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By Brian Jump
http://www.nodents.com
Sorry
to say it, but if you are
a Paintless
Dent Repair Newb, this
article is a bit direct, but
if you appreciate the truth,
read on. If NOT, click back
and get outta here immediately.
Paintless Dent Repair is tough.
And thankfully so. If it was
easy, the prices would fall
and a typical repair would
be $10 instead of $100…so
let it be tough to master..keeps
the get rich quick geeks down
the road, looking into pyramid
schemes, gambling, internet
and other crap.
So, I digress….Common
mistakes of PDR Newbs.
- Underestimation.
This term is broad, intentionally.
Underestimation of the EFFORT
and DIFFICULTY is primarily
what I am referring to,
but there are more..
A) The income. Most peeps
have NO idea what a good
PDR Tech can make. When
I personally push, I usually
pull over $2k a day. And
Im NOT talking about hail.
When doing hail, I get depressed
if Im not reaping at least
$3500 when pushing 100’s
of dents in a workday.
B) The competition.
Most people in PDR are horrible.
And lucky for them, it usually
doesn’t slow them down..until
a better tech rolls into
town (see our dent repair
school for details J )
C) The Market. I
get emails from new entries
interested in PDR, and others
who may have gone thru a
different school, looking
for markets where they can
tap the deep well of PDR.
Let me say this clearly:
Auto Dealers are just ONE
market segment. There are
DOZENS more. I will leave
it at that for this article…
- Technical
requirements. 20/20. Your
peepers better be 20.20
or corrected to that level
or PDR is not for you. It
is a VISUAL process, so
if you CANT SEE, you cant
DO.
- TIME.
This one is commonly overlooked.
Dealers send us PDR in house
trainees all the time for
schooling. Then, when the
student returns and asks
for time to practice and
develop their skills and
speed, the management says,
“sure, but for now,
get back to your normal
job and we will get you
practice time later”.
Well, later never comes,
and the dealer tech often
doesn’t get the time
or attention he needs to
continue his skills, and
the in-house program goes
sideways. What does this
mean to you, as a newb?
PDR Requires TIME. ANYTHING
that you do, and want to
do well, will require TIME.
Give PDR Time, and you will
get RESULTS. And by results,
I mean MONEY.
- Rushing.
PDR Newbs rush their work,
and the results often suffer,
Slow work means fast results
for newbs. Take your time.
- Improper
tool selection. For some
reason, I see techs in the
field using the wrong type
of tool tip for specific
damage. Remember, we are
re-creating texture, so
use a tip that will best
achieve that. And tape and
caps on tools are a Pro-techs
best friends.
- Massive
pressure. So many newbs
like to employ massive pressure
to locate their tool tip.
Hint- DON’T! If you
cant see your tip easily,
take a page out of our training
book- go get an aluminum
hood and try it out for
size..I wont spoil the fun,
but you will do better than
you did with the steel item…try
it.
- Improper
tap down technique. Dent
Wizard teaches newbs
to use a “Master tool”
which is a large dolly type
of tool to push down the
entire dent. Eventually
they show you how to do
it like the rest of us,
with a tap down pencil or
punch. Problem is, many
newbs don’t locate
the highspot tip and tap
down the side of it. Take
your time, and if possible,
tap down by pushing, not
using a hammer. You can
modulate the pressure better
when pushing.
- Improper
reading technique. Many
newbs try and jump to a
board after learning on
a lite. Stay with the lite
for a while..it keeps the
learning consistent and
theres no reason to go to
a board until you are very
proficient with a lite.
That’s all for now!
There are more Paintless
Dent Repair newb pitfalls
I can assure you, but work
on these to get started!
Happy Pushing!
Brian Jump
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