Research – Plan – Execute
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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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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In today’s fiercely competitive Powersports market, dealerships are seeking innovative ways to build long-term wealth while maintaining control over their profit centers. One of the most powerful strategies for achieving this is through reinsurance—a method often overlooked, but one that
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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There are many pros and cons of social media, but I find it fun to look back at historical predictions. In 2007 “peak oil” was the hot topic and predictions of $300 barrels of oil and the end of vehicle
Read moreInteresting story I’ve always seen it as hypocritical that our suppliers want to end each month without any inventory in their own warehouses, but they are fine with dealers being jammed up with excess stock. All they have done is
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PPP – Probably the only time in our lives where the government will treat small businesses like they treat large corporations every day of the year. As small businesses, our voices are often just viewed as background noise. We can’t
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A Ghost Customer (GC) is a person who reaches out to his local dealership, can’t find what he/she is looking for, and then reaches out to a multitude of other dealers looking for that same vehicle. In the end, every
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This week’s topic. Weed, and how should dealers address the use of this drug by employees. At the Federal level, it’s illegal. Certain States have approved its use at different levels. Business owners are caught in the middle. When asked
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The RV and Marine industries are ramping up, with one of the largest (and in my opinion best managed) Boat dealers changing hands a couple of weeks ago, and plenty of RV stores finding new owners at the helm. While
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This is a great review of why Briggs & Stratton filed for bankruptcy. Like some of the companies we have to deal with in the powersports sector, corporate greed and short sighted thinking (placing officers and shareholders in front of
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Interesting story on why the Loonie has continued to struggle against the American Dollar. I work with quite a few Canadian dealers. They have been pummeled over the last few years. It wasn’t that long ago that a single Canadian
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0% down is great for dealerships who hate repeat customers. I know that it sounds perfect for those people on the sales floor and makes things easy for your employees, but it’s still a bad idea. Even when the lender
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The cost to borrow money is essentially 0. Other than risk, there is little to prevent powersports dealers resuming their poor inventory management practices. The only thing stopping them from returning to the old days of full showrooms/warehouses and stacks
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A couple of months back a friend sent me a link to https://www.twistedroad.com/ and I checked it out. Twisted Road is a platform where motorcycle owners can rent out their motorcycles directly to other people. At first, I thought that the
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Optimists often call me a pessimist, but I call myself a realist. I make decisions off the data at hand. For most powersports dealers it has been a good year, with the demand in unit sales more than making up
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A question that comes up all the time, and there is definitely a dichotomy to our industry. The OEMs don’t want to have one single vehicle in their warehouses (reduces their risk and keeps the shareholders happy) but they are
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