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No Way to Win by Raymond W. Padgett Johnny stood 5'3" and weighed all of 131 pounds soaking wet. He was known as a "scrapper", being willing and ready to fight whenever the opportunity availed. Since the age of fifteen he had been involved in the dangerous world of boxing, first on the amateur level and for the last few years as a professional. There were no knock-outs on Johnny's record, but he was a decent fighter with a history of 25 wins and only 2 losses (both by split decisions). But none of those fights prepared him for what he was up against today. Today he was standing in the ring with the 240 pound, 6'6" Heavyweight Champion of the World. His history included forty fights, forty victories, all by solid knock-outs. The big man's legs were as big around as Johnny's torso and his fists were as large as Johnny's head. But what made him truly dangerous was his keen sense of timing and his scholarly knowledge of what it took to make a man feel the maximum amount of physical pain. The referee stood in the center of the ring and went through the standard reminders that preface all fights. Johnny couldn't hear most of what the referee was saying for the insistent pounding of his heart, but he did hear the statement "no hitting below the belt". As he peered up at this mountain of a man Johnny wasn't at all sure he could even reach the giant's belt. One thought kept racing through his mind, "There is no way I can win." In fact, he wasn't sure he could even survive. Of course, this scenario will never take place in modern boxing. The division of fighters into weight categories was designed to prevent just such a situation. Not only would this be unfair to fighters like Johnny, but it could even be dangerous. In our business we have similar divisions. We are divided up as (1) manufacturers (both vehicle and aftermarket), (2) suppliers and (3) dealers. Each category has extremely important roles to perform within those classifications. The dealerships rely heavily on our suppliers to help us compete with companies like Camping World and Camper's Choice. We rely on the manufacturers to supply us with quality products and treat us fair on warranty work. Obviously, both groups rely on us to sell their products and provide support for the end users of their products. The system works well when we work with the system. How-ever, it breaks down when we cross categories or treat others unfairly within those classifications. It seems the system is currently in trouble due to two separate situations. The first problem comes about when manufacturers and suppliers sell to the end users. This undermines the dealership's ability to compete and destroys their credibility. The dealership has little or no recourse but to cut prices and sacrifice markup in order to keep otherwise "loyal" customers. Case in point: A dealership recently received a call from a loyal, regular customer requesting an estimate to repair his windshield. They called the manufacturer of the RV (incidentally, this manufacturer does not provide parts breakdowns) and was given a dealer price of $300.00 on this windshield. They marked the price up a modest 20% and quoted him a price of $360.00 plus freight. A couple of hours later, he called the Parts Manager very angry about the situation. He felt that the dealership was overcharging him and betraying his "friendship". He stated that he could buy the piece directly from the manufacturer for $300.00. Since this was the customer's "retail" price, he "knows" the dealer's price was around $150.00 and feels they didn't give him the deal they said they would. This dealer's relationship with this customer was seriously compromised. This customer now feels that their dealership (specifically their Parts Depart-ment) is overpriced and he will not be purchasing any more of his aftermarket items from them. This will impact their Service Department and their Sales Departments since loss of confidence in one department usually undermines the credibility of the entire establishment. The second area where the system seems to be collapsing is in regard to how the dealership is treated on warranty work. The article from Dan Pearson in the March issue of this journal detailed the particulars of how unfairly the dealership is treated, but when you think about the situation from the standpoint of the Parts Department, the predicament is even worse. The entire dealership is im-pacted by such treatment; however, since the Sales Department doesn't have a direct stake in the problem and the Service Department will be paid for their labor, the Parts Department is the big loser. They end up having to do a lot of work with no hope of receiving compensation. Actually they end up doing the work for free in order to support a supplier or manufacturer that is competing with them for customers. Is that a fair fight? Many dealers overlook these situations because they view their Parts Department as a necessary evil. They believe that the Parts Department cannot be profitable, therefore they man that department with as few people as possible and they make sure these people are unqualified, underpaid employees in an effort to reduce expenses to the lowest level possible. This produces a vicious cycle: Since they are not well paid, they are not valued by the dealerships. Since they are not valued, they don't get the training they need. Since they don't get the training, they are not qualified to do the job. Since they are not qualified to do the job, they are not well paid. Those of us that are involved with automobile dealerships realize that this does not have to be the case. The Parts Depart-ment of automobile dealerships are profitable because the manufacturers pay them for everything they do. Each manufacturer pays a reasonable mark-up to their dealers for warranty parts. They consider themselves responsible for the quality of each vehicle and are willing to bear the expense when any item falls short of ideal. Why do we allow otherwise in the RV industry? Additionally, if Ford Motor Company receives a call, from a retail customer, requesting a price for an alternator off a 1988 Mustang, they would refer the customer to their local dealer (even helping them find a dealer and working with the dealer to satisfy the customer's needs). There would be a revolt comparable to the American Revolution if Ford, Chrysler or Chevrolet started selling parts directly to the end customers. So why doesn't it bother us in the RV industry? Car manufacturers go far beyond the minimum requirements listed above. They even provide their Parts Departments with detailed and accurate information, training and support. They want to sell "genuine" parts (be it Mopar, Motorcraft or A/C Delco). They provide programs and assistance to make sure that the dealership is able to handle the end customer with a minimum amount of problems. They want the dealership to look good since that makes them look good. Is this unreasonable to expect from the RV manufacturers? What's the answer? Well the first step should be for each company to stay within their "weight classification". If manufacturers concentrate on supporting their retailers then the dealers would be in a better position to push their products. If manufacturers don't have faith in their dealers it would be best for them to increase our product knowledge, give us better re-source materials and empower us to resolve customer situations so that our customers (since the dealership's customer is also the manufacturer's customer) are handled in a manner that makes them happy with both manufacturer and dealer. The second step would be to provide the Parts Department with reasonable incentive to do all the work necessary to provide warranty service. The idea is not to be a burden on the manufacturer, but simply to get a reasonable compensation for the service that the Parts Department provides for the manufacturer. This constitutes part of the manufacturer's cost of doing business and should be realized as such. As long as the dealers continue to put up with this type of treatment they will continue to receive it. It is not in the interest of the manufacturer to "buy the cow" (pay for our work) when they "can get the milk for free". It is time that a serious dialogue is started between the dealership and the manufacturers to overcome this problem. Consider this: Would the Heavyweight Champion of the World take joy in knocking out poor little Johnny? I think he would refuse the fight. He wouldn't want to damage Johnny. He wouldn't want to damage his reputation. He wouldn't want to damage the sport. We can only hope that the manufacturers in our industry will take a similar stand. Besides, the only way the dealers can survive is if the manufacturers decline to fight. RVN
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