FinishMaster's Premium Brand: SMART

A deeper look at how SMART brings quality, performance, and value together to create a line of premium products.  

SMART is FinishMaster’s exclusive and trusted brand of associated products. It is supported nationally by the FinishMaster team, offering excellent value and premium performance for your automotive refinish and industrial needs. These products are hand-selected and rigorously tested, with cost savings in mind to protect your bottom line. From abrasives and tape to clear coats and primers, SMART has your next job covered!

To learn more about the SMART brand, FenderBender sat down with Mike Cohen, SMART Brand Manager. Cohen is responsible for everything SMART from product testing to product selection and team training. With years of experience in the field, it’s no surprise that Cohen knows everything there is to know about SMART and what makes it stand out from the competition. 

SMART goes through a meticulous product selection and testing process to ensure the end user is getting top quality products. The product selection process begins with identifying a need in the industry and partnering with the best manufacturers to create a high-quality offering.

“We try to identify gaps in our current brand to provide a full realm of support to the industry,” says Cohen. “When we [identify opportunities], what we'll see is a segment of product that's been widely used throughout many industries. If it's something that's sought out by our customer base, we will look towards our award-winning partners with like-minded sustainability goals to bring to market a tried-and-true embedded system. What we're doing is looking for those proven products and partnering with the best manufacturer possible in that category.”

Once a product has been selected, there is one additional but critical step to complete before it can wear the SMART brand name; a thorough testing process to make sure that each product is up to the SMART standard.  

“It's a multi-level approach when we decide to bring a new product into the brand and launch into the market,” says Cohen. “We will do an initial test to make sure that our chosen partners can meet our sustainability and quality standards and are aligned on the end goal. We sell a (large) volume, (and) we can't have any hiccups in quality manufacturing. We typically test with a group of internal technicians, and then from there, we will send out field samples for them to test with the end users. We compile all that data and feedback, and that's where we’ll say, ‘Hey, this is a good fit for the SMART brand.’”

As if the guaranteed quality of SMART products wasn’t enough, SMART is also able to provide products at a lower price than their competition. FinishMaster’s customer, John Rios from El Segundo Auto Body shop, in El Segundo, CA loves SMART’s Premium Body Filler and 3” sanding discs because of their high quality and low cost. “We focus predominantly on performance and quality, and then work backwards to try to leverage our size and buying power to get the best price,” says Cohen.