In this episode, we’ll do a deep dive into specialization as a way to grow your collision business. Our guest this week is Kyle Bradshaw, director of fixed operations at K&M Collision and president of the Carolina’s Collision Association. Kyle and his team at K&M Collision have built a thriving business by specializing in high-line vehicles and obtaining extensive OEM certifications. We’ll discuss what it takes to carve out a niche in collision repair, the challenges and opportunities of specialization, and how this strategy can set shops up for long-term success.

Cole Strandberg: As we’ve talked about and as our listeners know, we’re doing a series here on why the era of the single store generalist Body Shop is coming to an end and we’re seeing some shifts that are are showing that and shifts toward specialization and scaling.

What’s your perspective on why I might say that that era is coming to an end?

Kyle Bradshaw: I just think it’s, it’s becoming one of those things where if you expect everybody to know how to do everything, it’s, it’s a really tough task to do. And I think you’ve seen that in, in many other fields, but you know, the medical industry comes comes to mind. It seems like there’s a doctor for, for everything, right? And, and so same deal with collision vehicles have continued to evolve, continue to, to become more complex, a lot harder to fix. And so I, I think that’s, that’s one of the reasons why it’s tough to expect, you know, a shop to be able to work on a vehicle, you know, from 30 years ago and then also have the same equipment training and work on a modernized vehicle from the day as well. And to be able to do that, you know, in an efficient manner. It’s just it’s in my opinion, asking too much at this point in time.

Cole Strandberg: There we go. I think that’s extremely well put and coming from somebody who is in it every day has seen it. I think we first met at a Carolina’s Collision Association meeting. Everyone in that market and Josh Kent who runs it, just speaks so highly of what you guys do at KM. Tell me about the KM story and what you guys are today and how you got there.

Kyle Bradshaw: So my parents started our company. Really, I guess my dad just was really good at the craft. It’s not like he was some shrewd businessman. My dad’s a very, very hard worker. He’s a lot of great things, but he certainly didn’t get into this business because he thought it was going to be extremely lucrative. He was really young and had to provide for his family and so started our business that way. And I would say it was just a, you know, really small traditional shop up until my older brother Michael, he got involved and he kind of Michael’s very much a visionary and kind of saw where the industry was going and, and certainly had people that, that I guess lent their hand out to him and, and tried to help kind of, I guess, push things along, if you will. And so we, we started the certification route.

I think it was 2012 or 2013 was our first cert and he basically talked my dad into investing some money into some equipment and training. And I, I love to say the rest is history, but, but that’s really how we got our start. And you know, it just was one of those things where I guess the snowball effect really took place and we saw, hey, this is really a, a good model for us. We really valued, you know, repairing the vehicle the, the proper way, the OEM way and it was something that our our customers took a lot of I guess recognition in and, and understood the importance of it. And it was, you know, a way for us to market ourselves to be different from everybody else in the market. And so we’ve really just kind of taken that and, and obviously we’ve grown, you know, since then and, and we hope to continue to grow. But certainly I’ve taken that model and, and have have continued to I guess escalate that, if you will, across many manufacturers. And you know, our bread and butter, if you will, is on the the higher end luxury and exotic vehicles, but we certainly still have certifications and and some other I guess domestic vehicles as well.

Cole Strandberg: Love that specialization and I want to dive into that a little bit as well. When did you start with KM and join the family business?

Kyle Bradshaw: So being a family business, so there’s a five of us totals. I have four brothers and there’s, there’s currently all of us work here except for my youngest brother who is a 13 or 14 year old right now. And but so there’s certainly that dynamic, right. And so I tried out I guess for a small little early stint and Michael and I did not get along very well. I was not a very good employee. And and he had he had a little bit of a power, power trip too. And so, you know, I worked for probably about a year just piddling around doing detail things like that when I grew up or growing up, I guess rather. I did not want to be in this this business or industry at all because I saw how hard my dad worked. And I’m like, if that’s what it takes to to be in that business, I won’t know part of it. And so, yeah, the crazy deal, but ended, ended up leaving, went into another industry for, for about two years and then came back about 10 years ago, so 2014 and been here ever since and started out when I came back in 2014, really just started out on the customer service side of things. We were a really small operation at that point in time. I think there was I was probably the the 4th employee at that point in time when when I came back ten years ago and, and just really had to be a sponge, right, You know, soaked everything up that I could.

Unfortunately, my brother’s a really intelligent guy. Hope nobody’s watching this that will tell him I said that. But so I actually got to learn a lot from him and, and learn a lot about this industry that way and just had to soak it up. And, you know, even when I left work, like having to go home and trying to read through things, read through P pages and North Carolina administrative code and statutes and, you know, whatever and. Just tried to educate myself, man, you know, And so, but yeah, it’s been, it’s all that to say, it’s been a really cool ride. It’s really cool to do this alongside of our family. And, and thankfully my mom and dad have kind of taken some step back as well and given us some room to to kind of operate and do things the way that we think they need to be done. And hopefully we’re continuing to bring honor to them and the way that we’re doing things.

Cole Strandberg: Family business is so cool, man. When it works, it works. And it sounds like that’s the situation. I told you I always brag and you’ve gotten me beat in terms of number of relatives and family members in the family business. For me, I got to work with my mom, my dad and my now wife all under one roof together. You got me beat with five of y’all plus parents. That is awesome though man. It’s it’s so cool when it works. It works so great.

Kyle Bradshaw: Yeah, it’s, it’s been a really cool thing. And you know, we both of our spouses worked, worked alongside of us about 10 years ago too. And, and so we actually enacted the no spouse rule because of that. So that’s not happening anymore. But no, it’s, it’s, it’s been a really cool, cool, cool thing. And it’s going to, going to continue to be like that as well. My, my younger, two of my younger brothers are techs for us as well right now. And they’re still younger but still learning and they’re fantastic, fantastic of what they do, but hopefully be able to continue to provide growth for them as well.

Cole Strandberg: So talk to me about, if you’re from the perspective of a shop owner listening today and we’re going to talk about specialization #1 how do you go about choosing the specialization #2 how painful is that to turn down work that’s outside of your specialization for a while and, and kind of stick to this new focus.

Kyle Bradshaw: Well, yeah, I mean, I I think to the to the second part of that question, first and foremost, the the ability to say no is a really strong trait business or you know, anything else, right. So, so knowing, knowing what to do, I guess what to take on and what not to take on it. It’s one of those things that I want to say, I almost want to say it’s empowering, right? Because then it provides credence to your people, you know, in the back, your people up front, like, hey, like this is what we do and we do it well. And if you look at other industries, like look at Chick-fil-A for instance, they only do chicken, right? Like they’re not, they’re not out trying to do, you know, burgers and this that and the other like they do chicken, they do it extremely well.

Kyle Bradshaw: They provide a fantastic service. I’m from Hickory. That’s where we’re located. There’s a Chick-fil-A and a Wendy’s that sit side by side You can go over there. It’s, it’s 3:00 PM right now and I promise you there will be a line around the Chick-fil-A drive through. And there may be one or two people, there may be one or two people in the, the Wendy’s drive through. And this is not to throw up on Wendy’s, but it’s certainly to understand, right?

Model And so for us that’s what that’s what we are really aspiring to do in our industry is we don’t we don’t try to compete on price, right. What we do is highly specialized. We’ve invested a ton of money and equipment, a ton of money and training. Obviously we have to charge more for that. People understand that typically. And then also just understanding like, hey, this is what we do. This is this is our sandbox. This is where we’re going to play like we don’t, we don’t need to to step outside of that or to try to do anything else. And a lot of times people do that out of fear, right? Like they, they feel like they’ve got to take every single car in that they possibly can, because if they don’t, it’s like the works going to dry up today, right? And so we’ve certainly not, not adapted that mindset And, and you know, we’re not ignorant to what the industry is going on in the industry right now from, from a claim count and things like that. We understand that. But still, even then, you know, we’re not out there trying to repair vehicles that were not equipped or trained to do so.

Cole Strandberg:  There’s a fear component when you’re talking about shifting your business especially preemptively, right? It’s not broken. We’re we’re thinking for the future. So how do we justify going ahead and breaking what’s not broken to try to really prepare? And I think that’s a well thought out answer. You guys have a specialization and a focus on these highline vehicles primarily. I think that is a fantastic focus and a fantastic specialization, especially given your geography, Hickory, Charlotte metro area, I think there’s probably a lot of these good dealerships around that you can have relationships with. How do you advise going about kind of determining this specialization depending on where you are located?

Kyle Bradshaw: So for for us, we obviously are wanting to to target. So if it’s something we’re certified in or want to be certified in, we certainly want to target the dealerships that are you know, we’re usually looking within probably about a three or four hour radius.

And even if there’s someone already in that market that might be certified, a lot of times what we see is there may be a dealer in that market that’s certified in a specific brand, but there’s also a competing dealer that doesn’t have a shop. So, so we’re usually trying to identify dealers that don’t have shops. And so we provide a concierge pickup and delivery service. And so we’ll kind of identify the dealer and then we’ll really start reaching out to that dealer and one, introducing ourselves and trying to sell, you know, sell them on K&M collision and on the difference that we’re able to provide for their customer. And obviously explaining what what their customer will be getting with us and, and understand helping them to understand why it’s different and why they’re not going to be able to produce that anywhere else. I think dealers are extremely cognizant just like OEMs are. If there’s a poor experience from a collision repair standpoint that it usually leads to a negative reflection on the brand.

And because of that, a lot of times people leave the brand, never come back, right? And so the last, the last thing that they want that customer to do is to be referred somewhere, have a terrible experience and then they’re either trading the car, selling the car or never, never, you know, stepping foot through their dealership again. So we really try to make it a dealer centric approach if you will. And obviously that starts with, you know, we use only 100% OEM parts. We don’t use anything aftermarket or anything used at our facility. So helping a dealer understand that that’s the type of repair that their that their clients going to get certainly opens that referral relationship up.

And then obviously, you know, holding on to our promise, right, whatever we promise that we’re going to do, like doing it and, and trying to make sure that the customer has a, a wow experience. And so we try to really cater to that market and the convenience of it. So even though a dealer could be 3 hours away, we, we have our own transport trucks. We’ll go into those markets. We pick up the car from the customer, bring it here, repair the vehicle and deliver it back to the customer or deliver it back to the dealer if the, if the customer, you know, wants the dealer to do any service work or anything like that after the repairs, right And so it’s still, you know, it’s not necessarily running through the dealership at that point time. It’s certainly not the case, but it certainly makes them a part of the process and and they’re still kind of in the forefront there as well, which I think most dealers like, right, like it’s, it’s good marketing for them. And and obviously if we do what we say we’re going to do the custom, we’re an extension of the dealer at that point time as well.

Cole Strandberg:  Well, it’s interesting because yes, you have a primary customer, the one who you’re performing your repair for #1 priority. But you really have two customers in that case too. From a interaction and customer service perspective, you want to be a good partner for these. Oh yeah. And that’s that’s huge and it goes a long way.

Kyle Bradshaw: And there’s, there’s relationships that I’ve formed with dealerships where, you know, I’ve developed personal relationships outside of that that I probably never would have, you know, never would have thought or even came across, right. And, and so it’s, and it’s also open my eyes to see, you know, there’s a lot of similarities in our business and, and a dealership business. And there’s also, right, a lot of differences as well. But it’s cool to kind of see the inner workings there. But yeah, to your point that that is that alone is a is a fantastic relationship. There’s so much you can do to form that, create that, and there’s so many things you can do to kill and destroy that relationship as well. And so we try to be really cognizant of that and and try to manage and develop those the best we can. And unfortunately cold, there’s a lot of turnover at that dealerships just because people will, you know, looking for growth or whatever they’re, they may leave and go to another brand or go to another dealer that may, I guess may offer a promotion or, or something like that. And so we try to do the best we can to stay, stay in front of them all the time, right? Like a lot of times I feel like people will get somebody to sponsor them for like a OEM certification. And then that’s the extent of the relationship and the extent of the conversations that they have. And so like when I talk about being an extension of the brand and we really try to try to hit, hit those dealers at least once a month, then I try to do my part and have lunch or dinner, you know, as often as I can with some of those those people that we’re interacting with and just making sure that the relationship’s good, right? Because a lot of times if we’re not on the forefront and in front of people, we can get forgotten as well. And just like for us, there’s people out there that are also going to be soliciting, you know, business as well. And so making sure that that we do our part to stay, stay in front, that’s what we’re trying to be about.

Cole Strandberg:  Man a, a, a Body Shop that’s customer centric, but also got to be sales minded, right? Always got to be keeping that relationship growing and going. And I, I, I love that about specialization. You can really do that. If you’re fixing every car out there. What are you doing? You’re running ads or you’re DRP focused here. You know you can. You can put some. I don’t know, wheels in motion to make something that’s so many different euphemisms going into my mind, but no. Fantastic. So obviously when we talk specialization, a big part of that is likely OEM certifications, cost, time, training, all that stuff. And I know each program varies with its requirements, but talk to me about the general value you receive from being OEM certified and how that helps you repair cars the right way.

Kyle Bradshaw: You’ve probably heard this from, from our friend Mike Anderson before, but confidence breeds confidence. And so that’s our biggest thing, right? Like it, it’s, it’s really there to help the client know like, hey, these, whatever the brand is, right, Plug whatever brand you want to, but they’ve been through, they’ve been through that training.

They know what they’re doing and I’m confident that they’re going to do the correct job on my vehicle.

And obviously, you know, we still play a large part in that and we still, you know, explain the process to the customer and, and all that it it certainly doesn’t, doesn’t negate, you know, us or anything that we do, but it certainly I think it provides a boost of confidence because man, most customers, they’re not, nobody ever plans on being in an accident, right?

So it’s not like they’re doing all this pre emptive research and, and have went through this process a lot before, hopefully.

And so for us, you know, we really place a big emphasis on educating our customers and, and whether that’s, you know, on the OEM certification and what that means and, and what training we’ve been through or, and, or the insurance process, right. Like all that we have to really be like our customers advocate at that point in time. And, and it it helps to, to kind of like a sill of approval or a stamp of approval to, to see. And, you know, I know a lot of people throw off like on plaques on the wall or things like that. But it certainly helps a customer who’s kind of, you know, I guess going through a lot of a lot of emotions at that point in time. I think it helps to kind of settle them down and understand. Okay, like these people are legit like it’s not like we’re some, you know, one off place that’s working out of their garage at their house, right? Like there it provides a level of professionalism at that point in time as well, so.

Cole Strandberg:  And again, I know each OE specialization and certification is different. Walk me through generically the process of actually getting certified. What does that look like for folks who haven’t done it yet?

Kyle Bradshaw: So, so that, well, there’s a lot of different programs. And so I, I think for the luxury stuff anyways, a lot of times on the luxury stuff, you usually have to be sponsored by, by dealer is usually where that would start and get getting a dealer to agree to sponsor you. And then obviously you pay, pay a program fee. So in order to participate in the program, you pay a program fee. And then they have, you know, a pretty extensive and comprehensive list of, of tooling that’s required for it. Some of it may be specific tooling to their vehicles, but some of it might be, you know, hey, this, this frame rack is not approved. So I may have to go out and purchase, you know, a separate frame rack from what I already have, right. And so, so those are types of things. Then obviously you, you factor in the, the training aspect of it. And depending on the, the brand, they’ll usually have, you know, a list of courses that you have to go through and that either could be directly through them or, or some, some of those brands are still utilizing our car for that training as well. So it’s really about meeting, meeting that criteria, meeting those, those gaps, if you will. And once you, once you do all of that and go through all the, the training and they’ll, they’ll come out, do an audit of your, your facility and make sure that I guess everything is what you say it is. And then they’ll give you the, the official, I guess the official rubber stamp, if you will.

And a lot of times that, that will then allow you to be on, you know, a locator or, or you’ll be able to, they’ll send you a plaque or, you know, different, different O ES have different things that they do, right? They, I think the O ES want to provide value to the collision repair from a marketing standpoint and visibility, right. And I think that’s certainly important for the repair. And so, but yeah, I mean, obviously, we still want to do all of our own marketing. And then once we get that certification, we want to make sure that we’re marketing that in the right way too.

Cole Strandberg:   I love it and I think it’s such an important topic to the point where later this year we’re going to do a A series with the O ES talking about the process of getting certified with them. I think it’s a superpower you have you have the Mike Anderson’s of the world preaching it everyday about the importance and the benefits of doing that. So I appreciate you touching on that. You also talked about training and that leads me to personnel and and into culture. I think you’re a pretty big culture guy. How does that training and your messaging, obviously you know you can be certified, K&M certified. At the end of the day, the results are going to speak and the reputation is going to speak for itself. How do you get that buy in for your team?

Kyle Bradshaw: So, well, and I think, you know, when we talk about specialization like, like we’re talking about broad, I think we can even dial in on that a little bit further from a microscopic standpoint with what what we do. So a lot of places have, you know, technicians that man, they get the car and it’s start to finish, right. They’re they’re handling the disassembly, they’re handling any metal work, pretty much everything but paint, right. And then once, once it’s painted, they get the car back and they’re reassembling it and trying to do XY and Z. And so we’ve really taken the specialization approach even with the way that we repair the vehicle. So we have, we process around 100 to 115 vehicles a month at this point time and we only have one guy who does metal work for us. And so that really opens a lot of people’s eyes. They’re like, well, how is that possible? And so we’ve really broken it out to where, you know, we’ve got disassembly technicians and reassembly technicians. And, and the majority of the time those disassembly and reassembly texts, they’re, they’re the same person taking the car apart and the same person putting the vehicle back together. We found that that creates a lot of efficiencies. A lot of times you get someone who’s disassembled the vehicle, they’ve done it in a manner. And then if you allow someone else to try to put it back together, they’re kind of having to learn again, like, OK, well, like how does this go back, blah, blah, blah. And, and sometimes even having to, to go and grab that tech and like, hey man, I’m kind of at a standstill here.

Can you help me or, or can we figure this out together where for us same guys taking the car apart, same guys putting it back together. And then also to the, the structural technician standpoint, when he gets a vehicle, it is completely ready for him to do whatever work is necessary at that point in time. So if he’s got to replace a quarter panel when he gets the vehicle, it is in a state in which he can begin doing that task. If he’s got to remove molding or quarter glass or anything like that, like our process has really failed at that point in time. So it’s, it’s created efficiencies there. And then also in doing that, because of the brands of vehicles that we work on, it’s enabled us to create efficiencies there because a lot of times we have one guy that works on Porsches and that’s what he works on, right. And so certainly you can understand that if that’s all he has to do and he has to know Porsches inside and out and that’s it become a repetitive task and it enables him to become extremely efficient at that point in time. And so that just help helps us really get guys to kind of buy into what they do. Obviously they play a role in our team, right? They’re not the whole team, but it’ll it creates buy in that way, no differently than a football team, right? Like everybody sees the quarterback. He’s he’s who has to take the blame for the wins and losses, But there’s guys blocking, tackling, like everybody’s got to do their part in order to win. We’re the same way, but we certainly get people to understand how important their role is for us. And then it’s also a lot easier to train for that role because now I’m I’m training them. I don’t want to say on one thing, but let’s say I’m training them on, let’s say three things instead of, you know, now I’m trying to train, you know, one guy across the board on 20 different things. So it’s made, it’s made hiring a lot easier for us as well. We typically, if we’re hiring a technician, we’re typically not looking for somebody that’s been in the collision space before.

We typically will venture out to somebody that’s been, you know, automotive’s good, but really just that they have some sort of mechanical inclination allows us to get them in here and train them up in the way that, you know, we do things and, and the way that we want things done that way. There’s not, you know, bad habits and things like that as well. So it’s, it’s made, you know, when back when COVID hit and people were struggling to hire people, it’s made, it’s made hiring a little bit easier for us than some other people because it, it really I guess is a wider net at that point in time too, which is kind of cool.

Cole Strandberg:  Man, that’s fantastic. So we’re checking so many boxes here, increased efficiencies, increased ability to hire. What is it done to retention both specializing and then having this specialized way of repairing vehicles?

Kyle Bradshaw: Yes. So that’s what’s really cool about it is, is we don’t have a lot of turnover and the most of our techs are extremely young. So are the average age of our tech force is probably about 33 or 34 years old, which is extremely young. And then the average, I guess tenure of employment right now, I think it’s about 6 1/2 years. And so you got to think about that too. From where we’re at, we didn’t really start growing, growing and like trying to hire other people until about 10 years ago, right?

And so now and what was four people 10 years ago is now like 32 or 33 people now. And so we, we typically get people and they stay here for a while. And a lot of that is I think 1:00 they have a lot of pride in what they do, right? And they feel like they’re making a difference, right. And so, and then also, you know, we try to, we’ll dive into culture a little bit in, in a, in a while, I’m sure. But but we try to do things a little bit differently to, to where, you know, people enjoy what they do. We enjoy each other. I mean, they’re, I’m telling you, if you, you come here, I’m sure right now in the back. I mean, people like to have a good time and they typically want to be around people they enjoy being around, right? And so we try to do things that we can and, and what we can control to, to help Foster and, and breed some of that, right? I’m not saying that, that it’s always, you know, sunshine and rainbows, right? There’s certainly personality conflicts that arise from time to time, but but no, it’s a, it’s a good, good, I guess environment. And, and that’s, I think of a big reason why people generally, they come here and, and enjoy it and, and yeah, we just don’t, don’t have a lot of turnover, believe it or not.

Cole Strandberg:  So love that man. No, I mean, every conversation here on the collision vision just about touches on the talent shortage and the challenges around hiring and retaining. So a really good feather in the cap for you guys and, and for the concept of, of, of specialization. Now 10 years ago is when you guys started growing. Something tells me you being around might have had something to do with that around that time frame. And as I mentioned, you are a culture guy and you cheered me up right there. Let’s dive into culture a little bit right now. How do you view culture in an industry that’s really challenging to build a strong culture?

Kyle Bradshaw: Culture, I think is something that you have to be extremely, extremely intentional about. I think first and foremost, right? It’s not something that just you wake up one day and, and have a great culture. And so we’ve certainly been intentional about it with our people. You know, because we are a family owned and operated business, It provides us a lot of, I guess, freedom and, and the ability to do things that other people probably just aren’t able to do. And so, you know, we really would just want to care for our people. I, I, I love the term of treating them like family because people I think have a good, I guess heart behind that. But at the end of the day, we are still a business, right? And so, but we do want to certainly care for them the best that we can and do things above and beyond, right? Them just showing up and clocking in and earning a paycheck and going home, right? And so we want to pour in our people, you know, above and beyond that. And so typically what we see is, is if we’re enabling them to be better, a better husband or a better father or better wife or better mother, like all that spills over, right?

And so we’re, we’re here with each other more than we’re at home, unfortunately, with our, with our spouses or our kids. And so we just do some, some different things, I think too that help alongside of that. And, you know, I think a lot of people miss the mark. We, we are a, a culture in a society that is focused on income and money. And that certainly makes the world go round. And I’m not naive that that doesn’t matter. Money is certainly important, but I think people miss the mark on helping people understand how to manage money and the importance of that because and I’m, I’m probably preaching to the choir here, your financial guy. So I know you know, but, but, but no, seriously, the, the crazy thing about it is, is we’ve got techs all throughout this industry that make over six figures and they’re still broke. And it’s because they’ve got a money management issue. And so we, we about probably, I don’t know, 5 or 6 years ago started doing the Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey with our team. We usually do that at least once a year.

And then also, you know, our CFO Holly, who’s been on board with us for about a year now or a little over a year now, she also have private one-on-one budgeting sessions with people. If they, if they want to do that, we have that resource there for them. And so just certain ways like that or then, you know, spiritually, you know, we have people that are believers of Jesus. And so we’ll do Bible studies, you know, weekly. We just do different things, I guess. And so making it a place to where, you know, I want you to sharpen your short as a technician, right? We want to continue to be better there. But I feel like we’d really be missing a prime opportunity and really missing the mark if we didn’t pour into our people and try to make them better in those those, I guess, facets of their life, if you will. And so that’s, you know, from a culture standpoint.

And I think too, you know, I’m still younger, my brothers are all young. And so I think that’s helped us capture and probably get some of the younger talent that’s out there too, because, you know, generally we want to do life with people that are, that have similarities to us, right?

And so it’s pretty cool coming into work and, and enjoying some of the same things. And, you know, there’s a lot of guys here that are friends above and beyond just coming to work together and they do things on the weekends together. And yeah, same here with us too, right?

So it’s, it’s really cool to see and, and just some of the stories that we’ve gotten to see and to be a part of and see people just start to thrive, you know, stepping into it. And we’ve had people that have came here and hadn’t, they weren’t married at the time, but maybe now they’re married and now they’ve got, you know, two kids. And you know what I’m saying? Like just seeing people kind of come into their own from a life standpoint, it’s just really cool and, and unique and just, man, it’s so awesome. And I’m so lucky to be a be a part of it. And yeah, we’re, we’re excited about it and, and excited about the growth. And now not only for our company, but for for individuals as well, we want to try to grow everybody so.

Cole Strandberg:  It’s really cool. How cool, man? I mean, for all that stuff, there’s a great business case for it. But more importantly, it’s, it’s the personal case, right? It’s that conscious capitalism, the ability to use your influence on people for good. And I’ve found that that companies and leaders who buy into that mindset typically can hire easier, typically can retain, and typically can build that and foster that culture. One more thing I’d be remiss not to mention before we kind of go into some crystal ball type future predictions is your involvement in the Carolina’s Collision Association. Talk to me about why shops should consider being involved in those types of associations and their their regional group opportunities.

Kyle Bradshaw: It’s been really, really cool to see. So I think what’s, what’s tough about this industry is, is you know, I’m fortunate enough and you know, I’ve seen you at a lot of industry events as well. You know, you and I get to to travel the country and we get to see a lot of people and, and see the latest and greatest and, and this and that. And, and regionally, that’s just not the norm, right? And I think we all, you know what, whatever town we’re in, there’s, there’s certainly a shop probably on every corner who’s doing everything they possibly can to, to either keep the doors open or to make sure that they’re making payroll or they’ve got, you know, so many things going on.

And so really our, our association and the growth of our association has really been those independent, like single single store, single location shop operators that, you know, they may have been in business. Some of some of our members have been in business for 40 or 50 years and their dad started it or they may be third Gen. and some of them, you know, have just started. But, but for us, you know, we’re able to really bring, I think a level of education and, and access to, to things that, that otherwise they just simply would have never, I don’t want to, I’d say would have never seen or never, or missed out on completely. But a lot of times, you know, what we’re seeing, I guess in the 1st 6 to 12 months of, of whether it’s a product or, or, you know, how the industry’s going. Sometimes it takes, you know, two, 3-4 years before someone else will, will recognize or even hear of that. And you, you think of things like the blend study, for instance, like that’s something that SCRS did and it was a fantastic thing.

And I think it’s, it’s really changed, you know, I guess how the industry sees the, the blend times and, and has made things better for, for the industry as a whole. But there’s a lot of people and even there was a class recently, I think with even about a month ago, a question was asked is how many of you ever heard of the blend study? And about 50% of the people raise their hands. And that’s something that’s been out for, you know, I think it’s over a year now. And so it’s been out for quite some time, but still understanding that like, man, people are so caught up on working in their business that a lot of times they don’t get to work on their business.

And so for us being able to to bring that regionally and we try to do our best to, to move around from, you know, North Carolina and South Carolina and trying to target different areas. And so, but yeah, man, it’s just, and I think the camaraderie of it too. You know, so often, so many repairs are told, well, you’re the only one or you’re the only one who wants this and you’re the only one. And a lot of times if you listen to a lot long enough, you begin to believe it. And so it just creates a sense of camaraderie as well. And there’s been, you know, dude, I’ve got some lifelong friendships now from, from just being involved in, in CCA and, and some of our members, man, and some of our board members just created really close relationships with people that I never would have if not for it.

And then also, man, there’s businesses that have literally resurrected, if you will, they were, they were on, you know, on the outs. And so it’s one of those things where they, they kind of came in and started to get involved and, and their involvement, man just created some awesome growth for their company. And it’s just been really cool to see. It’s kind of like a gym membership, right? Like you can go pay for the membership, but if you don’t put the work in, nothing’s going to happen. And so we’ve, we’ve had some people, man, that have have bought in and joined and yeah, man, the, the growth has been awesome. And we’ve just, we’ve got, man, awesome people everywhere and it’s just been really cool to see.

Cole Strandberg:  It’s such a cool industry in that regard. Like by and large, people in this space are so cool, so nice, fantastic people. And there’s a lot to learn. No matter who you are. You can either and probably both learn from somebody or impart wisdom to somebody. And a combination of the above is awesome. I had Jill Tuggle and Josh Kent on like it’s last year and I asked them this question. I’ll ask you the same question and then we’ll kind of round out with our specialization, bring some closure to that. Are the best shops members of their local associations because they’re the best shops, or are they the best shops because they’re members of their local association?

Kyle Bradshaw: Dude, that’s a great question. Oh, you know, I’ve never thought of it like that. So I I’ll say this, I’ll say this. Most of the time, I can’t speak for everybody, but most of the time people who are the best are constantly striving for ways to be the best and are constantly looking for ways to better themselves. And there’s certainly nothing about our association that would bring anyone down, if that makes sense. So, so for us and what we’re trying to do and trying to build from AK and M standpoint, you know, I’ll, I’ll do everything I can to pour in our people and to do things. But then it’s kind of like with your parents, right? Your parents growing up could have told you something, told you something, told you something, but you heard it from like a coach or somebody else. And you’re like, ah, OK. Sometimes it’s really power.

Life changing what an idea sometimes man, we’ll, we’ll send some of our people to either an association event or another industry event and it’s like they’ll come back and they’ll be like, man, did you, did you see this or did you know you could do this? And then I’m like, yeah, like we talked about that like multiple times. I’m like, yeah, yeah. But, but so, so I think like the, the typically the industry involvement and, and association of all, I feel like all that goes hand in hand.

Like I, I, I really do like most of the time the, the shops and typically you’ll see even the associations that have strong associations, they’ve got really strong shops as a part of their association. And it just, it continues to raise that level of, of member involvement and getting other, other shop buy in. And I think that’s, I mean, quite frankly, that’s why our association has really kind of started and, and taken off. And we’ve just, you know, really continued to rise, to rise the level, I guess, of collision repair in the Carolinas, if you will. And we’ve just gotten a lot of really strong buying from a lot of strong shops. And it’s just kind of taking off like a wildfire around here. And we’re trying to harness it and continue to grow it, I guess, if you will. I’m sorry, political. Yeah. I’m sorry to be a politician there, man, was a.

Cole Strandberg:  Perfect answer perfect answer no, I, I think very highly of of Carolina’s collision Association had the opportunity to speak there this past summer and could not agree more like the the caliber of shop represented there, the level of care that the people who were in attendance had for improving their business and improving the industry as a whole was really cool.

So anybody in that general vicinity, check it out. Anyone who’s not consider joining your local or regional association. Bringing us back to why we’re here and the specialization. Looking forward, as the industry continues to evolve, what trends do you see shaping the future for shops who are are specializing?

Kyle Bradshaw: Well, I think so. For instance, I think we’ve got 30 like 30 couple certifications at this point in time. Wow.

And I, I personally believe that that number will, will start to decrease and, and we’ll have to really begin to hone in and focus in on, on some pretty specific manufacturers just from a, you know, pure volume standpoint and getting to the point to where you know, for being selective with your work, right?

Like if you’re equipped to do it, trained to do it, then do it. And then, you know, I think you also have to look at what’s going on from a consolidating standpoint and the consolidation that’s happening and understanding that from an independent standpoint, the, the typically you’re bigger and stronger single location shops are either growing.

So they’re growing into AMSO standpoint. And then I think there’s been some, some consolidators that are starting to even buy up some of the single stores too. And so for, for us, I think moving forward, that’s what we have just decided to really focus on is, you know, the luxury, the highline stuff.

And we, you know, with even within the last year, I’ve had to kind of take a step back and look at, you know, OK, well, we, we paid this fee and we did this training and we have this equipment and we fixed two of their cars last year or three of their cars last year. Like does that really make sense for us to continue to be on that program for, for two or three cars?

Probably not right, And so I think there’s going to happen. There’s there’s going to be some decisions there where you kind of got to pick your girlfriend and and be happy with what you picked. And so I I think that’s where where things are heading. I think the the vehicle complexity certainly not going to become less and and also, you know, you get into some of the the electric vehicles and and eight ass and things like that. Like that’s that complexity. It it’s it’s going to, to me, it’s going to put a lot of people in their place from a standpoint where where they didn’t invest necessarily in the training tooling and equipment. Like they’re going to be really regressed and and have to take a step back on what they can work on anyways, because there’s going to be some stuff that from a safety standpoint, it’s just not going to make sense for them to even risk working on something like that and so.

Cole Strandberg:  Do you guys, I don’t mean to interrupt here, but another benefit of specialization is being able to do more things in house for certain vehicles. How do you guys handle Adidas calibration today?

Kyle Bradshaw: So we try to, I mean to your point, we try to do everything we possibly can on our own. So and that includes Adidas. We’ve gotten into even like coatings and films because a lot of the the cars that we’re working on, they’ve got ceramic coating, they’ve got, you know, PPF on it, right. And so to really be a place to where we’re not having to sub anything out has been really cool.

But from a 8S standpoint, we’re doing everything in house. And if it’s not something that that we do, you know, that we can do here, then typically back to the dealer relationships that we talked about, that’ll be going back to whatever dealer referred us and it’ll go back through their service department and their service department will capture that at that point in time. And then and a lot of times cold too, like when I talk about like doing a dealer pick up, if if that dealer is going to be doing that, that’s going to be the last thing that’s done and the customer will pick it up directly from that dealer that.

Cole Strandberg:  Makes total sense. Well, in, in this thesis, in this theme of, you know, scale, specialize, sell, I make it pretty clear you don’t have to pick just one. There can be a combination. There are a lot of specialized shops planning on scaling, for example. And not to lead you to an answer to my next question, but what are you most excited about for the future of K&M? Anything you guys are cooking? Where do you view so much has changed in the last decade? Where do you think this business is 5-10 years down the road?

Kyle Bradshaw: We’ve got a little bit of a unique approach where our growth is, is out of a single location. So for instance, when we built our initial facility, it was about 20, I think it was about 23,000 square feet when we built it. And then we just did an addition to the existing facility about 2 1/2 to three years ago, added another 10,000 square feet there. And then we’ve just the the lot beside of us and that’s actually being cleared right now as we speak. And so we’ll be building a 20,000 square foot building right beside of us as well.

And so it’s been really cool for us because we’ve been able to kind of just expand in one location, the management aspect of it and then also ensuring that the the quality stays where where we’ve come to expect, right? We don’t want any of that to slip and we certainly don’t want to take our eye off the ball on what got us here. And so for us, that’s what our growth has looked like. And it’s not, I guess as conventional as what, you know, a lot of other people are doing they’re, you know, opening, you know, shops and, and purchasing shops and things like that. And I think that’s great. But but for us, I think it’s just enabled us to have a little bit more consistency throughout. And I mean, we still go through the same things you would, if you’re purchasing, you know, another location when we’re when we’re doing that, I mean, you talk about like staffing that.

And then, you know, we’ve got to learn and adapt how to manage that and, and how to run that right. And so that’s what I’m most excited about. And then also, you know, just excited about the ability to, to see some people step up and like, like when you talk about growth, like I want people to grow as people for us, right? And their role and their duties and responsibilities. And man, we’ve got people that have really taken ownership of their, of their role and, and are stepping into it and just seeing that and seeing the difference that that that’s done for them has been awesome. And so I just want to continue to see that for us and for our people, man. So I’m, I’m excited about it. We’re not going out and then buying 10 shops next year or anything like that. But but we certainly got some, some stuff coming down the pipeline that’s going to be really impactful for us. And I think it, it enables us to kind of expand our footprint here where we’re at, but also become more aggressive from, from a marketing standpoint and and some, some areas that we’re really trying to target as well.

Cole Strandberg:  I love it, man. You guys are just breaking the mold on a couple different things. You’re scaling without necessarily growing locations. I I think that’s, that’s scale. That is still scale. We got Robert Molina, a former guest on the show here down in Florida doing the same thing, building on that campus, expanding. I think it’s a great way to go about it. If the property allows for it, if the team allows for it and is built for it, I think that’s a great way of going about it. Man, you have been so generous with your time. So open in your sharing. I want to, I want to round out this conversation with one question to sort of bring it all home. And I want you to put on the hat of a, a single store generalist Body Shop owner. And if you’re listening to this right now, what advice would you give them as they can consider their strengths and the opportunities when thinking about specialization?

Kyle Bradshaw: Well, I think first and foremost it’s it’s not, it’s not being scared to jump in the water, right. Like I think a lot of times we, we are very apprehensive to move in, in, in One Direction or another. So I think that’s first and foremost. But but I think too, a lot of times what people will say to us and this is through like, you know, stuff we do at CCA or, or whatever, and it’s, it’s almost a woe is me mentality.

It’s like, well, I’ll I’ll never be able to do to do what you guys are doing or this rather the other. And it’s like, well, man, 10 years ago, like we had, you know, three or four people, right? Like it doesn’t just happen overnight. And so I think helping people understand that, yes, like if you decide to go the, the path that we’ve went, like there’s certainly going to be struggles and there’s work that that has to be put in. But I think it, it can be very lucrative and very rewarding. But I, I think it’s just the not, not letting fear kind of keep you on the sidelines, I guess, if you will. And so and also understanding that where, where vehicles are certainly isn’t where they were five years ago, 10 years ago. And I think what we’re seeing is, is the rapid advancement of technology and that’s just going to continue.

I mean, when you talk about like skyrocketing and and seeing the curve, man, it’s people, people need to get ready because just like when I, I remember when the aluminum F1 fifties came out right, like that was a really big deal. Some of the luxury vehicles were already using aluminum at that point in time, but nobody really wanted to talk about it. But when the F150 was aluminum, then everybody’s like, you know, all crazy aluminum. And so, and now we see aluminum’s pretty much on every single vehicle now, right? And some, some form of an or another. And so I think it’s just understanding that this industry has continued to evolve and it’s going to continue to do so. And if you don’t have like a, a, a thought process of like the future and, and what that’s going to look like for you and your business, you’re going to get left behind really fast. And I hope that doesn’t happen to anybody, but but I think there’s going to be some people out there, man, where it just gets to the point where they’re, you know, they’re not able to operate the way that they once were because of it.

Cole Strandberg:  It’s a different business than it was a decade ago and it’s going to be a substantially different business a decade from now. And so as we’ve talked about, this is not a shift that anyone needs to make tomorrow, but sooner is better. Take the leap. Oh man, I, I so appreciate our conversation. It has been an absolute blast. Where can people follow along with you? Get in touch and learn more about K&M.

Kyle Bradshaw: So obviously LinkedIn for anybody that’s that’s on LinkedIn, you can certainly find find me there, K&M there. And then yeah, Facebook, all the, all the social stuff, man. So yeah, we’re, we’re pretty involved, I like to think between, you know, industry events and things like that. So always open for dialogue, open for conversation. And if anybody ever wants to chat and reach out and I usually will get back to you.

Cole Strandberg:  I love it. You heard it here. It’s a guarantee. Just kidding, cow man. Thank you so much. An absolute pleasure. Really appreciate you joining us here today on the Collision Vision.

Kyle Bradshaw: And thanks for having me, it was a blast.

Cole Strandberg:  That is all for today’s episode here on The Collision Vision. I hope you enjoyed our conversation with Kyle Bradshaw about the power of specialization in collision repair. Kyle shared some incredible insights on the value of finding that niche, investing in certifications, and focusing on quality to differentiate your shop in an increasingly competitive industry. I love the specialization route for the right shops in the right markets. I think it bodes extremely well for the present and for the future. If you’re thinking about the future of your shop, whether it’s specializing, scaling, or selling, this series is here to provide some real actionable advice and inspiration. Be sure to give us a follow on The Collision Vision wherever you listen to your podcast and on YouTube where The Collision Vision lives in video form, and leave us a review while you’re at it and give it a share with your network so we can keep the conversation going.

On behalf of the Auto Body News team and myself, thank you for coming along for the ride.

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