Another way he built his customer base was by providing meticulous service. Early on, he created a sort of assembly-line process, which the shop still utilizes, with each technician taking responsibility both for his own portion of the repair process and for checking the previous person's work. Hayden created manuals and checklists and has his technicians initial them after each task they complete.
"If you put the fender on, you initialed it. If you painted it, you initialed it," he says. "It's been successful because you don't have comebacks. When they pick it up out there and leave, it's done."
He adds, "You do a good job, they tell three people. Do a bad job, they tell 10."
As his shop expanded, he made technological improvements. Attending NACE around 1990, he recalls, he noted that the insurance companies were evaluating shops on the basis of whether their shops had computers. "If you didn't have a computer, forget it —you didn't get the job," he says. "Now it's what programs you have."
Keeping up with technology is only part of his overall strategy. He also cultivated direct repair relationships with all the major insurance companies. "My office manager Don and [I] sat down and put a package together for the insurance companies about why we're the greatest thing since sliced bread — with photos, certifications and all that —and sent it to insurance companies and, sure enough, they came back."