By Greg Gerber on 9/29/2008 1:38 PM

If there is a sliver of conservatism still remaining in Washington, D.C., it can be found in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This afternoon, the House failed to spend $700 billion to bail out greed and mismanagement on Wall Street. Consider it a $700 billion tax cut because every American would have had to cover the debt to the tune of $2,325 in the event the stop-gap measure failed to work because nothing was being done to prevent the money from falling into the black hole of big business.

I don't know about you, but I am getting just a bit irritated that the U.S. government selectively comes to the aid of certain businesses and industries, and hands all of us the tab.

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By Bob Zagami on 9/27/2008 6:59 AM

Those are not my words folks, they came from a dealer that responsded to my Friends or Foe article that appeared in the August/September issue of RV Industry News.  I wrote about this topic several years ago and was hoping for a different reaction this time around.  After so many successful years one would think that manufacturer's would have invested some of their profits in training programs for the people they send out into the field to meet with their customers - the dealers!  Based on the early returns, that came flying in on e-mails and phone calls from our readers, this is still a very hot topic, so - as one dealer suggested - let's carry it over to the blog and see what the rest of you have to say on the subject.

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By Bob Zagami on 9/26/2008 10:35 PM

This entry is just a note to let readers know why I was off the Internet for awhile and that I will be back in action tomorrow with a new blog.

edit: We have moved this blog and all comments over to the forums...the forums are much better suited for personal topics like this.

You can go to the top of the page and click on "community" or simply click here

Thank You for understanding,

Wolfgang

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By Greg Gerber on 9/26/2008 11:40 AM

The RV industry learned a very valuable lesson – again – about commitment this week when KeyBank unceremoniously and inexplicably abandoned the RV market hours after their employees were dispatched to Las Vegas to reassure anxious dealers that the bank was committed to the industry for the long haul.

We haven’t seen this level of commitment since National RV shut its doors and declared bankruptcy less than 24 hours after inking their final deal at the 2007 National RV Show.

Once again we have a national financial institution taking their ball and going home leaving legitimate businesses scrambling to identify other sources of funding to either acquire inventory or at least keep the units they already have on the lots.

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By Greg Gerber on 9/24/2008 10:47 PM

The state of the economy leads most conversations around the halls of the RV Dealers Association's convention and expo in Las Vegas this week. But, nobody's betting on when the latest slump will end.

Last week, consensus appeared to be that the U.S. economy would bounce back by June. I thought that was good news because the RV industry has always led the economy out of economic slumps, which means that we would start to see an upswing in the first quarter of the new year -- just in time for spring shows.

Then Wall Street melted down, the government turned on its money making printing press to make the problem go away, and the situation got even worse.

Today, not even Las Vegas' famed odds makers are willing to lay odds on this issue. It's anyone's guess.  In fact, I don't know what to think -- which is highly unusual.

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By Greg Gerber on 9/24/2008 10:29 PM

The owner of a California RV storage center came to the aid of his community not once, but twice, in recent months.

An article appearing Tuesday in the Oroville Mercury-Register described how Mike Cunningham, owner of Oroville RV/Boat & Self Storage, opened his business to accept community donations to help families impacted by wildfires that ravaged the area. His leadership resulted in enough donations of clothing, household items, toys and other things that he filled 15 storage units.

But, after the fire victims helped themselves to everything they needed, he had thousands of items remaining in his storage center. So, last weekend, for $1 people could fill a paper bag with whatever they wanted -- and all proceeds were donated to a local school district to help buy new library books and textbooks.

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By Mike Whitty on 9/24/2008 5:05 PM

What is success? Success has been defined as “the progressive attainment of a worthy goal”. While this is a good general definition, each one of us has our own specific idea about what success means to us. So, what does success mean to you? For some people it means status, prestige, and respect; for others it means power - the ability to influence and command others. But for most people, their definition of success includes financial independence and security.

What is financial independence? Like success, financial independence means something different to each of us. A better question might be: “What amount of income would make you feel financially independent?”

For some salespeople that might be $25,000 per year, for others it might be $100,000. The important thing isn’t the amount of money itself. What really matters is how will you make enough money for you to feel financially independent. Understanding how an RV salesperson’s business works is one way to make sure you don’t become just another...

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By Mike Whitty on 9/19/2008 10:23 PM

There's no single, remarkable secret. In fact, great Sales Managers are many things. Depending on the situation, a great sales Manager is a time-management supervisor, a meeting planner, a contest coordinator, a talent scout, a coach, a trainer and a psychiatrist. All of those roles put together--and executed well--make for a great Sales Manager.

However, there are five key areas in which the best Sales Managers excel. Great Managers:

1. Are passionate and enthusiastic. These traits are transferred to the entire sales staff. If the leader is negative, everyone else will be pulled down. How do great managers maintain a realistically positive attitude? Great managers are great readers; they read everything they can find about their crafts and industries. They seek out mentors whose wisdom and experience can help them achieve their goals, and they encourage their salespeople to do the same. They surround themselves with high-quality people.

...

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By Greg Gerber on 9/19/2008 8:37 AM

Last week, Indiana got a $10.4 million federal grant -- and that was in addition to a previous $3 million grant -- to retrain 1,800 RV workers. That amounts to $7,444 per worker.

Despite the fact the state was given $7,444 per worker, they announced a program where "eligible" workers can receive up to $6,000 to enter a training program connected to high-need occupations. 

Now there's an idea! The RV industry is facing a severe shortage of qualified service technicians. The federal government is giving out an extraordinary amount of free money to retrain workers and help them find jobs. This is a marriage made in Washington!

How about developing an RV Service Academy, billing the federal government $6,000 per student to provide $2,911 in training to show them how to fix RVs. Then, the academy can give the students $2,500 to relocate to another part of the country.

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By Greg Gerber on 9/19/2008 7:59 AM

Just think, there are thousands of people without homes in Texas and RV manufacturers are laying off thousands of people because there isn't enough work for them to do.

It's like watching a young couple you know who are just made for each other working diligently to be the first to ignore the other.

I wonder if FEMA is regretting its decision following the Hurricane Katrina debacle to "never again" put homeless disaster victims in dry, clean, formaldehyde-free RVs that can be connected to generators and propane to power refrigerators and stoves?

Maybe FEMA could hire a displaced RV worker to drive down another truckload of tarps.

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