With the downturn in the industry, even those dealers that survived were forced to scale back operations and lay off employees, and unfortunately many parts departments took the brunt of those reductions. Today, this leaves many parts departments in need of some serious attention now that there are signs the market is returning.

The three main areas that must be addressed are: education, appearance and attitude. Concentrating on these areas will allow parts personnel to be ready for the growth that’s coming. The industry will rebound and be stronger than before if we prepare now and embrace this challenge.

Education

The customers who return first to the RV world will be the most sophisticated ever. In order to be successful when the rest of the economy was struggling, they had to be extraordinary in their career fields. This will also make them some of the most demanding customers we have seen.

The days of allowing our parts employees to be “trained” on the floor are over, because every penny from every customer is so valuable. All of our employees must make a strong impression on the people coming into the dealership, and parts people talk to more of customers than any other department in the company. These employees must be properly educated in all areas of retail marketing as well as RV technical issues.

The RV industry has some of the best resources available to train these employees. The RVDA’s RV Learning Center has several books and tapes available to teach your people. Books such as “Retail Operations and Merchandising” as well as the “RV Parts Manager Learning Guide” should be required reading for all parts employees. These books can be easily ordered if you don’t already have them setting on your shelves somewhere.

This is basic information that should be secondhand to most of the qualified people in the parts departments, but a little refresher never hurt anyone. If you only get one good idea out of each book each time you read it, it will be time well spent. These books have some very good industry-specific information that will benefit even the most seasoned parts employee.

As the RV industry evolves, we must become knowledgeable about all aspects of retail marketing, and merchandising. Reading only RV-specific information will limit the ideas and programs your parts department uses to try to lure customers.

There are some excellent authors who do not talk about RV products but understand retail marketing, and these ideas can be very beneficial to your department. One such person is Thomas J. Winninger, author of “Price Wars, How to Win the Battle for Your Customer” and “Sell Easy: What to Do and Say to Get More Yes.”  These books provide detailed, step-by-step methods to use to provide better customer service while selling more products. If you are having difficulties competing with the big box stores, the information contained in these books are invaluable.

Most trade shows also have some type of educational seminars available that will give you even more information. Dealers who do not send their parts people to these types of gathers are jumping over a dollar to pick up a dime. But if it is just impossible to attend, most vendors will be more than willing to provide training at your location. Either way, product-specific training is something that all employees must be given the opportunity to acquire.

Whether you get your training from books, seminars or from a supplier is not important, what is important is getting the education. Our industry needs qualified people to represent it in the parts departments and this requires learning. With RVDA, independent writers and distributor shows available, the only real excuse is lack of dedication.

Appearance

Trained, educated parts employees are only half of the equation needed to ensure success in the department. The second area that must be addressed is the look and feel of the store when a customer walks in. We all know the importance of first impressions, so it is always vital to look good for the customers.

Appearance includes many areas such as the merchandising of the store, the color scheme of the walls, the uniforms of the employees and the overall layout of the dealership. These can be daunting tasks to deal with, but like other educational issues, there are several sources for the tools needed.

RV Learning Center books such as “Visual Merchandising, Pricing, Signs and Packaging” and “Planning Your Store Renovation” have too many good ideas to mention. These books have been assembled over years of research and provide proven methods to make you store look more professional and be more productive. The small cost of each of these books will be recouped in a matter of moments if their ideas are implemented.

If you are going to compete against companies that literally spend millions of dollars on merchandising techniques, you are going to need some help. But merchandising does not always mean reinventing the wheel. Some of the best ideas have been around for years. Start with the basics in these books and your store can evolve into one customers will talk about.

A successful RV parts store will benefit the dealership, but it will also benefit the distributor who supplies the store. Due to this involvement with each other, distributors are more than willing to assist in a parts department’s rebirth. Most national distributors now have teams of people dedicated to designing and merchandising RV parts departments so they show their best. This can be an expensive and time consuming undertaking, but it is almost always a huge success.

This experience has also provided these organizations with a wealth of information they are more than willing to share. Contact your representative of these companies and they will provide you with some wonderful ideas to make you store stand out in your customer’s eye.

When a customer walks into a dealership, they are seeking a solution to a need or problem. Their eyes are their first indication as to whether that perceived difficulty will be satisfied. The look and feel of the parts department can go a long way in making a customer believe in your organization. Using people who are experts in these ideas to set the basics for your department will make the appearance of your area the most effective it can be.

Attitude

Now that your store has the professional appearance and is staffed by highly trained employees there is only one thing that can hold it back from success: Attitude. The way the people who work in your department think and feel will have more affect on your bottom line than any other aspect under your control. People need to be positive and willing to do whatever is needed to satisfy the customer.

It does not matter what has gone wrong with the day: All personnel must be ready to jump in and help the next person who walks in the door. Your people need to realize that most customers who come into a parts or service department are there because they have a problem and they probably are not too happy about that. Putting them at ease will make the job a lot easier and more successful and this takes the right attitude.

The simplest way to have the right people, with the right attitude, is to hire for attitude. Technical skills can be trained, attitude cannot. People who know how to react to customer’s difficulties will build repeat business for you company for years. The wrong attitude can permanently damage your dealership.

Attitude can overcome shortcomings in education and appearance, but knowledge and good looks will not overcome a bad disposition. The right people who have the right outlook will take your parts department as far as you want it to go.