Liegl: Forest River Show ‘Hits Our Numbers’

FYI
Regards,
Keith

Liegl: Forest River Show ‘Hits Our Numbers’
Friday, October 24, 2008

Forest River Inc.’s two-day dealer show held this week at the company’s headquarters on the west side of Elkhart, Ind., was “one of the best investments I ever made with Forest River,” reports Pete Liegl, Forest River's founder and CEO.

“We hit our numbers” in terms of some 900 invited guests and 350 dealerships, Liegl told RVBUSINESS.com on Friday in assessing how well the dealer confab met his goals. “It helped” he added, likening it to a minister who “might save a few souls on Sunday but next Sunday hopes to do it again.”

Forest River’s prime mission was to further cement relationships with its dealer body and move new product at the show, held Wednesday and Thursday in a 15-acre lot adjacent to the company’s headquarters. It was the firm’s first dealer show in a decade, timed as it was in October, not all that long before RVIA’s National RV Trade Show, Dec. 2-4 in Louisville, Ky.

Amid sprawling displays containing hundreds of units – plus examples of the company’s park models and pontoon boats -- Forest River rolled out its 2009 product line and garnered the best response from its Class A motorhome offerings, according to Liegl, who declined to quantity actual sales to dealers.

However, Liegl said sales were pretty much on a par with what the company anticipates doing at Louisville. “On a scale of 1 to 10, it was a 10 as far as I am concerned,” said Liegl, “because it got across the message that we are financially strong.”

“With this downturn in the economy,” he said, “we have several manufacturers out there that are having a tough time -- one problem being that it’s scaring a lot of dealers,” he said.

Forest River focused at the show on lending options, amid the nation's credit crunch, which has tightened the lending environment. On hand during the show were representatives of Forest River-owned Priority One – a retail financing broker that has been making loans to retail customers for more than 20 years - and Textron, a wholesale financing company with which Forest River partnered in 2006.

Along with all the rolling stock was a predictable air of hospitality. Situated alongside the display area was an expansive tent in which cocktails and steak dinners were served and live entertainment was provided – rock music on Wednesday night and an Oktoberfest theme with a polka band on Thursday. Dealers were shuttled back and forth from area hotels, several of which were booked up with Forest River meeting attendees.

One thing Liegl learned from the show: “Next year, we’ll need a bigger tent!”

Forest River’s prime mission was to further cement relationships with its dealer body and move new product at the show

JMHO, but shouldn't FR's prime mission be "customer satisfaction" and "improved quality control"?

Thanks, Keith, for printing this.

My personal hopes are that the downturn in the industry and resulting mfg firms going out of business will result in an awakening that they need to make a quality product with excellent customer service in order to compete for the marketshare, when the economy turns around.

One can hope..........

keithbennett wrote:My personal hopes are that the downturn in the industry and resulting mfg firms going out of business will result in an awakening that they need to make a quality product with excellent customer service in order to compete for the marketshare, when the economy turns around.

One can hope..........

That would be good...

keithbennett wrote:My personal hopes are that the downturn in the industry and resulting mfg firms going out of business will result in an awakening that they need to make a quality product with excellent customer service in order to compete for the marketshare, when the economy turns around.

One can hope..........

I don't think so. The cynic in me tells me this was purely a love fest between the FR and the dealers. It's a PR push by FR since the market is in a down turn, I'm sure a lot of dealers are looking to trim the poor moving brands on their lots and FR is selling itself to the dealers to ensure that they keep stocking FR brands. This particular show had nothing to do with the consumer. In this market, FR's first priority is to play nice with their dealer network, for the privilege of having the end consumer see their products. From what I know, dealers cycle in and out of a particular line depending on how much they can make.

I think we can all attest that quality is lower down on the priority ladder for all mfg's and I don't think that a poor economy is going to change that. In fact, I think that it'll make it worse as mfg's cut corners to save costs to stay in business. This industry is so fragmented that no one player can dictate anything, even quality. That's one of the things about a competitive environment. Retailers have trained us to look for the lowest prices with their constant sales. How does Detroit move more metal? They slash the price. As a result, price is usually the prime decision driver for a consumer. Just look at how many people on this forum ask where's the cheapest place to get a Cat.

I admit that I didn't buy a Cat on quality, I had a price point and I went for the features and floor plan that fit my budget. Even more, I went for one of the volume dealers to save even more money. And, price doesn't necessarily mean quality. My parents have one of those huge class A diesel pushers that they full-time in half the year and they are bringing it in all the time for warranty work; windows, blinds, electrical, plumbing, drive train. I just find it interesting that quality defects that we would not tolerate in a car are happily tolerated in the RV industry. It seems to be a badge of honor to have a horror list of quality issues with our rigs.

The quality issue won't be solved until the consumer's mindset changes and starts demanding quality.

I'll get off my soap box now.

HAPPY HALLOWEN