RV and Boat Dealers Using IDS Dealer Software

Integrated Dealer Systems, aka IDS, is one of the leading providers of management systems for the RV, Marine and Automotive Industries.  In business since 1984, IDS has developed complete software solutions for over 9,500 users across North America.  IDS offers turnkey and customized systems, integrating hardware, software and network configurations, to help dealers better manage their businesses.  Their system capabilities include sales prospecting, accounting, administration and parts & inventory management.  They can also apply custom applications to help dealers with their specialized needs.  You can visit their website for more information: www.ids-astra.com

RVUSA.com has been importing units for RV Dealers from their IDS Systems for several years now.  This week we setup the import of boats from the IDS System to our Boat Portal website, www.BoatPlace.net.  Mark’s RV & Boat Superstore is the first dealer we’ve imported boats for via the IDS Feed:  http://www.boatplace.net/find_dealer2.asp?category=1&state=33

Now the IDS feed we receive does not include pictures but you will have access to the RV and/or Boat Inventory Manager we have setup so that you can add those pictures very easily.  If we are not hosting your website, we can supply you with virtual inventory display pages that you can link to from your website like we do for Mark’s:  http://marksrvandmarine.boatplace.net/inventory_b.asp

If you have any questions, send me an email.

Cindy Spencer

RVUSA.com now has an Inventory Export setup to Auction123

 RVUSA.com has added a new export to our list of over 75 websites we can send your inventory to – Auction123.  If you are a current RVUSA.com Dealer Partner using Auction123 to list your inventory on eBay and/or Craigslist, contact your RVUSA.com representative and let us know you want to use this service.  If you would like to get signed up with RVUSA.com so that you can take advantage of our Inventory Export Services, you can give us a call or send us an email and we will get the ball rolling for you.  To review our Dealer Plans, go to:  http://www.netsourcervs.com/rv-dealer-solutions.asp

Here’s some background information about Auction123: 
Founded in 2001, Auction123 Inc. is the leading provider of end-to-end business solutions and services targeted at the recreational vehicle industry.  They provide a seamless integrated “Inventory Management Solution”, which is unmatched in the industry.  Their core strength and approach focuses on proven ways of combining IT innovation and adoption, while also maximizing an organization’s current business model. 

Auction123 offers a tight and seamless integration between RVUSA.com, the dealer’s website(s), eBay Motors, Craigslist, and all third-party websites.  Their proven and innovative technology allows dealerships to save considerable time and money, while dramatically improving their sales, margins, and leads.  Our software was built for dealers by dealers.

To review more information about Auction123 and their services for RV Dealers, go to:  http://www.auction123.com/rv.asp or you can contact Sunny Pritchard @ 1-888-514-0123 x 345.

Cindy Spencer 

Toll-Free:  866-643-4625 x 120

Certified Pre-Owned Logo on TrailersUSA.com

NATDA launched a National Advertising Campaign for ”Certified Pre-Owned” trailers this month and TrailersUSA.com is helping dealers list their used trailers with the CPO logo on their website and their TrailersUSA.com listings.  

The Certified Pre-Owned Trailer Program is available to all NATDA members to help bring customers to your dealership and move more trailers.  It puts a 90-day warranty on your used trailers and is designed to give your customers peace of mind on the used trailer they purchase from you.  Through the CPO Program, you can choose to cover all of your trailers or only your living quarter trailers.

Why Certified Pre-Owned?

• The trailer has been thoroughly checked and is in good working order.
• That you care about your customer and back up all of your used trailers with a 90 day warranty. 
• If you sell out of state, your customer has peace of mind that they can have the repairs done at any dealership nationwide.
• Get more money for your used trailers.  In the auto industry, CPO vehicles bring an average of $942 more than non-CPO vehicles.

How to use the Certified Pre-Owned logo:

• You will want to display it with your used trailers on your website, which we can implement for you just like we did for Circle M Trailers here:   http://circlemtrailers.trailersusa.com/inventory_detail.asp?id=49818
• When you sign-up with TrailersUSA.com, if you are a participating CPO Program dealer, you will be able to use the CPO logo on your used trailer listings on TrailersUSA.com:  http://www.trailersusa.com/item_detail.asp?id=49818
• Visitors on TrailersUSA.com can use our Advanced Search page to search specifically for Certified Pre-Owned Trailers:  http://www.trailersusa.com/search.asp

If you are signed up for the CPO Program and want to get signed up for TrailersUSA.com so you can use it on your website and ours, CLICK HERE.

If you have more questions about the CPO Program and/or would like to join NATDA, CLICK HERE.

I’m always available for any questions you may have as well, email:  cindy@rvusa.com.

Cindy Spencer : )

How to download your website for “offline” browsing

Many RV Dealers are planning for their upcoming 2010 RV Shows and having just come from the RVIA show myself earlier this month, I know the internet connection at these events, if available, can be expensive.  Since you can’t take all of your inventory with you to the shows you attend, it’s pretty important to be able to access the inventory you didn’t take so that you can show it to the potential customers you meet.  The best way to do that is via your website, if you have your inventory posted there.  (If you don’t, call me.)

I’ve heard from several dealers that the internet connections they’ve experienced at the shows, if there was one, has been that they are very slow.  That makes loading inventory pages an annoying, time consuming task.

One way to get around that is to download a copy of your website for “offline” browsing.  No more waiting for the internet connection to load all the pictures and content on the pages.  It’s all saved right on your PC and available for viewing much quicker than online browsing.

There are a lot of spidering programs out there that can help you perform this task.  One we’ve used with good success is HTTrack.  HTTrack is a free and easy-to-use offline browser utility.  It allows you to download a website from the internet to a local directory, building recursively all directories, getting HTML, images and other files from the server to your computer.  HTTrack arranges the original site’s relative link-structure, so you can open a page of the “mirrored” website in your browser and view it as if you were online.  It has the ability to update an existing mirrored website and/or resume an interrupted download via it’s integrated help system.

You can review the step-by-step instructions here:

Step 1:  Choose a project name and destination folder

Step 2:  Fill the addresses

Step 3:  Ready to start

Step 4:  Wait!

Step 5:  Check the result

Option panel

Now that you know how to do it, click HERE to download HTTrack.

If you don’t feel comfortable performing this task, that’s not a problem.  We can do it for you via our Network Hero service, which allows my technicians to provide offsite network support to you.  You can read more about my technicians and their capabilities by clicking HERE.

Send me an email if you would like information and pricing for my technicians to help you with this task remotely.

Cindy Spencer

Arizona State Parks Closing

I couldn’t imagine life without the state parks in Florida and would do all that I could if they were in jeopardy of closing, so I wanted to share this with as many people possible.

Cindy Spencer 

The Arizona State Legislature has acted on House Bill 2001.  It eliminates the ability of the Arizona State Parks system to operate.  All parks will ultimately close as a result of this action.  If you or your children wish to ever visit such extraordinary places like Kartchner Caverns State Park, Tonto Natural Bridge State Park or Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, you must act today.

Call, email or write (click here for a sample letter) Governor Jan Brewer and urge her to veto the parks cuts listed in the article below.

Phone:  602-542-4331 or 800-253-0883
Email via Governor’s Contact page at:
www.governor.state.az.us/Contact.asp
Mail:  The Honorable Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona,
1700 West Washington, Phoenix, Arizona 85007

 

ARIZONA STATE PARKS: A SYSTEM ON ITS DEATHBED

Friday, December 18, 2009
Proposed budget adjustments that are on the table at the special session of the State Legislature will cut more than $9 million of Parks funds, leaving the agency with only about $10 million in its 2010 budget.

That’s less than 30 percent of the agency’s normal funding and not enough to continue park operations beyond this fiscal year.

Governor Brewer and the Legislature are seeking $205 million in cuts to mitigate a deficit estimated to be $1.5 billion.  The proposed cuts to State Parks would provide just 4 percent of their goal, while shutting down the Park’s annual contribution to the Arizona economy of more than $266 million.

This result also negates 10 months of work by the Governor’s Task Force on Sustainable State Parks, which recommended in October that State Parks be funded with a fee on Arizona license plate renewals in exchange for free entry to the parks.

The cuts will force major reductions in Parks staff and closure of more than half of the State’s 30 parks this fiscal year.  The resulting loss of Park revenue is projected to leave the Parks System with no money to start the next fiscal year, July 1, 2010.  The next step will be to shut down the entire system and dispose of Parks properties, returning most of them to their original owners.

If Legislatures could keep parks open to Arizonans through 50 years of prior downturns, wars, gas crises and political turmoil, surely current lawmakers can find the revenues to do so–especially given the great economic value, popularity and intrinsic worth of our state parks.

The full Senate must consider this bill,  then it moves to the House (HB2001).

URGE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE TO KEEP YOUR STATE PARKS FUNDED & OPEN! 

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In the face of Arizona’s sprawling growth and development, 30 exceptional places have been set aside over the past half century for the recreational, environmental and cultural enjoyment of Arizonans and all who visit the state.

The places are the lakes, rivers, historic buildings and rich natural areas that constitute Arizona State Parks – a collection of wonder-provoking sites that the Arizona State Parks Foundation (ASPF) seeks to preserve, promote and enhance.

As a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, ASPF offers the foremost way for parks patrons, visitors and friends to support and strengthen Arizona State Parks through:

• Advocacy;
• Volunteer work;
• Parks friends groups and partnerships;
• Contributions made towards parks improvements and the acquisition of yet-unprotected, invaluable examples of Arizona’s beauty, recreational riches, environmental wonders and historic depth.

Check out the pages of this website to learn more about what they do, about the exceptional nature of the parks, and how you can become involved in efforts to better the state parks system for the sake of present and future generations.

Social Media & Social Networking for your Dealership

Are you leveraging the growing popularity of Social Networking websites like Facebook and Twitter?  These websites give you the ability to build buzz about your dealership and stay in touch with your current and potential customers very easily.  It’s a pro-active, personal and non-threatening way to engage customers.  Traditionally, your pro-active options were limited to mailers, radio ads, TV commercials, etc., which are expensive and have limited effectiveness.

When you give people the ability to proactively come to you and connect with your dealership, they are much more receptive to what you have to say.  What better and easier way to do that than on the highly popular social media websites?  The last report I saw said Facebook had 300 million users!! 

I checked the 2009 stats for Facebook and here’s what I found:

• The 35-54 year old demographic segment not only continued to grow the fastest, but it accelerated to a 276.4% growth rate over the past 6 months.  This demographic is DOUBLING roughly every two months.
• The 55+ demo is not far behind with a 194.3% growth rate.
• The 25-34 year population on Facebook is doubling every 6 months.
• Miami is the fastest growing metropolitan area.
• Females make up 55.7% of Facebook users and 42.2% are males.

That’s your target audience and you can connect with them for FREE!!  How much better can it get?

Are you ready to get started, but you are unsure how?  Do you need help getting it setup so you can then take over?

We have a new Social Media Package that will help you do just that. 

We can get you started by setting you up on the most important social networking websites and help you integrate your website, email campaigns and inventory listings for maximum results.

If you would like more information about our Social Media Package, send me an email or give me a call (866-643-4625) and I’ll send you all the details.

Merry Christmas Friends – have a safe and joyous holiday surrounded by your friends and family.

When you get a chance, hit me up on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/cindyspencer.

Cindy Spencer

Toll-Free Call Tracking Service

One of the services we offer our RV Dealers is the ability to track their phone leads from RVUSA.com, the 60 mfg / model specific websites and your inventory pages.  That way any inventory related call is tracked and even recorded if you want.  We do have reports in place through our Member Management Console where you can review stats for inventory views, website click throughs and email leads sent.  So the call tracking tool is the last piece of the puzzle.

This technology can be used to streamline your marketing response reporting, monitor your return on investment (ROI), record conversations for training purposes and allows you to track mulitple campaigns at once.  The best part is the cost is extremely small compared to the amount of information and stats you get.  How powerful is it and how much money will you save when you can definitely say, “this website generates 10 times more calls than this newspaper advertisement”?

Our Call Tracker service has the following features:

• Business and After Hours Playfile – lets callers know the call will be recorded.
• Call Recording – this is an optional feature – no additional charge to use this tool.
• Voicemail – most of you already have a voicemail system in place but for those of you who don’t, this tool is here.
• Advanced Call Routing – use this tool to route calls to a certain salesperson’s extension.
• Real-Time Metrics and Analytics – view reports by campaign, forwarding, hour/weekday, etc.
• Emailable Reports – setup automated email reports easily that can be sent to you daily, weekly or monthly.
• Click-To-Call (optional) – this tool enables you to place a button on your website that visitors can click on, enter their phone number and get a call back from you directly.
• Form-To-Phone (optional) – when visitors fill out this form on your website, you will get a call that reads aloud the information they’ve entered and then gives you the options of connecting directly to the visitor – all of this takes place in a matter of seconds.
• Reverse Number Lookup (optional) – detailed address information for the caller.

Here’s some of the other questions I’ve come across for our Call Tracker service:

Q:  Can I order a vanity number?
A:  Yes.  I’ll need to check availability first and there is an additional cost to setup a vanity number.

Q:  Can I take my Call Tracker number with me if I discontinue service?
A:  Yes.  We do not charge you if you want to switch to another carrier but your new carrier may charge you to accept it.

Q:  How much does it cost?
A:  The setup is free for RVUSA.com Dealer Partners and Platinum Dealers.  You’ll get 250 minutes per month with your plan and we charge a small per minute fee for overages.

Q:  How long does it take to get a Call Tracker number setup?
A:  Typically, it takes about 2-3 hours.

Q:  Can I block a bad caller or fax machine from calling my Call Tracker number?
A:  Yes, you can add numbers to your “blacklist”, which will block calls from that number.

Q:  How much is the Click-To-Call, Form-To-Phone and/or Reverse Number Lookup optional features?
A:  This depends on the plan you choose, for more details send me an email:  cindy@rvusa.com.

Q:  Can I buy additional numbers for my other advertising venues?
A:  Yes, email me with how many numbers you want and I’ll email you right back with the pricing.

Q:  I’m ready, what do you need from me?
A:  I need your local number that these calls will forward to, the contact name and email address the weekly reports will be sent to, your hours of operation for each day of the week and if you want call recording or not.

For more information or to get signed up, email me:  cindy@rvusa.com.

Cindy Spencer 

Online Pricing Solution That’s a Win for Everyone

I’ve heard a lot about MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) online pricing restrictions recently from our RV Dealers imposed by Forest River, Keystone, Open Range and a few other manufacturers.  I wanted to remind you that we have a solution that works for everyone and that solution is our Get Sale Price tool.

With our Get Sale Price tool, the dealer selects the manufacturer(s) they want to use this on and it will only display on those units marked as NEW.  The dealer then enters their sale prices through our Member Management Console, which does not show online.  Your visitors see the “Get Sale Price” link in the price field for those units, they click on it, enter their email address and instantly receive the sale price you’ve entered on the MMC.  You will receive a copy of those emails so that you can follow up with the visitor if you want and also get an idea of which units are the most popular.  

Visitors love this tool because they can get the sale price instantly for those units – instant gratification.  I know when I’m shopping either online or in an actual store, if I don’t see pricing I’m out of there – moving on to another store that does have pricing.  I also look for sale items, especially in today’s economy.  Looking for sale items is just a natural instinct I think for most Americans today.

Dealers love it because they are not fielding a ton of phone calls or emails from tire kickers, they get copies of the Get Sale Price emails sent to potential customers so they can follow up easily and they are able to make sales to potential customers that more than likely would have moved on to another dealership when they saw the MAP or no pricing at all, which is what some dealers have opted to do.

I can tell you that displaying “Call For Pricing” in the price field is a big mistake - vsitors absolutely hate this.  I know this because we get emails from ticked off visitors on RVUSA.com who think we are the people not displaying the prices.

We have a number of dealers using the Get Sale Price tool on their websites.  Here’s a few to check out:

• www.genuinerv.com – click on New RVs
• www.houseofcamping.com – click on New RV Inventory
• www.southernrv.com – click on New Inventory

We don’t have to host your website in order for you to use this tool but why not host with us – it doesn’t cost any extra to do so.

If you would like more information on how to add this to your website, send me an email or give me a call (866-643-4625 x 120).

Cindy Spencer 

Get a $1,250 Fuel Card from Freightliner Custom Chassis

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC) is now giving a $1,250 fuel card with any new purchase of a qualifying motorhome built on a Freightliner chassis from dealers in the United States and Canada.  This exclusive, temporary offer is designed to help motorhome and RV enthusiasts pursue a road trip of a lifetime, even in a sluggish economy.

Here’s the details:

Take your next road trip on Freightliner.  Between now and Dec. 31, 2009, motor home enthusiasts can kick off their road trip of a lifetime by receiving a $1,250 fuel card with the purchase of any qualifying motor home built on a Freightliner chassis from dealers in the United States and Canada. For more details about this offer, and to learn which RV manufacturers offer vehicles built on Freightliner chassis, visit www.freightlinerchassis.com/fuel

Happy Camping!!
Cindy Spencer 

Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. Reborn as Fleetwood RV, Inc.

Some of you may know that in July 2009, American Industrial Partners Capital Fund IV LP (AIP) acquired certain motorized RV business assets from Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc.  The following day, in partnership with AIP, they launched Fleetwood RV, Inc., which is jointly run by CEO Chuck Wilkinson and another Senior Manager.

Fleetwood RV, Inc. is located in Decatur, Indiana and continues to produce their motor home brands including:

Diesel Motor Homes

• Revolution LE
• Excursion
• Providence
• Discovery
• Expedition
• Bounder Diesel

Gas Motor Homes

• Pace Arrow
• Southwind
• Bounder
• Terra LX
• Fiesta LX
• Terra
• Fiesta
• Bounder Classic

Class C Motor Homes

• Icon
• Pulse
• Jamboree
• Tioga
• Jamboree Sport
• Tioga Ranger

American Coach Motor Homes

• American Allegiance
• American Tradition
• American Eagle
• American Heritage

We have over 1,200 new and pre-owned Fleetwood RVs listed on RVUSA.com.  CLICK HERE to review them.

You can check out Fleetwood RVs website here:  www.fleetwoodrv.com

Cindy Spencer