Niagara Falls, Ontario — Simplicity Car Care is hosting its second annual Growth Conference in Niagara Falls this weekend.
The event kicked off on Friday morning at the Niagara Falls Convention Centre, where attendees from across the industry gathered for a morning of speaker sessions and an afternoon trade show.
Paul Prochilo opened the event, where he made the exciting announcement that, for the second year, Simplicity has achieved climate positive status for its event.
The process of becoming climate positive certified means the Simplicity team had to verify how many kilometres each attendee had to travel to reach the conference—as well as the method of travel—in order to offset all emissions produced.
Prochilo also delivered an overview of company operations, where he said cycle times across the network currently sit at 14.3 days—“in line with market rises,” he said.
He also said 27 Simplicity stores have adopted the company’s net-zero journey strategy, compared to 10 on the beta version of the program last year.
Dan Cockerell was the first keynote speaker to take the stage. The former VP of Operations for Disney’s Magic Kingdom discussed some of the customer-service oriented approaches the “Happiest Place in the World” uses to strategize overall experience, as well as the importance of benchmarking yourself against desired results to drive your collision centre forward.
“If you’ve been to Magic Kingdom in the last ten years, you’ll know that Disney has an app where visitors can see wait times at rides,” he explained. “Why can’t we see wait times?”
He elaborated that, during his time at Disney, his team worked on the mantra: Do our staff like it? Do our customers like it?
“A common fear for many is that you’ll train staff and then, once they’re all trained up, they go off and leave you. We need to stop that mindset—because the alternative is you don’t train them and they stay.”
After a brief coffee break, Simplicity welcomed Thomas Le Maguer, CEO of Republix Platform Technologies to discuss the power of branding in the modern market, and how to leverage a reputable brand to lead profits.
Industry consultant Steve Trapp took the stage after lunch to cover 10 ways collision centres can reduce cycle times, followed by Simplicity’s ESG director Alyssa, who delivered an update on the company’s extensive environmental strategy.
”Alyssa, we cannot celebrate your commitment to this cause enough. You are making an impact that will remain far, far longer than any of us in this room,” commented Paul Prochilo.
J.F. Champagne of AIA Canada was last to present before the Trade Show floor—and buffet—opened.
Stay tuned for more coverage from this weekend’s conference—and check out our photos below!
