THREE-C's Growth From Humble Beginnings

When the Juniper family opened Three-C Body Shop in 1956, it was a typical business of its time. The small, 1200-square foot shop provided collision repair services to west and southwest Columbus residents, doing about $100,000 in business per year. As time went by, however, it became obvious that Three-C Body Shop was anything but typical.

In the late 1970's, the company began to capitalize on its reputation for excellent customer service, and the result was impressive growth. Major additions and renovations at the 1469 Harrisburg Pike location took place in 1978, 1984, and 1990.

The firm has also invested heavily in state-of-the-art equipment, including computerized diagnostic tools, and requires each employee to take at least 20 hours of additional training per year.

Even more outstanding, though, is Three-C's refusal to concentrate on price in a highly price-motivated industry. "We just don't believe that the cheapest job is necessarily the best job," says current company president R.A. Juniper, Jr. "Our focus is on providing the finest in collision repair services, and on setting the standard for customer service in our industry." It was this philosophy which led Juniper to create his now well-known, but still somewhat controversial, marketing strategy which positions Three-C as Central Ohio's "direct repair alternative."

Apparently Three-C's customers agree with this philosophy and approach- in January, 1994, the company completed a new facility at the corner of Briggs Road and Harrisburg Pike. The new building, just down the street from the original shop, houses a painting and repair department. Office space was also expanded by restoring the historic Briggs home located on the property. The result is that Three-C Body Shop now has 11 locations, occupies a total of 40,000 square feet spread over five acres-almost 33 times the size of the original shop-and anticipates doing $15 million worth of business in 1999.

1996 saw the creation of Three-C Collision Claims Centers: conveniently located Three-C satellites which focus on estimating and customer service. The concept has the potential to virtually eliminate drive-in claims centers operated by insurance companies. "Since consumers have the legal right to take their damaged vehicle to the repair facility of their choice," Juniper says, "the insurance centers are an unnecessary middle step."

Three-C Collision Claims Centers are open in Reynoldsburg, in Westerville, and on Bethel Road, and up to five more locations are planned. A Three-C Center located in Heath also serves the Newark market.

The success of Three-C's marketing program also led Juniper to develop the concept into a package which can be used by any collision repair shop nationwide which wishes to position itself as a "direct repair alternative". The package is sold through Jupiter Marketing, an agency in which Juniper retains an ownership interest. Currently, over 100 shops in the United States, Canada, and Australia are "direct repair alternatives."

What does the future hold for Three-C Body Shop? After several years of aggressive growth, Juniper's focus now is on what he calls "turnkeying our operations." This involves training employees to their full potential, improving production efficiency by 300%, eliminating completely the use of imitation parts, and improving quality and customer satisfaction.

"Our customers expect the finest in collision repair," says Juniper. "That's what we promise.. and it's what we deliver. My mission is to deliver it as easily, efficiently, and cost effectively as possible."

Such streamlining will be vital to the next phase of Three-C's success. By the year 2001, Juniper plans to complete the Three-C "Technical Operations Center", a 100,000-square-foot facility offering centralized personnel and equipment for major repairs, and fed by Three-C Collision Claims Centers.

Does this mean all Three-C's goals are now strictly operations-oriented? Not at all. As mentioned earlier, five additional Three-C Collision Claims Centers are planned to complement the three Centers already open. Juniper believes these Centers will increase Three-C's market share in Greater Columbus to 51%.

He also plans to solidify Three-C's market share in the area surrounding Columbus by opening collision repair shops in such communities as Lancaster, Chillicothe/Circleville, Union County, Delaware, Zanesville, Springfield, and Marion. "Our goal has always been to dominate the Central Ohio market in our industry," Juniper says. "These outlying shops will help to create a wall that will protect our market share."