LAS VEGAS – On Monday, Jayco President Derald Bontrager welcomed dealers and suppliers to Jayco’s annual Dealer Days’ event.
The three-day event commenced with an opening reception Sunday night with drinks and appetizers.
Bontrager noted in his Monday morning address that this year was the highest attendance in the history of the event.
“Quality, Service and Trust” were topics Bontrager said he wanted to emphasize when it came to product, communication and commitment to the company’s dealer network.
Specific points surrounded the availability of parts via Jayco’s new partnership with national distributor NTP-STAG. Bontrager also noted that if dealers purchased parts locally off the shelf, “send us the bill.”
The reasons behind the new endeavors are to focus on repair event cycle time, and as Bontrager put it, “Get folks back on the road.”
Bontrager shared that, in the past year, Jayco also added a Customer Service Advisory Council made up of various dealer personnel. The purpose of the council was to give Jayco honest feedback about its performance on several levels. Bontrager welcomed dealers to share feedback with him and his vice president of sales and product development, Ken Walters, stating, “Be honest. We’re thick-skinned. We can take it.”
Walters also brought up several invigorating aspects to Jayco’s efforts in his time at the podium, including build times.
“We are going to build units in the months that you want them,” he said. This was in recognition of the fact that dealers have received a large portion of product at once.
“We want to schedule the build rate more consistently,” Walters said. To do this, Jayco will focus more attention on dealer inventory and retail registrations.
Walters also said that Jayco will have a MAP policy “with some teeth” for the company’s RVs and that the RV maker’s industry-leading 2+3 warranty (two-year limited and three-year structural) will continue to set Jayco apart from the competition.
