Shop Credibility, Improving Quality, & Success with Mike Anderson

For the final episode of the year, Cole Strandberg wanted to revisit one of his favorite conversations with Mike Anderson. During this discussion, they cover why shops should consider OEM certifications, how to choose the right ones, the steps to get certified, and how to maximize the value of those credentials. If you’re looking to strengthen your shop’s credibility, improve repair quality, and position yourself for long-term success in an evolving industry, this episode is for you.

Cole Strandberg: Always exciting when I get to speak with you. And I know you are moving around the country. It feels like you’re everywhere. It feels like I see you everywhere. And yet I still can’t get anywhere near enough of Mike Anderson. So thrilled today. For a fun conversation, let’s. Let’s dive right in. And then later on in our conversation, we’ll talk a little bit about what all you’re up to these days, which I know is a lot, starting with OE certifications. Why should Collision Repairs consider pursuing OEM certifications? It seems like a basic question, but I know there’s a lot that goes into that.

Mike Anderson: Yes. So, you know, first of all, I’m going to be the first to acknowledge that, you know, I talk to and hear from a lot of shops that they’re actually discouraged with their OEM certifications. They feel like, you know, they’ve invested money to get certified. They haven’t seen the return on the investment because of the fact that they felt that, you know, they automatically should see work referrals from that. You know, obviously you get that from some of your European manufacturers or EVs that have restricted part sales. But let’s go back to OEM certifications, right? Like if I went to Vegas and you said, hey, Mike, you can only put your money on one number at the roulette table. And one number was like DRPs. One number was MSOs, you know, one. One was, you know, banner franchise brands. One was certified Collision Centers. I would still go all in on OEM certifications, you know, and I’ll tell you the biggest reason, right? And that reason is this. And this statistic comes from a variety of different industry. You know, pundits in our industry have validated this data, right? Like Ryan Taylor from body shop booster ccc. There’s a lot of companies that have validated this data. But right now we know that claims count is dropping. We hear a lot of shops are really, really slow right now. They don’t have a ton of work. So let’s talk about why you should be OM certified. Number one is so you can have a relationship with a dealership, right? So let me give an example. The average dealership runs about 100 cars a day through the service lane. 100 cars a day. 2100. I mean, I’m sorry, 21 days in a month, that’s 2100 cars. That’s approximately 10,000 cars a year that go through the service lane. Right? So let’s say you could capture just 20% of those 10,000 cars at an average severity. Let’s just say, I don’t know, $5,000. That would still be. If you only captured 20%, that would still be around $12 million worth of revenue for your collision repair facility. So I think when you’re OEM certified, you actually can have the opportunity to build a relationship with a dealership that is sponsoring you because it’s work referral sources. I also believe that I’m all in on OEM certifications. Because you look at what John EK and GM are doing with their collision accident app, I can tell you there’s an Asian manufacturer that in June is going to make a major announcement that’s very similar to GM’s Accident app. And I think that that is another good reason to be again, on an OEM certification program, obviously for those that are Europeans or EVs, you have restricted parts sales. That’s kind of like a captured market. Another reason why I would be all in and invested in OEM certifications is called social proof. Right. And I learned about social proof from Nick Schoolcraft at Phoenix Solutions. Right. I always want to give credit to whoever I learned something from. And social proof is that today’s consumers have a trust but verify mentality. They want to find a way that they can verify that you can be trusted. And obviously Google reviews might be one way that a consumer could verify they could trust you. But also when your shop is listed on an OEM shop locator and you can text or email or provide that consumer that link to verify that you’ve entrusted or that you’ve met the training or equipment requirements. So again, I could speak this whole hour, Cole, about why I’m all in on OEM certification. So to recap that, number one is it gives you an inroads to build a relationship with a dealership, which gives you dealership referrals. Number two for some of the OEMs have restricted parts sales. Number three, we’re starting to see some OEMs roll out these accident, you know, assistant apps where you’re on there. Number four gives you social proof that you can differentiate yourself with a competitor. So I could go on and on and on.

Cole Strandberg: So many reasons. And in the spirit of getting credit for where ideas have inspired you and where you’ve heard things, I have to give you tremendous credit for shaping my perspective on OE certifications and the future of the business. And there are so many business reasons to pursue the OE certification route. There are reasons beyond that as well. And we’re going to get into business reasons. But first thing that comes to mind for me is the advancements made in vehicle technology and the equipment and the procedures required to fix them appropriately. How have OEs kind of played that part in ensuring that we are fixing vehicles properly and safely?

Mike Anderson: Yeah. So I want to start off too by saying that not all OEM certification programs are made the same. There are some that are absolutely better than others. I’m not here to talk about who they are or who they are not, but I think everybody in the industry knows there are some OEM certifications that provide much more value than others. But in my mind, I believe that, like, if you go back to the early days, right, like when I had my shops, we were Audi certified, right. And when you look at, like, the early OEM certification programs like Audi and Mercedes, I absolutely believe that, like Mark Allen and Benito Sid, you know, and those OEMs absolutely raised the quality standard in our industry by having training where, you know, you had to go and you had to get, you know, certified on your welding. And I think had those OEMs not done that. And I’ll be honest with you today, and I hate to say this, but I still think we have an issue with welding in all the shops across the country, or most all the shops, right. But I believe that had Audi and Mercedes not come in with those standards and that training, it scares me to think of where we may be as an industry had they not done that. So I think that there are some OEMs again, you know, Audi, Mercedes, JLR, that’s another one. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say them that they absolutely raised the standard of what training should be like in our industry. And they set the bar very, very high. And I think that a credit to those OEMs that were the early adopters of that, that actually helped us to improve the quality in our industry. You look at Mercedes like, you know, if you’re part of their elite program, you have to go every six months and get, you know, recertified. I think that’s an incredible standard. If you look at JLR’s standards, you know, it’s. I know people that are body technicians that go there and fail. Right. So I. I think it absolutely. I think the OEMs helped us on that. You know, if you shift gears and you look at, like, the domestic, I mean, I’m sorry, the Asian side, like Toyota, Lexus, I mean, gosh. I mean, their training is only available to Certified collision centers. But, you know, you go there and you attend their training and you learn things like what are the proper ways to do things. You learn how to utilize their own repair procedures and how to navigate that, you know, So I think that the OEMs have upped the standard, you know, by some of their training that they’ve made available to certified collision centers.

Cole Strandberg: Most definitely. And a lot of good points there. And so much of it is about choosing the right OEs to pursue. And we’ll talk about that in a little bit. But you’re, you’re going out there and pounding the pavement and preaching the good word about how to not only run a great body shop business, but how to fix vehicles appropriately. With that, there’s still a tremendous number of shops who have not fully gone into the OE certification world. I have to imagine some of that is due to some misconceptions about the process, about the usage. Are there any misconceptions about OE certifications that come to mind to you?

Mike Anderson: Yeah, I think a lot of people have the misconception that once I get ODM certified, I’m going to sell this work come to my door. And I think that’s the biggest myth that’s out there. You know, there’s no guarantee that when you’re OEM certified, it’s going to make you have more work. Unless again, it’s one of the OEMs that have restricted part sales. But let’s say you get certified with a domestic or Asian manufacturer that doesn’t have restricted port sales. There’s still things you can do to leverage that. But there are things you have to do, right? Like with the way you answer the phone, you know, if somebody calls and say, hey, I wrecked my Nissan or my Toyota or my gm, you know, does the person answering your phone even mention that you’re certified? I think it’s making sure that, you know, you have those OEM logos, you know, on your website. There was two OEM manufacturers, Honda and Acura and Stellantis, that we actually did a survey or like a study, like a research product program to see how many certified shops for Honda, Acura or Stellantis actually even mentioned the OEM certification on their websites. And we found it was less than 30%. And of those 30% that had it on their website, the majority of those were in violation of the marketing parameters to use those OEM logos. Like, you know, you can’t change the color of it or the font or the size, et cetera. So I think it starts with us getting educated and taking, you know, control of our destiny and leveraging, excuse me, leveraging those certifications with again, the way we answer the phone, the way we greet the customer, the signage we display. Is it on our website? You know, do we mention it to customers in our conversations? So I think, you know, some of that onus falls on us. Right. You know, one of the things I always did when I had OEM search, and again, I wasn’t a DRP for anyone, is that we had open, open what we called car open Car clubs clinics where we would invite like the BMW Car Club, the Audi Club, the Porsche Club, the Volvo Club, the Mercedes Club, and we would do like open houses for them and we would educate them. Right. So I think some of it, you know, is also, you know, you can’t just expect. Well, I’m certified in the dealership, should automatically refer all their work to me. You know, you got to also provide some type of value proposition to that dealer. Right. I see some certified shops that have a great relationship with their dealerships. I mean, a great phenomenal relationship. And they have an estimator in the service lane. Right. And they, they speak to them on a regular basis. But I see other shops that are certified and they have a relationship with the dealership. And the dealership, you know, says, hey, you know, can you get this mirror cover painted for me? And it takes them two weeks. Like, you still gotta have a value prop for that dealer, you know, and that dealership’s not wanting complaints and things of that nature. So, you know, it’s gotta be a win win conversation. Now, I don’t believe that that win win conversation is giving kickbacks or bribes or anything like that to a dealership. I think that’s unethical and wrong, but I still think there has to be some value there. And also, again, I think also being loyal to the, the dealer that sponsors you, being loyal to them and your utilization of OEM parts. Right. You know, and being really loyal to the brand on that.

Cole Strandberg: Absolutely. Well, you mentioned something along the lines of not, not all OEM certifications are created equal. And if you recall when we were together a couple months ago back in Chicago at the aasp.

Mike Anderson: Yep, you’ve got me job on that. Great job on the panel discussion, by the way.

Cole Strandberg: Right back at you. An excellent panel moderated by the best of the best, of course. I mentioned something along the lines of, hey, specialization is one of the amazing paths forward. Obviously, OE certifications are a key component of specialization, but I also mentioned only you can really determine what the right specialization is for you. So with so many certification options out there for shops, how should a shop go about deciding which ones or one to pursue?

Mike Anderson: Yeah. So most, if not all of your paint companies can provide some type of analytics reporting for you that allow you to know what types of vehicles are most predominant in your area. Right? So again, I believe all the paint companies can provide this service and they’ll tell you, for example, like, how many Toyotas are in your market area, how many GMs, how many, you know, Audis, how many aluminum Audis, how many, you know, and they can let you know the details on that. Right? And I think you got to look at how many vehicles. Vehicles are an operation in your market area and kind of use that to determine, you know, what OEM certifications you pursue. I think also you got to look at your past history, like, what types of vehicles have you fixed over the last five years? Right. And that should probably dictate some of your decisions. Now, you do got to keep in mind that with some of the Europeans or EVs, they may tow that vehicle from, you know, I don’t know, 120 or 180 mile radius if there’s restricted parts sales. So you may have to look out beyond like 25, 30 or 50 miles. Right? So I think you’ve got to make an educated decision on that. You know, I think you also got to look at understanding that if I have to invest X into training and travel and loss of production, what do I really need to, excuse me, see, as an ROI on that in order to, you know, recoup my investment, Right? So I think you got to make an educated approach on it, Right? It doesn’t make sense for you to invest, you know, a lot of money to get certified for OEM brand Y, if you’re only gonna. You’ve only done two last year, right? But I believe that sometimes there’s roi, return on investment, but sometimes there’s roo, return on objective, right? Like, I had a shop client of mine, they’re like, you know, I’m certified with this oem, but I don’t think I’m going to renew it because I don’t see any, you know, or, you know, any vehicles from that. I’m like, well, let me ask you a question. Like, you know, you have your shop and you got plenty of square footage, but you bought the six acres next to you. Why’d you do that? He said, well, that’s like somebody else nobody else builds next to to Me. So you didn’t buy that because it’s going to create money for you. You did it to protect your turf. So sometimes, you know, depending on the OEM certification, what it costs, you may do it just to protect your turf because you don’t know what the future holds for that OEM and, and where they’re going to go. You know, I look at Hyundai, Kia as an example. You know, a lot of shops maybe weren’t, you know, 100 ecstatic about Hyundai, Kia. Like, they were like Audi or BMW. But I look at Hyundai and Kia and how they’re getting into the EV space, and I see that, you know, they’re also maybe going to get into some of the delivery van space. So, you know, like, to me, that’s one that you want to have. And I think you also have to make sure that you surround yourself with people that also can help you to have a future outlook into where that OEM may be going. Right. Like, that OEM may not be very big right now, but where are they going to be in the future? What’s their plans for growth, you know, and vehicles and operations. So I think it’s important that you don’t just look at things short term, but you also look at the long term, you know, negative or positive ramifications of investing in that certification. And the last but not least is I think I need to. Also, I’d be, again, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say this is, you know, when you go to purchase equipment, you also want to make sure you’re purchasing equipment that probably has the most OEM approvals. But also, let’s say you’re pursuing Audi certification or Volkswagen. I’m going to use that just as an example. Right. In some cases, you may have to buy that equipment through their approved vendor so they can track the serial number and you get the proper software loaded on the, on the equipment. So at the end of the day, be cautious just going out and buying equipment unless, you know, it meets a certain, you know, the approval of that oem, but also to make sure you don’t have to buy it through a preferred vendor. Like, you know, in some cases, some OEMs use like SNAP on and you got to purchase through them. So, you know, make sure you’re doing that. The reason I said is I had a, a shop client of mine that purchased some equipment for one of the EV manufacturers and they bought it used and they found out it didn’t come with the software they needed for that specific OEM and now they’re stuck with, you know, a large outlay of investment on something they bought used. So just be a little cautious there.

Cole Strandberg: So much to think about and so much of it is thinking critically about the future of the macro. What OEs are going to boom? What OEs are going to boom in your market? I think this conversation has been tremendously valuable to this point. The certification conversation is so important. It’s one you have all the time. You did mention a downside with it. And it’s we don’t have time to talk through each and every certification here today. So we do have to speak in some generalities, which can be tough. I almost hate this question, but I think it bears asking because there are plenty of folks here listening today, I think that are kind of at step number one of identifying, hey, I do want to pursue this route. Are there any OE programs that serve as a great kind of first certification or a best bang for your buck that shops could look at just starting out?

Mike Anderson: So the first thing I would do is there’s a lot of network management tools are utilized in our industry. You have Integral, which is the sister company of Enterprise. You have Monitor, you have ccc, you have Collision Vision, you have OEC has a network management tool. You have Decra. And so like for example, like with Decra or Collision Vision, which has a new products out, you can pay them a fee and that you can load all of your equipment in there and then they can tell you what OEM certifications that you may qualify for based on your equipment. So that’s one option. Number two, excuse me. You know, obviously if you look at oec, which you know, purchased Assured Performance Network and they purchased Fairfax and they purchased, there was Summit Consulting, they’ve got, you know, they probably manage or oversee the majority of OEM certifications in the, in the country. You could also reach out to them if you don’t know how to get in touch with them. I can make an introduction to somebody from the OEC team and generally, you know, your domestic and Asian manufacturers with the exclusion of Toyota, Lexus, but like Nissan, Infiniti, Honda, Acura, all your domestics, you know, gm, Ford, Stellantis, you know, Hyundai, Kia, those are going to probably be some of the easiest to get because they don’t necessarily require specific type of equipment. They just require that they equipment meets certain specifications. So probably starting with some of the OEM certifications that OEC has is going to be your best bet. And again, I’ll be glad. Cole, if anybody wants to reach out to me, I can hook them up with somebody that can do that. Or there’s companies that can do an evaluation and say, based on your equipment, here’s some programs you qualify for. And if you do these two pieces of equipment, it might open up some more doors for you.

Cole Strandberg: I love it. That’s the rubber meets the road. Actionable stuff. Greatly appreciated. I have a feeling a lot of folks are going to take you up on that offer. Are there any cases where, when you’re speaking with a shop owner, OEM certification just is not right for their future?

Mike Anderson: You know, obviously, can you perform a safe and proper repair and not have OEM certifications? 1,000%, depending on the vehicle. That’s not all vehicles, Right. I wouldn’t say, like, you need to be working on a lucid or Rivian unless you’re certified or some of the Europeans. But could you fix a General Motors vehicle or a Nissan or a Honda without having certification? Yes, because again, you have access to the electronic service manual and the procedures that would tell you how to fix the vehicle. So there’s a way you can do safe and proper repairs. So would it make sense for some people maybe not necessarily to do that? Yes. I think it depends on where you’re at in the life cycle of your business. If you’re, say, 60 years old and you’re like, you know what, man, I only got like another three years left in this business, then it probably doesn’t make sense for you to go out there and spend a lot of money, you know, investing in a lot of, you know, you know, future tooling and equipment just to be in the business another two or three years now. With that said, it may prevent you from fixing some of the newer vehicles, but maybe you just focus on the older car park. Right. So I think it depends on your business model. What I think is very interesting is when you, you know, people ask me about OEM certs, and I know that you’re very involved in the MSO landscape. I think what’s really interesting is that, you know, if you look back five years ago or three years ago, all of the MSOs were DRP focused. Now you see a new model, you see quality, which is an mso, which is going after just OEM certification shops. You see, excuse me, vive. Which is only going after OEM certification shops. You look at, you know, Crash Champions has their luxury line, which is just going after OEM certification shops. Right. So I think that, you know, when you look at the MSO landscape has changed as I, I hope you would agree. If not, I would love to hear your thoughts that you, you. I, you know, like, here’s what I believe. I believe that you look at some of the MSOs that are focusing on OEM search and they’re like, you know what, let’s just let the other MSOs fight it out over the dip market share. Let’s focus on dealership relationships and let’s focus on OEM certs so we’re not fighting over the table crumbs that are left over people fighting for the DRP share. Right. So are there some shops that it probably doesn’t make sense for? Yes, but I think that not being OEM certified doesn’t mean you still don’t have to have the right equipment or know how to research the repair procedures and know how to fix cars safely.

Cole Strandberg: On the MSO piece, I think you’re 100% right. And I think as the market continues to mature, you’re going to find different funds, flavors of MSO coming up, and it’s OE certs. I think we’re going to see groups come in at the highest of high lines trying to do the same thing that Quality and Vive are already kind of moving in that direction. I think we’re going to find other specializations being rolled up as well. That DRP generalist shop has really been the historical target for consolidation. I think that’s beginning to change. I think that’s going to continue moving in that direction as well.

Mike Anderson: Yeah. One other thing I would say as well, and I think you might have said this, I believe it was you that talked about specialization. I was on a phone with a shop this morning and they had like three OEM certs and they’re like, look, I’m just going to focus on these three. I’m not going to focus on the others. And because, you know, the expense for training, you know, depending on how many OEM search you have, you might, you know, give all this loss of production stuff on training. So I think for some shops, you know, as long as they have enough work to keep their. Especially like if you’re a dealership shop, let’s say you’re, you know, a dealership and you’re a Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen dealer, like in BMW, like those four brands are going to keep you busy. Right. So you may not necessarily have to pursue other OEM certs. So I think some people are looking at saying, you know what, I don’t necessarily want to pursue all the OEM certs. I just want the right OEM certs.

Cole Strandberg: Absolutely. And in that same vein and in that same presentation, by the time folks make it to my desk, they’ve been around for a little while and doing that. But almost without fail, those who are more narrow in their specialization are more profitable. You get really good at fixing something. You become the game in town for whatever that is. Really good things happen as long as you have that workflow.

Mike Anderson: Yeah, repetition breeds efficiency. Right. Like, I look at like, you know, Freeman Toyota, Jesse Parks, a great operator. He was the Toyota Alexa shop of the year. And you know, they, they do a ton of work and they do, I mean, like 90% of their work is Toyota Lexus. Right. And so, but he’s been able to really take that specialization and really make it benefit his business in multiple ways. Average sales per tech, his profitability, his cycle time, his customer experience. Right. So I do think there’s something to be said for shops that do specialize.

Cole Strandberg: Absolutely. Could not agree more. Now, I’m going to ask us to get general again, so bear with me. But say you’re a shop and you’ve identified certification abc and you want to pursue, but you don’t really know where to start. How do you start in moving toward that direction and beginning communication with these OEs, ensuring you have the right equipment? I know you have some resources for that you mentioned earlier, but, but beyond that, walk me through from square one.

Mike Anderson: So I think once you identify what OEM certifications you’d like to pursue, you need to find out who is the company that manages that OEM certification. Right. So for example, like let’s say, for example, Wadsworth helps to manage the, you know, Subaru program, Right. Or you get like OEC manages some, you know, some OEM certifications, Right. So you know, CCC manages Honda and Acura. So find out like, who manages that program and find out what the tooling and equipment requirements are. Then you have to find out if you need dealership sponsorship and if you need dealership sponsorship, generally you have to be in that dealership’s pma, which is their primary market area. So you need to find out what is the PMA primary market area for that specific oem and are you in their primary market area and then do you need dealership sponsorship? You also have to understand that some OEMs will limit how many sort of shops are in a certain market area. Some OEMs will not. Some OEMs do, and they based it on how many vehicles are in operation, referred to as vio, and they also sometimes based it on how many accident claims are in that market area. So there may be a limitation and they may already say, hey, we already got two shops or three shops, we don’t need any more. But if they do need another one, the other thing I would say is that if you do get an OEM that says, okay, we’re willing to sponsor you, we’re going to allow you to get certified, jump on your training. The number one reason why I see shops that start down the OEM path and they do not make it across finish line is because they drug feet, they drag their feet on getting trained. And the OEMs just don’t have any patience for that, right? Like if you got to get trained, you need to make sure you jump on that and you expedite that as quickly as possible. I think that’s really, really, really important. And then if there’s an OEM certification you want to pursue and that OEM says, look, we already have, you know, two shops in our area and we don’t need anybody else. Just position yourself to be number two. Position yourself. Because you never know when an opportunity could open. Maybe they sell more vehicles in that market area and they need to add a third shop, right? Or maybe that that existing shop sells to an MSO and they may not necessarily renew that OEM certification with that MSO and it could open up the opportunity for you. So be consistent. If you’re going to be number two and you’re in line waiting, be consistent in staying in touch with that OEM or the third party certification program. But don’t be like a pain in the butt, right? Like, don’t be demanding, like, you need to put me on, right? I see shops like that other shop is horrible, their quality is horrible, and you need to put me on. That’s like to go across with an arrogant attitude is not going to get you on, right? Like, be patient, you know, be humble, but just stay consistent in staying on their radar, right? And just continually touch base with them. Hey, can I do anything? If it’s a dealership that needs to sponsor people, just tell the dealer, hey, I understand you already sponsored two shops, but you know what, if you ever need a mirror cover or molding or something done, just, you know, a bumper or something, hey, let me know, I’ll service you and just wow them, right? I’ll tell you a real true story. When I had my shops, there was a dealership that sponsored another shop for OEM certification. And actually let me back it up, the dealership had their own body Shop that was certified. So they weren’t willing to sponsor us, but that dealership owned body shop kind of took their own dealership account for granted. Right. And so anytime they needed a mirror cover, a bumper, something really small, I mean, I just, I moved heaven and earth to get it done for them. And one day that dealership sold and the people that bought the dealership didn’t buy the body shop. And now they could refer that work to whoever they wanted. And because I was patient and just really did the right thing for 4 or 5 years, I actually gained a 2 million dollar a year account like overnight just by doing the right thing things. So that would be some of the insights I have on that.

Cole Strandberg: I love that. And it’s a piece that I really like about OE certification. Specifically when it does relate to a dealer sponsorship type setting, if you have capacity and you have the desire to get certified or you are certified, it turns into a go out and get it sales effort. Not by being arrogant, not by being a pest, but by being there doing the right thing, putting good things out. And typically if you put good things out, good things come back to you 100%.

Mike Anderson: 100%.

Cole Strandberg: So again, I know there’s a ton of different avenues here and different certifications, all with different processes. But beginning this process again with company ABC or OE abc, what should you expect from a process timeline and what ranges exist? I imagine there are some that say, yep, we need you. Boom, you have what we need. And there are others that might be a year plus long process of making that happen.

Mike Anderson: Yeah, I think there’s a lot of variables there. Unfortunately, depending on the equipment you have to have, depending on the training you have to have some OEM certifications, you may be able to start the process and get approved and certified honestly, within 90 days. Obviously there are some OEMs that have much more meat in their programs. They have a lot more training requirements, equipment requirements that could take as much as a year. So, you know, generally though, when I see a shop takes a long time to get certified, it’s certainly because they are not accelerating their training or they’re waiting to the last minute. Like I don’t want to purchase the equipment until I get through the training. You know, like you got to jump on it, you know, you got to do it with a sense of urgency. So I would say anywhere depends on the OEMs. Again, a lot of variables, right? It could be anywhere from 90 days to, excuse me, to a year. So again, a lot of variables.

Cole Strandberg: Some patience, persistence, stick with it. Absolutely. You mentioned earlier in our conversation the concept of maximizing the value of OEM certifications or really making the most out of those certifications. I imagine getting that stamp of approval from the OE is really just the first step of a much, much longer, broader process. Once a shop does have the certification they’re looking for, how from your perspective, can they make the most of that certification?

Mike Anderson: I think number one is making sure that those OEM logos are embedded in any of the network management tools that insurers or OEMs or consumers use. So again, CCCs grow my network enterprises integral. That’s number one. Number two, making sure that you’ve got the appropriate marketing materials that you’ve actually downloaded or you’ve gotten the appropriate marketing permissions and logos, etc. Flyers signaging like that, make sure you connect with the OEM or whoever manages their program and say, can you send me any of your marketing materials? Right? Because a lot of shops, they’ve never even reached out to receive that. I think also doing a press release, right? Excuse me? Do a press release and you’re, you know, whether it’s on social media, if it’s in your local community, whether it’s, you know, a billboard taking an ad out somewhere, maybe it’s an email campaign through Constant Contact, or maybe it’s a mailing mailer campaign that you do to all your existing customer base from your management system announcing your certifications. You know, so really promote it. I think also reaching out to car clubs, just doing a, you know, go to Google and just type in, is there a, I don’t know, a Volvo Car Club in my market areas or a Toyota Super Car Club in my market area, Right. Is there a Chevy Silverado Car Club in my market area? And Chevy Savoro Truck Club, I should say, right? And reach out to those car clubs and vehicle clubs and say, hey, you know, I’m certified. I’m willing to do an open house for you. I’m willing to be a guest speaker at one of your events. If you guys have like a car club event or you know, a meeting and gathering, you know, go out and build a relationship with, with your dealerships, right? And be consistent in that. Don’t just go see them one time, be consistent. Go see them on a monthly basis. Find a way to refer your total loss referrals to that dealership for referring work to you. So I think there’s a lot of things that you can do. I mean, it’s really just endless.

Cole Strandberg: It’s an exciting proposition, rather. And getting that OE certification, from my perspective, sort of qualifies you for the race. Then you go out and get to make it happen. The world opens up. So many different marketing initiatives, relationship initiatives with different dealerships. It’s really, really exciting. You mentioned that social. Oh, go ahead.

Mike Anderson: One of them. Sorry. Too. Like one of the other things I always did is I always went to the dealers that I was, you know, that Williams. I was certified. And I always want to have a meeting with the warranty and transportation damage clerk. Right. There’s always a warranty clerk at every dealer. Right. Maybe there’s more than one. And build a relationship with them. Understand how warranty claims are processed. A lot of people complain and say, well, you know, that doesn’t pay much to, you know, paint a hood. Only gives me two hours. Well, yeah, but understand with that warranty clerk, what labor rate can you build that out? Sometimes there’s specific coding. Like understand that don’t just say, hey, it doesn’t pay anything. Like, you know, understand that, you know, there’s, you know, specific coding. The way you file warranty claims that can be a really good, you know, line of work or doing any lease vehicles, right. Just to get. It’s knocking on doors and making sure, sure you, you know, you make that introduction with people. If you’re doing Mercedes Benz Sprinter vans, GM Bright Drop, you know, Rivian fleet vehicles like Amazon, go to link it LinkedIn and start doing, you know, you know, doing some LinkedIn searches to find out who are the. The fleet managers for certain, you know, large fleets in your area, things of that nature as well.

Cole Strandberg: You got me fired up here. There are so many different ways to grow your business. And if you’re not just thrilled with where your business is today, you are not at absolute capacity. Here’s a great way to fix that and to get the type of revenue and the type of vehicles you want by leveraging these OE certifications.

Mike Anderson: Amen. Amen.

Cole Strandberg: I love it. So you mentioned, I want to bring us back to social proof. That’s something that you’ve spoken about for a long time and I love the concept. Makes total sense as it relates to customers. How does OE certifications impact that social proof and relationships with insurers and DRPs?

Mike Anderson: So again, I think today’s consumers have a trust but verify mentality. You know, they want to verify you can be trusted. And so I think you can leave it to the customer to do their own research to verify you can be trusted or you can provide them and make it easy for them. My teammate Shoal Dreggers always says we need to make things radically easy for the vehicle. Right? Radically easy. So, like, for example, let’s say somebody wrecks their vehicle, they call my shop. First piece that I’m going to, first thing I’m going to do is I’m going to ask them, would you like to, Would you like a virtual or in person consultation? I didn’t use the word estimate. I said, do you want a virtual or in person consultation? Right. So then if they say they want a virtual, I’ll say, okay, I’ll text you a link and you can send me photos of your vehicle just to let me kind of do an assessment of it and see where you’re at. I didn’t say write an estimate, but just do an assessment. But immediately after that, I’m going to use like CCC’s texting option and I’m going to automatically text them a listing showing where I’m on, say, Toyota’s certified website. And I’m going to send text that to them and say, hey, you know, I just want to show you that we are one of only, you know, 27 shops in the state of Maryland that are, you know, certified by Toyota or Lexus. And here’s where you can see that we’re actually on Toyota’s certified collision center website. So you can validate we are who we say we are. So I think, you know, communicating that to the customer, making it easy for them because they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know to go out there and search Toyota certified shop. So I’m going to text them a link that they can click on and they’re going to be like, oh, wow, this shop is on there. And I see that, you know, they’re actually on the Toyota website. I think that builds confidence. I think also talking about your certifications, you know, one of the things I’ve always said is that competence leads to competence. Right? So competence. C O M P. Right. Competence leads to confidence, you know, taking and establishing yourself as the expert. One of the things I like to do and my teammate Dana Grettenberg likes to do, excuse me, is, you know, ask the consumer, you know, if we can review their owner’s manual with them and show them very specific things in their owner’s manual to establish my expertise, you know, Ryan Taylor from Body Shop business. I mean, I’m sorry, body shop booster, excuse me. One of the things Ryan Taylor said was that people are more afraid of making a wrong decision than they are of spending money. So, you know, convince them you’re the right decision. So you remove the whole conversation about money, especially if you’re gonna have to charge them out of pocket for OEM parts or safety inspections.

Cole Strandberg: I love it. I love it. A fantastic setting of the groundwork for our OE series. I want to begin shift gears and talk a little bit about what you’re up to these days. But before I do, is there anything we have not mentioned to put a bow on the OE conversation that I should have asked you about?

Mike Anderson: No. I would say, number one is if I’m OEM certified, go to www.carwise.com. that’s anybody that’s a CCC estimating customer has a free listing on that consumer facing website. Go to and make sure all of your OEM logos are showing up. Number two, contact Enterprise and say, can you help me to review my Integral profile, which is Enterprises network management tool and ensure all of your OEM certifications are listed appropriately in there. Keep in mind neither CCC nor Enterprises sister company Integral can put your OEM listings on there. They get a data feed from the OEMs telling them who certified and sometimes there’s a, you know, things happen, right? They get dropped or fall through the cracks. That’s number one. Number two, make sure you contact each of your OEMs that you’re certified with and ask them what marketing materials do you have as well as what, you know, logo parameters do you have. For me, using the appropriate logo. Number three, automatically go to the OEM shop locators and make sure that your shop is listed there appropriately. And any features like schedule an appointment request, an estimate, you know, links to your website, any of that is also on that OEM shop locator so that you have that competitive advantage. So that would be kind of three takeaways. And number four is, you know, again, don’t give up on OEM certs again. I understand there’s some that you might say, hey, it’s not working for me and you drop it. Get it, understand it. Totally, totally do. But you know, again, don’t be shortsighted. Make sure you’re attending industry conferences where you truly are hearing factual information about what the future is of OEM certifications versus, you know, things that you might read on social media that may not necessarily be true. You know, make sure you’re, you, whatever, whoever you’re baking, whatever you do to make your decisions, make sure it’s not an emotional decision, but it’s a factual decision, and you’re talking to a credible source. I’m not even saying that’s me. But make sure it’s somebody credible that’s going to shoot straight with you and give you some, you know, some, some good information to make the right decision.

Cole Strandberg: Wonderful. And I’ll say it if you won’t. That’s, that’s you. Fantastic. And really appreciate that. Now, let’s talk about one of our other favorite topics here on the Collision Vision, and that’s Mike Anderson. I’ve. I’ve seen you. Gosh, at the time of this recording. We’re late. Q1, I’ve probably seen you two or three times already this year. I hope by the time this airs, I’ll see you once or twice more. You’ve been all over the place. But something super exciting is your recent launch of the on the Road with Mike Anderson podcast here in the Auto Body News Network. Tell us a little bit about that.

Mike Anderson: Well, first of all, thank you for recognizing that and mentioning it. I appreciate that. So, you know, obviously I’ve been a guest on other people’s podcasts like, like yours, and I’m grateful for that opportunity. And people for years have been asking me, like, why don’t you do a podcast? And prior to Covid, I used to do monthly webinars live, prior to Covid, and we’d have, you know, 14 to 1800 people attend those webinars live. And that was prior to Covid, obviously. Right. And I think through Covid, people kind of got webinar out, so I just kind of quit doing them. And then people just were asking me as I traveled around the road over 300 days a year, like, hey, Mike, you know, why don’t you do a podcast? Why don’t you do a podcast? And so I really just prayed about it, thought about it. I asked people in the industry, like, I don’t want to do something for the sake of just doing it. Like, I don’t want to do it for my ego. I don’t want to do it, you know, because I want to be financially incentivized. You know, nothing like that. I just want to do it if I can truly make a difference for the industry. And so what I did is after talking to people that I respect, I said, you know what? Let me try it. Let me put my toe in the water. First of all, I just want to tell you that having done just two podcasts, I’ve recognized the technical challenges. So hats off to you, brother, because it’s a lot harder than it looks. So what I did is I said, you know what, let’s go with on the Road with Mike Anderson, serving up some collision advice. And the whole goal was, goal was to do my podcast, you know, because I’m live, you know, I’m on the road. All these different, you know, I go into shops where I see people doing stuff really cool and I’m like, man, I wish everybody shop could see what this shop’s doing, right? Or I see really cool things on the road and I’m like, how can I create awareness to what all these great shop owners and operators are doing around the country? So what I did is I decided to launch a podcast called on the Road with Mikey Anderson. And I would do it live while I was on the road. So we launched it two months ago. Our very first podcast. We had Randy Patella from Reliable Auto Body up in Rhode Island. Collision. I’m sorry, Rhode island, state of Rhode Island. And we had him on our podcast because Rhode island has the highest severity of any other state because they have the best laws in their state. So I was like, you know what, let me tell all these shops about this law that they pass and educate them about how they did it. So we did that. And then last week I was in Bristol, Tennessee and I was at a shop called Wallace Collision. And like they do safety inspections probably better than anybody I’ve met in the United States. Like they have a dedicated person that does this. I’m like, wow, I just really want to educate shops about how they do this, how they get reimbursed. And again, my whole goal of a podcast was, you know, not to do something that was pre recorded, record it, but to do it live, where people can actually ask live questions during the podcast so we can answer some of their questions or frustrations or what’s going on in the industry. So we’re still working out the bugs and the kinks. I mean, much like you, Auto Body News, you know, is, is the company that’s, are, you know, the organization that’s helping us to promote it. So thank you to Auto Body News and all the team there. Again, to anybody that attended the first two, I want to say thank you and I apologize for the technical issues because our last one we did, you know, we had four people live in a shop with cameras and was like, oh my gosh. But so that’s kind of what it is, you know, again, as I travel around the country, if I’m in a town and your shop’s doing something cool, I want, I Obviously, can’t go to everybody’s shop, but if I’m in a certain city or town and you’re doing something cool, I want to broadcast live from your shop, have you on there, and show people what you’re doing. That’s really, really cool. And again, we just want to do it as a way to give back to the industry. One of the things that I absolutely determined in the beginning was it was not going to be something where I was selling somebody’s product or, you know, or. And I even told Autobody News, like, there’s no filter with Mike Anderson, right? If I get on there, when I talk about something, I just want to be able to do an unfiltered. And that’s kind of where it’s came from. So our next podcast is going to be Monday, April 7, I believe. And we’re going to actually have four consumers, four vehicle owners on our podcast list live that actually got steered from another body shop. Like, they want to take their car to a body shop. Insurance company wouldn’t pay for the bill, and they got steered to another body shop. And we’re going to have them talk about their experience, and we’re going to talk about the quality of the repairs they receive, the quality of the experience, and we’re going to talk about it. And I got to tell you, people will be able to call in live to the podcast and ask consumers, hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? Right? And my teammate Cheryl Dregger is going to be on there with me. So, you know, I don’t know if anybody’s on a podcast with, like, real vehicle owners on there at the same time that had a bad experience, some body shops, but we’re going to do that and we’re open to suggestions. I want people to tell me, what is it you want to hear about? And people can also go and they can submit questions through Auto Body News or email them to me directly of questions they’d like us to answer during the podcast. They can submit those in advance. And we try to get to as many of those questions as we can. So something new for me, still working out the bugs. We’re going to try it for six months, and I’m only going to continue to do it if we get a lot of people attending live and gets lots of views. If it’s not giving people value, then I don’t want to take people’s time.

Cole Strandberg: Man, you are rocking it. It’s so cool. It’s so different. It’s so real. And this whole feeling of hey, it feels like this industry is really beginning to row the boat together in the same direction and share and realize, hey, we’re not competitors, we’re doing this together. A rising tide lifts all all boats. Your podcast is sort of the personification of exactly that. And cool folks doing cool things, willing to share, hosted by the goat of our industry. So keep up the good work. Check it out. I’m going to be sure to put in all the information folks need to tune in to on the Road with Mike Anderson monthly.

Mike Anderson: Yeah, they can also watch it. They can watch it on Facebook, they can watch it on YouTube, LinkedIn, I think. Think I don’t know. Twitter, Instagram, one of those things I know nothing about. And of course they are recorded and you can still watch them on those other social media channels. Again, shout out to Auto Body News for great doing a great job supporting and assisting us with promoting it.

Cole Strandberg: Thank you Mike. Appreciate your time today. I appreciate everything you do for the industry. One more time. I think folks know by now as a multi time guest on the Collision Vision and a frequent contributor everywhere you go in the collision repair industry. But where can folks get in touch with you or follow along with your continually exciting journey?

Mike Anderson: You know they can always reach out to me through our website www.collisionbikes.com if they contact us form and they use that, it goes directly to me and my teammate Tiffany Drigers. You know I, I don’t know. I don’t. We used to post my calendar on there but I don’t know if we still do or not. I need to find out from Tiffany. But you’d always reach out and we’ll be glad to tell you where we’re at. There’s never a charge to call Uncle Mike. I’m willing to help whoever I can. There’s never charge to call me and I can’t always help you but I’ll certainly do my very best and but they can reach us through our collision advice. We have a LinkedIn page, a Facebook page, but I would say, you know, just going through, you know, through [email protected] she’s my teammate, assistant and handles all that where obviously we attend just about every trade show and trade association around the country. Again, you know, work to give back. I think I’m in. Like I said, I leave tomorrow morning. I’m at the BMW Retailers Conference in Vegas. On Saturday I’m in Northern California presenting at an event. I’ll be at the Southeast Conference. I’ll be at the Montana Auto Body association. So just reach out, let us know.

Cole Strandberg: You are all over the place. And again, thank you for everything you do for the industry. Thank you for joining us you here on Collision Vision. Thank you so much Mike.