BY Gaylon Hughes

Every company talks about customer service; few truly make it a way of life. Truly successful companies understand that 10 percent of all business is product and 90 percent is service. The industry leaders don’t set minimum service expectations – they know the only time minimum standards can be met is when a customer’s maximum expectations are exceeded.

This type of attitude needs to become ingrained in the culture of every RV organization. It needs to be understood and felt by everyone from the head of the company on down. Every employee needs to be willing not just to meet but to exceed customers’ expectations. When was the last time one of your shipping/receiving clerks delivered a part to a customer on his or her way home from work?

The Bar Has Been Raised
It used to be that in order to be successful in a retail business, all you needed was a good product to sell and the ability to provide good customer service. The business could set its own hours and dictate to customers how things were going to be done. Customers would accept the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and adjust their schedule to do business with that company. When a customer would return with a complaint, it was allowable to simply reply, “I am sorry, but that is our company policy.” Customers were accustomed to these business limitations.

Thanks to companies like Starbucks and Wal-Mart, the business world as we knew it changed dramatically. The question is, “Has your RV parts and service business kept up with this change?”

I have spent a great deal of my business life in the RV business, especially in parts departments all across the country. The last few years, I have been on a self-directed crusade to improve the quality of service, training and personnel in parts departments.

The number one comment from dealership owners/parts managers concerning customer service training for employees is, “Well, that is not how we have always done it.” That is EXACTLY my point; it is time to stop doing things exactly as you have.

I am not saying RV parts and service centers have been providing bad service, but it is time to start thinking differently in the areas of “great service,” because that is what our customers have grown accustomed to from other retailers they deal with.