Episode #156- Best of times in Collision- w/ Frank Terlep

Don’t miss this impactful journey through the fast-paced world of collision repair with industry powerhouse Frank Terlep on the latest MindWrench podcast. Frank's four-decade-long saga, from his college roots to his rise as a software development trailblazer, epitomizes the innovative spirit propelling this sector forward. As you listen in, you'll be privy to the exclusive insights and stories that only a veteran like Frank can provide, painting a vivid picture of an industry in the midst of an exhilarating transformation.

Come along as we recall the electric atmosphere of SEMA 2023, where the collision repair community's pulse was felt stronger than ever. The surge in ADAS and calibration technologies left us awe-struck, while also presenting a labyrinth of choices for shop owners. Our discussion cuts through the noise and zeroes-in on the opportunities and potential pitfalls that accompany these technological leaps. Frank's seasoned perspective is a shining beacon, guiding us through the bustling currents of AI, robotics, and the tantalizing future of auto repair.
 
Join us, as we gaze toward the horizon of 2024, Frank and I contemplate the legacy we aim to forge within the automotive world. Emphasizing the need to elevate industry standards and champion ADAS certifications, we dissect the slow but steadfast progress toward these goals. The episode rounds off with a crystal ball peek into the increasing specialization trend, advising the next wave of professionals on how to ride the crest of this evolution. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or just gearing up in the industry, Frank's insights are the roadmap to success in the exciting & ever-changing landscape of collision repair.

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Transcript

: 0:00

I think there's just so much. It's like what a great time to be in collision repair, right, 100%, it just seems like it's the best of times.

: 0:09

I couldn't agree more and that's one of the things that came out of the CIC. At SEMA, I hosted a panel, but there were multiple panels and, at the end of the day, if you sat in the meeting room at CIC at SEMA and you were a collision repairer, you heard multiple times from multiple people that this is the best time to be in the collisions.

: 0:41

Welcome to the MindWrench podcast with your host, rick Selover, where minor adjustments produce major improvements in mindset, personal growth and success. This is the place to be every Monday, where we make small improvements and take positive actions in our business and personal lives that will make a major impact in our success. Next level growth and quality of life.

: 1:10

Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome to the MindWrench podcast. I'm your host, rick Selover. Thanks so much for stopping in. If you're a returning listener and haven't done so already, please take a minute and click the Follow or Subscribe button, and then rate and review the show. When you rate and review the show, the algorithms for Apple, spotify, google Podcasts, iheartradio, amazon Music and all the other platforms will see that it's valuable and show it to more people that have never seen it before, and hopefully it can help them too. I would really, really really appreciate your help, sharing this word with your friends and family as well, and if you're a brand new listener, welcome. I hope you find something of value here that helps you in your personal or professional life as well. Please make sure to click the Subscribe or Follow button so you never miss another episode. Well, this week, after working together a long time and getting our schedules synced up, I'm really just super stoked to talk with our next guest.

: 2:02

For those that have been involved in or attended collision industry conferences, this man needs no introduction, but for most body shop owners, leaders and technicians, he's been the one behind the scenes shaping the technologies and software systems that helped run our business for the last 40 years. This industry veteran, known as the original auto industry disruptor, originally developed the first software applications for the automotive aftermarket and since then he's developed a number of different softwares, including the industry's first window-based estimating and management system, the first online parts procurement platform, the first mobile app, digital marketing platforms, as well as the industry's leading remote scanning and calibration software platform. He's been part of companies like Mitchell International, summit Software, aztec and many, many more. Frank Turlup's list of accolades and accomplishments is a mile long, but he's an innovator, an author and inducted into our industry's Hall of Eagles last year. He is the current chairman of the collision industry conference, or CIC as is more well known. He's the VP of Opus IVS. He is one hell of a great guy, humble guy and, most importantly, my friend.

: 3:16

Here's that interview with Frank Turlup. So hey, everybody, welcome back to the MineRange podcast. I'm your host, rick Slover. Today is my very special guest I have been trying to put this together with for probably about a year, mr Frank Turlup. He is the vice president of Opus IVS. He is the chairman of CIC, at least through the end of next year. He's got a list of accolades a mile long. I'm not gonna bother reading them all to you because this show would be over by the time I got done so, but needs to say he's one of probably the one, one of the most well-known, respected men in our industry, always driving forward, always trying to contribute, always trying to make this a better industry, and his leadership through I see, I see, as chairman, has really turned the table with. I think they've had record attendance all year, let this past year, and things are just going in the right direction. So I'm so glad to have Frank on the show. Frank, welcome to the MineRange podcast.

: 4:13

Well, rick, first of all, I'm so happy we're able to get together. It's like, like you said, we've been trying to do this for a year, but thank you for having me. I truly appreciate it.

: 4:23

Absolutely so, as much as I enjoy sitting next to you in person having a drink, eating a meal. This is fun.

: 4:28

I like doing this, so make sure to be in here. Oh, this is great Very good.

: 4:33

So if you could just and I don't want you to go back, you know, for 25 minutes on your history, because you've got a lot of history, but give us a brief, you know, because some people that are gonna watch and listen to this have no idea who you are right and where you came from. So if you can give us like a brief background on how you kind of got into this industry and maybe what sparked the automotive interest and then the software side of automotive.

: 4:58

Sure, so I won't go way back. But so I actually went to college and got a degree in automotive technology and management. Now, but remember, when I got the college degree, that was in the 1970s, okay, so automotive technology was just a little different back then as of this today, I would think. But anyway so and so during school because I did do a commuting school back and forth, got out of school. I actually was a break and alignment technician for a Kmart Automotive Service Center as a starter, I remember those, frank, I remember those.

: 5:37

I remember those. Yes, I do. I had friends that were mechanics in those places when I was in school.

: 5:42

So, anyway, so I started out as that and then I ended up being a service advisor at a dealership, then a service manager at a dealership, and then January it was January 1st my wife and I were sitting around, I got the Sunday paper and I saw an advertisement again an ad in a paper, not online for, yeah, for a sales position to sell automotive diagnostic equipment for a company called L and Test Products. So I went in for an interview that week and they said well, frank, here's the deal, straight commission, you got to buy a van, but you can make a lot of money. I had never sold anything in my life, right? And so I went home, talked to my wife, I said I think I'm gonna take the job. So I said, yes, bought a van and my first year, rick, I won't say the amount of money, but I made more money than I'd ever thought I could make in my life.

: 6:44

I'm selling diagnostic equipment right. And again the whole deal was I would drive around in a van, show up at a shop, unload this diagnostic equipment, hook it up to a car and show them how to fix a car right. And if I showed them how to fix the car they would write a check for the anyway long story. So that's how I started. And then that same company, allen, introduced a business management system God, rick, 84, 83, whatever. And I saw that I'm like that's it, that's gonna be the next big thing. And I went out and bought an Apple II e-computer, got hooked on computers and in 19, I gotta get it right 85 or 86, I went. I started selling body shop software with the body shop industry. My first software installation was at a company called Body Builders in Rolling Meadows, illinois, and it took me a week to figure out how to install software.

: 7:53

And anyway there's still people that struggle a week on software okay, so that's okay.

: 7:58

But anyway, so from that date well, from that year forward, that's how long I've been in the software business. So that little slice of software.

: 8:05

You screwing around with that at one shop. That just kind of triggered the whole thing for you right?

: 8:09

Yeah, I mean it's crazy, yeah, and so the rest, as they say, is history, I guess.

: 8:17

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: 8:25

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: 9:44

It's super simple. Sometimes talking to the right person can make all the difference. Go to wwwricksellovercom, slash contact and I'll set you up with a free consultation. Call with me to see if one-on-one coaching is right for you. Wow, that's incredible. So, um, yeah, I do remember the service department. I'm actually a member Allen equipment Now, not you say the name. I can picture the machine, I've seen it, so you know where they were you know where their corporate headquarters was.

: 10:15

No, I have no idea.

: 10:16

Kalamazoo Michigan.

: 10:17

Oh, no kidding.

: 10:18

Wow, right next. Remember where they used to make the taxi cabs. Yeah, those square taxi cab cars right there.

: 10:25

Okay, wow, so you started right here in Michigan. That's awesome. Um, I know you're originally from Chicago, right, and now?

: 10:32

you're in San Diego.

: 10:33

All right, cool, good, good mess, good Midwest guy, so, um. So, as you started down that path, um with software, um, you didn't know a ton about collision at that point, right, you knew more service than collision. I was much.

: 10:49

I started mechanical, right yeah, and. But what intrigued me was when I I went to my first nace whatever, I think it was the second nace ever Um, and the difference, what the difference was, Rick, between mechanical and collision is the collision. I noticed that the collision shots made a lot more money.

: 11:10

Yeah, I'm like, well, you know, I mean, did they make more money? They probably can afford software, because remember the mid 80s, think about that there was no electronic estimating system, right, yeah, there was no digital estimating. Obviously no internet, no email. And so, um, that was just at the time I go back again showing my age were three of arms was introduced, and so it was the same time and and so I looked at collision. I'm like God, that's what I want to be. And again, the rest of sister.

: 11:47

Wow, talk about looking where the puck is going. You had no idea you're doing that, but that's what you did no, I had no, I'd trust me.

: 11:56

I had no idea where I would be today, back in the mid 80s.

: 12:01

Yeah, listen, I don't think there's any collision. Shop owners back in the mid 80s that even thought software would play a role. You know the way it does now.

: 12:10

Um 40 years later I used to carry a computer out of my car and walk in and I plop it on their desk. I'm like you need one of these. They would look at me like I landed from Mars.

: 12:23

So, along the way, um getting involved in the software side and starting to explore the body shop world, um, do you notice some, uh inefficiencies or deficiencies or some opportunities that were not being taken advantage of even back then, as you worked your way through?

: 12:38

Oh yeah, I mean you know, once you think about it, you know, hindsight is 20, 20, but if you can imagine the whole business, everything was on paper, yeah, right, and, and I just I used to look at that going, well, how to help me keep track, I mean, you know, how to help you even add up the invoices correctly, right, because you got to use a calculator, well, in any way. So, yeah, I mean everything from writing an estimate, creating an invoice, I mean billing the customer, all that was all manual back then. So there was, it was there was a lot of low hanging fruit per se.

: 13:19

Yeah, Was therea strong pushback. You know, as you're going in and trying to tell people you really need one of these computers.

: 13:25

Oh yeah, oh, frank, come on, I've been doing it for this long, forever. Come on, why would I need one of those? Right, yeah, and remember so again, I shouldn't do this to show my age. But back then you'd have the fax machines that were like three foot tall sitting in the corner and, like you know, the shops would actually buy the fax machines for their dealerships so they could fax parts orders.

: 13:52

Yeah, yeah, I remember that. That's, I'm showing my age too, but I remember the first fax machines when it came out too.

: 14:00

Oh God, it's so funny. Now looking back.

: 14:03

I mean. So you see, you look at that history right and what you started with and and as it. And you know, I know you were involved in a lot of software systems. You know the first estimating platform, first parts procurement platform and so many other firsts in the industry and you've always been at that software guy. That's kind of leading the change Going to start. Contrast from that to fast forward to SEMA 23 and the amount of technology and the amount of availability of the world's best stuff for every collision shop that's out there. If they wanted to spend the money Right.

: 14:46

Oh yeah, I mean, it's sort of like you know Christmas for collision centers. Right, what do I want? Right, what's my wish list?

: 14:54

Yeah. So let's talk about SEMA a little bit. What was some of your best? Because I did see you there and we spent a little bit of time talking, but I know you're busy. I think the pace that you were walking was closer to a run every time I saw you right. So you're over at the Opus booth, you're over at CIC, you're all over the place. You're hitting all the events. I'm sure you've logged a couple of hundred thousand miles on your tennis shoes. What were some of your top takeaways from SEMA 23?

: 15:25

Well, I mean I mentioned this to somebody else previously the biggest thing that struck me from SEMA 2023 was the plethora of ADAS and calibration stuff. I mean, it was like 10X compared to 2022.

: 15:42

It was like overnight.

: 15:43

It's like you know, someone planted ADAS and calibration companies and they grew up in a year. Right, that was the biggest thing for me. I mean, SEMA is always cool If you like cars. You got to go to SEMA, Right, so SEMA is for me, as I get to go see all the cool cars. But from an industry perspective, it was ADAS calibrations. I mean, everybody and their brother it was there talking about ADAS calibrations. And the other thing that jumped out at me is if I were a shop, I would have been overwhelmed. So if I'm going around talking all these people about this calibration stuff, I wouldn't know who to believe. True, I mean, if you think about it right and I always tell the shops I've been telling for years you go to CMO and back then go to NACE. Don't go write a check, because go back home and think about what you saw first and then do your due diligence, right.

: 16:43

Yeah, I did a CMO23 podcast wrap up right after I got back home from there, and that was one of the things I saw for myself was the amount of stuff that was there, the amount of variety in each segment, whether it's welding equipment or booths or ADAS stuff. There's just, like I said, a plethora of stuff there to look at and I thought, god you know, there's probably no better opportunity to get your hands on four different brands or four different types of whatever you're looking for right, compare them, have the conversations and make good decisions. Yeah, then go home and sleep on it and really think about it, especially when you're getting into ADAS, because now it's not just a piece of equipment that could work great or not work so good when you get in your shop, that's not the end of the world, but when you do an ADAS stuff and you're calibrating someone's car and it's got to be exactly right or it's 100% wrong, that's a much bigger burden, I think, to make a snap decision.

: 17:45

Yeah, so buyer beware, right, yes, Buyer beware. The other thing, though, that jumped out of me there's one thing that I think is sort of the canary in the coal mine or a picture in the future is. I forget what booth it was at, Maybe it was I won't use the name but the robots. Did you see some of the robots there?

: 18:06

Yes, I did so. Robots sanding a panel.

: 18:10

I'm going everybody that sees that is going to go.

: 18:13

Oh my God, the other is near.

: 18:15

It's so, but. But so the way my brain thinks, I'm like well, okay, this is the first entry. I mean, who knows, I don't. Hopefully I'll be able to go see him in five years from now. Yeah, but I think that robot thing is going to be something we should keep our eye on.

: 18:32

Oh listen, I've seen plenty of videos of today's robots versus, you know, five years ago or 10 years ago, and, oh my God, the advancements in technology is frightening. It's, it's so fast and it's so. You know. Things are so lifelike now. It just it's incredible. So why wouldn't they do that? In our industry, as well as every other industry, they're doing so.

: 18:52

Next year, by the way, every, every manufacturer, everybody is going to have a boot. They're going to have their name and then dash AI watch.

: 19:01

Oh, no kidding, that's your prediction.

: 19:02

Okay, I'll be everywhere next year.

: 19:05

Well, I wouldn't be surprised. It seems to be blowing up pretty fast right now. So well, I had a good time at Seba. There's a lot I saw. One of the things that struck me, frank, was was the amount of little, like I'd say, bolt on businesses that were available. I saw in some of the other buildings. You know there's all these ancillary companies that I'm a shop owner thing, god I. Why don't I add that to my sales mix to and add that to my revenue stream? I think there's just so much. It's like what a what a great time to be in collision repair. Right, it just seems like it's the best of times.

: 19:44

I couldn't agree more and you know that's one of the things that came out of one of the CIC at Seema. You know I hosted a panel but there were multiple panels and at the end of the day, if you sat in the meeting room at CIC at Seema and you were a collision repair, you heard multiple times from multiple people that this is the best time to be in the collisions.

: 20:13

Absolutely. I tell everybody that I talked to and a lot of them don't believe me. A lot of them think bullshit, there's just too much stuff to deal with, it's too man. You got to look at the opportunity side, you know.

: 20:27

I mean then, there, there, maybe they're just not looking at the right business, the right way. I don't know.

: 20:34

Yeah, I know it's crazy, but yeah, I would agree with that. I would agree with that. It's definitely the best time Speaking of CIC. So I know you guys had CIC in conjunction with Seema, which is always cool because you get, I think he's just probably the best attendance you've ever had. I would imagine would have to be the October one, right?

: 20:54

No, it literally was so. Seema at this Seema, you know, CIC at Seema was the largest number of registrants for CIC meeting ever.

: 21:05

Wow, that's incredible.

: 21:09

I'm very proud of that.

: 21:10

Oh yeah.

: 21:11

My first meeting, like last January, was the largest ever.

: 21:18

I was at that one as well. I remember that that was the second time I'd ever been to a CIC conference, so I really didn't know what to expect. I went to the first one I think it was Phoenix the year before and I went to the one which was your kickoff one and like, oh my God, this is a lot of people, holy sh.

: 21:38

Yeah, I was. I mean, it was literally almost standing remotely right.

: 21:41

Yeah.

: 21:42

No, it was great. That was a great one, seema. This Seema CIC was great as well. Great conference, great committee presentation. So yeah, it was great.

: 21:51

Yeah, it's good to see more people getting involved in this industry and your leadership, I think, with CIC has been an added bonus, I think, because there's a lot of people that know you and know your background and know the things that you've done, it adds a little extra weight to it, I think. As far as importance, and hey, let's see what this guy is doing. We know what he's done in the past. I think he's going to move the needle a little bit farther with us, right? Well, I appreciate that.

: 22:19

I also think that some people kind of say what's he going to do with this meeting?

: 22:26

Yeah, what's the twist? What's the plot twist here? Speaking of CIC panels, you did a great job putting together really good panels. I wasn't able to attend much of it. I did go over to the red carpet event. I did see a couple of classes I wanted to attend, but I heard you had some really, really fantastic panels. I know some of my counterparts from Collision Cocktail Hour Laura and Matt were on one of them. That was your juicier and acquisitions one. So how did that go? I wish I could attend to that one. How did that one go?

: 23:00

Well, it was the highest rated panel of the sessions at CIC, which I felt really good about that.

: 23:07

Nice.

: 23:09

I also think it was. If you were there, you could see that the panelists, dave Roberts, cole, laura Matt hands us really truly they opened up everything they knew and they answered questions completely candidly and it gave a real, in my opinion, a real good insight to where the industry was at in terms of M&A, as we sat there in the meeting. But every one of them, as we just said, every one of them said best time to be in collision with you.

: 23:43

Yeah, because you got options right. So if you're a collision shop owner, it's a great time, no matter what you want to do, if you want to get out best time ever, right, yeah, people are cleaning up to try to right.

: 23:53

Well, yes and no if you weren't there. But the comment was if you have a good business, yes. If you don't have a good business, no, right, I mean. So what came out of it is if you're running a really good business and you've got great organization, you got great management team and you're profitable, the world's your oyster right. If you're skating by, you got a crappy shop, you're not doing the right things.

: 24:26

Go back into the SEMA show and up your game right.

: 24:29

There you go. Try this thing next year. Yes, Awesome.

: 24:34

Well, like I said, I wish I could have attended that one. That was one of the ones on my list and, quite honestly, I would have needed a Learjet to get there a little earlier and dropped off there. So, but anyway, speaking of CIC and you guys, you've done a great job this year, frank. I've heard so much good positive press from the people that I know in this industry and I know this is a limited gig, so you got a two year gig with CIC as chairman. So, kicking off 2024, this will be your final year, so you'll end it in SEMA in 2024. Great progress to date. I think you've definitely turned it on its ear. You've pushed the envelope in a few different directions and you got a lot of people thinking differently, I think. What's your hopes for 2024? And what would be the legacy you would like to leave when you check out of this after CEMA is done next year?

: 25:31

I think the first part of the legacy and I think anybody who's been in this role the CIC chairman, mo has tried to do the same thing and leave it a little bit better than the way you got it.

: 25:45

I mean that's a good generic way to say when I give it to whoever the next chair will be, it'll be a little bit better than what it was when I got it. So that's number one. I think number two is and if you bend to a couple of CICs and then I'll continue to do it this year is I really want to focus on a few things. Number one I really believe that our committees and CIC can really move the needle with regard to supplements in the industry. I think I've said it in previous CICs supplements cost everybody in our industry billions of dollars, and so that's one of the things I hope to continue to push to try to sell. I don't know if we're gonna solve it this year, but I think we're gonna continue to bring it up to a level to where that there's gonna be more detailed discussions to try to solve it. So supplements is one.

: 26:45

Okay.

: 26:46

Number two is transparency, another thing that I'm gonna continue to push this year to the body and to the industry to say, look, what's wrong with 100% transparency? Right? I mean, in that world you don't have to worry about trust If you're 100% transparent. Everybody knows what happened, right? So that's the other one. And the third one I've had people out for a few years is, I think, well, I know what we're gonna do. Cic is gonna create, is gonna go down the path to figure out ADAS standards and certification best practices. We're at a stage in the industry, rick, where I think we're not too far down the path yet to where we can continue to screw it up right.

: 27:38

Yeah.

: 27:38

You know, unlike collision collision, we've been doing this for hundreds of years, or whatever number of years, right, but ADAS calibrations is new, and so I think we're at a point where we can say whoa, nelly, let's put the brakes on and let's put some standards in place to where the industry can do it right going forward. So those are the three things for 2024.

: 28:05

Okay, those are three great goals to achieve absolutely your transparency comment. It just strikes me as why aren't we transparent? Right, as an industry, you have transparency at home with your wife and your husband and your family, right. You should be 100% transparent when you do business and be ethical about it, right. But why is this industry so far off that mark and everybody's afraid to be transparent? And if you can accomplish that, they should give you a star on the water table. What for sale?

: 28:49

I don't think I'm gonna accomplish it, but I'm gonna continue to get the ball rolling. At the forefront of everybody's mind If you do the right thing, you get nothing to hide, right, you get nothing to hide. So to me anyway and again I've said this many times there's only one way to fix a car. It's the right way. But if you do it the right way, you get nothing to hide, so-.

: 29:14

Right? No, I would agree with that. So excellent, excellent. I'll look forward to that. I'll try to attend as much as I can through the 2024 season.

: 29:22

So you know it's 20 years Well on that, let me just make some statements. So January hot springs, april is Seattle, july is Denver and then, of course, november is SEMA.

: 29:39

Excellent, I know I'll make the Seema one. For sure. Colorado sounds interesting. I haven't been in Colorado so it might be a nice break during the summer. So I'll probably look for you there.

: 29:53

I'll love to have you there.

: 29:55

So you talked about 8S a lot and I know that's been your sweet spot for the past several years. The products that you designed I had auto-tech accelerators before you sold to Opus and I know you had a big passion for that and I've seen you speak a lot of places and speaking the facts and the truths about what it means to properly repair cars when it comes to 8S, calibration, scanning, all those things. So the talk has been out there for quite a while now several years. It's still brand new. I get that. But do you see the needle moving in our industry, people understanding and making those investments and making the right choices and actually accomplishing those type of repairs correctly? Or are we still kind of with our head in the sand right now on this, hoping it'll? I don't need to worry about that. It'll probably. It's a phase, it'll probably pass.

: 30:57

You see, a lot of that, or is it getting better?

: 31:00

So I think, to comment on your last statement, I think there is a percentage of people who believe it's like the pet rock, right, it's a fan, it's notit's going to go away. So there's a percentage of people out there like that the needle is moving okay. But you've been in the business a long time, as I have.

: 31:25

Our industry does not move as quickly as any of us would like it to, right, but there is a core group. There's a core group of people that are very passionate I'm one of them very passionate about it, and you're seeing these businesses like well, most of the big MSOs know they're in it, they have to be in it. Right, most of the consolidators are in it. You've got the Greg Peters car, adas. They're moving the needle. So the answer is yes, the needle is moving, but not as fast as it should.

: 32:08

Yeah, and that's what I thought too, Just from your comment on how much ADAS calibration stuff was at SEMA. It's tenfold from what it was a year ago. So obviously from a vendor standpoint the needle is moved. Everybody at that level gets it. I'm just kind of more concerned with the whole collision industry as a shop at a time, and it just seems like to your point they move a little slower than they probably should. I understand technology goes really fast. It goes faster and faster every year, but still if you're in this business you've got to pull your head out of the sand and go. Either I've got to get on that train or I need to understand that I've got to outsource that chunk of all my business because I should be skipping it.

: 32:52

Well, here's something that comes up every once in a while. Well, frank, do you think the cars are going to self-calibrate themselves? I mean, that comes up. I get that question a lot right, I've heard that yes.

: 33:03

And so people are thinking well, why would I get in the game if, sooner or later, the cars are going to self-calibrate? So I don't believe that's going to be the case in the near term. My guess is I'll probably be retired before that happens. But I just don't see that if it were me and I was a younger man, I wouldn't let that idea of self-calibration stop me from getting in the business.

: 33:28

No, I mean self-calibration. For what I understand, if your roads are snowy and covered and you can't see the lines, you can't see edges of the road, how does that work?

: 33:40

Well, so you bring up a good point, right, because you have two types of calibrations. You've got static and dynamic right? Dynamic is the kind of drive and in snowy conditions where there's no lines, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right, it's virtually impossible, virtually impossible to get to car to Calibri.

: 33:58

That would be. My argument is if you're in the Midwest or Canada or the Northeast right, You're going to see snow and you will not be able to do dynamic calibrations period.

: 34:12

So I think over, I think at the end of the day the manufacturers are going to move to. You can do it either way. To me that would make the most sense, right? But if you look, if you look at and I said this before if you look at what the autonomous vehicles are doing, 100% static, they get done on their track, their AV track, they come back, they have to get static to Calibri. So you can look at it a couple of ways.

: 34:43

To me. I look at it as it's a money making business with great margin that if you're already in that collision space, it seems like that just be a natural progression to if you got to get with a couple other shop owners. If you don't want to do it on your own, maybe collaborate with a couple people and put together your own center.

: 35:02

It's the best opportunity this industry has seen in 25, 30 years.

: 35:05

Absolutely, absolutely. So I'll continue to sing that from the mountain tops too. So we talked I heard you talk with somebody else about this earlier and it struck me as what a great way to categorize how our repair centers are now. So you refer to like a medical field, right, you have like a general doctor, your family doctor, you go to right and then they usually refer you to some type of specialist. If it's not a cold or a flu or a sore elbow or a twisted fingers, they'll send you to somebody that specializes in that particular part of medical practice, right? Do you see the body shops kind of going down that same path? Because there is a lot of opportunity in different little sectors of this business, right?

: 35:59

Well, I don't think the industry has a choice. I mean, the cards are going to become become so complex, Rick.

: 36:06

You can't do them all.

: 36:08

Today, you can't do them all, in my opinion, right? I mean, how can I mean, if I had my own shop, there's no freaking way that I would be able to fix a Mercedes, a BMW, an Audi, a Ford, a Chrysler, a Toyota. There's no way, right? So I think you know, I think it's already happening, right? I think the OE certification is pushing that right. But, yeah, it's, the industry is going to be, it's going to move from a general body shop as we've known it for all these years, Like the balloons, by the way.

: 36:48

Love that. That's nice. Is it a party I missed, or what?

: 36:52

I don't know how it works, but anyway Stop it, it's a good thing, this is an audio broadcast.

: 37:00

Nobody sees this, no I know, anyway.

: 37:02

So I think the industry is already moving there. I think the days of generalists are over for the most part. You're going to focus on my opinion. You're going to probably have domestic and maybe you can go domestic and Asian, because they're similar. I think you could do. You could do euros right, because similar, again right, but I think you're. I think over time you're going to even drill further down and you're only going to be Asian. You're only going to be domestic. You're only going to be Mercedes, you're only going to be I mean, if you look at the mechanical business, thinking of mechanical business, right?

: 37:41

Yeah.

: 37:41

That has that. Really that's already gone down that path in a lot of cases They've been doing that for 30 years or so.

: 37:48

You see, from earn, you know, specialists or whatever. Yeah, I get that. I just it's funny that it's taking this long for the collision side to go. You know, and I've known some shops, especially in my market, that have been euro and you know high-end Luxury vehicles and that's all they work on and that's great and Couple places that started just specializing EVs, but it's very limited right now. So I think there's a world of opportunity and this message is for you know, there's some great body shops that are that will listen to this, but there's also some other shops that are still that little mom and pop shop that don't know what they're gonna do yet. And this is a great option is, if you don't want to fix all this and you're looking at a dash and you go, oh, I can't repair all those things and I can't buy all that stuff. And oh, evs, I gotta be ready for EVs to pick a lane. Pick a lane and go. That's my lane, spend your money really get really good at right, really good.

: 38:43

Yeah, you know, it's sort of like I mean, even in business, right, I always tell businesses, you know, even the business I'm in today. You need to focus on to on what you're good at. Don't try to do too many things that you're not good at. You're really good at something and you know what you'll probably be more successful. Yeah, this is a good thing.

: 39:05

Yeah, absolutely so. I just want to touch on the, your business that you sold to opus IV and that's put you in a position of being vice president of that company. How is that? Has that reshaped opus and what they do and the direction that they're going, and what's been the impact with you going over there and heading it up as vice president?

: 39:31

Well, I mean, if you, If you look at opus pre acquisition right, for most everybody that knew of them, they knew of them as the tool Right, the drive safe tool.

: 39:46

Yep.

: 39:48

The acquisition of my company now gives gave, gives opus what I'll call an end-to-end solution. So you're not just a tool anymore. You know I start. You have the diagnostic tool, but now you have a test identification. You have calibration management software. They have calibration validation software. So it it has changed the way they go to market because they now have Much more of an overall solution than I have before.

: 40:15

Right. They're more a well-rounded offering for for all those, all those needs. For I'll be a little. I'll be a little subjective.

: 40:23

It's okay, we have the best solution in the market there we go.

: 40:26

That's. That's better, the wait for that. So what's ahead for the future of opus? Anything coming up that you can let out of the bag, or just a hint of something coming up, or you know, I wish. I mean there's a lot of Me we introduced.

: 40:44

It's Seema. By the way, we had two booths. I think you're gonna see Not just from us, by the way, I said it early in our new spot cast I think you can see an increased focus from us on AI and all the stuff we do. Okay, but I think, now that we've got you know we've put my company together with what they were doing, I think you're gonna you well, it's what? Now we're gonna go to what they a complete solution and not a piecemeal solution like we. So those are the couple things I could tell you without having to kill you.

: 41:22

So Listen, took a year to get me together with you on a. You'd have to chase me for another year to kill myself. I Appreciate pray, thanks, for I don't want you to get in trouble. So that's fine, we'll work on that. That's fine. We'll keep our eyes open to see what happens. So stay tuned. Just couple last questions. I appreciate the time you've been spending with me and it's I always enjoy talking to you. You're just. You get this business so well and you can relate it. Maybe just because you're another old guy like me, we can go back and talk about the 80s and collision repair. We got 40 year olds gone. What the hell are they talking?

: 42:03

Yeah, no, kids, they probably have your help. Your listening on? It's called the 1980s. What the hell was that?

: 42:10

How was you born in? So if you wanted to give advice on, let's say, younger, shop on, let's say, your 30s young 30s to maybe 40. You're enjoying this business, you're excited about collision repair, you the light goes on and you get the fact that this is the best time to be in a collision industry, but you're looking forward going. All right, where do I want to be, wayne Gretzky, and skate where the puck is going, instead of following where it's at right now. What would be your couple Couple suggestions, I guess, for that?

: 42:50

Well, I mean, the first thing, rick and I think this would be anybody, any of your listeners would be Do the basics very, very well, take care of your people, have a great culture, you have good processes in place, you know, have a strategic vision of where you want to go. I mean, those are all I call mom and apple pie stuff. Right, those are the basics. Yeah, it's sort of like football, right, if you don't block and tackle, you're not gonna win the game, right and so, if so and for anybody listening to me is do the basics right, get really good at the basics.

: 43:32

But also, at the same time, you I said it earlier Adas is the best opportunity in the industry. I've seen it through almost 30 years. You should at least take a look at that. The other thing is, I think and this is now this is looking over the hill a little further I Think customers are gonna want, they're gonna want to go to a trusted automotive solution in their market for everything I Mean. If you really think about it, rick, I'll tell you my personality, my personally. If I knew one place that I could go to to take care of all my automotive needs and I trusted them, they'd have my business forever, yeah, forever right.

: 44:20

Agreed, agreed.

: 44:24

What does that mean? It was that mean, well, maybe you start to think about maybe I'm just not in collision, maybe I'm a mechanical, maybe I'm in glass, maybe you know, maybe I'm in the ABS, and, by the way, you can't get there all once right, right so, but over time I think If I'm the consumer, if I trust Rick and Rick has collision mechanical and I'm going to Rick- yeah, and if you took on, you know, ceramic coatings and Bedliner, you know that all those things, that would be the one place I go to because, to your point, this guy has social proof.

: 45:05

He's got a million Google reviews, he's five star because that's a people go to, right, that's first thing you look at. They look for that social proof and and, yeah, you're right, I agree with that. I would be the same thing. I think we're like that with our personal lives, just with our shopping. Everybody goes to Amazon now because they perform, they do what they do, they do what you expect them to do, right.

: 45:26

Well, actually, in some cases, in some cases they over perform. You know your organs, they're like a two o'clock in the afternoon, right yeah.

: 45:33

I was gonna get this till tomorrow. I'm getting it today. Oh great, right. So you know, I think people, if they could, I'm sure at some point they'll buy houses on Amazon, you know well, did you see the news Recently?

: 45:46

Hyundai, hyundai's gonna sell cars at Amazon.

: 45:49

I did see that. Okay, that's the start, they're all gonna follow that. If it's successful, even for 15 minutes, everybody else is gonna follow 100% yeah awesome.

: 45:59

Well, listen, frank. We could go for probably another three hours, but I want to be respectful of your time, right? I Appreciate you finding the time to talk with me and for our listeners. Give them a little bit of wisdom that they can take home. I'm gonna ask you one more thing, and this is just random, but I kind of like to ask this because it's always a good answer, no matter who I ask what's the greatest lessons you've learned? Oh man, just pick one one first one. It comes to mind Yep.

: 46:31

If you do the right thing, the money will come you.

: 46:35

Love that. That's awesome. That is right on the money.

: 46:41

You know? No, I don't want to take up too much time. It may not come overnight, but if you continue to do the right thing in business, the money will ultimately come.

: 46:55

Excellent lesson and excellent advice. Thank you very much, Frank. I appreciate that. Working everybody fine. You besides running around at SEMA and being the maestro at the CIC conferences Well, again.

: 47:09

please come to CIC, jay Pobbs. For me, april Seattle, july Denver and again SEMA in Vegas. That's one place. Second of all, you can go LinkedIn. Look at Frank Turlup on LinkedIn. It's a great place to find me. If they want to email me, Frank Turlup, T-E-R-L-E-P at opusI-V-Scom.

: 47:34

Excellent.

: 47:35

I'll put that in the show notes along with the website for Opus, which it's in Michigan. It's in my neighborhood. That's Michigan. That's right. You let me know when you got time. I'd love to come see your office. I'd love to see the facility and see what you guys do there. I'll be waiting for your invitation.

: 47:54

For those of you that have never been to CIC and you're not really sure what to expect or what it is, it's an awesome experience. I've gone through most of my career never even knowing what it was, let alone attending one. It's only been a couple of years since I attended one. But once you go, you go. Oh my God, I got to be part of this. It's $125 to attend, which is nothing. Get out there, attend. It's a one day thing. Usually they have a night, a really nice meet and greet type of thing, and then usually they'd be tied into the inclusion industry foundation. Usually it has some fundraisers and those are fun events too. So I will urge any shop owner that's listening that's never attended one just go to one. You'll meet so many great people, You'll learn so much, You'll do some very important networking, and CIC is not paying me for this, but I'm telling you it's that important and that impactful. I think everybody that owns a shop or as a leader in a shop should attend at least one.

: 48:55

Well, thank you, rick, and, by the way, I've been going to it for 30 plus years and I agree with you 100%.

: 49:01

Awesome, all right. Well, frank, I'm going to let you go because I know in Southern California the sun's probably out. We've missed an out on some outside beautiful weather. I'm freezing my ass off here in Michigan, so I'm going to stay hunkered down with my sweater on and get me something warm to drink.

: 49:20

Perfect, Perfect Rick. Thank you so much. I'm glad we finally got some time. This has been awesome.

: 49:26

Me too. Me too, I always enjoy talking with you, so we will see you soon, my friend.

: 49:32

Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you.

: 49:34

Well, I truly hope you enjoyed my conversation with Frank Turlup as much as I did. He's absolutely a wealth of knowledge and very accessible. If you have any questions about eight ass or calibrations, regarding what the collision industry conference is all about and how you can get involved, I'll leave all that contact info in the show notes, and if you've never attended before, I would strongly urge you to check it out. Attend one of their highly impactful and memorable quarterly CIC events. They are definitely worth it. Thanks again for tuning in. I really appreciate your support and I hope you have a great week. I can always be reached at wwwricksellovercom, where you can find all my social media links podcast episodes, blog posts and much more.