Lisa Mercanti-Ladd isn't going to let anything keep her from making Carstar the best it can be

Lisa Mercanti–Ladd was born to go into the collision repair industry. Her father, Sam Mercanti, built Carstar from the ground up into the titan it is today. And Lisa’s been there every step of the way.

After finishing university, Lisa was approached by her father to work for him around the time he bought the rights to Carstar. She began by working under Larry Jefferies, Sam’s second-in-command. Even back then Lisa’s drive and ambition were evident.

“I ordered business cards that said director of customer service—so basically I promoted myself to director in the first six months.” While she eventually decided to throw the cards out, she made it clear she wasn’t going to settle on being anything but the best.

Over the years, as Carstar grew, so did Lisa’s role in the company. She is now the associate vice president of marketing and client services. She’s in charge of building the brand and providing value to insurance and franchise partners. She is also a member of Carstar’s executive group.

She’s a strong believer in teamwork and giving her staff the freedom to make decisions and be creative. “It’s empowering the team, letting them take charge and letting them think for themselves—I’m a really big believer in that because you get fresh ideas.”

Her unique approach to marketing and franchising has resulted in many successes for Carstar as a whole. Their new “Where Accidents Unhappen” campaign is a testament to Lisa’s belief in the importance of creativity.

Recently, she was on hand to accept the Canadian Franchise Association’s prestigious Award of Excellence in Franchising on behalf of Carstar. This is the first time a company from the collision repair industry has received this honour.

Lisa had to overcome many obstacles to get where she is today. Like many women in the industry, she operated behind the scenes during her early years at Carstar. When the time came for her to take centre stage at the company, she had to face some of the challenges that came with the enhanced role.

One of the hardest things for her to do was balance work and family. “It’s tough but you can do it. You have to be really organized.”

Her family philosophy is very similar to her work philosophy: you need a good team. “I have a lot of supporting people—my mother helps, my neighbours help. My husband and I have found a way to make it work so both our family and businesses thrive.

Her relationship with her father has evolved much since they began working together 15 years ago. To her, he is more than just a parent or a boss; he’s an ideal. “I look at my father as my mentor,” she said. “He’s the person I want to be like, he’s a well-respected man, he works hard, he’s smart, he gives back and can balance it all."

Lisa’s proudest moments in her career are when she sees the joy of franchisees when they accept awards at the annual conference, and when she sees the effects of the philanthropic work that Carstar does for cystic fibrosis. “I want Carstar to leave a really strong legacy for all of our family and friends and bring pride to this industry.”

For Lisa there is no such thing as “good enough.” She is driven by a keen desire to excel and to transcend the status quo. “I’m not a fan of things that are just okay and in people doing things that are just fine. I want to do things that are extraordinary.”

An extended report on this year's International Bodyshop Symposium in London, England

London, UK--July 22, 2010--As always, the International Bodyshop Symposium (IBIS) proved truth to the maxim “think globally, act locally.”

With a theme of standards threaded throughout the two-and-a-half day conference, speakers from across the globe discussed, debated and openly pondered the need for standards across the international collision repair community.

The purpose over the two days was to develop an economic framework for “standards” from the perspective of repairers, insurers and the OEMs.The goal was to be much more strategic in approach by bringing in outsiders to shine a light on the collision repair industry and make it relevant.

“IBIS is an enemy of mediocrity, seeking excellence and looking for standards to blaze a path,” said David Lingham in his opening address. It was a fitting introduction to former director of the World Economic Forum, Dr Frank-Jürgen Richter.

Richter says in a world perspective, Europe and North America need to re-engineer their futures using the most recent economic crises as a catalyst.

Overall, China and India are up, Russia is down and Europe and North America are out.

Despite a growing group of protectionists who want to keep emerging economies away from profits, globalization is here to stay, Richter says. According to him, there are two elements that can help the business community succeed. First, take a long-term view—realize you are in your business for the long haul. Secondly, become more engaged and create alliances by developing a business model that can adapt to combat anything that’s thrown at it.

Opening the second day of the event was Britain’s Speaker of the House John Bercow, who talked about how standards left un-monitored become nothing more than mere guidelines. He talked about the recent spending scandals among British MPs who flagrantly disregarded and abused protocol to use public money for, among other things, moat maintenance around one MP’s home. As a result of the abuses coming to light, new standards for spending have been implemented and enforcement is guaranteed not only by public scrutiny, but by legislation.

A comparison was made between the relationship between insurers and repairers who are looking to build a trust to avoid constant scrutiny throughout their relationship, which is not only costly, but it inhibits a true partnership.

“You must hear the voices of the smaller players because a standard shouldn’t be a cloak to prevent the entry of smaller players,” Bercow said. “On the other hand, you can’t deliberate forever, so you need a process to get to a conclusion. You need collaboration, but within a time frame to produce results. Otherwise, standards have to be imposed.

“In the end, self-regulation is always preferable, but it must be in your best self-interest to be held to account.”

The rules have to be explicit and they must mean the same thing for everybody.

In Germany, there are three types of networks with distinct standards. The first level is based on craft or guild association, the second is based on paint affiliation and the third is dedicated marketing groups such as parts suppliers. Of these, the paint company networks play the most important role in the transfer of knowledge and technology.

Policing standards and looking out for bad apples is handled by individual shops with strong connections to the three levels of craft guilds. All of which makes enforcing the rules easy, compared to other markets.

As one speaker put it, everyone in the German industry is a policeman. If a shop hears about a competitor who is not playing by the rules or has unqualified technicians, they complain to the local association who can—if needed—bring it to the regional, or even, national level for resolution.

In Germany a very comprehensive training path is required before technicians can work on cars. Depending on the specialty or degree of difficulty, it may take as long as three years, with the first year spent in school with a course common with mechanics.

The UK also has an interesting model for standardization. The PAS 125 Standard, introduced in 2007 by Thatcham and BSI, was developed in conjunction with input from OEMs, insurers and repairers. It has since been widely accepted. Observers attribute the success to the use of the standard by insurers to determine not only which facilities get the work, but the amounts to be paid.

“[The standard] is a result of recognizing a looming problem and turning it into a voluntary process,” said Lesley Upham, Thatcham’s communications director. “From a consumer standpoint, good standards mean good business.”

The PAS 125 standard is available to any association or government in the world to use free of charge.

In the USA, standards guidelines do exist but there is little if any power to monitor their use. Consumer advocate Jack Gillis spoke on the need for legislated regulations. In his words, “good laws make good markets.”

“The industry is self-certifying in parts and repair, and this is not working,” Gillis said. From his perspective, clearly there is a need for certification. Gillis believes this will increase the costs of proper repairs, but this is a price customers, including insurers, are willing to pay.

“We are preparing cars for their next accident and the drivers are our spouses and children. Repairs must be proper and accountable.”

In an informal show of hands, the group was vastly supportive of the need for standards. However, the issue of monitoring struck a nerve in the audience. When polled, attendees were split on the issue of legislating standards.

“In the absence of enforcement, we’re in for a long haul,” said ASA’s Denise Caspersen. However, a legislative framework is not the only way forward.

“Legislators tend to try and legislate on topics they don’t know,” Caspersen continued. “In the UK, the industry regulated itself. After all, it’s an industry problem, not a legislative problem and it’s a crapshoot when you ask politicians to put in standards.”

There are four main areas to be standardized: methods, materials, machinery and skills. It appears, however, that the problem is not in the setting of standards, but in the policing of them.

Canadians were well-represented in IBIS 2010, outnumbering representatives from many countries with far higher populations. On this front, our collision repair community demonstrates again and again just how engaged they are in the latest business managements trends and techniques.

“IBIS continues to provide strong value from a global networking point of view,” said Larry Jefferies, executive VP of CARSTAR Automotive Canada Inc. “The topic of ‘standards’ continues to be particular interest to us, as we continue to build our network in Canada,” he added.

“There continues to be strong validation from the conference on the value of having standards, both from a repair quality point of view, the ability to regulate who can repair the cars, the ability to attract quality technicians and to ensure those that comply with the standards are compensated according to the investment required to deliver the expected results in quality and the customer experience.”

CARSTAR president and CEO Sam Mercanti was similarly enthusiastic about this year’s Symposium. “IBIS, under the leadership of Chris Mann and the rest of his team, has done a lot in the past ten years to elevate our collision industry on a global base,” Mercanti said. “Knowledge is power, and knowing what was happening in other countries made CARSTAR Canada a better company.”

The last day of this year's symposium featured a keynote presentation from land speed record holder Andy Green. In September 1997 Green, an unknown Royal Air Force officer at the time, literally rocketed into the record books when he drove his Thrust SSC jet car across the Black Rock Desert, Nevada at more than 700mph. To this day he's the only person to have broken the sound barrier without leaving the ground. Green spoke on the high standards he and his team had to set and achieve in order to make their mark in the history books.

"IBIS left us all on a high with a presentation by Wing Commander Andy Green, who will be driving [his team's] Bulldog vehicle at the target speed of 1,000 miles per hour," said Advantage DataSystems president Bob Kirstiuk. "So if that doesn’t raise our conventional bar, I don’t know what else will."

See Green's driving in action in this BBC report titled "A car than faster a bullet."