Ditch Your One-Dimensional Ways: Diversification Washington DC

Only selling collision repair service these days? Diversification is the answer to getting your profits back and making your business worth owning.

By Scott Biggs
10/1/2007

Body shops are a one-dimensional business in a multi-dimensional world. It’s like walking into a 50,000-square-foot Wal-Mart to find they only sell poinsettias! Think about how illogical that is: a 50,000-square-foot building with all the normal business costs and they only sell one thing – a product that people want to buy only once a year.

Worse than that is having a 20,000-square-foot business that has only one thing for sale that no one ever wants to buy – and they only need to buy it once every five to seven years! Of course, we’re talking about your average body shop.

Consider that no consumer on record has ever woken up on a beautiful Saturday morning, looked over at his or her spouse and said, “Honey, let’s go body shop shopping and maybe get some collision repair today!” Why? Because no one ever wants a collision repair. They may need it, but they never want or desire it. Therefore, body shops all over the world are selling something no one ever wants to buy, but they’re selling it to hundreds and even thousands of people each year.

To properly assess the impact of and opportunity for diversification in a collision repair business, you need to conduct a business analysis and examine a few aspects of the business, industry a...