t's Wednesday night and Gene's just now recording — but the weekly streak doesn't break. Here's what's in this one.
00:00 Intro — the streak survives — Episode 100 is in sight, and Gene isn't missing a week to get there.
01:00 Fort Lauderdale: The Dent Demon — A few days with Derrick and Grace for advanced training plus a 20 Group mastermind meetup. The crew included Jack Bucknell, Jon Videen, the Dent Reaper, and Nick Prang from Michigan.
⚑ EDITOR FLAG: Verify spellings: "Jack Bucknell" (and the "Woo man" nickname — keep or cut?), "Nick Prang," and the real name or handle for "the Dent Reaper." None are in the show-links list.
02:00 Sales coaching with Grace — Grace runs the shop side at The Dent Demon while Derrick handles wholesale. Gene spent a day walking her through his customer-interaction and price-anchoring techniques.
03:00 The one-sentence anchor — On significant damage, before quoting anything, Gene asks in passing: "Have you talked to your insurance company yet?" Without saying a number, it tells the customer this isn't a cheap fix. Delivery matters — casual, not loaded.
05:00 Advanced training recap — Carrier plate R&I (a BMW made the glass interesting), lateral tension and unfolding hard-hit metal, sharp creases, shrinky box, aluminum, under-brace and edge repair. Shout-out to Derrick's techs Andy and Paul, and a shop with a seriously good customer lounge.
⚑ EDITOR FLAG: Confirm "Andy" and "Paul" as the Dent Demon techs. A late-night bar story was mentioned as not podcast-friendly — intentionally left out of all notes.
08:00 Teaching week & PDR Life launch — An advanced collision glue pull class, interviews with potential hires, and the launch of the new PDR Life podcast — 10 episodes on getting into PDR, released all at once. pdrlifepodcast.com
10:00 Listener of the Year: James — A friend and client tagged Gene on Facebook listening to the All Access drop at 7 AM — from the hospital room, the morning after his baby was born. Congrats to James and family.
12:00 PDR College: the labor-rate card — Keith's solo episode on a hard dealer repair with no price set up front. Gene's favorite move in that spot: "What's your shop labor rate? I'll just match it." Two hours at $200 is $400 — and it's hard for the dealer to argue with their own rate. Required listening if you do wholesale.
⚑ EDITOR FLAG: Gene said "I'll see if we can drop a link" — need the URL for this week's PDR College solo episode.
15:00 Dent Slayer w/ Jeremy Nadeau — Matt Boyette and James Ricci talked content: pushing dents is right-now money; making content is building the commercial that brings future work.
Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dent-slayer-podcast/id1763729902
16:00 Play the long game — Dent Repair Now's philosophy from day one: lose a job, lose an account, take one on the chin — the long game always wins.
17:00 Model Y week & the gear trap — Three '26 Model Ys in the shop. Gene admits he gets hung up on multi-cam setups and mics. Meanwhile Mack's phone-shot "my ladies" video is past 42,000 views.
Go give Mack's "my ladies" video some love — find it at @dentrepairnow on any social channel.
20:00 Shooting a PSA in real time — Gene walks through the exact Model Y video he shot: hook to camera, flip to the dent, show the buckling inside the aluminum panel, call to action, done. The '26 liftgate is a redesign and doesn't crown up like the '25-and-older.
22:00 Shoot now, edit later — Even if you can't edit, capture the clips. Edit and schedule them when things calm down.
23:00 PDR Marketing Minute #10 — Marketing is everything that happens before the sales call. Take an educational approach so customers show up primed to buy. Gene points to Brice Kelly's edge-repair video as a model.
⚑ EDITOR FLAG: This Marketing Minute is a replay from ~10 years ago (the "hailstorm came through town" line is from then). Gene skipped #9 on Yelp. Confirm Brice's YouTube channel is "CFL Dent Repair" and add the edge-repair video link if you want it.
25:00 Education in the age of AI — Gene's take today: educational content matters even more now, because AI tools like Claude, Gemini, Grok and ChatGPT pull from it. An educated customer is the best customer.
27:00 Tool of the Week: Super Straight tabs — Shannon's pick. Black Plague's Super Straight tabs lock into a pyramid-shaped adapter to force a straight pull — and the straighter you pull, the stronger you pull. Thin-face green and thick-face yellow. Not an everyday tab, but nothing pulls a sharp dent sharper.
⚑ EDITOR FLAG: Pricing (blackplaguepdr.com, checked Oct 14, 2026): Super Straight Glue Tab System $229; individual tab packs $31.99; Puller Adapter $24.99–$25.99; Puller Kit (closed & open) $45; Robo Legs $49.95 (listed sale from $149). Confirm before publishing. Gene also said "deadrattabs.com" as a backup URL — verify it resolves.
31:00 The stretched-tab effect — Veterans know it (even Chris at KECO can't explain it): a tab that stretches without breaking pulls better than anything else from the same box. The Super Straights pull like they're pre-stretched — one-pull results on a sharp door ding.
34:00 Housekeeping — PDR Life is on YouTube, Apple and Amazon (Spotify pending). MTE is about three months out. Anson's toy drive and open house is October 24 — Gene's sitting this one out after a travel-heavy year.
⚑ EDITOR FLAG: Confirm PDR Life Spotify status before publishing.
35:00 Episode 100 goes live — The 100th episode will be a live stream, likely a weekday evening, with listeners joining in. Want on? DM, text or email Gene.
