Page 30 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Jan-Feb 21

WOMEN IN COLLISION
30
PAINT&PANEL JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2021
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WOMEN IN COLLISION SEMINAR
IT WAS 2020 SO IT WAS, OF COURSE, A VIRTUAL EVENT FOR THE WOMEN IN COLLISION SEMINAR, BUT WE HAD FUN ANY WAY AND RECOGNISED
10 OUTSTANDING WOMEN.
T HANK YOU TO THE HUNDREDS who joined us for the 2020 Women in Collision Seminar & Awards livestream on Fri- day 4 December. On the plus side, the livestream made it a much bigger event in terms of num- bers than at our regular in person event. On the minus side we didn’t get to network and share our stories in the way we usually do. We hope that as so many more people tuned in and got a taste for what the event would be like live, that this year’s event in Novem- ber will be bigger and better than ever.
We also hope that all of this year’ winners will attend so that we can congratulate them in person.
Firstly thank you to our sponsors
who make the awards and seminar possible. Thank you to IAG who has been behind this recognition program from day one. It was great to have IAG’s Troy Johns Specialist - Industry Relations there to co-host the awards presentation.
Thanks also to our supporting sponsors BASF, DNS/iBodyshop and Partscheck.
Our keynote speaker was Charmaine Keegan, Director and Head Trainer at Smart Selling. Her presentation was about how to think of sales not as sell- ing but as assisting the customer.
She had some interesting insights into what language to use to both encourage sales and consumer confidence. You can watch all of the presentations on our lives- tream which will stay on the website in the Women in Collision section. Keegan argues, persuasively, that customer ser- vice and selling are, in fact, the same
You can watch all of the
presentations on our livestream which will stay
on the website. ”
thing. If your team embraces this they are able to sell your business easily with in- tegrity and authenticity. It’s vital to listen to the customer and understand their needs, their story and so your interactions with them must be distraction free so they know that you are really listening.
Keegan also says that it is vital that all of your team understand your business- es’ unique selling points - why people would choose your business over anoth- er and they that understand the value that your business brings to the custom- er. Keegan also touched on the impor- tance of positive language, avoiding ‘if there are any issues or problems let me
know,’ and suggesting ‘‘if you need clar- ity let me know’ as an alternative.
Our next presenter was Veronica Jory, Head of People and Experience at Re- pairHub gave an insightful presentation on driving workplace culture, defining it and giving pointers on how to achieve a good one. Although culture is hard to define – we all know, says Jory, that it plays a powerful role in the atmosphere and team interactions in our work plac- es. Creating a good workplace culture improves staff retention and is a great re- cruitment selling point. To change a company culture Jory suggests persis- tence, discipline and employee involve- ment and that kindness and training can assist to shift and redefine a culture.
Our final speaker was the bubbly Britney Duff, former paint technician, rugby star and now a paint representa- tive for Sydney Automotive Paint & Equipment. High achiever Duff shared her journey with us and it was great to