When in life does everything to 100% to plan? Never, right?

Last year while transforming my business it became evident I was missing out on opportunities. Imagine having dozens of customers that you’ve never met, never been able to share meal with, learn about their kids, or even walk around their facilities and learn more about what makes them unique. The solution was a plan to hit the road to meet them and as a huge bonus be able to have family travel with me. In December of 2013 an appropriate RV was  purchased that would make this possible. It wasn’t just any RV, after tirelessly determining all the features that would be involved the Newmar Canyon Star 3920 was selected. The Newmar 3920 is a big class A motor home with a garage that can be used as an office. The first big trip was a huge success, it was a bit of an adventure for my family and also connected me much more tightly with many of those remote clients. The visits also brought several significant sales that offset the costs of the trip! Woohoo!

Something Really Bad Happened

In the parking lot of the RV storage facility at the end of the trip, water was dripping from a spot where it shouldn’t. Luckily the slope in the parking lot tilted the RV enough for water to escape the membrane that lines the bottom of the coach.

Drip…. drip….

As (bad) luck would have it, water had been leaking from the trap under the shower probably since it was purchased. It was a construction defect and the ramifications of it were huge. After seeking an RV Repair place with some good reviews (much harder than it sounds) we discovered Prairie City RV in Folsom, CA. They were the obvious choice for these issues because the owner actually cares about his customers! The owner Greg and his team found not only water infiltration but also mold, and lots of it.

This made me feel sick and appropriately concerned.

After looking at the damage closely with Greg and his team, I decided to request a replacement coach from Newmar. This would be a big ask, but in my mind due to no fault of mine the coach was in really bad shape. The amount of work involved to restore the coach to its previous state is staggering. For some reason I was still calm, and that’s when it hit me….

I was calm because I had chosen the right company, Newmar.

The Right Reputation

Everyone you talk to at this Newmar is helpful, they return calls, they tell you the process for requesting replacement, and they follow up with you when they say they will. Greg from Prairie City said the same thing, too. My storage place said similar good things. The dealership I bought it from said great things. Everyone seems to like Newmar, what a great reputation. Then I realized something, part of my due diligence had really paid off, a company with a great reputation for taking care of it’s customers and producing quality products was getting a chance to prove how great they are.

This hit me like a ton of soft, fuzzy movie prop bricks.

We all love companies that do things right, with enthusiasm, and who care about their customers. How often do we make purchase decisions because of it? There was a similar rig from a competitor that was about 15% cheaper than this one, did I make the right decision? The fuzzy bricks are saying yes, yes you did.

Reputation Builds Confidence, Action Leads to Trust

I trust Newmar, they have done nothing to erode that trust, and I am going to continue to believe in them as they have given me no reason to not trust them. Right now they are working with me to get the RV transported to their plant to get it repaired and also concurrently getting me information so I can make a formal request for a replacement. I am confident this will have a happy ending, and talk about a great reminder why we should place a high priority on quality of service, you can’t buy piece of mind when you find yourself in a situation like this one.

The Big Take Away

Next time you are considering who to do business with, I hope you will evaluate based on what will happen if things get really challenging. Remember it’s never fun, but you want to be shoulder to shoulder with the right people when it does.

Photo Credit: Brent Moore, Creative Commons