Guten Tag. Wie geht’s?
Ever get the feeling the people around you are speaking a different language—maybe about severity or new vehicle technologies that complicate repair procedures? Sure you do, and it’s not a good feeling, is it? You grasp for answers without knowing the questions to ask. And insecurities about asking a “dumb question” might just make you bite your tongue, leaving you clueless on the given subject.
On the bright side, language issues often are not the result of someone trying to make your life difficult. They’re more about proper communication and discussion than screwing you over.
In Germany last September I got the chance to see communication in action, among people of all different nationalities. I traveled to Frankfurt for Automechanika, a bi-annual automotive industry trade show that, this year, drew in a record 163,564 visitors from 145 nations. In terms of size, the show was enormous, with 4,500 exhibitors in 10 exhibition halls, covering everything from new collision repair procedures and technologies, to parts, to full-scale car wash systems.
Automechanika exhibitors were rather optimistic about the economy. Just over 80 percent consider the current economic conditions to be good or satisfactory, up from 69 percent two years ago. Meanwhile, 16.3 percent believe we are in a “bad” economy. That number is down from 23 percent in 2002. Those figures are good news for the automotive sector worldwide, and it’ll be interesting to compare how exhibitors at NACE (the International Autobody Congress and Exposition), view the state of the automotive industry.
What impressed me most about Automechanika was the willingness of everyone to communicate—to actually spend time making sure that someone who was having trouble understanding a component, a distribution process, a new technology or whatever, actually understood what was being discussed. Courtesy was the rule rather than the exception, even to us “ugly Americans.”
In the United States, we have this same opportunity to impress the world during NACE, which takes place this month at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Like the show in Germany, NACE will draw thousands of foreign visitors eager to discuss business and forge new partnerships. How we respond will be telling. Will we maintain the arrogance that Americans are known for, or will we take a step back and learn from our counterparts in other parts of the world? Many of them are dealing with the same issues we have. And in some cases, like the spare parts issue discussed on our cover, they are faced with even greater challenges.
No one has a lock on good ideas. Listening to the day-to-day experiences of others, from the U.S. and elsewhere, might be the best way to enhance your business. So I would encourage you to attend NACE, this year and beyond. When it comes to doing the job right, we all should be speaking the same language anyway.
