Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/183375
10 • October 7, 2013 • Powersports Business NEWS Speaker bios AMANDA BLACKSTONE THE BUTLER GROUP ATLANTA You could say Amanda grew up in the powersports industry, as the daughter of Ray Little, an original employee and legendary flat track racer for the first Harley-Davidson dealership in the Atlanta market. Amanda started going to the Harley-Davidson dealership at the young age of 5 to help sort parts. She was along her father's side as he raced Formula 440 Mini Indy cars and always had a love for cars and motorcycles — anything that went fast. Her father wouldn't allow her to race so she came to the dealership only after going off on her own and acquiring an incredible work ethic in the retail industry, where she gained a vast amount of knowledge in retail, sales and management while still working part-time in the dealership nights and weekends. Amanda made the full-time transition in 1998 and her father started her in the parts department. She was to work her way up from there. Her family's dealership was the first Polaris dealership in the state of Georgia. In the first year Amanda was there, she grew the business by over 150 percent. She quickly went from parts to service to sales and, according to plan, general manager. Amanda was instrumental in creating new processes, implementing new product and programs for Polaris. HEATHER BLESSINGTON DUO WEB SOLUTIONS Award-winning blogger and CEO of Duo Web Solutions, Heather is a nationally-renown speaker on social media marketing. A digital marketing veteran, Blessington brings over 20 years of experience to powersports, with a track record of success delivering marketing strategies to high profile dealers, distributors and manufacturers across the industry. A. JASON BRECKENRIDGE THE 20 LLC If Ma Bell and Dale Carnegie had a kid it would've been A. Jason Breckenridge. Fact is, Carnegie's middle name was Breckenridge. That may explain why Jason is a both a natural and gifted trainer, especially on the phone. His approach of keeping it simple and honest with a little twist of human psychology makes it easy for everyone to learn and utilize successfully. JAMES BULECZA LEXINGTON MOTORSPORTS James is the service manager at Lexington Motorsports in Kentucky. He is a Honda specialist, and has factory training with Ducati, Kawasaki, Polaris, Suzuki, Triumph and Yamaha. He increased gross sales in service by 40 percent in his first year at the dealership. A. DUNCAN BUTLER THE BUTLER GROUP ATLANTA A. Duncan Butler has worked in the industry for more than 15 years, with most of that time in a role as general manger. He was worked with BMW, BRP, Ducati, HarleyDavidson, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Polaris/Victory, Schwinn, Suzuki, Triumph, Vespa and Yamaha. Duncan did not start in the industry, but quickly became a general manager, working his way from the P01x13-PSB13-News.indd 10 bottom to the top. He went from being an investment broker with PaineWebber Inc. to working an entrylevel position for then-Dick Farmer's Harley-Davidson in Orlando. Duncan wanted to learn all aspects of the business and has held many roles in the dealership arena, including: porter, inventory manager, parts associate, parts manager, service manager, finance/ sales manager and many years as general manager. Duncan has overseen dealership operations with gross revenues of $250,000 to $20 million, managed dealers at the height of industry profits and kept dealerships afloat during the recession all by sticking to fundamental business practices and managing with processes. CRAIG CERVENKA EDGENET Craig, known throughout the industry as an expert on product content, e-commerce and search, is senior manager of Business Development at Edgenet. He works with dealers, OEMs, distributors and manufacturers in a variety of product-related capacities. PAULA CROSBIE ADP LIGHTSPEED Paula is a member of ADP Lightspeed's elite training team and has been ADP Lightspeed's Associate of the Year. Paula has more than 10 years of experience in the powersports industry and thrives on helping dealerships maximize their profits and processes. Paula has trained hundreds of dealers and is one of Lightspeed's senior and most requested trainers. Her industry expertise and knowledge help guide dealerships on a successful path of business. Paula resides in Salt Lake City with her two children and husband of 24 years. SAM DANTZLER SAM'S POWERSPORTS GARAGE Sam was the kid who grew up down the road from you who was never, ever allowed to sit on a motorcycle. It was an image thing, not a safety thing, so motorcycles and tattoos were forbidden. So, he'd hide issues of Cycle World under his mattress for late-night perusing. Taking off to college in the late '80s, he had secured both a motorcycle and a tattoo by the end of his first day on campus. That's where it started, and he's currently on motorcycle number 58. Sam began working in retail at a sporting goods store as a kid, selling motorcycles in college and eventually found his way into a job as a retail sales trainer. He found out about Lemco (Ed Lemco's company) in 1999, and Ed brought him on in 2000. Sam became the director of training for Lemco in 2003, running the nine-month-long Management Development Programs. With financing support from Mark Tkach and Bill Coulter (RideNow), the three bought the company from Ed in 2005, and named Sam as the new CEO. The name changed one year later to RPM Group (named after one of the training modules, Retail Powersports Management). Sam made an attempt to form alliances with OEMs, a constant source of friction for many dealers. While RPMG continued to add new members, Sam created an exclusive program with Michael Lock and Ducati. This was the first genuine attempt he had seen of an OEM truly wanting to help its dealer base through a private 20-club group (four of them, actually). RPMG eventually caught the eyes of F&I provider Assurant. They purchased RPMG in 2007 in an attempt to launch their products through RPMG venues. When Assurant exited the 20-club business in 2009, leaving Sam a free agent, he decided it was a good opportunity to go independent. Since that time, he's done work with Triumph, Harley-Davidson, Arctic Cat and Polaris, as well as hundreds of independent dealers. HAL ETHINGTON ADP LIGHTSPEED Hal has been associated with the powersports industry for more than 40 years, with his roles ranging from dealer principal to his current position as a senior analyst at ADP Lightspeed. He has written a column for Powersports Business for the past decade. www.PowersportsBusiness.com ww LAURA LEMCO MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY CONSULTING SERVICES, LLC Laura grew up in her parents' Honda, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson and Husqvarna dealership. She worked with her father, Ed Lemco, throughout the years in the motorcycle consulting business, taking it over in 2010 as Ed returned to his passion of retailing. Laura focuses on using analytics to improve the decisions dealer principals make every day. She provides certified business appraisals and loves the challenges of helping both buyers and sellers in transitions. af inc me Pow ROBIN HARTFIEL ROBIN HARTFIEL CONSULTING One of the most respected professionals in the industry, Robin has served as the editor of a variety of industry trade publications. He has moderated powersports sessions at a range of industry trade shows and continues to help industry companies grow via his editorial, marketing and advertising expertise. BOB MCCANN ARI NETWORK SERVICES, INC. Bob McCann is ARI's director of education. ARI creates award-winning software solutions that help equipment manufacturers, distributors and dealers Sell More Stuff! — online and in-store. ARI removes the complexity of selling and servicing new and used inventory, parts, garments and accessories for customers in powersports, automotive tire and wheel, outdoor power equipment, RV and white goods industries. More than 22,000 equipment dealers, 195 distributors and 140 manufacturers worldwide leverage the company's website and eCatalog platforms. PETER JONES IBSG DEALER SERVICES Peter Jones is an industry consultant and trainer with more than 25 years of experience who specializes in dealership operations. He currently works with dealership clients by operating their stores and enhancing their profitability through the implementation of best-in-class policies and procedures. He is a partner with IBSG Dealer Services. DAVE MCMAHON POWERSPORTS BUSINESS Dave has been editor of Powersports Business since 2011, guiding the brand's editorial content in print, online and in-person. He regularly attends OEM dealer meetings, distributor meetings and product launches in order to develop the most effective content strategy for the Powersports Business brand. Dave has served as a moderator for industry events and webinars. STEVE JONES GART SUTTON & ASSOCIATES Steve has been in the powersports industry for nearly 40 years. An avid rider, he raced motorcycles for many years. Steve has worked as a technician, service manager, parts manager and sales manager. He spent more than 20 years with major powersports manufacturers as a field service advisor and as a district sales manager. Since 2003, Steve has been a consultant, instructional designer, GM and projects manager for GSA. He has helped develop training solutions for many major manufacturers and conducted numerous dealership on-site consulting sessions. An experienced facilitator, he has spoken on topics such as sales management, parts department management and service department management. TOM ORLANDO THE DEALER TEAM Tom bought his dealership when he was 28 years old. The year before he purchased the dealership, it had annual sales of only 160 units. In his first year of ownership, the dealership sold more than 500 units. Except the store lost money. Thus, his lesson in learning "How to Keep More of What You Make" began. He started by making sure the store's profits were in line. After that, he focused his attention on a controlled volume increase. With these adjustments, the dealership consistently performed in the industry's top 1 percent year after year, with multiple 250-unit months. For the last seven years, Tom has been blessed to be able to gather some of his close friends, travel around the country with them and help other companies reach their true potential. He built The Dealer Team into the trainer of choice for some of the top dealership performers in the industry. In 2011, The Dealer Team helped its clients increase profits by more than $1.9 million. By 2013, that number has grown to an increase of more than $2 million in profits. ROBERT KLEIN RPMONE Robert is in Dealer Development for Interstate National Dealer Services, with more than 20 years of experience in sales manager development training, parts and service manager development training/certification and F&I training and certification. He also has experience in business consulting and training with dealers based on industry best practices. His success with dealers follows specific drilling and training using a measurable metric, along with consistent follow-up and routine meetings to keep dealers performing at their highest level. NEIL PASCALE DOMINION POWERSPORTS SOLUTIONS Neil works with powersports dealerships of all sizes through educational efforts he leads with Dominion Powersports Solutions, the parent company of a number of market shareleading powersports brands, like DX1, ZiiOS, PowerSports Network, CycleTrader.com, Traffic Log Pro and Dominion Insights. Neil is the moderator of the Pulse, a free monthly webinar series that tackles different dealer sales and marketing issues. He also is 9/25/13 11:03 AM com com reg exa kno an to com age pro den Cal wid hav thro zine but bi-m Jos est aM bik gre Wit pu stra com and bel com num Un pre tion the Flo sor num her