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Archives : windshield repair technician

Win Over National Chains for Windshield Repair

If you’re like others, you’re windshield repair business is up against national chains more often. They tout their expertise, convenience (some offer mobile service) and their strong warranty program. You too can tout this plus you have an additional edge—you’re local. To combat their onslaught, you must put your marketing hat on and think more competitively. Here are a few suggestions:

• Local is better: Explain to customers that the national windshield repair chains don’t always deliver the consistent value or service promoted on their websites. Going with a proven, local firm is a better choice because they get to deal with a real person, not a corporation, and have fewer hassles.
• Qualifications: Highlight the fact that not all windshield repair technicians are created equal. Emphasize your talent, skills and certification, which all ensure the best result—and better safety for them and their passengers.
• Quality products: Communicate that you use high-quality GlasWeld windshield repair kit products, which saves time and money. The products are considered the industry’s best and the resins meet the highest standards.
• Convenience: Most customers avoid getting their windshield repaired right away because they have to find the time around a very busy work and family schedule. Take the pressure off them by promoting how you can make their service experience more convenient. Are you open on the weekends? Can you do repair in less than an hour? Are you mobile? Can you arrange to drive them back to work or home if they can’t wait? Can you do it onsite at their work if weather is permitting?
• Encourage feedback: Ask customers to leave positive comments on your Facebook page. Ask them to fill out an online customer survey then show summary of positive feedback on your website.

Every windshield repair business needs an edge in a competitive market. Know yours…then promote it.

Make sure you’re on GlasWeld’s “Find a Tech” page or do local search marketing per recent blog.

Watch Out: Substandard Resins Don’t Last

Not all windshield repair kit manufacturers can claim their resins meet and exceed national and international industry standards, including ANSI (American National Standards Institute), NWRA (National Windshield Repair Association), BSI (British Standards Institution), and AS/NZS (Australia/New Zealand Standards). But we can.

Every one of our Gfusion windshield repair resins have been independently tested ensuring their long-lasting quality.

This degree of testing and verification is important to professional windshield repair technicians because they have worked with poor-quality resins and have learned the hard way. Substandard resins lacking the right quality can discolor and disengage over time. Not ours.

GlasWeld’s Gfusion resins have the perfect degree of tensile strength and quality for enduring wear. They microscopically etch onto to the glass just enough to create the optimum bonding surface and won’t discolor or fall out over time.

So don’t waste your time and money. Choose resin color then order only GlasWeld resins because quality equals longevity.

Windshield Resin Color Does Matter

Just ask your friend who can’t tell whether he’s on a date with a blue-eyed blonde or green-eyed redhead if being color blind is an issue, and you’ll learn quickly that it is!

Our ability—or decreased ability—to make out and understand colors can affect many aspects of our life. What we’re willing to eat; what we wear; and, on a professional level, what resin to pull out of our windshield repair kit.

Choosing to use amber or gray tinted resins can depend on the type of damage you’re faced with and whether you’re working with crushed glass, such as in a combination break or small cracks such as in a star break, and need to hide some reflectivity.

Choosing blue or green tinted resins can also depend on what type of damage you’re dealing with and the exact area within the windshield tint band that needs repair.

Correctly Match Resin Color

GlasWeld’s Gfusion resins are scientifically formulated to ensure not only the right color but also support for different temperatures that are present in your environment during your windshield repair.

So make the selection of color a priority for your next repair.

No More Guessing about which Windshield Resin to use and Hoping for the Best

It’s a good thing that the windshield repair industry has become smarter over time by looking for improvements to their processes and products. The trial-and-error use of windshield resin offers a perfect example.

 

 

In the early days, all kinds of resins were used to fill cracks and damage without really knowing the science behind whether or not it would perform; whether it would discolor or withstand the normal flexing and temperature changes that windshields are exposed to.

Now thanks to research, GlasWeld technicians know the answers to these questions. Those who are using our windshield repair kits and resins can be confident that it will perform—and they know it will last because our resins have been designed to support the following principals:

 

 

1. Resins must be cured correctly: For resins to cure and harden, they need a specific UV wavelength specification and exposure duration.
2. Resins must offer a certain tensile strength: The right resin tensile strength is needed to restore the integrity of a windshield long-term. For instance, resins work by having both cohesive and adhesive strength. Cohesive strength gives resin the ability to hold together, whereas, adhesive strength ensures it adheres to the glass.
3. Resin must match the type of damage and color of windshield: Choosing resins from a viscosity and tint standpoint makes the difference between success and failure. Thicker viscosities work better for repairing a bull’s-eye and thinner viscosities are more conducive to smaller and tighter star breaks. While tinted resins are chosen based on types of damage and location.

Don’t repeat history. Learn from it by purchasing only GlasWeld resin for your windshield repair kit.

The Windshield Repair Industry Shows its Pride

The hype around Randy Olson winning the gold medal at last year’s Walt Gorman Memorial Windshield Repair Olympics (WRO) and the anticipation generating around his presence at this year’s event, says a lot about the growth of our industry.

No longer is the windshield glass repair industry in the backroom or more aptly, the garage. The industry continues to gain momentum and no better event showcases its pride than the intensive and thrilling Olympic competition. Individual heats challenge technicians to repair many different types of damage under pressure—and also test their customer service skills. This year’s competition features 11 entrants vying for the title of World’s Best Windshield Repair Technician, including five of the top competitors from GlasWeld Spain’s own Olympic competition held earlier this summer.

Mr. Olson has proven himself as a cool and gifted windshield repair technician. Part of his acquired skills can be attributed to GlasWeld’s well-received online windshield repair training program. In fact, Mr. Olson served as a training beta test customer for our windshield repair kit.

2011 Event

The sixth-annual Windshield Repair Olympics co-sponsored by the National Windshield Repair Association (NWRA) and AGRR magazine, will be held as part of Auto Glass Week in Memphis, Tennessee September 15-17, 2011. See you there!

More are Choosing GlasWeld’s Windshield Repair Online Training

Thanks to greater awareness around the advantages of windshield repair vs. windshield replacement, GlasWeld’s high-quality, online training and certification program is becoming more popular.

Windshield repair veterans who want to sharpen their skills and fix some bad habits are choosing it.  Those who are starting in the business are also flocking to the training program because of the GlasWeld brand. Plus, corporate customers are jumping on the bandwagon and deciding to have all their technicians trained and certified.

Three Benefits Set GlasWeld’s Training Apart

Besides teaching windshield glass repair and how to proficiently use all the products within our windshield repair kit, our certification training is being embraced because of the program’s benefits: It offers flexibility, convenience, and most importantly it teaches a repair technician how to do the repair right.

Flexibility: The tutorials can be viewed either online or by DVD depending on one’s preference. They can also be completed over a couple of weeks—or in a matter of hours.

Convenience: Many of our customers are worldwide and appreciate the fact that they can participate in the training in their time zone.

Higher Quality: Other industry training doesn’t follow the ANSI standards.  GlasWeld’s training not only adheres to these important standards—but in many instances—exceeds them.  Each participant is sent an actual piece of laminated glass with four types of damages to repair. Then the repaired glass is reviewed, evaluated, and graded by our experts for complete removal of air and moisture, complete curing, and whether the pit has been properly filled. These attributes constitute the components of a complete repair. By using GlasWeld’s equipment, repairs are not only ANSI compliant, but they are nearly invisible too.

 

The outcome of our training teaches technicians to do windshield repair right and to use the components of our windshield repair kits correctly for the benefit of their clients—and for the prestige that goes along with it.

 

 

 

 

 

Braulio López wins the Spanish Windshield Repair Olympics by one point!

Braulio López won first place at the Spanish Windshield Repair Olympics organized by GlasWeld in Madrid. The competition was held on Saturday, July 9th among sixteen of Spain’s top windshield repair technicians where every participant displayed professionalism and precision windshield repairs.

The Spanish Windshield Repair Olympics competition was modeled after the annual Walt Gorman Windshield Repair Olympics held in the United States. The event was divided into two rounds of 45 minutes each with eight competitors per round. The contest was supervised by Mr. Simon Underwood, General Manager for GlasWeld UK in England and Mr. Bert Stevenhaagen, Operations Manager and European Trainer for GlasWeld Europe in the Netherlands. Every glass repair technician was assigned a judge who could give each competitor up to 50 points. Mr. Underwood and Mr. Stevenhaagen could then assign 22 additional points based on the final result appearance of the repair. Both men complimented the high level of the repairs executed at the event, the commitment of all participants, and the camaraderie among them despite competing against each other.

The windshield repair champion of the competition was decided by one point. The winner, Braulio López achieved 69 points out of the 72 possible. Sergio Romero followed closely with 68 points, and José Manuel Llano followed with 67 points, achieving third place.

By winning the inaugural windshield repair event, Braulio López will travel to Memphis, Tennessee to compete in the 6th Annual Walt Gorman Windshield Repair Olympics held during Auto Glass Week September 15-17 where he will prove his skills against the best technicians in the world. Proudly holding his trophy, López exclaimed, “I feel very proud of having won the Spanish Olympics. The level of competition was immense! I am looking forward to Auto Glass Week in Memphis, and will do my best to represent Spain as it deserves!”

López is a veteran of the glass repair industry, having performed over 15,000 windshield repairs for customers over the last thirteen years. The competition was very close, but his meticulous work as well as his neat and professional appearance helped López edge out the competition to take home the first place trophy. The contest was held by GlasWeld Spain as a preliminary competition to the Windshield Repair Olympics in Memphis September 15-17, 2011. López participated in the Walt Gorman Windshield Repair Olympics in 2009 in Las Vegas at NACE. He received very high marks for his repairs and demeanor during the competition from the judges.

GlasWeld general manager Dennis Garbutt comments, “Braulio is a true professional and is very proud of his craft. He did an excellent job representing Spain at the Windshield Repair Olympics in 2009 and now that he has the experience of these two competitions under his belt, we look forward to him doing very well at this year’s competition.”

We are very proud of Braulio’s accomplishment and look forward to seeing him compete with the best of the best in windshield repair in Memphis this September!

GlasWeld cheers on as first-time competitor Randy Olson wins Gold at the Windshield Repair Olympics!

The GlasWeld team just got home from a busy week exhibiting at the NACE (International Autobody Congress and Expo) Show in Las Vegas where we cheered on our very own local windshield repair technician Randy Olson of Chip Medic in Bend, Oregon. He competed in the 5th Annual Walt Gorman Memorial Windshield Repair Olympics being held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center October 11-12. It was Randy’s first windshield repair event and the competition was intense with the 2009 Silver and Bronze medalists back at it again vying for this year’s Gold medal.

Dennis Garbutt and I have known Randy for several years and had all the confidence in the world that he would represent us well. He is a retired captain with the Bend Fire Department, so we knew he could perform under pressure and keep his head in the game for all the details necessary to win such a competition. Randy said he was nervous before the event, but he seemed cool as a cucumber to the rest of us, the consummate professional.

The first day of competition entailed two heats of repairing a bulls-eye on the windshield of a car in less than 45 minutes. Randy was set to compete in the second heat, so we watched Heat 1 intently to see how the other competitors would perform. We watched the techniques of each of the windshield repair technicians and the interactions with their “customers.” Some used seat covers and floor mats to protect the vehicle, others even checked the air pressure in the tires and cleaned every window while the repairs were being done. The competitors placed a sign on the windshield when they had completed their repair. And after the judges and proctors had reviewed each performance and disappeared to tally up their scores, we had a chance to review each repair. They were all very impressive! I thought quietly to myself that Randy might have a chance at making the top three, but it was going to be difficult, especially since this was his first competition.

After the judges had returned, it was time for Heat 2 and Randy’s turn to shine. Randy grabbed his windshield repair kit and set up for his rock chip repair. When the clock started, he greeted the customer politely and carefully explained the process of windshield repair and what the customer can expect. He then began examining not only the chip in the windshield, but the entire vehicle with the customer to make sure that they were aware of any other damage to the vehicle before beginning the actual repair process. He then began repairing the windshield carefully evacuating all the air and moisture out of the break with his G3 ProVac Injector and then injected resin into the break while still under vacuum. Then he pulled out his ProCur UV curing lamp to cure the resin. I love how it looks like a UFO or a halo as it lights up and cures the resin in just 60 seconds. So cool! Randy finished off the repair and then presented it to his customer for final approval. Then began the long wait for the scores in the second heat.

At the end of the day, three finalists were announced for the final competition to be held on Day Two. We waited as each competitor was announced… Gregory Hamilton of Glasspro in Charleston, South Carolina (second place in last year’s Pilkington Classic Auto Glass Technician Olympics), Brandon Long of Novus Glass in Eaton Rapids, Michigan (Bronze medalist in the 2009 WRO), and first-time competitor Randy Olson of Chip Medic in Bend, Oregon was in first place. We were so excited! That night we took Randy out and had a great dinner at the House of Blues and watched the Vikings get beat by the Jets on Monday Night Football. It was a good time, with some great stories.

Day Two of the Windshield Repair Olympics competition began at 10:30am where each competitor was faced with a difficult star break with moisture in it and an unruly customer as well. Each competitor had to work with a skeptical customer who did not have a lot of time or even believe in the practice of glass repair. They each had one hour to complete this more difficult chip repair and customer experience. When each competitor had completed their windshield repairs, they were still visible from 10 feet away. They were all complete repairs, but the original damage must have been pretty substantial. Randy felt a little rattled after this heat. In his head, he reviewed his approach on the repair and with his customer and did not feel as solid as he did on the first day. Worst case, he would go home with the Bronze medal. Pretty darn good for his first national competition!

After the judges deliberated, the AGRR Magazine staff came back and made final preparations on the Powerpoint presentation to announce the final results and the awards. As they presented the Bronze medal to Gregory Hamilton of Glasspro, we knew Randy had at least a Silver medal finish. Then as they announced that the Silver medal would go to Brandon Long of Novus Glass, Randy bowed his head in disbelief and humility. The crowd cheered in support of Randy as the 2010 Gold medal winner of the Windshield Repair Olympics. The entire field of competitors was very skilled and professional in their craft. The auto glass repair industry would be proud to call any one of them a champion, but knowing Randy personally and professionally, it couldn’t have happened to a better man.

Congratulations to Randy and Chip Medic in little old Bend, Oregon! You are the “World’s Best Repair Technician.”

 

GlassBYTEs and AGRR Magazine’s Coverage of the 5th Annual Walt Gorman Windshield Repair Olympics