Little Dealer Little Prices Finds Little Investment Yields Big Returns

The current shortage of qualified technicians is nothing new to the RV industry, according to President and CEO Debbie Brunoforte of Little Dealer Little Prices. The three-branch Arizona-based dealership started addressing this problem nearly thirty years ago, soon after Debbie took over the reigns of the business her parents started in 1966.

“Since we couldn’t find enough RV techs, we decided to grow our own by creating a career ladder for them,” said Brunoforte, who spearheaded early efforts to provide nationally standardized training for her staff. While optional at first, the company decided to make the training and certification mandatory, a policy that remains today.

“We have a team-first, as opposed to customer-first, culture here,” she said. “It begins by having a great team and empowering them to provide great service. Faster and better service makes for happier customers.”

The source of empowerment Brunoforte relied upon in the past was the RV Technical Institute (RVTI), which visited Little Dealer Little Prices several times to provide Level 1 training and certification for their existing and potential RV techs. This past January, RVTI returned for the first time since the pandemic, sending Bill Stewart, RVTI Director of Education, to conduct hands-on training and testing for a new set of techs.  

“It went so well that our GMs want to have RVTI back every six months,” said Brunoforte. “The entire team benefitted so much that our service manager said it’s been fun to watch what the new guys have learned and to see how much more efficient, engaged and enthusiastic they are.”

Stewart worked with Little Dealer Little Prices staff from the three dealerships from Monday to Friday during one of the company’s “slower” times of year, although that has become a relative term. They met primarily in a classroom at the Phoenix location and occasionally in one of the service bays for demonstrations on a unit undergoing a pre-delivery inspection. Once when an underground gas leak at a neighboring business resulted in the fire department ordering the dealership to evacuate for a few hours, the entire class moved to a local Wendy’s to continue their instruction.

“Bill had a full agenda and that’s how he improvised!” said Brunoforte, who claimed he got “rave reviews” from his students. “It was clear that he really cared about them. When one of the guys was struggling, Bill stayed late to help him, so he’d be sure to pass the certification test.”

“The week is a nice break from the staff’s usual routine, and they are really interested and care about what they’re learning. It’s about their career and livelihood,” she said.

“It was still an easy decision and absolutely worth the investment. The return is always significant,” said Brunoforte, noting the financial commitment for the program itself, Stewart’s travel expenses and the cost of ten staff members’ absence from their jobs. “Our experienced, but uncertified, RV techs always learn new things from the Level 1 program, but it is especially fantastic for our entry level employees. It’s a fast-track for building their skills, knowledge, and confidence.”

The training also gives their 40 RV techs confidence in the company, she believes. “They see that we want to help them to be successful.”

To that end, Brunoforte also considers the certification program to be a valuable tool and advantage for recruiting potential RV techs. Being certified is good for their careers, she believes, and typically results in a salary increase. “People want to make a good living in a fun and interesting industry.”

The typical entry level career path at Little Dealer Little Prices begins with lot attendant, where the new and inexperienced employee takes care of the grounds and learns to use a forklift. This is followed by PDI technician, when the employee is eligible to take the RVTI Level 1 training. This puts him or her on the fast-track to becoming an apprentice technician.

“Sometimes we have service advisors do the training, too, so they’ll have a deeper knowledge of what the techs do and so they can talk more intelligently to customers about their RVs,” said Brunoforte.

The training program also helps with employee retention, she believes.

“Requiring and providing this certification opportunity demonstrates that we’re all in this together, and that management will do all it can to help them to increase their value and earning ability,” she said. “A few have gotten their certification and have left, but the majority have remained loyal and stayed with us.”

After 30 years of providing training and requiring certification, Brunoforte can unequivocally say that it has helped their service personnel to diagnose and repair RVs more quickly and to do as repairs correctly the first time.

While Little Dealer Little Prices promotes its service staff’s certifications on its website, Brunoforte is not sure if its customers realize the benefit of this up front. “But they do benefit from the quality of our service!”

And providing great service will continue to be critical for an industry that she believes has been permanently elevated by the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, many families were too busy to even have meals together, she said. Once they were shut in, they realized they liked being together and they didn’t want to go back to the old way.

“Bonding time in the wilderness became precious to them,” she said, “they don’t want to lose that family closeness.”

The dealership’s new RV sales have increased 81% since the pandemic and Brunoforte and her brothers, who are partners and GMs at the Prescott and Mesa facilities, are expanding and planning to add to their current 75 service bays. This will lead to the hiring and development of more RV techs.

Said Brunoforte, “We will always be committed to training to support this industry. It’s such a benefit to society; RVing is about joy, fun, freedom, adventure, and family togetherness.”

Other RV dealerships who are interested in having RV Technical Institute deliver training to their RV technicians on-site at their dealership can reach out to RVTI at rvti-info@rvti.org for more information and pricing details.

Whether through on-site dealership training or through the RVTI subscription model, it has never been easier or more affordable to receive the gold standard RV Technical Institute. For $1,200/year per location, RV dealerships can train all their technicians either through the online program or in-person at RVTI’s headquarters in Elkhart. For individuals, either mobile technicians or people who are looking to get into the RV technician field, there is a $300/year option. Find out more here.