Knowing the Score

Being competitive by nature, I can appreciate INSIGHT’s feature story this month on benchmarking. If I play, whether a friendly game of basketball or a serious business proposal, I train to prepare myself and I play to win. It seems obvious that I have to keep score to evaluate my own level of performance and to determine a winner.

Getting in shape in terms of your business involves keeping track of important numbers and putting your figures up against championship stats. Setting goals and developing a winner’s attitude are essential components of successful benchmarking.

As the Collision Repair Industry prepares for October’s PRIDE Month, the NABC has suggested several ways we each can show our pride in this industry. (See the special article on our back page.) "Building Integrity," the NABC motto, has encouraged many of our readers to attract attention across the nation to the good news about our industry: trustworthy community involvement, quality work at fair prices, and involvement in charitable activities such as the overwhelming support of the Camp Mak-A-Dream campaign going on now. We are justified in our pride.

It is disheartening, therefore, to read the results of Allstate’s survey of California consumers concerning auto repair fraud. (See page 3.) I had thought we lost the stereotypical "crook" image long ago, so I was shocked that 74 percent of consumers surveyed felt they had been cheated by an auto body shop. The SCRS response (page 4) is great, addressing the methodology of Allstate’s survey and offering consumers practical criteria for selecting a reputable repair facility. It seems that PRIDE Month is coming at just the right time.

Survey numbers can indeed be difficult to interpret. We must be careful to be specific about what the numbers are measuring. INSIGHT’s August TrendLine numbers do not in any way indicate paint company marketshare. Percentages listed showed only the paint brand used at the approximately 200 facilities that responded.

INSIGHT joins the entire USA on the anniversary of 9-11 to remember. In unity there is strength.