Leisure Time Marketing

       Manufacturer's Agent--A Special Breed

By Don Magary

To many in the RV industry manufacturer's agents are an illusive group of people we see at shows but never quite understand who they are or what they do.

Traditionally called a "Rep," the manufacturer's agent normally represents several supplier-manufacturers and sells their products to RV manufacturers, warehouse distributors and others. Logic tells us they are good sales people; they could not survive if they weren't. Their financial rewards are based on a percentage of sales. But they are more than good sales people. They are liaisons between the component manufacturer and the customers -- developing marketing programs, working through issues and creating good will for their clients.

A manufacturer's agent can open doors for suppliers that might otherwise be closed because the rep has earned the respect and trust from the customer based upon years of hard work and dedication.

A manufacturer's agent plays an important role in the RV aftermarket and OEM manufacturing, and one of the best and oldest firms in this business is Leisure Time Marketing, founded in 1976 by Gary Chancy.

Last year Chancy was elected president of the RV Aftermarket Association (WDA), the professional association of RV industry warehouse distributors, suppliers and manufacturers agents, and this catapulted him to the national RV trade media spotlight. RV News had known Gary for many years, but really didn't know much about his business or his personal side, except that he seemed to work hard and had a congenial, good natured personality.

So recently, RV News visited Gary Chancy in Huntington Beach, CA, to learn more about manufacturer's agents in general and Leisure Time Marketing in particular. The California headquarters is also a distribution center.

Joining us during our visit was another important part of Leisure Time's management team -- Janice Chancy, vice president. She brought to Leisure Time a wealth of sales and marketing experience earned while working as national sales manager at Camco, a major RV accessory manufacturer in North Carolina.

Gary explained to RV News that Leisure Time  Marketing is a sales and wholesale distribution company with three operating divisions: RV accessories, automotive fabrics and consumer electronics.

Each division has its own management and sales team that focuses on their unique customer base.

On the RV side, Chancy said, "Our RV sales group acts as manufacturers agent for a limited group of companies that are primarily focused on the RV aftermarket. We have two RV regional sales managers; Ben Ballinger in the Western U.S. and Dean Shirley in the Southeastern U.S. Primarily, we call on distributors and develop programs.

"We are a supplier of  RV electronics; especially back up cameras, televisions, radios, and accessories."

Leisure Time's automotive fabric division, which is managed by Tony Sutton, operates nationally with warehouses in North Carolina and California. The customer base for the automotive fabric division is varied, according to Chancy. In addition to selling these products to the RV aftermarket, fabric customers include distributors that sell to trim shops, van converters, RV manufacturers, specialty seating companies, golf bag manufacturers, and seat cover manufacturers.

"The third part of our business is the electronics division, which is managed by Jack Curran. It's really two businesses; one is the mobile video accessories side where we sell through dealer expediters, car dealers and retail electronic stores. The second part of the electronics division is the Southern California distributor of Pioneer Electronics, JVC, Sanyo and Audiovox, which we sell to retail electronic stores throughout Southern California."

Gary Chancy President and Founder, Leisure Time Marketing, Inc.

Chancy goes over some of the automotive aftermarket fabric packaging with Mike Esparaza, customer service manager, fabrics division.

Chancy takes RV News Publisher Dan Holt on a tour of the fabrics warehouse at Leisure Time Marketing's distribution center in Huntington Beach, CA.

Karl Smith, mobile video manager, designs electronic video packages in the electronics division that have RV applications as well as other markets.  Leisure Time got into the retail electronics business after one of Pioneer's local distributors, CSD, went bankrupt. Chancy said, "Pioneer was looking for someone to take that over. They started interviewing and finally put Jack Curran and myself together. Jack had worked for Pioneer for many years and was with CSD prior to its bankruptcy. He ran the sales department and brought all that with him. He brought something that we lacked-- experience. We had represented Pioneer for years, but not on that level. "It was a big growth area for us because we had to bring in customer service people, a different breed of outside sales people who specialized in electronics. And of course we needed to meet the customer service requirements. When we did that, it brought in a lot more talent for our local video program that we've been developing, so it worked out real well. continued