Page 39 - Australian Paint & Panel Magazine May-June 2019

42 Kicking goals at TAFE • 43 Women in Collision
PAINT&PANEL MAY / JUNE 2019 WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
CONFIDENCE AT EAST COAST
OUR CASE STUDY COUPLE MARK DEBONO AND CARA LEWIS AT EAST COAST PAINT AND PANEL IN CAIRNS HAD A BETTER THAN EXPECTED FIRST QUARTER AND ARE NOW POISED TO GROW THE BUSINESS IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.
THE RIGHT DIRECTION
L
ET’S START WITH THE NEGA-
tives. There was January with the first couple of weeks essentially a write off, there have been loads of public holidays in the early part of the year and they took time out to visit the Collision Re- pair Expo. Cara had to deal with an ill- ness in her family and they had to fire a staff member whose attitude was af- fecting the rest of their small team. On top of that they have had to buy new IT equipment and get to grips with iBody- shop and a whole new way of working. Despite all of that, they have had a solid first quarter and business coach Ben Fewtrell is pleased with their pro- gress. The pair have been working flat out, including weekends, to meet all their targets, including giving their al- ready tidy workshop a thorough clean over Easter for the professional photo- shoot they had commissioned to have images for their new website and their
company brochure.
Part of their 90 day plan is to have
more time for themselves outside of the business. All of the time invested in training online with the MaxMy-
Profit business hub to understand how to streamline business processes, to understand and forecast their cash- flow and learning to use iBodsyhop is likely to help them achieve this goal.
Like most small repair start ups, es- pecially those with a painter at the helm, the business started out doing yard work and ‘bargain’ small repairs for price conscious customers and has been paint heavy. Since they have moved into the larger premises they have been undertaking more profitable work for local fleet companies and some insurance work for a variety of
ECPP RECAP
work providers. The reception area has a large glass window where customers can see the clean, tidy workshop. This has also been a great way to convert private customers who have come in for a quote. “We had a lady come in a couple of weeks ago who looked into the workshop and said that she felt comfortable with us repairing her car. She had been to other shops for quotes and didn’t feel the same way.”
IBODYSHOP EYE-OPENER
The pair started to use iBodyshop fully on 1 April. It’s been a steep learning curve but they are incredibly im- pressed with its scope.
Cara said: “We’re still learning how to use it, but the guys at iBodyshop have given us great support and will do screen sharing to show us how to do things we either haven’t been able to work out ourselves or didn’t remem- ber from the initial training.
“Apart from speeding up the esti- mating process the number of time saving benefits are mind blowing and I’m sure there are so many features we haven’t even discovered yet.
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EAST COAST PAINT & PANEL WHERE: Cairns, QLD
STAFF: 5.5 (including Cara & Mark) CARS PER WEEK: 15
TYPE OF REPAIR: Non-structural BUSINESS FOUNDED: 4 years ago
MOVED TO NEW PREMISES: 1.5 years ago 5 YEAR GOAL: $5million turnover