Page 20 - Australasian Paint & Panel magazine Jul-Aug 2021

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News • In Focus
PAINT&PANEL JULY / AUGUST 2021 WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
there were already government minis- ters including the Assistant Treasurer who were engaged to further this cause.
Our Platinum sponsor for Live was iBodyshop. Sadly managing director Steve O’Brien was locked down in Melbourne but he did watch the presentation by Zoom and still managed to take part in our pan- el. Fortunately some of his team were able to be there and had a table with the iBody- shop on display and information on the system in the foyer which people were able to look at. Associate sponsors Hella Gutmann and Opus also had displays with information on their diagnostic and ADAS recalibration systems and services.
Following afternoon tea a man who needs little introduction in this industry, Rob Bartlett formerly of Suncorp and now running his own business Supply- Side Group took to the stage. With his dry sense of humour and immense knowledge of the insurance world his presentation was a series of tips for how to engage in ‘insurance-eze’. He gave many valuable tips on what insurers are looking for. Firstly - yes they do compete against one another so anything you can help them with that will be welcome. He also suggested that including pictures of your spraybooth in a pitch or presenta- tion was not the best move - insurers as- sume you have one - unless it’s part of the story of why your business is differ- ent and worthwhile considering.
He commented on the enormous amount of compliance that insurers have to deal with which has been im- mensely compounded by the recent leg- islation that emerged from the Haynes Commission and has been a huge up- heaval for the industry. He also touched on other areas where repairers could be helpful to insurers such as self assessing which saves the insurer a great deal of money in terms of reducing headcount.
SUCCESS PANEL
We finished the day with a panel dis- cussing what a successful repair busi- ness looks like. On the panel via Zoom Steve O’Brien kicked us off. As you would expect with a workshop manage- ment and quoting platform that has been adopted by over 1200 repairers, ef- ficiency is key to success from O’Brien’s viewpoint. Emphasis was put on insur- ing that everything is systemised and
TOP: Paul Davis from supporting sponsors Hella talking recalibration.
ABOVE LEFT: From left Paint & Panel publisher Tracy Yaffa, Steve Davies, Northside Smash Repairs, Darren Myers, Len Hollis Repair Facility.
ABOVE RIGHT: Lance Shultz and Rebecca Witt from DNS Technology
LEFT: Supporting sponsors Opus’s stand was manned by Matt Douglass (left) and Clint Flower.
BOTTOM LEFT: Michael Killen of Killen’s Smash Repairs with Paint & Panel ad manager Lynette Rochford.