Follow fast food cues

May 20, 2014
Collision repair facilities can learn from fast food restaurants, which have systems in place that result in a consistent, reliable and efficient product every time.

Have you noticed that if you go to your favorite fast food restaurant in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, or any other city, that the appearance of the store and the food is pretty consistent regardless of where you are? Well, operating a successful collision repair facility today is very similar to flipping burgers, dunking French fries and making milkshakes.

It's not hamburgers. It's not the commercials. It's not massive corporate contracts with Disney and Coke. It's systems. Fast food restaurants have phenomenal systems in place. The systems they have researched and developed result in a consistent, reliable and efficient product. When a new product is introduced, either new systems and procedures are developed or the existing ones are changed.

Unsuccessful fast food restaurants — whether unsuccessful from the customer's point of view (poor quality, slow service, dirty restaurant); the employees' point of view (drama, bickering, lack of teamwork); or the owner-operator’s point of view (unprofitable) — can become successful by implementing and vigilantly following the established systems, processes and procedures.

Just like a fast food restaurant, to be successful in today’s collision repair industry, you must focus on your processes, both in the front office and in the shop. Your goal should be to attract and retain quality employees, provide a quality and consistent repair and deliver outstanding customer service (to both the vehicle owner and the insurance company).

Next time you are ordering your favorite burger, take a look at how it is assembled. All the materials are organized within reach so there is minimal human movement and there are visual assembly instructions generally within view of the burger technician.

Staff engagement
As a business owner, you have certain expectations of how you want things done in the business. These are your Best Practices. Through the development and implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) you can ensure that your expectations are consistently met or exceeded.

The most important factor in a fast food restaurant’s success is its managers. The manager at each location must be willing to do what it takes to follow procedures and implement policies to ensure that employees are trained and follow the systems. In a collision repair business, the managers and employees are just as critical. The key to development and implementation of SOPs is not to do them in a vacuum, by yourself. To be successful, you need to involve your staff and be able to communicate what you are trying to accomplish and the “what’s in it for me (WIIFM).”

Benefits of developing and implementing SOPs
There are many benefits to developing and implementing SOPs in a collision repair business. For example, SOPs can:

  1. Create a positive customer experience.
  2. Develop a culture in your business around customer satisfaction, quality, efficiency and continuous improvement.
  3. Develop a team built around defined and attainable standards and goals, with procedures to achieve them.
  4. Provide consistency in the entire repair process, both in the front office and in the shop.
  5. Provide reference tools for employee training, cross-training and retraining.
  6. Establish clear expectations and accountability at all levels of your organization (who does what, where, when, why and how). Not only will individuals be accountable, but your staff will also hold each other accountable.
  7. Improve efficiency in the repair process.
  8. Improve confidence in relationships with insurers.
  9. Reduce comebacks and rework.
  10. Serve as a tool for performing internal audits. As an owner you don’t have to be in the shop every day and every hour that the business is open. You want to be able to walk through the office and shop and quickly be able to see if something is out of place or a process is not being followed properly.

Where to start
Considering the number of processes that are used during a collision repair, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the number of SOPs that you could develop. To get started:

  1. Determine the goal you want to achieve. When working out your SOP development plan, you should also consider any federal, state or provincial, or local regulatory requirements.
  2. Choose a “Project Champion.” It is best to have the Project Champion be a person(s) who will be directly impacted by the SOP.
  3. Identify and document the steps in the process.
  4. Reference supporting documents, when applicable.
  5. Depending on the procedure, consider developing a current state and future state process map (flow chart showing each step in the process). Keep this simple.
  6. Because different people have different learning styles, once you have written the procedure, consider enhancing it with photos, videos or audio clips.
  7. Determine how you are going to measure and audit the process.
  8. Have some objective way of measuring the success of the SOP. If you don't measure it, you cannot track it, and if you don't track it, how can you know the SOP brings value?
  9. Determine how you will implement it. You will need to explain not just what the SOP is, but why it's important to use and follow the SOP. Explain the WIIFM to your business and the staff (save time or money, improve communication, or improve quality and workflow and improve the customer’s experience).
  10. Communicate and CELEBRATE the results to your staff during your staff meetings. If you show improvements for the customer, business and staff, your team will support the efforts you make.

Get started
The most important key to success with SOPs is just getting started. Set a goal for completion such as completing one per month or three per quarter. Chances are that a year from now both your front office and your shop will run more smoothly and efficiently in the areas in which you have SOPs.

We have performed a lot of research in this area so please keep up with our discoveries! We have created a great tool to help you get started developing the SOPs you need to have in the office and the shop!

Try it free for a limited time by going to www.ationlinetraining.com/abrn1406

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