During the last year, FenderBender has benefitted from the advice and guidance of eight shop owners and managers who have volunteered a lot of their limited time to help us create a better magazine.
This group got together once a month to discuss each issue’s highs and lows, industry trends and challenges and more. Their input helped shape entire sections, stories and layouts and it helped us to make sure we’re delivering the most relevant, beneficial and progressive content possible to guide collision repair businesses to success.
I’m talking, of course, about our editorial advisory board. The board will turn over this month and a new group of eight shop operators will begin offering their input. You can find the names and companies of our new board members in our about us section. They were selected from a small pool of individuals nominated by their industry peers and FenderBender staff members.
The board plays a vital role in guiding our editorial content. The fact is, our editorial team is not “in the trenches” of collision repair every day. We need to communicate regularly with the people who are to make sure we’re staying on top of the challenges and trends of today’s industry. I’m grateful for the time of past board members and looking forward to the contributions of our new extended team.
In the March print version of FenderBender you can find an example of new content that was inspired by an advisory board conversation. The FB Forum will be a regular feature, giving readers a glimpse into the hottest collision repair discussions on our popular LinkedIn page. I encourage you to not only check out the new section, but to get on LinkedIn and start a discussion of your own. Anything related to running a better collision repair business is fair game there, and there are more than 3,000 industry professionals waiting to offer their two cents.
You might also notice a change to our Backseat Writers section. Beyond the traditional methods of snail mail and email, we are now accepting comments through the fenderbender.com comments section and our social media channels. We know people communicate in many ways these days and we’re hoping this new approach will allow us to include more voices in the magazine.
The main feature in this issue is dedicated to marketing strategies. We’ve heard from many shops who just aren’t sure what approach to take when it comes to marketing, as techniques are quickly evolving and what used to work often doesn’t anymore. So, we found four shop owners who have their marketing efforts down to a science to share what works and how they do it. Shops of any size should be able to glean something from their strategies.
We hope that our cover story on renowned custom vehicle builder Bill Steele will provide you with a little inspiration. Steele got his start in collision repair, and his shop, which he still runs today, is the backbone of his success.
Enjoy the read and be sure to tell us what you think about the new additions. Just as you strive to continually improve your business, we are always striving to improve ours.
Jake Weyer
[email protected]
