Pennsylvania dealer to bring four staff members to ProfitX
Duane Summers, owner of Yamaha of Camp Hill in Camp Hill, Pa., is one of many dealers attending Profit Xcelerator, Powersports Business’ conference and expo, but he’s not attending alone. Summers is one of four management-level staffers from his dealership who have registered for the event, which will be held Sept. 25-27 at the Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa in Las Vegas.
“We are always looking to, as a dealership, to improve on the skills of our staff members and provide them with continuing education, because we always need to keep learning what’s happening out there and best practices, and we thought it was vital to go ahead and come on out and see what we can learn,” he said.
Summers attended the inaugural ProfitX in 2009 and found the seminars and speakers to have valuable information that he could bring back to his dealership.
“It’s a refresher, and it’s for motivation, and it’s continuing education of what’s happening in our industry and what’s new and what we can take back to our dealership and implement in improving business,” he explained.
When the dealer learned about the 2011 event and the sessions that will be held in the Powering Profits and Sales & Marketing tracts, he knew he had to bring as many people from his dealership as he could.
“I’m sending three department managers, and I’m going to attend myself because there are seminars that are for the different departments, and they get the value out of the event,” he said. “I wish I could send my entire staff!”
The parts, service and sales managers from Yamaha of Camp Hill will all be joining Summers. He finds their attendance important because he wants each to be exposed to the concepts presented, to interact with each other, the speakers and other attendees and to rise up to their dealership responsibilities.
“If they’re not out there and learning and hearing about this first hand, it’s not as valuable as me coming back and telling them what I heard,” he said.
Summer said his hardest decision during ProfitX is which seminars to attend. His staff plans to split sessions at some times and gather together at others.
“I’m looking forward to the ability of us to maybe be able to sit in seminars together and hopefully being able to share and go back to the dealership and implement some changes,” Summers reported.
His goal is to not only improve his dealership’s profit after attending ProfitX, but also to improve operations, so his store can stand out as a leader among its competitors. And he’s already doing well at that, having been named a Pro Yamaha dealer in the first half 2011.
Sand Show gets season started
Powersports dealerships, OEMs and suppliers will be in attendance at the 13th annual Sand Sports Super Show, the premier event for sand enthusiasts.
The show, being held Sept. 16-18 at the Orange County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, Calif., targets any person or business that has fun in the sand, from sand rails to motorcycles to ATVs, and more frequently, side-by-sides.
More than 300 exhibitors are expected, including Can-Am. Burt’s Mega Mall, Chaparral Motorsports, Cycle Parts West and other powersports dealers will be exhibiting, along with RV companies and toy haulers.
The three-day show has attracted crowds of 42,000 consumers the past two years.
In an effort to target other interests of the show’s attendees, boats, PWC and motorcycles also will be exhibited.
“Halloween is the sand season opener, so this serves as the event to start looking ahead and seeing what you need,” show manager Shawn Parker said.
Performance Machine acquires Xtreme Machine Wheels
Performance Machine, an industry leader in aftermarket wheels, brakes, controls and motorcycle accessories, has acquired Xtreme Machine Motorcycle Wheels USA.
Well known in the custom bike business, Xtreme Machine has been manufacturing billet wheels for more than a decade. In fact, Xtreme has been the recipient of the coveted “V-Twin Wheel Design Of The Year” award three times for its extraordinary designs.
“Xtreme Machine has always been a well-respected brand and Performance Machine will continue to manufacture motorcycle products under the Xtreme Machine brand name,” explained PM president Mark Finnie.
“We feel that the Xtreme Machine line of wheels is a natural addition to Performance Machine’s diverse brands,” Finnie added.
