Ups and Downs

I was happily surprised to see that this month’s TrendLine numbers (See page 18.) show that all our U.S. regional markets are indicating that repair order counts are up over last year’s figures, at least according to INSIGHT’s shop subscribers that responded to us with their May RO counts.

It has been a while since I have not had to type “down” for at least a few regional markets on our U.S. map. In fact, every one of the nation’s regions were down in our January 2005 issue.

The last TrendLine that showed all regions from coast to coast “up” was printed way back in our June 2001 INSIGHT.

Before we get carried away by this bit of good news, we should observe that the month of May 2004 was a particularly slow month for collision repair facilities. It would be nice to think an upward trend has started, but that scenario is unrealistic, given the decrease in the number of auto collisions nationally.

Then, too, bodyshop managers in Fort Wayne, Indiana and in Syracuse, New York reported even to down current business conditions in their metropolitan markets in this month’s Market Watch (See page 20.). It was nice to see optimistic predictions from all eight Market Watch metropolitan markets for the next few months of business, but we all must face the Big Picture fact that fewer accidents means less work.

What can you do in a business climate that has a shrinking market and constantly increasing costs? Do what you do best, and make concrete plans to do it better - every day:

• Be active in local and national industry organizations.
• Constantly strive to be a great manager.
• Research the best shop and office systems and implement them.
• Develop a great team.
• Provide excellent customer service.
• Constantly evaluate your shop’s turn around time.
• Improve your quality control procedures.
• Market your facility wisely and vigorously.
• Be open to change.
• Learn from mistakes.

Learning from other people’s mistakes is less painful. Read this month’s feature for some real-time tips.