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“It is important to the core of our business that our employees have time to do what they love,” said Nick Staab co-owner of Rich & Sons Camper Sales in Grand Island, Nebraska. “People are motivated differently, some want to go golfing, others want time with family and some just want to go camping. We’ve found being aware of that makes us more prepared to serve our customers.”

The company’s focus of prioritizing time for the important things started in 1972 when Rich Hiser, Nick’s Grand father started the business. His dream was to have a successful business that he and his family could build together from the ground up.

“Growing up on the ranch, he thought it was natural for family to work together,” Nick said. “I don’t think he had any idea that three generations later my brother Tony (Staab) and I, his grandsons, would be running the business.”

Centering their business on family and employees’ needs wasn’t just good for employee retention, it was good for business. Thirty-eight years of happy employees produced happy customers.

“The thing I am most proud of in our business is our customer retention,” Nick said. “I am proud of how our employees take care of our customers. We want customers to say the value of their RV exceeds the price they paid. That extra value is our employees.”

Narrowing the Focus

Their focus on customers and employees became a winning combination, but distractions from managing operations started getting in the way. Inventory management, paper work, marketing and other responsibilities were diverting time and focus.

Nick and Tony realized that they needed to bring the focus back to their customers. Non-customer facing business activities were taking up vital time that should have been spent in front of customers, and that needed to change. They decided to search for third-parties to take over those time consuming activities.

“The smartest thing we ever did was decide to rely on other talented companies,” Nick said. “We can’t be masters of all trades with only so much time in a day. Why not spend our time and energy doing what we can do well, taking care of customers.”

Tracking parts, service and sales operations were identified as areas to outsource. The company began to look at providers and decided on ADP Lightspeed’s RV Dealer Management System, LightspeedEVO.

“We talked to a few companies, but felt that Lightspeed’s approach was the most similar to our own,” said Nick. “They were not pushy. They were patient and willing to work with us. I know they value our relationship. We’ve been with them for the past seven years and they’ve done everything they said they would.”

A Partnership that Accentuates Strengths

Nick and Tony spend significant energy and resources to prepare so they are ready for their customers. They understand the importance of resolving customers’ issues quickly, especially when those issues are stopping them from having a good time.

“We make sure that we have the right people staffed and spend a lot of money on training. We also have the right parts in stock too, so we are ready.” said Nick.

LightspeedEVO helps by ensuring that the inventory is in sync with demand, service schedules are clear and customer information is readily available. With all the needed information inside the system the staff doesn’t have to do time consuming information gathering and can focus on helping the customer.

“LightspeedEVO helps us cut down steps. Instead of tracking down what parts to order, the system shows us exactly how much and what to buy.” said Nick. “Instead of having to go down to the Service department to check available hours, everyone can just look at the service scheduler in the system. Unit information is completely managed in the system.”

Spending Time Wisely

Although LightspeedEVO has become an important part of the company’s operations it has not overtaken the company’s focus. Saved time from data management, paperwork and inventory has converted into more time in front of customers.

“The less time we spend on a computer the more we can spend on our customers,” said Nick, “It’s not that we are doing less work on the computer than other dealers, it’s that we are doing it faster.”

Enhancing the Core of the Business

LightspeedEVO helped Rich & Sons manage their entire dealership’s operations so they could focus on what was important, helping their customers.

“We value our business relationship and are proud to say we are partners with ADP Lightspeed,” Nick said.

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