Is It Time For Uniforms?

to the property. Let's first talk about why it is beneficial for a property to look corporate, to look like a big company. Well, obviously the first reason is it just looks professional. It's hard to imagine a large business, whether it is Federal Express or United Airlines, in which a uniform doesn't give all of us a greater sense of security.

and affirm the buying decision to use that product or service. We would be horrified if someone showed up, for example, with a FedEx package wearing a t-shirt with a rock band on it. We'd say, well, this can't be FedEx, this can't be right. And then we started inspecting the package, thinking, well, it must be broken inside, because a guy dressed like that, well, he couldn't be professionally delivering packages.

So we all have kind of a stigma about things that look big company. So the first reason you'd want to look big company is simply that. When you look like a big company, then it's a turn-on for customers. There's no question about that.

The next item is it gives you kind of a liability hedge. People, when they see uniforms in big companies, They also imagine that that big company probably also has a big budget and a big law firm, and they really don't want to mess with that if they were going to file some kind of strange liability claim like a slipper and fall.

Some people would say, Well, but wouldn't that egg them on to do it? No. Because a lot of your personal injury lawyers and such, they learned over time that big companies don't just get at the old checkbook in the case of a problem. It's more the small mom and pop that feels overwhelmed and doesn't know what to do.

Next, you have the simple fact that it deflects anger off the manager if there is, in fact, any problem. So when a manager looks to be part of a big corporation, it's much easier for the manager if there's something that went wrong with the customer's experience. to not take the heat but simply say, Well, you know, I I just work at this company, but I know they want to make you happy. Let's get this solved. So it helps to deflect

That negative experience. And on top of that, it does give you one extra decision-making moment, gives you one more chef in the kitchen. one more bit of good cop, bad cop, because now you in fact do have the ability to get it as an active participant in whatever the problem is, you, namely as the owner.

Because when it's a big company, they don't assume the manager can make decisions by themselves. And it seems perfectly reasonable if they would want to go ahead and vet that decision with their boss, the next person up the totem pole. Next, and this is the really big one, obviously, when you see someone from a big company wearing a uniform, then it's going to give the customer the belief of higher rent.

It's just the way it works. When we see a big company and how professional it is, we just assume as part of their mandate of being big, of being corporate, that they're gonna charge a little more and we're okay paying that because we feel so much better. about life when we have a big company that we're working with, when we're entrusting our travel trip as a customer, when we see that uniform man, we're willing to pay a little more for that.

Because we feel like that was a much better buying decision. So if uniforms are that great, then why don't we have uniforms everywhere? Well, there are some reasons. There are some things that uniforms don't give or send the signal that's as positive. Normally it's not though from a customer experience. A lot of people say, well, I want to stay small because when I stay small, that's the way for me to go and and buy other R V parks. Well, yeah, a lot of mom and pop's would rather work.

with the small mom and pop owner than the big corporation. But how many parks are you gonna go out there and buy? And if you did, on those occasions, couldn't you dress down and not try and look so corporate? Other people will say, well, you know, but looking corporate is so expensive. Well let's look at that for a moment. All right, what does it cost to actually have the look of being a big company? Let's start with the uniform itself that your manager might wear.

Most manager uniforms don't include anything more than a shirt. Typically a polo shirt that's sewn in the name of the RV park. That is not an expensive item. You can get a very professional shirt like that for about$40. All bills paid with embroidery. And if you want to make it even look more professional in the winter months or when it's raining, how about giving them a couple coats? Again, with the RV park sewn onto it. And again, that's not that expensive.

Go online and look. You can probably get a very, very nice windbreaker slash raincoat for maybe fifty sixty dollars and you can even get a a a nice thick winter coat with all your embroidery on it for about a hundred dollars. That is a very, very small investment. If I bought two polo shirts, fully embroidered, and two coats, what am I really talking about spending? Well maybe two hundred and fifty dollars.

How long will it last? Years and years and years. Is that a reasonable bang for the buck? Well, I would say so. Definitely would.

What else can I do to look more corporate, to look more uniform as far as the park itself? Well, a nice sign out front would help a lot. What's a sign up front cost? Depends on the sign, but often you can get a sign for a couple thousand dollars. You may say, Oh, now we're talking big money. Well, but are you really when you look at the impact of that on your customers?

I don't think so. I think studies have found that signs are well worth paying more for, but they're definitely something that that has a a lot of a lot of bang for the buck. Another item we've found in our property is it gives you a lot, a lot of bang for the buck. is when you install all the signage in the park that is all the same. And the best way to do that is by using white vinyl posts, sleeved over four by four posts, and with an attractive cap on the top.

And then just drilling into that your new science. It's not expensive at all. You can replace all of the signage throughout your RV park that is not attractive, maybe old rusty metal or old beat up wood. with signs or it w a horrible condition. When you change all of that out. it does have an enormous impact. It does make you look like a much, much larger corporation.

And again, the cost isn't much. You can probably replace every sign in that property for one to two hundred dollars a pole. Ten of those signs, maybe signs that say, here is the lot numbering system to help people out. Maybe things that say, you know, caution, uh, children at play, things like that, th those are not expensive. You might be able to do the entire RV park for maybe, once again, a couple thousand dollars.

That's not really that expensive for what you get for it. And then there's all kinds of other little items that help give an RV park that edge, to make it look more corporate in nature. Such things as more professional trash cans. Don't buy an aluminum trash can down at the hardware store. That looks cheap. That looks cheesy. Go online and boy one that's more professional. The kinds that you see in City Park.

Again, seemingly expensive, but not that bad. You can buy one of those trash cans fully professional for maybe four to five hundred dollars. maybe in a nice forest green color, whatever color you found attractive, that looks so much more professional. And while we're really trying to get everything perfect,

Let's not forget other items such as simply striping your streets. That has a huge, huge impact. Installing some flags out on your frontage to catch the eye and give it more of a professional look. Again, not a lot of money there. So the bottom line is when people tell me, well, it's too expensive for me to look like a big corporation, that's rarely true. Every step I just talked about, you can achieve it all.

for probably five thousand dollars or less. There's no way you can tell me that was not five thousand dollars well spent. The bottom line to it is that branding and uniform These are the type of things that will really help take your property to the next level. So when you have a property that looks well groomed, like it's owned by a big company, even though it's not, you will get better values at appraisal. You will get more attracted bank.

You will get better loan terms. You will get happier customers. You will get better social media reviews. You're going to get everything better. And speaking of social media reviews, let's not forget, we now live in the world of the internet. So another part of having that big company feel is you need to always be found under any simple search on Google of an RV park in whatever that community may be, with a professional website.

And good, hopefully four and five star social media reviews. Now, what does all that cost? Very little. You can have someone build a website. Typically five hundred dollars, maybe a thousand dollars lasts a lifetime and social media reviews are basically free. So is SEO online. The bottom line to it all is too many RV park owners are not taking full advantage of all the options available to them

to have that big company look. And that's a shame because there's great benefit to having uniforms, to branding your property, to making it look more corporate. This is Frank Roth, the RV Park Mastery Podcast. Hope you enjoyed this. Talk to you again soon.