Digital Dealer - February 2019 - 40

S A L E S & VA RIABL E OPS: F ixe d Op e r a t i ons

By Ed Kovalchick
CEO and Founder,
Net Profit Inc.

Collision
Estimator
Interactions
As always, the annual
massive SEMA/AAPEX
extravaganza provided a
multitude of informative and
essential work sessions. In
fact, there are some 100
plus available in SEMA
gatherings, featuring
individual experts and
knowledgeable panels
covering many more
valuable topics than I can
begin to review here -
AAPEX offers a plethora of
excellent workshops too!
Let's just say the most
difficult part of the workshop
challenge is selecting to
attend only enough, so there
is time to view at least a
partial of the 30+ miles of
aisles featuring vendors from
every walk of automotive life.
A three-week versus
one-week bash would be not
too much time to get a good
start absorbing these
venues. Whew.
One goal I had in attending last Fall, was to learn
more about the growing
potential liabilities collision
shops are facing regarding today's ever-changing
complex vehicles. Several
enormous judgments have
liability lawyers frothing over
the opportunities for their
significant portion of these
hefty awards, no lengthy trial
40

FEBRUARY 2019

needed. What other profession offers a lifetime's wad
of dough for one outing? I
guess that's why these types
are clogging up TV advertising across the county.
This I-CAR (www.i-car.
com) session caught my eye
conducted by Ms. Elisabeth
Sobczak, manager of field
support services. I-CAR,
with training centers in
Illinois and Wisconsin, is one
of the premier training and
technical support organizations for collision commerce
in the U.S and elsewhere.
This respected not-for-profit
group is celebrating their
40th anniversary in 2019,
and it has morphed into
massive numbers including
465 instructors, 142 staffers,
and some 2,200 volunteers.
To say it is impactful and important to the collision repair
sphere would be a profound
understatement.
ESTIMATOR
IMPORTANCE

Her succinct presentation
centered around how important and vital today's collision
estimator is to many parties,
including the customers,
insurance and parts personnel, vendors, dispatchers,
technicians, painters, and
owners. She demonstrated
how these tacticians handle

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

their chosen profession
from the very beginning of a
transaction through the delivery, and the resulting major
influences on the timeliness,
quality, financials, and ultimate customer satisfaction.
Did we need more time with
her - you bet.
Ms. Sobczak began by
stressing three necessary
skill sets an estimator must
have: people skills, negotiation abilities, and critical
thinking. She made a point
to stress the importance
of 'word choice' which
influences communication
with customers. "It's about
human service, not customer
service" she stated. Showing that you care was a key
point, which included "owning the customer's problem."
Of course, someone who
has been in an accident is
upset from the beginning,
and the first role of the estimator is to begin managing
the customer's emotional
state.
"Ask them what happened" to open the door to
a constructive conversation.
This tact begins relieving
the customer's anxiety and
positions the estimator as
someone who is taking an
interest in their situation.
Other points she empha-

sized were to probe to find
out "what the customer
wants and expects," and to
take the time to make the
customer feel comfortable
that you are there to take
complete care of them - a
fundamental effort.
Other responsibilities of
the professional estimator
are to determine what the
insurance company wants
and needs too, as well as
the shop's obligations to
them. She emphasized that
being positive was a must
and that finding the common
ground among the customer,
the insurance company, and
the shop should be the key
objective in all dealings.
She underscored that the
goal was more than to just
"fix" the car, but also to "fix"
the customer by remaining
"empathetic" and to practice "active listening," which
helps promote accuracy
throughout the transaction.
"Things aren't always black
and white," she noted. "Don't
assume and don't judge,
but rather see yourself as
the overall manager of the
relationships of everyone
involved."
TECHNICAL TO LAYMAN

Ms. Sobczak, who is listed
as part of the I-CAR Quality
Control Team and a former
successful estimator, provided five examples of how
estimators have to develop
the skills to convert technical
language to lay language for
consumers as part of maintaining the relationship.
1. "Due to the force of the
impact, there is an additional
portion of the body we will
replace to ensure your vehi-
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