MovingForward_Feature March/April 2011

Volume 13, Issue 2 - March/April 2011

Feature

Moving Forward
Newly Hired AGRSS Business Development
Director Dan Mock Offers Insight to Future
by Penny Stacey

Read All About It
Want to hear more of AGRSS Council Inc. business development director Dan Mock’s thoughts on the industry and its future? Visit www.agrss.org to read his blog, “AGRSS-ive Updates,” or click on his photo at www.agrrmag.com. Scan the tag at right to view blog. Get the free mobile tag reader at http://gettag.mobi.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the original release of the Auto Glass Replacement Safety Standard (AGRSS) by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)—along with its official approval that same year. The creation of a uniform standard for auto glass aftermarket installations has been one of the greatest achievements the industry has ever seen, and, just in the last two years, the AGRSS Council Inc.’s work has grown even further.

In late 2009, the group inaugurated its own third-party validation program, allowing independent auditors to come into registered shops and review their practices. This year, the organization has hired a business development director to increase the acceptance of the Standard throughout North America.

Dan Mock (DM), who has more than 36 years of experience in the glass industry, was pegged for the role in early-January. Mock, who previously served as vice president of franchise relations and training for Waco, Texas-based Glass Doctor franchise. He was a long-time member of the AGRSS Board of Directors. Mock recently took the time to talk with AGRR™ magazine about his hopes and goals for the future.

AGRR: What are your goals as business development director?
DM: Well, I look at the position of business development director really as having two different goals. One is to promote and inform the insurance industry about the AGRSS Standard and the other is to make AGRSS an attractive organization for glass shops to belong to. I am trying to make AGRSS-registered companies irresistible to consumers and insurers.

AGRR: I understand one of your goals also is to market the Standard to insurance companies. How do you plan to accomplish that?
DM: Well, the board actually voted to develop the validation video, which is an important part of the message that we need to get to the insurance industry. Right now I’m researching basically the different insurance associations, their conventions and that type of thing to promote AGRSS and familiarize the insurance industry with AGRSS.

AGRR: What type of response have you seen so far among insurers?
DM: The people I’ve talked to have been very open to it. One person with whom I spoke was with a very major insurance company and I asked her if she knew about AGRSS, and she said ‘yes, but really I don’t know enough.’ She was familiar with it, but wasn’t comfortable with it.

AGRR: I’ve heard that one of the goals of the validation program was to help give the AGRSS Registration Program “teeth.” Have you found that insurers are responding favorably to the validation program?
DM: I think that’s one piece of the puzzle. There needs to be multiple benefits and I am working on several. Just like any other customer, if I went to buy a car and it only had one headlight, you know, I might not buy that car, but if it came with all the headlights and all the bells and whistles, I’d probably buy the car. I think validation is one of multiple reasons why insurance companies would want to use AGRSS-registered shops.

It’s an important piece—don’t get me wrong—but if you talk to most TPAs or insurance companies, 80 percent of their issues come from 20 percent of the shops. I truly believe in my heart that an AGRSS-registered company is part of the 80 percent that does not cause 80 percent of the problems. Everything is price-driven of course, but, in reality, customer service is still very valued. I truly believe that an AGRSS-registered company can provide the best quality service, along with safety, in the industry.

“I am trying to make AGRSS-registered companies irresistible to consumers and insurers.”
—Dan Mock, AGRSS Council Inc.

AGRR: What do you recommend that shops do on a daily basis to help with the consumer and insurer education effort?
DM: It’s really going to take a grass-roots marketing effort. AGRSS is a non-profit organization; we don’t have a large marketing budget. With everyone working in their individual markets with some grassroots marketing, we can build the AGRSS brand. I’m putting together a marketing budget, so people can figure out how much they can spend to promote themselves and to promote AGRSS Registration.

AGRR: What types of marketing efforts would you recommend?
DM: AGRSS has a lot of marketing tools available, very inexpensive marketing tools; the brochures are great. When you’re making a sales call to an insurance agency, it’s always nice to have something new to talk about. If you can go in with something in your hand to hand to the agent, it’s a great tool to have and it’s great to show people.

AGRR: Is there anything else you’ve observed in speaking with industry representatives as you’ve taken on this role?
DM: One of the things that I’m seeing is interest from manufacturers and distributors in the Standard itself as being an integral part of what they do. I think they’re finally starting to come around. I think there’s going to be some major news this year on what manufacturers are doing … I really think there’s going to be some positive movement in the industry this year.

Lessons Learned
Inside the AGRSS Third-Party Validation Program

A recent panel featuring Dale Malcolm of Dow Automotive, chair of the AGRSS education committee, Jeff Olive of Glasspro, Penny Ouellette of Orion Registrar Inc., and Jean Pero of Mygrant Glass, chair of the AGRSS accreditation committee, offered an insight into what has been learned through the most recent rounds of validations.

Malcolm launched the session by stressing that a business’s entire environment has to be safety-minded in order for the effort to trickle throughout the company.

“Technician commitment clearly comes from the shop,” said Malcolm. “You can’t tell your people they have to care about AGRSS if you don’t.”

And Olive pointed out that technicians need to be given the proper tools to be able to be compliant. “[You should] provide a timer to that technician so he can time how long he shakes that cleaner,” he suggested. “When you have to time something for a minute or five minutes, that time is a lot longer than you think.”

Binders also might be helpful, said Olive, as one noncompliance that’s come up in some situations is that an improper safe drive-away time has been given. A binder, prepared with a technician’s certifications and all the necessary information he might need, would be helpful in this case, said Olive.

Record-keeping also has been an issue in some cases. In some cases, while lot numbers have been recorded, they haven’t been tracked properly, Malcolm said.

“It’s important to ensure that the lot numbers being recorded are the lot numbers actually being used,” he added. “It not about just having a number; it’s about having the right numbers.”

Ouellette discussed what happens when a noncompliance is found. “If there’s a noncompliance, that doesn’t mean you have to leave AGRSS,” she said. “If there’s a problem, you work at it you fix it, you prove you fix it, and you move along.”

Olive agreed. “If you fail, it’s not the end of the world,” he said. “All you’ve got to do is put in a place a process to change it.”

And Pero added that the program is still in the early stages and continually is being updated to meet registered shops’ needs. “It’s crucially important for you guys that are being validated to let us know if there are things that aren’t working,” she said.

Malcolm ended with some words of advice.

“I think repetition is the key,” he said. “You don’t want to cram for the exam the night before. You want to live it everyday.”

Validation Views
Have you seen the validation video developed by the AGRSS Council Inc. for the insurance industry? Scan the tag at left to view. (Download the free Microsoft Tag reader at http://gettag.mobi.)