RRon shepherd exchanged theautomotive industry for the RVindustry in 1990 when he becamepartners with an experienced RVdealer. The two grew their dealer-ship from a mom-and-popoperation with $2 million in annualsales to one of Tulsa’s premierdealerships. Shepherd eventuallyleft to set up his own dealership,Camperland of Oklahoma in Tulsa,which celebrated its 15th birthdaythis year. Along the way, he helpedfound the Oklahoma RecreationalVehicle Association, serving as itspresident. In addition to serving onRVDA’s board of directors, he haschaired the Convention/ExpoCommittee.

Q Describe Camperland ofOklahoma’s customer

demographics.

A It was predominantlyboomers before, but now

we’re selling to a lot of youngerfamilies, in keeping with nationalstatistics that show millennials arenow the largest segment. A newtrend we’re seeing is boomers whoare trading down and buying

smaller units. We’re not selling bigmotorized units — our focus is ontowables — and people aged 35 to55 are our biggest demographicgroup. Because of where we’relocated, another pretty good-sizedsegment for us is the pipelinepeople, welders and other folksbeing sent out to the oil fields inMontana, North Dakota, Texas,and Oklahoma.

Q Are dealer inventories finallyright sized or are things still

shaking out?

A My sense is that it’s very closeto having gotten right sized.

At Open House, I talked to friendswho are still trying to get theirinventory at the right place. Thisyear has been very painful. It’sbeen tough on all of us becausemargins have slipped as peopletry to right size their inventory. Atmy dealership, towables sell verywell. Motorhomes go hot and cold.

Q Has the industry made anyheadway with improving

RECT (repair event cycle time)?

A We definitely need to stay onpoint with RECT. The work

done by [former RVDA chair] BrianWilkins moved the needle. Sincethen we’ve accomplished quite abit, although it can feel like asnail’s pace. I just talked to my

DMS provider, Lightspeed EVO,and they’re working on it withRVDA and RVIA. We need to keepthe customer’s experience in theforefront, and RECT has helped usrealize we haven’t been focusedon the customer the way weshould have. My sons and theirgeneration don’t buy cars thatbreak, and if they do break, theybetter be repaired fast. Theproblem is that our industry hasn’tfocused on that the way it shouldhave until the RECT study came tobe. Now, because of the study, Ibelieve all players realize theimportance of quality, warranty,

Meet 2020 RVDA Chairman Ro By Mary Anne Shreve

2020 RVDA Chairman Ron Shepherdwith receptionist Ana Carbajal

Vice president offixed operations

Thomas Shepherd10

continued on page 12

parts availability, and trainedtechnicians, the four pillars we talkabout for improving the customerexperience.

Q How has the trade war withChina affected you?

A It’s been a big deal for thecost of units. Manufacturers

prepared for the tariffs by markingup their products. I think we hadfour price increases in the past 12months, and that was before thetariffs had even been enacted. It’snot that they’ve gone up by hugenumbers but, as an example, ourbest-selling trailer is the numberone selling trailer in North America.We used to advertise it at $12,995,

and now we’re selling it for$14,995 — an increase of $2,000in just 12 months. And the termsused to be $99 a month, and wecouldn’t keep the units in stock.Today it’s $129 a month with 10percent down. I definitely think thatslows business down. The tradetariffs need to be fair to both sides,and I’m not sure it has been, sowhat are we to do?

Q What are some of your goalsas 2019 chair?

A In addition to RECT, I intend tostart an initiative to get more

dealers involved with RVDA so theysee what the association does forthem. For instance, I would love to

figure out how to double conven-tion attendance, because once yougo, you see how valuable anexperience it is. As conventioncommittee chairman, I saw theimportance of changing the speak-ers around so you don’t have thesame ones every year. We do agood job of bringing in new voices,but I still hear that complaint “It’salways the same.” It’s not, and Iwant to get that message out.

Ron Shepherd

Shepherd, lot crew SoteroSaucedo and Jaime Perez

Service writerMichael Williams

Service technicianPaul Sherwin

Service writer MichaelWilliams, service manager

Rick Wilson, Shepherd,(title?) Gilbert Jacquez

Service technicianShane Seccombe

11

12 RV EXECUTIVE TODAY

Continued from page 11

Q What kind of a year is 2020going to be for the RV indus-

try? Dealers?

A I’m hoping the election nextyear doesn’t cause a hiccup

in things. Our media partners havealready told us we need to bookour advertising time for next yearbecause of the elections. And Iknow we’re well past due for acorrection in the economy. I justhope it’s not too painful, because Ithink there are a lot of dealers whoare overextended. You tend tospend too much in good times.

On the other hand, our indus-try is doing a lot of things right, likethe go RVing campaign. We’vedefinitely gotten across the ideathat RVing is family oriented, and Ithink people are coming back tovaluing family time. We’ve rightsized our inventory, and manufac-

turers have right sized production.So 2020 should be another goodyear. It may not be a fantasticyear, but I think it’s possible we’llget a modest 5 percent increase inRV sales.

Q What’s your successionplan?

A My three sons all grew up inthe business. Philip is a

special-education teacher in St.Louis, and the other two work inthe dealership and want to stay init. The oldest, Thomas, is vice presi-dent of fixed operations, the entireback end. My middle son, Brent, isvice president of sales and market-ing and the Internet. They’ve beenthrough the Spader leadershipprogram, which they just finished inMarch, and will go throughanother five-day Spader program,and then they will be in their own20 Groups.

We have a road map for howthey’ll take over, thanks to a goodfriend of mine who’s also a dealer.He started thinking about what todo with his dealership when hewas 65. I saw him going throughthe planning process and startedthinking, ‘We need to start thinkingabout our own exit strategy.’ I don’twant to work forever, so we betterstart putting some plans in motion.The first thing I did was to ask themif they were even interested intaking over. And I’ve been to[Morgan Stanley certified financialplanner] Brad Stanek’s session onexit plans twice.” n

“We’ve definitelygotten acrossthe idea that

RVing is familyoriented, and Ithink peopleare coming

back to valuingfamily time.”

Managers Ed Fillinger, Tammy Randall,Joe Sexson, Shepherd, Brent Shepherd,Thomas Shepherd, Jeff Burger

Salesmen Eric Allen and Gary Burger, Shepherd,salesman Don Hafner, vice president of salesand marketing Brent Shepherd

Parts personHerb Taylor

F&I managerJoe Sexson