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The All Access From Dent Repair Now

The All Access From Dent Repair Now

Di: Gene Fetty
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A proposito di questo titolo
 Welcome to The All Access Podcast from Dent Repair Now — where the paintless dent repair and automotive appearance industry comes to learn, grow, and level up. Hosted by Gene Fetty, technician, trainer, and founder of The Institute @ Dent Repair Now, each episode dives deep into the tools, techniques, and business strategies that drive real success in today’s PDR world. From glue pull repair and estimating to marketing, mindset, and community events — this show gives you full access to the conversations, insights, and stories shaping the industry’s future. Whether you’re a seasoned tech, a new student, or a shop owner building your brand, you’ll find practical takeaways and fresh perspectives in every episode. 🎧 Subscribe and join the conversation — Because at Dent Repair Now, the industry learns here.© 2026 Dent Repair Now Economia
Episodi
  • #95 Hold the Line or Make the Deal? PDR Pricing with Keith Cosentino

    #95 Hold the Line or Make the Deal? PDR Pricing with Keith Cosentino
    Nov 9 2026
    Ep. 95: Hold the Line or Make the Deal? PDR Pricing with Keith Cosentino SUMMARY A joint episode with the PDR College Podcast. Gene and Keith Cosentino dig into the original PDR College topic, pricing. When do you hold the line, and when do you deal to fill the shop? They also cover sales skills vs. price guides, why your estimator shouldn't be your technician, customer acquisition cost, the takeaway close, and whether chasing Brice Kelly-level perfection is worth it as a business owner. The episode closes with an archive PDR Marketing Minute on knowing your average ticket. TIMESTAMPED NOTES 00:00 Keith and Gene are on a full show together for the first time in about two years. It’s a co-show on both feeds, and Episode 100 is close.01:45 Gene is heading to Germany. Keith’s advice: book the Porsche factory tour way ahead (the museum is walk-up), and don’t skip the Mercedes Museum, which he says is 10x cooler.03:32 The topic. PDR College has always pushed techs to raise their prices, and markets like Pittsburgh have largely come up together. But customers shop more than ever. So when do you hold the line, and when, if ever, do you negotiate?06:01 Gene’s spin: a tech can plug every factor into Mobile Tech RX, DentMate, or a paper guide and spit out a big number ($10,000 to fix a Camry door?) without the sales skills to support it. Keith: then you think you have a pricing problem when you really have a sales problem.08:33 Some people just won’t spend $1,900 on a dent, and both guys have fixed a thousand of those for $300. On dead days, watching estimates drive away hurts. Shane’s position has always been to fill the shop.09:51 Keith’s son Liam does his estimating, and Gene’s son Mack is working at DRN. Keith tells the Dent Magic story from the late ’90s: Alex, a clean-cut guy in training to be a sheriff who knew nothing about dents, sold jobs at 3–6x what the techs quoted. The lesson: separate the estimator from the repair, because techs carry head trash about how fast they can fix it. Gene sees the same thing with his front desk.14:12 Shrink tools went from rare to a regular weekly tool. Thinner metal is part of it, and so is guys like Brice Kelly showing what’s possible, so techs now say yes to everything that isn’t broken paint.16:23 Make-it-better repairs. Gene loves them. Keith admits he overfixes them, and he’s willing to entertain the idea that they’re bad business, because putting out less than your capability stings.18:18 The collision comparison: DRP shops work inside insurer constraints, and full-OE shops (Kristen Felder, SCRS) follow every procedure and total a lot of cars. Both are valid business models. Then there’s the gray area of a customer who wants a smaller repair on their own car.21:41 Can you take a Brice Kelly business model and run it at a shop in Canonsburg? It took Brice 10–12 years of perfect work and video to get Rivians dropped off on trailers from 4,000 miles away. Keith’s version of the Ronnie Coleman line: everybody wants to be Brice Kelly, but nobody wants to beat their head against a panel for 14 hours.23:11 Gene: after 24 years in PDR, 13 with a retail presence, and about 8.5 with a brick-and-mortar shop, most of his customers still never heard of PDR before their dent.24:20 Michael Scott’s paper company from The Office: “we’ll make it up on volume.” That’s what it sounds like when you take giant jobs in at half price.25:07 Gene’s process. It’s decided per repair, not per customer. Anchor high and establish value (have you talked to a body shop, or your insurance?). Read the customer. If the deal is slipping, find the lowest number you’d feel good about. Gene’s line: “I could tell you 50 bucks, but I’d just pull it into the shop and back out.”26:55 Every walk-in carries real cost: the location, a Google Ads click, social content from Liv, Shannon on the phones. Keith estimates $50–$200 per person in the door. When Gene last tracked it, DRN was around $40, so he ran a $40 coupon to his email list instead of giving that money to Google. Make-better repairs often pay the best per hour, because you’re doing the easy part of the dent first.31:21 AI. AI answering your leads is great if you truly can’t get to them all, but most shops get 10–50 calls a day, so talk to those people. Keith’s live chat is answered by a bot and works great. Gene is looking at voice AI for when the front desk is tied up.34:09 Keith’s estimator doesn’t have a tech’s x-ray vision. That leads into the protractor close: “Stand right here and it’ll look amazing. Walk down the side and you’ll see the $2,000 of work we’re skipping.”35:41 Gene’s recent example: a $3,000 quarter panel on a three-to-four-year-old Accord. The customer could do $1,000, the shop was empty, and it took about 10 hours. It was a losing job, but better than zero.37:15 The other half of the topic. Is holding yourself to the Brice Kelly ...
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    1 ora e 6 min
  • #94 My 6 Biggest Struggles in Life & Business

    #94 My 6 Biggest Struggles in Life & Business
    Nov 6 2026
    Take two. After losing the first recording to a muted mic, Gene gets real about the six things he struggles with as a PDR business owner, and how some of them turned into his biggest wins. Shiny object syndrome, focus, saying yes to everything, letting go of the work, switching it off, and perfectionism. Plus an archive PDR Marketing Minute on video marketing, and the new Dent Reaper Upper Brace Angels on Tool of the Week. A quick personal note: Gene's mom is recovering from a difficult surgery. If you're the praying type, say a prayer for her. If not, send some good vibes her way. TIMESTAMPED NOTES 00:00 Cold open. Seventeen minutes into the first take, Gene realizes the mic was muted the whole time. Zoom warns you when you're talking on mute. Why doesn't this software? 02:12 Why this one's recorded Thursday night: the promise not to miss a week all year. 02:40 An update on Gene's mom and a request for prayers and good vibes. ⚑ EDITOR FLAG: I kept the mom update to one line with no medical details, as you approved. Delete it from the summary if you'd rather leave it in the audio only. 04:43 The shop is booked into December. A full schedule, and a weekend off that he needed. 05:25 Studio upgrades: the sign Keith Cosentino sent (now on a dimmer), a moved shelf, a new spotlight, the Reaper and the Porsche cup courtside, and red accent lighting. Some of it was inspired by the Dent Slayer podcast. Got lighting tips, James Ricci? 06:39 Last week's "When is enough enough?" episode hit home, including with several people outside PDR. 08:04 #1 Shiny object syndrome. Not just shiny tools, but shiny opportunities. A Google Ads management service for PDR? A PDR-specific CRM? "Focus, Gene." Gene is a quick start with weak follow-through, and he knows it. 09:52 Teaser: next week is a dual episode with Keith Cosentino of PDR College, dropping Monday on both channels. It's already recorded, and their pre-call produced its own shiny object. 10:33 #2 Focus. John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneurs on Fire uses the acronym F.O.C.U.S.: Follow One Course Until Success. A real-world example: at the end of last year Gene shut down AAI (Automotive Appearance Institute, his training-only company) and merged it into Dent Repair Now. With one brand to focus on, the content, followers, and email list all grew. 12:20 #3 Saying yes to everything. Every yes is a no to something else. Are you saying yes to the crazy hardcore repairs because they're good business, or because you've seen Brice Kelly, Arlison Guedes, or Jay Ma pull them off? 13:47 The flip side: a call from John Highley inviting Gene to advise PDR Nation. Then a yes to speaking at MTE alongside Myke Toledo and John. He hadn't given a speech since grade school and delivered a 20-minute talk in five. Without those yeses, there's no KECO relationship and no podcast. The takeaway: don't say yes to everything, don't say no to everything, and say yes to the things that make you uncomfortable. 16:14 #4 Letting go of the work. "Good enough and done is better than perfect and undone." Around 2010 Gene micromanaged his first full-time tech so hard it held that tech back. He did it differently with Louie, and it worked. The most freeing hire he ever made was someone to answer the phones. Someone whose whole job is the customer will do it better than an owner who's trying to get back to a dent. ⚑ EDITOR FLAG: On air, Gene credits the idea "if you wait till it's perfect, it'll never get done" to Jeff Bezos, and he hedges ("I think it was"). I couldn't confirm Bezos said it, so the written materials use Gene's own phrasing with no attribution. Add Bezos back if you want. 20:02 #5 Switching it off. Gene once took customer calls at Disney World. His trick now: when he gets home, he changes out of the Dent Repair Now shirt and any other dent shirt. Vacations should be required. Your dealers, your customers, and the body shops all take them. Also see the mindset episode from two weeks back, especially the abundance segment. 23:03 #6 Perfectionism. It's part of what makes us good at this crazy little job, and part of what holds us back. Be wise about what you ask of yourself. 24:25 PDR Marketing Minute #14 (archive). Use YouTube to educate customers and build a local-celebrity brand. Customers who call already convinced you can fix their dent are the best kind. ⚑ EDITOR FLAG: This Marketing Minute is an archive segment. The original plugs a PDR College webinar that's long over, so nothing here promotes it. Gene says the clip ran out of order: #13 airs on the Monday show. 27:21 If you don't have a YouTube channel, go get one. Gene wants James Ricci on the show to talk about how his PDR Jax channels blew up. The only way to get decent on camera is to put in the reps. 29:02 Tool of the Week: Dent Reaper Upper Brace Angels. A variation on the Hails Angels with an extra upward kick for reaching upper-door dents around braces. Alex Harken brought the design to ...
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    33 min
  • #93 When is Enough, Enough

    #93 When is Enough, Enough
    Oct 27 2026
    Episode #93 — When Is Enough, Enough? No outline, no prepared notes — just Gene working through something that's been weighing on him. A big Phoenix hailstorm and a few conversations with friends who aren't sure they even want to chase it lead to a bigger question: what drives us to always push for more, and is the growth actually worth it? 00:00 — Intro & the New Background Episode recorded Monday afternoon, dropping Tuesday morningPanel Beaters Club shirt on the wall — Thad's Discord community. Stickers and merch started after the haul at PDR ExpoKeith Cosentino surprised Gene with an LED Dent Repair Now logo sign for the set. It needs a dimmer (blows out on camera); new lights are coming next episode 01:55 — Phoenix Hail Big, massive hailstorm hit Phoenix and the surrounding area, including some rough Scottsdale damageDRN had a similar storm back home in 2016 — "not a good time," though there are always pockets of good repairable work 02:20 — When Is Enough, Enough? DRN's default when a storm hits: jump on it and capture as much as possibleA couple of friends in the Phoenix area aren't sure they want to capture everything — the stress may not be worth itThrowback reference: on PDR College, Keith and Shane opened the books on a storm in Redding, CA — numbers, damage, and workflowOn medium storms where DRN brought in techs: great top-line revenue, but after body shop cuts, paying subs, and all the management, Gene has crunched numbers where he'd have been better off doing 10–20 cars himself"If you're not growing, you're dying" — does that actually hold up after 24½ years in the trade?Words of wisdom from a loyal listener: it's not how much you make, it's how much you keep. Live within your means so a storm is a choice, not a necessityTying back to last week's mindset episode — the "it's all mine" scarcity thinkingHiring rethink: a couple of tech hires didn't work out — in hindsight, maybe the better answerGene's answer at the PDR Expo roundtable: he wouldn't trade his life, but starting over he might not scale the same way — he might work hard, keep his dollars, and invest in real estate, stocks, or funds instead 09:55 — Capacity & Choosing Not to Chase Last year's storm: DRN was simply at capacity — Jake was gone, Dave was at reduced capacity, and Mack was 14–16 months greener than he is nowGene's friends are choosing not to pursue the big storm for lifestyle and stress reasons — "maybe they have something figured out that I'm still trying to learn"Honest take: with the training side of the business growing, he probably still can't say no to a hailstorm. "Not my first rodeo" 11:30 — The Simplicity of a Tech in a Truck Sometimes Gene looks at the shop overhead — payroll, insurance, tools — and misses the simple daysThe original plan: $3,000 in tools in a gun case in a Chevy S-10, a fog board, a light, a Nokia (Snake!), and an aluminum clipboard with three-part NCR invoicesToday he has $3,000+ in hammers alone. "It's a sickness."But the "good old days" weren't perfect — no vacations without the money stopping"Is this my midlife crisis?" At 50, if this is mid, he'll take the run to 100 13:20 — Volume vs. Writing Each Car Right The same question applies to estimates: take cars as field-written and blow through them (Gene strongly recommends against this), write a really solid sheet, or write every car to the moon and squeeze every nickelFewer cars for more money, or more cars for a little less — where do you fall?"Deep Thoughts with Gene Fetty" — cue the Jack Handey SNL bit 14:55 — Why No Show Yesterday A horrible night's sleep and a foggy day — not even a nap (and Gene is an elite napper) could fix it. Rather than put out a bad show, he waited a day 15:55 — Throwback: PDR Marketing Minute, Episode 12 Originally created November 1, 2016 — almost exactly 10 years agoThe message: every tactic is about driving leads to you. Own your market with all the branches — website, Google listing, Yelp, Facebook page, and reviewsIt's a marathon, not a sprint 18:55 — 10 Years Later: Owning Your Market Back then, DRN held roughly 8 of the 10 first-page Google spots — 100% organic — so Gene turned his ads offThen a customer said they couldn't find him: paid ads (even body shops) were sitting above him. Ads went back on, and DRN has advertised consistently since 2016You still need the pages — even Yelp still ranks in Google. Just tell them to put you on the do-not-call list 21:05 — AI Search Is the New Frontier ChatGPT has reportedly started showing paid ad results in search queries (Gene hasn't seen them on his paid plan)Now you need to create content that feeds what the AIs pick up — someone needs to build a masterclass on itKeith did a presentation on this for the 20 Group 22:15 — New Tool of the Week: Milwaukee M12 Palm Nailer Spotted on Instagram: John Kallenbach from A-1 Tool talking up the Milwaukee M12 palm ...
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    34 min
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