Master of business teaches others

Dave Dunn says service is about the experience

Sunday, June 18, 2006

By MIKE LANDIS

The Register-Mail

GALESBURG - Knox County residents young and old can sing his collision company's jingle, but Dave Dunn's reach in the business world stretches well beyond a dented fender or catchy tune.

Dunn founded Dave's Autobody on Grand Avenue more than 30 years ago and started attracting national attention in the collision repair business. His success in the business gave him the opportunity to practice what he preaches.

"Nobody wants to go to an autobody shop," said Dunn.

Since a majority of his customers are already miffed thanks to the irritation of vehicle damage, Dunn made it his objective to develop relationships with the customers and make them want to come back to his shop. An example is his trademarked Detail for Life program, which guarantees that if Dave's Autobody repairs a collision of $2,000 or greater the shop will detail that vehicle four times per year as long as the customer owns it.

"We want to turn a needs-based customer into a want-based customer," said Dunn. "Our success at Dave's has been pretty good."

And that success led to requests for Dunn's consulting services. For more than 20 years he's been providing on-site consulting services in the collision and auto industries, and that eventually branched into his Masters Educational Services program more than a decade ago. Dunn is the managing director and co-founder of Masters, and Natalie Kessler is the co-owner and director of education.

Housed on the second floor of the First Bank building on East Main Street, the Masters program offers business management essentials through a variety of classes. Dunn recently closed his Santa Barbara, Calif., Masters office, and has made Galesburg the headquarters for his program.

Masters presents courses in collision repair management education, marketing, estimating, production management and other topics essential to success in the business world.

The program extends outside the collision repair industry. Dunn also tailors his program to appeal to the medical, wholesale and retail industries.

"Generally if you attend one class, you end up attending them all," said Dunn.

Class participants will experience a mixture of lectures, reading, exercises and testing. The offerings range from the intensive five-day Masters School program that runs the gamut from financial performance to personnel; the three-day Advanced Marketing program; to the one-day classes on numerous specialty topics.

Dunn's philosophy is echoed in a statement he made several times during a recent interview - "If mediocrity is the perception of what you do, then price is the only differentiation."

Dunn said price can always be taken away, so businesses have to learn how to be able to offer more. The key, said Dunn, is developing a relationship with the customer and giving them an experience that's enjoyable. He pointed to examples such as Walt Disney World, the Hard Rock Cafe and The Fudgery at Union Station in St. Louis as businesses that attract customers with memorable experiences.

"We believe we are in the midst of an experience economy," said Dunn.

Galesburg could soon be making that transition to an experience economy, he said, thanks in large part to development of the National Railroad Hall of Fame.

"The Railroad Hall of Fame, in my opinion, is the biggest thing that has ever happened to Galesburg," said Dunn. "I'm not on the committee. I'm just a fan.

The railroad attraction will make people want to come to Galesburg, said Dunn.

"It's an opportunity to build our economy around an experience," he said. "Galesburg can become a summertime destination for families."

He believes the estimates of 200,000 visitors to the hall of fame - which is scheduled for completion in 2009 - is conservative, noting that John Deere Commons in Moline attracts 400,000 visitors annually.

Dunn said it's also important to create that positive experience for employees, making them "raving fans" of the company.

"If the employees feel an ownership in the company, they will deliver raving fan service," said Dunn.

Dunn puts that theory into practice at Dave's Autobody. An immaculate building that doesn't convey collision repair shop at first glance, Dunn has put a premium on making the workplace enjoyable for his employees. The next project at the Grand Avenue shop is installing porcelain tile throughout the facility.

"We try to remind our employees every day that we are actors in a theatrical presentation," said Dunn. "Every day when they walk in there, we want them to think that they are walking into body shop heaven."