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.
6
Powered by FlippingBook