The Dealership Fixit Podcast

Jaye Sanders joined me tonight to discuss what a recruiter can do to help dealerships as well as individuals who work in the spaces of powersports, marine & RV. Now, with the current situation involving the #COVID19 #CoronaVirus there may be a certain lack of action by many of us to wait and see but Jaye says they haven't stopped helping people and businesses like you, connect the right talent...

Derek joined me this afternoon to discuss why communication is one of the most important things you need to put laser focus on, right now in the midst of this COVID-19 coronavirus thing we dealership people are trying to wrap our heads around. For starters, the consumer expectation has long since diverged from what dealerships (in general) are actually doing to communicate with the consumer, on th...

Parts & Accessory folks - Do you want to grow? Are you currently retaining all of your customers? Sadly, based on what I see when I visit or consult with many businesses, the answer is probably not a yes. So, if you are bleeding customers at any level, what is step one? I had Richard Kimes come on the dealership fiXit podcast to discuss just that.  Although he is no longer with Helmet Hou...

I wanted to read this LinkedIn blog post from my friend Jeffrey.  It hits home for me and I'm sure it will hit "home" for you... wherever you find yourself.  Buy his book on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Retail-Manual-Strategies-Retailers/dp/1732565414 Jeffrey P. McNulty can be found on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypmcnulty/ The actual LinkedIn post ca...

I recently read Kurt von Ahnen 's book " Service Writing in Black & White " written in 2007 and - I can tell you that if you have any interaction with a dealership service department - you need to get it and read it right away! In fact, Kurt has opened up to pre-order the follow up to the first book, which will be named " Service Writing in the Grey "   I wrote service as my very first jo...

Welcome back!  Here we are already a couple weeks into 2020!  How did that happen? Episode 53 and tonight we got to chat with Jason Gearld about his "baby" Phoenix Handlebars as well as some other stuff. Jason started in the powersports biz working at a shop in rural Indiana where he says it all started for him in 1985, when his mom brought home the June copy of Dirt Bike magazine from t...

Did you know that I was inspired to do this podcast by an old friend? As we all know too well this time of year, sometimes inspiration falls flat before the perspiration part even gets started, if we haven't put ourselves around the right kind of people - people who will nudge us in the direction of completing the things we said we wanted to. My old buddy Craig Johnson from Wild Ass Seats is that...

I couldn't wait to talk with her and get her take on how we are doing in this business, from a woman's perspective. This being my first chat with a woman in motorcycle business, on this podcast. She was a pleasure to talk with and I know you'll love the listen. Buckle up! You know Teri has to be tough since she attained the rank of Staff Sergeant in the Marine Corps before coming into the motorcyc...

Josh Barton with Trail Tech talks with me about Connected Riders & Trail Tech GPS products - Episode 50 Josh was willing to be my CLOSEST proximity guest to date - and doing a phone podcast interview form just across the river in Washington state! If you understand that one of the most important things a company can do these days is offer a way to help a human CONNECT to other people, you'll s...

Steve Dodds of Garage Composites joined me tonight to discuss dealer comp plan philosophies. A topic I have been asked for at least twice this year - so I hope this brief episode will do it justice, as a start. Steve has offered to come back on in the near future to expand on this and possibly address other topics as well. get your pen and paper ready!  :) Find Garage Composites here:  ...

Phantom of the Shopera, a Christmas Story with Michael Jones!   It's the Christmas season and for the motorcycle business, a time to reflect and evaluate how to move forward with the perspective of another year under our belt! Michael, a 30 year service department veteran and master technician joined me tonight to review what he has seen in powersports dealerships in his career, from a back o...

You know that snow sports must be a great hook when someone from Texas decides not just to get into them, but to get into the actual industry while living in Texas! My old buddy Aaron Remkus from the great state of Texas joined me today to elaborate on the who/what/where and WHY he got into Ski Biking and opened a company named Texas Ski Bikes . Now, if you've ever been to Texas (or heard about it...

Joining me today was Larry Little. You may not know who he is, but Larry is one of many people working behind the scenes to keep the doors of your dealership swinging. I think it's important for dealership folks to understand that they do have a network of people working on their behalf to help their business stay healthy. How? Larry is with the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) - who wo...

Do you like technology? Of course you do!  You are listening to a podcast. These pretty much didn't exist until technology allowed us to take books and such on the go, with iPods and iPhones etc. At one point there was no way to do such a thing with a wire or two to tether you to these grandchildren of Walkman we now use. Now, when you helmet up for a ride - you probably expect to easily acce...

If you were in business and business seemed to be getting harder, would you quit or search for ways to be better? No, it's not a trick question. Many businesses are in the midst of a major transformation right now and if you built a business that is a retail operation you probably have some trepidation about how you fit in not and ongoing. Powersports dealerships are retail outlets that focus on M...

Natan Sanel, founder of National Powersports Distributors joined me tonight to discuss his thoughts on what is missing from the powersports business these days. Thankfully he is passionate enough about seeing it get healthier industry wide that he shared many insights with me that most business owners would probably prefer to lock up in a safe, than share with all their competitors! Coming from a...

Dealerships, whether metric or v-twin focused are in a bit of a predicament. Those of us that are in the industry love this thing we do called powersports - riding a powered thing in a sporting way  ;-) BUT we have been struggling despite our best efforts to keep our doors swinging with new customers. We can blame the parents of bubble wrapped kids, we can blame the electronics that kids get...

Tristan Wright joined me from Melbourne, Australia to discuss how his path from uni (college) for engineering to "real life" work lead him to starting a company making custom cycling apparel. That took off and he built it into a solid 7 figure business that sold around the globe. He says that it didn't go as smoothly as a story book since balancing that and home life ended up costing him a marriag...

The Next Big Shift in Consumer Expectations is Coming. Are Dealers Ready? Jared Burt Joins Me for Episode 40 of the Dealership fiXit Podc ast – I am your host, Brian Croft This is episode number 40 of the podcast. Today, it’s my great honor to have a former client of mine, also a many year friend and very distinguished powersports leader as our guest. I’d like to run thru a quick greatest-hits sty...

Randy joined me for the 3rd of 3 sessions discussing some intricate points that he, as a California dealership, is accountable for to state and federal regulatory agencies. This is a session that may have some of you who are not in a role where these compliance items are part of your day to day, let's say... it may have you sort of "glaze over!" But, if you aspire to be in a management role at a d...

Randy Felice joins me as guest on this, his second episode of three to discuss why it's important for dealership owners and managers to ask for help. He describes his experiences starting in powersports and realizing he had a lack of actual management experience. He reached outside the industry and started his journey then in was probably a standard corporate America style management course. It st...

Wanted to share the obituary of my friend and Trader co-worker Patrick John Bridgford from Lodi, California.  You were a good man P-Town. Quick with a compliment and always found a way to uplift our team.  You will be missed my friend.  Godspeed.  A hui hou. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lodinews/obituary.aspx?n=patrick-john-bridgford&pid=193867385

How does a mission statement set the bar in your organization? You may want to have a look at yours and determine if it fits to get your vision implemented on a daily basis, to your customers, by your staff.    It was a pleasure tonight, getting the chance to talk shop with Randy Felice . His shop, A&S Motorcycles in Roseville, California is one I have been to although it was probabl...

Hey there - I am still alive! Seasonality got me... In the heat of a summer season in the powersports business, I put the podcast on the rear most burner for a month. Sorry about that!  But, as we know we experience some pretty strong seasonality in this business. It's September. My kids are just now back in school. The days are getting (noticeably) shorter. What changes are you making in you...

You may not know the DFW (Dallas/Ft Worth, Texas) area but it's a massively populated metro area surrounded by some sprawling suburbs, full of powersports riding Texans. Bobby Whitney has come to powersports within the last year, from 20 years in high line, high volume, luxury automotive business working with Sewell Auto Group. This is where Bobby learned Mr Sewell's "Customer For Life" philosophy...