The IDS RV Industry Trends Report is a comprehensive overview of what dealers will be focusing on in 2022. This report compiles insights from surveys, RV industry experts, and hundreds of RV dealers across North America to highlight what dealers can expect in the year ahead.
RV INDUSTRY TRENDS REPORT WHAT DEALERS ARE FOCUSING ON IN 2022
FOREWORD FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER
F R A N K T A M B U R R I N I General Manager, IDS
“Technology on its own does not solve problems - it’s the people behind it that make the difference.”
Despite the challenges the industry has faced throughout 2020 and 2021, RV sales haven’t slowed down. The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred an exuberant interest in RV ownership. But as Phil Ingrassia, President of the RVDA, has pointed out, the camping trend was already on a growth curve. The pandemic put some gas on the fire, but the fire was burning hot already and is set to carry on into the year ahead. With more Millennials and Gen Z buyers entering the RV market, dealers are experiencing increased demand. The dealers who will profit most from the demand are already thinking about how to further adapt for services, rentals, new tech, and up-to-date business practices while still navigating roadblocks like parts shortages and employee burnout. There’s another big shift happening not just in dealerships, but everywhere: the growth of Millennials and Gen Z talent in the workplace. These generations are primed to adopt and leverage technology quickly. The key will be to utilize them as internal champions for technological upgrades. Technology on its own does not solve problems—it’s the people behind it that make the difference. With all that in mind, we would like to highlight some of the biggest trends we expect to impact RV dealers in 2022, as they navigate what it means to provide a “new customer experience” at their dealership.
1. The New Customer Experience 2. Maximizing Service Efficiency 3. Creating Contactless Convenience 4. Business Intelligence and Analytics
5. Embracing the Cloud 6. Labor Automation 7. Sustainable RV Technology 8. Navigating the Acquisitions Landscape
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The New Customer Experience
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There are RV buyers entering the market who can hardly remember a time before cellphones. Now, with information so easily accessible, consumers expect proactive communication from businesses. This new communication loop is shaping the customer experience dealers are expected to offer. Before, “customer service” meant tactics like smiling with talking on the phone, so it comes across to your customer, or believing the customer is always right. Now, “ customer experience ” is how your customers interact with your brand throughout the entire sales and service cycle, from the first time they see one of your ads, to after they drive off your dealership’s lot.
Customer experience should be foundational to your dealership, connecting every department and guiding how your entire team communicates with customers.
All the industry forecasts RVDA monitors indicate that the RV market will remain strong into 2022. The most recent data shows sales at RV retailers of more than $26 billion annually, compared to $14 billion in 2012. As dealers continue to grow, the tools they need to manage their business need to grow with them. We are pleased to see the advancements that IDS has made in Repair Event Cycle Time (RECT) reporting for their clients as dealers work to improve efficiencies in fixed operations, which support the influx of new customers entering the RV market.
PHIL INGRASSIA President of the RVDA
MILLENNIAL AND GEN Z BUYERS
RV industry demographics are changing. Over the last few years, we’ve seen an influx of first-time buyers, many of whom are Millennials and Gen Z. According to the Go RVing RV Owner Demographic Profile , 22% of RV owners are between the ages of 18 and 34 , and 43% of new RV buyers plan to buy from an RV dealership. Not only that, but 60% of all RV sales go through dealers, rather than private sellers – a change from previous studies which showed that more buyers were purchasing RVs through private sellers. This fresh audience brings their own set of priorities and preferences to the market. Dealers will need to consider how to appeal to this new demographic through their sales tactics, marketing campaigns, and communications, and overall dealership experience.
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PROACTIVE COMMUNICATION TOOLS Customers these days, especially Millennials and Gen Z, expect to be kept in the loop throughout the entire sale and service cycle. To prevent teams from being bogged down by communication demands, customer relationship management (CRM) tools like IDS Service CRM will make it easier for dealers to track customer communications. That includes scheduling automated text and email communications, Work Order status updates, notifications when a unit is due for service, and more.
ONLINE MARKETING AND SALES The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of having multiple sales channels for your business. Many dealers had to create a more robust customer experience for their businesses online. For example, more dealers have started offering virtual tours of their units. But the benefits of having a strong online presence go beyond the pandemic. Millennials and Gen Z are used to shopping online and reading reviews before deciding to patron a business. Dealers should look for opportunities to bolster their online reputation by making sure their websites and social media accounts are up-to-date, and by asking happy customers to leave reviews. According to an IDS survey of RV dealers across North America, 77% of respondents said they plan on prioritizing online marketing in 2022 .
TEXT MESSAGE COMMUNICATIONS
These days, a lot of people prefer text message communication over phone calls or email. In fact, 89% of customers prefer to interact with businesses via text messaging . Compared to firing off a quick text message, calling back or replying to an email requires more steps. Not only that but routing communications through text helps to free up your dealership’s phone lines. More dealers are also leveraging SMS for automated alerts, reducing the need to play phone tag with customers.
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Inventory issues have been a huge issue for dealers and we see this continuing to be a challenge in the near term. Lack of new inventory is frustrating for customers and has put an overload on parts and service. It is more important than ever to stay in close communication with your customers to maintain your relationships. With a 98% open rate, text messaging is an amazing way to reach out and stay in touch with your customers.
SHAUN SORENSON CEO at Kenect
RV RENTAL DEMANDS
With travel restrictions put in place throughout 2020 and part of 2021, the RV industry saw an uptick in demand for rentals. Now, despite restrictions loosening and many people resuming their travels, interest in RV rentals is set to continue in the year ahead. Dealers who offer rental services at their business will have access to a growing market of RV-ers. AccordingtoanIDSsurveyofRVdealers, only21% of dealers currently offer rental services . What’s more, only 5% of dealers who don’t currentlyoffer rental servicesplanonadding them. While rentals may not be the most profitable channel for many dealers, rentals present an opportunity for collecting customer data. If you know who is interested in what type of unit, you can market to them.
Furthermore, according to the “Go RVing Owner Demographic Profile”, 66% of RV Intenders (people who intend to purchase an RV) have considered renting an RV . An RV rental can be the gateway to an RV purchase.
RV RENTAL MARKETPLACES Buying an RV is a lot cheaper than buying an investment property. That’s why we’re seeing more people purchasing RVs and renting them out as vacation properties, including co-op buying RVs and sharing in the maintenance fees and profits. RV rental marketplaces like Outdoorsy and RVEzy are a testament to this growing trend.
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02.
Maximizing Service Efficiency
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I see the biggest challenge the RV Industry is going to have in 2021 is servicing the number of customers in the marketplace today. With the shortage of part time employees, it’s absolutely critical that dealers are not only meeting their customers’ expectations, but their employees’ expectations and managing stress levels as well. Employers and employees also need an avenue to identify customer issues so corrective measures can be put into play. The customer experience all starts with your happy employees. If your employees are not happy, you can’t expect them to serve your customers the way you have imagined customer service to be.
BECKY THOMPSON President at CSI, Inc.
Now, that problem has been exacerbated by the increased strain on service departments due to supply chain disruptions and the number of units out in the field. Many dealers only have 20-30% of their needed inventory (Chris Andro, “The New Normal”, RVDA Executive Today). Not only that, but according to the same IDS survey, 34% of respondents expect parts shortages to be one of the biggest challenges they will face in 2022 .
RV buyers expect proactive, personalized service. So, what does that mean for shop teams? Before the pandemic, many dealers were already facing a service efficiency problem. Many service teams are stretched thin, and dealers are having a tough time hiring new talent—and retaining their existing talent. According to an IDS survey of RV dealers, 27% of respondents expect hiring and retaining talent to be one of their biggest challenges in 2022 .
While parts shortages is something dealers can’t control, they should focus their energy and resources on what they can control: setting seasonal min/max inventory ordering levels, using historical data to forecast which parts will need to be ordered further
Fixing technology gaps at your dealership 9%
Cybersecurity 2%
Fixing service bottlenecks 19%
Parts shortages 34%
Hiring/retaining talent 27%
Selling to first-time buyers 9%
in advance, and fixing service inefficiencies.
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REPAIR EVENT CYCLE TIME (RECT) Repair Event Cycle Time (RECT) has been a major challenge at RV dealerships for a long time. We have known for years that service bottlenecks exist, specifically with out-of-stock parts and warranty claims. But only in the last few years have we been able to quantify cycle times. Despite this increased awareness, the situation has not improved. Compounded by the challenges of the pandemic, the developing supply chain issues, and the huge increase in demand, cycle times have continued to increase.
We use the RECT report on a monthly basis to spot our shortcomings and improve the service we are providing to our customers. The RECT report has helped our industry by giving us real data, so we can all work together to solve our customers’ frustration of not having their RV repaired in a timely fashion.
MIKE REAGAN Crestview RV
The 12-month average for repair event cycle times at RV dealerships across the nation has increased to 32 days , regardless of parts availability and billing type. There is a seasonality to the average cycle times with quicker times during the summer months (average RECT of 24 days in July last year) and longer times during winter months (average RECT of 44 days in January 2021). However, we are not seeing a similar reduction this summer compared to last.
According to an IDS survey of RV dealers, 88% of respondents plan on prioritizing reducing their dealership’s RECT a priority in 2022 and 19% of respondents said that they expect fixing service bottlenecks to be one of their biggest challenges in the year ahead . Tracking your dealership’s Repair Event Cycle Time (RECT) is more important than ever. Regular RECT reporting lets dealers measure their shop’s performance against others in the region. Best of all, the latest RECT reporting available now allows you to compare your locations against each other and view how your Service Advisors compare.
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After reviewing millions of work orders over the last several years, there is no doubt the impact the key bottlenecks have had on cycle times and, ultimately, customer satisfaction. Over the last 12 months, if there was a warranty claim, the average cycle times increased by almost 2 weeks to 45 days (13 days more than the average RECT) and, if there was an out-of-stock part, the repair times increased by more than a month to 69 days (37 days more than the average RECT). Comparatively, if all parts were in stock and the work was customer pay, the average cycle times for the last 12 months was 19 days (11 days less than the average RECT). Repair event cycle times will continue to be a focal point to improving customer satisfaction for the foreseeable future. Dealers that put an emphasis on improving their RECT by reducing these key bottlenecks (out-of-stock part and warranty claims) will be ahead of their competition. Not only in customer satisfaction, but improved profitability with more units through the shop each month.”
DON MILLER Senior Data Consultant at Constellation Dealer Group
SERVICE TEAM MOBILITY Mobile technology has been on the rise for the last few years. Most dealers know the value of using a DMS with mobile capabilities. At IDS, it took us a decade to reach 11,000 DMS users—but only five years to reach 7000 mobile users. But over the last year, with service teams stretched thin, many dealers have had to adapt the way their team works to keep productivity up, which would not have been possible without mobile technology. It’s become more important for parts employees to be away from the counter. Where previously, Service Advisors and parts team members would be stuck at their desks, now they can use mobile DMS apps to move freely around the floor along with the Service Technicians.
Apps like ServiceMobile can have a big impact on workflow by letting Service Advisors and Technicians take photos, update Work Orders, and manage warranty claims on the floor.
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I see the entire industry transitioning away from the sales side of things being a profit center, much like a car dealership – the profitability and new unit sales is going down as internet marketing is taking off. For the last few years—and we’re certainly going to continue—we’ve been streamlining processes, procedures, increasing efficiency, implementing different incentives, and payment plans for Parts and Services staff. Something you can’t get on the internet is service. You can have a great buying experience but after the fact, when something breaks and you need warranty work or anything like that, you cannot get that service through a screen. That’s where we’re trying to be a bit ahead of the curve and be a very profitable Parts and Service-forward dealership.
MATT FERKEY Greeneway RV Sales & Services
VIRTUAL SERVICE DIAGNOSIS Video calls are a part of our everyday lives now. Two years ago, if you had asked an RV owner to hop on a Skype call so you could “hear or see” a problem, you might have been met with reluctance. Now, after pandemic social distancing restrictions forced people to move to online communications, more people are comfortable with using video chat. Instead of asking customers to drive a unit in, your Service Advisors can get on a quick video call to make sure your shop has the right parts and the bandwidth to take care of the customer. Not only that but we also see video playing a more important role in documenting the condition of the unit to counteract claims of damage happening when it’s in your possession and possiblywarranty claims in the future.
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03.
Creating Contactless Convenience
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The pandemic created a sink-or-swim situation for dealers. Those who were able to adapt their business operations to overcome challenges were able to thrive. Having a robust online presence and providing contactless sales and service gave some dealers a competitive advantage. But contactless sales and service aren’t a fad—customers want convenience. Here are some of the ways dealers and organizations are incorporating contactless sales and service into their operations. VIRTUAL RV TOURS Some say that one day, RVs will be fully sold online, without customers ever needing to step foot in the dealership. Whether or not that comes true remains to be seen. But of one thing we can be certain: if someone is buying an RV from you for the first time, odds are they’re checking out your units online first. In an IDS survey of RV dealers, when asked if dealers currently offer an online catalog, only 23% said they do and only 12% said it’s up to date . You can provide prospects reassurance by offering them the convenience of a virtual tour of your units before they need to commit to coming into your shop. For younger generations looking to buy, that call could be what makes or breaks your sale—if they like your dealership on the call, they’re more likely to come into your shop.
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DIGITAL PAYMENTS Digital payments enable dealers to receive payments without customers needing to step foot in their dealership. While dealers may still be met with some resistance from customers, old attitudes towards payments are shifting. As contactless payment apps like Uber, Postmates, Google App Store, and more see higher and higher adoption among all age groups, customers are more likely to welcome contactless payment options for RVs as well. According to eMarketer forecasting analyst Oscar Orozco at Insider Intelligence, there are projected to be 6.5 million new mobile wallet users per year from 2021 to 2025 , more than 4 million of which will be Gen Z.
ONLINE AND HYBRID EVENTS This year, some events have adopted a hybrid approach, offering both in-person and online sessions. The question now is, how do organizations plan events for the year ahead? In an IDS survey of RV dealers across North America, when asked what types of events dealers prefer or plan to attend in 2022, 56% of respondents said in-person events. However, a not insignificant 28% said online, while 16% said hybrid . The benefits of online and hybrid events, including accessibility and less overhead costs, may encourage event organizers to adopt a new approach moving forward.
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04.
Business Intelligence and Analytics
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Dealers are becoming more sophisticated every day. The best dealers are leveraging data, analytics, market intelligence, and local market forecasts to answer some of their most pressing strategic questions: • What dealers, products/models, and price points are winning/losing in your local markets? • What are you winning/losing with? • How can you leverage available market data to better understand your markets to plan better and drive better dealership performance? • How can you use local retail demand forecasts to manage inventory better to gain market share in the categories you value? Being able to answer these key questions will give you clarity on how you should modify future inventory, sales, and marketing efforts to meet current and anticipated market and consumer demands. This requires market intelligence and analytical capabilities that go beyond basic reporting. If market intelligence gathering, forecasting, and business analytics are not your core capabilities, it might make sense to work with a partner that specializes in this space. They can help you bring best in class analytics capabilities inhouse quickly and economically. A few words on ‘market share,’ a core management metric: The value of market share lies in the fact that it provides a view of the market beyond your 4 walls. Whatever you think is happening, market share tells you with 100% certainty what is unfolding. It can confirm existing beliefs or challenge current assumptions. “Gut feel” is important, but it becomes vastly more powerful when you can compare your intuition against actual market data to either validate your assumptions or challenge them. In addition to benchmarking your performance against your market, market share also helps root cause performance drivers and highlights plans to take corrective action. With competition and sophistication in the RV retail space rapidly increasing, it is more important than ever to have as many advantages as possible. Having market knowledge and insights based on data and putting it to work represents a major source of sustainable strategic advantage.”
JASON KRANTZ CEO and Founder of Strategy Titan
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Over the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of talk in the industry about the importance of business intelligence and analytics. That’s why a lot of dealers are hiring third-party agencies to do reporting. But running a report will only get you so far—you need to know what to do with the data. For example, dealers need to know months in advance how many units they’ll sell for the year, so they can place their order and forecast what they may need. Many dealers think gauging those numbers is more of an art than a science. But there are real limits to this approach. To make more accurate, informed decisions, dealers need to look at real data and ask the right questions. RV dealers have more data resources at their fingertips than ever before—at the industry level and the departmental level within their dealership. Dealers who leverage data analytics to maximize efficiency and identify sales opportunities are at a huge advantage.
EFFICIENCY BENCHMARKING Measuring your dealership’s performance against others in the region will help you identify areas for improvement. RECT reporting helps you compare your dealership locations and Service Advisor performance. Now, to predict how your dealership will perform in the future, you need to work with a dealer management solution that can help you leverage the data effectively.
FINANCE & INSURANCE KPIS NewRV buyers present dealers with an opportunity to offer more F&I products. The younger generations entering the market tend to be more interested in investing peace of mind, making F&I not just a “nice to have” for many dealers, but an essential revenue stream.
With more dealers focusing on F&I, they will need to track the right F&I KPIs:
1. Units Retailed per F&I Employee
5. Finance Income per Contract
2. F&I Income per F&I Employee
6. F&I Income per Vehicle Retailed
3. Finance Contracts (New & Used) per F&I Employee
7. All the above comparing each F&I Employee
4. Finance Penetration (New & Used)
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05.
Working in the Cloud
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Cloud technology has been on the rise for a few years now. Switching servers to a third-party cloud provider enables dealers to focus on the parts of their business that make them money, rather than needing to sink resources into maintaining their own server. Now that more dealers have adopted cloud hosting, we’re seeing a shift in how dealerships operate and what they’re demanding of cloud service providers.
Over the past 1+ year we’ve learned that change isn’t always a bad thing. Our ability to pivot to the market’s needs have become one of the defining measures of our success. Online only and contactless have become standard language, but there’s more change to come. Embedded electronic smarts, like your smart home thermostat or doorbell camera, will become standard in RVs & marine vehicles. Consider the simplicity if your RV told you what it needed and enabled automated service scheduling? Or your bowrider shared with you performance metrics, usage reports, and service scheduling reminders. The automated scheduling could even detect if the required parts are in inventory and order them if required. More smarts equals better service.
DAVID DARRELL Director of Cloud Operations at IDS
SECURITY Cyberattacks are a growing concern for dealers across virtually all industries, and RV dealers are no different. According to Retarus, malware increasedby358%overall and ransomware increased by 435% compared to 2019 . While some may still be apprehensive about moving to a public cloud, worrying that security won’t be as tight as a private cloud, dealers needn’t worry. Public cloud hosting tends to be more secure than private clouds. That means that a DMS provider’s cloud solution is inherently more secure and provides the added benefit of relieving dealers of the responsibility of maintaining their server.
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MOBILE WORKSTATIONS When asked in an IDS survey if dealers plan on using mobile technology for sales, service, and payments in 2022, a resounding 77% said yes. The demand for cloud-based dealer management systems is increasing. Removing the dependency on dedicated workstations with software installed provides teams with the flexibility to access their DMS on any device, at any time. Dealers can expect to see DMS providers work towards making their systems completely cloud-based in the coming year.
SMART RV TECHNOLOGY Smart home tech like the Amazon Echo and Google Nest has become ubiquitous. So, it’s only a matter of time before RV owners start demanding their vehicles be equipped with smart tech as well. There are some major potential benefits to smart RV tech, particularly where data collection is concerned. Imagine an RV that can track data to signal vehicle health (for example, measuring your engine’s heat, thermostat, etc.) and report on its own service requirements. That can free up the time it takes a service team to diagnose a problem. It will be important for dealers to have a DMS that directly interfaces with supporting smart services, to create one smart RV ecosystem.
“ALWAYS ON” AND FLEXIBLE ACCESSIBILITY The increased demand on dealers means that team members are often working longer hours, or getting things done outside of normal work hours. Similarly, with more buyers searching for RVs on the internet, dealers need their systems to be up and running at all hours of the day. That means DMS providers need their systems to be accessible at all times so that RV dealers can be “always on.”
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06.
Labor Automation
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Many dealers are experiencing high service employee burnout and employee turnover. If dealers can’t find good technicians in their area, they may need to look outside of the industry and train them. Not only that but with RV technology becoming more complex, many dealers need technicians who can fulfill a more generalist role (including electrical, plumbing, etc.). To fill the talent gap, many dealers will need to invest in tools that help fill efficiency gaps and free up their team’s time to focus on serving the customer better—data entry, communication, ordering, and other work that previously required a team member to get done.
COMMUNICATION AUTOMATION Dealers receive an incredibly high volume of communications every day. From lead flow to Work Order management, communications can slow down your team’s output significantly. The service labor shortage has only compounded that challenge. That’s why more dealers are implementing tools to automate communications, like CRMs and service department-specific tools like IDS ServiceCRM. Channeling an automation tool can save employees hours of work a day. communications through
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER (BDC) MANAGEMENT The sheer number of leads incoming to most dealerships is overwhelming, thanks to the increase in new RV buyers. Without enough people to man the phones, leads inevitably fall through the cracks. That’s why interest in BDC is on the rise. Big enough dealerships are even leveraging a specific BDC manager for sales and service, respectively. In essence, BDC Managers capture leads and convert them into sales. They do this by creating a more personalized, targeted online customer experience that uses cookies to track user behavior. Dealers can then pull from an intelligent database of customer information to create more relevant, effective marketing campaigns.
VIRTUAL TRAINING Spurredbypandemicsocialdistancingrestrictions, more dealers and RV dealer associations are offering online learning opportunities for employees. But this trend is set to carry on into the coming year, as virtual training provides teams with more interactive, hands-on learning resources. For example, dealers can expect to see DMS providers offering more interactive video training in the coming year.
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07.
Sustainable RV Technology
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Sustainable technology is on everyone’s minds. We see this mirrored in the auto industry—and virtually every other industry as well. According to the “Go RVing Owner Demographic Profile,” 88% of RV owners would like to see an off-grid element incorporated into their next RV , with the greatest demand being generators, solar panels, and WiFi.
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
Increased environmental regulations are pushing a general move towards electric-only vehicles, with more dealers looking to implement power sources like solar panels and generators, and lithium batteries on their units. Dealers will need to account for a greater focus on batteries and how to properly dispose of them. work a day. According to an IDS survey of RV dealers across North America, 23% of respondents plan on making eco-friendly power sources and features a priority in 2022 . For the dealers that do plan on making alternative power a priory, they may be positioning themselves to tap into an early market that is likely to grow.
SUSTAINABLE WATER TREATMENT We are also seeing an increased interest in sustainable water treatment technology in vehicles. These systems are currently customer-installed but we’re likely going to see more OEMs incorporating them as well. Companies like No Dirty Earth are spearheading this technology. Dealers may want to put more focus on marketing sustainable RV tech.
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08.
Navigating the Acquisition Landscape
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Does it feel like every week, a new acquisition is being announced?
Over the past few years, the industry has seen a boom in acquisitions. Many dealers that have been around for a long time are looking to sell—and dealership conglomerates are happy to buy them. Anecdotally, we’ve probably done more acquisition work at IDS in the last three years than in the last 20 years. With the RV industry shifting towards consolidation, dealers looking to sell will need to make sure their business is in tip-top shape. Meanwhile, those not looking to sell will need to think strategically about how to differentiate themselves from “big box” dealerships by providing a more personal customer experience.
KNOW YOUR DEALERSHIP’S VALUE
If you’re looking to sell, you need to make your business look as attractive as possible. That means having all your ducks in a row and making sure you have the data to back up your pitch. It’s important to have a historical track of your data history—market share, sales history, and repair event cycle time. Having real data to reinforce your dealership’s value can be crucial for setting you apart from other potential sellers. An important part of preparing to sell is to clean up your dealership’s financials. This is where it’s worth it to leverage your DMS provider’s experienced services to clean up your financials. You have the data—they can make sure it’s ready to present.
COLLABORATE WITH YOUR DMS PROVIDER If you’re selling your business, you can save yourself a lot of grief by looping in your DMS provider and working with them early on. Many dealers don’t consider this until it’s down to the wire—which can lead to a scramble in an already stressful process. The best time to notify your DMS provider is after the letter of intent is signed. That way, you can work together to make the transition as painless as possible.
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DIFFERENTIATE YOUR BUSINESS
More consolidation means that “big box” dealerships will be able to offer more competitive pricing. Because many smaller dealers won’t be able to compete on price, theywill have to findways to compete on customer experience. Focusing on reinforcing your team’s relationships with your customers and providing a more personalized experience will make all the difference in a highly competitive market.
Communicate Throughout the Service Cycle
Notify customers about the status of their unit, when parts are on order, when their unit is ready for pick up, and when their unit is due for servicing.
Ask Customers for Feedback
Send customers post-sale and service surveys asking them to rate their experience and provide feedback. Automate your survey requests to make them easier to manage.
Request Customer Referrals
If your customers are happy with their service, they will most likely be happy to refer their friends and family. Proactively ask customers to refer friends and family using automated email and SMS communications.
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WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
For many dealers, the last two years have felt like a crossroads. The changing demographics of both RV buyers and dealership employees, combined with the challenges created by the ripple effect of the pandemic, meant that many dealers had to make technological upgrades that they may have been hesitant to in the past. While the road to 2022 hasn’t been the smoothest, the boom happening in the industry right now should be celebrated. RV dealers have shown incredible resilience. It certainly hasn’t been easy, but we do believe that the push the last two years gave dealers will only make them stronger as we move forward. Dealers are working smarter than ever—and that bodes well for the industry as a whole. This same drive is what inspires IDS to continue to work with dealers to fix bottlenecks, increase efficiency, and create better customer experiences. We believe we are uniquely positioned, based on our relationships and 30+ years in the RV industry, to deliver solutions to help dealers overcome the challenges highlighted in these trends.
Exciting things are around the corner for RV dealers in 2022. So, step on the gas and don’t look back.
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