If you’ve been around the RV industry for even a short time, you understand how heated and charged conversations around service and warranty can get when customers come in with a unit for service at a dealership.
“Anyone who knows Cody well or has watched him work has noticed his ability to remain open, fair and to not allow the emotions of the situation to dictate the outcome of the situation. His ability to lead our service personnel through the challenges that the RV service industry can present — needless to say, that’s proven to be an incredibly valuable skill, one that influences our staff to learn as he leads by example.”
Cody has worked to foster a team of technically skilled individuals at Johnston RV Center who demonstrate respect in customer relations and problem-solving. As head of operations, Cody has stepped in to lead the dealership’s Decatur, Alabama, service department. This was in the height of the COVID-19 boom, when service departments everywhere were stretched thin.
“Over the course of two years since that change, Cody created a positive work environment that utilized organization and process to whittle down the stress chokehold that had seized the service department.”
He also created a KPI process that challenged the service staff while holding them accountable. Nominators say he has built a blueprint for success in the Decatur service center that he is working to implement in the dealership’s Cullman, Alabama, service center as well.
“He fosters a team environment in which each staff member is acutely aware of the effect their overall work has on every other individual in the department. We have witnessed occasions where a staff member has identified a performance issue and worked to figure out the problem and resolve it with his coworker so the service department could function at its highest level.”
Since Cody has taken over as head of operations, the store has seen a 58% increase in profit since 2019, a 24% increase in retail service work and a 54% increase in average RO cost.
“Since he has managed our service department directly, we’ve increased profits by 6.5% over our banner year in 2021, while also decreasing expenses 6.5%. Sustaining this kind of growth and expense control in a post-COVID environment is phenomenal and unexpected as RV sales were not able to maintain that trend.”
Cody manages people just as well, raising up other leaders within the company. He selects associates to cross-train in various positions.
Cody received the Johnston RV Center Employee of the Year award in 2023. Outside of work, he spends time with his wife and kids skateboarding and biking on their city’s local greenways. He is an avid reader and musician, loves to golf and is a UFC fan who loves to grill steaks on a good fight Saturday.
Cody’s advice for upcoming leaders in the RV space:
“Listen more. The pursuit of a team is to accomplish a goal together. This happens when we as leaders communicate a clear vision and why that vision is important to not only serve our customers and the company at large, but also each individual team member. Once the goal is understood, we need to listen to our team as we discover impediments, allow our team members the freedom to propose solutions to those impediments, and support our team members as we all attempt to implement and execute those solutions.”
