Powersports Business Power Hour

Most dealers are familiar with Ryan McFarland's other company, Strider Balance Bikes, but he also heads up another project that is very important to kids learning how to ride bikes in school. All Kids Bike was created to teach kids how to ride a bike as part of a school or church program. We discuss how it all got started.

Brendan talks with Sam Paschel, CEO of Zero Motorcycles, about the company's new strategy to unveil serveral new models under $10k by 2030. Paschel also discusses some dealer incentives and how easy they've made it to do business with Zero.

Nate Stickney acquired his first dealership in 2014 and now owns three locations in Florida. Driven a passion for improvement and growth, Stickney shares the changes he has made to boost the success of his teams and his dealerships.

Brendan sits down with the president of Moto Canada to discuss the impact proposed tarrifs on Canada may have on the powersports industry in both the U.S. and Canada. There is a lot at stake and French wants to make sure everyone is aware of what's involved.

Brendan interviews Chris Yeloushan and Pete Eppele of Rollick to see how their AI initiatives are progressing. They show us some of the nuts and bolts of how the platform can allow dealers to nurture leads through the sales funnel and into the dealership from online to in store.

Brendan interviews Broward Motorsports' Dealer Principal Sam Nehme and Rob Greenwald from Sam's man cave in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sam is this year's recipient of the PSB Leadership Award that will be presented to him at Accelerate. He is also on Greenwald's panel about Generational Transfer and how young leaders can move up the ladder.

Brendan sits down for a conversation with Rob Hefner, senior vice president of powersports at APCO/Rider's Advantage to discuss the year ahead for dealers. This episode is brought to you by Synchrony.

Brendan interviews George Chaconas and Courtney Bernhard from Performance Brokerage Services about the state of the M&A segment in powersports. While the economy has been a challenger for many dealers, there are still deals to be made and George and Courtney share some tips.

Brendan chats with Maggie Stevens of ARS Powersports at the Parts NVP in Milwaukee. Stevens won a Women With Spark award in 2023 and has continued to grow her parts department by staying connected to what is current in the industry and going to events in person.

Brendan talks the future of electric motorcycles with Andy Leisner who has led a couple of startup e-moto companies and has been an industry stalwart for many years.

Brendan and Madelyn speak with Simon Milestone, founder and CEO of Dealer Academy. Milestone breaks down the Dealer Academy website/app and explains how its community and training are designed to benefit dealers.

Brendan talks with Eagle Rider's new CEO, Sebastian Schoepe about the brand and how he went from customer to CEO.

Madelyn Pegg speaks with dealers Mike Venziano and Misty Rohdes, his daughter. The owners discuss topics from F&I to partnerships with OEMs, to saying goodbye to Yamaha snowmobiles to working with family.

Madelyn Pegg chats with Sarah Walker, marketing director of Team Powersports, who shares how she found her dream job and how she makes the dealership memorable through social media.   

Brendan sits down with DX1 Customer Service Manager Anthony Azevedo to discuss the "Submit an Idea" feature request list option on their DMS system and how other features are developed on the platform.

For this episode of Power Hour, Brendan speaks with Luis Rojas, national sales manager of Keeway America. The company recently released some interesting new models, including a small-cc V-twin bike. And we talk about the recent acquisition of a legendary but dormant Italian brand, Morbidelli and how that is going.

Brendan speaks with Colin Godby, the CEO of a new moto start up called Dust Moto. Colin outlines the business plan and why electric has a place in off-road.

Brendan speaks with Pied Piper CEO Fran O'Hagan about the decline in powersports internet lead response times and why it matters to dealers.

We connected with Chris Yeloushan, who is the VP of Dealer Development. Laura Boccardo, director of marketing was also on the call (not in the pod).

Brendan Baker, PSB editor, visited with Denago Powersports in Southern California in early April to check out its new line-up of youth powersports vehicles, which included an electric ATV and several dirtbikes. The company has been on the gas since it launched last year and has big plans for the future. They call it "The Denago Difference." The machines are well built and offer high dealer margins...

In this episode of Power Hour, Brendan and Madelyn speak with Jessica and Gunnar of Brands That Shine and how they have navigated life on the road for three years now. They travel the country in their motorhome visiting with dealers and clients wherever they go. We spoke to them as they wrapped up Bike Week in Daytona, Florida.

In this episode of Power Hour, Madelyn talks to Kade, who is the general manager of Macomb Powersports in Chesterfield, Michigan. This dealership was our Best-in-Class winner for Service Department excellence in 2023.

Brendan Baker talks to Blackman's Cycle in Emmaus, PA, about an interesting idea for selling a very rare motorcycle. Chris Line, marketing director for the dealerships along with his CFO have made a special token called an NFT (non fungible token) to go along with the sale of a rare Aprilia XTrenta 1100 superbike. The bike is #95 of 100 and the token was specially designed to authenticate the sale...

Editor Brendan Baker interviews Apiar Risk Management's Zach Materne to discuss the world of insurance for powersports dealers in today's risky environment. Zach comes from a powersports background and was a dealer principal before joining Apiar, so he knows the unique struggles dealers face and how he can help get them the right coverage.

Madelyn speaks with John Resciniti III, president of Motorcycle Mall in New Jersey. Resciniti shares how his grandfather started the dealership in 1975, how the dealership has grown since, what changes have been made to provide a career for employees and much more.