United we stand

[repare-brise]

I invite you all to go to the replacement forum and read the thread called "Belron Is comming" .

This is all the more reason for WS repair pro's to unite, and stand together. We need to become a respectable industry(we are well on the way, but unfortunatly there are still fly-by-nighters poluting our ranks), with a strong association to police(I know you hate that word, could someone more at ease with the english language suggest an alternative for me), instruct, promote, and unite our profession. Yes we have the NWRA and NGA, but they seem ineffective at best, we need a lobbing group, a cheerleader squad, some strong negotiators, influential people to help us weed out the bad resin(apples) and let the pit filler(cream) rise to the top. This groupe/assocaition should set standards for performance(with written and practical tests), ethics, pricing, ect. Membership needs to be filled rapidly so that the negotiators have a strong backing, and something tangable to present to the insurance industry(and public).

The StateFarm proposal to remove WS's from there coverage is a step in the right direction(in my own sometimes cotriversial opinion) for the WSRepair industry, but we need to be ready to push the right buttons once the time is ripe. A nationwide(or even international) association would use the due,s collected from members for a nationwide, standardised add programm to inform consumers about the choice's they have conserning there saftey in relation to there WS.

In my own experiance, each time I have a new franchisee on board, the insurance co's, dealer associations, and cosumer groups are even more interested in us. By providing a repair only service we eliminate the vicious circle of conflict of interest that repair/repalcement shops deal with. We are proff that strenght is in numbers, large companies could care less about a local independant, but a large number of united technicians working to repeatable, uniform, elevated standards is of interest.

I hope that the debate will begin on the changes that need to happen to our industry to help it prosper in the furure.

Merci

[John62]

Hi Yvan,
Nice that you point out to this part of the forum.
There hasn't been enough replies to this important thread.
Let's discuss this in further detail.

[texas jim]

Uniting a national and or international org is certainly the best way to meet the big dogs head on. that is on a competitive level. i don't know if my voice or point of view we be useful here but here i go. starting from the customers point of view.( dealers, independent shops, fleets, and the common customer from the street.) when seeking service thay want to feel as if thay deal with a group/organization and not a individual. 1. so we will bani fit from being organizing into a group. a association of local and national/international glass repair businesses. so this would take the who is this person and how long has he been doing this? ( questioning the ability/professionalism)will he be here tomorrow to follow Thur on his warranty? and should i let him work on my 1000.00 dollar windshield? good comparison, taking your car to a after market repair shop. you kinda wonder if thay know how to repair your car where is you take it to a dealer( a known name) you expect it to be fixed and feel safe or a little more comfortable. in prospective safelite a name most people have herd compared to joe,s glass repair? who is joe???. clearly over time a organization would benefit us all, a set of industry standards would prove and protect our reputation. and let the cream rise to the top as yvan stated. a vary valid point. what we talk about here is not much different then the labor unions organizing in the mid 30,s and early 40,s. thay started by organizing at a local level and then organized to a national level. so no competition took place between them. leaving the company's no choice but to recognize the standards thay placed for their workers. Belron and safelite have their standards and it,s working for them. i refuse to believe that it,s to late for this ideal to work for all of us. some may say we have to much competition already out there. well in a year from now it want get any better. some may say we don't have the clout!!! to go up against the big dog,s.. thats B/S! all we need is organization. after all we certainly have numbers and better then that we have our selves spread all over. covering a lot of area. thats a lot of carpet to pull out from under the competition. and last of all, some would say it takes so much time. well thay are right it does take time, but I'm not in this for a ride around the block I'm in for life and so it would benefit me but in due time. like any good thing in life just takes time. those of use that are serious would stick to the program and would likely be a good method of setting standards for in most, dedication is proven to be a good manner to set high standards.( work ethics and quality of work) and those less serious would in time fall under the tracks and be griping about us in a few years. We have this forum to use to collect our thoughts and we should use this tool to start organizing. if only at first at local levels. for instance I'm in Houston and i would love nothing more then to hear from you local guys and gal,s on this subject and to start the first steps into a local organization. how ever I'm not a leader. but some one here could be. lot,s of qualified people out there. one thing is for sure it cant hurt to organize. the only one,s it would hurt is our competition and i know we would not loose sleep over that.. jim

[repare-brise]

So if we were to begin with a model of the proposed association

International head office.
- lobbieis to large governament bodies
- insure quality control of national offices
- responasble for markeing, add campaignes(uniformity)
- staff of 5-10 people

national head offices.

-lobby/negotiate/secure governament, insurance co's, rental agencies, auto manufaterors, and national fleet accounts
-Assure quality of State/Provincial offices
-responsable for advertising on a national level
-staff of 5-10
-negotiate with equipment manufacterors to establish and maintain quality standards of product and training
- maintain web site for customers to find techs, forum(closed techs only)

State/ provincial offices

- provide standardised testing
- monitor quality of repairs of techs(phone survey,s, surprise spot checks ect)
- Organize add campaines
- negotiate with fleets, governament, regional cariers ect
- provide tech support(over and above manufacterors)
- find and sign new and existing techs
-staff 3-5 people

Please feel free to add to this and modify as required, the more we discuss and exchange the better we are.

When should the first meeting be?

[John62]

Well spoken Texas Jim.
It's good and clever that you point out the need to unite.
All ws repair only guys -and even smaller ws replacement providers- do need to come together somehere in order to discuss ideas and to form a new service network. From what I have understood, Texas Jim would like, so do we. And I know, from my own experience (meeting up with guys at NWRA meetings and trade shows) many more guys would like.
Come on guys, reply to this and let's get started.
It's NOT difficult and it's NOT expensive.
Could it get worse? No! It can only get better by teaming up.

[DaveC]

Well folks,

Haven't posted for awhile (I'm sure that Jeff has been happy about that;), but this topic was brought up about a year and a half ago.

1. Oponents of forming a WSR only organization were of the general opinion that the NWRA was in place and already working for the industry and that WSR only members concerned with the fact that replacement and network affiliated members should run for a position on the Board to ensure that WSR only businesses had a hand in the future direction of the NWRA.

2. Proponents of forming a WSR only organization were of the general opinion that the NWRA, by allowing replacement and network affiliated businesses and corps. to join.

Now for my opinions :icon_roll (betcha couldn't wait, Jeff;)

While it seems utopian that either a WSR only org. or the NWRA could truly and proactively affect legislation/regulation of our industry in any major way, the reality is that any org. with only several thousand members (nationwide/worldwide) really won't get the time of day from elected officials that are seeking hundreds of thousands of votes. Ergo, legislation/regulation would have to be challenged via the judiciary, and at great cost. One of my clients, AARP, with 35 Million + members, is actually courted by political candidates AND has the resources to challenge legislation that they disagree with. But, that is 35 Mil. and not 3,500!

However, I do not believe that we are fighting a battle that we can not win:eusa_wall

I believe that the best way to promote our business and overcome the obstacles (steering/bait and switch/hack repairs) is through consumer education and resource sharing.

Face it, how many times have you approached a prospective customer, only to find that they were either unaware of WSR, were subjected to some bait and switch tactic ("sorry ma'am, the damage is larger than a dime, you need a new WS"), were subjected to steering attempts or were the recipients of a "hack" repair and will not trust that you can perform a quality repair?

As well, the time, labor and expense that each of us incurs starting up and promoting our businesses is both costly and redundant.

By banding together and sharing resources and expertise, we could not only reduce startup and ongoing costs, but could also produce marketing/educational material for the general public that could easily be cobranded and utilized at local, regional, national and international levels that would not only educate and reach the "masses," but would improve the perception of professionalism within our industry.

Finally, I laud Delta and this forum! They have provided me/us with a valuable and impartial resource that has greatly contributed to both the quality of my repairs and the success of my business.

However, while discussions regarding the formation (or not) of a WSR only organization may be pertinent to the ongoing success of our businesses, this may be beyond the scope/intent of this forum's goals. The extra bandwidth and time that may be utilized monitoring these discussions could be costly.

In short, if Delta has no problem with us discussing the pros and cons of this issue on this forum, kewl. If they feel that this subject is off-topic and best handled at a different venue, I would gladly donate the technology and resources to create such a venue.

[texas jim]

Dave that is interesting input. i was not aware of the possible NWRA direct involvement in WSR. but only makes good since. after all it is in their general interest. legislation/ regulation, aw politics, well thats out of my league. and i do prefer to leave it all to them whom are in the know... i agree with yvan on all that would be needed to organize a fully operational organization. lot,s to plan and get up and operating. But once again leave that to them in the know. i maybe a little narrow minded but it seems to me that one is the start. that is a ideal. then before all the teeth are added to the wheel we ( that is all of us WSR people) need to start with local talk, emails, put some more leg,s under the ideal. all the rest comes later if all works well. thru hard work dedication and such. organizations have no reason to exist with out members. if nothing at all at least we get to know the operators in our areas. that speak are language and of coarse we all have room to learn, i know i do. but i am in a large market area. Houston. and it would seem to me if just a few guys were to get together and advertise a large market area it would in large benefit them all.at a much lower cost. it,s all ways good to look at the full picture but don't let it scare anybody it would only be a mole hill at best but some day could be that mountain. or WSR organization. as john said it can only get better by teaming up!! jim

[mafsu]

I'm gonna play devil's advocate here.

I love the idea of an organization that would serve to promote windshield repair to the masses. I am in favor of an organization that would look out for the little guy instead of large corporations and large franchise operations.

Where is the money going to come from to fund this organization?
I don't think you will be able to get membership if the dues are high enough to cover the costs associated with this venture.

What would the membership requirements be?
Would Safelite be allowed to join?(they have a lot of money just ask the NWRA)
Would franchise operations be allowed?(I can think of several whose purposes would undermine those others have mentioned when talking of starting a new organization)
Would WSR manufacturers be allowed?(other than Delta there aren't any I think would be good members)

Who has the time to organize such an effort?
I know I wouldn't. If you do you probably have a large enterprise that can run without you. If that is the case I see an organization coming out of this where the small independent guy is left without a voice. We already have one of those.

[repare-brise]

Mafasu

Good points all
here are my suggestions

Money, the big problem

Dues need not be elevated, advertising $ would not come from dues, instead you would have a 3 tier advertising co-op. Let's forget international for now and stick to national. A national ad would be split among the state or regional offices, this would again be broken down to the local members.

Example national add costs x
48 regional offices each has a variable amount of members so splitting the ad equally amoung them would not be fair. the best way to do this (IMO) is to instead count all the members, divide x by the number of total members(=y), then multiply y by the number of members in the regional office then bill accoringly.

A concrete example of this working is the following
I take out a province wide add for my company it costs $4000 per year.
I have 12 franchisee's some with employees, for a total of 18 people, I then divide the $4000 by 12 (months)(= 333.33 per month) then divide this number by the number of techs($18.52) . With this example the franchisee that has 2 employee's pays (18.52X 3) 55.56 for the add, where as the franchisee that has no employee,s pays 18.52.

To furthur add to this I have an 800 number in the add, this number goes to a server which distributes the calls. with this distribution I get a detailed invoice, so i divide the invoice by the total amount of miniuts, then multiply by the number off calls per tech. This way the tech pays for the percentage of benifit he/she recieved from the service. And as a bonus it costs much less than if each individual place his own add.

Membership requierments

I would first only accept repair only shops(like my franchisee's if they do a replacement they loose there franchise, it goes to credebility). As for franchise orginisations, I believe it would be up to each individual franchisee to be tested, analysed, and accepted. The franchisor should have no more say than any other tech. The acceptence of new techs to the fold would pass first with a competency test(written , pratical including customer service, repair, ethics ect), then acceptence by a commitee of fellow members. Once accepted each member would ahve an equal vote in what happens, IE go to the meetings and be heard, just like has been mentioned above with unions.

Time, another obstical

No one person has the time to organise this(if there is some philantropic sole reading this who does please step forward), but again using the analogy of unions, it is a team effort. In the begining, I think the kit dealers should be solicited to provide(on a volentary basis) either a client list, or better yet send out an invitation to there customers to join the movement. Not only would the individual tech be well served but also the kit dealers, with such an orginization instead of selling a lot of kits with little or no follow up sales, they would be selling and providing supplies to serios professional, not a few good techs with a bunch of get rich quick schemers, and fly-by-nighters.

Once again these are my own opinions, but I can say that uniting has a positve outcome. Instead of forming an association I decided to franchise my bussiness model. The result is a strong number of techs, working to exacting standards, sharing a name, look, method of doing business, and success. A major part of the success we enjoy is due in large part to our numbers and the security it provides our customers. When I trian a new tech and we start approaching potential customers, most customers(dealers) already know the name, service, and accept the new tech without question. What is alway a pleasure for me to hear is a dealer saying "you finaly have a tech for us , we've been waiting for your service here". With an association I believe the response would be the same.

Enjoy

[John62]

Hi guys.
I did step forward before to have this organized.
That offer is still on the table. So, when do we start?
Again; it is NOT difficult and NOT expensive.
Just reply and join this wonderfull opportunity.
One day, another party WILL start a Repair Only network anyway, with or without (y)our help.
What about Safelite or Belron reading all this and start something similar,
I can tell you guys; that THEY DO SEE the benefits and will not hesistate.

Come on, reply. If not at the forum, then make it a private message.