Employees all over the globe, representing every conceivable profession, are faced with a common adversary - the clock. We all seem to have more things to do than we have time to do them. Almost everyone has proclaimed what they will do one day when they have more time. We're all guilty of ignoring the vicious truth that we will never have more time than we do right now. It doesn't matter how you break it down, we all get the same amount of time every day - 24 hours; 1440 minutes; 86,400 seconds. The simple truth is that we don't need more time and we don't need better time management, we need better activity management!

Akzo Nobel 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

The various modules within this course are designed to help your sales team improve their effectiveness in marketing your business to various referring business entities.

Akzo Nobel 16 credits; 8-hour course Specialty:

This course focuses on practical negotiating strategies and tactics to increase shop profits and build long-term, profitable relationships. This practitioner's approach enables you to immediately benefit from these strategies the first day back on the job. Additionally, the course includes discussion, hands-on activities and an assessment of your negotiating profile. Topics include:

• Different approaches to negotiating,
• Integrative (win/win) strategy and tactics to build profitable, long-term relationships,
• How to defend your business from profit-draining distributive (win/lose) hardball tactics,
• Key negotiating principles that guarantee negotiating success.

Akzo Nobel 6 credits; 8 credits; 3-hour course; 4-hour course Specialty:

This cornerstone course provides an overview of the entire repair process for customer service managers, office managers, estimators, production managers, parts managers, and general managers. This course offers numerous industry "Best Practices" on how to manage a repair order file and the entire claims handling process. Attendees will receive a CD containing all the forms and spreadsheets discussed in the course. Implementation can be assisted by the BDM and their follow-up visits using the summary and detailed accountability lists for each process.

This course will provide best practices for:

• Greeting and gathering quality customer information
• Scheduling incoming jobs
• Pre-ordering parts
• Checking in customer vehicles
• Dispatching vehicles
• Responding to requests for supplements
• Communicating with Customers regarding the status of their vehicle
• Documenting all relative contacts
• Controlling parts receipt and returns
• Pre-closing repair order files
• Collecting all monies due
• Implementing a daily operating controls process and keeping score

Akzo Nobel 32 credits; 16-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed to assist in establishing operating procedures that will enable any shop to perform collision repairs "Right the First Time, On time with Exemplary Service". All customers have needs. It's no secret that when a customer walks into a collision shop, their primary need is to have the vehicle repaired. Other needs may include a rental car, warranty, timely repair, etc. This course focuses on the body shop's ability to satisfy the customer's unspoken needs - the need for professionalism, organization, information, etc. The No. 1 complaint of customers in any industry usually isn't quality. This course will help attendees establish procedures to process customer files efficiently and effectively.

Akzo Nobel 16 credits; 8-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed to provide the entire staff the opportunity to get together and review vehicle transition points and tasks accountability among technicians. It is the foundation for establishing interdepartmental quality standards and job descriptions. Participants will be asked to come to the meeting with an open mind and willingness to offer and take constructive criticism in the spirit of continuous improvement. Generally done in the evening with a flip chart and pizzas. The BDM can follow up the meeting with typed version of your standards, which you can then use to review with new hires or with existing employees if any confusion exists regarding accountability.

Akzo Nobel 6 credits; 3-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed to review and refine the Estimators' skills relative to collision repair estimating. The participant will learn how to optimize profitability per repair order, while complying with insurer DRP requirements. Participants will be asked to write an estimate in advance of the course, and participants will critique one another's estimates for thoroughness. Role-playing will allow the participants a change to practice the various skills that have been taught.

Akzo Nobel 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed to provide Office Managers, accountants, and Owners insight into common collision industry financial and managerial ratios so they can use a common industry Chart of Accounts to standardize reporting and effectively benchmark their business to continuously improve their operations. Participants will be asked to submit their most recent financial statement to allow the BDM to assess its condition, offer process improvement suggestions and calculate their repair facility's results.

Akzo Nobel 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed for body shop owners and managers involved in the financial management of the organization.

Akzo Nobel 32 credits; 16-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed to assist Owners, Estimators, and Production Managers in reviewing the various means to reduce repair cycle times on certain types of repairs relevant to your shop ergonomics. The course also offers suggestions on how to implement a rapid repair program in your repair facility. Participants will be provided with implementation instructions for most ideas or methods discussed during the class. A "Rapid Repair" brochure is provided for the repair centers' use following class attendance and successful implementation of the methods discussed.

Akzo Nobel 12 credits; 6-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed to aid in teaching managers how to refine SOPs to drive the desired results of their organization. We suggest ways to define exsisting processes, how to research and test improved processes and how to institutionalize these refined processes. Students will receive copies of task lists per department of the repair center and gain access to numerous other tools via their Akzo Nobel Services Consultant. A high-level overview of the Six Sigma method of quality improvement will be presented.

Akzo Nobel 8 credits; 6-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed to help your estimators and customer service representatives refine their skills in selling Customers on using your repair center for their repairs. Participants will have the opportunity to practice these skills through role-playing the sales process for actual repair estimates.

Akzo Nobel 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed for any management team member to review the skills necessary to continuously improve service quality, assure Customer retention, and improve the likelihood of positive referrals. Participants will be provided with detailed processes and customizable forms. Participants will have numerous opportunities to practice the skills learned through role-playing. A CSI complete report and Hot Sheet are reviewed.

Akzo Nobel 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

The purpose of this comprehensive program is to enable participants to optimize the sale and use of paint materials. Participants should try to bring their income statement and detailed GL ledger to use during class to review their recent decisions on coding invoices. Also, bringing a recently completed estimate on a quarter panel job will provide insights on what you might have missed.

This course is designed to help the Management Team and Paint Team achieve the goal of having sufficient inventory of necessary products while also achieving maximum plant material profit margin. The class focuses on defining and implementing the key elements necessary to achieve a sound Paint Materials Management Program.

Akzo Nobel 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed for the production manager, parts manager, and/or general manager. This detailed course covers the entire parts management process. The class will help decrease your cycle time by reducing errors associated with the parts portion of your business.

Akzo Nobel 4 credits; 2-hour course Specialty:

One of the toughest challenges faced by a collision shop owner/manager today is the ability to attract and retain high quality employees in key positions. More often than not, an employee leaves an employer for reasons other than more money. In fact, the most common cause for employee turnover is poor management. One of the most important, and often overlooked, management skills is the ability to coach. All employees need to be coached. The poor performers need to be coached to become good performers and the good performers need coaching to maintain performance and/or become star performers.

The course will provide:

• Increased awareness of what coaching is and why it is important
• Identification of your preferred coaching style along with the strengths and weaknesses of your style
• A step-by-step process for coaching your employees in the three standard coaching situations.

Akzo Nobel 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed to assist in market research, project analysis, finance options, and project management when considering adding additional locations. This multi-faceted session will assist the increasing number of collision repair professionals who are planning to build or acquire additional repair centers. We will discuss Greenfield, Brownfield and Acquisition approaches. Tools to help with projecting start-up costs for office and body shop equipment, buildings, and needed operating capital will be supplied and reviewed. Our best practices regarding adding locations will also be presented. In addition, you will receive expert advice on financing options and requirements of the banking community for this type of expansion.

Akzo Nobel 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed for shops that are experiencing difficulty in acquiring experienced technicians and wish to start an in-house mentorship program. This course is designed to teach Mentor Technicians how to contribute to the successful transition of a young Technician to a full Journeyman Technician. It teaches the skills a mentor needs to properly manage and train an ppprentice.

Akzo Nobel 8 credits; 4-hour course Specialty:

This course is designed to assist owners, estimators, and production managers in refining the skills necessary to organize a Daily Production Plan, reduce the time it takes to repair a vehicle, and increase overall Customer and Insurer satisfaction. Participants will have the opportunity to see the spreadsheets demonstrated and will receive a CD containing the files so that they can return to their repair center and implement these procedures quickly.

Akzo Nobel 12 credits; 6-hour course Specialty: