Where are prospective buyers finding up to date BigHorn info?

As owners of a 2017 Big Horn, we are proud of our unit and encourage our friends to consider Big Horn as they shop. We attended a RV show yesterday, a manufacturer show at that, and I left a very disappointed. If I were currently shopping for a Big Horn I would probably be wondering why? The units we saw show well but there was no current literature to take with me to study. After asking I was able to get a 2017 mini flyer that had very little information about the quality or construction of the product. I went online and found even less information and I knew what I was looking for! One of the sales reps with had some Big Horns available to tour, but many more Grand Design products. The Grand Design brochures are up-to-date and full of information. The grand design website is up-to-date and full of information and easy to maneuver. I was told at more than one Heartland dealership that Heartland was looking for input to better compete with other brands. The sales people seem to feel that heartland is falling behind in the glitz factor, but who cares about glitz if you can’t read about construction or know that they’ve improved their warranty. Nowhere and no one even mentioned the two year warranty! I had to ask! And again I knew what I was looking for and what the answer was when I was asking. We love Heartland and we love our Big horn and we support Heartland but Heartland needs to get out there and work on their marketing. I feel like I care more about selling my friends a Big Horn than they do.

Sandy

Be aware that running Line changes happen all the time, and minor tweaks to the layout can happen every three months. There's no way to keep printed materials 100% accurate all the time. Web lags as well just because it has to support what's on dealers' lots, not what is rolling out of the plant at the moment.

I know Heartland has a small team that is responsible for ALL Their product line print and web materials. They are very busy, I am sure, as Heartland has more than 20 different lines of rvs, each with 7-10 floor plans each.

The best way to advise a prospective customer would be to have them call Heartland, and ask for a BigHorn Rep for your area of the country. I'm sure they have the best info!


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I agree with OP. Seems to be very limited information regarding construction of units. Often what is online is dated or has inaccurate information.

I have a 3575 EL and learned from reading the Heartland web site it has a dry weight of 30,000lbs. Now I need a new truck. Lol..


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Understand that changes occur, but the only info available at the show or on line is dated January 2017. One Year Old. That’s crazy and in my opinion unacceptable. I understand the cost of printed information. Bit isn’t that supposed to be the beauty of the Internet ...accurate info and updates happening in a timely manner. There were thousands of people at that RV show yesterday and not one of them was able to walk away with accurate printed material from heartland. That’s very sad and cound easily lose them sales. A solitude and similar Big Horn were sitting there side-by-side. A prospective buyer could walk away with accurate and current solitude information in their hands to look at when they go home. Someone like my husband or our friends, our brochure was worn out and practically memorized by the time we placed our big horn order. Trust me, I firmly believe that heartland and in our case Big Horn is the only way to go. I would just like to see that information shared with more people

Sandy and others on our forum,

Thank you for the letter and your concerns. We typically come out with new brochures and updated websites in December and early January. We probably need to rethink our timing a bit because we have a lot of new information to push out in a very short time.

I can assure you we have some fantastic things coming out within the week in terms of literature and the updated website will soon follow.

You mentioned something about a 2 year warranty. That pertains to Landmark 365 only and not Bighorn. We have a 1 year full-time warranty an a new 3 year structural warranty which we are very excited about.

You should also start seeing some press releases coming out regarding Bighorn. We have something coming out on “ Solar done Right “ and our new “ Fresh Water Drinking System”. Both items are industry firsts and we are excited to debut them.

Thanks again for your insight and concerns and rest assured we are working hard to correct these issues and to once again dominating the high end fifth wheel market.

Talk soon,
Tom Montague
GM Bighorn & Bighorn Traveler


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While at the San Antonio RV Show and Sale I noticed a couple of the other manufacture reps were pushing the 3 year frame and structure warranty.

Also one of the others with a full body paint was pointing out that the paint was also up on the side of the roof to hide the ugly white roof so the paint went up onto side of the roof. He said they had been testing it and it was holding up OK. I must say it did look good.

Jim M

TomM said:

You mentioned something about a 2 year warranty. That pertains to Landmark 365 only and not Bighorn. We have a 1 year full-time warranty an a new 3 year structural warranty which we are very excited about.

You should also start seeing some press releases coming out regarding Bighorn. We have something coming out on “ Solar done Right “ and our new “ Fresh Water Drinking System”. Both items are industry firsts and we are excited to debut them.

Thanks again for your insight and concerns and rest assured we are working hard to correct these issues and to once again dominating the high end fifth wheel market.

Talk soon,
Tom Montague
GM Bighorn & Bighorn Traveler


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Thank you for your reply! The 2 year warranty was mentioned by one of the sales reps this weekend. , so thank you for the clarification. And the water filtration system looked great. I’ll have our friends continue to monitor the website for updates. We noticed other manufacturers were offering the 3 year structural warranty so nice to hear Big Horn will also!!
Sandy

TravelTiger said:

The best way to advise a prospective customer would be to have them call Heartland, and ask for a BigHorn Rep for your area of the country. I'm sure they have the best info

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Like that’s going to happen. A prospective buyer wants something in his/her hands to take home and look at. They want to compare it to the SOB literature that they were given by that other dealer. BTDT.
Fortunatley for us our dealer Lakeshore Rv in Muskegon MI had literature and even mailed us the lastest as she received from wherever. That’s the way to do business if you care.

CoveredWagon said:

Like that’s going to happen. A prospective buyer wants something in his/her hands to take home and look at. They want to compare it to the SOB literature that they were given by that other dealer. BTDT.
Fortunatley for us our dealer Lakeshore Rv in Muskegon MI had literature and even mailed us the lastest as she received from wherever. That’s the way to do business if you care.

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Yes, I agree, it would be ideal if Heartland hired a professional marketing/advertising firm to make sure they were presenting their best foot forward always. (I'm in advertising/graphic design, so I understand these things.)

However, a personal call with a brand rep also goes a long way. Getting my exact questions answered by someone directly involved with the product is very impactful and meaningful.




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TravelTiger said:

Yes, I agree, it would be ideal if Heartland hired a professional marketing/advertising firm to make sure they were presenting their best foot forward always. (I'm in advertising/graphic design, so I understand these things.)

However, a personal call with a brand rep also goes a long way. Getting my exact questions answered by someone directly involved with the product is very impactful and meaningful.

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i don’t disagree with you, I just don’t think the average consumer is going to go that route. I know I wouldn’t. They don’t need a marketing firm, all they need is to get a simple brochure printed. That was all I received from the other manufacturers. Even if the advertising isn’t the latest and greatest sales need to be able to give something to the customer. KISS! People understand that. When I was looking at a Montana I was given advertising that was even out to all the dealers yet.

First impression are important, especially details. A new consumer looking at an expensive product wants very detailed current information on that product. It makes one wonder if the seller gives a darn in comparison with a competitor that has it together in trying to attract consumers to their products.

Dumboldles

I see I wasn’t alone in my thoughts, LOL! The average shopper wants to leave with information in their hands. Most people wouldn’t even think to stop and call a brand manager until they were much further along in the process. And most people not even then. Without information to take home and drool over the average shopper might not even remember that they saw a heartland bighorn. Unless you’re like me and take pictures of everything because you have such a lousy memory. I was surprised at this show how many new brands are out there. Many at the same price point as a big horn. Competition is going to be stiff and heartland is going to have to stay on point to stay ahead.

Sandy

I don't disagree with your requests. I'm saying it's not as easy as you think. One doesn't snap their fingers and a professional, accurate, full-color brochure is produced. (For 27 different brands).


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TravelTiger said:

I don't disagree with your requests. I'm saying it's not as easy as you think. One doesn't snap their fingers and a professional, accurate, full-color brochure is produced. (For 27 different brands).
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All the materials I received were for one brand only. It’s not that hard to adjust / print things one at a time. Just like eating an elephant, one bite at a time.

CoveredWagon said:

All the materials I received were for one brand only. It’s not that hard to adjust / print things one at a time. Just like eating an elephant, one bite at a time.

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What I am saying is that to complete the same request you have – an accurate, extensive full-color brochure – for one product, ALSO has to be done for EVERY PRODUCT Heartland makes. 27 brands, according to their current website. 27 brand brochures. 52 weeks in a year. Can you see the math?

Plus, realize that things will change every three months -- New floorplans, new decor, new furnishings, new suppliers of this or that, new features.

A new brochure would require: staging and lighting of a completed rig for professional photography, inside and out; all the retouching work to make every image look perfect; getting all the accurate specs and product features from somewhere, (engineering? GM?); Fresh concepts for targeted branding messages for each type of product; Time to get the brochures printed (20K each); and shipping to all the dealers. As mentioned somewhere on the forum by a GM, they typically create new brochures in January -- but I doubt they are all completed/delivered to dealers in January.

Marketing materials for the Dealer Open House in August is probably pretty critical, as this is where they debut new floorplans and features, and make a lot of sales. (a Landmark brochure I picked up this weekend was dated 8/2017.)

Should it be a priority for Heartland? Personally, I think so. But it's not possible unless they have an extensive staff (more than HL has now) or hire an outside agency to do so.

In the long run, is it really necessary? Most people seem to buy an RV based on "look and feel".

This is a great discussion and I appreciate everyone's concern regarding brochures and updated material. Most car companies, especially the higher end car companies are going away from the traditional brochures. They find it much easier, faster and cost effective to update their websites because of how fast things change. When talking about Heartland - you can't imagine the challenges of putting a brochure together. Most new floor plans and decor's come out for the September Open House. Then we come out with a new floor plan or two around our Louisville show, Thanksgiving & Christmas are also around that time so the plants and offices are shut down. We need time to schedule & build each new floor plan in our line-up. Then we have to get all these units to the photo bay to be decorated and staged for pictures. All this needs to happen for every brand we make. Bottom line is that we are busting our butts to make sure we get the latest and greatest materials out to these shows as early as possible. Some manufacturers like the ones mentioned earlier have 3-4 brands - if they didn't have their literature out and up to date there would be something wrong. Please understand we are doing our best and fantastic marketing material is on its way.

Talk soon,
Tom Montague

TomM said:

This is a great discussion and I appreciate everyone's concern regarding brochures and updated material. Most car companies, especially the higher end car companies are going away from the traditional brochures. They find it much easier, faster and cost effective to update their websites because of how fast things change. When talking about Heartland - you can't imagine the challenges of putting a brochure together. Most new floor plans and decor's come out for the September Open House. Then we come out with a new floor plan or two around our Louisville show, Thanksgiving & Christmas are also around that time so the plants and offices are shut down. We need time to schedule & build each new floor plan in our line-up. Then we have to get all these units to the photo bay to be decorated and staged for pictures. All this needs to happen for every brand we make. Bottom line is that we are busting our butts to make sure we get the latest and greatest materials out to these shows as early as possible. Some manufacturers like the ones mentioned earlier have 3-4 brands - if they didn't have their literature out and up to date there would be something wrong. Please understand we are doing our best and fantastic marketing material is on its way.

Talk soon,
Tom Montague

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i understand what you are saying. What I’m saying is give the customer something, not a full blown catalog. Something they can put in their hand with a link to the web site or whatever. I can’t remember what I was given, but it was enough to wey my appetite enough to keep digging and eventually purchase a Bighorn. If I remember it was a couple of pages and not the latest. We’d been to a few dealers and never even heard of a Bighorn. We went to Lakeshore to see SOB and we’re introduced to the Bighorn. Went home with a piece of advertising and that’s when it all began.

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TravelTiger said:

What I am saying is that to complete the same request you have – an accurate, extensive full-color brochure – for one product, ALSO has to be done for EVERY PRODUCT Heartland makes. 27 brands, according to their current website. 27 brand brochures. 52 weeks in a year. el".

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Im not asking for that. And I’m sorry but. I can’t agree with you.

I am on my third Bighorn and have a great dealer, but we still have looked at other brands. We have always walked away with either current brochures or at least up to date information on SOB's websites. I understand that Heartland has 27 brands, but I would think they should make updated information a priority on at least the high end brands.

We have 4 page show brochures all around the country. We have brand new full color, full feature brochures being printed and delivered to dealers as we speak.


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Not Bighorn but my Cyclone will be 3 years old next month and the specs on the website are still TBD.... That's more than a tad slow, no excuses for that.