"It's a more attractive building than all the others I've been in, and every month we try to make a significant step in improving our image in the community," Scott Martinson said in early June. "We bought the flower baskets (hanging on the shop's perimeter fence) last month. Two weeks ago we striped the parking lot and tried to tidy that up. This Saturday, we are having all new signage going up on Sixth Avenue, so I'm pretty excited about that."

Indeed, the Martinsons said that signage has played a key role in increasing customer traffic to their door. Large signs reading just "body," "paint" and "frame" above each of the 6,000-square-foot shop's three bay doors can be seen for several blocks by oncoming traffic.

"Our walk-in traffic literally doubled the day after we had those installed," Martinson said.

A banner on the opposite side of the building lets drivers know, "6th Avenue Autobody, Next Driveway," and a reader board under the shop's main sign includes such slogans as, "You can hear about our work, but you won't see it."

Such signage is effective, Martinson said, because although 6th Avenue has far less traffic than did South Tacoma Way, where the shop was previously located, the traffic there also moved far quicker, making it harder to get the shop noticed. And while that location was along "Dealer Row," which offered some benefits, he said there also was more competition, and the business had to rely far more on referrals and wholesale work.

"There was no neighborhood, no community there like there is here," Martinson said.

To help the company develop itself as a "fixture in the community," the Martinsons have partnered with other area businesses--tire stores, mechanical shops, and even an espresso stand--to exchange customer referrals. They said they are also active members of the Sixth Avenue Business District, which has written about the shop in its newsletter.

Such low-cost marketing efforts as decals with the shop name on each of their personal vehicles and thank-you notes to previous customers asking them for their referrals have proven far more effective for the shop than expensive "Yellow Page" ads, the Martinsons said.

Kristi Martinson oversees the front office operation of the 11-employee business, while Scott prefers more hands-on work and handling production. That gives him a good sense of what tools and equipment the shop needs, he said.

The building had an existing DeVilbiss paint booth and now has two frame racks: a larger MegaRack E-Series, and a smaller MegaTek Workstation, which Scott Martinson said he likes because it also can lift a vehicle almost three feet.

"It's been a big advantage having the two racks when you have a 'train wreck' on one and then of course a core support job comes in," he said. "We also have the Spanesi Touch measuring system, which I think is the only one that should be used in the industry. It's so exact. And as opposed to one with targets, you can free measure things. It measures side impact. You can do a taillight pocket. It's the only one that I'm aware of that will do a door opening.

"We heard about it through CEG (the Collision Equipment Group)," he said. "They impressed me with a demonstration."
 Martinson said the shop's next purchase later this summer will be a resistance spot welder.

As someone hooked on the industry since spraying a candy apple paint job on a 1965 GTO he received as a teenager, Martinson said he has shot PPG paint throughout his 22-year career. He said the shop has recently chosen to paint almost all parts off the vehicle.

"Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but there's no tape line. There's no fuzzy lines in the jambs. There's no overspray. And I think the majority of dirt in a paint job comes off the car itself," Martinson said.

"Rather than cutting in a part, tying up the booth and cleaning the guns twice, it's one time," he said. "Even though it may mean you're pulling a door, it's faster than masking a car up. We've been doing this for six or eight months, and I can't remember having scratched or damaged a car, and that's everyone's fear."

The shop's jobber is Canyon Auto Paint Supply. Martinson said Canyon, like all of the shop's parts suppliers, goes "above and beyond" to help his business.

"If you're aligned with good parts and people on the outside, your vendors and so forth, amazing things can happen," he said. "That's all the way through, from all your sublet vendors, to the paint and the parts, especially the parts.

"You know how it is: You get down to the last day on a job and something is missing or wrong. Our vendors are just amazing in terms of what they will get done for us."

Although the shop is involved in a couple of insurance direct repair programs, its location and community involvement have helped diversify its mix of work sources, Martinson said.

The shop still does some restoration work and in fact had brought in a few additional such jobs in recent months as Martinson said he kept hearing about--but never experienced--a slowdown in collision work at other shops.

"There's pros and cons to both private pay work and the DRP work," he said. "You hear of shops going both ways. But when you're too heavy in one or the other, it's not good. I think you need a healthy balance of both.

"Having our off-the-street business grow, I think we're pretty balanced right about now," Martinson said "Our goal isn't to become a big monster with satellite shops. There are other owners who tell me that I'm not going to survive unless I have two or three shops. But I'm just interested in holding onto my corner here and making it a good, strong business in the community."