As someone who has consulted with collision repair shops for decades, I have seen the transformational power it can have on a business. I’m not saying that to tout my own success. I mean it more generally about the process of working with a consultant. I have seen the same level of business transformation in shops that have worked with many other excellent consultants in this industry. And it’s the leaders of those businesses, not us as consultants, who really made the transformations happen. But the key was bringing in outside expertise to help inspire or guide the change.
So really my goal in this and the next several columns is not to convince you to call me for a consultation. It’s simply to convey the power that working with any good consultant can give you to improve any or all aspects of your business. I will work here to answer three primary questions:
- When and why should I seek out a consultant?
- How can I select the right consultant?
- What leads to a successful shop-consultant relationship?
Let’s start with the when and why. How do you know when it’s time to bring in a consultant? Almost every client I’ve worked with has told me they probably waited too long to seek outside help, thinking that they didn’t need it, that there wasn’t value in hiring a consultant. That’s the No. 1 barrier I see to hiring the right consultant: Getting past the idea that your business couldn’t be improved by a set of fresh eyes bringing in new perspectives and ideas.
I also see a lot of shops hiring a consultant only when their business is showing significant signs of poor performance. I equate it to waiting to check the oil in your vehicle until the engine is running poorly, and only then discovering you’re down two or three quarts. Isn’t that a little too late? Shouldn’t you be checking the oil on a regular basis to maintain the performance and extend the life of the engine?
It’s the same thing in business. Getting a “business health check-up” can help prevent small problems from becoming major ones. That doesn’t mean you need to bring in a consultant every month or every quarter. But working with someone once a year, or every other year, can help you develop a relationship with a consultant you trust, who gets to know and understand your business, and who can offer insights that give your business advantages your competitors might not have.
A good consultant, for example, can bring you a broader industry perspective than you can gain while working every day within the four walls of your business. A good consultant travels around the industry, talking with and learning from other shops, automakers, insurance companies, paint and equipment manufacturers and other industry vendors. They are spotting trends, exploring alternative business models, learning about future changes and seeing how collision repair businesses can evolve to stay ahead of the curve.
They also can look into what I call the “dirty corners” of your business that you might overlook or be purposely avoiding. The shops that call me generally have the big things in business nailed down. They’re doing a lot of the right things. But a good consultant is an expert at checking out the “business corners,” the ignored or overlooked aspects of your business that could be holding you back in terms of production, profits, quality or customer satisfaction. They look for the “dusty details” that offer opportunities for improvement.
Lastly, a good consultant may help you better attract and retain those younger workers this industry so desperately needs. I don’t buy that Millennials don’t want to work. They just don’t want to work for business using outdated management methods. These younger workers want to play a role in improving the business as “thinkers,” not just “doers.” Remember, they can Google “management techniques” or “how to identify the best boss” in a nano-second. So a consultant can offer management training and skills that many shop owners, through no fault of their own, may not have picked up as a former technician or as a second-generation owner.
Next time: How to find the right consultant.
