Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Russell Conwell was a Baptist preacher who went across the country giving the same speech over 6,000 times called the “Acres of Diamonds.” The speech was inspired from the legend of a prosperous Persian farmer who sold his fruitful farm ground to search the world for rich diamond mines. I bet you guessed it just like me: the farmer finally died broke, without discovering much more than dirt, rocks and sand. Ironically, after the Persian farmer’s death, a huge diamond deposit was found in the farm ground he had sold years prior. Conwell’s point is this, “Your diamonds are not found in faraway mountains or distant seas; they are in your own backyard, if you will only look for them.” I encourage you to search Google for Conwell’s speech, as it is filled with life lessons and wisdom.
Some readers right now are saying to themselves, “I have been in my shop for years and have yet to find any diamonds inside my four walls.” As of this writing, claims count is down, and many shops are off 20-30% in revenue. Some shop owners are becoming discouraged and having cash flow issues. Insurers are steering harder than ever to the MSOs and fighting to deny procedures. For the independent shops that are very low on work, some good employees are leaving, while bad ones are staying.
In times like these, don’t become like the Persian farmer and become shortsighted. With the right mindset and knowledge, “diamonds” are inside the walls of our shops. Now understand this, they are not just sitting on the floor of our office or paint booth or even the production floor all shiny and beautiful ready to be sold to the diamond buyer. Diamonds are available for the taking inside our shops but are obscure and can only be discovered by a trained eye (knowledge).
For a little Diamonds 101: when harvested, diamonds really don’t look a lot different from rocks in our driveway. They usually look dull and are sometimes even different colors. Once a diamond is found, it must be analyzed for cutting by very special equipment to maximize its brilliance and size. Then, a very highly skilled diamond cutter must start the painstaking process of cutting and polishing every single diamond. This process can take days, weeks, months, or even up to two years to turn that dull stone into a spectacular jewel. The point being, like most any good thing in life, it takes lots of hard work and patience.
Where to look for the diamonds in our shop? First off, when we learn how to fix our customers’ problem of a wrecked car faster along with higher quality and less headache than any of our competition, they will reward us with diamonds in the form of checks, cash, EFTs, and gift cards. They will also send their family and friends with their wrecked cars.
Let’s take the Blueprint Department: If we can completely take the car apart, then find every part, inspection and procedure that is needed and answer every question about the repair, diamonds just seem to show up easily at the end. Of course, we must have expert negotiators along the way. How about the Parts Department: are there diamonds there? Oh boy, lots of them. When we mirror-match OEM parts (did you catch that, only OEM) perfectly every time with ALL the parts we need, more diamonds will just show up at the end.
How about the Body Department? When a technician has a fully kitted job with all the glues, fluids, paperwork, parts, vehicle mapping, etc., the car just sails through the Body Department and on to the Prep Deck in a matter of hours, you guessed it, more diamonds. If the Prep Deck has everything they need, with the vehicle being staged in the correct stall from the Body Department, great bodywork, visual parts needing painting, and accurate paperwork, the job moves into the booth in just a few hours. The same goes for the Paint Department, Build Department, QC Department, Final Billing, Delivery, and Final Closeout. Even more diamonds will just show up.
When we truly understand that our shops can produce the value of diamonds rather than just money to survive from one week to the next to just pay bills, then — and only then — will we understand the power of gaining knowledge. Just prior to writing this month’s column, I spent a week visiting shops outside of my home state, run by some extremely smart individuals. We must constantly be learning from others to be able to find these elusive diamonds. They are just scattered throughout our shops and not off in “faraway mountains or distant seas; they are in your own back yard!”