"No technicians available! What are we to do? The insurance companies tell us what we can charge, so we cannot pay more for techs. There is a shortage of good techs and when we pay so little we cannot attract new blood to the business."

I have heard the above or variations thereon many times over the past few years. Honestly, I do not hear it from my clients. They have good techs that are paid well. How can they pay well? They get paid what they deserve! They get creative in their compensation packages such as the one we recommend that rewards workers for superior service on an unbiased platform.

On the one issue of receiving what you are entitled to: everybody knows what you do to restore a vehicle back to pre-loss condition. How many shops out there do not charge for all the operations? Do you?

If you want to start change and affect the industry of which you are a part, you must start with the "man in the mirror."

You need to be pro-active toward being compensated for everything that you do to a vehicle. The first place is to look at, understand then apply the "rules of the game". Yes, the "P-pages! When was the last (or first) time you read them, understood them, followed them, photocopied them for the adjusters? I guarantee that the insurance company reps do not understand them! They are not going to help you, not because they do not want to, but because they do not know how to!

Too hard to do that? I don’t want to "rock the boat". How can I get that if no one in my area will go along with it? Educate your competition! If they do not know what they can get paid for, show them! Stop thinking in small ways. Become larger, care more than what others think is wise!

What you are going to receive in business is what you are sowing.

A part of business is competition. Look at the way the rest of the business world is starting to behave.

There are alliances between competitors wherein there is full disclosure of their P&L’s. No I am not advocating that you open your books to anybody. Think about things in this light for a moment: What if you were allowed to make the same percentage of profit as the insurance companies? Would it be higher than what you created last year? Then you need to educate everyone you know in this industry and those in the insurance industry.

Insurance companies do not mind if you make a profit! They need you to make a profit! If you do not and ultimately go out of business, your warranty is not worth the paper it was printed on and they end up paying twice on claims. They do not want that!

If you do not know how to get paid for everything, it is time to call us!

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Another New Arrival! We had no idea that when you did the program that not only would you expand the business (net profits are up over 47% this year) but also the family. The first boy is born for Anissa! Congratulations!!!

Best Year Ever! For Ernie & Co.!!! Since starting the program, Ernie in Chicago has posted his best month after month and it has added up to the best year in the company’s 14 year history with sales increasing 38%!!

Highest Growth year for Jerry & Co.!!! Since starting the program Jerry and Laura have steadily made improvements to the point of posting the growth rate of 32% in 1999! We congratulate them for their hard work and dedication!!!

Everyone knows that "word of mouth" is the best advertising. Here is another way to create more of it!

Reward those customers that support you by supplying you with referrals.

Design a program like ours that enlists the help of customers by letting them know how much your business depends on referrals, then calculate a portion of your gross figure that you could afford to spend back on gifts to these people.

Gifts are things like dinner for 2 at a local nice restaurant, movie passes for the family, flowers for customers that appreciate them, spa days at a local retreat

If you calculate what this is going to "cost" you, base it upon your average ticket price. Figure that the above should costs about $50 make that $50 into a percentage of your gross sale. See it does not cost that much after all! (If you want to know how to raise your average ticket price you are going to have to take our course.)

You do not need to worry that this would happen on every job, not everyone will assist you. You will find that it will be a select few that have "the gift of the gab" and make it work for you.

Our statistics show that businesses can grow at a rate of 19% per year on this basis alone, when done correctly.