
Although Allen has made some changes to the structure of how he markets his multiple stores, he said his business philosophy maintains the same: “Do everything we can to make our shops more productive.”
Allen said he builds on his philosophy through a number of avenues including technology, training, research, and customer service.
“Often times, and this is changing, but people look at paint distribution as delivering a can of paint and answering a technical question occasionally,” he said. “For a long time, we have identified that they can in fact be a lot more, and we are trying to make that our competitive advantage.
“Just getting people to understand that there is more to great customer service than just timely deliveries and being able to answer a technical question--it goes way beyond that.”
It can be summed up in what Allen calls the three “P” approach: partnership, productivity, and profitability.
“Everything that we do, from the training that we provide to our customers, to the training that we do for our own employees, to the products that we offer, to the processes that we teach, is to make the shop more productive.”
Allen said a productive shop makes more money, which means it is painting more cars, thus using more product, so it is more profitable for the customer and for ColorVision—“a classic win-win situation.”
ColorVision has increased productivity of its collision repair centers through technological advances such as online ordering and usage reports through the Web site, along with bar code scanners for ordering and inventories, and an online Gauge for Success program that helps a collision center understand its strengths and weaknesses and set future goals, Allen said.
Last year, he said he equipped his delivery and sales employees’ vehicles with GPS tracking systems from SageQuest. The installation enhanced routing and delivery systems so his employees could be more efficient, he said.
Distribution of waterborne paint is another option that Allen said he is offering to his customers. While many distributors are taking the wait and see approach, he said he has been proactive because he believes the PPG waterborne basecoat is the best he has to offer.
“Not very often do we have a huge technical advantage, but I feel that we do with our water-base system right now,” he said. “It is the very best base coat that we have, it is environmentally friendly, and customers can take advantage of the marketing that it brings, but the bottom line is that it’s the best color match, most productive base coat we offer.”
Allen said he has 11 shops in his market areas that are spraying waterborne, and the transition for all of them has been virtually seamless.
Before moving a customer to waterborne, he said he does an audit of the shop to see if the equipment is up to standard for waterborne paint.
“The biggest thing that has to be watched is the compressor,” he said. “If a customer is borderline on the compressor now, they are going to be disappointed with the waterborne.”
Of the 11 shops that switched to waterborne, no major changes were necessary--only stainless steel guns and waterborne gun cleaner, Allen said.
“What we have been doing, with the help of PPG and PPG Regional Manager Joel Hartnagel is a series of four-hour seminars at the Kansas City training center, and some in Springfield, where we talk about the waterborne paint, marketing aspects, and the product.”
At the events, Allen said there is a waterborne demonstration, and misconceptions about the product are corrected.
“We show them how easy it is, the advantages to it, and then let them decide,” he said.
