RVBusiness, March/April 2018

Jorge Serna Robbie Redding and Rob Freshour background at General RVs service desk in Ocala Fla Service Work is One of the Hardest Things We Do at General RV Center Providing professional level service isnt always an easy task by any means especially because of rising customer expectations observed Loren Baidas president of Wixom Mich based General RV Center Thats why General RV has been upping the ante lately in terms of its service and warranty skill sets as the multi store dealership continues to grow its U S footprint with plans for opening a 13th outlet later this year in Ocala Fla its third in Florida I think the hardest thing that we do as an RV dealership and as an RV company is servicing our customers said Baidas whose 1500 employee firm was first launched in the Detroit suburbs in 1962 and is currently in its third generation of family ownership Among the key drivers in those rising consumer expectations said Baidas are Internet retailers like Amazon with its next day and sometimes same day delivery service as well as the auto industry with its enviable product quality and service standards When you talk about the customer expectations and that theyre only getting higher moving forward we need to have our expectations raised of what that experience is going to be for our customer and how we do it Baidas told RVBusiness So really 70 RVBusiness M A R C H A P R I L 2 0 1 8 in the last couple of years weve been trying to make our service department more effective at what we do every day with improved communicators and maximizing every opportunity we have with each of our customers Weve restructured what we call fixed operations portions of our business service and parts to try and get in front of the increasing demand thats coming out of our service department explained Baidas whose firm in 2017 was named the sixth fastest growing company in Michigan by Crains Detroit Business Not only has General RV more than doubled the number of its service bays by acquisition and expansion over the past five years but its also worked to clarify staff job descriptions from service managers to warranty writers General RV is also using technology to better communicate with customers utilizing a firm that lets customers know when a part arrives and offering them a chance to easily communicate Jodie Leonard service greeter for General RVs Keep You Camping service program with the dealership at the same time And its taken a more proactive approach with customers as far as them knowing what to do when faced with an equipment malfunction But Baidas hasnt made enough progress in his view with another challenge one that vexes a lot of recreational vehicle dealers Locating new service techs Part of what I think has been a problem over the last 10 years is trade schools he maintained We didnt give kids a great option to go to trade schools to learn a craft that they can be very successful with I think thats hurt us and probably the automotive business as well There just havent been these young talented individuals that could come in and just start wrenching and making good money So weve had to work on trying to create a system to build them and teach them and show them how to get there because there wasnt an avenue for these people in the past General RV technicians walk a customer though motorhome functions A daily morning meeting of service partsand sales personnel at General RV Ocala Loren Baidas