Dave Luehr is a former paint technician-turned-shop owner who later founded Elite Body Shop Solutions to help other independent owners optimize their businesses through training, coaching and connecting with their peers.

Luehr appeared on a recent episode of The Collision Vision podcast, driven by Autobody News and hosted by Cole Strandberg, to talk about his annual Positivity Summit, the trends he’s seeing across the industry, and how shop owners and leaders can “grow forward” even in the face of some big challenges.

Luehr said after he opened his own shop, he grew it to 13 employees bringing in more than $1 million a year. However, he said, he got there by spending $1.1 million.

“I was deep in debt and in a lot of trouble, because I was a technician turned business owner,” Luehr said.

He later founded Elite Body Shop Solutions to teach other techs-turned-business owners “how to be badass business people.”

Since Elite’s founding in 2014, its mission — to help independent shop owners reach their potential — has stayed constant, but the strategies and tactics to do so have evolved with the industry.

“We believe that you can’t help a shop improve unless the people in the shop are willing to change how they think,” Luehr said.

This year, Luehr co-hosted the sixth annual Positivity Summit with Ryan Taylor of BodyShop Booster.

The virtual event started during the pandemic to bring the industry some good news during a tough time. The first one in 2020 featured a handful of shop owners. This year, it grew to more than 50 speakers over a seven-hour webcast.

“It was just a tsunami of positivity,” Luehr said. “It was so fun. Every year it just gets a little bit bigger, a little more fun.”

Luehr said some of Elite’s mastermind peer group members have gone from struggling to reach $500,000 in annual revenue to approaching $3 million in “just a few short years.”

“It’s really fun to see what they can do things with just some of the basic strategies that we help them build,” he said. “If they just trust the process, they can get these kind of results.”

Strandberg asked if there are any constants Luehr sees among Elite’s top performing independent shops.

First, Luehr said, Elite teaches its members to identify a unique selling proposition (USP) and lean into marketing it.

“Go out and sell it to potential referral influencers, go out and tell people why their shop is different and why people should come to their shop,” Luehr said.

Several shop owners have told Luehr they feel they aren’t getting anything out of earning OEM certifications. Luehr said his first question is how the shop is marketing those as its USP.

Second, with claims counts down across the industry, top performers are finding ways to capture more customers who would rather pay for the repair out of pocket rather than involve their insurance company, Luehr said.

And finally, some independent top performers are on the cutting edge of using AI to capture work and retain those customers after the initial repair is complete, he said.

Reiterating that Elite works with independent shops, Luehr said he sees a lot that aren’t getting the training they need to perform safe, proper repairs on increasingly complex vehicles.

“That worries the hell out of me,” he said.

Luehr said he would like to see independent shop owners have more of a voice in I-CAR, to develop the training that segment of the industry needs.

“There’s a perception that I-CAR training is a waste of money to a lot of these guys, but it’s also our primary resource for training,” he said.

Luehr said he is currently working with I-CAR leadership to improve communication channels between the training organization and independent shops — of which, he noted, there are still about 24,000 in the U.S.

“If a shop owner chooses to look at talent shortages and advancing technology and consolidation as a problem, then it will be a problem for them,” Luehr said.

On the other hand, Elite’s highest performing independent shops see those same issues as a chance to “distance themselves from the competition,” he said. “That’s what we really encourage our clients to do.”

Collision shops need to “make some adjustments” to live up to customer expectations shaped by companies like Amazon, Luehr said.

Friendly, communicative customer service is important, he said, but where shops “fall down” is process consistency.

“Amazon delivers, most of the time, on what they promise, because they’ve got systems and processes that ensure that,” Luehr said. “My advice to shop operators is they need well-defined processes that can deliver consistently. Consistency is the key to the kingdom right now.”

Luehr said he has been criticized for being disconnected from reality: “People poke fun at me for being ‘Mr. Positive.’”

However, that’s the opposite of the truth, he said. “To me, it’s not about avoiding the truth at all. It’s more about taking a moment to just pause for a second and don’t react. It’s just taking a moment to look at the challenge for what it really is and figure out a way to do something positive with the information that’s provided.”

Luehr said a quote from a personal development book by Napoleon Hill has helped him get through the dark days in his life: “Every adversity contains the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”

“That quote has…forced me to take a moment to look at the situation and find what’s good in here, because there always is something. And if everybody could take that approach, they’d be a lot happier in life,” he said.

Most technicians who have turned into independent shop owners haven’t had any formal leadership training, Luehr said, but there are three primary roles of a leader they need to get right.

First, they need a vision — and they need to be able to paint that vision for their employees, to get them on board with it.

Second, they need to give people a voice in how to achieve that vision.

Third, they need to keep everyone on the same path toward that vision.

“That comes through accountability, and sometimes that’s very uncomfortable for people,” Luehr said. Standards and expectations need to be made clear.

Elite helps its members develop those standards in an operational playbook, but “it just becomes a doorstop if they can’t get it implemented. And part of implementation is the willingness to hold people accountable to the new standards that are being created,” he said.

“You get what you tolerate, and if you tolerate deviations from your standard and your dreams and your vision, that’s what you’re going to end up with.”

Luehr said some of Elite’s mastermind peer group members have successfully applied a “growing forward” mindset not only to their business, but to state associations and other collision repair organizations as well.

“They’re stepping out and helping the industry,” he said. “And that’s really something that inspires me.”

For instance, Jerald Stiele and Jake Moser of Collision Center 1 in the Minneapolis area, which now has four locations in “one of the most competitive landscapes in the U.S.,” according to Luehr, are also involved in I-CAR and the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Minnesota (AASP-MN.)

“These guys are just a shining example of everything that we teach and preach at Elite, and I’m so proud of them,” Luehr said. “And there’s others, too.”

Strandberg asked Luehr what one thing he would change in the industry if he could wave a magic wand and do it instantly.

“Nothing, man,” Luehr said. “It’s the challenge that makes it so interesting.”

But, he acknowledged, “I’m going to get some hate mails if I don’t say something about the insurers’ reluctance to pay for a job done right. I do wish that would change.

“It’s been a battle for the 40 years I’ve been in it, and I don’t see it changing any time soon, but that would be my magic wand moment,” Luehr said.

For shop owners who are feeling burned out or overwhelmed, Strandberg asked what first steps they could take to get back on track.

“I’ve already gotten, I think, two calls this week from shop owners that are feeling burned out or overwhelmed. It’s just so prevalent right now. It’s tough out there sometimes,” Luehr said.

Burnout has two root causes, he said: Using the wrong strategies over and over, and operating without a compelling vision.

“Why am I doing all this hard work? What’s the outcome going to be someday if I keep doing this?” Luehr said. “It’s really important for shop owners to reconnect with that vision. And if they don’t have a vision, create one. Just put pen to paper and say, ‘If I do the right things, what could this business look like someday? What could it mean to my family? What could it mean to my community?’”

“Overwhelmed” is a synonym for “unorganized,” he said. “Shop owners need a proactive strategy, not reactivity.”

The first step to overcoming feeling burned out or overwhelmed is understanding the current condition of the business, because “there’s something they’re not doing correctly. They’re using an old framework in today’s modern collision industry,” Luehr said.

Elite Body Shop Solutions just launched a free strategy assessment, available at bodyshopassessment.com, to identify gaps in a shop. It takes about six to 10 minutes to complete.

“It’s comparing what’s going on in a person’s business to the strategies used by some of the world’s best shops, Luehr said.

The assessment also includes free feedback and coaching.

“It’s just something that we want to do to start building some relationships and helping some of these independents who maybe are feeling a little overwhelmed right now,” he said.

Asked about the biggest opportunity he sees in the next three to five years, Luehr said he doesn’t think it’s AI or ADAS.

“I believe the biggest opportunity for growth is simply the person standing on the other side of the counter from you, your customer,” he said. “That experience that they have with you and your shop can organically grow a business better than any other fancy tool that I know that’s out there. You’ve got to own those customers for life, and you can’t lose.

“That’s what I want to see: people really get focused on creating processes and customer experiences that your competition won’t or can’t do.”