The 2000 RV Dealers International Convention/Expo
It's Not Magic, it's Elementary

By Don Magary

This year's setting for the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA)'s RV Dealers International Convention/Expo happened to be the magical land of Disney (Orlando, FL), but as keynote speaker Dr. Morton Marcus aptly pointed out, there is no magic involved in making this industry a success -- it's elementary.

Dr. Marcus, an economist with the Kelly Business Research Center of Indiana University and a leading expert on economic and demographic factors that impact the RV industry, told dealers one of the biggest reasons the American economy has sustained such continued growth over the last ten years is because "We are a better educated nation.

"You want to call it baby boomers (I don't care)," Marcus said. "The fact is that those sitting in key management positions (many of you here today) are better educated and have a wider world view than your predecessors, and contrary to popular belief that is the critical factor (not technology, computers or cellular phones) in increasing productivity."

RVDA once again did its part to ensure this trend continues for its members as its annual event for continually educating the RV dealer offered: over 70 workshops, informal chat room discussions, an outstanding customer service seminar from the Disney Institute, a three-hour super seminar entitled "Beyond Customer Service," and for the first time, a cyberspace café, giving attendees the opportunity to check e-mail and learn how to surf the Internet.

Some of the more popular workshops this year included topics on expanding or relocating a dealership, preventing employee litigation, relationship-based sales with baby boomer buyers, finding and retaining service technicians, and Internet sales.

The convention is also the time when RVDA holds its annual business meeting and this year elected a new slate of officers to lead the association over the next year. The new officers include RVDA's new chairman Ernie Friesen of All Season RV in Yuba City, CA, and a restructured board of directors.

Other officers elected to serve on 2000-2001 board are: first vice chairman, Craig Jensen of Blaine Jensen and Sons, Kaysville,UT; second vice chairman Bruce Bentz, Capital RV Center in Bismarck, ND; treasurer Marty Shea, Madison RV Center in Huntsville, AL; secretary Darrell Slusser, Sonny's Camp & Travel in Duncan, SC; RV Education Foundation chairman Rick Horsey of Parkview RV Center in Smyrna, DE; RV Assistance Corp., chairman Jerry Greer, Jerry Greer RV in Columbus, OH; Bert Alanko RVRA chairman and past chairman of the board Randy Biles, Pikes Peak Traveland in Colorado Springs, CO.

Keynote Session

Marcus, in his sarcastic, witty and straightforward presentation, kicked off the four-day convention by giving RV dealers and industry representatives a dose of reality about the quality of RV products and campgrounds, the actual factors behind our nation's prosperity, the effect petroleum prices has on all the leading economies of the world, and most importantly, the stagnate growth of market share in our industry and what dealers can do to turn it around.

Marcus's strategy to warm up the crowd with zingers about the ill-fated destiny of his colleague IU basketball coach Bobby Knight, stereotypes of economists, and sentiment with current political leadership worked to a tee. Then he dropped the bombs.

He began his presentation by making light of the recent situation at IU and using it as a quick lesson to point out the importance of being able to represent what you expect from others. He then told the Harry Truman line about wanting to have a one armed economist so that he would never have to hear the phrase " on the other hand," and used it as a segue into his own line about being a one-fingered economist. "That finger is pointing up," he told the participants, "indicating that for the US economy we have good years ahead of us. It is also a tendency of mine to point the finger at those organizations, institutions and individuals that retard the growth of our economy," he continued, "and for much of our political leadership--I have another finger."

After everyone got a good chuckle out of that, he then started pointing some fingers where they hit a little closer to home. First, he singled out the manufacturers and campground owners, sparing the dealers for the time being. Marcus said, "I've worked with manufacturers, campgrounds and many dealers and I have come to recognize the basic structure of this industry; therefore, for the dealers I have the utmost sympathy and condolences--because the dealers are to the manufacturers and campgrounds what most of us feel when we stand between the dog and the tree---they are stuck in the middle."

Marcus went on to say that if quality is built into the product as it is made, there is no need to worry about service, and suggested that most consumer complaints come as a result of the totality of their RV experience (including camping), not simply on the lots and service bays of RV dealerships. Marcus then drew attention to the baby boomer buyer and pointed out that everything that is said about boomers only helps us distinguish between old ways of thinking and new ways of thinking, and suggested we have to have new ways of thinking.

"One of the most important new ways of thinking is for RV dealers to recognize that they are not powerless," he said.

Marcus then turned to explaining the other two reasons for the continued economic success of America. The fundamental reason for this, he said, is the fact that we are part of a world at peace, and the other is that up until now, we have enjoyed low energy prices.

With this, Marcus addressed what he says is another misconception that RV dealers and most of the American people have. "Petroleum prices absolutely do matter, Marcus said. "Every single recession that we have had since the end of World War II has been accompanied by an increase in energy prices."

Marcus cautioned and assured everyone that our economy, and the economy of the entire Western world, depends upon petroleum prices, and it is in the hands of a few world decision leaders or corporations whose interests are not necessarily congruent with ours.

In regard to petroleum prices, according to Marcus, we are in a position of grave doubt. He continued, "That has an effect on the American economy, and we are seeing throughout the economy, slowly here and there, signs of a slowdown. Not a recession, but a slowdown that could be the beginning of a recession.

"I say this not to scare you, but to emphasize that there are things that you can do. You do not have to sit by and feel that you are the residual claimant to the events of the world. It doesn't matter what happens in Saudi Arabia if you're taking action to build your market today. It doesn't matter whether oil prices double if you're taking action to double the number of customers who are visiting you and double your sales. It can be done by simply making the effort."

Marcus advised the audience that the industry basically is in the same position it was in sixteen years ago. He said, "This industry today accounts for 1.4% of consumer spending on durable goods, which is about where it was in 1984.

"But it has grown you say ­ yes. Volume has grown because the American economy has grown, but market share for the RV industry is not growing."

He then told the predominately male audience, "This industry at best is holding its own," and posed the question: "How much fun can it be to be holding your own?

"The market will not come to you, you must go to the market," he continued. He told dealers they must make more of an effort to work with local press to get stories on the business section and front pages of major newspapers, they must think of promoting their units as more than just a "queen sized experience in queen sized bed," they have to think of RVs as not only exploring geography but also relationships, and they have to work with environmental groups in regard to usage of RVs and campground experiences.

"We have large numbers of people who are wealthier, and healthier and you need to go out and find them," he said. "I think we need more in better guides, signage and parking that is geared to the RV industry. But many dealers do not see promoting RVing in their community as helping their sales. RV dealers do not work with their own tourism people to make RVs successful. If people living in your town can see visitors enjoying the use of an RV in your town, you are building your customer base. You know how much it will cost? A bit of time with a committee."

Disney Workshop

Day three of the event featured an engaging overview of customer service as practiced at the Walt Disney World Resort. Disney workshop presenter Bob Spina, Disney Institute trainer, used Disney critter incentives (Beenie Babies of Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pooh, Cinderella etc) to get the audience to participate, share some of their most treasured Disney experiences, and volunteer to assist him in making his points.

The program examined methods used to understand the needs, wants, stereotypes, and emotions of guests, looked at the purpose and components of a service statement, broke down service priorities, explored three primary systems through which service is delivered and illustrated the importance of merging service standards with delivery systems to ensure a superior guest experience.

Some of the highlights of the program that RV dealers certainly can relate to and possibly learn from included:

(1) The importance of paying attention to details and exceeding customer expectations. Spina illustrated this by showing a clip of Cinderella as you walk through the Magic Kingdom Castle: Step sister on the left has a green face depicting jealousy and the step sister on the right has a red face because she is angry that slipper fits Cinderella. Probably 99% of their guests don't notice it, he says, but for those who do, that's what makes the difference. He then asked the audience what are some of the things they can do to exceed their customer's expectations by paying attention to detail?

(2) Getting to know your customers and more importantly understanding them, a point Disney refers to as Guestology. Disney does this through quantitative and qualitative analysis. Quantitative--Disney conducts face-to-face surveys with their guests during their visit, telephone surveys when they get home, and human relations studies. Qualitative--Listening posts--they have two big ears right on top of all of their heads because they want to make sure that everyone is listening to their guests. Every theme park is set up with a guest relations station. If they are not meeting their needs they want to know about it immediately, not after the guest leaves. Focus groups, allow them to focus in on their guests needs and wants, and of course, shopper programs give them the opportunity to get written feedback from their guests and seek out the opportunity to make continual improvements. Basic numbers and statistics about all their guests--average household guests to Disneyland per year--3.3, largest segment of guests outside of Florida--northeast. How most people get there? 44% fly, 5% travel by bus or train. How long on average they save to come to Disneyland? 2-3 years. How long on average they stay--5 days and 4 nights.

(3) Setting the service standards---service standards are a set of criteria for policy and decisions that are set up to measure the quality of service you provide. Disney has four specific service standards: The four service standards are: courtesy, efficiency, safety and show. Safety, of course, is number one.

(4) Laying out property based upon customer convenience and anticipating customer's future needs. The presenter depicted a map of the entire property, split it in half and explained the logic of deliberately locating services in specific areas of the park based upon customer expectations. And lastly, if a family returns from a long-day at the park tired and somewhat disoriented and can't remember where they parked the car, Disney has this taken care of as well. How? They strictly control parking all day long, and therefore can determine the approximate area by asking the guests what time they arrived.

"Beyond Customer Service" Super Seminar

D.J. Harrington of Phone Logic, Inc (a workshop presenter from last year's program) was asked to return this year to perform the grand finale, and once again his method of madness measured up.

Harrington excited, entertained and educated a room of over 100 dealers on the last day of the event with his numerous gadgets, gimmicks (including his trademark "Cat in the Hat" appendage and golden swami headdress) and anecdotes.

The "good doctor"(as he is known by his followers) wears a white smock and a stethoscope around his neck, and tells everyone who walks in the door he is going to be doing "a check up from the neck up." If you are a first timer to one of his seminars, your immediate reaction is: "I wonder if he has ever performed one on himself? But if you have been fortunate enough to endure 30, 45 minutes or even three hours of his presentation you see that his shenanigans are very effective.

The program on how to make customers feel comfortable was nothing short of three-ring circus, but while everyone was laughing they were also learning. Harrington covered many of his key points to remember when servicing a customer.

His specific list includes: customers don't like to be hassled, customers don't like to negotiate, customer's don't like excuses, negotiation after a job is complete costs time and money, customers inspect what they expect, would you buy something from yourself, and if you always do what you've always done you will always get what you've always got.

The program also thoroughly covered the three R's of customer service Reliability, Responsiveness and Relationship, and DJ's Eight-step Sales Roles where salesmen learn to be a: student (study the change affecting your customers and open closed doors), a doctor (diagnose your customer's discontent and uncover their big needs), an architect, (design unique solutions that simplify your customer's research and lock out your competition), a coach (defeat your competition without slashing price), a therapist (understand and resolve your buyers fear, draw them out), a negotiator (discuss with a view to reaching a mutual commitment to open a relationship, not close a sale), a teacher (identify expectations, teach the customers to use your product and test for the value improvement achieved), and finally a farmer (cultivate satisfaction and grow the account).

Conclusion

Dr. Morton Marcus tells us the better educated you are the better off the American economy will be, RVDA tells us the better educated you are the more profitable your business will be, and DJ Harrington tells us the more educated you are the more fun it will be. Isn't it all just elementary?

Ernie Friesen New RVDA Chairman for 2000-2001

Ernie Friesen of All Seasons RV in Yuba City, CA, is the new chairman of RVDA. He took office on Sept. 26, during the association's Annual Meeting held in conjunction with the RV Dealers International Convention/Expo in Orlando, FL. Friesen served on the RVDA Board of Directors and Executive Committee as first vice chairman in 1999-2000.

Friesen told RVDA members he is committed to keeping them "the best informed dealers in the country." Through association programs and services, "RVDA provides information that helps you run your business better," he said. "Our goal is to give RV dealers the tools needed to be successful for years to come."

Other officers for 2000-2001 are: First Vice Chairman Craig Jensen, Blaine Jensen & Sons, Kaysville, UT; Second Vice Chairman Bruce Bentz, Capital RV Center, Bismarck, ND; Treasurer, Secretary, Darrell Slusser, Sonny's Camp & Travel, Duncan, SC; Treasurer, Marty Shea, Madison RV Center, Huntsville, AL; and, Past Chairman of the Board Randy Biles, Pikes Peak Traveland, Colorado Springs, CO and RVDA President Mike Molino.

RVDA dealer members also approved the nominations of five at-large directors: Mike Ehler of Ehler's RV, Essex Junction, VT; David Hoelzer of Lloyd's I-10 RV Center, Orange, TX; Norma Sain of Northwoods RV, Mt. Morris, MI; Dell Sanders of J.D. Sanders, Gainesville, FL; and Earl Stoltzfus of Stoltzfus RVs & Marine, West Chester, PA. Also serving on the Board will be: RVDA Education Foundation Chairman Rick Horsey, Parkview RV Center, Smyrna, DE; RV Assistance Corp. Chairman Jerry Greer, Jerry Greer RV, Columbus, OH; and RVRA representative Bert Alanko, MBA Insurance, Scottsdale, AZ.

RVN