Research – Plan – Execute
A handful of states have dealer associations that represent the dealers in those areas. These associations do important work behind the scenes—monitoring legislation, engaging with lawmakers, and advocating for policies that protect the franchise system and the long-term health of
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For decades, the Federal Reserve called the shots on interest rates. Raise the Fed Funds Rate, and borrowing got tighter. Lower it, and credit started flowing. Like flipping a switch. But today? The switch is busted. The FOMC (Federal Open
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Understanding how tariffs actually work—and what dealers need to do about it.This article was originally posted by the National Powersports Dealer Association in the association’s weekly newsletter. Wednesday, May 7, 2025 Tariffs get thrown around in headlines and strategy meetings
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Repair Order aging is becoming a MAJOR problem and for most dealers it is not going to end well! In every Spader Business Management 20 Group meeting I have had this year, I’ve pointed out how the aged RO count
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During the pandemic, as component and shipping costs surged, OEMs looked for alternatives to price increases. Surcharges were rolled out by one manufacturer, and the others quickly fell in line. Surcharges were represented as temporary increases that would be reduced
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A few weeks ago, I visited a dealership and asked to review their spiff program. When I flipped to page two, it was clear there were multiple issues to address. Not only had the dealership essentially ceded control of their
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Violating state franchise laws. How quickly would a daily fine of $10,000 add up? What if that fine wasn’t just per day, but for each infraction at each dealer in a state? They are dry reads (I know, I’m working
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Why have many of the powersports vendors chosen to remain locked in battle with their franchised dealerships? 35 years back, when I was 20 years old, I woke up on Christmas day in snowy Germany, and that night went to
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When I first began working at a large powersports dealership in Austin, TX, we implemented a Daily Dozen checklist tailored for each Department Manager. Although not overly intricate, it served as a helpful reminder of daily tasks for managerial responsibilities.
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Are you maximizing the benefits of the Similar Parts (SP) feature in Lightspeed DMS (used to be Lightspeed EVO)? I tend to find that a small number of dealers make use of the SP functionality, but not always in the
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I really enjoy being able to make provocative statements. Seven years ago I sat in on a presentation detailing how to set up a Business Development Center (BDC). Got to admit, I was all in, it made a lot of
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When I was 19 years old and new to the Military, I got bored of doing the same tasks over and over again. We’d be tired, the days would be long, and you’d think the officers were never going to
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Every industry is better when its members work together to achieve big things. Until a couple of years ago, the motorcycle industry did not have a national dealer association. That came to an end once a group of forward thinking
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It’s time to sunset surcharges. During COVID, freight surcharges in the Powersports industry moved forward with lightning speed. First it was on vehicles, then parts, and then on everything. While these costs may have had some legitimacy during the height
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This is the last article I authored for PowerSports Business before the editor Dave McMahon moved on to work for Volcon ePowersports as their channel marketing manager. As many times as I’ve discussed with dealers how credit card processing works
Read moreAs I prepare for each of my Spader Business Management 20 Group meetings, I look over a set of economic indicators that I believe are indicative of how the economy is functioning and how it’s expected to perform. I’ve assembled
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I’ve now spent 30 years working in and around the Powersports industry. The continuing opportunities to contribute to PowerSports Business are an honor that I don’t take lightly. Giving back to the industry that has done so much for me
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This was the first editorial I ever penned. While my most controversial piece, I also feel it was the one that has the most potential to improve our industry Powersports Business February, 2022 – Without Factory Support – Can Anyone Fix
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A big concern among many dealers is whether or not the manufacturers will pursue a factory direct model. While there are pros and cons to this model, it’s important to recognize that dealers fulfill many roles that the OEMs probably
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As a Veteran and an airplane enthusiast, I consume a lot of content at that intersection. I found an interesting video on YouTube that detailed a unique lesson learned by the Military during WW2. In the later years of the
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Ask dealers to look back at the last year and identify which vehicle sales turned into nightmare deals and you’ll get a consistent set of answers Complainer – From the start, the customer treated the staff rudely Grinder – Transaction
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Facilitating 20 Groups for the last 6 years, two areas I always focused on were employee productivity and efficiency. I didn’t do this for all dealers, but it was an area of opportunity for most of them. While most dealers
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In the powersports industry, the majority of dealers have priced out service work based on the OEM flat rate guide plus some arbitrary percentage. Over the last five years, additional companies have started to provide resources to help dealers to
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As opaque as the systems are for determining what vehicles are allocated to dealerships (and right now we all know how important fresh inventory is), it’s hard to think that there aren’t some games being played. As a 20 Group
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When I first met Austin Rothbard and he detailed the business plan for a peer-to-peer motorcycle rental business called Twisted Road, I was somewhat skeptical. As a lifelong motorcyclist, one who has seen a lot of stuff (not all of
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This article was originally featured in the Spring 2021 Lightspeed Newsflash In my work with dealers across the country, I’m always amazed at the number of Parts Managers who don’t use the Buying Guide built into their parts ordering system.
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Almost every week I have a meeting with a group of Powersports, Marine, or RV dealers. Prior to those meetings, I set the ground rules. About 4 months ago I added a new rule to my meeting checklist: dealers can
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In 2006 when we purchased our dealership in Texas, we knew that a streamlined and transparent purchasing process would be something that would help us to be successful in the long run. We didn’t want to be one of those
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As with everything else in America, if you don’t like something, politicize it. Over the last couple of months, we’ve seen some sharp increases in gasoline and diesel. While it’s easy to try to blame an individual for those increasing
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During the great pandemic of 2020, more than one curve was bent. While e-commerce has been on a steady incline since 2000, the pandemic supercharged that growth. Unable or unwilling to visit stores, many consumers quickly got comfy with shopping
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Small groups of Powersports dealers have been forming for at least 22 years. In 1999, America’s PowerSports was formed by Wind Point Partners, and I was an employee at their first acquisition, Woods Fun Center. Since then, other groups have
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It was about 7 years back when I first heard of the Business Development Center (BDC) concept, and it made sense to me. Have a dedicated group of individuals who handle incoming leads and phone calls. Fast replies, customers logged
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This is a reprint of an article I wrote for the March 2021 issue of Powersports Business. I started working in a motorcycle dealership in the fall of 1992. Since then, I have worked in a handful of other dealerships.
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I do my best to not directly call out industry vendors (most of you do a good job of figuring out who I am talking about), but when it comes to DMS providers, it’s kind of tough to not use
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The folks over at IMS have an industry blog, Continue The Ride. They feature the viewpoints of different industry personnel. They recently asked me to pen an article on anything that I thought would be useful to my fellow dealers.
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For years now we have seen a lot of merger and acquisitions of Marine and RV dealerships, but very little activity on the powersports front. There are a few groups who have rolled up some Metric and Harley stores, but
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There are lots of different ways to conduct an annual inventory. To be honest, inventory is one of my least favorite annual projects. So, no better reason to get better at it. There are 3 primary methods I see dealers
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Currently, federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour. It was last increased in 2007. Some states have passed laws to increase the hourly rates up to a maximum of $14 an hour ($15 in DC), but as of
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Now that 2020 has wrapped up, many OEMs are beating the drums about the significant year over year growth they saw last year. Don’t believe the hype. While there was significant growth last year, a percentage of that growth was
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25 years back, when the manufacturer shipped a new vehicle to a dealer, the freight charge was just added to the invoice for that vehicle. The numbers weren’t that large, and as a part of doing business, when the boat
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I know that most people don’t have a degree in economics (heck, I don’t even have a degree), but watching all of these presidential transition posts, it amazes me how many people confuse the stock market with the economy. They
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I see all of the memes about electric cars and motorcycles, making fun of the land and resources that are destroyed as we mine the metal to make our vehicles, the rubber for their tires, and the materials to make
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Many of the dealerships I work with learned one lesson during the pandemic: how to do more with less. I have spent the last five years as a 20 Group consultant for Spader Business Management. Over that time, I have
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MAP – Minimum Advertised Pricing. These are the rules that limit the lowest price a dealer can advertise a vehicle (motorcycle, ATV, boat, RV, travel trailer, etc.) for. There are no constraints on what a dealer can sell something for
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For some odd reason, I am seeing more and more Marine dealers adopt a policy of reducing a salesperson’s commission on a deal when a trade-in is involved. Instead of paying that individual on the full deal, commissions are reduced
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Over the last couple of months I’ve had many discussions with dealers about the prospect of bringing on a line of electric bicycles. Some of this is driven by these dealers seeing more and more of these bicycles on the
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During the great recession that began in 2008, the Federal Reserve kicked off a program called Quantitative Easing (QE), now referred to as QE1. The government typically funds deficit spending by borrowing money (lots of money) from people, institutions, other
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Change is hard. I get it. But history has shown that companies which are averse to change will slowly become irrelevant, wither, and then die. Try to book a ticket on Pan-Am, rent a movie at Blockbuster, or pick up
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When I was in 8th grade, my math teacher was also my track coach. I’m sure there are some differences between teachers and coaches. Teaching is about the fundamentals. It’s often a repetitious transfer of knowledge, all while trying to
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A few years back I read a thought provoking article. The author thought that business owners were making a mistake when it came to spending the majority of their training efforts on the low performers. The premise was that even
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