PowerSports Business

August 11, 2014

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www.PowersportsBusiness.com NEWS Powersports Business • August 11, 2014 • 3 HOTNEWS CONTINUED FROM COVER MARSHALL DISTRIBUTING NAMES VENDOR OF THE YEAR Marshall Distributing held its annual national sales meeting last month in Frankenmuth, Mich., with 50 vendors on hand to provide training and product knowledge to Mar- shall sales, purchasing and management staff. "Woody's Traction received an award for being Vendor of the Year for their incredible efforts to support us through a very busy winter selling season, allowing us to keep our fill rates high," said Marche Karger, Marshall's national market- ing and ecommerce manager. "We applaud their efforts and appreciate their dedicated part- nership. Overall, this has been a very successful and productive meeting." The following is a list of brands in attendance for the meeting: All Balls, Arrowhead, Baffin, Barker, Bel-Ray, Big Gun, Caliber, Camoplast, Cycle Country, Cylinder Works, ITP, Deltran, Dowco, Dunlop, GBC, GMAX, Haynes Manuals, Heat Demon, HiFLo Filtro, Hot Cams, Hot Rods, JT Sprockets, K&N, KFI, Klotz, Kolpin, Nelson-Rigg, NGK, NOCO, Outside Distribut- ing, Ricks Electric, Rigid, Scott, Seizmik, Sena, Star- brite, Starting Line Products, StreetFX, Stud Boy, Symtec, Vance & Hines, Vee Rub- ber, Vesrah, Warn, Wiseco, Woody's, Work Shop Hero, Yacht and Yuasa. ATLANTA H-D STORE GETS NEW OWNER Harley-Davidson of Clayton County, also known as "The Best Little Harley House in Georgia" was sold by Coweta Harrison to Gene Preston in June. Coweta and her hus- band, Charlie, founded H-D of Clayton County, located in Morrow, Ga., in 1977. Charlie Harrison passed away in 2009, and Coweta and her brother, Don, have been running the dealership since then. Harley- Davidson of Clayton County is the largest H-D dealership in the metro Atlanta area at 60,000 square feet, and it sits on seven acres of land. After running the dealership since 1977, Coweta and Don were ready to retire from the busi- ness. George Chaconas of Per- formance Brokerage Services had been advising Preston for several years regarding the potential purchase of an addi- tional H-D dealership. He also owns Thunder Tower Harley- Davidson in Columbia, S.C. Harley-Davidson of Clayton ADP Lightspeed has announced the hiring of Steve Morton as its new director of client services. This change in leadership is brought on to enhance the customer service that Lightspeed dealer clients receive on the phone and over the Internet, the company said. Morton will work out of the ADP Lightspeed head- quarters in Salt Lake City and report to ADP Lightspeed general manager Greg Smith. Morton comes to ADP Lightspeed with nearly 20 years of experience working in and managing customer support centers. Most recently, he was director of an outsourcing facility for Convergys in Appleton, Wis., with 600 associates and consistently ranked in the top facilities based on client ratings. During his career, Morton has supported a variety of clients, including managing technical centers for organi- zations such as Gateway, eMachines, Acer, Vizio, AGFA, Apple, Silicon Graphics and Cisco. He has also managed call centers, working with clients such as Nestle, Merck, Costco, Comcast, ATT, Qwest and Sprint. "In his past roles, Steve has consistently demonstrated an abil- ity to improve customer support efficiency and productivity with high degrees of client satisfaction," Smith said. "We see him as a good fit for the Lightspeed culture because, in addition to his technical expertise, Steve is a people person who cares deeply for building and developing his team, and for collaborating with col- leagues. Having Steve at ADP Lightspeed is a win for our dealers, our client support teams, and our entire organization." "I am excited to work with an organization, like ADP Light- speed, who is seen as the leader in the industries they serve," Morton said. "My biggest goal is to improve the customer service experience of our dealer clients. They are our highest priority and deserve only the best. I am confident that we will only continue to raise the bar on what dealers should expect from the people behind the Lightspeed dealership software." ADP LIGHTSPEED'S NEW DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICES 'A WIN FOR DEALERS' NEWS 6 ... Dealers comment on Q2 8 ... PSBI @ AIMExpo speaker bios 11 ... PSI committee hosts meeting 14 ... EagleRider opens Australia location OPINION 15 ... From the Editor 15 ... Online at PowersportsBusiness.com PSB: FOCUS F&I 16 ... ADP Lightspeed F&I study 17 ... Steve Dodds 18 ... Brian Gallmeier 18 ... Same Store Sales 18 ... Stock Market Watch 20 ... Hal Ethington MOTORCYCLE 25 ... Dealer sponsors wing cook-off 25 ... BMW sales up in first half of 2014 27 ... Zero to host dealers at AIMExpo PWC 30 ... PWC sales grow in June SOLUTIONS 32 ... Neil Pascale 33 ... Sam Dantzler SNOW 34 ... Divas, FLY sponsor Haydays AFTERMARKET 35 ... Dealers profit from Kryptonite GPS 36 ... Hot Products 37 ... Yuasa introduces GYZ battery series INSIDE Hot Leathers announces promotions Jerry Berkowitz, founder and owner of Man- chester, Conn.-based Hot Leathers has pro- moted several employees. "Hot Leathers has a rich history in the motorcycle industry that spans over 30 years. With that I want to insure that we can continue to grow for another 30 years and beyond. The individuals that we have promoted have all been with Hot Leathers for well over a decade, for several it was their first job; they all know their content areas inside and out. I'm proud of the work we have done and interested in seeing what we can do as a team in the years to come," Berkowitz said. The promotions are as follows: Retail operations manager Andy George has been promoted to executive vice president in charge of overall strategy. After many years on the road taking care of Hot Leathers mobile operation, Jennifer George will take over as vice president of retail operations. Paul Resnick, the creative force behind the most popular Hot Leathers designs, is now vice president of product development. Ari Lejfer, who has been key in developing all the online and digital assets, has been pro- moted to chief information officer. PSB Küryakyn names Amenda to VP position Celebrating its first 25 years in business and looking ahead to the next 25 wit the launch of NXT 25, Küryakyn has hired industry veteran Pete Amenda as vice president of product development. "For a product-driven company like Küryakyn, bringing Pete in with his skillset, background and personality, we will see a signifi- cant impact in the growth and culture of our company on multiple levels," said company president Holger Mohr. "It's also not every day you get the chance to intertwine a lifelong passion into your everyday routine, but he is a true enthusiast as well. We have the perfect candidate for this critical position with Pete." Amenda was most recently VP of marketing for S&S Cycle in Viola, Wis., where he led or supported numerous new product development and commercialization efforts that resulted in signifi- cant product line growth in the American V-twin performance parts market. Amenda's career has spanned three decades on both an OEM and aftermarket level. Along the way, he has held leadership roles in retail, distribution and manufacturing, including production and general management, brand, product and channel marketing, new product development and strategic planning. Besides S&S Cycle, notable previous positions include manufacturing area manager for Harley-Davidson, Screamin' Eagle performance parts category manager, and VP of marketing and portfolio management for Cus- tom Chrome. "Küryakyn believes motorcycles aren't simply a means of trans- portation, but rather a representation of a person's very identity," Amenda said. "I certainly agree with this philosophy and really look forward to working with the creative minds on this team to help accelerate Küryakyn's continued growth for the next 25 years." Amenda holds a B.S. in industrial engineering/management xcience from Northwestern University and an Executive MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. "We were lucky to get Pete ... and this is only the beginning," Mohr said. STEVE MORTON Pete Amenda has been named a VP at Küryakyn. County has been renamed Thun- der Tower Harley-Davidson West. Preston wanted to acquire an additional store in order to bring his son into the business as well as expand and grow. ROMMEL GROWS DEALERSHIP FOOTPRINT Brad Hopkins and Dave Rommel of the Rommel Har- ley-Davidson Group have pur- chased the former Electric City Harley-Davidson in Scranton, Pa., and Noto's Harley-David- son Shop in Plains Township, Pa., from brothers Thomas and Robert Noto. The stores have been renamed Rommel Harley- Davidson of Scranton, and the secondary retail location will be Rommel Harley-Davidson of Plains Township. George Chaconas of Perfor- mance Brokerage Services had been introduced to the Noto fam- ily when, a few years ago, Tommy See Hot News, Page 11 Rommel Harley-Davidson has taken ownership of the former Electric City Harley-Davidson (top) in Scranton and the former Noto's Harley-Davidson Shop in Plains Township. Both stores are in Pennsylvania.

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