Four years ago, I penned an ABRN article “PBE jobber of the future”, I received input form paint manufacturers, jobber owners, jobber systems providers, jobber salespeople, and industry leaders and trainers.
Here are a couple of tidbits from that article:
Mike Anderson of Collision Advice had this to say: “I see a lot of consolidation in the jobber segment; I see profit margins shrinking for the jobbers due to the shop consolidation and the discounts being given to large MSOs. Therefore, the jobbers need to focus on their CORE customers and assist them with growing by connecting them with potential acquisition targets.” Indeed, this has come to pass — several regional jobbers have joined a few national jobber organizations.
Glenn Atwell, president of Comcept Solutions, had this to say when asked about the PBE jobber of the future: “Automation of the entire shop requisition/fulfillment process, through the implementation of economical cloud-based mobile technologies, will create a major opportunity for the jobber of the future to achieve continued profitability in a market experiencing widespread and significant margin erosion. In addition to Comcept’s offering of shop inventory management systems (Collision Linx, Collision Vend and Collision Scan), we have seen several other advanced inventory systems come into the market with a plethora of options and attributes, such as Nuventory, Lean Tec and PMCLogic to name a few. There are other offerings including those integrated into some of the paint manufacturers’ color system and a few jobbers that have sophisticated systems that remain user-friendly for their customer base. Shops can now choose from many different inventory solutions — both in-house and external — to better manage inventory and purchasing.
Paul Whittleston, vice president BASF Automotive Refinish, North America, predicted that jobbers would need to be “providing differentiated service levels that meet the needs of differentiated market segments, and customers will become more and more critical. The ability for jobbers to help their customers deliver improved efficiency and customized service levels, while doing so at a competitive cost, will segment jobbers in the market.” Several others shared this same sentiment — that successful jobbers would need to offer varying levels of service to meet the demands of shops both large and small, those needing many services and those needing few services. I think this, too, has been proven, as many jobbers have differentiated their service offerings best meet the needs of each customer.
While much of what these industry leaders and influencers discussed is rapidly becoming a part of the jobber-shop relationship, one aspect of this relationship has not changed. The shop and jobber’s futures are intertwined. The success of one is often directly related to the success of the other. Jobber success has been more than delivering paint and materials for most jobber distributors across the country. And shops can improve processes and material usage with help and input from their jobbers.
There are several paint shop KPIs that are driven by purchase data from the jobber with only basic inputs from the shop. For example, measuring a shop’s liquid and allied costs per refinish hour is a simple calculation that a jobber can assist with. Many jobbers also can tell you how these calculations for your shop compare to an average shop in your marketplace.
Jobber sales staff have a unique perspective of your paint shop’s operation. They see the paint shop as both a regular part of that operation and as an outside party that usually sees things from this same perspective in other shops.
Successful jobbers are also conduits for information, training, industry trends and more. It is these and other services that help shops be more successful. Perhaps I thus found stronger, more supportive jobbers behind many of the successful shops across the country.
We don’t often talk about technology when we talk about relationships, but in a tech-heavy industry like ours, perhaps we should. Cell phones, emails and staying in contact are a must. Technology does have a role in today’s business relationships. Staying on top of the latest technology and being able to communicate and share data in real time are a must — by laptop, tablet or other means. While not the prime basis for most relationships, in our business world we can’t shy away from technology; we need to embrace it and leverage technology to help build business relationships. For example, being a conduit for knowledge about inventory systems, integrated scale systems, networks, tablets, etc. can help partners build strong relationships and bring something to the table.
How are these relationships built? Like any other good relationship, they are built on mutual communication, respect, contributions and a sprinkling of technology.
Communication starts with a clear understanding of expectations and limitations. It is more than just the ordering and delivery of paint and materials, but also an understanding of what expectations each party has, such as timeliness and how orders are to be placed, bills to be paid, etc.
There should be communication about the financial drivers of the businesses. Many jobbers are involved in a deeper understanding of KPIs for their clients and can contribute to improvements. If you haven’t spent quality time discussing real-world solutions and improvements together, maybe you don’t have the strongest relationship. The jobber, just like the shop, should have other sources of ideas, information, industry trends, technology and KPIs. It is combining these contributions, ideas and, more importantly, solutions that will become the foundation for the strong jobber-shop relationship.
We need to ask some challenging questions. What do you see that we could be doing better? How can I do a better job for you? We need to improve this (insert issue or concern). What do you see as your role in getting this done? Are we getting everything we can out of (insert equipment or technology)?
In order to be heard, you must be willing to listen. It should go without saying that each party deserves to be treated with respect, but deeper than that is the acknowledgment that both parties contribute to the success and growth of all parties. Obviously, the purchases a shop makes from a jobber contribute to the jobber’s success.
Beyond that, the sharing of information and working on improvements together helps the jobber be part of a stronger relationship.
I have always thought that rolling up your sleeves and doing what is needed to get things done is a great way to show respect, such as helping with a paint room or shop cleanup, doing hands-on demonstrations and training.
On a more personal note, taking interest in someone else’s interests is a great way to build relationships. I guess strong business relationships are just like all other relationships — they take a sincere effort by all parties and a little give and take. The challenge is to not let the personal relationship cloud the professional relationship.
The biggest variable in P&M performance and a large influence in cycle time, CSI, and other important shop matrixes is driven by how well a shop effectively handles and utilizes P&M as these materials enter production, not the brand or manufacturer.
If you don’t have a strong jobber-shop relationship, both parties are missing out. Utilizing that strong relationship to create an atmosphere of continuing improvements and stronger financial results benefits parties.
Personal relationships with people we trust that can help build our business will always be the No. 1 driving force of change. Other factors and technology are also contributing to change. Solutions for the PBE jobber of the future will be people followed closely by technology.
As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.
