Comments on: Supreme Court hands legitimate RV dealers a victory

By: EJ Topping

EJ Topping — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 07:41:12 +0000

Bob…

You left out the giant…Giant RV. They happen to have both a conventional sales and service environment and a very active internet business.

Competing with the price choppers is a marketing adjustment from the “front-end” to the “back-end”. Let us not forget the trade, which if bought right is a big profit maker. Also a certain percentage of buyers are more concerned with service relationships and are willing to pay a little more for convenient servicability.

Bob, I do agree with you that this is a fair market economy and there are many ways to provide an RV dealership with “differential advantages” besides a “price-drop”.

By the way, the ruling will have little affect on the price-choppers, because they will increase trade values and sell trade difference.

Most of the noise comes from the moaning complaints of the salesperson who lost a deal and wants to justify why he/she lost the deal instead of looking inward and examining where he/she could have taken different steps to “earn” the prospects business.

Thanks…EJ

By: Bob Zagami

Bob Zagami — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:46:36 +0000

Since when was sales or business in America designed to be played on a level playing field? What makes this country great is our ability to create our own success and the opportunity to do something better than our competition. In the end, the person, or company, that gets the order must have done something quite different to win. If what they do is fair, ethical, and legal under the rules of our government and in line with good business practice, then let the games begin. Sam Walton started with a single store, but everyone likes to bemoan their success. Lazydays started with two trailers on a small lot in Tampa. We use to laugh at Honda when they introduced their first car in America. Why do we like to take shots at people who found a way to be successful and blame our own failure to succeed on somebody elses’s success rather than taking personal responsibility for what we do in business every day - ourselves?

Do you really want the government setting the regulations on how you can do business, or how the companies you represent can do business?

If there are RV companies that support these renegade Internet only bandits, then just stop doing business with them and tell your business associates, suppliers, and even your competitors (that value good business practices) to do the same thing.

They will get the message, or they will go out of business. And it can happen without government intervention.

In the short term, instead of worrying about the companies that only sell over the Internet, or the customers that are stupid enough to buy from them - worry about your current customers and build the best company you can within the framework of the people and markets you serve and the companies you choose to do business with.

If you are starting out in the RV business today with two trailers on a small lot, you have the opportunity to become the next Lazydays, LaMesa, Guaranty or Beaudry. If you don’t want to be that large, that’s ok, but don’t complain about those that do and found a way to make it happen.

By: Dixie Ray

Dixie Ray — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 00:25:57 +0000

Computers are here. They are the present and our future, get over it. People do more research online prior to buying anything nowadays. Not because they don’t appreciate quality, but their free time is considerably more limited than years before. I’m sure that when the phone company first put out phone books, people complained then too.
I am certain that they are also looking for more unbiased information before they agree to part with their hard earned money.
Ebay isn’t complaining.
YOu supply the truth of what I am saying, simply by virtue that you are “online” now.

By: Rod Thurley

Rod Thurley — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 21:04:06 +0000

You do your best to compete with the cyberstores, but you still have to pay the bills when they come in. The only way this will hurt the internet only selling stores is for the manufactures to step up to the plate and help us all make this a level playing field.

By: johnny

johnny — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:31:46 +0000

GREG,
I will agree with almost everything you are saying, but
there is a few MEGA stores out there with 150 service bays and 150 plus live salespeople that are hurting the
rest of us just as bad. They sell (at reduced prices) and promise great service ect. but they have to come back
to their dealership, because very few dealers will give them the care they need. I know some will say that it is
all warranty, but what about the education of how the thing works, whats this gadget for ? ect ect,. Who pays
for the sales time or service techs time ? No dealer that
I know, and I have been in this business for about 30 years, needs or wants these customers (who are locked in
a upside down deal) and cant trade out. What happens then. Their comment is I will buy my next from you. If
you are still in business 12-15 years from now. We have
had to limit our service to our Customers,then transit
Customers and if any time left, to People who Bought from that mega store, and there has been no time
left.

By: Jim Wilson

Jim Wilson — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 19:57:41 +0000

Not all cyberstores are strictly limited to internet-only sales, especially some of the more renowned (reviled?) ones. Some actually do have a “brick and mortar” presence, meager or not. I could name 2 or 3 right now, but I’m not certain whether that would be allowed so I’ll refrain (many of you may already know of whom I speak).

But I would disagree that the consumer is not price focused, because I think they are. In my opinion, quality has suffered dramatically over the past decade primarily due to that. How else would you explain Walmart and all the inferior crap they sell? Truth be told, the general buying public seems to have forgotten that quality really does matter. Look no further then your own cell phone for an example. Like most everything today it’s probably a flimsy piece of junk that will get disposed of in a year or two. Myself, I’d rather buy high quality stuff and keep it for a long time, but apparently I’m in the minority today.