Salesmanship

FACTORY: Friend of Foe?

By: Bob Zagami

About the author:

Bob Zagami is the National Sales Director, Engineering Information Solutions for Image-Max; a single-source, national provider of document management solutions. He studies the RV industry as a hobby and has owned trailers and motorhomes. You can reach Bob at 978-461-2143 or via e-mail (zagami@tiac.net).

The sales chain starts at the factory and ends when the consumer takes delivery of their new recreational vehicle. In this article I'd like to focus on the sales relationship between the manufacturer and the dealer instead of the traditional focus on dealer/consumer sales issues.

When traveling around the country conducting sales training and educational seminars in our industry, I try to make time to visit manufacturers in the RV industry. I've had the pleasure of visiting several facilities throughout the country and get a chance to see the product being manufactured from the ground up . . . literally.

How important is your relationship with the factory to your dealership? Very important.

The factory of the manufacturers you represent is another extension of the selling process and can make sales for you, or cost you sales.

Manufacturers could do a better job of marketing their facilities so that it works for the dealers and enhances the development of a long-term relationship with potential customers. If you do not have any input to how your suppliers market their product at the factory, then you may want to pay more attention to it in the future.

Let's look at some ways that the pre-sales activities at the factory can help generate more sales in the dealer showrooms.

Campground Directories

Pull out your favorite campground directory (Wheeler's is our preferred directory) and look up the city and state of the manufacturing facility that builds the products on your lot. What do you see listed in the directory? You'll find campgrounds, dealers, and area attractions. In most cases, what you will not find is the manufacturer's name and the address of a plant that offers tours to prospective customers who are going to be in the area. Why are they looking at that location in the first place? There's a good chance that they are probably planning on visiting the area. Sounds logical . . . but try to find your manufacturer in your directory.

I think we can all agree that prospects and customers like to visit the manufacturing plants. That's why factory tours are very popular at many RV companies.

Display Models after the Factory Tour

I am amazed, and disappointed, when a tour is completed and you expect to be able to see the finished product, only to have your tour guide tell you there are no units open to the public. Believe it or not, this has happened. Why would a manufacturer take the time to offer tours and then not show the product to a captive audience? This is an excellent time to solidify the experience and gather additional input from prospects or existing customers.

Plant tour participants will usually fall into two categories. Prospects who are sincerely interested in seeing the manufacturing process of RVs they are considering for future purchase and customers who own the product and wanted to visit the plant that built their unit while they were in the area on vacation or business.

Encourage your manufacturers to have display units at the factory for tour participants.

Literature

Upon completion of a factory tour out West, I asked for a set of literature on the company's products. Guess what, there was no literature at this facility. I was told it was a manufacturing plant, not a sales operation. Have your ever heard the phrase: Everybody sells? Everybody in the company must "sell" the company. Every exposure to a prospect or customer must be an opportunity to reinforce the sales message or buying experience. If the manufacturer offers tours, then they should certainly provide take-away materials so that the sales message will be remembered long after the tour is forgotten.

Giveaways and Purchased Products

Tour participants should receive a token gift from the manufacturer so that they will have something with the manufacturer's name on it. Companies should also provide logo items for purchase in a company store or visitors center. Encourage the manufacturers to be pro-active in marketing their items to tour participants.

Logic says that if somebody took time in their vacation or business schedule to visit a factory and take a tour, then there's a high probability that this same person would part with some of their discretionary income if given the opportunity.

I was prepared to leave a few dollars behind on several factory tours but found the companies had nothing for tour participants to purchase. Look again at the success of NASCAR marketing promotions and you have plenty of ideas on what might be available for purchase . . . items that will carry the name of the manufacturer back to their home states and often on display to others.

Jackets, shirts, caps, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, scale model RVs, photographs, posters, and videos are but a few of the items that manufacturers could have available at the factory.

These same items could then be made available to the dealer network for further sales opportunities in the showrooms and trade shows or used as prizes at open-house festivities.

Consumer Publication Advertisements

When was the last time you saw something like "Visit our manufacturing facility in Any-where, USA and see how our quality products are built." This is just an extension of an ongoing advertising campaign and provides prospects and customers the opportunity to get closer to the product and hopefully build a stronger relationship with the dealer and manufacturer. In a recent article we spoke about building relationships ... let it start at the factory.

Personal Visits By Dealer Personnel

How many of your dealership employees have actually visited the facilities that build the products on display in your showroom? The relationship between manufacturer and dealer is just as important as the relationship between a dealer and their customer . . . maybe it's more important.

Personal visits reinforce the reasons why the dealer wanted to sell the product in the first place, and also allow the manufacturer and dealer an opportunity to start the relationship on solid ground and understand the responsibility of each party.

How many companies in the RV industry have signed up dealers without the dealer ever having been to their manufacturing plant? I will not sign a dealership agreement with a company that I cannot visit, talk with their employees, and see how the product is made and the attitude of the total company. Why should it be any different in the RV industry?

One of the ways to accomplish this is what I like to call my rolling sales meetings. I rent an executive conference room on wheels from a local charter bus company. Several bus companies and limousine companies have VanHool's, MCI's, Blue Birds and other luxury coaches that have been outfitted with restrooms, televisions, VCRs, couches, kitchens and come complete with driver and hostess.

Typical cost for such a vehicle rental is $100-$150 per hour. A typical day might include a four-hour drive to one of our primary vendors facilities followed by a six-hour tour and introduction of personnel in various departments, new product introductions, or discussion groups. Then it's a relaxing four-hour fun trip back to the office. It's a great way to tie-up your sales team and key personnel for fourteen straight hours to deliver your message and solidify the relationship with a vendor.

Obviously, the location of the plants in relationship to the distance from the dealership will have an impact on your ability to get the staff out for such visits.

Summary

Work closely with the manufacturers your represent to improve the experience that your prospects will have when visiting for a factory tour. Use the factory tour to your advantage. If the manufacturers you represent do not consider the factory tour as part of the selling process then it could be hurting your business in ways that you never imagined.

I toured one facility that was building high-end motorcoaches in the $250,000 to $400,000 price range, only to see very young adults working on the interior construction in an unsupervised area and not paying any attention to the job they were supposed to be doing. It did not present a very good reason for running out to buy that product. Several other people on the tour noticed the same thing and said they would never buy the product. Another person on the tour owned the product and was having significant problems, and made no attempt to hide his feelings once he saw how the product was made.

Factory tours can be a great asset that can lead to future sales or disasters that will drive customers away from the product line forever.

Make sure you know what the manufacturers you represent are doing with their factory tours. If you approve, then use it in your selling process. If you don't approve of how they do the tours, then get more involved and work with them to get it to a level that you can be proud of and use to attract more customers to the product lines you are selling.

Good luck and good selling.

RVN