The Route 66 RV Network of dealers will hold its annual rally beginning today at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort and Spa in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The organization, dedicated to helping independent RV dealers remain independent through initiatives such as a buying cooperative and nationwide service network, has grown to about 100 members and will be introducing five new members at the rally.
Co-founder Rob Merrill said several current members are now multi-location facilities, which adds to the group’s numbers as well.
This year’s rally comes at a time when most dealers could use a little encouragement after months of high interest rates, high gas prices and trade tariffs that seem to change every time the wind blows.
“We’re going to roll out a host of things that will create savings as well as increase revenues,” Merrill told RVBusiness. “Tough times make for good habits, so we’ll work on a lot of things that will improve profitability for our dealers and make them more competitive and try to leverage the unique strengths that family owned businesses have.”
An important part of the rally this year will be helping dealers learn more about and get the most out of Artificial Intelligence.
A keynote speaker will cover the topic during Tuesday’s general session.
“A lot of the focus of the meeting is going to be helping people be better dealers leveraging both their individual strengths and the strength of the network,” Merrill said.
He said he sees huge opportunities for people to get a better customer experience through the smaller dealers.
At the same time network dealers may be smaller in scale and size than their larger competitors, they also have the increased power of second- and third-generation owners to go along with the benefits of the network and its services.
Dealers started arriving Sunday, Oct. 12, or Monday Oct. 13, with a golf tournament kicking off events at 11 a.m. Monday. Tuesday will including the general session in the morning and open the partner expo in the afternoon before an evening dinner party. Sessions conclude with the larger dealer meeting Wednesday.
