"How do you like your vehicle, Grandma? Good as new, eh?" says Jane Doe Body Shop Owner as she hands the keys to the vehicle to her customer. But the customer actually isn't her grandma.

Huh? Are you confused? Perhaps you should be. See, the customer truly isn't her grandma. And seeing as though she isn't, Jane would never address her as "Grandma" unless, of course, it really was her grandma.

The point is, if you add the word "Grandma" to the end of almost every sentence you utter to your customers, it changes your perspective a little. Let's try it:

"All of your safety systems, including seatbelts and airbags, were restored back to their normal function, Grandma."

"How did our customer service representative treat you today, Grandma?"

"We guarantee our work for life, so if there is ever any problem, feel free to return the car to us, Grandma."

What does this exercise do? It gives you a little more sensitivity about who you're fixing vehicles for. I mean, if you fixed every vehicle like it was your grandma's, wouldn't you make sure it was absolutely the most safest and highest quality repair possible? Of course you would.

Unfortunately, I cannot claim this grandma exercise as my original concept. I learned it from Noah Rickun of BuyGitomer, Inc., who gave a presentation on sales mastery at the Paint, Body & Equipment Specialists Spring Conference held April 28-29 in Phoenix. But it lets me also chime in on the aftermarket parts controversy stirred up by a demonstration at January's Collision Industry Conference that gave people the impression that aftermarket reinforcement bars are inferior to OEM rebars.

Folks, we have a chance right now to lead the charge in restoring the public’s image of business in America today. The Enron scandal occurred nearly 10 years ago, but the willful corruption and fraud will likely never be forgotten. More fresh in our minds is the financial meltdown on Wall Street fueled by insatiable greed that further served as evidence that ethics had taken a backseat to profits. Even more current is the Toyota debacle and the allegation that executives knew about a potential problem for at least a year before taking action.

With a glaring spotlight on the automotive industry right now, we, the collision repair industry, have the opportunity to take the lead in showing consumers that big business truly does have a moral compass and isn’t just all about the bottom line. It’s not about whether OEM parts are better than aftermarket parts; the bottom line is that all of us – shop owners, insurers, manufacturers and distributors – need to work together to make sure we are supplying and installing the highest quality parts possible, period, whether that's aftermarket or OEM. You install parts on vehicles every day, so you need to ask yourself: Would I install those same parts on a vehicle driven by my daughter, wife or grandma?

You know, I can’t wait until my young son asks my advice some day on how best to live a good life. I’ll tell him one simple thing: Don’t do anything today that won’t allow you to rest your head easy on your pillow at the end of the day. I say “today” because you have to take it day-by-day to make it a manageable goal. If you manage to sleep well one day, you must make sure to start the process all over the next day and avoid making any decision that could impede your sleep.

So I ask you: Was there any business decision you made today that prevented you from getting a good night’s sleep? I’m sure you know as well as I that that’s not a fun place to be. But it’s easily preventable if you just do the right thing. So I implore you to do the right thing. Think of the human cargo that will be in the vehicle you repaired. And set an example for the rest of the business world.