North Dakota Dealership Focuses on Family

Corral Sales RV in Mandan, North Dakota, has an origin story much like other businesses in the RV industry.

“It started with my grandpa,” says Tim Helbling, co-owner and general manager. Helbling’s grandfather Anton, or “Tony,” had a motorhome that he wanted to upgrade, but he decided to buy a couple of them to work on and then sell. When those sold quickly, Helbling says “it just snowballed.”

By 1968, the business had officially launched, and a 35,000-square-foot facility and service center had been erected, including some of the first hoists in the country so the motorhomes could be lifted in the air to be repaired.

While the business may have blossomed out of a whim, camping had always been a family pastime. Helbling’s father, William, toured the country selling branding irons for the other family business, LH Manufacturing, a company specializing in livestock branding equipment. He had made several homemade campers to use while on the road throughout the country. The family would also take road trips in a converted Ford bus that had a top on hydraulics where Helbling and his 12 siblings would sleep. It was certainly a sight to see when the family traveled this way, Helbling says, garnering the attention of local news.

“We went to Disneyland, Disney World, all over the country in this thing, and didn’t have hardly any breaks. It broke down constantly, but every time we would go, we’d be in a newspaper,” Helbling says. “So my dad really was into camping and being together, and that’s basically how it started.”

Family-Centered Business

Now, Helbling, who has worked at Corral Sales since 1978, is co-owner with brother Donald (Don) who is president, and sister Sharon Lawler, office manager. There are three additional family members among the 18 employees, including Tom Schaaf (brother-in-law) as sales manager; Jacob Lawler, Sharon’s son, parts manager; and Chad Hatzenbuhler, Tim’s son-in-law, communications and marketing.

“We have very little turnover in our employees and the last few years have been tough,” Helbling says, “like they have been on everybody, but it has been a really good run.”

At one point, Corral Sales RV had a location in Rapid City, South Dakota, as well — about 300 miles away from the Mandan location. However, it proved too difficult to run from a distance, so the location closed.

Customer-Focused Approach

Taking a personal interest in its customers is a No. 1 priority — Helbling says they still do things with pen and paper much of the time, and customers seem to appreciate the time they take with each of them.

“At one time we were one of the largest [dealers] in North Dakota. But we want to just do the best we can. Our goal isn’t to be the largest, it’s just to be comfortable,” he says. We want to keep treating people as people and not a number.”

Helbling says the dealership does try to stay up with the times somewhat, and that’s where his son-in-law Chad Hatzenbuhler comes in. Chad and his wife Amanda’s Camping in North Dakota Facebook group has taken off, leading to a lot of innovative marketing promotions for Corral Sales RV. This social media approach has helped connect RV enthusiasts and promote local camping opportunities. (Check out more on this topic in the October issue of RV PRO or online at rv-pro.com.)

Helbling says they try to also sponsor a lot of events and sports teams in their area — seeing it as a good way to reach out to potential customers but also to give back.

“A lot of times we don’t even use our name when we do it,” he says. “We just do it for the good of the community.”

Business Philosophy

Focusing on treating customers as a vital part of their community is what they focus on at the dealership, the co-owner says.

“We have to treat ’em fairly. A lot of dealerships are so focused on making so much money off F&I and detail protection and fabric protection and a lot of things that don’t have any real value to the customer, [but] they bring a good bottom line to the dealership. We don’t do that,” he says. “We know that we need to get that customer back three to five times in their lifetime. There’s not that many people in North Dakota, and the dealerships that are hammering them and putting all of the stuff on the back end are really hurting the industry.

“So, we just try to be fair with people, and they’ve been really good to us.”

Employee & Community Relations

Being good to employees is important to them as well.

“The average tenure of our employees is about 25 years right now. That’s combining the two businesses,” Helbling says, referencing LH Manufacturing. “But we try to keep people, we treat ’em fairly, and they’re more like family than they are employees.”

In addition to the promotional efforts that Chad and Amanda bring to the table, Helbling says they learned during the COVID-19 pandemic — when more people than ever were camping — that finding off-the-beaten-path camping spots was really helpful to their customers. Helbling says some small towns may only have a handful of camping spots available, but they have other city parks that could be opened to the public.

“People are venturing out and sharing their experiences, and that’s good for all the dealers. So, rather than trying to book a state park a year in advance, there’s always different areas where you can camp by going on this group, or if somebody cancels, they go on there and they’re able to find a site,” Helbling says, speaking to the Facebook groups who have learned to communicate with one another via the site. “It’s built a really nice community of campers just talking about the camping experience.”

Product Lines & Sales

This is Corral Sales RV’s 20th year as a Jayco dealer, and Helbling says the dealership has done well with the Jayco brand.

“They’re more of a family-oriented brand. It seems like they care about their dealer body and, in turn, they support the customer, they support the dealer, which supports the customer, and that’s the type of manufacturer we look for,” he says. “We’ve never been out to go find the cheapest unit that’s out there, just to be the cheapest. We’d rather sell a quality product that the manufacturer backs up.”

Helbling says the dealership averages 300 to 350 units sold a year right now — including new and used.

In addition to selling RVs, Corral Sales RV includes a “well-stocked parts department,” including what Helbling calls “the oddball stuff” that customers will need. Toppers and bed covers have been popular products for them, and sell especially well ahead of the winter months.

Accessories used to represent half of the dealership’s business, but Helbling says it’s easier now for customers to turn to a store like Walmart and find RV winterization products or other supplies there. That wasn’t always the case, so that part of the business has really changed.

He says the manufacturers are also doing a good job of including a lot of bells and whistles straight from the factory, that they’re able to use that in their sales pitch rather than having to ask a customer to add on products such as solar after the fact.

“‘Why don’t you look at upgrading to a new unit that already has it?’ So, that’s just a selling feature of a lot of the new units now,” he says.

While more “primitive camping,” as Helbling calls it, is still attractive to some RVers, he says most people these days want full hookups.

“They want their TVs, they want their internet, they want their air conditioners, so yeah, the society has really changed,” he says.

Looking to the Future

Right now, Helbling is hoping to get more younger family members involved in the business, stating that they have a lot of employees who don’t want to work for larger chain dealerships.

“They want to work for a family-oriented business, so we’re going to try to keep it in the family as much as we can,” he says.

“I think the dealerships that focus on family and quality of life are the ones that are going to make it. I think you’re seeing a lot of the big ones already really struggling because they back-ended all of their profit and it’s getting harder for the average person to afford an RV. So I think we’ve got to, as dealers, we need to make sure that they have a positive experience and fun camping experience, and it’s not all about [being] payment driven.”