RVBusiness, January-February 2017

Motorhome builder REV Recreation Group has introduced a series of service centers including this 90000 square foot facility in Decauter Ind 2016 involved more than 150 dealerships and 450 technicians We as an industry tend to focus on parts delivery problems or the lack of technicians in the field to take care of problems said Gaeddert Well realistically if we reduce the number of problems at the source by better design better component evaluation better quality of product and workmanship thats really the root cause and solution And right now I think that industry consolidation has actually benefited this effort because whether its the OEM supplier retail or campground side of the industry there are fewer players doing more business so communications are more frequent and with fewer people involved Those conversations are going on every single day Yet another factor keeping the topic of customer service on the radar these days of course is the proliferation of industry blogs from Internet news commentators such as Chuck Woodbury of RVtravel com and more so Arizonabased Greg Gerber of RV Daily Report Gerber in particular has addressed the issue of consumer care on an almost weekly basis over the past year And while Gerbers blogs have clearly raised the visibility of the quality debate most would readily admit theyve also stretched the patience of a lot of industry folks who feel the negative tone and critical perspective of his opinion pieces have often obscured the sometimes valid points hes trying to make RVDAs Wilkins We Have Failed At Developing Backup Systems At the end of the day theres no question that Brian Wilkins of Bath N Y based Wilkins RV now the immediate past chairman of RVDA has probably been the most pivotal catalyst for generating the current conversation regarding improved customer service Wilkins has been publicly outspoken about the need in his view for improved parts and accessories availability most notably in his rather eloquent exit address at Novembers 2016 RV Dealers International Convention Expo in Las Vegas as he turned the chairmans gavel over to Friesen on the heels of an o u t s t a n d i n g year for most in the industry Wilkins told RVDAs dealers that the industry has done a good job of bringing innovative products to the market But where we have excelled at bringing more innovation more design and an enhanced look to product he said we have failed at developing the back end systems necessary to support our customer and their products If we want to grow this industry to a 500000 to 600000 annual unit industry we will need to change the way we do business Wilkins cited RVDAs most recent Dealer Satisfaction Index DSI ratings of RV manufacturers products based on dealer member surveys as a case in point Unfortunately he said after several years of improvement both overall towable manufacturer ratings and aggregate dealer scores for parts and warranty support plateaued and are now going in the wrong direction The trend is the same for motorhome manufacturers Now aggregate scores dont tell the whole story because individual manufacturers can outperform the average But I think we can agree its not a good trend So what can we do Thankfully our industry partners seem willing to work together to improve the situation Wilkins added This year RVDA and RVDA of Canada dealer leaders have met with manufacturers suppliers and RVIA staff to 54 RVBusiness J A N U A R Y F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 begin the discussion on these complex supply chain issues that impact parts availability and interfere with our customers satisfaction with the overall RV experience We need to work on clear action items and provide guidance on ways to improve the parts supply and service process In step with Wilkins RVDA President Phil Ingrassia has been calling attention to the issue of parts availability for a couple of years I think theres a recognition by everyone that with record sales and shipments the service and parts issue is going to be at the forefront observed Ingrassia If were going to continue to build on the expanding market that we have right now we have to take care of the customers that were bringing in And I think that were seeing progress with dealers investing in increased service capacity some of the suppliers and manufacturers retooling the way they do things and the idea of bringing this third party in as referenced in that joint statement to help move this forward This I think is where everyone wants to go In a perfect world noted RVIA President Frank Hugelmeyer this new initiative should serve the whole industry well through an orderly process that is a challenging and i n t e r c o n nected workin progress and that could according to some industry sources ultimately involve independent service Brian Wilkins Phil Ingrassia Frank Hugelmeyer