ROUTE 66 Rally Riles Up Dealers to Face Coming Challenges
Coming right on the heels of one of the largest annual events the industry holds, the ROUTE 66 RV Network’s 19th annual rally really couldn’t have hoped for much better attendance than it had Oct. 5-7 at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa outside of San Antonio, Texas.
With a total of about 165 dealers and vendors in attendance, Co-owner Rob Merrill told RVBusiness it was one of the highest percentages of membership attending a rally in the history of the organization.
It is somewhat fitting that such a fiercely independent group of dealers should come together for this meeting not only in Texas, but particularly San Antonio – home of the Alamo and hub of the Texas fight for independence from Mexico.
“We debriefed with all the vendor partners, we launched a number of new bank programs and our revised RV club,” Merrill said shortly after the show ended. “It was just really a positive feeling all around in the face of some of the challenges that look like they’re coming our way.”
During the event, Route 66 presented two prestigious awards to its members.
The Dave Francis Award, named for one of the organization’s founding members who recently retired, is awarded for creating value for vendor partners. This was the second time the award was given and it went to Meyer Distributing out of Jasper, Ind. Paul Tustin received the award for Meyer.
“We created this relationship three or four years ago with Meyer and helped them establish their foothold in the RV industry,” Merrill said. “Subsequent to that they have upped their game in terms of daily deliveries to all our dealers. They’ve worked very hard to try to match the service levels and everything. They’ve emerged as a genuine contender/competitor in the RV space.”
The Larry Coker Commitment Award is given as the Dealer of the Year award to the dealer who displays the values and vision inherent in its namesake and in the founding of the Route 66 Network.
That award went to Cold Springs RV of Weare, N.H. Owner Scott Silva accepted the award.
“They’ve kind of become an all-in Route 66 dealer,” Merrill said. “Scott has really risen to be a solid dealer and leader in that marketplace. He’s a smart guy and we really appreciate him. He’s a no-nonsense, do-what-he-says-he’s-going-to-do guy.”
He said Silva’s attitude toward running his business and the way he faced challenges in the early days after taking over the dealership are somewhat indicative of the way Route 66 members handle things in general.
“Together, especially with our relationship with RV Care in Canada, even with all the consolidation and mega-dealers getting bigger, ROUTE 66 and RV Care have the largest footprint in North America,” he said. “As long as we stay unified and we work and adhere to the values that made each of these individual dealers successful we really believe we can do some pretty amazing things.”
Merrill said the cautious optimism the dealers were exuding during the rally was somewhat tempered by an economy that seems to be in decline, gas prices that have started rising again in areas and the uncertainty of midterm elections next month.
But much of the program was designed to build up not only confidence but also resolve in dealers as they prepare to face the challenges ahead.
“Guys know they’re about to face challenges and they’re good with it,” Merrill said. “They’re ready to form new disciplines and better practices. This whole season of induced profits from COVID was like eating cotton candy at the fair tastes really good but you know it’s now sustainable.”
Attendees also were moved to action by the keynote speech of Don Cnossen, a former Navy Seal who served in Afghanistan and was wounded when he stepped on a landmine.
Cnossen recovered from his injuries and delivered a moving account of rebuilding himself into a paralympic medalist.
Six new board members were chosen during the rally: Russ Perkins of Tri-Am RV Center in Bulls Gap, Tenn.; Tony Clark of Ron Hoover RV & Marine in Donna, Texas; Kevin Campbell of Campbell RV in Sarasota, Fla.; Jim Rangitsch of Rangitsch Bros. in Missoula, Mont.; Brian Krykewycz of White Horse RV Center in New Jersey and Mike Rone of Sonny’s RVs in Evansville, Wyo.
The rally features two platinum partners in Meyer Distributing and Assurant, both of which had time dedicated at the podium to address dealers outside of expo time.
For more information about ROUTE 66, visit www.route66rv.com.
Source: https://rvbusiness.com/route-66-rally-riles-up-dealers-to-face-coming-challenges/
