David Skogebo, general manager, World Wide RV, Mesa, Arizona

He's a bit unconventional and scoffs at the old ways of doing things, and maybe even a rebel, but he's no outlaw.

He's David Skogebo -- one of a new breed of RV company executives that brings innovation and fresh enthusiasm to the traditional RV dealership and is helping redefine success in this new millennium. His passion is

cars; his college degree is from Northwood Institute, an automotive college; and his work experience was in an Arizona car dealership. So how did David end up general manager of World Wide RV in Mesa, Arizona?

Enter Paul Skogebo, president, and Robert (Rob) Crist III, vice president and general manager, of Robert Crist and Company (RC&C), a successful 36-year-old RV dealership in the Phoenix area. Always the entrepreneur, Paul Skogebo had an idea he wanted to try ­ a no negotiating, one-price dealership.

Larry McClain, a member of RC&C's 20-group, was using the concept in Texas and Oklahoma and reported excellent results. According to McClain operating a one-price dealership was easier, grosses are better and everything ends up on the right side of the balance sheet.

In an interview with RV News David explained, "But at RC&C, Paul felt he couldn't take a salesman who had been there for 16 years, and say, 'Okay, today you can't negotiate. Today, I'm going to change the structure of how you make your living'. So he decided to open a new store and started World Wide RV up as a one-price store in July 1997."

Dave Skogebo, Paul's son, grew up around the RV business and even worked in the parts department during summer vacations, but pursued a career in the car business and spent seven years with Tempe Toyota in Tempe, Arizona. He was moving up rapidly and planned to spend his life there, but then Auto Nation bought the dealership. David said, "I saw right away that just wasn't going to work for me. And while I had offers from other car stores, when the opportunity at World Wide came up I decided to come into the RV business -- something I swore I'd never do."

Starting a business from scratch and integrating an unconventional pricing model was a challenge that David found intriguing. He said, "We looked at the RV industry as a whole and asked what people liked and disliked about buying an RV.

"The number one topic that came up was the customers' dislike of the negotiating process. This rated right up there with getting root canal done by their dentist. So our response was to throw out the old way and usher in the new. One-price no negotiating -- you don't have to be the best negotiator to get the best deal. All you have to do is walk on the lot, note the MSRP and the $3,000 to $13,000 dollar discount on every RV in stock which is the lowest price -- guaranteed. It's just that easy.

"The second biggest dislike was the fact that RV lots are very hot and very disorganized especially here in Arizona. Not letting the customer sit down and enjoy what they are shopping for before they buy didn't make sense to us.

"So we set up the RVs in a green park setting rather than having units parked in a row sitting on 'P-gravel.' We keep eight open units up front and run the air conditioning and keep the stereo going so people can walk in, take a look at and enjoy them. It's funny; in Arizona you would think that would be a common thing; however, we're the only dealer in the area that plugs their units in. continued