Dave Henderson talks about how he has used digital photography and boundary spanning systems to improve customer service in the autobody repair and home building industries.
In this podcast (Click here for 165 MB ipod compatible download), Dave Henderson, CEO of See Progress, discusses the phenomenal growth of his company. See Progress is actually an umbrella organization for three businesses: Auto Watch, the flagship offering and well established business, New Home Watch which is starting to attract major customers, and Select Repairs which should be ready in a year.
Dave's story is fairly unique for a technology executive. He started out and developed a long career as an auto body repair technician because he had a love of the work and cars. However, he also harbored a keen interest in technology. He bought one of the first IBM PCs in Michigan and took time off to develop a new idea for electronic vending machines. In the late 90's when he saw a customer with a digital camera, he knew he could make a business of letting people watch their body shop online, getting the shop to pay. The idea for the initial business, Auto Watch, had hatched. Dave's peers were skeptical.
Dave set out attending conferences hawking his service and trying to sign on body shops to provide better proof of concept. Eventually, he succeeded in getting a number of body shops. Then two paint companies noticed what was going on and started referring customers. After that, he was approached by Nationwide, the sixth largest car insurer in the US. He also managed to sign on Esurance.
The sales proposition to both insurers and body shops is improved customer service and viral marketing. A main complaint of auto body shop customers is lack of control over what is going on. Auto Watch gives customers the chance to see their cars and get a daily update on what is happening. They can also share this information with their friends who can then be enticed by the service.
A less apparent component of this value proposition is that, through a patented process, Dave is able to provide extensive record keeping for his customers, for instance letting claims adjusters monitor the progress dozens of cars from PCs. They also receive aggregate reports on repair performance.
New Home Watch offers similar value propositions to builders and home buyers. Select Repairs extends the Auto Watch concept to all car repairs.
As I listened to Dave, it struck me that See Progress is a perfect Web 2.0 company. Information collected from many sources is at the core of its operation and the foundation of all of its value propositions. It creates further value by allowing customers to share the information. The difference between Web 2.0 as practiced by Dave and as frequently touted in Silicon Valley is that Dave has had to self-fund his operations. He's figured out how to do Web 2.0 and make money through something other than advertising.
Additional Links
- See Progress is a "Michigan 50 company to watch", indicating that it is a second-stage entrepreneurial company, in a position to generate jobs and sustainable growth.
- D. R. Horton, a major homebuilder outside of Michigan, has been one of New Home Watch's flagship customers.
- Dave worked for many years at Art Moran Pontiac.