Since early 2011 one of the hottest debates in Collision Repair has been industry and OEM repair standards. 

Last summer I-CAR announced a plan during CIC to maintain a centralized database of OEM repair procedures only to announce last month they had changed their mind. It sent our industry back down into a debate on OEM vs. Industry procedures and who will be the guardians of right and wrong. 

As I listen to the debates and read the articles I…

ASI Claims Reaches 1 Million Claim Milestone

Audit Service Incorporated reviews physical damage estimates for accuracy, while ensuring compliance to industry standards, best practices and client…

Join us for a Webinar on May 14:…

Social Media is not a solution. 

Being from Arkansas I think I’ve heard every joke about Hope possible. The problem is that every week I find myself having to remind companies that Hope may be a place to believe in, but it is not a marketing…

I am often asked why linkbuilding is so important to do all the time (perhaps you have wondered that as well – read my previous linkbuilding article for a short…

In doing some linkbuilding for a Canadian client recently, I was asked what criteria I used in determining the channels for my linkbuilding activity.

I love it when I get great questions like this from…

It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of Yelp – but my disdain is not without reason or merit.  It’s just that most of the small businesses I know have all been hit by the dreaded “Yelp filtered review”. 

This filter is how Yelp hides reviews suspect of being fake, self-written, or otherwise artificially influenced. Sounds great on the surface…

 Think for a moment… you need to find information on something – anything, where do you turn for answers?

You need a service for your home or business that you haven’t needed in years, where can you find a list of service providers?

You are planning a…

Google Local now allows businesses to edit their precise local-marketing focused business category – a plus for business owners.

Just be sure your category is the *best one* to use for your type of business before making any changes.  Hierarchy is also…

LinkedIn Tests a Text-Based Analytic as Possible Replacement for “Appears in Search” & “Views” Trend Graphs

Until now, LinkedIn (LI) displayed a simple trend-graph and numerical set to illustrate how many people visited your profile and how many times it showed up in search engines over a 90-day rolling period. Placing your cursor over segments within the graphs allowed you to see daily stats.…

I have been researching bedliners and found some real big differences between different brands. There really seems to be a difference between most retail bedliners and the higher end professional DIY truck coating systems.

Monstaliner

Would you like to land more jobs? Demonstrating genuine care while writing an estimate goes a long way to gaining a potential customer's trust.

Here's 7 simple, practical ways to show you care:



1. Give them something - It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Try a Coke, a pen or a key chain. Do they have a spot that needs buffed? Do it for free. How about that door that's getting jammed up because the fender is pushed in. Why not spoon it for free on the spot so they…

DuPont Performance Coatings as completed the sales of its $4.9 billion sale to The Carlyle Group on Feb. 1.

On Feb. 4 they annouced it’s rebranding as Axalta Coating Systems a "a global supplier of coatings to the transportation and industrial sectors.”

"The new name reflects the company's complete focus on the coatings sector and our commitment to performance excellence," Axalta said on its website, still under development. "While our name has changed, the fundamentals of our…

I'm writing the start of this blog in the parking lot of our closed family collision repair business. While it’s been over 15 years since the sell of the property, I still find myself here from time to time to gather my thoughts. At the time of the closure I was unsure of the reasons for our “loss”, and too young to take over. As all children do, I idolize my parents for the business they created and the principles on which they ran that business daily. A few years, later we…

Ever wonder how the Viper gets it's color?  No robots in this factory, just some of the best painters in the country and Garmat Paint Spray Booths and Tunnels. …