Front and Center

LAS VEGAS--Call if Operation Front and Center but Nick Scheid is simply tired of seeing the industry become the target of every shop owner and or organization with an agenda of agitation.

Scheid, the vice president of the Automotive Body Parts Association and the North American rep for API/Cornerstone, wants ABPA to initiate an aggressive public relations program for reaching not only the members but also the cadre of customers who constitute the greatest audience for independently produced products.

He has felt so strongly about this idea that he asked Chairman Charlie Hogarty to place the subject on the agenda at the past Board of Directors meeting which was held here beginning on Thursday morning, Nov. 5.

Actually in a two part presentation, Scheid led a discussion on ABPA’s transparency to the industry.

During this discourse, several new ideas were brought up to revitalize the association’s image and to develop a clearer message to the members.

Among those items touched were the redoing of the ABPA website--www.autobpa.com-- as well as creating Facebook and Twitter pages. Also discussed were linking to BodyShop Business and participation in the Collision Hub, an on-line chat room.
In a second facet of his thought processes, one which he called, “Empowering the distributors,“ Scheid put forth his ideas on ways to bring about a strategic plan to help the independent parts distributor better battle against the market onslaughts to which the industry is generally accorded.

Scheid felt that independently produced parts have become the favorite whipping boy of those within the body shop industry who are working towards their own agenda and care not for either truth or competition.

The goal is to devise a campaign which is economically viable, carries a single industry message and can be extended to body shop customers. As a by-product, Nick sees it as a means of attracting new members to ABPA.

ABPA Executive Director Stan Rodman, who was aware of Scheid’s thoughts on this matter through previous e-mails even prior to the early November Board meeting, said he is totally in favor of developing alternative programs for the association to reach out to an even greater audience.

The Association generally has three main avenues for promoting its existence to its particular public--parts manufacturers and distributors. The first is through its publications--the nearly monthly Body Lasnguage nedwsxalletettyer (10 times a year), which in 2009 was totally revamped and enhanced with four color printing and more pictures.

There is also the annual International Collision Parts Industry Suppliers Guide, which includes a roster of the members. That particular publication is published once a year but is sent on a controlled basis to 2200 businesses with interests in the crash parts industry--400 select body shops, insurers, claims adjusters, ABPA members, industry advertisers and supporters and subscribers.
The second facet consists of the electronic media which includes the internet and the two websites: www.autobpa.com and www.partslink.org. Partslink is the program which allows the independent aftermarket to track OE parts especially when it comes to supersessions and pricing.

That one Partslink website will sustain as many as 200,000 hits monthly. There is a coordinated scroll advertising program for both sites and at a very fair price, advertisers can reach a vast audience of potential buyers.
The third method is the annual meeting. At one time, ABPA held two meetings per year but the mid-year meeting was suspended when economic times got rough in the early 2000s and many ABPA member companies also found the need to diversify their activities in order to reach a more diverse audience.

Now, ABPA holds its annual convention in the spring--generally late April or depending upon the weather and site location, even late May. The convention remains the number one way for ABPA to coalesce its message to the members as they now gather once a year to review activities in the field and discuss important issues impacting their business.

Besides the normal channels, ABPA is also now a participant through its key member companies in such organizations as the Quality Parts Coalition (QPC), the Collision Industry Conference (CIC), the National Auto Body Council (NABC) and has recently joined the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) as a supporting member.

Also, because of its ties to such members as Karen Fierst of KerenOr Consultants, Eileen Sottile of LKQ Corporation, who serves as the executive director of QPC and its own president, Dolores Richardson of AtPac Auto Parts, ABPA has direct ties to the Most Influential Women in the Industry organization.

That is an AkzoNobel sponsored program which heralds the leading women in collision repair and amongst the latest to gain entry is another ABPA Board member, Kim Hicks of Micro Plating

Said Rodman, “Scheid was definitely on the mark in his feelings of frustration about where the association or industry has been positioned by others. We are now working to change this through better and more effective means of communication and an active public relations campaign.

He added, “There are other ideas we are also considering. Whatever evolves will need the full support of all of our members and each and every business will be called upon to support these on-going efforts because, frankly, we are tired of having sand kicked into our face.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: For those too young to remember the Charles Atlas ads for mail order body building, the printed sales pitch was predicated on a cartoon which encouraged stopping a bully from kicking sand in the face of the meek one on a beach.
Charles Atlas was really an Italian named Angelo Siciliano who for much of the 20th Century was America’s most famous muscle man.