Newsletter March 2016
Oh hail yeah! The North American hail season official kicked off earlier this month with multiple storms causing some serious damage in Texas, Indiana, and multiple states in the southeast. With this jump start to the season, let’s remember how to conduct business in a professional, ethical, and profitable manner. As a certified member please rep the PDR Nation badge with pride and utilize all of the resources available. Need to staff a storm site with qualified PDR techs that are accountable through a review system? Connect with PDR Nation techs on our private FaceBook group page or view tech profiles on our tech finder page HERE. Also remember we have provided all certified members with several digital media items that you can use on your website and promotional materials to tell the world you are certified and serious about your business. Vice-Chair, Stephen Padgett was recently hit with a hail storm in his hometown. He has landed multiple retail hail repair jobs because of how he has associated himself with PDR Nation and promoted it on his website. Check out his website HERE and read how he made it work for him.
“I landed two retail jobs combining for over $9,000 in one week because I am PDR Nation Certified! The first customer from those two jobs called about when she could bring me her vehicle for repair. When I asked how she heard about my company she informed me she did her research before deciding where to bring her vehicle. The fact that I was Certified sold her over others she researched. It was the easiest sell on a job I’ve ever made, her mind was made up before she called and she was ready to book on that alone. The second customer let us know when she came in for an estimate that knowing I was Certified was the reason why she wanted her new CRV repaired by us. Market your Certification guys, it pays off big time! I recently rebuilt my website and put the PDR Nation Certification in the forefront of my site and I’m so glad I did. Use the marketing materials in the download section of the member’s page. Those downloads are there to help you and can pay big dividends if used correctly.” Stephen Padgett Vice-Chair
PDR NATION BY THE NUMBERS:
Because we are a not-for-profit organization, PDR Nation’s financial information is available to the public. Here are just a few of our stats:
date established: 01/01/2014
certified members: 181
pending members: 33
total dollars donated to charity: $41,085
dollars raised from MTE 2016 charity raffle: $2,990
current balance of funds: $32,579.76
monthly expenses for January 2015: $2,579.91
PDR NATION RECENT ACTION:
Collision repair industry training group I-CAR recently held an information gathering session with multiple PDR industry representatives. PDR Nation Chair Ryan Hampton and advisor Rey Sapnu were in attendance along with representatives from NAPDRT and other PDR industry associates. The five day long session was aimed at breaking down and documenting all aspects of the paintless dent repair process. The hosts from I-CAR were not interested in how to actually push a dent. They were more interested in the processes and tasks involved with operating a PDR business, from route to retail dent repair to hail damage repair. Will an official I-CAR PDR course come to fruition? Only time will tell. I-CAR needs to do more research and see if this is a viable and needed course to add to their catalog. Never the less, the fact that I-CAR is interested in PDR is a big win for the industry. It shows we are making some noise and key players within the collision repair industry are listening. Keep spreading the word! Ryan Hampton recently went on the PDR College Podcast and explained the entire experience to host Keith Cosentino. Listen HERE
PDR NATION TECH SPOTLIGHT
John Danz
Age: 47
Started PDR in 2000
Route technician (United States)
Lives in Narberth, Pennsylvania USA
PDR Nation certified in January 2015, Tech #112011
John Danz has always been a car guy. He started his PDR career in 2000 after seeing the process first hand at a detail shop he owned. He payed for a basic one week course and then began to practice constantly and get advice from the local PDR tech that originally peaked his interest. After a long road of trial and error John eventually established a very successful PDR route in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He and his two subcontracted techs stay busy purely through word of mouth. John has never advertised and doesn’t even have a PDR business website. He attributes the success of his business to a focus on personal networking, being able to tackle the big complex stuff and going above and beyond the basics when servicing their dealership and body shop clients. Having constant wholesale work is great, but a large portion of John’s work comes from one dealership group. Because it is a little scary having all of your eggs in one basket, John is now in the process of diversifying his PDR business by trying to focus on more individual retail clients. He is building a website and trying to figure out how to loosen those “golden handcuffs” just a little bit, so he can better hedge for the future. Listen to a very in-depth and personal interview of John by PDR Nation advisor Richard Routson HERE.
PDR MARKETING MINUTE
PDR Nation advisor Gene Fetty has recently become a contributor the the PDR College Podcast. He is offering a quick tidbit of PDR marketing advice at the end of each episode. Check out his first marketing minute HERE.
DENT TRAINER QUICK TIP
Denttrainer.com is an online paintless dent repair educational platform. Check out a free sample video courtesy of PDR Nation member John Highley.
GET DISCOUNTS
Did you know PDR Nation members get discounts from multiple PDR tool companies? We also receive a monthly Vistaprint code for 33% off of any order. To learn more and view all of the member benefits please visit the Certified members benefits page.
HELP PDR NATION GROW
The PDR Nation movement has just begun. Please help spread the word and encourage other high quality techs to join the team. If you found value in this newsletter please forward it to a PDR friend. Join the conversation in our public and private Facebook groups and please email us with any feedback or suggestions.
Let’s talk on Facebook (public group & certified members only group)
OUR MISSION
“The mission of PDR Nation is to unite the International Paintless Dent Repair community by bringing standardization, accountability and the highest level of ethical practices through universal certification. To collect, manage and distribute technical, educational and business information to all industry related segments to promote a positive image worldwide and bring recognition to the Paintless Dent Repair segment of the automotive repair industry”
