Research – Plan – Execute
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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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
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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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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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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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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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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
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Great price for the new 660 Trident. On paper, the bike looks like a winner, and that 3-cylinder powerplant is a cherry on top. Go get em Triumph! #powersports #motorcycle #motorcycles #engine #triple #Triumph #Trident660
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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Arrgghhhhh! Every week. We don’t have enough inventory. Can’t get any. Making record margins on the stuff we can get. Here is the key fact that dealers don’t realize. If you had the ability to get all the inventory you
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Great article about some of the recent history of Royal Enfield and where they are going. The dealers I work with who stock the brand really like them. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-10-14/india-s-royal-enfield-motorcycle-is-coming-after-harley-davidson-hog #motorcycle#powersports#royalenfield#motorcycles
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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
Read moreCFMOTO is on the gas. While other OEMs have been struggling to keep dealers stocked with even minimal quantities, most CFMOTO dealers have plenty of 21s to sell. A couple of months back I got to check out the Overland
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Dealers who track this metric are seeing increases. During the pandemic, unit sales been easy and many dealers got a little aggressive with their tactics. It’s also possible that dealership disclosure policies weren’t always followed. Where there is an up,
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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
Read moreInteresting to see Zero Motorcycles and Polaris partnering up on electric vehicles. http://ir.polaris.com/investors/news/news-details/2020/Polaris-Announces-Partnership-with-Zero-Motorcycles-to-Co-Develop-Electric-Vehicles-as-a-Cornerstone-of-rEVd-upPolaris-New-Electrification-Strategy/default.aspx The posting is pretty vague about what the partnership will really mean for dealers and consumers, so you’ll just have to wait and see. We all know
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No trades. Dealers aren’t always great about building profiles of their customers, but anecdotal evidence leads us to believe that the number of first-time buyers during the pandemic has seen a marked increase. While we should all be excited about
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