Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Megan Erickson on December 17, 2009 at 10:28am

Jeanne,
Kudos to you for having the courage to share your 2010 resolutions with us! Now you'll have to stick with them for sure! (I don't know that I'd have the courage to do the same...)
Wishing you a peaceful holiday season,
Megan

Permalink Reply by Jeanne Silver on December 19, 2009 at 2:05pm

Thanks Megan, it's great to read the comments. I find things on other's lists that might be good to add to mine.

Permalink Reply by Kristen R. Felder on December 17, 2009 at 1:03pm

Huhmmmm.....

1.) Keep Collision Hub growing and relevant to our industry

2.) Laugh at the negative and push the creative envelope everywhere I can

3.) I agree with Gigi the Hub is all about sharing and helping each other be better. I'll keep digging for stuff to share and begging those industry icons to write some blogs.

Permalink Reply by Jeanne Silver on December 19, 2009 at 2:06pm

You can always charge for things you do, you just might not get paid hahaha!

Permalink Reply by Kristen R. Felder on December 19, 2009 at 5:23pm

I keep forgetting that part of the business plan.. Charge people :-)

Ok so......

4.) Stop giving away the Farm.

Permalink Reply by Janine Little on December 30, 2009 at 9:13pm

GiGi,
That is very funny and I can certainly identify.

I bought a scanner yesterday to tackle my organization. I liked the comment about the sloppy desk and a customer's perception of our work. Will be sharing that with my people!

My goal is to continue to develop our lean processes and get more involved with our industry. All suggestions will be adored! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Janine Little

Permalink Reply by Jeanne Silver on January 7, 2010 at 10:02am

Would love to see you more involved with our industry. We need every voice out there we can get.

Permalink Reply by Sheila on January 3, 2010 at 9:29pm

lol, I read that the same way! things I can't charge for, that has been getting to me so much lately I am ready to scream! I feel like telling the adjusters that if the insurer won't pay for it then I guess no one will do it! Why should I have to use my personal money to pay for what the customer bought insurance for. I am so sick of being pushed around. We do a good job and do right by the customers and the insurers but the insurers are starting to take my generosity for granted and I am sick of it. We need a coalition on our side to determine rates and procedures and to lock it down for 100's of miles around, that way they can't say "well so and so insurer doesn't pay for it, and we could say, yes they do because everybody charges for it and they charge the exact same thing. Of course the insurers can set rates but not us! The whole insurers not having to deal with anti-trust po's me. Because, if they can do it then we should be able to also. We need standardization set by the people doing the job, not some suit in an office who only cares about making some huge corporation a bunch of money off the backs of technicians and shops. I think it would be neat to have a 'body shop union' to fight the insurers greed and cheapness.

Permalink Reply by Sheila on January 3, 2010 at 9:55pm

Maybe I need a vacation.

Permalink Reply by Charlette Henson on January 4, 2010 at 2:28pm

Well, talking about doing alot of different things as of January 6th I will being doing body shop and working the accounts recev,payable and payroll for the dealership. We are starting a new system and i will be doing my old job. Have to learn a new system on top of the rest. I love the words, "get organized." Working on that myself need a new head on my shoulders. I think this month my office will be a revolving door. Wish me LUCK!!!!!!!

Permalink Reply by Kristen R. Felder on January 6, 2010 at 9:55am

Good luck! :-)

Permalink Reply by Jeanne Silver on January 7, 2010 at 10:33am

Maybe we all need a vacation. Sheila the problem is that repairers can't get past themselves to come together to do what they need to do for the good of the industry. Even associations compete against each other for different ideologies and there are so many differences it keeps repairers from coming together as an industry group. Any good leader recognizes that by "dividing, it is much easier to conquer". So as long as there are too many shops, less work and shops willing to get work at any cost, this will continue. Here we have tried to set ourselves apart from our competition in terms of quality of work, taking care of the customer and reputation. We don't worry as much about insurer control as we do about taking care of OUR customers and making sure they will come back and recommend us no matter what. I am not saying it is easy, it takes a great deal of consistency in our efforts but be known in your community as the shop everyone wants to take their car to. Your customers will fight for their right to come to you, that is if they know they can. Hopefully you are telling them that they can do this when you deliver their vehicles and asking for them to refer to you. Good luck and keep up the good things you do.