The next big shift in consumer expectations is coming. Are dealers ready? In this throwback episode, we sat down with industry veteran Jared Byrd, the founder of Rexburg Motorsports and now a leading voice in helping OEMs and dealers adapt to the rapidly changing powersports market. Jared shares his journey from growing a small town snowmobile shop into a multi brand powerhouse and then making the leap to the manufacturing side to help dealers nationwide.
We dug into where consumers expectations are headed next, how unified commerce between OEMs and dealers could reshape the buying experience, and what dealers can do right now to stay relevant and of course profitable for mobile service and same day delivery to rethinking your unit sales process. This is a conversation packed with actionable insights for any dealer who wants to thrive in the next decade. So let's get into it.
Give us a bit of an overview for what listeners of the of the podcast who are going to be dealership, whether they're dealer principals, integers, workers at shops or maybe reps, you name it. Anybody that interacts in powersports is my sort of core audience and give them an overview of kind of who you are and what you, what you got going on and where you've been. Yeah, it's been a fun journey and and a lot of it is intertwined in powersports.
I started as a young boy in Idaho riding in potato filled when the snow fell on a 1979 cat Pantera. So we'd go, me and my brothers would go RIP around in the snow. And that's really that's that's kind of what there was to do in the winter time in Idaho, in rural Idaho.
And so just just enjoyed that playing around in fields on the old Hondas, you know, the ATC-90, the three Wheelers back in the day that dates me. But but that's that was life in rural Idaho. Fast forward to the the mid 90s and Polaris. Polaris was had had a tough go in the mountain snowmobile market with the introduction of the 1996 Ultra RMK. It was kind of a pig.
It was a one hit wonder. But the next year they totally redeemed themselves and that's luckily when our timing was lucky when we started Rexford Motorsports with the introduction of the 1997 Polaris 700 RMK and that was that was a fantastic snowmobile for mountain riding it. It really helped us to have great product to launch the
business. So we were, we were a little, little Polaris snowmobile ATV shop on Main Street, Rexburg, ID and I'm just starting out with there were three of us, myself, the manager of sales and we, we had a great mechanic. We went and found the best, best mechanic that that we could find in Southeast Idaho. And, and so that's how we got
started. We thought if we, if we can offer outstanding service, build on the core of of that great service, have some great products to sell, Hopefully we can build this so we can sell 100 units a year was my goal. So, so that's the, that, that's how I got started in the business. And, and what was helpful for me was growing up in my family's farm equipment dealership. My granddad started an International Harvester dealership in the, he's early 80s and my father and his
brothers took that over. And so I grew up in in the dealership and to that help give me a foundation for selling and servicing customers with with power sports. But it was a lot more fun. It was a lot more fun. So from there Rexford Motorsports grew organically for a while. We quickly hit 100 units that in a year and we grew that organically for a while and then and then we started to experience bigger growth as we acquired over time for other dealerships in town.
And so we that necessitated building a new facility. We wanted to operate everything together. So we were one of the consolidators in the in the early thousands as we acquired other dealerships and, and brought in Suzuki was first I guess in the late 90s. And then we brought in Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and we, we ended up with all four lines of snowmobiles, which was which was unique to have all four lines of sleds in one location.
And, and so with all those brands, we built a, the facility from the ground up, built a big service department and we went from 100 minutes in a year to where we were doing a couple, 100 per month on average. And it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of lot of stress. But, you know, building that and building a family, the Rexford Motorsports family, which to me was the great employees and their families that gave their
heart and soul to the business. And, you know, a lot of passion and a lot of talent that that was, you know, something that I had a lot of pride in was our people and then the family of customers. And what we really did is focused to, to grow and retain customers by focusing on the customer experience. And, you know, so we can talk about that later, but, but that's, that's really what we, what we tried to do to set, set apart the business.
And we knew that we had to retain customers in, in order to survive. In 2014, I decided, you know, I, I had dropped out of college. I did a couple years to get as much information I could as I could get the starter expert Motorsports and, and it was helpful, but I ended up dropping out and, and I decided to, I wanted to finish my formal education and I wanted to pivot to the manufacturing side and help help the industry at that level.
And so to do that, I, I sold out early 2015 and made a transition and my first landing as I finished up my, my undergrad and then started the, the MBA program at Brigham Young University in Utah. I started an executive MBA program so that I could continue to work. And so I was going down every other weekend on Fridays and Saturdays for 14 hours of classes every other week. I did that for two years. During that I was able to to work on the on the manufacturing side of the business do.
You feel like have as, you know, as we talked about that little bit before, I was thinking like, man, I wonder if, you know, as much as dealers feel like they, you know, have been missing out on that and how, you know, Amazon's killing us that sort of, you know, mentality that maybe I wonder if have they almost been given a bit of a pass by their customers who continue to deal with that fragmented process?
Cuz I don't know if consumers give, you know, normal other consumables in their lives as much of A pass and are willing to. I'm not willing to go to the, I don't know, as we, we talked before, I'm not willing to go to the phone store, you know, from my phone, you know, I, I, I look online and so on and so forth. The next thing you know, I'm in a chat conversation with a real or fake individual on a chat on Verizon site and I've got a phone ship into my house.
Do you feel like? Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. Something, something that the PTV or the golf car, as I was exposed to that a Textron with easy go. Something those dealers are really, really good at is the concierge service where a dealer is, is set up to respond to pick up and delivery and mobile services and, and powersports consumers are more likely, you know, powersports users are much more likely to have their own trailer where the owner of a golf car maybe doesn't.
But something because of that, it's necessitated that those dealers that sell golf cars are, are really good at delivery and pick up to customers in their local market. And I, I think that there will be an increased demand for customers in power sports to be able to identify quickly what's in inventory so that they can, they can have a same day pick up because same days still feel better than the new Amazon one
day Prime, right? So if I can, if I can on my mobile device, see that a dealer has this in stock and I can get it same day so that I can, I can get what I need for my ride this weekend that that's better. The other thing that dealers will need to get good at is the the mobile services or pick up and delivery in a way that it's, it's not cumbersome that this can be scheduled on a mobile device.
And dealers provide that hyperlocal service to be able to respond with by bringing the product to you or bringing the solution wherever you are, whether it's a storage unit at your house, at work or whatever. So in the future, I think that's critical dealers have will will likely have delivery departments. Find a way to exceed that expectation, provide that, get to that level of customer experience where you're providing all that. And obviously then the conversation is a lot less about
just the dollar. And I know that some buyers are just going to be about the dollar, but if you can make the experience just out of, you know, in the stratosphere compared to their expectations like that, you know, providing whether it's a demo ride at their location, you haul the truck out there, is there cost incurred? Absolutely. Does it maybe change the conversation about the purchase price? Absolutely, in my opinion. I love that.
You know, one interesting point of a data point that we found in our research was that about 2/3, two out of three power sports owners preferred to purchase from a small Mon Pop dealership where they could have, they had access to the owner operator, right. And and that was interesting to us. They also, as we dug deeper, they were willing to pay a little more for the service.
Level so you're saying at the at the what's can what would be perceived as a smaller where you could interact with the all levels of ownership that would they be pay more there? Yeah. Absolutely. And they associated small amount and it doesn't mean that if you're a if you're a large multi line dealership today, doesn't mean that you can't meet those expectations. I think in some ways it can be harder.
But what they what what the customers associated that small mom pop dealership with was the the higher levels of of service and support that they were, you know, they they're more likely to go out riding with them. And if they, if they needed something such as a bike delivered or a part after hours that that service was, was something they highly valued
from that local shop. And so is there a way to instead of having that available upon request or immediate need just like the dealer that you gave the example of instead of that, is there a way that we can turn that around and and dealers can proactively market and enable customers to tap into those services in a very simple way from from their mobile?
Phone I wonder if any of them began to push back on thinking maybe that what we're talking about is is dealers being maybe excluded from the process and and the future's coming and the dealerships won't be able to provide this. In fact, I think what we're talking about and what you've said is that you know there's going to be a shift dealers.
It's their opportunity to from their perspective as as well as folks like you who, who you work with at the OEM level to connect those two where the dealerships are not out, not outside the process, but in fact engaged right into it because that's what the consumers are are expecting. Is that is that accurate? Yeah, absolutely. I call it unified commerce. So where where the OEM unites with the dealers and then create the harmonized customer
experience really. Yeah, you're, you're right on. And in that what this is what, what the important task to do here, which is a difficult problem to solve because the the OEM has to have to take a leadership role in this to enable it. But the OEM need to unite with the dealers to execute a digital marketing and selling strategy and make sure that that the dealer services are always
offered fulfilled by the dealer. The online sales being fulfilled by dealers through the OEM brand channel as well as aligning all of the dealer services that they have with with those online sales. That we could be talking to somebody who's a parts person or a service person or anybody within the organization that may not kind of grasp where you're talking about, is it? I don't know if it's even a
thing anymore. I think you had said something I asked you before and I can't remember your answer on it, but I remember when I was a Scott Rep with Scott Sports, now it was Scott USA and back then they were trying to do the Shopatron deal, right? It was like we don't want to exclude dealers from the process. We want to plug dealers in, but we want to better help them plug into the audience that may be on the manufacturer's website and give that consumer that sort of experience.
And I don't know where that ever went. I wasn't with Scott, but for a few years. Is that sort of the concept that we're talking just to kind of make sure those folks know from a basic concept what what we're talking about? No, The short answer is no, and here's why. Is is a Shoppatron, I think, I think they took it a step to offer a marketplace out to dealers where they could become a shipper or to fulfill products
ordered online. But there's still, it's still not locally tied to the the services that dealers provide locally, which is orientation of products, installation, repair, mobile services, delivery, same day store pick up that that enables really none of that. And so I think that's where we missed the mark. There's also no Shoppitron does not enable the publishing dealer local dealer services. Just like that picture hanging on the wall, no one knew that they offered this delivery service.
Had a great time and there was a lot, a lot of real positive that you shared in that article. It would you mind chatting about that a little bit? Yeah. So my takeaways from the AIM Expo this year were very clear and I appreciate the leadership from the Motorcycle Industry Council in their general session. They laid it out and the challenge for the industry and Harley-Davidson there objective is to increase riders in the United States market by a million by I think 3.
And and this is the same pursuit that the Motorcycle Industry Council seeks is to increase ridership. So what they did and they described this to to the dealers and industry in the general session, but they outlined the research project that they just completed to understand different profiles of customers. So they created, created personas and they looked at motorcyclist that ride consider themselves riders, almost riders and then interested in becoming
a rider, but not a writer yet. And, and as you look at those 3 buckets and get a deep understanding of those customers and what they're, what they're looking for and what it would take to bring them along their journey to becoming a writer. If they're not a writer, or if they, if they're, if they're kind of a writer, if you get them writing more. And there is, there's some big opportunity for us to achieve
this as a industry. If we work together, if dealers and manufacturers, distributors unite in this effort, there are key things that we can do to delight, delight and help them along their journey. So they, they call this the culture code of motorcycling. And it helps understand, they've helped us understand the behavioral science of what these
customer types are looking for. And it, it really aligns a lot with creating the experiences that that we're talking about, we've been talking about today, creating experiences that just make it being at a high level, making it super easy for someone to become a writer. And, and then beyond that, helping them achieve the goals, the identity, the, the to come into the culture and create that culture that that motorcycling
provides. And so that's what it that's what's exciting is that the focus of the MIC spot on that we've got to increase riders and they see that this is a big collective effort. We need to educate, we need to provide better experiences and, and, and we, we have a deep understanding of, of who those customers are. I think, I think the dealers already know how they know the your code because they live it. They're on the front lines every
day on the MIC. We, we let them do the research project, which they needed to do, which is great. They can let the OEM's know, but I think the dealers kind of already know they're out riding with their customers and they're listening to them. And so they, they understand this and they see new entrance coming in and what that looks like. And, and so that that's really a Amex spoke on that initiative was exciting for me.
I was disappointed that that wasn't broadcasted live to to everyone that wasn't there because it was what? Do you kind of foresee as the best way for that to morph that the other distributors get involved and plan to go next year or the year after sort of thing or does AIM need to make multiple shows like a twice a year sort of well? Look, it's never going to be the same as it was. It's never going to be, you know, go go to your big booking orders with Western Power and Tucker Rocky.
Some of them have their own shows and, and more of the ordering, like I said, is, is done in the comfort of your, of the parks manager's office where he has access to all the data and history and, and, and videos and, and great content online. And so, yeah, I think, I think that it would be great for the distributors to participate from a, an education and I think
interactive workshops. I, I talked to a dealer recently that said, hey, I'm not going to do my booking orders there, but come and let's do helmet workshops 5 minutes each so we can learn about the, about the trends and the new products, give the deers information. So I don't think it's going to be how it how it has been in the past, but we can do it in a way
that have tremendous. View, you know, from like from your perspective now and interacting in a conversation like this and then what you do daily on trying to wrap the OEM level folks a heads around this sort of, you know, whatever this is this sort of a plan or this sort of a shift. What you know to the audience that's listening predominantly dealership folks. What sort of things can we tell them to start planning for, start thinking about, start
moving kind of toward? Yeah, no, that's that's you're exactly right, kind of my daily grind. My pursuit is to and I'm kind of the evangelist and the proponent of the the dealer and all this. But as I'm engaging myself and my team, which I'll tell you the other, the other two partners on in Hero Hub are a lot smarter than me. I bring the context of the dealer, the retailer and the industry to the picture, but I think you're a great team.
Their background in global technology and marketplaces is just an exciting thing to bring to an OEM at the executive level. And we actually actually perform a one day workshop for executive teams where we'll walk them
through that current landscape. And something that's always surprising to these executive teams at the OEM level is how massive the business really is online and what what has been missed in terms of volumes of OEM accessories and parts because the aftermarket has have made it easier to purchase their
products. And unfortunately that's been at the expense of dealers as consumers have have not had the option to buy OEM part in a way that you know, in in a way that we're talking about to include the dealers and to provide high levels of service and support. The aftermarket businesses has increased, the online business has dramatically increased and dealers and OEM's are feeling that weight or they're seeing decline in their after sales business at the OEM level.
And I, I, I think there's some dealers that have have at least seen, you know, lower growth rates or even declines in their parts and accessory businesses. There's a way to reverse that trend and delight customers. And so that's what that's what our story is, that's what we like to do because we understand that to pull this off, it's got to be a united effort. Dealers can't do it alone. They need they need the support
and leadership of the OEM. Is there anything that the lit the dealer folks listening now, maybe one or two? Do you have any sort of action steps or you should go do this today or as soon as possible you should start planning for this. Is there something that they can do to begin kind of either wrapping their head around the process or actually moving to where they're going to be more relevant when all these kind of
we start shifting? Yeah. I and I would say invest in the right places in your business for for dealers that I talked to prepare for the next wave of then the evolution in this online enabled retail dealers play a critical role in in this next decade, but it's going to look a lot different. So dealers will need to make pivots and and those pivots would include investing more no matter how service or in that you think you are invest and
your service department. You know, I hear all the time it's it's just too hard to hire technicians and dealers start to give up on the on the service business. Fight, fight like hell to own the service business. Build up a service center that the best service center, you know, become better than your automotive counterparts. If you're if you're power sports and and invest in those service
departments. The other thing is just really dial in products that customers expect to pick up same day. That's that's something that is is critical is that same day pick up of of quick, you know, grab and go item. That's so important. And if those items aren't there, the customers expect to be there. They don't expect you to have everything in stock, but the basic items they come in and it's not available next time they're just going online. And so to really focus on that.
And then finally, the last thing with unit sales processes being making it easier. No matter how easy you think you think you've made it to buy a, a player's razor or a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, however easy you think you've made it, you've got to rethink everything and make it even easier for the customer to make a purchase and to accommodate and figure out that customer journey for the new rider and,
and what that looks like. So really focusing on that and reinventing that process is really important. Dealers will succeed if if there's going to be some pivot though that that have to be made in order to provide the level of service that customers expect. Thanks again for listening to this lost tape of the Dealership Fix a podcast.
These guest interviews still hit hard and we're bringing them back re edited, sharpened up, and focused entirely on what matters, helping dealerships like yours improve, grow, and win. If you got something out of this one, hit that share button or forward it to a dealership friend who needs it. And make sure you're following the show so we can keep bringing you more content like this with combos with people shaping the power sports industry.
Catch you on the next. Still guessing what to pay on a used bike? Still holding aged units that just won't move? It's time for a real system. Moto Hunt's Ultimate Used Inventory Playbook shows how the best dealers are finding better inventory, pricing, trades right, and turning used bikes faster, with fewer mistakes and more margin. It's short, real, and free to download right now. Visit dealers.motohunt.com to grab your copy or check for the link in the notes.