Vol. 5 # 1 - Tiffin Motorhomes

d e a l e r p r o f i l eJim Kimbrell Capitalizes on His Strong Suitby Fred ThompsonThe son of a central Alabama dirt farmer and one of 18 siblingsfrom two sets of children, Jim Kimbrell joined the Army immediatelyafter he graduated from high school in 1960. Afterserving in Korea and returning to train recruits at Ft. Benning,he completed his tour and headed back to Birmingham.With opportunities looking grim, Kimbrell warmed to asuggestion from a retired Navy friend regarding a sales positionwith a Lincoln-Mercury dealership in southern California. Afterseveral years in the business, he found his calling. “My strengthis knowing sales. I know the ‘people end’ of the business,” hesaid, reflecting on his success over the last 40 years.Kimbrell became an operating partner in the business and ledthe formation of La Mesa RV in 1972. The company soon hadto make the decision to focus on automobiles or recreationalvehicles and the latter won. Later that year the gas crisis hit theU.S. and the company’s principal partner, Pascal Dilday, wantedto sell. Kimbrell boldly bought him out, acquiring 70 percent ofthe stock. In the late seventies, he bought the remaining stockfrom Pascal’s son and gained full control of the company.Taking a page out of the company’s history of owning severalautomobile dealerships, Kimbrell realized that growth andprofits lay in duplication. After opening three stores in California,he connected the dots on how the seasonal travel of RVerscould affect sales, which eventually led to the opening of fourdealerships in Arizona. Today, two of those dealerships, Yumaand Quartzsite, are open only during the peak months of thewinter season.Early in his career, Kimbrell identified several factors forthe success of a dealership: (1) An excellent operational servicedepartment. (2) Good employees who treat customers right. (3)Absolute integrity. “If you let a customer leave your store believingsomething that isn’t true, then you’ve lied to him,” he said.“We don’t sell perfect coaches — new or used,” he smiled. “Wemust condition our customer to make sure his expectations arein line with reality. Overselling is a big mistake. If we can makea customer happy by matching up his needs and expectationswith the right coach, he will tell others. If we have a customerwho has a problem and we can fix it for him, we have a loyalcustomer,” Kimbrell continued.With three stores in California, four in Arizona, two in theeastern U.S., and another to open soon, Kimbrell finds himselfspending a lot of time traveling. In the early nineties, he broughtJames Walters into the company as a stockholder to serve ascorporate comptroller. Their skills complement each other. “Heruns the business end of La Mesa and I develop and expand oursales function,” Kimbrell said.Over the years, La Mesa RV developed a criteria for selectingmanufacturers they wanted to represent. Quality is the numberContinued on page 2828 Roughing It Smoothly ??? 29