Blake Farley, executive vice president of operations at Quality Collision Group and former partner at Relentless Collision in North Carolina, knows about scaling operations and building strong shop cultures.
Farley appeared on The Collision Vision podcast, driven by Autobody News and hosted by Cole Strandberg, to talk about what separates elite operators from the rest, whether they run one location or many.
Farley said he had worked for about 25 years with Todd McGowan when they launched Relentless Collision in 2020.
“We found that there was an opportunity in the North Carolina market to pursue the top-level OEM certs,” Farley said. “We just decided, hey, we were going to work for the consumer, repair the car exactly the way the manufacturer mandates. And that's what we've done.”
Farley said joining industry organizations like the Carolinas Collision Association and the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) “turbocharged the growth” of Relentless Collision, by connecting them with other top operators.
For instance, brothers Kyle and Michael Bradshaw, who own K & M Collision in Hickory, NC, were “instrumental” in teaching the team at Relentless Collision the best way to write a repair plan using OEM procedures and the owner’s manual.
“It was not something that had to be forced across the team,” Farley said. “They were very hungry for it, because the entire team came from a DRP background and loved the thought of working exclusively for the vehicle owner.”
Once the team had repair planning down, they learned how to negotiate with insurers to get paid. Then they focused on the “details inside the operations team, where we were lacking,” Farley said.
“For example, when you take the car apart, you've got electrical connectors. I'm sure there's a lot of shops today that just leave those electrical connectors dangling. And…they're probably outside in the rain right now,” he said. “Those are the small details. Hey man, you gotta bag those connectors. Each OEM has a particular technique on how you should do that.”
The journey to 100% professionalism through education is a never-ending pursuit, Farley said.
In late 2023, Quality Collision Group acquired Relentless Collision, which had grown to three locations in Raleigh, Durham and Cary, NC. Farley joined QCG as executive vice president of operations, concentrating on the Eastern U.S.
“Working with Quality Collision Group has been an absolute joy,” Farley said.
Farley said he and McGowan felt QCG was the only MSO whose vision matched their own. “Consumers need a different repair choice in the market versus what was commonly found,” he said.
Many owners of newer vehicles want them repaired exactly the way the manufacturer says they should be. Other owners are indifferent, Farley said, and choose a shop as a “dollars and cents decision.”
QCG has 92 locations across the U.S. Several are completely non-DRP, and others have a partial DRP presence because they are operating in a region where it’s workable for all stakeholders.
“We are now locking in those teams to where we are proving the concept that in a DRP environment, you can still pull all the repair procedures, repair the car the way the manufacturer says it needs to be repaired, and use all OEM parts,” Farley said, acknowledging that it does have an effect on those partial DRP shops’ bottom lines.
QCG puts a lot of energy into training its technicians, and is now bringing that same focus to its repair planners.
“That is a live fire exercise that's taking place no matter what configuration — DRP or non-DRP,” Farley said. “Drilling down on the efficiencies to pull that off can be challenging, but the team is working through it. We've got fantastic folks.”
Working with a DRP means the vehicle can “only be repaired one way,” Farley said, so QCG shops follow those guidelines, but then advocate to also get compensated for procedures that weren’t included by showing insurers why they were necessary.
“We're having success with that now. We'd love to have more success with it,” he said.
What Sets Apart a Great Operator?
Resilience, humility and a “professional curiosity” are the keys to being a great shop operator, Farley said. That means seeking out and considering new knowledge from other operators — not just about updated repair procedures, but also perhaps a more efficient way of operating.
“Those that are really enthused and thrive in our profession, that really love it, have an incredible work ethic, or have a fantastic professional curiosity,” he said. “And they're humble. They know they don't have all the answers.”
Farley said he has a contact list full of “amazing folks” who will answer any question. State and regional collision repair associations are a great way to meet those people.
Relentless Collision’s success is proof of the effectiveness of an operator taking solid advice from other operators and working it into their own business.
“You are not going to get it right for the first, say, dozen times. But eventually you'll figure it out and crack the code,” Farley said. “And then things start to change for the team, both in knowledge and profit, and that's a synergy that just sort of builds on itself.”
Bad habits that contribute to underperforming shops include operating in a “silo” by avoiding interaction with other shop operators, and believing you already have all the knowledge you’ll need to continue into the future, Farley said.
“That seems to be the common piece for me,” he said. “It just builds on that.”
Standardizing Operations While Staying Adaptable
QCG has several high-level employees who have direct contact with OEMs to stay on the cutting edge of repair procedures. The data they gather is then pushed out to the operations team, which then communicates it to the shops. The operations team also sends feedback from the shops to pass along to the OEMs.
“Whether it's a part we need or there's a repair procedure that isn't crystal clear, where the communication needs to go from the collision operator up to the OEM to tag them in, to give us some help,” Farley said.
“If it's with a client where we've got a part that seems to be on backorder, where it may take a little more explanation from a team versus just the collision folks, we're tagging the OEMs in,” he added. “So we reach out to the client. They're having a team work the project, versus just the collision guy. And so those are things we're buttoning up.”
Accounting and payroll operations are standardized across the entire QCG network. The repair process is adaptable to each shop’s circumstances, Farley said.
“There can be nuanced differences, as long as we check all the boxes, the sequence in which you do it,” he said. “We're going to leave that up to the amazing market leaders that oversee these incredible teams.”
It is non-negotiable, however, for every QCG shop to repair every vehicle to OEM standards. Some of QCG’s acquisition shops need more help transitioning to writing repair plans based on OEM procedures than others, but “what we are finding is if you've got the right folks on the bus, you don't have to do a lot of arm-twisting to get compliance,” Farley said.
QCG brings in a mentorship team to get those shops up to speed, to “focus on getting that repair plan correct, and also documenting that we're doing those steps as we're moving through the repair journey,” he added.
Finding the Right Staff
With claims volumes trending down, Farley said, there are shops in some regions that are adequately staffed. For QCG, the next step is making sure the staff is the “best of the best.” That means offering the best compensation.
“To me, this is a no brainer,” Farley said. “You get what you pay for. When you're asking a technician to repair a Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and, hey, we want you certified. We want you to go through all these classes. We're going to spend a lot of money with these folks and investing in them. We've got to compensate those guys appropriately, to make sure that they're winning as well.”
Some of QCG’s shops are in markets that are “incredibly competitive” to find good technicians, he said. QCG has experimented with growing its own technicians, with a lot of success in some cases.
However, that becomes more difficult if it is looking to scale in a particular market, and it needs more established technicians to quickly staff additional locations.
“Then it goes into recruiting, where we are being very intentional on strategies that we're deploying to recruit the best talent that we can get,” Farley said.
“In the areas where it's still a highly competitive labor market, it is intense,” he said. “We've not cracked the code in some of those markets, unfortunately, only with the respect of keeping our labor margins in line to not get them out of balance.”
Defining Operational Excellence
“If the car is properly repaired, then I'm going to say, hey man, we've achieved some level of operational excellence,” Farley said. “Then we want to get into: are we running as efficiently as we can from the beginning to the end?”
QCG’s leaders openly share best practices, Farley said — not just amongst the QCG team, but with any shop operator.
“I don't think any one of our market leaders or GMs would hesitate to let anyone come visit our shops,” he said.
When QCG leadership visits shops to inspect operations, “what we're finding is most teams are willing to do a little peacocking,” Farley said. “They want you to inspect their work, because they want you to see just how well they've repaired the car.”
Repair planners, body technicians, refinish technicians and detailers all know how to read the plans, Farley said.
“Some of the folks that save us every day are the folks in detail, with their sharp eyes and focus to where they find the last two small, almost invisible items on the car that can be made a little better,” he said. “When you start seeing that harmony take place, you've got a fantastic operation.”
Of course, some mistakes slip through that need to be addressed, like incorrect documentation. Sometimes that requires slowing down to make sure everything is recorded properly.
“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast,” Farley said.
Advice for Single-Shop Owners Looking to Scale and Systemize
“Get involved in a local collision association,” Farley said.
For shop owners in areas without an active association, Farley recommended reaching out to a consultant like Mike Anderson, and joining one of his performance groups.
Joining an association or performance group also creates strength in numbers when more shops are asking insurers to reimburse for OEM repair procedures.
“The more competent operators we have doing this, the easier it is, when we engage with the insurance carriers and they tell us, ‘Hey, you're the only guy asking. No one else is doing that.’ You know, all the things that we commonly hear,” Farley said.
More immediately, shop operators can join SCRS or simply access its guide to repair planning by visiting its website, www.scrs.com, and bookmark the Database Enhancement Gateway at www.degweb.org.
“When you look at everything you've got to do, there's going to be some basic mission critical you want to get right,” Farley said. “You can start applying those today.
“And even if you can't get compensated for it, start doing it, documenting it, so that you can present a trend to the payer, whether it be the customer or whether it be the insurance folks, that hey, you're doing it, you're documenting it. Now it's time to get compensated for it,” he added.
Abby Andrews