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The results are very disappointing, to say the least. We can only hope that this is not the normal way that manufacturers respond to this type of lead generated from a Buyer’s Guide. If it is, then we are frustrating a lot of people who want to know more about the RV lifestyle, and making it real easy for the companies who have a plan to aggressively follow-up and make the sale.

It’s hard to believe, but performance actually got worse as we tallied the results for 60 days following the mailing of the reader response cards, that were mailed so that the fulfillment house would have them on May 1st. Again, we are making the assumption that all manufacturers received the notification of a lead at approximately the same time.

After two months, we had received responses from 15 of the 25 motorhome manufacturers. Just 60% of the manufacturers responded to a lead request. The ten who have yet to respond are Featherlite, Born Free, Thor-Airstream (but Thor- Four Winds did respond), Western RV, Coachmen, Country Coach, Damon Fleetwood-Bounder, Fleetwood- Revolution and Georgie Boy.

On the towables register it’s even worse. After two months, we had received responses from only 13 of the 25 manufacturers who had received an information request … just 52%. The fourteen who have yet to respond are Thor-Airstream, Coachmen, Crossroads RV, Dutchmen, Fleetwood-Prowler, Jayco, Keystone, Komfort, National RV, Newmar, Northwood Manufacturing, Skyline and Vanguard Industries.

Please note: If any manufacturer has different information than what I have presented here, we will gladly print a clarification or explanation once the information has been validated. It is not our intention to embarrass any manufacturer. The purpose of this two part series is to simply review and respond on a typical request that a new RV prospect might make to obtain more information from our industry.

If the information presented above is accurate and representative of our industry, then we are probably losing prospects and certainly losing sales. In this new era of marketing, where prospects and customers want their information quickly and accurately, then we have flunked miserably!

If we have only 28 out of 50 manufacturers responding (56%), then I think everyone will agree that we have a lot of room for improvement.

The second part of this exercise was to see how quickly a dealer got in touch with me following the response from the manufacturer. After thirty days, and reported in Part 1 of this story, only two motorhome dealers had responded and only one towables dealer had responded.

Guess what … after sixty days; it is still only two motorhome dealers and one towables dealers. In the second month following the mailings we did not hear from a single dealer that was responding to information that had been sent to me by the manufacturers. That’s absolutely incredulous. We are not going to over-analyze this situation, but one must wonder why we only had three dealers respond following twenty- eight responses from manufacturers … that’s only 10.7% once an initial response was already made.

Are the dealers just sitting back waiting for these people to find them?

Did the dealers provide the leads to a sales representative who decided that they would simply not follow-up on it? Did the manufacturers not notify the dealers that they had sent information to a prospect?

Another part of this exercise was to analyze the information that we received from the manufacturers and evaluate it from a consumer’s perspective.

What would the prospect or customer think about the information package they received from each manufacturer? Part of the selling process is the impression that a company makes on a prospect during the evaluation stage of gathering information and determining which company they might want to do business with.

Once again it’s important to point out that we did not begin this project with the intention of embarrassing anybody, but some companies did an excellent job of embarrassing themselves, and we had no control over that.

Listed below you will see the comments made immediately after receiving information. The numbers on the left are the numbers that were circled on the reader response card.

This is my first impression and probably is representative of how a prospect or customer might also view the mailing. I will admit that we are probably more critical because we are actively involved in the industry, but let’s not take any prospect or customer for granted and assume that they are not just as capable of making the same determinations and have their own set of criteria that they will use to judge the companies they are thinking about doing business with.

MOTORHOMES

102 – Blue Bird
1. No cover letter.
2. Dealer listing sheet includes all dealers around the country.
3. Sent specific info on the M-380.
4. Included information on the Meritor Suspension System.
5. Included reprint from FMCA magazine.
6. Web site listed on dealer listing and brochure, www.bluebird.com.

404 – Alfa Leisure
1. No cover letter
2. No dealer listing
3. Web site listed on back page of brochure, www.alfaleisure.com.
4. Sent a very comprehensive brochure on the See Ya diesel pusher motorhome.

427 – Dynamax
1. Cover letter with no signature at all. Letter did list the closest dealer, in Gettysburg, PA.
2. Sent specific information on the Grand Sport model only.
3. Web site listed on cover letter and brochures, www.dynamaxcorp.com.
4. Sent reprints from FMCA magazine, RV Business and Motorhome.
5. Attractive envelope that shows a sketch of all product lines.

Battlefield RV Center
(Responding dealer)
Sent literature (Xerox sheets) about the company. Used another company envelope with window and just put stickers over old address and to the right of the window in the envelope. Small piece of paper saying that the Grand Sport had arrived and that it would be shown by appointment only.

435 – Forest River
1. No cover letter.
2. No dealer listing.
3. Sent brochure for Reflection model.
4. Web site listed on brochure, www.forestriverinc.com.

438 – Foretravel, Inc.
1. Sent a form letter that asks for all the same information they already had from the magazine inquiry.
2. Sent postage-paid return card that asks for the same information they already had.
3. Letter mentions factory owned stores at a time when they are switching to dealerships, and did not list any dealers.
4. Strange way to respond to request for a specific model from a buyers guide.
5. Web site listed on cover letter, www.foretravel.com.

445 – Thor / Four Winds International Corporation
1. Cover letter showing nearest dealer in Tuckahoe, New York. 2. Letter not signed by anybody.
3. Sent brochure for 2003 Infinity Class A, and included web site: www.fourwindsrv.com.
4. Cover letter did not include any reference to a web site.

450 – Gulf Stream Coach, Inc.
1. Letter signed by Brian Shea, President.
2. Web site listed in the letter, www.gulfstreamrv.com.
3. Xerox copy of Gulf Stream history, "Growing through Quality."
4. Xerox copy of Gulf Streamers information sheet. This sheet shows different web site address, www.gulfstreamcoach.com.
Connects to the same URL as www.gulfstreamrv.com.
5. Retail dealer list sent showing five dealers, but only three were checked for selling the Yellowstone product line.
6. New full color brochure showing the 2004 Yellowstone diesel pusher. Back page shows full lineup of towables and motorized in full color, including the new Endura Class-C built on the Kodiak chassis.

473 – National RV
1. No cover letter.
2. No listing of dealers.
3. Picture in brochure shows Country Coach steering wheel, not Islander.
4. No business card in slot provided in brochure.
5. Brochure tab says "Pull down to choose your exterior colors," but the back of the tab shows directions to the factory. Exterior colors are actually shown on the back of the brochure.
6. Quality brochure, very informative.
7. Web site listed on brochure, www.nationalrv.com.

Diamond R.V. Centre, Inc.
(Responding dealer)
Received phone call from Peter Gaudreau on Wednesday, May 14th following up on manufacturers lead and letting me know about an upcoming National RV open house the following weekend at their dealership. He sent information on the entire National RV product line, but it was a sloppy hand-written letter. He did put a printed label with all his contact information on each brochure. The Diamond RV web site was listed on the letterhead, www.diamondrv. com. He also included his business card stapled to the letter.

478 – Newmar
1. Sent letter asking you to request information again and include the same information that was already sent with the Buyers Guide card.
2. Letter signed by Chairman of the Board, Mahlon A. Miller. 3. Letter does list an 800 number to call for info and the web site, www.newmarcorp.com.

488 – Tiffin Motorhomes
1. No cover letter.
2. No dealer listing.
3. Included free Tiffin Motorhomes pen.
4. Included Camper’s Choice catalog.
5. Included $5.00 off first order coupon for Camper’s Choice catalog.
6. Web site listed on brochure, www.tiffinmotorhomes.com.

500 – Winnebago Industries
1. Sent personalized cover letter addressed to me.
2. Sent listing of logical dealer locations (NH & MA), same dealership, Campers Inn.
3. Letter signed by Chairman of the Board, CEO and President, Bruce Hertzke.
4. Sent only the brochure on the product that was requested, the Adventurer.
5. Also sent information on WIT owners club.
6. Sent factory tour brochure.
7. Web site listed on factory tour brochure and product brochure, www.winnebagoind.com.
8. Colorful envelope that will catch your attention in the mail box.

TRAVEL TRAILERS

189 – Adventure Manufacturing
1. Cover letter signed by the president, Mark Gerber.
2. No dealer listing.
3. Letter included number to call for info (not an 800 number) and the company web site, www.adventuremfg.com.
4. Included only the information requested on the Timberlodge model.

197 – Forest River/Cedar Creek
1. Cover letter signed by Doretta Repaich, Inside Sales Manager, letter did include phone number and e-mail address if somebody wanted to communicate back to her.
2. Did not include list of dealers, but suggested visiting the web site www.forestriverinc.com for a listing. How would one know which dealer actually sold the model that information was requested on?
3. Included comprehensive, full color brochure.

214 – Glendale RV
1. No cover letter.
2. No dealer listing.
3. Web site listed on back page of brochure, www.glendalerv.com, and on flap of envelope.

224 – K-Z Inc.
1. Wrong dealer listed in cover letter. They provided the name of a dealer in W. Coxsackie, NY instead of the local dealer.
2. Letter just signed "Sales Department," no personalization, no name to contact.
3. Sent full catalog, did not address specific product info requested.
4. Web site listed on letter and brochure, www.kz-rv.com. 224 – K-Z Inc.
1. Received 2nd mailing.
2. This one contained the correct dealer listing for Camper’s Inn in Raynham, MA.
3. Sent full catalog and cover letter signed by "Sales Department."
4. Web site listed on letter and brochure, www.kz-rv.com .

230 – Kit Manufacturing / Extreme RV’s, LLC
1. No cover letter.
2. Envelope had new company sticker over old Kit Manufacturing printed address. 3. Sent brochure for Companion travel trailer line.
4. Brochure had old web site address: www.kitmfg.com that connects to Kit’s manufactured housing unit and when you click on the menu item for recreational vehicles, you get nothing.
5. Brochure has picture of founder and no mention of the new management team or buy out of the RV group of Kit Manufacturing.

245 – Play-Mor Trailers
1. Cover letter signed "Customer Representative," no personalization, no name to contact.
2. Included pricing along with brochure.
3. Included the correct name of the local dealer.
4. No web site listed anywhere.

Breezy Bend RV
(Responding dealer)
Received follow-up call on 5/29 from Glenn Campbell at Breezy Bend. He received a letter signed by the president of Play- Mor to follow-up on the lead.

247 – R-Vision
1. Sent specific literature on product requested.
2. Sent cover sheet with handwritten address of dealer.
Sloppy, no e-mail address listed for dealer.
3. Web site listed on back of brochure, www.trail-lite.com

251 – Starcraft RV
1. Cover letter signed by "Team Starcraft."
2. Letter directs prospect to the Starcraft web site, www.starcraftrv. com and explains features that will be found there.
3. Sent entire collection of brochures.

254 – Sun Valley, Inc.
1. Used RV Buyers Guide label showing Sun Lite 280 RB SS.
2. Sent literature for truck campers, not trailers.
3. Cover letter signed by "Sales Department," no personalization, no name to contact.
4. Web site listed on letter and brochure, www.sunvalleyinc.com.

256 – Sunnybrook RV
1. Cover sheet listing three dealers in CT, NH, and MA.
2. No web sites listed for dealers.
3. No web site listed on cover letter for Sunnybrook.
4. Web site was listed in product brochure, www.sunnybrookrv.com.
5. Sent full product brochure for Sunnybrook and Mobile Scout.

You be the judge. The industry is spending millions of dollars to attract new prospects. Manufacturers spend millions of dollars advertising their companies. Everybody agrees that the industry has tremendous potential when low interest rates, great media exposure, and demographics are taken into consideration.

Are we doing everything we could be doing to make sure that the first exposure a prospect has with our industry is an exciting and professional experience that results in the purchase of a new or used RV.