To obtain the AGSC-registered logo, email kbimber@agsc.org. A signature agreeing to the logo usage policy will be required before it will be sent to your company.

The Auto Glass Safety Council™ (AGSC) now has new Registered-Company, member and Certified Technician logos to coincide with its new name. With these, the Council also has instated a new logo usage policy for Registered Companies to follow.

The policy, available online here, specifies that only Registered Companies in good standing may use the Registered Company Mark, and, immediately upon termination of Registration, this right ceases.

In addition, the Council specifies that the logo and any references to it or a company’s registered status “shall not be used in any manner or in any media in such a way that the integrity of the ANSI/AGRSS® Standard could be compromised.”

The logo also cannot be used in a misleading way, and, on occasion, the Council will review Registered Companies’ marketing materials for proper usage of the mark and references to Registration.

The logo can be used on apparel worn by Registered Companies’ employees, but, if an employee leaves the Registered Company and goes to work for a non-Registered Company, he will cease using the mark, according to the new policy.

In order to use any of the logos, a company must not only meet the terms of the logo useage policy, but also must agree to abide by the policy on a signed form, provided by the AGSC.

To obtain a logo for use and to receive the appropriate form for signature, please email kbimber@agsc.org.

Kurtis Ming

A recent expose by a Sacramento reporter has raised a discussion in the industry: who’s tracking faulty windshield installations? Reporter Kurtis Ming of CBS-Sacramento found a simple answer to the question: no one.

His recent report on the topic estimates that 70 to 85 percent of aftermarket windshield replacements are not done properly, and a survey of first responders in the report suggests the majority of first responders have seen instances when a windshield has popped out in the event of an accident.

“… But there’s no box to check on the accident reports,” says Ming. “There’s a section for seatbags, airbags, but nothing for the status of the windshields.”

The report includes an interview with a California police officer. “We’ve never been approached for that,” he says.

When it comes to the possibility of adding this to the state’s forms, he says, “It’s not difficult if it has a real[ly] good safety cause to it.”

A state senator, Jerry Hill, has joined the cause, and says he supports tracking this important safety mechanism. He’s also pushing for the state to require auto glass installer training and certification in the state. “I think that will go a long way in creating integrity in the industry,” says Hill in the report.

Kathy Bimber

The Auto Glass Safety Council™ (AGSC) has hired Kathy Bimber to serve as director of operations. Bimber will work alongside Vincent LaMarco, who serves as the manager of AGSC’s technician certification program.

She brings years of administrative work in several different fields to the position. Early in her career, Bimber worked as the assistant director of financial aid at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill. Later on she worked for a financial services company and then a medical supply company before returning to the world of academia, with a position in student development at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill.

Through this, Bimber has been able to give back to her community in different ways as well, having served as a volunteer with many not-for-profit organizations on the administration level as well as serving on various committees within those organizations.

Bimber is no stranger to the auto glass industry, having worked at various trade shows over the years, including the recent Auto Glass Week™ event in Louisville, Ky., in September 2012.

“I am excited about this new opportunity with the Auto Glass Safety Council, and I look forward to working with the AGSC-Registered Companies and their technicians,” says Bimber.

“With the name change we needed to update these pieces anyway so we started with the ‘Safety Signs’ brochure last summer and that project expanded in to a review of the remaining brochures,” says marketing chair Nik Frye.

At that time, the committee decided to consolidate the used glass, corrosion and safe drive-away time brochures into a single, easy-to-read document, according to Frye.

“This will provide one marketing tool that members can use to communicate these critical topics to customers in a simple, two-sided brochure,” he says. “In addition we have updated the validation brochure and are also creating a script members can use to help them easily explain the benefits of the AGSC registration to their customers. We are finalizing these documents now and once approved by the Board we look forward to making them available to members as soon as possible.”

The marketing committee also recently gained a new member, Jon Fransway, a Minnesota-based insurance agent who learned the importance of proper windshield installations first-hand when he lost his sister, Jeanne, in an accident in 1999.

“We are always looking for new ideas and better ways to promote the AGSC mission and there is no one better at that than Jon Fransway,” says Frye. “In addition to being a Carl Tompkins Award recipient for the great work he has done for our cause, Jon has always been ready to help us in the past with projects ranging from the validation video we produced in 2010, supporting consumer awareness programs, appearing on investigative news reports around the country and providing input on other projects. When I asked Jon to join the committee he readily accepted and his participation is already making a difference. We greatly appreciate Jon’s commitment to safety and everyone on the committee looks forward to working with Jon.”

Looking ahead, Frye has high hopes for the committee’s work.

“The AGSC continues to find new ways to spread our message to consumers and the insurance and fleet industries,” says Frye. “The member script we are developing is a tool members can use to explain to their customers why using an AGSC-Registered company is important to their safety. By making sure every customer learns about the AGSC mission we help spread our message and help promote our cause.”

Social media also is among the areas the group hopes to increase its work in this year.

“We also continue to look at increased utilization of social media to spread our message and will put more effort into that in 2013,” says Frye. “We are always open to any ideas our members have on ways to better promote our organization and encourage them to share any ideas they have with the committee.”

Be sure to like the Auto Glass Safety Council on Facebook, follow it on Twitter at @AutoGlassSafety and connect with the Council on LinkedIn.

The Auto Glass Safety Council™ (AGSC) has two new board members, elected during the board’s recent meeting in San Diego.

Keith Beveridge of Novus Inc. and Mike Schenian of City Auto Glass, both in Minneapolis, were each elected to three-year terms.Beveridge has been with Novus Inc. for the last 16 years and currently serves as senior vice president of the company. In addition, he has experience with Dow Automotive and Pilkington North America, and has been in the industry for more than 25 years.

Schenian has served the role of president of City Auto Glass since 1986, when he took over for his father, Dale Schenian, who retired at that time.

“We are thrilled to have both Keith and Mike joining the board,” says AGSC president Debra Levy. “They each bring deep knowledge of the industry, many years of experience and a strong commitment to safety to their new roles.”

Captain Richard Phillips served as a keynote speaker for Auto Glass Week.

Auto Glass Week 2012 in Louisville, Ky., provided attendees with an array of educational opportunities and concrete tips on running their businesses more effectively. The event was held September 20 and was cosponsored by the Auto Glass Safety Council (AGSC).Meeting Expectations

Among these educational sessions, Chris Umble, vice president of strategic initiatives for LYNX Services, rolled out a number of strategies for addressing the common business of customer service during a session titled “Meeting the Expectations of Insurance Customers and Consumers.”

“Customer service, at the end of the day, is the thing we all have in common as we go about our duties in the auto glass ecosystem,” Umble said. What’s more, he added, “At the end of the day, customer service says everything about the business.”

He defined “excellent” customer service as “the ability of an organization to constantly and consistently exceed the customer’s expectations.”

As Umble elaborated, “You can only meet expectations if you give the customer what they ask for. You can only exceed expectations if you give them something more …If you wait until they ask you for the ‘next generation’ [product], where did they get that idea? Maybe from your competitors.”

Legal Ease

Attorney Chuck Lloyd and Debra Nelson of Livgard & Lloyd provided an hour’s worth of business and legal tips sure to help auto glass businesses protect themselves.

Tips included:

• Putting financial controls in place no matter how trustworthy you think your employees are,” Nelson said. Even the best of employees sometimes make bad decisions, she said;
• Exploring Google, from free listings on Google Places to Google Plus business pages, to Google scholar’s option for searching patents and legal documents. “It’s amazing what’s out there for free,” Lloyd pointed out; and
• Collecting what you are owed, Lloyd stressed. “If you have a short-pay problem, you have to first admit that you have a problem,” he said.

Lloyd asked the audience how many times they’ve been told the customer has full glass coverage, only to find out that’s not true. You need to document your calls in some way because it’s the person who made the mistake – not you – who bears the responsibility, he advised.

Nelson suggested partnering with local police or fire department for a day of carseat safety, advertising that service and also getting out your name and positioning yourself as a community leader. “You want to make time for marketing, every single day,” Nelson said, adding, “It can be so much simpler than we think.” She suggested finding ways to make business and life intersect, like sponsoring a local baseball team or donating to a yearbook. On top of that, you want to be creative in your marketing to stay memorable.

“Make sure you have a written warranty for your work,” Lloyd said. “I’m saying ‘stand behind your work but make sure you have a written warranty that says exactly what that means.’”

Lessons for Leadership

Keynote speaker Captain Richard Phillips shared his remarkable story and lessons for strong leadership as the keynote speaker. In April 2009, the world watched and wondered at the ship captain who offered himself as a hostage to Somali pirates in order to protect the lives of his 20 crewmembers.

He began by highlighting to his rapt audience three key points he’d learned over the course of 33 years sailing, 23 years as a captain:

• You are much stronger than even you know;

• The only time that all is lost is when you chose to give up; and

• A dedicated professional team can overcome any obstacle.

He began with a lesson to which any auto glass business owner could relate, the importance of the adage: “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.”

Phillips said he always told his crew he expected it would at some point be attacked by pirates, but felt they could handle it if they were prepared. To improve that preparation, he went over the required quarterly security reports, springing a surprise drill on that voyage’s crew. They found problems that they discussed, and then generated new safety ideas as well. “There was some grumbling about the drill … but a few days later the crew was very glad we took some time to prepare for the worst,” he recalled.

That was when, on calm seas, a small ship with four armed pirates caught up to the ship, despite evasive maneuvers, and boarded Phillips’ ship.

At that moment, he and the crew knew they were responsible for getting themselves safely out of this situation. “At sea, you don’t get to pass the buck,” Phillips said. “At sea, you get to learn firsthand how strong you are.”

From the start, he guessed that the pirates weren’t as practiced in their task as his crew because his crew performed their safety procedures nearly flawlessly while the pirates lost their ladder and sank their boat in boarding.

That practice also meant that the crew stayed in the safe room when the captain was ordered to call them to the deck, because they didn’t hear the safe word.

Ultimately, Phillips said, he knew the “best way to protect my crew, my ship and my cargo – and myself – was to get the pirates off my ship.”

Phillips recounted the harrowing account of being held as hostage on a lifeboat with the four pirates, not expecting rescue but staying focused on keeping hope, and remaining the pirates’ “adversary rather than a passenger,” never becoming simply a hostage. As the pirates played mind games and withheld water, he remembered, “I don’t think anyone solved their crises at sea by being panicked.”

After four days as a hostage, Phillips was rescued by U. S. Navy SEALs, whom he called the real heroes of the story.

He summarized his tale by sharing with his audience, “The one simple reason I’m here today … a dedicated team of professionals who did what it took.”

The Real Truth

Garrison Wynn, author of The Real Truth About Success, also spoke and provided suggestions for how different generations can work better together.

Wynn, who at age 27 was the youngest department head in a Fortune 500 company, knows just how challenging it can be for people of different generations to communicate their ideas and values productively to one another.

Wynn explained that top-performing CEOs don’t say “wrong,” they say “I don’t agree with you but I’m willing to listen.” A request for information can be the start of trust building, a key for effective leadership.

As Wynn explained, employees under 30 have been made to feel “heard” their entire lives—by schools, parents and friends—making it more important for this generation over others to feel that their ideas are being received.

“The pure power of making people feel heard,” Wynn said, is part of why some employees will stay with the same company, the same products, the same industry, despite tangible results.

Wynn also touched on some of the skills that employees under 30 bring to the table. “People under 30 have a gift for reading your sincerity extremely well,” he said, making it very important to communicated honestly to these employees. In addition, they believe that are multiple solutions for a single problem. The minute these youths hear “there’s just one way” everybody under 30 stops listening. Finally, there is a desire for prestige. “Can you make your young people who work for you look good in front of a customer, in front of each other? Can you explain something so clear and easy they can turn around and explain that to a customer?” Wynn asked.

Next year’s Auto Glass Week is scheduled for September 18-20 in Tampa, Fla.

Among topics discussed is the fact that the Council has moved from a few selected audits of random companies to audits of all companies. As a result of this, one company has, in fact, had its AGSC accreditation removed, indicating that this auditing move is better upholding technicians to the best industry practices.

Council members also commented on some of the changes planned for the year ahead. In 2013 the board hopes to roll out an additional segment for retailers, a marketing component to that will help retailers to fully realize the benefits of AGSC accreditation. In addition, it was announced that the AGSC board has voted to begin issuing continuing education units (CEU) credits to AGRSS-Certified technicians. Installers who have been certified will be able to keep that certification alive not only by taking another test, but also keeping up with those CEUs.

“Auto Glass Week is a great opportunity for the industry to come together to work and to learn,” says Holly Biller of Auto Glass Week. “We are happy to be able to provide the industry with one event for the industry to come together for education, a chance to meet with suppliers and hold the repair and replacement competitions.”

The annual event once again will bring together all of the industry’s major auto glass groups, including the Auto Glass Safety Council™ (AGSC).

The AGSC also will hold committee meetings during the event.

“We heartily invite everyone in the auto glass repair and replacement industries to attend,” Biller adds. “Tampa will have something for everyone and I hope those who were unable to make it to Louisville last year can join us in Tampa in September.”

The event is managed by AGRR magazine and co-sponsored by the AGSC, AGRR magazine, the Independent Glass Association, the National Glass Association and the National Windshield Repair Association, along with AGRR magazine’s repair and replacement competitions. The International Window Film Conference and Tint-Off™ also will be held concurrently.

“We’ve been involved with the AGSC in a volunteer capacity since its inception and have always aimed to raise the level of quality and professionalism in the industry through our publications,” says Key president Debra Levy, who will end her service as the volunteer president of the AGSC with the upcoming officer election. “We’re excited to take this commitment to safety a step further through our management of the association, and look forward to serving the industry in this role.

“We are especially excited that AGSC will now have a full-time employee, Vincent LaMarco, centered exclusively on AGSC and its programs, and a communications director, Penny Stacey, who you may know from her years with AGRR magazine. The board has great things planned for the Council and we look forward to carrying them out,” adds Levy.

The AGSC’s new address is 385 Garrisonville Rd., Suite 116, Stafford, Va., 22554. The AGSC can be reached by phone at 540/602-3252 and fax at 540/720-5687.

Those interested in joining the board should email Debra Levy at deb@glass.com.

Board members serve in a volunteer capacity.