RICHMOND, Va. — The Washington Metropolitan Auto Body Association’s (WMABA’s) "Gaining Control" weekend workshop, held in Fredericksburg, Va., Oct. 13-14th, featured longtime collision industry associates Jeff Hendler and Chuck Sulkala, former ARMS instructors, along with industry consultant Lou DiLisio as instructors of the event. The audience enjoyed humorous insight as the instructors gave them knowledge in how to manage toward profit, and they instructed on basics of management of production, sales and negotiation, as well as using examples from past experiences to show the group how their businesses can dramatically improve over time. "You can't just make it (profit) up on the next one," cautioned Chuck Sulkala during a discussion on parts discounting. "Today, if you say you want to undercharge one vehicle and 'add it to another' — that is fraud. Knowing what you need to make on parts will help you make a knowledgeable business decision about giving a discount. Most shops don't know how much it affects their bottom line profit." During the discussions on negotiation, Phil Rice of R&R Auto Body in Woodbridge, Va., expressed his concerns about the current temperature of the market. Following the seminar, he commented, "This seminar reminded me that my opinion matters. I want to know exactly what is going on in my business so I can implement some changes and gain back more control. I would highly recommend anyone who wants to get reenergized or more knowledgeable about collision repair management attend one of these seminars." "The two topics that excited me were Scheduling and Measuring," states Bobby Wright of Burkeville Body Shop in Burkeville, Virginia. "During the measurement instruction, I was given hundreds of suggestions for ways to measure my employees. I struggled with knowing how to measure my office people and I was given many ideas, including how they offer services to customers. It helps to know what to measure. Just as knowing how much your employees are capable of producing can help to have a better schedule for work." One attendee, Chris Francis of Dorn's Body & Paint in Mechanicsville, Virginia, commented on how much this course refreshed and energized the instruction he had received from the past ARMS Workshops. "As a Production Manager, I was reminded to look at the loss of revenue due to employees' wasted time, which has caused me to re-evaluate our productivity. The other interesting part of the seminar was a look into the next generation of employees and what kinds of traits that group of people has versus fifteen years ago." "It was a successful weekend," commented WMABA President Torchy Chandler, "Each attendee gained insight into different and creative ways to grow their business. 'Profit' is not a bad word, and it should be the reason you're in this business. I know that this workshop gave each person many reasons to be excited to be a collision repairer." For more information on WMABA visit www.wmaba.com.
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