Q&A: NTP-STAG Execs are Intent on Delivering ‘Wow Factor’ – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
Delivering a certain “Wow Factor” was not only a priority for NTP-STAG at the 2024 EXPO, but it’s an ongoing initiative throughout the year, said senior executives from the Exeter, Pa.-based company that is the leading aftermarket distributor in the RV industry.
Taking a break from the business of the EXPO, which was presented by Airxcel and hosted Jan. 15-16 at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee, Fla., NTP-STAG President Bill Rogers, Vice President of Category Management Larry Montante and Vice President of Sales Mike Katz sat down for a 30-minute discussion that included the wow factor among other initiatives.
What follows is an edited account of that conversation.
RVBusiness: Bill, let’s start with your thoughts on this year’s EXPO event.
Rogers: We’ve had really great feedback from all the customers and all the suppliers – on both the RV side and the marine side, too. This is our first year of trying to do both and it’s been a really great experience. Obviously being in Florida, it’s a nice opportunity to do it and we took advantage of the venue and so far, so good.
RVB: And, as you mentioned during an earlier presentation, NTP-STAG is forecasting moderate growth in 2024.
Rogers: I mean, I think there’s concerns – just in terms of last year was a challenging year in the RV space. But, from our perspective, we see growth opportunities for RV this year just based on where it’s coming from. I think that also seems to be the sentiment out there that I’ve heard as well from other suppliers and customers.
And then, for us, the marine side is just all upside because we’re a small player in a big market there. It’s going to be slow and steady growth on that side.
And then on the automotive side, it’s been challenging here and there, but it’s a lot different marketplace than RV.
As far as RV, when the OEs drop as far as they did – even with good service and other areas of steady demand – it’s still challenging. We’re a significant player in the RV space. If the market is down, typically it’s challenging for us.
But I don’t think it’s going to get any lower. And I expect it to see a slow, steady growth on the RV side. Nothing dramatic in terms of acceleration, but I do think it’ll start to grow. And that’s more based on where it’s coming from, and less about just super-duper demand.
RVB: Continuing further down this path, Bill, another thing you mentioned earlier was NTP-STAG was able to learn a few things during 2023. Can you elaborate on that?
Rogers: In terms of making sure that changes that we might make to align with the whole revenue side of things in terms of cost, there’s certain things you can do and certain things you can’t do. And I think inventory is something that we have to have. That’s the expectation and we have to have it.
We’ve done a lot of work on transporting stuff all over the country and looking at better and more productive ways of managing that side of things. But you have to have the inventory. I think we were trying to manage the inventory in a way that was consistent with some of the revenue concerns. And, ultimately, we ended up bringing back a lot of the inventory that we may have been short on last year.
RVB: Larry, it’s safe to say that maintaining the positive inventory status is one of your top initiatives for 2024?
Montante: I think we had an emphasis on that in the back half of last year to make sure that we were in the position we need to be with having what we should have, and that continues into this year. And, as we mentioned yesterday, our inventory in the RV and towing area is the best it’s really ever been. Our service levels are very, very good and we’re obviously ready for EXPO.
I have my team spending about half their time just looking at the inventory regularly. In this market, the thing that we can do the most to influence our sales is our inventory. I mean, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to do a lot of promoting in a market like this. I know my team gets involved with that here and there. But I think, just looking at the inventory, making sure we have the right products in the right places to support the sales team is really the direction we’re in.
It’ll continue to get better. It’s in good shape now but, as Bill mentioned, it’s an ongoing challenge. With the breadth that we have and inventory, it’s really hard to do. It’s an everyday ongoing thing. That’ll be a theme for the year.
Beyond that, we’ve seen a nice growth in service or use-based products. We’ve got some initiatives working with Mike’s team on focusing on those and making sure that, beyond us having them, working with the customers to make sure they have them so that when they have a service job or they have customers that are looking to replace some items they have them, we have them and they have them.
We’re really trying to focus on the portion of the business that we’re seeing more growth than not.
RVB: Mike, with this being your first EXPO in your new position, has it been maybe just a little overwhelming?
Mike: Yeah, it’s a lot. I’m about 13 weeks into the role and this is my first opportunity to see the show in action, which obviously presents an opportunity for me as being the new guy to meet not only all of our customers, but also all of our supplier partners as well. It’s a lot of introductions, some eye-opening product knowledge, understanding some of the products that we go to market with.
RVB: Mike, you said earlier that you, too, wanted to highlight the company’s flush inventory.
Mike: Yes, I do. I think Larry said that we can’t have everything in all the places at the same time. But what we can do, by working together, is get an understanding of what our customers are telling us they need and relaying that to Larry’s team to ensure we’re positioning our inventory. Instead of just buying and over-stuffing ourselves, we’ll be buying strategically based off of what we’re expecting our customers to purchase from us.
I see that happening as we look to get our inventory in a better position than when it was previously. And doing it from a more strategic approach is encouraging to see as it positions us to go and be able to do our job. As opposed to sellers saying, ‘We don’t have the right stuff in the right place.’ Now we have the right stuff in the right place. It’s on us to go and put it in front of our customers.
RVB: So, Mike, your thoughts then on your first EXPO as the vice president of sales?
Mike: From a competitive situation, there’s been a lot of other shows that have happened recently, and the feedback I’m getting is that, hands down, we’ve brought the ‘wow factor’ to the show.
If a customer buys at the show, that’s ideal. But when they go back to make another purchase, they’re going to want to think about the wow factor. They remember the ‘wow’ and they don’t remember the ‘not wow.’ We’re giving them that wow factor here at the show, which is encouraging to see.
And then, on the marine side, the feedback I’m getting from the marine there is they’ve never seen a show like this before. Again, the extra wow factor there. We’re aligning ourselves as a lasting memory with our dealer partners. When they go back to do their daily business, they’re going to remember us from the perception of the show experience that we’re giving them here in Orlando.
RVB: Which begs the question, Mike, what is the ‘wow factor’ at this year’s EXPO?
Mike: You mentioned it when you walked in here. You thanked us for having it at the Gaylord. It’s all part of the customer experience. You have to deliver a pleasurable customer experience. You have to have that good taste in their mouth when they leave an experience.
And the suppliers that we’ve partnered with are top-notch suppliers. They know how to do their job. When you walk into a booth, it’s not somebody on their cell phone chomping on their piece of gum. They’re actively dragging them into the booth to sell them on their products. That’s the type of show experience that I think you only get with top-notch distribution. Any other distributor can fill a showroom, but can you fill a showroom with knowledgeable, capable supplier partners? And we’ve done that. That’s all part of that wow factor.
And, with me being the new guy to the show, I had a lot of preparation meetings with my leadership team leading up to this and then some meetings right here at the show. My biggest takeaway from those meetings are the level of preparation that my team put into this show.
We didn’t just show up at the show, get in front of our customers and say, ‘What do you want to buy today?’ We put a lot of thoughtful strategic data mining into preparing ourselves for the show. We basically know what they want to buy, or what we think they want to buy, based off of historical data.
And it’s also understanding what they buy. We’ve got hundreds upon hundreds of promotional opportunities, which is a great thing here at the show. In reality, you can’t touch on them all, but you should touch on the ones are going to give you the biggest return on your time. We’ve pushed ourselves to do that and we’ll see here after the show if it paid off. That’s all part of the wow factor.
RVB: Your challenge then, we assume, is to deliver that same wow factor throughout the rest of the year. Any messages on that that customers should know about?
Mike: Well, I can tell you from my expectation of our team is we all know it’s a challenging market out there. And as an organization, we still have to deliver on commitments.
The only way you’re going to do it is a couple of things. One, making sure you’re engaged with your customers. And then, also, market share is the opportunity to grow. Nobody owns 100% of any market share. What does that tell me? That there’s opportunity, whether there’s growth in the market or not, there’s competition you can go take business from. And in order to do so, you have to be mindful of the business you’re talking about. You have to understand your customer. And you have to have a relationship with your customer.
I also told my team going into this meeting, ‘Wholesale distribution doesn’t get in front of their customer every single day. Here’s an opportunity to do some old school belly-to-belly selling.’ That will leave a lasting impression when those dealers go home and they pick up the phone next week and they go, ‘Who am I going to call?’ It’s all part of the experience. People want to buy from people.
We’re hitting on all angles. That’s all part of the wow factor when they leave the show that’s going to have that lasting taste in their mouth that is favorable for NTP-STAG and SeaWide.
RVB: Bill, building relationships – belly-to-belly selling – has been your mantra from the first day we met you a decade ago when Keystone Automotive made its debut as NTP-STAG.
Bill: Oh, yeah. I mean, some of these guys would talk more about the app and the digital and some of that other stuff but, from my perspective, it’s absolutely about the relationships. The more people you can meet and talk to while you’re here … not all of them are going to be the same and equal, but there’s so many of them that’ll be lasting.
I was telling somebody earlier about this. One of our dealers up in Vermont introduced me to his 100-year-old mother who’s here at the show. It’s a thrill of the show, really, when you think about it. How many times do you see someone that age at a show down from Vermont? I mean, it’s so impressive. That’s a typical experience you get from being together in an event like this.
And so, for us having to go after and deliver on the orders we get at the show, and then continue to show the value that we always try to convey to our customers throughout the year, that’s what we need to deliver on as a follow-up to the show.
