Paintless Mentor Podcast

Paintless repair always gets good reviews. Touch up does not. Is there something we are doing to cause problems for our customers? What can you do to protect your business? SHOWNOTES

By the time the storm was over and they fixed all the cars, Jim and his partner lost $25,000. Each.    The worst part? It didn't have to happen.    Jim even saw it coming.    At one point, he suggested the body shop should sign the invoices on all the cars.    “Oh no, Dusty always pays.”   Only this time, Dusty didn’t pay.   Why did Jim Sullivan tell us this story? Because he provides PDR estimating software. The program which could have stopped this huge hail storm loss.    Listen to find out how you can:   protect yourself and your partners at a storm track whats happening at your body shop hail sites allow your shops to write estimates get more money on your big dent jobs   Be sure and listen to the end. Especially if you never want to get ripped off at a hail storm. SHOWNOTES

Customers are the lifeblood of your paintless business. Would you trust your interactions with them to artificial intelligence? Only if you were certain it would result in a better experience for them. Have we reached the point in tech advancements to allow for this? Yes, we think so. Listen to see how we are implementing a better start to the pdr estimating process using bots and believe it or not, facebook. SHOWNOTES

Your dad liked them. You liked them. Now your kids like them and they are telling all their friends.  Something which appeals to three generations or more, this is what we call timeless.  Baseball? Yeah, but its really a pastime.  We’re talking about things which seem temporary, like popular music.  Music is popular for a small window of time, then it falls off a cliff into the realm of yesterday. But not all.  Led Zeppelin to wit. Each new group of teenagers “discovers” this group and their world is changed forever.  This is timeless.  Is there a way to position your business in your customer’s minds the same way? How to stand out Create an experience Stay “top of mind” Also in this episode: How we lost 8 reviews and why we love how we got them.  SHOWNOTES

Robo calls. Always an interruption when you’re in the middle of a dent repair. Every call starts with a lie, too.  “You’re listing is not correct…” or some such nonsense.  But there really is a way for a well meaning person, or worse an evil competitor to alter your listing. If you’re not careful, you may not even know about it for a time.   Also, year end, we talk tax planning again.    Finally, the best way to negotiate with an insurance adjuster, and exactly when and where you will need it.    SHOWNOTES Click above to see links to all the articles we talked about in today's episode

You sell dent repair services. This customer has a dent. Naturally, you start selling your dent repair service.  Oops you missed it.  Fixing the dent is only one of the things they want (and its the last they want to talk about).  Listen to uncover the six things your customer really wants. Then check out the shownotes for the list which will help you sell more, and write unbeatable ads.

If you’re like every PDR tech who ever pushed a dent, you love new tools. We love seeing the new stuff too, even when its just for using around the office.  Over the years, we’ve found some apps or software which makes life easier. Listen to the tools we use in the dent repair office.    SHOWNOTES   You're going to want to click above, lots of links to these great tools!

They say every idea worth spreading starts on the West Coast of the USA. Not this time. PDR started two different places at the same time. Neither of them have a zip code starting with 9. Listen to how paintless began according to all the mostly true stories we’ve heard through the years. Also, why the changes coming in PDR will totally catch you off guard. SHOWNOTES Links Mentioned: Ep. 21 Should You Design Your Own PDR Tools

Ninety days from starting. All the time needed for you to realize running a PDR business is not as great as you thought it might be. You get more deductions, but also find you pay higher personal taxes.  The competition are fools and are ruining the business with unsustainable pricing. The state government is threatening to pass a law which will take away a good part of your business.  Somebody's gotta do something about this industry! What is the single most important thing to remember about your industry? What’s the most effective way to make changes? The real driving force behind most industry associations.  Listen as we pull back the curtain on what’s real and what’s not in the PDR industry.  SHOWNOTES  

Imagine coughing up money for a new car only to find it has hail damage on it. The underhanded way the dealer treated this customer would make Bernie Madoff blush.    Herein lies the reason for becoming more than just a metal pusher.   Consumer education builds trust.Trust builds sales. The stories you hear and experience can become public service announcements. You’ll see how to forearm your clients against dealer fraud and other shenanigans.    SHOWNOTES

Want to make more money in your PDR business? Raise your prices.  Easy for you to say, friend. We are first to admit, charging more is scary. At first.  When you hear what happened to us in this episode, you’ll see why it gets easier. Listen for a real example of a low price scaring a customer right into our shop.    How to get to the most important thing in your customer’s mind Where the money is coming from is important  Do your customer’s brag about your pricing? Amazon is all about price, right? The answer will surprise you SHOWNOTES

The best thing you can do for your PDR business website is make it google, or search engine friendly. Once your site is fixed up, the next best thing is to build links coming in to it. Google counts these as votes for your content and give you authority in the form of better placement in the listing. Local businesses can be easy to build links to if you know where to start. We found an article from Moz with some great suggestions. Listen as we tailor it to your PDR site. SHOWNOTES Also in this episode: #propsandchops - a tongue-in-cheek nod to PDR after shots, especially videos where the PDR tech obscures the outcome of the repair by the way its filmed. A gentle and humorous way to say “I see whatcha did there" Discussion on Honda Fit Lawsuit and $37 Million award Links mentioned: Choosing the Right PDR Customer 11 Ways for Local Businesses can Get Links How to get on the National News

Your customers are smart, that’s how they wound up in your shop or on the phone with you.  From you they need guidance, but what’s the best way to give it? Come right out and tell them what to do? Might work sometimes.  Better if you help them in a way which makes them feel as if it was their own discovery. What follows will be their own decision.  For this, you need influence. The ethical means to build the bridge to your business.  This is part 2 of our Persuasion episodes. Based on the newest book by Robert Cialdini   SHOWNOTES   Links in this Episode Persuasion PDR Marketing Part 1 Pre-suasion by Robert Cialdini

Have an idea for a PDR Light? Great! Please share it with the world. Better yet, build it, sell it and make lots of money.  No really you should.  But tread carefully, for it appears paintless dent repair tool innovation has sunk to the level of litigation.  Could you be sued for your innovative idea? Maybe. At the least, you can expect a cease and desist letter.  On one side of the court is James Lee and Elimadent, who holds a patent on mobile pdr lighting.  The other corner is filled with those who copy (or appear to) the designs of Elimadent.  But is that all there is there is to the story? What are we missing? Only all the history of LED based PDR lights which dates back to at least 2009.  This episode will highlight some key factors in the patent fight, and why we are against patents in general.    All links mentioned in this episode are in the SHOWNOTES

“You charge too much!” Those words ring in your mind for a long time.  Even days later, you realize what bothers you most is your reaction. What you replied in the heat of the moment.  If you ever wished you could go back and change something, then you know the power of negative prep.  The time to work these things out is before they happen. Once the missile is launched, its too late to aim it.  Listen as we uncover a technique for mental and emotional targeting as taught by Dr. Maxwell Maltz.  Psycho-cybernetics is all about aiming your brain in advance toward better outcomes.  SHOWNOTES Links mentioned in this episode: Psycho-Cybernetics book Flow of PDR Your 2 minds Brain Balance Avoid Overwhelm in PDR

What ya gonna do on this dent? Push it, pull it, knock it down. Look again. How about now? Explore with us a simple approach for paintless dent repair. See why and how the best use it daily and some don’t even know they’re using it.  This is how all the methods of dent removal come together for you to make faster, easier repairs.  Once you see it, you’ll know why we call it the Unified Theory of PDR. Because I don’t love the word “theory” for its dual meaning, a definition is needed. As used in our discussion, it “a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based."   SHOWNOTES

Fixing a dent without painting is solving lots of tiny problems. Running a paintless shop means solving bigger problems.    An unauthorized, unskilled broker comes to town. A competitor stealing “your” account. Someone makes a false statement about PDR on the internet.    Must you tackle these head on?   Someone needs to do something.   The temptation is there, and they do get a lot of our attention, but is this where you want to put your focus?   This episode is a reminder to us that some problems are like gravity. Can’t change it. But it doesn’t have to hold you down.    SHOWNOTES   You’ll face the truth about:   dents unfixable used car dealers behavior competitors customers  PDR training  Links mentioned in this episode: Book: Designing Your Life Hail Car Trouble - episode 84

Your side gig. Your hobbies. Bet you have one or both. When you study these and compare to the paintless dent business, do you notice the similarities in their behaviors? The things which make a group turn on itself are not really unique to PDR. Other niches make this painfully clear: the same attitudes and strange views exist everywhere you look. People are people, right? Flame wars and cyber bullies on a PDR forum, do they only exist in your business? What makes the trolls come out anyways? What can you learn from it? You and I sell dent repair service. Understanding why someone behaves as they do, is helpful. Listen as we veer far afield and look at some other niches, then bring you back sideways to put it all to good use. Tips you can apply when hiring, in your own family, and even in situations where you are the one being served. SHOWNOTES

Ever price a hail damage car too low or take on one too severe to fix properly? Travis Daniels faced this very thing in his paintless business. “I’ll give you all my dent work if you fix this one car”. Listen to his story and what he learned from it. Also, we talk about some ways to change his website to optimize for his local market. make your customer see you as a hero getting the best domain name for your business SHOWNOTES  

On August 6 a tornado damaged many buildings near our paintless dent shop. The shop we left a few weeks before is a quarter mile away. It still stands, but is not safe to be in, much less to do business out of. Some have said, “You must be living right,” or “just good clean living!” Is this how it really works? Did our old neighbors lose their location for some hidden transgression? Maybe we were just lucky, or maybe its something else. Follow us as we examine the beliefs which can cost you money without knowing it. Also, what you must understand about any decision large or small. How it affects you and how it can help your sales. SHOWNOTES