Here's your assignment: Pretend you have 45 seconds to talk about your business in front of a group of people you'd love to have as customers. Could you tell them something that's unique about your business, something that no other shop in your area could or is likely to tell them? 

you could, chances are that whether you knew it or not, you've built a "brand." You've built a business that isn't "generic." It stands out from the others in some way. That doesn't necessarily mean it's the largest, the most profitable, the fastest- growing, or even the highest quality shop in the market, although it could be. It just means you've figured out that the only way to set yourself apart in the minds of potential customers and referral sources is to do or say something that your competitors are not.

If you can't quickly recite what you would use that 45 seconds to tell others about your business, you're not alone. Building a "brand" isn't always quick or easy. But here's a look at how some collision repair shop owners have done it.

Most of these owners say their "brand" has evolved over time and wasn't necessarily something they set out to create. But it seems clear that much of their success now comes because everything they do - their advertising, the look of their facility, their hiring decisions, even in some cases their choices of equipment and paint and other products - is now driven by that "brand" they want to protect and cultivate.

Building a niche

From a shop layout perspective, Metro Auto Rebuild faces some unique and substantial challenges. The business has plenty of office and production area - 32,000 square feet in all - but that includes space on two different levels in each of two buildings across the street from one another. And the business, tucked into downtown Seattle neighborhood, does not have as much as a single stall of outside parking or storage space.

But shop owner Doug Woods and \William Parkins appear to have overcome such challenges. The company, which also has a second shop in a near-by community, has 70 employees and annual sales of about $12 million.

That success is based in large part on building a niche by marketing itself as specialists in the repair of high-end luxury vehicles. Part of that process is staying in a location, that despite some drawbacks, is close to BMW and Mercedes owners, and the dealers who refer much of the shop's work.

"We've carried on those relationship for decades and through different [dealership] owners," Parkins said. "The reason we've kept those relationships is first and foremost that we are familiar with those cars. We send our techs to school to be trained on those cars. And we understand their client base. When you spend as much on a car as you could a small house, you expect certain things: Service, above and beyond. And quality - there is no 'maybe,' no 'close enough.' And those two things are specifically what we gear this shop toward."

Make the investment

Parkins said earning BMW or Mercedes shop certifications is not easy or inexpensive. In can require paying more to get certain brands of tools or equipment, and in some cases may mean buying a new tool or piece of equipment even though what the shop had was likely adequate.

"Yes, you have to buy their tools," Parkins said. "There is an investment, certainly. But if you're going to invest in downdraft booths, prep stations, water filtration systems, paint mixing banks, computers and management systems, why stop? If you're going to invest in all that, you're spending at least a half million dollars and you're not going to spend $50,000 more? I say, if you're going to do it, do it all the way. Would you wear a beautiful Armani tuxedo with white gym socks? C'mon. It doesn't work that way."

Jim Stevens Auto Body in Portland, Oregon, has built a niche brand is a slightly different way. In order to keep a competitor from moving into his neighborhood, Jim Stevens purchased a shop that was for sale even though it was within just four blocks of his first location. Steven's partner and a former employee who now own and operate the business run the two shops almost autonomously by marketing to different niches: One location tends to focus more on the fleet work the business attracts, while the other handles more of the insurance work that flows from nine direct repair agreements.

Size not an issue

But branding doesn't require becoming a huge, multi-location company. Just ask Mike West, whose seven-employee, 6,500- square-foot shop has been on the same corner in the Seattle suburb of Tukwila, Washington, for more than 30 years.

"You look at these megashops or consolidators, and we have distinct advantages over them," West says of smaller shops. "Some people actually want to know the people who are repairing their car. Some people like that personal attention. When I go somewhere that I've been doing business for 30 years, it's nice that they know my name when I walk in. We have customers like that. We trade on that fact. We created a niche market in our area."