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OPINION FROM THE EDITOR www.PowersportsBusiness.com Powersports Business • April 4, 2016 • 11 This edition of Powersports Business coincides with the launch of our call for pre- sentations at the dealer train- ing sessions at AIMExpo in Orlando. Industry folks are once again encouraged to sub- mit presentations that are educational in nature. Sim- ply put, your presentation should accomplish one or both of these goals: help dealers make money or help dealers save time. If you have an idea that meets those criteria, don't delay in submitting your prospective pre- sentation for the fourth annual event. The online application can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/r/PSBAIMExpo2016. Deadline to submit a proposal is May 1, 2016. The training sessions will be held during AIMExpo in Orlando, Oct. 13-16, 2016. Presentations should target powersports dealership professionals (dealer principals and general managers, as well as department managers and employees in new and pre-owned sales, service, parts, accessories, F&I, e-commerce, social media and operations). Presentations should range from fundamental to advanced in nature, with the ability to reach a wide spectrum of dealership personnel. Because of your presentation, dealers will leave the sessions with profit-accelerating ideas for success. As you can see in the accompanying photo, deal- ers from the U.S., Canada and several other countries annually make the trek to AIMExpo to participate in the free dealer training sessions. We hope to see you in Orlando in October. MORE TO COME Some "not great" deadline timing for this edition of the magazine has me collecting a handful of stories from my recent trip to Dallas-Fort Worth. It was one power- house of a journey. Upon landing, Mark Lamb, presi- dent of the Texas Motorcycle Dealers Association and owner of DFW Honda in Grapevine, agreed to give me a nickel tour of his dealership. His passion for both racing and the Honda brand are obviously an ideal fit, and I look forward to sharing his dealership's story. The dealership's RV was fresh off a weekend of racing practice, which came as a surprise to no one. From there, I landed at EFG Companies, the newly minted, two-time Powersports Business Power 50 spon- sor. A larger-than-life image of the PSB Nifty 50 logo is emblazoned across one of their walls, and it's such a sight that you really do have to see it to believe it. We don't even one that size on our own office wall! Next up was the Ski-Doo dealer meeting at the posh Hilton Anatole hotel. Snow Goer magazine editor John Prusak had a cameo appearance during the 2017 Ski-Doo model launch video, taken from a recent enthusiast media test ride. That caught me by surprise, but probably shouldn't have, based on that magazine's clout. I managed to catch up with BRP CEO José Boisjoli, and will share that interview as well in the upcoming edition. What's a trip to Dallas-Fort Worth without stop- ping by Hisun? Those guys know their BBQ joints at lunchtime, so there was plenty to like. What I thought would be a brief tour of their corporate offices and assembly plant turned into much more than that. The place is massive, cranking out fully assembled ATVs and UTVs that are landing in your dealerships more than a lot of folks imagine. We'll talk more about their expansion next month. And while dealership general manager Matt Mas- chmann was out on Gart Sutton's boat for a 20-group meeting in California, I decided to visit his store — Maxim Honda Yamaha Zero in Allen — just a few miles down the road from Hisun. The new Zero Motorcycles addition greets visi- tors upon walking into the store, and the Power 50 dealer does a bang-up job of presenting a superb retail environment. If you don't have one of your UTVs placed on top of rocks and dirt in your showroom, do it tomorrow. It's eye-catching and engaging. Plus, the staff was hard at work while the boss was away, so that says something, too! Tucker Rocky Distributing was the final stop of the PSB Texas Tour prior to liftoff. That was my debut appearance at TR, but there were plenty of famil- iar faces. And once again, Nifty 50 certificates were proudly displayed by several of the distributor's brands. The warehouse's automated pick system was a gem in action, and simply put, I had never seen more tires in one location. Anywhere, ever. More to come from the Texas trail next month. PSB Dave McMahon is editor in chief of Powersports Business. Contact him at 763/383-4411 or dmcmahon@powersportsbusiness.com. 1. Ski-Doo announces 2017 platform 2. Polaris acquires electric vehicle manufacturer 3. Mets player's custom Slingshot nets media attention 4. 2017 Sneak Peek Tour announced 5. Arctic Cat unveils 2017 snowmobile lineup 6. Polaris program launched by Costco Auto 7. Limited edition Indian Motorcycles sell out in a day 8. Polaris 2017 snowmobile lineup features more Axys sleds 9. Tucker Rocky president Courtney stepping down 10. Timbersled reveals 2017 lineup 11. RevZilla, Cycle Gear partnership gets new parent company 12. Tearing through St. Paul on a snowmobile (video) 13. Ski-Doo reveals 2017 model teaser photo 14. Dealer buys 90K-square-foot building due to rising e-comm sales 15. Kawasaki unveils Z125 PRO The headlines above belong to the most frequently viewed articles from Powersports Business' three-times weekly e-news during the Feb. 25-March 18 period. The number is based on the percentage of e-news viewers who clicked on the article's headline. To subscribe to e-news, go to www.powersportsbusiness.com/newsletter-signup. WHAT'S THE HOTTEST INDUSTRY TOPIC? Powersports Business blog ONLINE WITH POWERSPORTSBUSINESS.COM Leading industry executives and dealer consultants are among the contributors to PSB's blog. See below for recent blogs. Call for speakers underway for AIMExpo dealer training Visit powersportsbusiness.com/blogs Power 50 application now open Does your dealership have what it takes? Our annual Powersports Business Power 50 program is currently open to applicants until June 1, 2016. If your dealership provides customers with an experience worth recommending to others, displays a focus on customer satisfaction and prepares for its future with planning and training initiatives, we want you to apply. Visit www.powersportsbusiness.com/power-50 to begin your application for the 2016 program today. NAPOLEON TETREAULT Sales Representative, Tucker Rocky By asking the right questions, collect- ing data and batching your answers, you can then prioritize, plan and exe- cute a strategy to address the issues and opportunities that are found. After all, our customers are our most impor- tant resource. KIM ROCCO Director of Marketing, DX1 With more paid ads on the top of the page, organic search results will be pushed further down and quite pos- sibly, below the fold. As a result, paid search advertising is now an even more important option for getting deal- ership exposure in the search results. RON CARIKER Owner and President, 7 Media Group One of the first questions asked when a dealer starts to implement a mobile strategy is "How do I get the word out to my customers to join?" Build- ing your mobile database can seem daunting and slow going, but it's not as complicated as it may seem. FORREST FLINN Managing Partner, Powersports Management Concepts Every month we hear that our personal information is being exposed and used by criminals for gain. ... I am trying to get you to start thinking about your dealership's data security. It's impor- tant for so many reasons — specifically having good internal control. This edition of Business launch of our call for pre- sentations at the dealer train- ing sessions at AIMExpo in Orlando. Industry folks are once again encouraged to sub- DAVE McMAHON Olivier Gregoire of Gregoire Sport in Quebec collected a fistful of certificates of completion during the 2015 Powersports Business Institute @ AIMExpo in Orlando. The dealership's franchises are Yamaha, Arctic Cat, KTM and Suzuki. Thanks to all of you dealers who helped to make the Texas Motorcycle Dealers Association annual conference one to remember. The wealth of knowledge provided by the dealers to a rookie attendee already is enough to make me look forward to returning to the 50th anniversary meeting. Guys like (left to right) Jason Heller of Midland Powersports, Morris Baker of Family Powersports in Lubbock and Chet Barger of Barger's Allsports in Waco are walking encyclopedias of knowledge and were happy to share.