Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/343790
44 • July 13, 2014 • Powersports Business SOLUTIONS www.PowersportsBusiness.com GUEST COLUMN Brooks, Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Whitney Houston, Michael Jordan, Melinda Gates, Shaquille O'Neil, Angelina Jolie, Kobe Bryant, Paris Hilton and Serena Williams. BABY BOOMER GENERATION (BORN 1943–1960) I was born in 1944 at the leading edge of this generation. My first memories were of war- related events: care packages to Germany; memories of tall strong men in khaki pants; my Mom walking past a busload of returning sailors just off the ship, whistles all the way down the sidewalk; my dad watching Howard Hughes fly the Spruce Goose for its one and only lap. Vietnam came. I went. And came home, unlike so many others. There was no band. There was no parade. I just got off the bus, walked home, called my old boss and asked for my job back at the prune dehydrator. He said OK, and I went back to work driving forklift. But there came a time when I talked with my Uncle Eddie (WWII Vet, Purple Heart, Battle of the Bulge …) about who had it the worst — him in Germany, or me in Vietnam. He told his stories; I told mine. At the pause, he said "Well Harold, I guess you had it pretty bad over there, but you know what? We won our war." It's a little hard to put that one behind you. In the workplace: Baby Boomers value relationships above all. They want to work with suppliers, vendors, customers and managers that they know, or will know, well. They want names and places and experiences. They value commonality. They want handshakes and smiles. They will talk rather than text. They want to be remembered. Persons of note include: Bill and Hillary Clinton, Joe Namath, Rudy Giuliani, George Lucas, Dianna Ross, Cher, Dolly Parton, Donald Trump, Steven Spiel- berg, David Letterman, Bill O'Reilly, Jay Leno, Rush Limbaugh, Condoleezza Rice, Tom Hanks and Michael Jackson. All eight of us from this room were sitting at a table just this past month. Lots of information, lots of ideas. As the table cleared, I noted that the two youngest were picking up iPhones. The 40 somethings were closing laptops, and the two of us from the Boomer generation were gathering up yellow pads. This stuff is real. It affects everything we say and do. Focus on it. Learn about it. Adjust what you say and do accordingly, and you will find that you are a more effective owner, manager, counterperson, salesperson or technician. Each generation has its own world. It's your job to function smoothly in each of them. PSB Hal Ethington has been associated with the powersports industry for more than 40 years. Ethington is a senior analyst at ADP Light- speed. Contact him at Hal.Ethington@adp.com. ETHINGTON CONTINUED FROM PAGE 43 It's not an easy task to open a new motor- cycle dealership, buy an existing dealership, or to operate a dealership, for that matter. The costs associated with along with OEM requirements are not something that most folks can comprehend or afford. The barriers to entry in our industry are extremely high. On the flip side, when you're selling your dealership, you want your barriers of exit to be low. Generally, the lower the barrier to exit is an indication of how profitable you've been over the years. I've met very few dealer principals who haven't worked extremely hard. Up early, home late. Calls at three in the morning (the alarm is going off), or someone called in sick today (darn it), and we're shorthanded already. We take up the slack, cover where needed, then sit down after we've closed and do what we should have been doing during the day: managing our business. Working hard and being profitable do not always go hand in hand. If they did, we'd all have a lot more money. What does go hand in hand? Profitability and a lower barrier to exit when it's time to reap the rewards of all your hard work when you sell. When I bought my dealership, my focus was on the barriers to entry (purchase), and a future exit plan wasn't even on the map. In hindsight, I should have been looking at both, and so should we all. For many of us, our dealerships are our nest eggs. What we do to build those nest eggs is up to us. Dealership profitability over the years has a direct correlation to not only what we realize now but also what could be realized down the road. If most of us know this, and we do, then doing whatever it takes to ensure the greatest return on our invest- ment seems like a no brainer. Hard work does not always justify a sales price, but profitabil- ity does. When reality sets in on justifying an asking price and all the blue sky you want, many a dealer, including me, has wished they had done more over the years to warrant it. Your business is special. The intangible value of your hard work over the years — there's that blue sky again — will be worth a whole lot more, if there's consistent profitability to go along with it. PSB Mark Mooney is director, retail performance for Pied Piper Management Company LLC, a Monterey, Calif., company that works with motor vehicle manufacturers and dealers to maximize performance of dealerships. He also writes a blog for PowersportsBusiness.com. MARK MOONEY A low barrier to exit shows profitability state "[Baby Boomers] want names and places and experiences. They value commonality."