[mitchellreid]

Techs and Owners,

I am not sure if anyone in the field is monitoring these forums, but just in case there is someone doing so, I would like to encourage you to attend this years convention and fill out the 2020 Convention Response Form listed on the Dr. Vinyl Website. If you are as inept as I am in the technology field and have a hard time with this I am sure that a call to the Corporate office at 1-800-531-6600 will suffice in alerting Headquarters that you are indeed coming to the Convention on March 5-7, 2020. I really hope to see you there. Dr.Vinyl Corporate is trying to provide those of us in the field with this opportunity to help and benefit each other.

I personally would like to share what I have learned in the Upholstery world and would like to learn, in turn, from you as well. There is a wealth of knowledge that we have at our fingertips. That knowledge is stored in the hundreds of hours of experience that we have all spent in the field honing our craft. We merely need to allow each other to access that vast knowledge. I assure you we will all benefit. The perfect access point for this is at the conventions each year. Please consider coming to share what you and others have experienced in the last 12 months.

If the knowledge is not enough, there is always the opportunity to be encouraged by your peers. This is often overlooked at conventions but is so effective in motivating us for the upcoming months. I remember sitting at a table at a convention with a Father and Son run Franchise. They were a little down about what more could be done to grow their rural area. I took it upon myself to tell them about how our Franchise was also very rural and how we had gone about growing it. They were surprised to here that when our Franchise Owner originally inquired about purchasing our area Corporate was very concerned about him not being able to make a living in this rural setting. I let them know that we never gave up and tried our best to grow our Franchise every year, even if it was just a little bit of growth. I wanted so badly to encourage the Father and Son team and I did my best to tell them everything I could to help them. Lo and behold, the next year they came back to convention with a very different perspective and attitude. At first, I just thought they were happy to see me, as we had become fast friends and had spoken on the phone a few times over the last year. However, I was very surprised at how their demeanor had so drastically changed. When we sat down at a table again, just like we had done at the previous convention, they were very excited to introduce me to their two new techs that had come on board with them in the last 12 months! They had been motivated and encouraged enough by the last convention to strike out in their area, beat the bushes, and grow their business. At that convention they definitely encouraged me. To this day I remember them whenever I am feeling down or question what more I can do to grow our business.

Very much hope to see any and all of you within the sound of this forum at the 2020 Convention.

Mitchell Reid
The Wandering Upholsterer

[mitchellreid]

Mike,

I am glad to see someone else is monitoring the forums. I thought it was just me and Buster. Thanks for the interest in the online warehouse. I hope we will see some action soon.

Thanks,

Mitchell Reid

[mitchellreid]

Buster,

No need to apologize for the length. The length is what contains all the information that gets us where we need to be.

Thank you for the clear explanations and the willingness to help our Franchise make some changes on the website that will identify what trades we perform and what areas we service. As always, your assistance is a great benefit to us and all Dr. Vinyls.

Mitch

[mitchellreid]

Don’t Give Up On First Time Customers

I made sort of a Rookie mistake recently when an Upholstery Quote did not turn into a Bon Fide Job. I wrote the customer off, initially, and was kind of put off when he called again asking for 4 more quotes. There were several months between the initial and the latter quotes so I gave it one more try before I thought I would write this customer off for good. The total quote for the 4 stores was around $9,300. I had very little hope that this quote would amount to anything in the form of work. However, I still sent the quote to the customer. To my surprise it was approved very quickly! You never know when that extra effort is going to pay off. This is what Bill Hubbard preaches about in what I fondly call his “Red Shirt Chronicles”. If you don’t know what I’m talking about and haven’t seen it live, I am sure that Buster can direct you to the recorded version.
To beat all and since I felt like I could do no wrong I went ahead and asked about what happened to the first quote. I wanted to know if I had made some kind of error or if he had chosen someone else to do that work. To my surprise he had completely forgotten that job and is going back to check on it’s current status to see if he can get that added to the 4 store installation trip!

LESSON TO BE LEARNED: DON’T GIVE UP!

[mitchellreid]

Since the November buyout of Logan’s Restaurants I have had several stores get complete resets. That is to say that have had modifications to their building, signage, floorplan, new upholstery, new equipment, etc. Please be aware that staying in close contact with the store’s GM is going to be beneficial to you. Knowing when and if a reset is scheduled for any of the locations you are working on will keep you from costly mistakes. Not to scare anyone but to drive this point home, in the past I have actually shown up to locations with booth covers in hand only to find that the store had been permanently closed. So be aware of the plans for your restaurants, Logans and otherwise.

On a side note, after resets occur do not see this as a dead account. This is now a brand new location that already knows you and the service you provide. I would suggest going by soon after the renovations to take measurements, make patterns, and get color samples for future work on the new upholstery. I have actually had experience with new products that have been recovered with very cheap vinyl and need to be recovered soon after they have been purchased and installed. New work is everywhere even at old locations with brand new upholstery!

Best of Luck,
Mitchell Reid

[mitchellreid]

Todd,

Remember you don’t have to do every job that comes your way. Sometimes the best answer is “no”. Don’t be afraid to turn down a job you know is going to be a disaster. Tammy’s solution of replacing it with vinyl sounds like a much more productive path. Best of luck in the future.

Mitch Reid

[mitchellreid]

Teresa,

The entire crew from our franchise in Tennessee had a great time and learned a lot, as well, at this year’s convention. We were spread out over the entire gamete of trades. We had people learning about interior tips and tricks, upholstery how to classes, as well as exterior paint and wheel refinishing. It was very helpful and informative to all our techs that attended. We were especially appreciative to all the one on one discussions that we had with fellow owners and techs about their experiences in the field. The vendor room provided a great source of supplies for all our needs. We were especially happy to see more options in the paint and vinyl departments. Speedokote is great to work with, we know firsthand. We look forward to working with some of our own like Steve Biggerstaff and Jason McCurdy when dealing with our future Upholstery Vinyl needs. It was an all around great experience.

The 2 highlights of the convention for me was the group discussions led by Mr. Osterly from Michigan and Bill Hubbard’s “Red Shirt Chronicles”. I think we should make both of these regular events at all future conventions. They were both highly motivating experiences.

Thanks for all the hard work from the entire corporate staff that made the convention possible. Special thanks to Buster, Teresa, Vicki, Tony, Darrell, Steve, and Richard for making our group of Country Boys feel at home in the Big City. We greatly appreciate all of your outstanding efforts.

We are eagerly awaiting Convention 2020!

Sincerely,

Mitchell Reid
Associate in Cookeville, TN

[mitchellreid]

Teresa,

Thanks for the heads up on some of the new products by Viper and others. I will let the others in our Franchise now that they will have to check them out. See you soon.

Thanks,

Mitch

[mitchellreid]

Teresa,

I noticed that you started this subject about 10 months ago just after the last convention discussing the fact that FX-8 was being replaced by FX-9. Since this year’s convention is almost upon us, what sort of new vinyl/leather repair products should we being looking for from Viper or others in the vendor room this March? I am sorry to ask, but the suspense is killing me.

Thanks,

Mitchell Reid

[mitchellreid]

Thanks Buster,

I appreciate your input. I meant to say that the different brands (i.e. Glass Magician Resin, Liquid Resin, etc.) of resins are all about the same. Also, the respective viscosity categories of thin, medium, and thick across the same brands are most likely very comparable to each other. However, you are correct that the different viscosity resins are definitely for different types of repair needs.

Look forward to seeing all of you as well as the vendors, like Delta at the Convention.

Thanks,

Mitch

[mitchellreid]

Jack,

I have been told that the techs here in Tennessee that install airbags after they have deployed in a vehicle have to be certified. This reason for this is the fuel that is used to deploy that airbags I believe is similar to rocket fuel and basically what you are reinstalling into the vehicle is a very small, directional explosive. I think I know just enough to be dangerous on this subject and also enough to avoid it. Be careful.

Thanks,

Mitchell Reid

[mitchellreid]

Tony,

Just checking on this subject that we talked about last March at the convention. Have we made any headway on the online warehouse?

Thanks,

Mitchell Reid

[mitchellreid]

Way to go Tammy. That is a simple solution to an awful problem. Way to work through a problem that was seemingly not repairable. Sometimes all we need is a different perspective when we are too focused on just repairing something.

Thanks,

Mitchell Reid

[mitchellreid]

Jack,

I still use Glass Magician Resins but I would bet that resins are all about the same. Maybe someone from corporate could tell us if there is really any difference in them. I am with you on the Delta injectors. They are awesome and really built for long term use.

Thanks,

Mitchell Reid

[mitchellreid]

Jack,

I thought that there was a huge liability when your repair involves air bags in any part of the car. Things may have changed since I went through interior training years ago, but I seem to remember the corporate line was to avoid working on airbag areas due to the liability associated with them. If things have changed I sure would like to know what is acceptable to work on in that realm.

Thanks,

Mitchell Reid

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