LIVE Periscope Q&A w Keith, Shane, & Sal Contreras
This was a very cool show! We had all three of us live together and answered questions from the people watching on Periscope. We will DEFINITELY do another show in this format!
We also gave away over $300 worth of Blackplague PDR Smooth Series Tabs for the best questions we chose to answer!
Download the Periscope app on either apple or android devices and follow PDRcollegeKeith and PDRcollegeShane to be a part of the fun next time!
We’d like to thank ReconPro for sponsoring the show today.
www.automobiletechnologies.com
as well as
http://www.dentexperttraining.com/
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Keith Cosentino: I’m Keith Cosentino; he’s Shane Jacks. This is the PDR College podcast, your number one source for expert-level information on the paintless dent removal industry. We’re here every week to help you get better in your career. From making more money to spending more money we are experts. So join us on this ride and we will help you get to the place that you wanna be.
Today is a special, special show because what we did when we recorded this show was we did a live Periscope stream. If you don’t know what that is, Periscope is an app where you can both stream and watch anyone anywhere who has the app on their device, phone or tablet. Shane and I set our phones up in our studio, aka Shane’s hotel room when he’s here visiting in California, and we had our good friend Sal Contreras, from the San Francisco Bay area drive on up here to Sacramento and we all set up and had a kind of a round table discussion. Everybody on Periscope was asking questions and we answered them live on the show. We recorded all the audio and that’s today’s show. It’s really cool. It’s questions from you guys that were on Periscope and if you missed us, total bummer.
Download the app and head over there and follow PDR College Keith and PDR College Shane, and every time we do a live Periscope, you’ll get a little chirp on your phone and you can hang out with us and ask questions right there on the app. It’s a really fun way to interact. Enjoy the show. We’re a little bit crazy in the beginning when we get it set up. But we finally find a rhythm a few minutes in and answer some really cool questions. We’re really grateful for all of you that participated when it was live. We’re grateful for you listening again here on the show. Here it is, the live version of the PDR College podcast.
Shane Jacks: All right.
Sal Contreras: Look at all those – what’s that?
Shane Jacks: The hearts? Currently, I’m in the lead. Well, probably not now. The hearts – we’re gonna go over this with Sal real quick because he has no idea what Periscope is, but he should be on it, actually. The hearts there, Sal, whenever somebody likes what you’re saying or whatever, they just tap on the screen –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: – might be has been quiet over here.
Shane Jacks: You tap on the screen, it gives him a heart.
Keith Cosentino: We’re both live. Shane’s live on his phone and I’m live on mine. Can you guys tell me if anything crazy’s going on with your audio. You guys hear and see us okay?
Shane Jacks: Can you stand that up so you can see your questions? Or is he gonna need to?
Sal Contreras: I can see that.
Keith Cosentino: I just lost connection.
Shane Jacks: This is on my account, actually.
Sal Contreras: Everything’s good on Shane’s.
Shane Jacks: Everything’s good on mine. What about Keith’s?
Keith Cosentino: I’m ready. Audio sounds good over here.
Sal Contreras: That’s Derek Yost. I can see that.
Shane Jacks: You’re gonna see a lot of people you know. Guys, share this while you’re at it. Share – swipe to the left.
Keith Cosentino: My nice-looking glasses got smashed –
[Crosstalk]Sal Contreras: Go [inaudible] [00:03:06] dents. [Inaudible]. Panel perfect PDR [inaudible].
Shane Jacks: What’s going on, TC?
Keith Cosentino: – use to see the questions because that camera’s far away.
[Crosstalk]Shane Jacks: Lookee there.
Sal Contreras: Who asked Sal – who us Sal?
Shane Jacks: Who us Sal. Are you asking who is Sal? If you don’t know who Sal is, you’ve been under a rock.
Keith Cosentino: Hey, we’re gonna have a lot of fun. We’ll be on the scope for a while –
Shane Jacks: Bubba said, “Hey, Sal.” Bubba is actually a guy that I trained not too long ago, about a year and a half ago, I guess. Where are we? We are in my hotel room in Sacramento – no, Lincoln, California, close to Sacramento. I call every – kinda like Greenville, where I’m from. If you’re anywhere close to Greenville, you’re from Greenville. So Keith is from Sacramento to me. Of course, Sal drove up from the Bay area of San Francisco.
Keith Cosentino: Here we go.
Sal Contreras: This looks a lot like Midwest, this area, if you don’t know the– It looks a lot like it.
Keith Cosentino: How’s your text look so big and mine’s small? Is there a setting?
Shane Jacks: I don’t know. I’m not sure. I don’t know, but Keith, I’ve already had one guy jump from your account to mine. When? Genetics. The reason the text is bigger, he said, it’s genetics. Yes, Sal does like us, apparently. I’m not sure why. Big and small talk two times – three guys [inaudible] [00:04:42].
Sal Contreras: It looks like we’re on a bed on this one right here.
Shane Jacks: We’re not. And won’t be at any point.
Keith Cosentino: I got one back. I got Eric from yours to mine. We’re even Steven.
Shane Jacks: Just stay where you’re at. I don’t care. I’m gonna get more hearts, anyway.
Keith Cosentino: Sal, I’m gonna give you this because I can read from my phone. So you can see my questions that pop up and Shane’s. If there’s a question that you see that you wanna answer –
Shane Jacks: I’ll prop you on mine. If I see one that’s aimed at you –
Keith Cosentino: My hearts are blowing up.
Sal Contreras: When you guys first started retail, how did you advertise and what do you do now that’s different?
Keith Cosentino: That’s a great question.
Sal Contreras: When you first started retail. Honestly, I don’t know if you can kinda –
Keith Cosentino: That’s my first contender for the best question. Give me another shout out. Let me know who that was that asked that question because the comments go away so fast.
Shane Jacks: It’s tough for us to formulate thoughts and read –
Keith Cosentino: You’re kicking my butt. You have 100 people and I got 70.
Shane Jacks: It sucks to be you.
Keith Cosentino: Invite your friends to Keith’s side right now. I’m not answering any questions.
Shane Jacks: Sore loser. Sore loser.
Keith Cosentino: These are my questions –
[Crosstalk]Shane Jacks: I’ve got 103 now, by the way.
Sal Contreras: Can I find him again? Shane’s going down.
Keith Cosentino: That was being made at Murdock [inaudible] [00:06:06].
Sal Contreras: Sacramento PDR. That’s gotta be one of Keith’s buddies.
Keith Cosentino: What is the [inaudible]?
Shane Jacks: That is good.
Keith Cosentino: My question is when did I first realize that I was better than Shane?
Shane Jacks: Team Shane, there you go.
Keith Cosentino: [Inaudible] [00:06:20]. Pushing Limits PDR asks do you guys use an SEO marketing company.
Sal Contreras: No. [Inaudible] Shane Jacks: No. A lot of my SEO was built into my website and then all the video stuff I do. It’s a huge deal. We’ll answer these questions. Throw them up there. Throw some more questions up.
Keith Cosentino: Type your question again because I like it. I’m gonna answer that one. 103 to 75.
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: – shared me.
Sal Contreras: I’m curious what you’re gonna say.
Keith Cosentino: Type your question again for me. I’m sure you’re doing it right now.
Shane Jacks: How much with Google AdWords do you guys use? That’s Turbo.
Keith Cosentino: How much for one-on-one training, one week, Shane? There you go. Thank you, Ben. Thanks, Jared. Thanks, Brandon.
Shane Jacks: I believe that was Turbo PDR. It was asked about the AdWords. Correct? On my side?
Keith Cosentino: Here comes a question about a tool. You’re a good company for that, Eric. After you get the prototype and it’s working, what would be the next? Before these all stack up, let’s answer one as they come up. Eric, prototype tool.
Shane Jacks: Turbo Mopar, I’ve got your question down. We’ll answer that soon.
Keith Cosentino: Here’s the first question. When you guys first started retail, how did you advertise and what do you do now that’s different? I’ll go ahead and take that one first.
When I first started retail (take my glasses off) – you guys can’t see Shane, now. Let me try to move you just a little bit so you can see Shane, too. Shane, move a little bit to your right if you can in a second. When I first started retail – this mike thing sucks.
Shane Jacks: You can tell this is the first time we’ve done this whole Periscope thing. We’re working through it fairly fast, though.
Keith Cosentino: You all might have changed now in podcast. Sorry about that but we’re trying to accommodate the screen and the mikes for the action podcast.
Sal Contreras: This is a good one, right here.
Keith Cosentino: This is gonna be our podcast as well as this audio. I know it’s good to Periscope, but when it comes back on the podcast, that’s when we might have some issues. But whatever, we’re gonna deal with it. Podcast listeners, thank you for bearing with us. It’s a weird audience, but follow us on Periscope. PDR College Keith and PDR College Shane. This is our first simulcast, so this is actually a live Periscope and you’re hearing it as a recording on a podcast.
The topic today is ask Keith, Shane, and Sal questions. Before I get to these questions, let’s talk about who we are and why we’re on the show. You’ve been listening to the PDR College podcast for a while, you know who Shane and I are, and probably know who Sal is, but just in case you don’t, Sal Contreras, instead of me butchering his history and accolades in PDR, let’s just ask the man. Sal, what are you known for in PDR? Where did you come from? Why are you here? Why are you the man? Why are you the Dent Olympic winner? Current.
Sal Contreras: I would say all I basically did was start tackling some of the hardest dents I could find because that would seem to be the only way to get accounts. I found great success in that and then I went online in 2008, started posting my videos. When that happened, I started to notice I didn’t see a lot of videos posted, and that’s when I kinda was wondering if a lot of guys are doing larger damage. Ever since then, I’ve been getting – a lot of good attention on it, on YouTube, on some of the videos that I promoted. Ever since then, people know my by these big, ugly repairs. That’s all I kinda do, mainly, is big, ugly repairs.
Keith Cosentino: You were kinda just building your specialty there. When you were in a cocoon, nobody really knew what you were doing. You just kinda had your head down and working, working bigger and bigger dents. You didn’t have a big social network of PDR guys when you came online, right?
Sal Contreras: No. I was like a Rip Van Winkle, I swear. I hid inside used car lots for years. Really.
Shane Jacks: Why do you have more hair than me, Sal? And Keith? By the way, I am taking notes on these – I know I’ve not been acknowledging it, but I’m taking notes on the questions that you guys ask, so we will get to them.
Keith Cosentino: I’m not taking notes on your questions [inaudible] [00:10:33] on the side a way to post your other questions because otherwise we’re gonna get caught writing and I won’t be able to engage anybody. Sal’s the man. Sal’s the current Dent Olympic champion 2015. Shane, you won in 2013, if I got the date right. I haven’t won yet. My win’s coming in the future, apparently. I’m not letting them out of this hotel room until they teach me how to win.
Shane Jacks: You’ve got bigger goals ahead of you, son.
Keith Cosentino: Sal’s got his own line of tools: the Dent Dial that’s unlike anything else in PDR. It’s a totally different system in creating leverage in repairing stuff. That was born out of your style of fixing big, giant, smashed, crushed stuff. Most guys would say, “No. No. No.” In fact, when Shane and I and Sal first met online, it wasn’t all rainbows and puppy dogs and ice cream. I was convinced both of them were completely full of crap. Especially both of them. Sal’s fixing these giant dents that I knew they weren’t gonna come out, and Shane was doing them in 45 minutes and I knew that was a lie, too. All I needed to do was find them in person and I would realize I was smarter than they were.
It turns out the opposite. Sal is fixing stuff that you think isn’t being fixed, and Shane is doing it in 25 minutes. We’re getting them all here in one place and I’m just good at talking, so I get to hang out with them at the same time. They’re on another level.
Shane Jacks: Really, all I do is I’ve got this video technology that flips the side, so if you see them –
Keith Cosentino: I’m not even in your video. You bastard.
Shane Jacks: No. If you move that way – you keep moving.
Keith Cosentino: I’ve got to get in my own video.
Shane Jacks: You’re in your own video.
Keith Cosentino: Only if I’m here.
[Crosstalk]Shane Jacks: Move right here. Right here and you’re in everybody’s.
Keith Cosentino: Basically, I’m sitting on the side of the [inaudible] [00:12:13] right now.
Sal Contreras: You should turn yours a little bit.
Shane Jacks: Okay. We can turn it a little bit. There we go. All right.
Sal Contreras: We gotta lean in a little bit.
Shane Jacks: Better.
Keith Cosentino: All right. That’s better.
Shane Jacks: Now it looks like Keith is wearing a road scarf.
Keith Cosentino: It sure does.
Shane Jacks: What is the most versatile version for Sal?
Keith Cosentino: Let me get to answering Mick’s question.
Shane Jacks: For the Dent Dial. Hold on.
Sal Contreras: I don’t wanna get into too many details–
Keith Cosentino: Shane’s stream. I’m talking to you but I’m looking over here because my phone’s over here.
Sal Contreras: Wow. They come at you. They do.
Keith Cosentino: Nick, you asked how did we market our companies when we started in retail. How is it different now? That was the question?
Sal Contreras: Yeah.
Keith Cosentino: When I started in retail, Google maps wasn’t even really well known. We weren’t working at the point where we are now, where you need to find something, boom, the first thing you do is go to your phone and type it in. That didn’t exist. Gosh, I hate these glasses. Back then, it was more searching, but the map feature wasn’t as prevalent. Not everybody had maps in their pocket like we do now.
What I did to start my retail wasn’t really anything online. I had my website which was the basis. So I guess I was online a little bit, but optimization was garbage. What I did was concentrate on personal relationships at body shops and dealerships, especially. Body shops were the best. Personal relationships with the estimators at body shops and the managers at body shops because they tell the estimators what to do. Owners if you can find them and make friends with them. That was really important to my retail business.
And you only need maybe five, in my opinion, five good body shops to go into business and be busy most of the time with good work. Good ones, though. Five good ones are almost like unicorns. It’s really hard, especially now. They’re a little more jaded.
Sal Contreras: But how do you get them?
Keith Cosentino: How do you get them is the hard part. I was really good all the time, so back then they knew me as the guy who was good. I jumped from there to pushing –
Sal Contreras: You were in the market at the right time for your competitors’ skill level and when you entered the market.
Keith Cosentino: Absolutely. And that wasn’t by accident. I was trying – the reason we are in a room together today is because we all were pursuing excellence in PDR work. In our evenings, when you guys who are complaining were at home playing Play Station, we were banging on keyboards talking about dent removal until all hours of the night, working on prototype tools, and coming up with new strategies, and thinking how are we gonna get in the competition. We were nerding out on dents. We were already the best guys in our market.
Sal Contreras: You have to be a nerd, no doubt about it.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, before we came to retail. Sal, let me touch on how to bend a heavy 35 Dent Dial. That’s an easy one.
Sal Contreras: Frame rack. A sewer drain. The back of your trailer hitch. Anywhere, really. Just lean into it and just pull it as hard as you can. You’re not gonna break it.
Keith Cosentino: That’s how I started, personal relationships. As the web came into prevalence, I started using Google Maps. I had a listing in all of the towns that I service, which is a total no-no, now. They’ll boot you right off Maps if you do it now. But back then –
Shane Jacks: I like the dumpster.
Keith Cosentino: It was more Wild West. When you did a search from this part of town, that part of town, my company would pop up. We were getting a lot of traffic that way. Then Yelp came into play, and once I saw that early, I knew it was gonna be a big deal. I really started pushing people to Yelp and started optimizing my Yelp listing. Make sure everything was perfect in there. Make sure the hours were right. And making sure I asked my customers and my friends who I’ve worked on their cars, “Please go on here and leave me a review, a legit review.” I wasn’t asking for fake ones because you can see fake ones a mile away. But if I actually did a repair for someone, I’d let them know how much it meant to me.
Before Yelp, I asked them to do that in Google. But Google plays around with those reviews. At least, it did back then. I had so many different – they kick a lot of them, Pushing Limits PDR. They kick a lot of them. You gotta be consistent. Once you hit a snowball point, they start sticking.
Sal Contreras: I pretty much did the opposite. That’s amazing.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, cool. That’s how I did it. Sal, what’d you do?
Sal Contreras: I did the complete opposite.
Keith Cosentino: Start your retail business, you got away from dealers and body shops.
Sal Contreras: Yeah. I honestly became obnoxiously expensive to the best body shops I could find that I was working with. I was working with the top dealers at the time, and my goal was to be the most expensive so I didn’t kinda need them anymore. That was the goal. But at the same time, I was using their cars and their experience to get ready for where I was going.
Then I got to body shops. They started giving me more work than the dealer. When the body shops gave me more work than the dealer, the same thing. I tried to become – not necessarily – I’m not gonna say the most expensive. I guess that’s a poor choice of words. I wanted to be – I wanted to give them the best possible repair so they had a frame of reference when – because the one thing I kept hearing – I can only go by my experience.
The one thing I kept hearing when I was working body shops was the guy would go out there and look at it, not say anything, and pay me. Right? The next time I’d come in, I’d get maybe hit on the price or whatever. I’d still get the job done, but something was happening, that they were noticing it was gone. A body shop owner’s not gonna be fooled.
I didn’t know that they were using other guys. I didn’t really care because I knew when I left that repair, there was nothing they were gonna find. That was my goal. Get them so addicted to that – “Okay, we want that. What’s that? Why did that guy do that?” They would constantly be questioning other guys. What happened is I saw that happening, and I wanted to become the most expensive so they’d kick me out. That was my goal. And it happened. It worked.
Keith Cosentino: At that point, were you doing any retail? Much retail?
Sal Contreras: No. Not too much because, like you said, I musta had 25 body shops calling me, between Mountain View and San Francisco. I was getting so busy, but they were still quoting a price or wanted me to quote a price that they could make money on. They were kinda keeping me down. At the same time, I’m looking at them making money. I wanted to make more money. I wanted to get to the source, the retail source. That’s what I wanted so bad.
At some point, I’m gonna give them a price that is what I would give my retail customer, which is that person that you’re working with, what is that price. I don’t wanna say – I wanna quote close to body shop prices because I don’t know, I don’t like that. I don’t wanna say, “Okay, if they’re gonna paint it for two grand, I’m gonna be 1700.”
Keith Cosentino: Just as a saying, you don’t like that, as a mindset.
Sal Contreras: I don’t because the problem with that is you could run into doing it in four hours and make $1800.00, and now they’re wondering –
Keith Cosentino: That would be terrible.
Sal Contreras: They would wonder, at least around where I’m at, there’s no hail numbers, they’re like– all right. My goal was to come up with a dollar prior in my head, and just keep inching that up and up and up to where they would get rid of me. And when they finally got rid of me is when I went retail. After that, it was just AdWords and –
Keith Cosentino: When you said you went retail, what did you do? What was your first step? Did you already have a website up?
Sal Contreras: Yes. Yes. I started a website and then I got on AdWords. AdWords was the main thing. That’s the root of the Internet. That’s where Yelp gets their information. That’s where everybody gets their information is on AdWords. So if you’re on AdWords and you give proper information, everybody’s gonna draw from that. That’s what happened.
I started spending money, about 60 bucks a month. It started getting me out there quick. You get a lot of calls. It’ll make your phone ring, for sure.
Keith Cosentino: Shane, how’d you start marketing for retail?
Shane Jacks: Much the same as you. It wasn’t really marketing, per se, as much as it was going with the body shops and the service drives. They were doing my marketing for me, so to speak. Word of mouth was a huge – honestly.
I had a little different scenario than Keith and Sal. I spent 11 years at a manufacturing facility. I was doing this on the side and the clientele – that’s kind of where my retail – when my retail got so big and that my body shop work and the little bit of wholesale work that I was doing on the side got to the point where I couldn’t do both, work full time at a manufacturing facility and do PDR part time, that’s when I had to quit the manufacturing facility. When you’re working there full time and you’ve got a rotating day per week off, Keith and Sal, it was hard for me to actually do dealer work because they want you there one day, all day, a certain day.
Sal Contreras: If they want you there Tuesday, they’re gonna call you Friday.
Shane Jacks: True, but they also want you there Tuesday.
Sal Contreras: Yeah. If they want you Friday, they’ll call you Thursday.
Shane Jacks: I really couldn’t – I really built my retail and body shop up to the point where they could sustain me before I quit the plant. A lot of that was word of mouth. Yes, Turbo. I quit BMW for two reasons: because of all the side work that I had and number 2, because I could not take the place any longer. I was done. Mentally, I was done with the –
Keith Cosentino: – the hearts and super awesome.
Shane Jacks: – manufacturing deal. That was mine, Keith.
Right now, I do AdWords. You mentioned something that is a kind of a unicorn in my area, and that is Yelp. I’ve gotten – I think I’m up to five reviews, now. Yes, and I do train their guys, now, which is kind of a funny turn.
Sal Contreras: You do it when you’re going to get a shot.
Shane Jacks: Sal’s talking about getting a shot. We can talk about that later. He’s waffled on that out and back. Yelp doesn’t really work that great in my area. I think I’ve got five reviews, four or five, all five star. That’s it. I begged people for almost a year and “What’s Yelp?” Google, I’ve gotten eight reviews on it without solicitation. So maybe I really need to start pushing my Google review because it seems like it’s bigger in my area, honestly, because I didn’t even have to solicit it.
I do AdWords. Like Sal said, AdWords does work. The great –
Sal Contreras: It makes your phone ring so quick, the same day.
Shane Jacks: Yes, it will. It will. I agree. We do need a good door stand, but Keith and I way too busy. No more sidewalk videos, if you get a shop, Sal.
Sal Contreras: I’ll tell you what. That, to me, being a sidewalk technician, honestly, that’ll get your show on the road. If you can work on the sidewalk, like I do, you can work anywhere. That’s why –
Keith Cosentino: Your approval’s bigger there.
Sal Contreras: I’m having a great time working on the sidewalk.
Keith Cosentino: Netguy’s New York said Google is bigger in New York than Yelp.
Shane Jacks: In New York.
Sal Contreras: Oh, really.
Keith Cosentino: Maybe when you guys get more people Yelp will be better over there.
Shane Jacks: Derek’s working on a door stand. Move on to the next question.
Keith Cosentino: Mick, you win the first set of free tabs. Awesome question. Email me at pdrcollegeonline@gmail.com and give me your information. We got four more sets of Blackplague’s new series tabs we are giving away. If your question is good and we answer it, you win free tabs.
Shane Jacks: I got a pretty good question here, Keith. It’s from – all I got out of this was Chicago. It was really hard for me to write at the same time. Chicago something, I don’t know if it was Chicago PDR or what, the question was along the lines of one thing that we wish we did different in our business right now or maybe what he meant was did different that would affect our business right now.
Keith Cosentino: That’s a good question.
Shane Jacks: Yes, it is.
Keith Cosentino: You wanna go first?
Shane Jacks: Not really because I don’t have an answer. We can formulate one.
Sal Contreras: Say it again.
Shane Jacks: One thing that we wish we could do different in our businesses.
Sal Contreras: I know what I’d do. I should have gotten a protégé a lot sooner in my career and prepared for what’s happening to me right now. Definitely. At some point, if you are truly gonna become a successful company in your area, you’ve got to train someone else to take over because you have to shed the accounts that you don’t really – can’t service properly any more. You have to serve them with somebody. Otherwise your competition takes over, which isn’t my case, but I’m a guy that likes less responsibility. I knew it was gonna happen. But I probably should’ve retrained just one more guy.
Keith Cosentino: I know that that’s the right thing to do because I wouldn’t be where I am if I didn’t have my number one guy, Jared. Jared Cantor’s been with me from his first day in PDR. He never knew what it was until I met him. I’ve been able to train him, and he basically runs the company, now, while I’m out doing stuff like this and working on tools and everything else. You can’t grow without that right guy.
But I did that, so what would I do different? I would put a shop together earlier on.
Sal Contreras: Oh, nice. That answers my question.
Keith Cosentino: I would have. Two reasons.
Sal Contreras: [Inaudible] [00:26:16].
Keith Cosentino: One, I think there’s something that puts every customer at ease with a physical location, some place they know they can drive back to and find you. I’ve had no problem marketing mobile over these years. People love it. But I think they would still enjoy it if it was mobile and fixed, and give, maybe, add a little more credibility to them thinking who we are and what we do, knowing they can find us again. We’re not gonna disappear into the shadows.
Sal Contreras: You could do, probably, more intense jobs – he has a shop – because of the shop.
Keith Cosentino: They can stay overnight. You can take them apart. I wouldn’t have to work as many late nights because I don’t leave a job half done. I know you like to come back to jobs. I won’t.
I would do that for that reason, but the second reason is strictly financial. I would buy a building and let my PDR company pay for that money. I’m 17 years in the business now, 13 by myself. If I would have bought a building 13 years ago, I’d be pretty close to having that building paid off.
Sal Contreras: Oh, stop it. If it’s still doing, who cares.
Keith Cosentino: That’s what I would have done differently, a shop earlier.
Sal Contreras: A lot cheaper up here.
Keith Cosentino: Am I looking for a shop now? Kinda, but not officially.
Sal Contreras: And you have guys to man it now.
Keith Cosentino: I do. I had an opportunity to get a great shop. In fact, I showed Shane the location on the way over here.
What percentage do you guys give your techs to keep them from leaving and being loyal? Good question. We’re gonna answer a bunch on the podcast.
Shane Jacks: How do they sell quality over cheap prices?
Sal Contreras: That’s a good one. I can answer that one.
Keith Cosentino: I didn’t take that first shop opportunity because I was by myself. It was $5,000.00, $6,000.00 a month in overhead, and I couldn’t see that tradeoff of spending six grand and sitting at a shop trying to build it up when I was already making a lot of money mobile. That’s what I would do different.
Shane Jacks: All right. You guys actually – Keith, your answer kinda stirred something in me. Before I go to that, yes, a shop is effective for what you were talking about, easing people. There’s something that eases people’s minds about having a place to go back to. And also, it can be, as you’ve noted, Keith, an albatross at times. You’d better be fricking ready or have somebody to run it. I’m not as trusting as I should be.
Keith Cosentino: Sorry, Greg.
Shane Jacks: – and hang on, way too long, but I’m getting better. As you can see. I am in California and not in Greenville, South Carolina, right now.
Another thing, what that spurred in my mind, the question what would I do differently? Keith, think bigger. Honestly. That’s where Keith was 13 years ago with his shop is he was thinking, “I’m making X amount of money right now, and if I have to invest this, I’ve gotta build it back up again.” He was thinking small. I did the same thing before I opened my shop. Really, the only reason I opened my shop – I’ve shared this with Keith. I don’t know if I’ve shared it with all of you guys or not.
I had extra money. I killed it on a hail year one year. I was like, “I wanna open a shop because I’m just gonna throw this money at it and see what happens.” And now there is no possible way I could get away from having a shop. I would quit. I just can’t do it anymore. Sal, I see you on your videos on the sidewalk, in the sun.
The 24-hour dent repair service center – that would have to be a really, really, really big area for that.
Sal Contreras: That’s what I’m thinking of.
Keith Cosentino: It’s 3 a.m. I need this dent –
Shane Jacks: This is now.
Keith Cosentino: You guys couldn’t see on Shane’s feed. Somebody asked, “Do you think there’s a need for a 24-hour dent repair service?”
Sal Contreras: I think there is. Where I live.
Keith Cosentino: 24 hours?
Sal Contreras: The thing is that some of the repairs I do take so long that you really can’t do both at the same time. The big job will take over all the little jobs. So then you have to hire a guy to do the little jobs and you’re stuck doing the big jobs. I think it could be one of those where you drop it off at ten o’clock and we’ll work on it for three hours, you have a late guy working. It could be done. Especially if it’s in a high overhead spot. You almost have to stay open longer.
Keith Cosentino: Have you looked at rents in your area?
Sal Contreras: Oh, yeah.
Keith Cosentino: How much would a two-bay shop cost to rent?
Sal Contreras: Three to five grand.
Keith Cosentino: It’s not too far off of what it is up here. The place I looked at was 4500. 4500, two bays, and a waiting area.
Sal Contreras: That’s the thing. That’s the big question. Are you looking at something that has high profile, great parking, everybody sees it every day. Everybody’s coming from all over. Or out of the way –
Keith Cosentino: No. If I’m gonna do it, I wanna be right in your face.
Sal Contreras: Exactly. That’s what I’m gonna do. That’s exactly –
Shane Jacks: It depends on where you’re at in Greenville. Where I’m at, I’m getting really good rent because they wanted me there, but if you go into the downtown, you get into the – it’s high – that’s what it’s gonna be there, also. I’m in a really good area but it’s not the high, high rent. If I were paying the rent that I should be paying, Keith, it would be 4 grand a month, probably. That’s four bays.
Keith Cosentino: That’s true. You got a pretty nice location. Shane’s on a big, busy stretch right across from a dealer, next door to another dealer. He’s in good shape.
What do you guys think of a shop for appointment only for certain days and then mobile other days? I don’t think you –
Sal Contreras: Yeah. It’d have to be out of the way and very inexpensive to keep it running.
Keith Cosentino: To me, that’s just like a pop-up tent behind your mobile unit, is all that is. If someone can’t drive there and talk to somebody, it’s like you’re out of business when they get there. If this guy does it part time, I personally wouldn’t do it. I would have it, I would use it, but I wouldn’t send people there. If I was going to, I would station a receptionist there, if that’s what I was gonna do.
Sal Contreras: You gotta go all in.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, right.
Sal Contreras: But at the same time, it’s like anything. You’d have to have the skills because the one thing I learned in retail, at least for the stuff I do, you really almost have to say, honestly, yes to 90 percent of what you’re seeing. That’s what I try to do. When I see something in a picture and it looks pretty crazy, I still wanna see it. In the picture I can tell if there’s something about it that’s too crazy. Sure enough, when I see it in person it turns out to be fine. Then I give it the price I want, and I’m the only guy that seemed to – wants to do this stuff, so it works.
Keith Cosentino: My apologies. I didn’t see who that was, but he was thinking for hail season. For hail season, blow it up. Get as much space as you can. If you have hail in your town, yes. All day. We don’t have hail here in Cali, so we would just have this extra rent payment and then we’d have to bring cars there to work on them. That would be lame for us. But if you station somebody there who was a salesman or woman, a salesperson, and could take an appointment and could capture some keys, do it. Might be cool. Totally. For hail, yes. And if I was gonna do it for retail, I would put somebody there. Then I would do it.
Sal Contreras: Somebody just asked would you work out of a gas station giving a cut to the owner of the gas station? Let’s say he gave you a part of the parking lot. I think that’s nothing wrong with that because when he sees that he’s making money on it, he’s gonna want you around. It gets you started. It could get you started.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. That’s a decent question. I don’t think we’ve ever had that question before.
Shane Jacks: No.
Keith Cosentino: I don’t know about in South Carolina but out here there’s a lot of glass repair guys that set up at gas stations. Do they do that out there?
Shane Jacks: No. They don’t.
Keith Cosentino: Glass chip repair.
Shane Jacks: Interesting. Turbo Mopar, you’ve asked a couple of times, now, about AdWords.
Keith Cosentino: Is this a question you’re choosing to win?
Shane Jacks: The Chicago one definitely was.
Keith Cosentino: What question was that?
Shane Jacks: Chicago was about the one thing to do different. Chicago, I need your name again, if you don’t mind. If you can just type ‘It’s me’ or something. I just need to –
Keith Cosentino: And Chicago, congratulations, you win. But we need your information, so email pdrcollegeonline@gmail.com. And on my side, Kent asked – “It’s me.” Oh. How are you on both sides? Don’t even answer. Kent asked me, “How do you win? What’s the contest?” If we choose one of your questions and answer it on the podcast, you switch feeds. That’s the only reason you’re still winning because you switched back to mine.
Shane Jacks: Who is it?
Keith Cosentino: Chicago. I forgot who it is.
Shane Jacks: Okay. Just send us an email. We’ll get you your stuff out.
Keith Cosentino: And Kent. You asked a question – Chicago it is. I think that it’s Dave. I think. Ask a question, we choose to answer it on the podcast/Periscope, then you win.
Sal Contreras: Somebody asked this –
Shane Jacks: Traitor. Exactly.
Sal Contreras: Somebody asked how do you sell quality over cheap prices?
Keith Cosentino: All three of us do it so that’s a pretty good question. You wanna pick that one to win? First, who asked that question? Was it on Shane’s feed or mine?
Shane Jacks: Yes. It was over here on my feed. Who asked the question about selling quality over –?
Sal Contreras: Car Medic? Yeah.
Shane Jacks: Car Medic, M.D.
Sal Contreras: From what I experience, you really can’t sell something unless you –
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: – got a question, okay? On my side?
Sal Contreras: – unless you produce compelling reasons to use you over the cheap prices. You have to – I just go back to what I think is the easiest thing to do. At least that’s what I did. I try and make the repair look so amazing that they really don’t care about the other guy’s prices, only on certain cars. But as we know, all dealerships have that heat car that has to be just right. Customers saw the dent. It’s on the red car. It’s on the driver’s door. They’re not gonna call the cheapest guy. They’re gonna call the guy who’s gonna save the deal and not ruin the dent.
Keith Cosentino: That’s for after it’s done. Right? But how do you – he’s asking how do you market, how do you sell for quality over cost? If someone’s coming to you with a dent and they say, “I just talked to Johnny Dents, and he said it’s gonna be 85 bucks.”
Sal Contreras: You’d have to ask details. Did Johnny Dents see the vehicle yet? “Oh, no, he didn’t. He quoted off a picture.” You can do so much with that question.
Keith Cosentino: So let’s go deeper on that because that’s a specialty that all three of us are good at. We’re all our most expensive in our markets.
Shane Jacks: I actually sent a video to a guy the other day. It was a funny situation. It was –
Keith Cosentino: A customer?
Shane Jacks: A customer. Yes. The reason was the customer said – I had told the gentleman, just over pictures, I said, “If” – and it’s hard to that just over pictures through text – I said, “If it’s what I’m seeing there, you’re looking at around $380.00.” He said, “Okay. That sounds good. I got a quote for 280 or 300, something like that. But they were gonna touch up the paint, also.” It had one tiny, little eighth-inch chip in it, in the quarter panel. I said, “Okay. That’s fine. If you wanna go with the cheaper, that’s cool. Just be careful.” And I sent him the video of that chewed up dent that I repaired.
Keith Cosentino: Which one?
Shane Jacks: On the quarter of that Civic. It was a horrible – I know you saw it, Sal.
[Crosstalk]Shane Jacks: Because you commented.
Keith Cosentino: Blue?
Shane Jacks: Black. You commented on it. I said to him, “Just be careful because this may be what you get.” He immediately sends me a text back. “Okay. So when can you do it?” He was being really sketchy. I shouldn’t have sent him that video, honestly. It was not the best thing to do, honestly. But he was being so sketchy out in back, I was like, “All right. Just watch out. Trust me. You don’t want a bad repair.” But that video sold him, amazingly. It was not the right thing to do. I will be the first to tell you I shouldn’t have done that.
Keith Cosentino: Woody said – I think it’s Woody said Sal’s halo care is gorgeous.
Shane Jacks: I didn’t get that last question, but we’ve got a ton of them here, guys. We’re not gonna be able to get to all of them.
Keith Cosentino: I didn’t get to answer that.
Shane Jacks: Car Medic, Maryland. We’re gonna send you, for that question that Keith is about to finish up by answering –
Keith Cosentino: If you email your info –
Shane Jacks: – if you email your info, we are going to – at pdrcollege@gmail.com, we will send you a free set of tabs. Or Keith will, I’m sorry. Not we. Keith.
Keith Cosentino: You’re welcome.
Sal Contreras: Just to clarify what that question was, I thought he was saying quality over prices at the wholesale or retail. If it’s retail, I always ask them, “Did you get the quote from a wholesale or a retail technician?”
Keith Cosentino: That’s a good question. I never asked that before.
Sal Contreras: You find that you can delve more into that situation if they say, “I’m not sure if he does or not.” I tell them who I am. I said, “I’m a 100 percent retail technician. Which means when I used to work at the dealer –” and drop names. It’s really important that you drop names if you know the dealers’ names in your area. “I used to work for European Mercedes” or whatever. I basically said, “When I worked for the dealer, I was still studying. I was making the dent look good enough ‘til they could sell the car. But this is retail. When I take the dent out, you shouldn’t be able to find it. I don’t know who you’re talking to, but when I take a dent out, it’ll be perfect. It’s really up to you as to what you’re looking for.”
I put it back on them. It makes them wanna say, “I’m looking for really good repair.” That’s what it comes down to for me.
Keith Cosentino: And sometimes they’re not looking for perfect.
Sal Contreras: That’s what I want to know. As soon as they kind of venture into that side, I say, “Then I’m the wrong person.” And I try and take it away from them, even though they haven’t shown it to me yet. I wanna take me away from them. That’s how I get them to drive it out to me. The worst thing that you could do, at least I feel in my market, is quote over pictures online. There’s always a guy out there who’s willing to see it, and that’s me. They’re gonna at least try and show it to me if I make it compelling enough to show it to me.
Keith Cosentino: That’s great. I’ve done something similar where I ask who gave you the quote? Have you seen their work? Did you get a referral? And everything like that. But how do I sell it? You can’t push somebody to want retail over price. Right? You have to find out who they are as a customer. They might not be – you can’t sell that to somebody who just wants to sell their ’89 car. My way to sell quality over price is to ask the right questions and find out what are they after. What’s the most important thing to you? Are you mostly concerned – and I gotta give them options. Are you mostly concerned with the price of this repair? Are you mostly concerned with it being perfect? What’s the goal of –?
[Crosstalk]Sal Contreras: But they will evade you a little bit.
Keith Cosentino: I find they answer pretty well.
Sal Contreras: But you can tell by their car. If they have a red car they don’t make too many of and they’re practically like, “Well, I’ll just go to the shop for it,” and they have a red car, dent in the middle of the door, I know they’re bluffing. Sorry to interrupt you like that.
Keith Cosentino: No. Both of us have a lot of competitors. That’s the way I sell quality over price, is to make sure I’m with a customer who wants quality over price. And if they don’t know what they want, I make sure I tell them what they should want. I tell them what they’re gonna get if they don’t go this route.
I say, “Listen. There’s a lot of people that are cheaper than me. A lot of them. I can promise you, you can find somebody cheaper than me. Then if you keep calling, you can find somebody cheaper than him. Somebody will always beat that price by a few dollars. So if you’re looking for the cheapest game in town, I am definitely not the right guy for you. But if you want it perfect, and you’re concerned with the quality, then there’s nobody better than me. I’m the best and hands down, there’s not even any other options.”
That’s how I sell quality over price. I try to put as much space – just like Sal – as much space between me and my competitor as I can, so that it’s an easy choice. I either want junk for nothing; I want the Dollar Store. Or I want white glove service. Not we’ll beat their price by five – we’ll beat anybody by five percent or something like that. That’s just gonna muddy the waters. You just make sure there’s a clear distinction between you and crap jobs. Then you’re gonna get those –
[Crosstalk]Sal Contreras: It depends on the location of the damage, too. If you’re talking to a customer who says, “I have a Mazda 3, driver’s door, dent about five or six inches down from the window,” which is either in the brace or out of the brace. I tell the customer, “I gotta know where it is to give you a price.” If someone gave them a price based on that, then all I have to say is, “I need to see the car because if you’re below the brace it’s cheaper than inside the brace.” I try and get them to show me the car instead of think about the price.
I always tell them, “If you find somebody who’s willing to just run out there, you’re finding a guy who’s not busy. And in our business, he should always be busy. So when you find that person, you want them to be able to work inside the brace if it’s inside the brace.” It makes them, I guess, more curious to try and get them to show it to me. That’s the way I look at it.
Shane Jacks: We had a comment come through just a few minutes ago, or a few seconds ago. I didn’t see who it was. I apologize for that. It said, “The customer comes in thinking they know what they want but we’re the experts. We actually know what they want.” And there’s a lot of truth to that. I know you guys see it constantly, where they come in and they think they just want it popped out better-ish, and then by the time you’ve talked them into it, you know, resale value, all this, and they’re cool with it, and they want you to do your full blown, 100 percent thing. We do know more than what they know and can sell it.
Sal Contreras: I use the word ‘subjective.’ I always tell them, “Can you just make it look better?” I always say, “If I’m done with it, my 80 percent might be your 60 percent. It’s subjective how it’s gonna be to you. And I don’t wanna be in that position. So I only bid it to take it out completely.” And you can see the look in their eye when I say that. As soon as I say that, they know they want it and I got them.
Keith Cosentino: It comes down to selling, Shane. What you’re talking about is that customers don’t know what they want. They only think what they want. I was just having this lesson with my son the other day. We were talking about what you’re shopping for and what you want. I said, “If you’re at home and you wanna get to Grandma’s house, you think you have to go buy a car. You have to drive there. So you’re shopping for a car. But a car isn’t really what you want. You want to get to Grandma’s house. So not until the salesperson figures out what you want – “You wanna get to Grandma’s house. We have a plane or a helicopter that’ll take you there right now. You’re not really looking for a car. You need a plane, a helicopter ride, a chartered helicopter ride.” But you thought you wanted a car when you showed up at the lot.”
So what do they want? It might not be what they’re asking for because they don’t know what’s available. That’s an old Zig Ziglar thing. Most people don’t know what they want because they don’t know what’s available. You’ve gotta do some selling.
All right. So we got Nick’s question. He wins. Car Medic’s question wins. Chicago’s question wins, right?
Shane Jacks: Yep.
Keith Cosentino: That leaves two more.
Sal Contreras: [Inaudible] [00:45:50]
Shane Jacks: I’ve got two over here. You’ve only got one on your side. Do you have a good one you like over there, Keith?
Keith Cosentino: No.
[Crosstalk]Sal Contreras: I just saw one come across here that –
Keith Cosentino: I’m happy to answer as many questions as I can. They don’t all win. Does certification mean anything to us? No.
[Crosstalk]Sal Contreras: Somebody just asked one on –
Shane Jacks: Zero. Zip.
Keith Cosentino: It doesn’t mean anything to me.
Sal Contreras: Do that question again, whoever just sent that one.
Keith Cosentino: Not to say I don’t like certification, but being honest, hail company, I was just gonna say. It’s not because I don’t like them, it’s a good thing.
Shane Jacks: Right. That’s right, Matty.
Keith Cosentino: But does it mean anything to me at work. No, it doesn’t, not for me.
Shane Jacks: Oh, Matthew Collins. I know who that is.
Keith Cosentino: There’s other techs that are certified –
[Crosstalk]Sal Contreras: There’s a time to hire.
Shane Jacks: There’s a time to hire.
Keith Cosentino: I don’t think they’re junk. I think they’re good, but for me, I don’t have any of them. I don’t have Vail and I don’t have PDR Nation, yet. Not because I don’t believe in them.
“What do you do when you pass on a dent? Recommend a local shop that you look for?” Always. That’s a big one, David. If you can’t get a dent or don’t want to, you absolutely refer it to the number one shop that you’re trying to court and that you want the referrals from. You say, “Make sure you talk to Fred. Here’s the number. I’m gonna call Fred for you right now and tell him I’ve seen the car, and you’re a good customer and you’re gonna bring it by.” And I’ll sometimes call in front of them and say, “Hey, Fred. I’m sending Sal over. He’s got an ’89 Masarati, teal, and he’s bringing it to you.” That way they know I’m sending him a referral. Customer knows that they’ve got somebody waiting for them, better chance of coming in. Good question.
Shane Jacks: We’ve got this question that Turbo asked a couple of times about AdWords. I think this is a pretty good question because – Sal, I would like to know what yours are and you’re probably not going to tell us. What are you keywords? You mind telling us?
Sal Contreras: I won’t recall that well, but I do know that there’s a lot of misspelled good ones. There are some really good misspelled ones.
Shane Jacks: Dentless paint repair. That’s one.
Sal Contreras: I think AdWords gives you all of that. You just have to wade through all of them and pick it out.
Keith Cosentino: I don’t think keywords are any special magic sauce. Google’s gonna throw you all the keywords you can possibly need, plus.
Sal Contreras: The most important thing is to go in there and review – do a report as to how the keyword is doing. If you need to bid more on it, bid more on it. Give it an extra $0.10 or $0.20, $0.30. Just keep up with it, that’s the main thing. And shed a lot of unnecessary keywords because that’ll bog you down.
Shane Jacks: Some of the keywords that I use that do really well are the bigger companies that –
Keith Cosentino: [Inaudible] [00:48:41]
Sal Contreras: There’s a good question. “What is the one thing that holds back someone from being exceptional?” I can tell you that one.
Keith Cosentino: All of the above, Dave. Yeah.
Shane Jacks: Sal wants to answer this question that just came across. What is it, Sal? Go ahead and hit us with it again.
Sal Contreras: I saw a question that said “What is the one thing that you think is needed to be an exceptional technician or technical repairer?” A repairer or being a technician, exceptional technician?
Shane Jacks: I think he means technician, probably, yeah.
Sal Contreras: I would have to say if – and this is what was simple for me to do. If you could still see it when you’re done, you’re not done. You have to take the dent out –
Keith Cosentino: And that’s a tall order on the line of these big dents, man.
Sal Contreras: It is. But you’d be surprised. I timed it early, midway in my career, doing that. It literally – I did it one time. It literally took an extra five to 15 minutes to do the extra whatever it is necessary to get out that little wiggle that made you better –
Keith Cosentino: That made it perfect.
Sal Contreras: – to make it perfect. That’s really important because if you’re packing up your tools and you put your tools away and then you go and look at your work, and you see something, what’s gonna happen? Ah, oh, well.
Keith Cosentino: Yep. Exactly.
Sal Contreras: Don’t do it. Don’t put your tools away until you got everything out. If you can’t get everything out, then you’re obviously not able to glass something.
Keith Cosentino: Who was that asked? Was that one of the win questions?
Shane Jacks: Yeah. Sal liked that one. That’s a winning – who asked that, again, about the holding back from being a high-level tech? I would say 421. 421, if you can just email us at pdrcollegeonline@gmail.com, give us your info. Keith will send you those tabs out. 421, I think one thing that keeps – basically, what Sal is saying, what’s keeping that tech back is laziness. Honestly, that’s what that is, is laziness.
Sal Contreras: Not laziness. You’re in a hurry. You’re going to the next job. It’s money. You’re thinking you didn’t make enough money; you gotta go to the next one. You gotta stop and finish the repair to the highest quality and that’s money, not running to the next one to make the extra 50 bucks that day.
Shane Jacks: Drive, is one. Another one is – I see it – there was, literally, a guy that was in my shop this past summer and has been doing this for close to 20 years now, and having trouble getting on a dent. It was abundantly clear to me how to get on the thing. It’s just because I was using my mind about it. The progression of access and stuff – always use your mind. Don’t just think that because this worked the last time that it should work this time. I think that holds a lot of people back, is because they’re in a hurry. They think that tool should work. It doesn’t work. They pack up and go. “I can’t fix this dent.” Really, progression, thinking through it.
I say it constantly. PDR is as much reactive as it is proactive. Let it do what it’s giving you and roll with it from there. I think that holds a lot of guys back, just not thinking about what they’re doing. I know that sounds generic and easy but it’s the truth.
Keith Cosentino: When I’m training guys and they say, “Hey. Do you wanna come look at this and tell me what you think?” I would say, “Look at what? Is it fixed or not?” I get hard on them. I say, “All you want me to do is go over there and give you a pass and tell you your crappy work looks good. You either tell me it’s fixed or tell me it’s not fixed and you need help on how to fix it. But don’t say ‘I think it looks good. Will you look at it?’”
Sal Contreras: So you ask them – “I’m gonna go over there. Are you asking me because you want me –” Yeah. I remember that.
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: One question that we just had here was “Will we give retail customers an option for drilling or not drilling?” All day long. Oh, yeah.
Sal Contreras: Who said they’re addicted to toll cut? I wanna know who said that.
Shane Jacks: I feel it was pretty good.
Sal Contreras: I’m gonna remember you.
Shane Jacks: He’s scratching his neck. So am I. Keith, Sal, and I may be fighting in a minute.
[Crosstalk]Keith Cosentino: – the last question was already –
[Crosstalk]Sal Contreras: Oh, Matt. Oh, Matt, come on, man.
Keith Cosentino: We’re gonna teach Sal to sand at the advanced skills seminar. We’re gonna put him in a seat and we’re gonna show him how to sand stuff.
Sal Contreras: Whoever that’s asking about CCC, I’ve actually thought about it, especially during hail season. It’s quite expensive, though. Those programs are not cheap, at all.
Keith Cosentino: We had a good question right here. “What do you do when a customer demands a price over the phone?” That’s a winner for me. I’m gonna answer that question.
Shane Jacks: One of the – this is Keith –
Sal Contreras: How often does that happen?
Keith Cosentino: It happens. They want a –
Shane Jacks: Oh. That is the one question that bothers me more than any other question. It’s the one that gets asked every single phone call. I literally get – this happened to me on Friday. I think it was Friday. “Hey,” and this is exact. “Hey. How much it cost to fix a dent?” That was the question.
Sal Contreras: What do you say? What’s the very first thing that comes out of your mouth?
Shane Jacks: They’re uneducated. I get that. Every dent is the same to them. “I charge $4.00 for every dent, no matter how big it is.” They don’t know what they’re coming into, but, automatically, how it pisses me off to hear that question. I hate that question.
Sal Contreras: That’s almost every call, man. It’s every call.
Shane Jacks: If I’m in a good frame of mind, I’ll say, “Well, sir, that all depends. Can you tell me what happened to the car?” You get the whole story, who did it, all that. If I’m not in a good mood and I’m back to old Shane, I go, “Well, I can’t tell that over the phone.” So, Keith, you answer that. You said you wanted to answer this.
Keith Cosentino: It’s a great question because, at first, as busy dent guys, we get mad.
Shane Jacks: Every time.
Keith Cosentino: But if you put yourself in the consumer’s standpoint, and you’re calling for something you’ve never purchased before –
Shane Jacks: Like I said, they don’t know.
Keith Cosentino: – we had to call for a professional video crew to come and fill our dent skills seminar. I have no idea how much that should cost. I have no idea, right? It could be $1,000.00 or $100,000.00. I don’t know. I have some ideas where it should be but I don’t know. So I always look at it from the standpoint of the consumer.
I would never call somebody to my house without at least knowing a range of what it’s gonna cost. When I had a guy come and remove some squirrels from my house, I needed to know is it gonna be $100.00, 300, 500?
Sal Contreras: So you’re that guy that asks that question, how much.
Keith Cosentino: But I’m not pinning him to it.
Sal Contreras: No. No. But you want something constantly.
Keith Cosentino: I need to know what am I getting into.
Sal Contreras: Will you allow someone in your house who didn’t give you that price but you liked the way they described how they’re going to come up with it, fees, and just give a general outline of everything, give you the different options? Because there are options. Wouldn’t you want that person over there that was more articulate?
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, I probably would, but they would have to do their job of stepping around that. I would ask them every –
Sal Contreras: No, but it’s the same person that had the top reviews, the same person that was maybe referred, and you’re still trying to get a price out of them. Are you still gonna get a price out of them?
Keith Cosentino: I still would say at the very last step, “Hey, this sounds great. I’m looking forward to seeing you Friday.”
Sal Contreras: I’d never give it to you.
Keith Cosentino: “But can you give me an idea of the average job? Is it 500? Is it 5,000?”
Sal Contreras: I could see that industry being down to certain dollar-per-hour for five hours. I could see that.
Keith Cosentino: And consequently, the squirrel guy is on par with a PDR guy for a rate.
Sal Contreras: Oh, yeah?
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. Yeah. Hour and a half, 500 bucks.
Sal Contreras: What?
Keith Cosentino: My squirrels are gone. You wanna complain about it? He was gonna come back another time and check to make sure, but they weren’t even in my house, by the way. They were just in a cove and I thought they were in. But I said, “Hey. He did the job he said he was gonna do. What do I care if he’s here for nine hours sweating all over my house or it’s done in an hour?” You gotta be on the other side of the equation sometimes.
Shane Jacks: Patrick’s getting into the squirrel industry.
Keith Cosentino: Dude, this guy was crushing it and they were busy all the time, top Yelp reviews.
Sal Contreras: But the thing is that you are that guy that wants a price range.
Keith Cosentino: Yep. That’s why to go around “What do I do when a customer demands a price range from me over the phone?” I say, “Listen, there’s no way I can tell you exactly what it’s gonna cost unless I already have the car in front –”
Sal Contreras: But do you give him a range?
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. I said, “Most of the repairs like you’re describing end up falling somewhere between $400.00 and $800.00.” I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that because I know I’m not gonna do it cheaper and I’m probably not gonna do it more expensively.
Sal Contreras: But what happens on the average when you go out there? Do you ever get that 800 or are you always in between?
Keith Cosentino: Nope. I’ll get the 8 sometimes, or more.
Sal Contreras: But I’m saying on the majority of the times.
Keith Cosentino: Majority of the time –
Sal Contreras: You’re not hitting that 8. You’re in the middle, down lower.
Keith Cosentino: I’m in the top – if the bottom is zero and the top’s 100 percent, I’m at 75 to 90.
Sal Contreras: What if it’s a $900.00 job and you went $400.00 to $800.00?
Keith Cosentino: That’s totally easy. I say, “Listen. Of course, I couldn’t see anything on the phone. We were talking and you did a really great job of describing it. But this part here is important to me.” If there’s a reason it’s 900 bucks, there’s a reason. And if I knew it before, I would have talked about it before.
Sal Contreras: But you got there.
Keith Cosentino: I’m there. I’m in front. I know they’re in at 800. They’re gonna be in at 9 as long as I do a good job of selling it to them. And I like when they have the price range because that way, when I get there, they don’t go, ‘Oh, man. You know what, Keith? You’re a great guy and you’re attractive and I’m glad you’re here, but I thought this was gonna be 50 bucks. There’s no way I can do this. I had no idea it was gonna be 900.” So I like when they ask me.
Sal Contreras: I tell you. I find out a lot from when you describe the damage. If they say “It’s a red car, it’s on the right rear door, and I just gently hit another car. It’s a small dent, but I just really need to know a price range.” I already know that it’s probably not a small dent and the body shop price is gonna be really high, so I have a – I can get up pretty high but I gotta see the car. I don’t know. That’s a tough one. I don’t do ranges. It doesn’t work for me, at least.
Keith Cosentino: So when the customer demands a price what do you say? What’s your line?
Sal Contreras: When the first question that they ask is, “How much?” the first thing is say is “I don’t know.” I just give a pause. I just pause. What I want out of that pause –
Shane Jacks: That’s the smart aleck Shane side I was telling about.
Sal Contreras: If I pause, then the next thing they’re gonna say is either “Why not? You’re the professional here,” or they’re gonna be – and this happens more often than you think – they always say, “Oh, I see. You have to look at it.” Once I get them to say that, just after those three words, then I start getting them thinking that I have to see it now, and your question is, in a way, irrelevant. And I get around that. Because once you go into say any kind of price, then, at least in my case, you’ve automatically kinda handicapped yourself, when it could be a lot higher when you get there.
But the best part of getting there and seeing it, you’re probably the only guy that gave the estimate. Everybody else is – you know. That’s what I noticed. I noticed. I’m one of the few guys that actually get to it because I won’t give the range.
Keith Cosentino: Let me give a disclaimer. That is if the first question from the customer is ‘How much?’ that’s a totally different person, different customer than the last question is “By the way, how much is this gonna cost?”
Sal Contreras: Oh, I see.
Keith Cosentino: If they lead with “Yo, man. How much to fix a dent?” then we’re out.
Shane Jacks: Then it’s out, yeah.
Keith Cosentino: But if they say, “I saw your reviews. I’m looking to have this done.” We talk all about it and at the end they say, “Okay. I need to know how much this is gonna cost,” I can say, “Listen. I can’t tell you exactly how much it’s gonna cost unless I’m there in person.” “Okay, that’s fine. But how much around should it be?” “Well, again, not until I measure it will I know exactly.”
Sal Contreras: But you’ve already asked them what car, what model, what year, and all that stuff.
Keith Cosentino: I know all that stuff. The first question – gone.
Sal Contreras: [Inaudible] [01:00:48] Chinese food or something.
Shane Jacks: I know. I had a question about do we stay away from any of the – certain dents or damage because of metals, I don’t. Metal doesn’t bother me. There are some, if it’s aluminum – yes. There are some things that are off limits, but just because it’s a certain metal, no, we don’t stay away.
Some of these questions I’m going to run through real quick. We are pretty deep into this thing, right now.
Keith Cosentino: We’re an hour deep, already.
Shane Jacks: How many do we have handed out right now? Four?
Keith Cosentino: Four.
Shane Jacks: Derek asked a question. Derek, I am not going out on Keith’s route with him. Bump all that noise. Derek asked, “Where do we see the industry going in 2016?” I guess we can say “and beyond that.”
Sal Contreras: Big dents.
Shane Jacks: Big dents.
Sal Contreras: Big dents.
Shane Jacks: That’s Sal’s answer for everything.
Keith Cosentino: And more shops.
Shane Jacks: I think shops. I like that question because, honestly, I think shows like this and some other stuff that’s happening out there in the industry is changing things for the better. And I think that that’s where it’s headed, is bigger dents, more difficult stuff, more shops, higher prices, better selling, better marketing.
Keith Cosentino: Better expectation of quality from the customers.
Shane Jacks: Higher expectation of quality. That’s gonna happen naturally as the industry gets older, also.
Keith Cosentino: When you can get on YouTube and see Sal and Shane’s repairs, you’re making it hard – both of you guys are making it hard for any dent guy to be in business, with the stuff you guys are taping and putting online.
Sal Contreras: Somebody just asked about aluminum and stuff. I tell you, man. That’s a whole new thing to work on. If you’re studying metal, metal, metal, avoiding aluminum, you’re making a big mistake right now. You have to put your time into aluminum. You have to. Because it’s gonna be around.
Shane Jacks: Derek, we’re gonna send you some tabs, so send us your information.
Keith Cosentino: Derek Yost. And whoever asked that question about demanding money on the phone? I don’t know who that was. Email pdrcollegeonline@gmail and say that was your question. And I’ll know if you’re faking me. You’re gonna get free tabs when you win.
Shane Jacks: Sal, I’ve got a couple of them that I want one-word answer for because of time. Sal, what kind of glue are you using for big dents?
Sal Contreras: TabWeld. Next.
Shane Jacks: Most versatile dent dial.
Sal Contreras: 22 heavy.
Shane Jacks: 22 heavy.
Sal Contreras: How do I handle dealers?
Shane Jacks: We’re not going into that one.
Keith Cosentino: Oh. Stop. Awesome.
Sal Contreras: As far as dealers, don’t be afraid to share a dealer and not try and muscle it away from somebody. It’s one of the best ways to get a dealership.
Shane Jacks: One-on-one training?
Sal Contreras: That’s what I’m going to be doing this, soon.
Shane Jacks: Oh. Sal’ll be doing it.
Sal Contreras: I wanna get in two more guys ride with me.
Keith Cosentino: How much?
Sal Contreras: 800 a day.
Keith Cosentino: He’s gonna answer it.
Shane Jacks: How much?
Sal Contreras: 800 a day.
Shane Jacks: You’re cheaper than me. The first time ever.
Keith Cosentino: Somebody busting my chops is saying what’s your real answer for what glue you use for big dents?
Sal Contreras: TabWeld is all I use, and the green Burro glue, when they had it. That was really good. I think the TabWeld; I’m finding is not the best for my temperature. The Burro green was the best. And then Arrow. I was using that for a while.
Keith Cosentino: Arrow. Yeah. I used to use Arrow before I bought good glue. The TabWeld –
Shane Jacks: Tell me the truth, idiot.
Sal Contreras: When you’re pouring it with the amount I’m pouring it on these big dents, I don’t think that any glue really –
Keith Cosentino: You’re right.
[Crosstalk]Shane Jacks: Oh, yeah. When you use them that much, yeah. You could use bubble gum.
Keith Cosentino: Have you guys seen that slide hammer with the cold glue? That guy in Brazil?
Sal Contreras: That’s pretty cool. That was on a rail, he did that.
Keith Cosentino: You can get it now. One of our loyal listeners, Paulo, in Florida’s got it. He’s wanted to talk to me about it. Paulo, you’re probably on right now because you’re always around. I apologize. I haven’t been able to talk to you about it, but I am interested to hear what you have to say about it. It sounds interesting –
Sal Contreras: Somebody has it.
Shane Jacks: Paulo’s over here.
Keith Cosentino: Oh. Paulo, you’re on Shane’s side, huh?
Shane Jacks: Ha, ha, ha, ha.
Sal Contreras: Cold glue.
Keith Cosentino: You can get it on James Lee’s site. He’s out of stock but he’s gonna carry it. It’s 500 bucks for a slide hammer and a couple of attachments and the glue.
Sal Contreras: But it lasts forever?
Keith Cosentino: I don’t know. I don’t know if you use that glue over and over again or what. Paulo, do you use the glue over and over again?
Sal Contreras: Proof. He said it’s very good. It’s gotta be proof. You gotta show it. That’s what I’m into. You gotta show it.
Keith Cosentino: He can sell it, too, because he speaks Portuguese.
Shane Jacks: There you go.
Sal Contreras: Paulo can sell it.
Keith Cosentino: Paulo, can you use the glue over and over again?
Sal Contreras: Ten years use.
Shane Jacks: Ten years use.
Sal Contreras: Wow.
Keith Cosentino Paulo, you been using it for ten years?
Shane Jacks: Somebody asked me, while we’re waiting on – Paulo will talk to Keith and he will get back with us. Keith will let everybody know what’s going on. I was also asked, this is a one-word answer. Have it at the seminar. Yeah, bring it, Paulo. That’d be awesome. That’d be cool.
Trevor6 asks me what my favorite light stand for hail was. Currently, it is the Chubby 46 from Pro PDR Solutions. I went from the Fat Head to that Chubby. It’s just a hair shorter and a hair narrower, but, man, I love that thing. The fade on that is a little different and it’s better. And they keep coming out with these new lights and all this new stuff. It changes by the year. By the time you guys get everything that I have, I’m 10,000 deep every year from buying new lights and what not. If you listen to everything I say, well, you’re gonna be broke.
Keith Cosentino: One of these days, somebody’s gonna understand how big of a fricking deal we are and start sending us some free tools to test.
Shane Jacks: Yes, exactly. Hint, hint. Chubby HD. That is right, Matt. It is the Chubby HD. I should have said that, Chubby HD 46.
Keith Cosentino: Oh, man. Shane is kicking my butt on hearts. He’s blowing up like his phone’s broken.
Shane Jacks: It happens.
Keith Cosentino: Mine’s done. Hey, they we go.
Shane Jacks: I’m glad to see you on here, Matt. Matt’s a good guy. Mr. Matt Norman.
Keith Cosentino: Now my hearts are coming back.
Shane Jacks: And mine are going away. Anything else, Sal, you wanna share with us?
Keith Cosentino: No, it won’t pull paint very often. One guy asked us “Does glue pulling pull paint often?” No. Not if you know what you’re doing.
Sal Contreras: It rarely, rarely does.
Keith Cosentino: “Lights or no lights after repairing extreme dent or just natural and why.” Shane and Sal, I think you’ve been back and forth over the years, lights, no lights when you’re doing big dents.
Sal Contreras: No lights. What I mainly do these days –
[Crosstalk]Sal Contreras: – is I don’t – I’m not out there as a tech as much as I am R&D. That’s all I kinda do now. I definitely say no lights, no boards. At some point, I’m gonna come out with sessions six and seven, which will explain that. But I firmly do not believe in lights and boards. Make sure that goes on the record.
Keith Cosentino: I’ve seen you using lights in front of your photos.
Sal Contreras: No. No. No. I guess what I wanna say is that I use them during a certain stage of the repair. But to finish a repair, I technically – at least from my research, it hinders you from repairing it to glass, using a board or a light.
Keith Cosentino: And we went –
Shane Jacks: I respectfully agree and disagree. Keith, as you know, I’m also – at the end of my repairs, a lot of times I will move my light completely away and use my hammer and blend some at the end. It just depends, on the situation, honestly, for me. Sometimes I think you’re right and sometimes – this will be a shocker to you, Sal – I disagree with you sometimes.
Sal Contreras: I can prove it.
Keith Cosentino: We’re all three gonna be at the advanced skills seminar, so we can talk about it in person in front of dents and with lights. We could get a real good idea about what exactly you’re talking about. But I had posed this question the other day or a year or two ago, and that was how far away do you have to put your light before it’s called a natural reflection?
Sal Contreras: That’s right.
Keith Cosentino: Somewhere between up close and a mile away, it’s the same thing. Really, what you’re saying when you say no lights is no lights close. Because that reflection that you’re grabbing from across the street or –
[Crosstalk]Sal Contreras: But what is that light that you’re putting in the distance? What, technically, is it? It’s a 90-degree –
Keith Cosentino: It’s just a –
Sal Contreras: No. No. But it’s just 90 degrees. Honestly, right? So, if you’re looking out in the distance and you have a line, and you put it vertical or whatever, it’s just 90 degrees.
Keith Cosentino: 90 degrees to your repair surface, you’re saying.
Sal Contreras: 90 degrees to you. To your eyes. If you’re trying to find low spots that are multi-directional, and you’re passing one angle across them, you create illusions. At some point, if you’re relying on this 90-degree line wherever you put it, at least, I believe that’s what helped me the most is that you’ve got to – if you’re gonna use a board or a light and you’re looking at it, look to your right and look to your left and confirm everything. That helps you move it.
If you look at your board and push it, and move your board here and say, “Oh, that one’s a good one. Oh, that one’s a good one.” I call that random pushing. I don’t believe in it. You should have a methodical strategy how to finish it out. There’s a really good way to do it using natural reflection.
Keith Cosentino: Is that something you can teach the guys at the seminar?
Sal Contreras: No. That’s one-on-one training.
Keith Cosentino: He can show the concept, anyway.
Sal Contreras: One-on-one training really makes you teach a student in their environment, literally, with their tools on working the roof across the street from where they’re working on. When you teach them how to use all those angles, you really have to do it in person. That’s the way I look at it. That’s why I have to do one-on-one training to really do it. But then my DVD sessions six and seven will, hopefully, try and explain it.
Keith Cosentino: So you’ve got some more DVDs coming out pretty soon.
Sal Contreras: Yeah. I have my final sessions. Since 2008, I’ve had a session one, two, three, four, and five which have been kind of the mainstay. Now, I’m coming out with sessions six and seven, which is the final in the series. One of them is gonna be how to finish perfect to where it’s a strategy that’ll really take you to the end.
Keith Cosentino: Right now you can get one through five? They’re available?
Sal Contreras: Yes.
Keith Cosentino: Where do you find those?
Sal Contreras: That’s at dentexperttraining.com.
Keith Cosentino: About how much do those cost?
Sal Contreras: They’re $35.00 apiece.
Keith Cosentino: That’s pretty cheap. Do you have a package you can buy all five together?
Sal Contreras: Yes. It’s less than $200.00 and they’re sent all over the world.
Keith Cosentino: Nice. No downloadable content, though, just DVDs. We want people to be able to copy them.
Sal Contreras: I tell you what. I have content on vimeo.com where you can pay per view. And I’m gradually going that route, but I noticed that people like something tangible.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah. It is nice to have a DVD.
Sal Contreras: I don’t know. I still might stick with DVD. It makes it more exclusive. Guy puts it away on his shelf and doesn’t want no one to see it.
Keith Cosentino: Do you have a release date for those other two DVDs?
Sal Contreras: I’m in the position now where I can say I’ll probably have it done in May. Pretty exciting.
Keith Cosentino: I’m looking forward to them. I’d like to watch those.
Okay. I guess we need to wrap up. We’re about an hour and 12 minutes into this. It’s been a great show. Thank you guys for sticking with us on Periscope all this time. David, I will send you some tabs, you sucker. Yeah, it was a good question. Ask Sal how many lights he used to win the Dent Olympics.
Sal Contreras: That’s a good question. The reason why I used so many lights because it’s hard to find a reflection in people’s legs when they’re around me walking around. I usually can’t, sometimes, so I needed that many lights. But if I was able to look passed all the crowd, I’d probably just use reflections.
Keith Cosentino: All right, Eric, you’re right. I told you I’d answer your question and I didn’t. Thank you for reminding me.
Sal Contreras: “Any tool reviews this week?” You guys do tool reviews?
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, we do. But not send us a tool and we’ll review it, although there’s a little bit of that. Mostly, we just talk about a tool that we’ve already been using that we know we can get behind.
Let’s answer this question because I did promise Eric I’d ask it. Type it for me again, Eric, so I know exactly what you want me to answer. I remember the gist of it, but I don’t –
[Crosstalk]Shane Jacks: Thank you, Patrick. We appreciated it. And Matty. Or Matthew. I just read what it says, Matty. Sorry about that, Matt.
Sal Contreras: That’s nice of Matt to say that.
Keith Cosentino: “Once you’ve created a prototype tool and it’s working well for you, what would be the next step to do?” Really good question. First one, send it to Keith and Shane so they can make sure it’s also good. Oh, it’s a depth gauge. Guys want the depth gauge. I’m making another batch of them. I’ve been lazy because I’ve had other things working. But I’ll have some at the show and before the show, a little bit.
Shane Jacks: I wouldn’t call it lazy. He’s had plenty going on.
Keith Cosentino: Let’s answer this tool prototype question because we’ve all done it. Sal can’t even talk about his prototypes, even after they’re in the market.
[Crosstalk]Sal Contreras: Hey, if you have a prototype and it works, what is the next thing you should be doing is using it in every situation possible, at least six months to a year. And almost try and make it fail. Honestly. Get it out there with a few people to try and have them make it fail. And if it passes all of that, then it’s time to look into something. I can’t tell you how much it makes a difference when you send a tool out there and people respond saying, “It works. It works. It works.” It’s really important. You may have a great prototype but there’s ways of using it, it could fail that you haven’t tried yet unless you put it to the test.
Keith Cosentino: I’m gonna agree with almost everything you said, but I’m gonna change it a little bit. I’m not gonna wait six months or a year of testing on my own. Once I build that prototype and use it for two weeks and it works, and I’m confident that it’s a decent tool, I’m gonna send it to the ten guys that I know will be honest with me and that will use it. Then I’m gonna tell them to try and break it. Then I’m gonna use that feedback, come up with version two, if I need to, and then send it out again.
Shane Jacks: Thanks, Taurus.
Sal Contreras: I guess you already have in the pipeline things going. I think somebody asking that question might have just one, maybe working on for so long.
Keith Cosentino: But if you get it and you’ve got it and you’re using it and you’re out of ideas in your own mind on how to make it better, there’s no use in waiting for six months. Let the other guys break it and tell you where it sucks. Make sure you choose guys who are honest. What I learned about selling tools is people will find the craziest ways to break your stuff that you’ve never thought of.
Sal Contreras: That’s right.
Keith Cosentino: There’s a guy that tried to jack up a car with a Jack hammer and bent it in half. I can’t confirm that’s true, or not, but –
Shane Jacks: Are you serious?
Keith Cosentino: No. But guys’ll do crazy stuff to break things and you won’t see it coming. So get it out there and get feedback from other technicians ASAP. Then you gotta worry about finding somebody to make it for you or make it yourself. Make it yourself is – you’re now trading dollars for hours – dollars pushing dents to dollars grinding tools. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. Sometimes you gotta get somebody to make the tools for you.
Sal Contreras: Hey, I’m almost out of it. Rising up finally, getting out of this.
Keith Cosentino: Shane, do you have anything to add to that?
Shane Jacks: No. Exactly what you said, Keith. With the hammer and with the edge jack I went a little longer than two weeks. Well, actually, no. With the edge jack, that thing worked so stupid spectacular the first time I put it on the car; I literally had to make bam! Like that, send them out to several guys to try out and was to market within two months, I believe. So it was pretty quick.
Keith Cosentino: Perfectionism is the enemy of tool production. If you try to wait ‘til that thing’s perfect, it’s never gonna get to market.
Shane Jacks: I’ve seen it, since we learned about it a couple weeks ago at a class we were at. It said, “If you don’t look back on something and go ‘I really, really could have made that better,’ then you spent too much time on it.” Get it out there. Get it out.
Keith Cosentino: That’s an awesome question. We could go on for days about how to get it made, but look for help. Look for the –
Sal Contreras: What I could tell you, though, about getting it made, all right, because I went that route and it’s the honest truth. If I had gone to the professionals to make my tool, they would have had me do it in a way that it would have never worked and I would never pursue the tool. Don’t be afraid to make something yourself, especially if you have the skills because you may put something together that – just out of accident. That’s happened to me. Out of accident it worked. If I didn’t make it the way I did initially, I wouldn’t have known because the professional would told me, “Oh, no. The way you should do this is like this.” I would have tried it. It didn’t work. I would abandon it.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and try and make it. Use it. At some point that has merit. That’s what happened to me.
Keith Cosentino: That’s a great point. When you’re coming up with something new, it’s new. They are gonna try and plug you into their system of making things, and you’re trying to make something new. Now, maybe you’re not. Maybe you’re making pliers with a different tip – that’s not new. Go with the guy who makes pliers and say you need a different tip.
Sal Contreras: They’ll talk you out of your crazy idea. That’s what you have to watch out for. They’ll talk you out of something because they’re thinking in terms of volume. They’re thinking in terms of cost and what their machines can do. They don’t know what you do for a living or how you’re going to do that, so be careful about being talked out of something that sounds kind of crazy. That’s why sometimes you’re gotta go with crazy and see if crazy works.
That’s what happened to me. It honestly worked so well I didn’t realize that I wouldn’t have had it unless I just did it anyway. All I say is that if you have the skills, build it on your own. Try it and don’t necessarily go to somebody to make it because they may make it wrong.
Keith Cosentino: It’s definitely a balance between getting help from pros and taking their advice because sometimes it’s really good, and telling them “No. I’m not gonna do it the way you say to do it because that’s not what I want. That’s not my vision.” And they will try to move you around to the point that they’re profitable and it’s easy for them to make.
Sal Contreras: Or you run into what I could have run into if I didn’t make it. You’ll change it. In my case, I have 60 pieces I got to put together. Sometimes the measurements are different, but as you use it, you can change it. If you buy 1,000 pieces of something that originally was your great idea that you had out too quick, you’ll have those 1,000 pieces still in your garage because you changed it. You’re the guy doing the R&D. You realized, “Oh, it could be about another half inch longer.” You’re stuck with those 1,000 pieces.
So you gotta watch out when you’re working with manufacturers. I still have to go that route. So I kind did it backwards. I don’t not recommend it but it’s a long haul.
Keith Cosentino: One thing I know we all can agree on. It’s way harder than you think. It’s way harder than you think. You think it’s just we’re at home clicking on websites and collecting checks. It’s a grind. It’s not easy to do. I still would do it, but it’s hard. It’s a lot of work. Please do it, too, if you have an idea because that’s what makes the entire industry better. But, man, it’s a lot of work.
Okay, guys. I think we gotta wrap it up. It’s been an awesome show. If you –
[Crosstalk]Shane Jacks: Sorry for the few questions we didn’t get answered. I think we got a good many of them answered, though.
Keith Cosentino: If you have a question that you’re really dying to ask us, we’ve given our email about a thousand times. Email us a question or go on our website, pdrcollege.com, and leave a voice mail on the SpeakPipe, would you. We can answer that, and if you don’t want it on the show we won’t put it there. But if you want us to answer on the show, we’ll do that, too. That’s kind of fun. That’s pdrcollege.com, SpeakPipe.
Just a little housekeeping to let you guys know what’s going on. We are getting closer and closer to releasing the PDR College online community, which Shane and I are really excited about. Sal’s super excited. He doesn’t even know what I’m talking about. It’s gonna be a big deal. Keep watching us. We’re looking to launch that thing in January. Stay in the loop. Make sure you’re on our email list.
Sal Contreras: What’s it gonna be? A group?
Shane Jacks: Uh-huh.
Keith Cosentino: And we will catch you guys on the flip side.
Sal Contreras: Thank you. Thanks for watching.
Shane Jacks: Thanks, guys.
Keith Cosentino: Until next time, get better.
[End of Audio]Duration: 82 minutes
