AGRR - November/December 2007 - AGRR Magazine

Auto Glass Week continued from page 41Successful IndependenceThe IGA capped off the industry’sparticipation in Auto Week in LasVegas with a successful fall conferenceon Saturday, November 3.The conference kicked off with apresentation by IGA president DaveZoldowski and a two-hour discussionof the services offered by the associationand the overall theme of themeeting (one of the most importanttopics for independent AGRR companies)—steering.Among the new services that IGA isoffering are free AGRSS registration,legislative alerts, IGA certification, CSRtraining and certification and the antisteeringcampaign.The ‘Don’t Get Steered’ campaignwas introduced by IGA board memberBryan Yarborough. “It’s hard to explainto those outside our industry what isgoing on in our market,” he explained.“That’s the purpose of this campaign.”Consumer brochures, radio spots, TVadvertising scripts, postcards for consumersand representative press releasesare all included as methods to getthe message out on what steering is andwhy consumers need to be aware of it.Consumer advocate Ralph Naderhad suggested a comic book to explainthe complex concept to consumerswhen he spoke to members at theirMay conference.“We are within 8 to 12 weeks of havingthis printed,” said Yarborough.“This is a fun way to get the messageout and use as a leave-behind,” Yarboroughadded. “And all these materialswill be made cost effective so that youcan use them in your shop.”Shawn Newport, an IGA boardmember, picked up the discussion onsteering by advising that everyonecheck on whether or not consumers intheir state have the right to choose.“This is the first thing you have to findout. Do consumers have the right tochoose a shop to do their work?”Also, because consumers are increasinglyusing the Internet to find ashop to complete auto glass work,Newport advised attendees to be surethey have a web presence that will capturethese consumers.He also led a discussion of successfultechniques to avoid having a clientsteered by what IGA calls a competitoradministrator. There was an emphasison the importance ofcontrolling the call so that the consumerdoesn’t get steered.There was also a discussion of howto respond if a customer asks if a claimis going to affect their premium. Representativesof State Farm, who were inthe audience, explained that even theclaims department cannot provide ananswer to this question because of themany factors which are involved. Theyadvised telling clients that they shouldask their agent for information onwhether filing the claim is going to affectthe premium.The final consensus was that it is upto the individual shop to educate itscustomers. IGA is putting into placetools to help do this.Mr. IGA Goes tothe State CapitalThe IGA finished out its morningprogram on Saturday with a legislativeupdate program led by Tom Grim of AllStar Auto Glass, and Alan Epley ofSouthern Glass & Plastic Co., legislativechair of IGA.Grim, who is president of the WashingtonIndependent Glass Association,recently worked to see anti-steeringlaws successfully passed in his homestate. He started by asking, “Why is legislationimportant and what do youneed to know? Those are the questionswe will endeavor to answer.”He said that the purpose of the legislativeactivity in Washington was toprevent an entity from being a retailshop and a third-party administrator.He explained, “We couldn’t quantifyany steering when we investigated, butthere were statements in the company’sscripts that steered the customer, suchas that its warranty was better than independentcompanies.”Grim told attendees that if they don’tprevent steering, no one will.“That’s where legislation comes in,”he said. “Legislation forces action. Wedidn’t end up with the bill we wanted,but we did get legislation.”He added, “Legislation changesthe way ‘they’ (whoever that is) dobusiness.”42 AGRR November/December 2007 www.agrrmag.com