That would mean a lot of cleanup and preparation every time he planned to take someone through on a tour of the shop, and that was nearly impossible. I know of several shop owners that have chosen to concentrate that preparation activity into just one event, an open house for just those few specific prospects, rather than for the general public.
Key elements for a prospect open house
    When I came into the industry in the early 1990’s, I didn’t find many people who knew what I-CAR, ASE, or ASA were. Times have changed. One shop with an insurance direct repair relationship came up for renewal. Unfortunately he had not updated many of his technician’s I-Car trainings. To retain his direct repair status, he had to go on a crash program to get his staff trained up to the expected standards.
    An effective open house should showcase estimator, customer service and technician certifications. An ASE certification test for estimators is easy and inexpensive to obtain (see www.PassTheASE.com), and shows a high level of professionalism. Certificates posted by each technician’s bay and each estimator’s desk should be a high priority in preparing for a tour. Needless to say, all of those spaces should be neat, clean and orderly. Fortunately that shouldn’t be too difficult to maintain for one day.
Funding an event
    An event can easily become costly. Cleanup, catering and other amenities can add up quickly. One shop owner came up with a way to spread out the cost. In addition to showing off his shop, he realized some of his attendees would be interested in the technical side of his business. A call to his paint vendor yielded a representative, demonstration materials and even some funding. His paint vendor set up a table in front of the spray booth to show off a new color matching system. Another call to his 3-M rep resulted in a display table to exhibit adhesive repair materials. A call to his resistance-welding supplier brought a demonstration version of a new unit to the open house.
    Once he found he was on a roll with getting vendor support, he called his frame machine and frame-measuring vendor to come in and demonstrate some new technology he was considering adding to his shop. He also made a call to Enterprise Rent-A-Car and invited them to come and set up a table. He knew they would never pass up an opportunity to show that they had a competitive edge.
    Finally he realized he needed to provide some freebies to get some prospects to attend. He advertised a free car wash for any attendee who wanted one, and he called his paintless dent removal guy to come and pop out some dents for those  who were interested.