Webster Groves, Mo.--As a familiar sight for more than five decades in the tight-knit Webster Groves business district, Auto Beauty Specialists has created quite a reputation for quality repairs and customer service.
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Without changing the core values of the company, it has set out to improve customer service, environmental impact, and in-house efficiency, said Dave Denny, body shop manager.
“Our reputation is second to none,” Denny said, adding that maintaining an excellent reputation, especially in a small community, means not only meeting expectations, but finding ways to exceed them. “We want to stay ahead of the trends in the industry,” Denny said. “We don’t ever want to be behind.”
In a facility that has been around as long as Auto Beauty Specialists, there comes a time when improvements and repairs are needed, Denny said. When it was time to upgrade or purchase new equipment or complete building repairs and maintenance, he said he does his due diligence.
A great example is the newer roof on the shop. Two years ago, the roof was leaking, Denny noted. “We knew we needed to repair the roof, but we did the research to make the best decision considering environmental impact and efficiency,” he said, adding that by choosing to replace the old roof with a new white foam roof, the impact was significant. “Even on the hottest days, it still stays around 80 degrees in the shop,” said Nick Colicchio, assistant body shop manager.
The heating bills have decreased significantly as well, Denny added.
Continuing toward the company’s goal, small changes around the shop are helping to increase the shop’s bottom line, Colicchio said.
Replacing existing bulbs with more efficient ones, recycling cardboard from parts boxes, and using a Uni Ram solvent recycler have decreased operating expenses, Colicchio said.
“The solvent recycler pays for itself in no time,” he said. “We’ve decreased our hazardous-waste removal expense and purchases of thinner dramatically. Although our environmental impact has improved and reduced waste, it’s also about efficiency.”
In March 2008, Denny said, he made the switch to waterborne paint with PPG Aquabase Plus. Beforehand, he said he travelled to California to visit with shops that were spraying waterborne products.
Waterborne was a simple solution to color-match issues associated with solvent-based paint, Denny said. “When the automakers starting using waterborne paint, we knew it was time to make the change. We want to stay ahead of industry trends, not lag behind.”
Understanding industry trends and being willing to embrace those trends is vital to a shop’s success, Denny said. “The days are gone when you could sit in your shop and wait for work to come to you,” he said, noting that you have to make additional effort to ensure that there’s enough work.
Denny said he tries to make sales calls to both dealership and independent mechanical repair shops to secure commercial accounts and referrals, which help fill the lulls between DRP work.
“We also provide many services that other body shops do not to ensure we can handle the customers’ needs, including detailing and PDR (paintless dent repair) service,” he said. “We take the jobs that other detail shops don’t handle,” he said, including water-damaged or flooded vehicles that require extra attention to do the job right.
Currently, sales from the detailing department accounts for about 25 percent of the shop’s overall business, Denny said.
Once work is in the shop, nothing is more important than making sure the shop is running efficiently to ensure proper repairs and customer satisfaction, Denny said. Knowing that, he said he invested in PowerFlow Solutions software, a work-flow management system that increases efficiency and reduces the amount of paper needed for each customer file.
It’s as paperless as you can get, Denny said, noting that a standard, inch-thick customer file has been reduced to just a few sheets of paper.
Each employee has dual computer screens and is able to access any customer’s file from any computer terminal, he said.
“When a customer calls, we don’t have to find a file to get an answer for a customer,” he said. “It’s right there in the computer.”
Any paper documents for the customer file, such as estimates or authorization sheets, are scanned into the customer’s virtual file, which cuts customer wait time on the phone, he noted.
The customer’s virtual file is constantly updated by a dispatcher in the shop that works directly with the technicians, Denny said, adding that anyone at a computer terminal can instantly see the current status of a customer’s vehicle.
PowerFlow also increased efficiency in the office and accounting department, he said. The system allows photos, estimates, and supplements to be sent directly to the insurance company from the software, he added.
Before PowerFlow, getting photos, estimates, and supplements was a multistep, multi-program, time-consuming task, Colicchio said. With PowerFlow, the steps have been simplified, allowing the repair process to continue faster, increasing cycle times, he said. Submitting and tracking supplement requests and payments are now completed with just a few clicks of the mouse, he noted.
The company plans to continue to make decisions based on environmental impact, Denny said, adding that the shop also advertises in local “green” publications and promotes its services at local environmental fairs.
