Normal, Ill - Kevin Cook said the best decision he's made as a collision repair shop owner is one that he thinks anyone starting out in the business or looking to build or buy a shop can also use.
"Being in a good location is, in the long-term, the cheapest marketing you can buy," said Cook, the second-generation owner of Cook's Auto Body Inc. "I think saving money by being in a location that is not prime will probably cost you money."
In 1995, when he took over sole ownership of the business his father started in 1969, Cook said he built an 11,200-square-foot shop. The visibility that location offers is particularly important now given Cook's decision to not sign the State Farm "Select Service" agreement, he said--a particularly difficult choice because his shop is just three miles from the insurer's headquarters campus in Bloomington.
"It was a decision I made on principle," Cook said. "If you let your lawyer read that agreement, I don't think there's any doubt in my mind that when he got done laughing, he would tell you do what you want to do, but as far as agreement goes, it's pretty one-sided and pretty poor. I searched my soul and decided a bad agreement is a bad agreement."
Cook said State Farm work already accounted for 50 to 55 percent of his business, and he was concerned that if some Service First shops were dropped in the switch to Select Service, as happened in most other markets, State Farm might account for as much as 75 percent of his business.
"I'd have no choice then, whatever they came in here and told me to do," he said.
He said he believes the agreement is a step toward State Farm--and eventually other insurers--requiring shops to pick up rental car costs and giving up their choice of parts vendors and, eventually, parts profit.
"Did I make a good decision? I can't tell you that. Businesswise, it has been a challenge," Cook acknowledged. "But I just decided to do it on my terms and not their terms. In principle, I still believe in my decision. It's a bad direction for the industry to go."
Cook said he is considering various marketing options, but there are a number of other ways he has continued to keep work flowing into his 15-employee shop. Geico runs drive-in claims at Cook's one day a week, and the shop has several dealership accounts, he said, adding that having Enterprise rent-a-car onsite adds convenience for customers.
And the word-of-mouth referrals that have always been the shop's key source of work have been aided by the See Progress "Auto Watch" program, Cook said, which enables customers to see photos showing their vehicle's progress at the shop's Web site.
"It sets us apart from other body shops and helps with communication with the customer," he said of the system, which the shop has used for several years. "I think there's a trust factor: If people can see their car is being repaired, they know it's not just sitting in the back lot. And I think it's a great marketing tool. I've heard people working at State Farm have had several people at their desk looking at their car here. People say, 'Look at my car,' and other people ask, 'Where is that?'"
Cook said he recently purchased a Car-O-Liner resistance spot welder but otherwise has had to make few other recent additions to his well-equipped shop. He said Car-O-Liner has also been his brand of choice for measuring and pulling equipment. The shop has a Spraybake downdraft booth, and inside the Spraybake double prep-station is a new IRT-400 mobile infrared drying unit, which he said he recently purchased to replace an older unit.
Bumper-to-Bumper has been a key supplier for the shop for at least 15 years, Cook said. "They do a very good job for me," he said. "That's probably my longest-term vendor relationship."
The shop sprays Akzo Nobel Sikkens paint products, and Cook said his involvement in a performance "20 group" through the Acoat Selected program has been invaluable to his business.
"It takes the glass ceiling off what you think a body shop could be," he said. "When you look around your little corner of the world you can think, 'Wow, I'm doing pretty well here.' Then you go to see somebody else's corner of the world and they're doing a whole lot better.…
"Sometimes, when you see what they have to overcome, it helps you see you have a lot of opportunities in your market. It helps keep me focused and motivated. You have to sit in a room with your peers, and they're going to want to see your numbers and ask, 'What's going on here?'"
Cook said he attends national performance group meetings and that the shop's general manager, John Sullivan, attends regional group meetings. Sullivan, Cook said, is one of three employees who have been with the business a dozen or more years. The others are Office Manager Susie Billingsley and Don Matthews, a body technician at the shop for 16 years. He credits such loyalty for much of his company's success.
"Their commitment to the business and to myself personally has helped me get where I'm at today," Cook said. "Without those people here, I couldn't have the freedom and the growth I've had."