GM Management Workshops

GM Management Workshops
GM Management Workshops

Pre-Owned Inventory
The Pre-Owned RV Dilemma: Increasing Dealers’ Share of the Used Market & Increasing Consumer Loyalty to RV Travel By: Beth Rogers
One of the “mega issues” the RVDA Board of Directors is working on is how to bring more of the pre-owned units, now sold privately, into dealerships for inspection and re-sale.This story takes an in-depth look at some marketing and communication strategies dealers can use to drive the pre-owned buyer to the dealerships and explores some of the barriers dealers face in capturing more of the used RV market.

Leadership & Motivation
Renew Your Passion- Become an Enthusiastic Leader
By: Chip R. Bell In this article, learn four ways for you to create a culture of passionate customer focused professionals.

The Stairs of Customer Loyalty
By: Dr. Tony Alessandra Many companies follow the same formulas for bringing them closer to what they think their customers really want. Concepts like “customer focus” and “customer satisfaction” are warmly embraced. Today, who isn’t focusing on satisfying customers?
Creating Value- Make it Sustainable
By: Kevin Cashman
Creating authentic value goes beyond getting financial results. Getting financial results is not what the magic of leadership is all about. Even poor leaders get results – often at unacceptable costs. We can achieve our goals but harm our health; get results but damage out morale; make earning but jeopardize customer relationships; push for cost savings but diminish quality; advance our career but destroy our family.

Business Facts of Life: Teach These to YourYour Employees
This article discusses the ways in which effective leaders keep their people out of a gray area by setting and clarifying expectations for them. Here are a few business “facts of life” you can share with your employees to ensure your dealership’s success.

Management Best Practices
Promoting Your Dealership By: Melissa Broadus
It’s a new year and dealers are looking at their marketing strategies. As always they are looking to market their products to current customers while pulling in new prospects with fresh ideas. This year, many dealers will focus their advertising on building relationships with customers and customer loyalty.

Cash Flow is King
If you believe this statement and you are the owner of a dealership property then the accounting world has two words for you “Cost Segregation”. Property can represent a big investment for your business. Fortunately Uncle Sam lets you recover some of those costs by writing them off as depreciation on your federal and possibly state income tax returns.

Succession Planning and Strategies Selling or Buying an RV Dealership
What questions should you ask when exploring options for selling an RV Dealership?

Financing
SBA Loans: Size Standards for RV Dealerships Are you looking for financing assistance through a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan? Here are the standards the SBA uses to determine loan eligibility.
Employee Recruiting, Hiring, and Management
Legal Protections for Reservists and Guard Members Employeed by RV Dealers
By: Brett Richardson
America’s military is relying more and more on reservists and other part-time soldiers to accomplish its many missions. There are a number of legal protections for Reservists and Guard members called to active duty that RV dealers should be familiar with should they employ a Reservist or Guard member.

Why Good Employees Fail By: Joe Lescota
It’s a familiar scenario. You interview many candidates and finally select one who rates a “10” – someone you’re confident will be a great asset to your dealership. Six months later you ask yourself why they aren’t with you anymore. How did the “10” you hired turn out to be the “1” you fired?

Hiring the Right Employees: Moving From Good to Great!
Today’s consumers want to interact with friendly, knowledgeable and satisfied employees in their business dealings. Hiring the right people is crucial to a dealership’s success.

Finding and Hiring Great RV Salespeople
What does it take to recruit and hire a great RV Salesperson? Find out here!

Fair Labor Standards Act Considerations For RV Dealers
This fact sheet provides general information concerning the application of the Section 7(i) overtime exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regarding employees of retail and service establishments, who are paid on a commission basis in whole or part.

Harassment Policy Click here to review a sample dealership harassment policy.

How to Stay on The Right Side of Government Regulations

New Federal Rule Requires Dealers to Properly Dispose of Consumer Credit Reports and Other Sensitive Information
The rise of “identity theft” means RV dealers and others who pull credit reports or collect other sensitive consumer information, such as employment records, during the course of doing business must be especially careful to protect that information from would-be thieves.
The article outlines how dealers can comply with a new federal rule, which requires businesses to use “reasonable measures” when disposing of this information.

Do You Have Written Pay Policies?
Reviewing dealership pay plans to make sure they are written clearly is a good idea in case a compensation with an employee does arise, according to compensation experts.
“From a legal point of view, a verbal understanding concerning compensation is every bit as binding as a written understanding,” says wage and hour attorney Jim Hendricks of Fisher & Phillips in Chicago. “It is simply a matter of credibility: whose description of the pay plan will the judge or jury believe?”
If there is some kind of written description of the pay plan and the writing is clear and unambiguous, the judge or jury will enforce it as it is written, even if one party claims it is unfair, according to Hendricks.
“On the other hand, if there is any ambiguity in the writing, the court will construe it against the party who drafted it, which is almost always the dealer,” Hendricks said.
For suggested pay plans for dealership employees, call the member services hotline.

The RV Learning Center Faculty
RV Learning Center faculty bring years of industry experience to the RV Learning Center and continue to provide the strongest educational programming in the industry. Click here for the more information on RV Learning Center faculty members and training programs they offer.

The RV Dealers International Convention Expo
RV retailers from across the U.S. and Canada are marking their calendars for the 2006 RV Dealers International Convention/Expo when it returns to the Rio All-Suite Casino Resort in Las Vegas on Sept. 26- Sept. 29. Click here for more information and a registration form.

Motivation
Countdown to Sales Excellence
Greatness in sales doesn’t come from doing extraordinary things. It comes from doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well, by becoming brilliant in the basics and devoting yourself to a series of diligent daily disciplines that give you the edge. Use the ten points in the Countdown To Sales Excellence to as your guide to measurable and sustainable sales success beginning today.

Why RV Dealers and Managers with Clear Goals Continually Improve
Do you have clear, specific, written goals for your dealership for one year from today? The Big Problem With Goal Setting: Too many people confuse long hard work and good intentions with setting realistic and achievable goals and having a good plan to follow. Learn how to set realistic and achievable goals.

Four Things You Can & Must Control
Set yourself up for success with these four tips from Dave Anderson.

Compliance and Regulatory Information
RVs and the FTC’s Sale of Used Motor Vehicles Rule
The vast majority of motorhomes and travel trailers are exempt from the Federal Trade Commission’s Sale of Used Motor Vehicles Rule. This fact sheet spells out the specifics on this important rule regarding “as is” or “Buyer’s Guide” labels on motor vehicles.

Do Not Call List Q&A
Find out what circumstances allow motor vehicle dealers to contact their customers who’ve added their names to the national “do not call” list. This list prohibits most telemarketing calls, including those from vehicle dealers, except under the circumstances outlined in this article.

Sales Managment Techniques
NEW! RV Trade-In Appraisal Check List

Marketing Advice for 50-plus Consumers
Bill Novelli has some advice for businesses marketing to the over 50 crowd. Think of these affluent and active people as “zoomers” – instead of aging baby boomers.

Dealer Sees “Orphan” Owners as an Opportunity
The RVDA Boards of Delegates and Directors has identified increasing the number of pre-owned units sold by dealerships as a “critical issue.” According to the most recent University of Michigan’s survey of the RV market conducted for RVIA, 68% of all RVs were purchased as pre-owned units, but only one in five units out of that group were bought from a dealership. That means four out of five used units were purchased from the private party.

Benchmarking Sales Department Productivity
As I talk with dealers around the country, I find most will comment on how good of a year they are having. This leads me to the question, “what means are you using to measure or determine sales are better?” Most will respond with the increase in unit sales and gross margins. Unfortunately this can lead to the misconception that your sales are doing as well as you might perceive.

Sales Techniques and Training
When Selling, Questions are the Answers
Selling is nothing more than problem solving. You can’t solve a problem that you have never identified! Yet this is exactly what the average salesperson does when they use what I call the Australian walk-about method of showing RV’s. By this I mean showing every RV on the location hoping that they will accidentally find something that will fit the prospects wants, needs, and pocketbook requirements.

Selling the Benefits of Time
Most salespeople list the benefits of ownership solely by selling the features and benefits the physical RV has to offer. Although this is an excellent strategy if done properly it misses another huge benefit that very few prospects, or salespeople, take into consideration, the number of days the RV could be used. Most prospects think in terms of using the RV for vacation days and an occasional weekend. If they think only in these terms than the total cost per days used then it is a legitimate concern.

Ten Ways to Take the Fight Out of the Sales Process
Without meaning to, you can create a fight in the sales process from the moment the prospect sees you (or hears your voice on the telephone) until the time you try and close the deal. Being aware of and acting to eliminate these flaws will shorten the sales process and make it more profitable. At this week’s meeting make sure everyone is focused on the information in this article to remove the fight from their own sales process.

A Few More Thoughts On Closing It has been my experience that too many salespeople will spend hours showing RV’s and then never ask for the order. I guess there can be a number of reasons for this, but none that make any sense. Some excuses may be fear of rejection when hearing a no, believing the getaway story that they aren’t going to buy until next year, ignoring buying signals, or simply not knowing when or how to close. This article discusses turning questions into closes, trial closes, and positive closing statements that can be used while showing an RV to a prospect.

A Dozen Things Your Salespeople Can Be Great at and Still Not Get Past Average Sales
It takes more than a smile and product knowledge to succeed in sales and too many of you are missing those extra sales simply because your salespeople haven’t been taught the other things they need to know about ‘how to sell RVs in today’s market’. At a quick glance, a lot of your salespeople seem to be doing everything that it takes to sell more RVs… They’re happy, they love their job, they love the dealership, they love their customers and they may even put in double shifts every day. The problem is, they still only end up with a below average number of units for the month (eight is average). Here are a dozen things they may be very good at, and still not produce the unit sales and gross that you were hoping for
They Came, They Saw and They Left…. Now What?
The RVDA published a statistic several years ago stating that on average, an RV Dealership will spend between $600- $750 in local trade area marketing for each lead that walks through their door. That is a lot of money! And for what? The easy answer: to drive qualified RV consumers through the dealership’s door. However, the more important question is what happens once they walk through the door?

Selling an RV When it’s Not in Stock
In today’s market with all the floor plans available and in many cases limited display area, floor plan money plus yearly changes, it is almost impossible to always have what every prospect wants in stock. So, what do you do when you have a viable prospect but not the RV they want in your inventory?

Overcoming Fuel Cost Objections
How can you overcome your prospective buyer’s concerns about rising fuel costs?

The RV Learning Center for Sales Managers & Sales Professionals

The sales department can use the RV Learning Center to gain valuable insights into customer buying behavior, improving customer satisfaction, and making the sale.