Shop Profile: Conner Brothers Body Shops

June 9, 2014
Conner Brothers Body Shops in Midlothian, Va., combines strong religious beliefs, a good sense of humor and high standards for customer service to help create an expanding chain of four body shops.

Virginia’s Conner family has combined strong religious beliefs, a good sense of humor and high standards for providing standout customer service to create an expanding chain of four body shops.

A commitment to giving back to the community through charitable contributions, such as their ongoing Recycled Rides project, is a key attribute of the business. Four vehicles per quarter are presented free-of-charge to deserving families in need.

Kevin Conner

“Last year was a great year for the program because we gave away 14 cars,” reports general manager and co-owner Kevin Conner.

“I enjoy every giveaway,” he adds. “What makes them special is watching the technicians hand over the keys to a family in need. At that point we’ve enabled the changing of two lives – the tech’s and the family receiving the vehicle. For me this is a testament to my faith and what Jesus wants us to model,” says Conner.

“Families are selected through lots of prayer,” he explains. “We have a relationship with an NBC affiliate that helps us with the nomination database. During the nomination period folks submit their nomination. At the completion of that period, we begin the selection process. We form an independent committee and work diligently to discover the greatest need at that time. We always consider the vehicle size and the impact we can make on the family receiving our ‘rides.’”

The shop frequently appears during the 6 p.m. news cycle on the local television station’s “Call 12” segment. “NBC 12 likes our Recycled Rides program and our Car Wash programs,” according to Conner. “They feature us for one-and-a-half hours during the news to promote our programs.”

In addition, accolades recognizing Conner Brothers as “Richmond’s Best Body Shop” have been bestowed by Richmond Magazine.

Midlothian, Va. exterior

The family was instrumental in establishing the Virginia Auto Body Legislative Committee. “Through this organization, we were able to get the insurance companies to pay the sales tax on all materials at a retail rate,” Conner recounts. “This meant that the shops throughout Virginia no longer paid the sales taxes when they bought the materials,” he says, “thus saving every shop the cost-sales tax of the materials. There were other good things the group did for the industry, but this one was the most significant.”

Conner’s membership in a Sherwin-Williams 20 Group assists in bringing about a consistent pattern of constant improvement. “A 20 group is the best thing next to the invention of Interweb, by Al Gore of course,” he says. “They are a great group of people who are making a difference in the industry and I am fortunate to be a part of it. We are a family of sorts. We’ve gone through some great times together and the bad ones too,” Conner continues. “The support the group offers is significantly better than going it alone. We all live the life every day and we know each other’s pains.”

Waiting area

Taking advantage of educational offerings from Sherwin-Williams and I-CAR, the staff is platinum certified in their respective areas of expertise.

All of the training is paid for by the company, and the technicians earn commissions; “not to be confused with flat-rate,” says Conner. “We also have a work referral program that rewards techs for bringing work to our facilities, and we give them great benefits and pay them fairly.”

The recruiting strategy strives to “hire good-hearted people with great attitudes and train them to our way of thinking,” he says.

“We are on the cusp of a full-on customer service training program for all staff who come into contact with our customers,” Conner notes. “Currently we do phone training and some light roll-playing, but nothing compared to the magnitude we are about to embark on. When the current model of training fails us we have resorted to electric current – 110 volts for the skinny folks and 220 volts for the more portly staff members – on the employees’ chair seats, and when we hear them saying something stupid to our customers, we zap them,” he jokes, reflecting a day-to-day pattern of humor that is found throughout the operation.

Paint shop

“The majority of our processes are lean-driven,” Conner says, citing lean stocking procedures, the presence of quick/fast lane repairs and integrated payroll, management, estimating and accounting systems.

Mechanical services are provided along with collision repairs, “and we are the only we are the only body shop in the United States to be a supplier of Countryside Organic Products. These products include seed and feeds of all types. The best-selling products in our area are the certified organic chicken feeds.”

Yet the company’s commitment to innovation and other efficiencies is certainly not chicken feed. “We focus on doing as much in the repair process as is profitable. Our primary objective is safety,” Conner says.

“We embrace technology when I-CAR accepts it. A classic example would be the pro-spot welders: Once I-CAR approved them we jumped on the wagon.” One of the four shops has made the conversion to waterborne paint. “It is ok,” Conner says of the process, but adaptation at the other locations remains on hold until federal or state regulatory requirements mandate the exclusion of solvent-based finishes.

“I have one simple goal when working with suppliers, whether they are manufacturers, parts suppliers or sublet vendors; I want to help them to be successful in what they do,” says Conner.

The company maintains five fleet accounts and has five direct repair program (DRP) affiliations.

“We attempt a balanced relationship with the DRPs,” he says. “Without a doubt, it is my philosophy that you cannot be an MSO (multi-site operator) without the relationships. What we do is provide the best service possible,” Conner declares. “While our cycle times are not always the lowest in the market, our CSI (Customer Service Index) scores are tops and our quality is without question.”

Opening Pandora’s Box
Conner points out that “making a profit in times when costs are accelerating faster than the labor rates are increasing” remains a rough row to hoe for the family business.

“This is Pandora’s Box,” he says. “Our biggest and toughest challenge is building our company. This is not a local concern either. At this point I cannot get any insurance company to commit to supporting us in our newest location. Unlike the manufacturing world where you get a contract and then go to the bank for financing, we as owners have to put it all on the line and then solicit an insurance company for work,” according to Conner.

“It seems a little backwards to me,” he says. “One would think that a company with a good reputation for serving the community and doing excellent quality work could expand their company with a DRP agreement in hand. I can see how the largest consolidators are making a run of the industry because their agreements are made well above the local level. This is an interesting paradox that could be considered a conspiracy theory of sorts. But currently there is no national brand of body shops. Why not?”

Conner further comments that “as an industry we do not stick together during times of conflict. We are so segmented as a industry that the insurance companies basically can do what they will with us.”

Cheerfully and gratefully acknowledging the opportunity to step atop a soapbox, Conner goes on to observe that “our market, like any market, suffers from a ‘dealership mentality’ in the customers’ minds and a lack of unity among the shops. The dealership mentality is when the customer believes they have to take their car back to the dealerships to get them repaired. Having run body shops for Toyota, Cadillac, Subaru, Saab and Chevrolet, I can tell you definitively that our techs have more and better training that any body shop at a dealership. But the public believes that the dealer is the place to go.”

The company is currently in negotiations to open a fifth full-service body shop and a satellite estimating center. When contemplating a venture into a new location, the deciding factors include the neighborhood’s population and economic demographics, claims counts and the potential vehicle capacity that can be delivered through the bay doors.

Virginia is not known for harboring a rugged winter climate, but when the snow does fly it presents numerous opportunities for collision repairs that are highlighted by the Conner Brothers’ active use of social media posts and an attractive Internet site. Heavy thunderstorms and encroachments by hurricanes are other drivers of heightened business prospects.

A new marketing initiative is in the works, but for competitive reasons Conner is keeping the details close to the vest. “My plan is to own the customer,” he asserts. “The method I will go about doing it will entail CRM (Customer Relations Management) outside what our industry has experienced.”

Conner contends that “we as an industry do nothing to own the customer. Or if we do, it is minuscule compared to a sales company. It is a huge opportunity to capture every customer or potential customer and market to them – even if we don’t work on their car.”

Decisive decision-making
Douglas G. Conner Jr., Kevin and Alan’s father, is the family patriarch. Since retiring 12 years ago, Douglas has pared back his active involvement in daily operations although he remains a valued participant in the business.

After mustering out of the Marine Corps in the 1960s, Douglas honed his skills as a painter and ultimately established the namesake company during the mid-1970s. He also served six years on the Richmond City Council.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Kevin Conner enlisted in the Marines in 1986, rising to join the service’s officer corps. “In 1996, I left the Marines to rejoin my family in our body shop,” Conner recalls.

“If given the opportunity to hire a vet, we do,” he reports, adding that “there are not that many veterans who are looking to make our industry their career choice.” Conner voices his strong view, though, that the prime purpose of the nation’s military is to defend the country – period – rather than serving as a training ground for civilian occupations.

“If we want to talk about basic leadership,” Conner concludes, “Marine training helped me become a better decisive decision-maker for our company. Having the luxury of looking back over the last 20 or so years since I left the Marines I can see how I’ve grown into the owner I am today. Not all the decisions I’ve made have been best ones for our company, but I’m fortunate that the big decisions have carried us through these tough times.”

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