In the highly competitive world of collision repair, it takes a lot of strategic vision and dedication to open and maintain a shop successfully. To maintain and expand your auto collision repair shop into a multi-shop operation (MSO), there must be strong leadership and management with meticulous attention to detail. As Cole's Collision Centers in upstate New York reached eight locations this year, General Manager Josh Jewett has developed these necessary skills over 17 years to open newly acquired locations and manage a profitable repair shop chain.
Reflecting on his years as general manager, Jewett has found that most of his success comes from knowing how to build teams properly, incorporate new colleagues, and standardize work when adding new locations. But, he didn't go into his first acquisition as general manager knowing what steps to take. Instead, he learned through experience what formula worked for him and the company.
“The first acquisition was really when I was able to hone my skills for what's necessary to be a general manager and oversee multiple locations,” Jewett said.
Jewett met owner John Cole years ago at a dealership while working under him as a technician, and they formed a close relationship. In 2007, Cole’s Collision Centers opened in Colonie, New York, and Jewett joined the new operation.
"At the time, I was 23, and I took a little bit of risk myself, not knowing if the shop was going to be successful, but we continue to be together to this day," Jewett said.
In the beginning, the shop had a staff of two doing everything from bodywork, writing estimates, maintaining the facility, and doing the detailing. As the business began to grow, they were able to hire more people.
"We originally started with hiring a body tech, and then the body tech and I mainly did everything in the shop," Jewett said. "Cole maintained the front end, doing estimates and trying to get business in the door while I was in the shop with the technicians and the painter for probably the first year and a half doing hands-on work. Eventually, we grew the business enough to where I could replace myself in the shop, and then I went into the office permanently as the manager in 2008."
In 2010, Cole purchased two shops north of the original location, turning the company into an MSO, and placed Jewett as manager of the second location.
“We had just acquired two facilities,” Jewett said. “I stayed in one shop, and Cole went to manage the other one. The first six months I was there, I had to home in on standardization, change the perception of what quality was among the staff, and ultimately set the standard for how we did things."
Jewett’s talent for efficiency started to pay off. Jewett discovered that employees used products from multiple companies to repair vehicles. To make ordering easier and to improve product quality, he switched all the shop’s products over to the same companies they were using at the first location. In addition to standardizing products, Jewett also established standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure safety and that the quality of work was held to the highest standards across all shops.
After transforming the second and third Cole’s Collision into profitable shops, Jewett and Cole successfully opened four more from 2012 to 2022, applying the same standardization procedures, and in 2023, they purchased the property for an eighth location. Throughout his 16 years of experience at the company, Jewett has found that nurturing relationships, incorporating standardization, and emphasizing quality have been the key to helping Cole’s Collision remain a profitable and reputable MSO auto collision repair chain when opening a new location.
Nurturing Trust Through Transparency
Acquiring a shop and the team within can lead to a clash in personalities and practices. Jewett is always looking to maintain and grow relationships, and he has different strategies for opening a brand-new shop than opening an acquired shop.
“When you open up a brand-new shop, you plant people in that shop who have already worked for you, and those employees already know the exact methods on how you conduct business, so it’s very easy,” Jewett said. “The only thing that's not easy is ensuring you have enough work to keep everyone occupied and busy in the beginning. Whereas with an acquisition, you must change culture. You must ultimately shift mindset and show them how you expect to have procedures performed.”
With an acquisition, it is crucial to establish positive relationships with employees gained from the acquisition. This is so changes can be wrought without upsetting the culture.
“You ultimately have to start a relationship, and a lot of that comes from trust, so you have to be open with the employees and show them the ways that you do things, and if they second-guess, I ask that they give me a chance to prove that the way we do it is a better way,” Jewett said.
Elevating Standards and Quality
Once trust is established, standardizing products and instituting quality of work procedures are the first steps for Jewett because they help him to slowly start standardizing the shop without upsetting the culture.
“We focus on the products that were being used at the acquired shops and switch all the paint products to the same paint company, then we switch the sandpapers, sealers, glues, etc. so that the painters and technicians use the same quality products across the board,” Jewett said.
After standardizing products, it is essential to implement the SOPs used at the other locations to ensure that the work is being upheld to the same caliber. A great way that Jewett helps ease a shop into new SOPs is by bringing employees from other shops. In order to do that, he bulks up his existing locations with employees pre-sale so that when the time comes he can quickly transfer some to the new location.
“Through every expansion, we usually take two technicians, one painter, or somebody writing estimates and start a location with three or four people and kind of grow it from there,” Jewett said.
Another way that Jewett ensures quality performance among his employees is by having SOPs written out and posted on a wall within all shop locations.
“When we have someone coming in that's new, we usually sit down and go through our SOPs but then, if there's any questions, they can always reference it in the shop,” Jewett said. “Our SOPs are something we're always updating, but the expectations remain the same. We have had to modify a few SOPs because there are so many position statements and requirements for specific welded panels, so some of that has been tweaked over the years. There are also certain corrosion protection applications that we expect in certain phases, so it's all laid out on poster board in the shop for anyone to see.”
Preserving Excellence
As the current president, Jewett finds that the key to success is ensuring that his employees maintain the high standards of Cole's Collision by boosting newly opened shops, helping them to find their footing, and continuing to communicate and ensure that they maintain standards as the company grows.
“I think we're going to carry on the expansion as long as we can,” Jewett said. “If you look at our timeline, we're roughly doing one opening or acquisition every two or three years. To me, that works. It's something that for us, is comfortable, it's not chaotic, and we're doing it the right way, so that way, when we open, we're not scrambling, we're already, planted in how we do things and successful immediately."
