Registration Open for RVDA 2011 Con/Expo

Registration is now open for the 2011 RV Dealers International Convention/Expo at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev., Oct. 3-7, sponsored by the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA), RVDA of Canada and the RV Learning Center.

Themed “ReVolution: Take Charge Today,” the convention will feature new, in-depth super sessions covering the top issues RV dealers and their employees are facing right now, according to an RVDA news release. The education program will include information on building sales through innovative marketing strategies to reach new customers and an overview of the short and long-term trends that will impact the RV industry.

“Today’s RV market is more complicated than ever, and dealers cannot afford to get left behind,” said RVDA Convention/Expo Committee Chairman Peter Albano of American RV in Olive Branch, Miss. “This year’s convention will have the information that all RV dealerships need to know, so they can prosper in our hyper-competitive retail environment.”

The 2011 convention will also feature an exhibit hall filled with the RV industry’s top companies offering products and services to help dealers improve profitability. RVDA’s Partners in Progress Brand Committees will also meet to work on important dealer-manufacturer issues and results of RVDA’s Dealer Satisfaction Index (DSI).

RVDA, RVDA of Canada and the RV Learning Center will have a series of announcements on specific speakers, workshops, and special events planned for the convention in the coming weeks.

To make the convention as affordable as possible, the registration fee for dealership employees is the same as last year. RVDA is also offering special registration plans including an “Easy-Pay” plan of four payments and the ability to “lock-in” early bird savings for additional employees with one paid convention registration submitted by May 31.

“The convention/expo is worth every penny. I am a very small dealer and I find I could never get the advice, knowledge, or expertise on my own,” said Gloria Morgan of The Trail Center in North Charleston, S.C., who was the first dealer to register for the 2011 event.

Companies interested in sponsorship opportunities and exhibitor information can contact RVDA at (703) 591-7130, ext. 103 or send an e-mail to scharter@rvda.org.

Visit www.rvda.org and www.rvlearningcenter.com to register for the convention and for regular updates about the convention. You can also get updates by following the convention on Linkedin and Facebook.

Is the Internet Turning RVs into Commodities?

Editor’s Note: The following column from the latest issue of the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association’s RV Executive Today magazine was written by Tim O’Brien, RVDA chairman and owner of Circle K RV’s, Lapeer, Mich.

I was recently reorganizing some old magazines in my home office when I came across the Harvard Business Review from March-April 2000. The “Thinking About” article was titled “Cost Transparency: The Net’s Real Threat to Prices and Brands,” written by Indrajit Sinha, assistant professor of marketing at Temple University’s Fox School of Business and Management.

I was curious to reread an article written 11 years ago on the Web’s potential effect on pricing and brands. I will paraphrase the author’s observations, and you can decide for yourself if he got it right.

Sinha noted that sellers have a natural interest in keeping their costs opaque to the outside world, and that buyers have a natural interest in knowing the seller’s costs. It’s virtually impossible for buyers to find out what a seller’s real costs are. So the buyer is left to infer those costs by evaluating brands and offerings. People most often use the cheapest price or brand as a benchmark in order to determine if more expensive brands really offer the quality or status that justifies their higher price.

But the Internet would make cost transparency possible, Sinha predicted, by its abundance of free, easily obtained information. As cost transparency increased, so would the problems it raised for companies, said Sinha. Specifically, it would:

• Severely impair a seller’s ability to obtain high margins.
• Turn products and services into commodities.
• Weaken customer loyalty to brands.
• Damage companies’ reputations by creating perceptions of price unfairness.

Sinha also predicted that the Internet would force companies with varying prices to re-examine their price structures and policies. In a non-wired world, companies had discreetly practiced selective pricing for different markets. But with the advent of online stores, companies would realize that strategy created resentment and perceptions of price unfairness among customers who were charged higher prices – even if that pricing strategy was based on legitimate cost differences associated with serving different markets.

The author noted that proponents of so-called smart pricing appeared to have overlooked its most obvious pitfalls. Because the Internet would allow customers to easily share information with one another, smart pricing would likely create widespread perceptions of unfairness that could prove devastating to businesses in the long run. Consumers would be unhappy if they believed they’d paid more for a product than someone else who was more persistent, more adept at bargaining, or just plain lucky. So, companies should tread carefully when thinking about smart pricing, Sinha said. For most consumers, fixed prices are a security blanket that helps them feel they’re being treated fairly – or at least no worse than the next customer.

In the end, Sinha concluded that better quality products, creative pricing strategies and innovative thinking could help keep cost transparency from overwhelming a seller’s ability to maintain brand loyalty and maintain profit margins. Companies that understood the dynamics of cost transparency on the Internet would be best prepared for the challenge.

So, after 11 years, do you think Sinha got it right? Have we?

RVDA Surveys Satisfaction with Manufacturers

The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA) is asking dealers to confidentially express their level of satisfaction with their manufacturers and/or specific brands in the 18th Annual Dealer Satisfaction Index (DSI) survey.

RVDA dealer members can click here to access the survey. (Member login required).

Many manufacturers tell RVDA they use DSI results to adjust policies and procedures that affect dealers, so it’s important for all dealers to fill out the survey, RVDA stated in the online edition of RV Executive Today. The DSI measures dealers’ attitudes about their manufacturers’ performance in eight key areas identified by RVDA’s Industry Relations Committee:

• Sales support
• Sales territory
• Vehicle design
• Vehicle reliability/quality
• Competitive price/value
• Parts support
• Dealership warranty support
• Overall dealer communications

New this year is a survey question on whether a particular brand adds overall “value” to your dealership.

RVDA will release the DSI results to brand committee chairmen in time to be presented at brand committee meetings at the 2011 RV Dealers International Convention/Expo, Oct. 3-7 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Make sure to fill it out, preferably online to help RVDA process results faster. Or, you can print the form and fax or mail it to RVDA. Be sure to rate all brands and manufacturers whose new products you carry.

For more information, send an e-mail to info@rvda.org or call the dealer services hotline.

RVDA’s Landmark Virtual Expo Starting Today

The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association’s (RVDA) first virtual expo opens today (March 15) and runs through Thursday.

The expo will be available on demand through April 15.

Registration for RV industry representatives is free and available through www.rvda.org.

The virtual expo provides attendees the opportunity to visit with exhibitors in an online environment from their home, office or anywhere with Internet access, RVDA noted in a news release.

In addition to an exhibit hall, the expo features information on a number of RV Learning Center programs, including the RV Technician Certification Preparation Course.

Exhibits include many useful links, product and service information to download, videos and more. During the live days of the expo, attendees will be able interact online with exhibitor representatives.

Exhibit booths for the virtual expo are:

• Bank of the West
• Blue Ox
• TRA Certification – Green RVs
• Go RVing Dealer Program
• MBA Insurance Inc.
• Protective XtraRide
• Roadtrek Motorhomes Inc.
• RVDA Endorsed Products & Services
• RVDA Member Resource Center
• RV Learning Center

The RVDA Virtual Expo is a partnership with 6Connex. For registration information, visit www.rvda.org or www.rvlearningcenter.com.

RVDA’s Virtual Expo Set to Go Live March 15

The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association’s (RVDA) first virtual expo is set to go live March 15-17 and will be available on demand through April 15.

Registration for RV industry representatives is free and available through www.rvda.org.

The virtual expo provides attendees the opportunity to visit with exhibitors in an online environment from their home, office or anywhere with Internet access, RVDA noted in a news release.

In addition to an exhibit hall, the expo features information on a number of RV Learning Center programs, including the RV Technician Certification Preparation Course.

Exhibits include many useful links, product and service information to download, videos and more. During the live days of the expo, attendees will be able interact online with exhibitor representatives.

Exhibit booths for the virtual expo are:

• Bank of the West
• Blue Ox
• TRA Certification – Green RVs
• Go RVing Dealer Program
• MBA Insurance Inc.
• Protective XtraRide
• Roadtrek Motorhomes Inc.
• RVDA Endorsed Products & Services
• RVDA Member Resource Center
• RV Learning Center

The RVDA Virtual Expo is a partnership with 6Connex. For registration information, visit www.rvda.org or www.rvlearningcenter.com.

RVDA Board Acts to Revitalize Convention/Expo

The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA) board of directors met in Fairfax, Va.,  Monday through Wednesday (March 7-9) to review and adjust the association’s strategic plan.

As part of the process, the board identified four key strategic result areas that will help the association fulfill its mission, which is to “assist dealer members in being professional, successful and profitable in order to achieve total customer loyalty through education, industry leadership, member services, proactively influencing legislation and market expansion.”

The four key strategic areas identified by the board are: education, advocacy in government/industry affairs, market expansion and convention/expo.

To help RVDA develop strategies to reach its goals, the association has revised its committee structure, which includes Industry Relations, Government Relations, Convention/Expo, Dealer Financial Services, Market Expansion and a new Membership committee. The education function is fulfilled by the RV Learning Center.

In preparation for strategic planning, RVDA surveyed its Board of Delegates as well as the general dealer membership on their priority issue areas for the association. The facilitator for the sessions was Rick Horsey, former RV Learning Center chairman of the board.

“It was a very productive meeting that clears the way for volunteer leaders and staff to make RVDA an even more effective organization for dealers,” said RVDA President Mike Molino. “In the coming months, RVDA committees will be working on a number of initiatives in the four key strategic areas to help dealers. To me, the most significant result was a commitment from the entire board to revitalize and make the October RV Dealers International Convention/Expo the best ever for both American and Canadian dealers.”

Richard Coon, president of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA), briefed the board on a proposed RV service center certification program, which could be formed under the auspices of Go RVing. The board took no action on the issue while the program undergoes further review by both RVIA and RVDA. Currently, RVDA and RVIA work together to certify individual technicians through the RVDA-RVIA Certification Governing Board.

Jeff Sims, director of membership and public affairs for the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC), and Karl Etshied, executive director of the Recreation Vehicle Aftermarket Association (RVAA), also updated the board on their associations’ activities.

RVDA’s Board Preparing for Strategic Planning

The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association’s (RVDA) board of directors will meet March 7-9 in Fairfax, Va., to “review and adjust” the association’s strategic plan, the national association’s leadership reported in a news release.

“Over the past several weeks, RVDA surveyed its members on a number of issues and the board will use the input as a basis for implementing strategies designed to help dealers and the industry,” RVDA stated in a press release being distributed today (Feb. 25).

RVDA, in turn, is in the process of updating its committee structure, which includes Industry Relations, Government Relations, Convention/Expo, Dealer Financial Services, Market Expansion and a new Membership Committee.

“These committees, which include many members of the RVDA Board of Delegates, will play a crucial role in implementing the RVDA board’s strategic direction in key areas of dealer-manufacturer relations, dealer advocacy and advancing the Go RVing national advertising program,” said RVDA President Mike Molino. “With our partners at RVDA of Canada, the Convention/Expo Committee will also work to make the RV Dealers International Convention/Expo an even better experience for dealers and exhibitors.”

As part of the meeting, the RVDA board will consider a proposed RV service center certification program, which could be formed under the auspices of Go RVing. Currently, RVDA and the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) work together to certify individual technicians through the RVDA-RVIA Certification Governing Board.

RVDA Statement on SeeDealerCost.com Site

Editor’s Note: The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA) has released the following statement about the website www.seedealercost.com, whose sponsors say they’ll begin soon to post RV prices on their website.

RVDA is aware of the SeeDealerCost.com website. According to media reports, the proposed site is owned by former boat manufacturer executives. The company has stated it plans to include RV information on its site.

As the National RV Dealers Association, RVDA contends that RVs should not be sold like commodities, with a customer’s buying decision limited to price considerations. There is so much more to a successful RV dealer and RV customer relationship. Unlike automobile dealers, RV dealer agreements and RV franchise laws do not always require RV dealers to perform warranty work on all of a manufacturer’s vehicles under warranty. Customers who purchase an RV based solely on price may find they must travel to the selling dealership’s location to have warranty work performed – assuming that selling dealer’s location maintains a service department – or they are placed at the back of the warranty service line until the local dealership has taken care of all its buying customers.

It is important for everyone in the RV industry to note that invoice pricing information is sometimes addressed as confidential information in RV dealer and RV manufacturer dealer agreements. Sharing confidential information with a third party could be a breach of the RV dealer agreement and lead to termination of the dealer agreement for cause. RVDA urges dealers to review their dealer agreements and state laws on this issue. Many states prohibit or restrict a motor vehicle dealer’s ability to directly or indirectly advertise “invoice prices” since they conclude this advertising may be deceptive to the buying public.

RVDA has long fought for fair and equitable treatment of its dealer members, and there is much that can appropriately be done together. But as RVDA stated earlier this month, these efforts have been undertaken with the clear understanding that the relationships between dealers and joint actions by dealers regarding vehicle pricing against suppliers and competitors are rife with serious and complex legal implications. For this reason, RVDA’s activities are closely monitored by experienced legal counsel to protect both the association and its members.

Before an RV dealer or an RV manufacturer shares invoice price information with third parties for publication, we urge dealers and manufacturers to review their dealer agreements, and any related state laws.

RVDA: Use Facebook to Build Relationships

Facebook is usually the first foray dealerships make into social media, but if your page isn’t maintained correctly, it can actually turn off potential customers, according to a story in the March issue of RV Executive Today.

Knowing what to put on it — and what to leave off — makes the difference between an effective and inexpensive communications tool or a waste of time and resources.

To make Facebook work for you, say experts, first consider what draws people to this venue. Hint: It’s not a list of your inventory. As one savvy dealer says, customers go to Facebook to have fun, not get a sales pitch.

Instead, use Facebook as a tool for building and maintaining relationships with your established customers and for reaching out to potential customers. Change up the content frequently so people keep coming back to your page. Visual material is especially effective for attracting younger generations.

For tips on what kind of content to put on your page and where to find inspiration, read the March issue of RV Executive Today, which highlights social media.

Doors Open Soon for RVDA’s 1st Virtual Expo

Dealers and their employees can still register free of charge for the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association’s (RVDA) first Virtual Expo, scheduled for March 15-17 and on demand through April 15.

This virtual event will allow RV dealers to form profitable partnerships with some of the leading companies in the RV industry without spending time away from home or the dealership, the RVDA notes in the current issue of RV Executive Today. Dealers can also access information on educational resources available through the RV Learning Center.

Click here to register.

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