advice to a new dealership owner

[BuzzWolfAR]

Probably the most difficult part will be staffing with honest sales people. The commission system breeds dishonesty, so pay a good salary and get the sales group to work like a team.

[Frank Tamez]

Have a huge selection

Sell Everything below cost

Pay your service techs 45.00 per hour to get the best

Charge 48.00 per hour to work on a rig

Guaranty your work for life

WAIT.... This is how to make the customer love you and have them beating down your door... They will still talk very well about you after you have crashed and burned.

We live in a time when everybody wants

The best price on the item
The best quality
and the absolute best service at the lowest price in the state.

You will find success somewhere in between.

[tcg]

Don't use your customer's generator.

[rockriver]

if you have internet responders... monitor their activities...
and emails..
if an internet (or anyone else) person sends out an email that includes.
"join the muslims" or any other group unrelated to motorhomes,
apologize immediately...
determine if it was intentional..
and deal with responder appropriately.
but all the "be honest" posts above means

that management should not deny that it ever happened to the customer.
nor should any other employee...

customers, especially new ones, who are about to drive from their state to your dealership are trying to determine if this organization is legit. honest, fair to deal with. if they can't deal honestly on a simple manner, the customer will be sure that the dealership won't deal honestly on something complicated or involves the dealership's money.

amazing story... but it happened.

[tcg]

Originally Posted by rockriver

if you have internet responders... monitor their activities...
and emails..
if an internet (or anyone else) person sends out an email that includes.
"join the muslims" or any other group unrelated to motorhomes,
apologize immediately...
determine if it was intentional..
and deal with responder appropriately.
but all the "be honest" posts above means

that management should not deny that it ever happened to the customer.
nor should any other employee...

customers, especially new ones, who are about to drive from their state to your dealership are trying to determine if this organization is legit. honest, fair to deal with. if they can't deal honestly on a simple manner, the customer will be sure that the dealership won't deal honestly on something complicated or involves the dealership's money.

amazing story... but it happened.

Huh? A dealer employee tried to get you to join the Muslims or some other group? How does that work?

Then they denied it? Again, huh?

[Nasdaqsam]

People want the best price and descent service. The bottom line is to offer all the things we want out of our dealerships costs money, BIG money. You can't get a great deal and all of the above it just doesn't work that way.

Be honest? You walk in.

Salesperson: Hello folks get ready to part with your hard earned money on a half as..ed built over priced rolling money pit....have you ever owned a boat? Ahhh Never mind..........Sit down right here.

Buyer: Service is important to us how is your companies?

Salesperson: The fact is this RV has a lot of systems and will need service. We can't afford to hire as many people as we need because we would have to charge more but you want a good deal so.... the way it works is after you lay out all your money and it needs work we will do our best to get it fixed as fast as we can but the bottom line is it's hard to get a good all around tech these days so we have 70% people who are learning on the job on your nnew $400k coach and 30% good techs that are booked 6 months out.

Buyer: Ahhhh ok......How about this widget? We have never seen one of these.

Salesperson: It's great isn't it? Just pray it doesn't break you'll never find one and if you do it will cost you half your pension. Oh forgot to tell you in 7 years even if you do not drive this beauty get ready to shell out $6000 on new tires and $1000 batteries, yup even if you don't ever start it up.

Buyer: What kind of mileage does she get?

Salesperson: She gets 6 to 8mpg.

Buyer: We were told 12 to 15mpg from the other guys.....

Salesperson: Hold on hahahhahhahhahahahah sorry you wanted me to be honest. Ok so will that be the right or left arm you'll be putting as a down payment? We have a great deal if you're willing to give up a kidney.

Buyer: Honey what do you think? It's an investment......

Salesperson: Folks pardon me I just peed myself a little. But full disclosure as soon as you drive this beast off the lot expect to take a minimum 30% hit. I know that's a $175k isn't it great? Sign here. Happy Camping!

[ThePowells]

Stock pink flamingos.......

Sales: Be honest about MSRP and actual cost.... You buyers know that you have to make a profit, but if you have follow through after the sale to justify a higher profit.

Service: Hire an older service manager with proven CS skills and the ability to get the best from the techs. Then hire a younger assistant (with the SM's input) that will be more involved in keeping up with the work flow and daily review of all open W/Os regardless of the status. Don't overbook and leave gaps. It would be better to have a gap and create a free set of hands to help somebody else, or that handle minor walk-ins than the scheduling so tight that any ripple breaks the system and that usually cascades into a major failure. Schedule a portion of your techs to cover the evenings and all day on Saturdays and Sundays, especially during travel season. Wanna big attaboy? Be able to take care of somebody outside of 8-5, Monday thru Friday.

Warranty: #1-Hire somebody to do a thorough pre- acceptance inspection. Have a dedicated space for this equipped as is a QC bay in Elkhart and take as much time as needed to make sure that there are no big defects and either refuse delivery or have a warranty claim opened and a plan in place before acceptance.
Hire a SPOC for all warranty issues. This includes both buying customers and non-purchased units and the manufacturers*. If there is a unit having to sit for protracted repairs, an email trail between warranty rep, manufacturer, and customer. Any email sent by the warranty rep is automatically copied to the other so that all are reading all of the correspondence. Be willing step outside of the box. If a customer needs a water pump and ACME RV is delaying the claim or says the "part is in the mail", then use a part off of the shelf. If the pump is a Hydrodump 1000 and you don't have one, but you have a Hydrodump 1500 that is $40 more, work with them. If your cost of the 1500 is less than the retail for the 1000, then they get a "free upgrade" and you put the 1000 on the shelf. This person (or an assistant) will also deal with service contract ferrets and Coachnet, ect if they are travelling and have trip interruption coverage. You would be surprised how far something as simple as making phone calls on a customer's behalf will go.

*Make your non-buying service customers aware that your goal is to make them a buying customer, and that after their next outside purchase you may not be able to keep working them in as quickly. If they want to keep driving 3-4 hours to save a little on the purchase then they can drive 3-4 hours for service.

Amenities; Have a comfortable place for customers to hang out if they need to. The more comfortable that they are, the better they can handle the wait. HAVE RV PARKING!!! I was lucky a few times at CW, Raleigh to be able to maneuver my 4 door 3500 GMC, much less a DP w/ toad. Have one person detailed for delivery inspection and allow for two deliveries a day, but have somebody going through them before PDI running a checklist and somebody that is to clean them. Have FHU pads and allow for 2-3 nights to stay for familiarization. Encourage them to boondock for a night to insure that everything works. Flush and sanitize the water during the PDI. That is how you check for leaks at the same time and teach the new owner.

[rockriver]

tcg,
short version.
lady at a multi location was aggressively sending emails...
one was a Christmas card. so i clicked on it... huge pile of junk.... including heavy muslim message.
i wrote back and said "are you muslim?" do you realize what you sent me.
i got a smart alec response..

i wrote a mgr and said i need a new person.

got a new person and the aggressiveness came out again.
i mentioned... let's just talk about the coaches and no christmas cards..
i got a smart alec response that they don't send email christmas cards...
and just got worse...

the story continues..
then first lady started writing again and using a different name. for emails. after i'd made it clear that we were through.
sorry for the long post...
but the process made it clear to me, that i sure wasn't buying from this dealer.
-----------
somehow many of the dealerships have got it in their mind, that i wanted to swap emails and bond and share all my personal info...
when my questions were clear...
i see you have a tiffin 32sa.. code 123456... what is the instant super price and i'd like to have a copy of the window sticker....

they would call, they would write, their manager would write emails.
but they would not answer either of my 2 questions. the 2 closest dealers to me followed this pattern.

finally on a fluke i called a dealer a long way from me (sherman)... nice lady
(carol) said "we don't have one of those, but i can order it for you. do you know which options you want? " i did... she calculated the price immediately on the first phone call!!! i was so pleased at her politeness and no BS attitude.
within the next 2 days, i had done the tiffin tour and driven to her office and placed my order... it was so pleasant!

[TonyDi]

Don't make promises you can't keep.
Hire techs who know what they're doing. Pay them enough to keep them.
Be honest.
Bill the customer for the work you do. Not the profit you want to make.
Give them options.

[micbob4]

Respond to customers emails and voicemails. Keep customer informed and not have them seek requested information themselves due to your failure to follow up.

[rockriver]

if a customer calls and wants to cancel his extended service policy...
be willing to call him back..
or send him the forms,
or have the salesman call him,
or something!
ignoring the request is the wrong choice!

customer may have just joined a very established camping club with several of your customers in the club...
2 things to remember..
1. if you help the guy cancel his extended service policy, it will help him want to return for his next coach.
2. you don't want the guy going to the next group campout and tell 25 campers about the poor service he got... some of your other existing customers may remember some "oops" or goofup at your dealership and decide that they will check somewhere else when they get ready to move up from that big gasser to that quarter million dollar diesel!

[rockriver]

sir, if you make a deal to order a part and install it on a coach (ordered or in stock)
and it is time to have the customer pick it up... but your distributor says the part is backordered for a couple of weeks...
sir, may i suggest that you make a phone call to another distributor and see if he will sell it to you...
and if he won't then call the manufacturer of that part (who does sell direct!)
and see if he can overnight one to you...
and if that won't work timely...
i know you don't want to deal with another dealership, but why not...
see if your competitor has the part and will he sell it to you... and sell it to you for a small mark up.
sir,
why go to all this trouble... ?
the answer is "sometimes things will happen that can't be fixed and you must go to the customer and explain... sir the coach you've been waiting on, was in a wreck and it must be re-ordered. and you are looking at another 15 week waiting period.." and sir, ordering from a competing dealer will cost you an extra 10% but on this part it is only another $9.00... don't disappoint the customer over $9.00!!! and guess what, the competing dealer will need something next week that you have in stock.. and you can make the $9.00 back from him!!" and sir, "this is a very generic part... it works on every brand coach you sell... it is not brand limited."

and the customer will be so happy about how smooth the process went!
and the customer will brag on your dealership and you will sell extra coaches.
and all this because you spent an extra $9.00.

[Crankshaft]

These days, with the quality of the RV's, I wouldn't put name behind any of them to sell.

Service, that's a different story. If I could, I would develop a relationship with all the manufacturers of RV's and all the component manufacturers. I would then open a massive service and warranty center. It would have 3 shifts running during the week and one on the weekend with on call techs for weekend after hours. Several full hook up campsites on the property, cabins to for customers that can't stay in the RV during service. Lounge for customers waiting for their RV, free towing if needed within a certain radius.

Also have a few oil and lube bays for quick turn around on those jobs.

Sounds like a crazy business model but you'd be able to turn around warranty repairs quicker and those customers will remember you when they need non warranty work.