Used Glass

Jan 09 2012

Having a franchise location in Waco, Texas, helps keep me closer to the real work – the frontline. It is easy to lose sight or to think you are doing something that will help the industry when you are in a corporate position, but in the end you might see that item or idea have very little impact. One of the things I ask franchisees from time to time is to push back from the desk and go ride with the techs as they need to inspect what they expect.

While in the frontline you also can gain a little clearer vision of the true challenges and joys of this business.

One of the things I have always felt I could do very well is answer the phone and schedule work. So while at our local shop recently I took a few calls and call a few quotes back that had been given out during the day. Two of the customers I talked to brought up in the conversation that the shops from which they had been given the lowest price was going to be installing “used” glass. Really? Is that even something that you would want? The customer then explained this shop even has a second location at a salvage yard. (My kids now would say OMG!)

Of course, with my skills of conversation we switched to the safety of the customer’s family and the value of this fairly new car and he changed his mind. Okay, note to industry: Why would any customer even think that used glass was a viable option? It is simple—we still have not gotten the word out to end consumers that the glass in their cars is part of the safety feature designed in today’s automobile.

So expect to hear me standing from the highest mountain in Waco screaming to the consumers: “If a glass shop has installed a used piece of glass in your car, now your family is at risk of fatal injury. I am not sleeping at night over the concern for your family, are you?”

Installing old glass in a new car is like putting new wine in used bottles; at some point the glass is going to break and the most valuable thing inside is going to be lost. (Click here for the Auto Glass Safety Council’s stance on used glass.)

I challenge every auto glass company to focus its advertising on consumer safety. If we want to change the industry we cannot allow the bottom-feeders to train customers that poor standards are okay. Last, but not least, just saying you’re certified or registered doesn’t mean anything, please promise that you are actually practicing safe installation processes.

5 responses so far

Perseverance

Sep 28 2011

It was good to see so many of you at Auto Glass Week™. I just learned that Rick Maciel, who won the Pilkington Clear Advantage Auto Glass Technician Olympics in Memphis, Tenn., along with a check for $10,000, competed previously without winning. This is a great example in perseverance.

This reminded me a story that happened to me more than 20 years ago. When I was 20 and worked in Wichita, Kan., we had mobile routes that we called “long-distance” mobiles. These routes were on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and would stretch out to 75 miles one way. It was a nice way to expand our service area slowly, as we built steady work for each of these days. The route to the east of Wichita was the longest and it also had the most obstacles.

I remember leaving the house at 5:30 a.m. for a day that had been planned well. The truck was loaded the night before so I could get an early start. By 2 p.m. there was only one more job to complete. I was in Howard, Kan., about 45 miles from Latham, Kan.—if you took paved roads (what any smart person would do).

Remember, I was 20. As I looked at the map I saw that the straightest line between Howard and Latham was by way of dirt roads. I must have forgotten that there are NO dirt roads between these two cities—only flint-rock roads—on which the speed limit was 20 mph. In my youthful stupidity I made a decision to take the roads that provided the straightest line between these cities. It seemed brilliant at the time. Bad move!

The next sound I heard in the middle of no-man’s-land wasn’t good. It was the sound of a flat tire. I heard no other sounds; no other cars; and no homes for miles. No big deal. I got out the jack and got ready to put on the spare tire.

I completed the tire change, and as I lowered the van to the ground I discovered that the spare was flatter than the tire I had just removed. Not only that, I also noticed that the front tire had gone flat, too. What could be worse than three flat tires, no radio and phone? (Cell phones had not been invented yet.)

I sat for five minutes feeling sorry for myself. I’m sure the names I was calling the van violated Glass Doctor’s Code of Values. I will say, though, the horse that was standing in the field a few feet away seemed to enjoy my conversation. I even thought of riding him to the next town.

As I stood there looking into the van I kept coming back to my windshield repair kit. I unbolted the pump from the box, screwed the vacuum line to the exhaust port on the back, removed the plastic repair cup, and attached a tire chuck from my tool box. It work perfectly as an air pump! Thirty minutes later I had totally inflated the spare tire to full pressure. Wow, great!

But wait—apparently the flint rocks had poked a cut in the front tire that was so big you could poke a screwdriver in the hole. Great decision, Doug!

By now an hour had gone by. Not one car has driven down the road. The only noise was the horse that was still watching me. (Thank goodness horses can’t talk.)

Being young and industrious I rationalized that eight tubes of urethane pumped into a tire works just like the green stuff you put into your bike tire when it is flat. It’s a lot messier but it works the same.

Being very aware of my situation I stopped every mile to inflate the front tire, but slowly made progress. In the end I made it to Latham and a nice man put a huge, 4-ply tractor tire patch over the cut in the tire. (He, too, got urethane everywhere … including on himself.)

At this point I had had a very long day, but this entire story is about what I am about to share with you. My dad, who was with Safelite for 38 years, instilled in me that a job isn’t complete until everything is done. He also instilled fear in me that we MUST take care of each customer ASAP (or else!). (I knew better than to ask him what the “else” meant!)

I knew I had to install a new windshield for my last customer that day. Why would I make the customer wait another week when I was right there? I was not going to make any more money by doing it, nor would I have been being blamed for not doing it (at least I didn’t think so).

It had been a terrible afternoon, but it wasn’t the customer’s fault that I went down the flint-rock road. It wasn’t the customer’s fault that the spare was flat.

I was taught perseverance. I was taught that just because you are in a tough spot you don’t give up. My question is this: are you teaching perseverance to your techs? Are they willing to do whatever is necessary to take care of their/your customers?

Failure isn’t an option. Perseverance is the key to success in our business and in our personal lives. Rick Maciel from Taylorsville, Utah, won $10,000 in Memphis as the winner of the Auto Glass Technician Olympics. Why? Perseverance!

One response so far

How to Sleep Well

Aug 25 2011

In Israel there are two bodies of water that are filled from the same river. The Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea both receive their water from the Jordan River.

The Sea of Galilee has always been known to be great for fishing, to the point of having men for years make their living fishing there. It also is lush with vegetation and flocks of birds and animals. It is a true picture of how a body of water can be the center of an entire ecosystem – both in water and land. It is alive.

The Dead Sea, on the other hand, is known for having the highest mineral content of any sea. The Dead Sea is said to have ten times the mineral content of the Mediterranean Sea. The Dead Sea is below sea level and nothing flows out of it. Because of the high salt and mineral content nothing grows or is alive in or around the Dead Sea. It is truly dead.

The Sea of Galilee is a true picture of how a growing operation continues to grow. An operation that is not only receiving, but giving, will be alive and do well. But an operation that is only about itself will eventually fail and die.

Maybe a better way to express this is that the operation that is always refreshing itself, changing to what is currently happening in the industry and economy, is the one that survives and wins. If an operation stays the same and just keeps everything the “way it has always been,” it will at some point become dead. (Remember, even a dead fish floats.)

Auto Glass Week™ is coming up in less than a month. Will you be there? Glass Doctor® will be, and we look forward to seeing you. Look me up. I’d love to talk to you about the good old days. Remember, I started installing windshields at 17 in Wichita, Kan. I would prefer, though, to talk about how to grow and be alive!

There is nothing like a good night’s sleep after a good day’s work in a growing operation. Is there?

No responses yet

Older posts »