28 • July 2024 • Powersports Business

Turn 14 Distribution shares updates about its transition into the powersports market :

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT The company ’ s appointment of Matt Sturdevant as director of Brand Management strengthens the team and its new Texas offices and Innovation Center provide an ideal environment for product development .

GRAND OPENING The company celebrated the grand opening of its new headquarters in Keller , Texas , with a “ Bikes and BBQ ” event in June . The event drew more than 100 motorcycle riders and ATV / UTV fans from across the DFW area , including Norton Club members and the Harley Owners Group . Turn 14 also announced the location for its 10,000 square foot Innovation Center that will house a workshop , photo studio , and apparel testing lab .

RIVER ROAD River Road announced a lineup of street and touring apparel in Q3 2023 , shortly before Turn 14 Distribution announced its acquisition of the brand . The products include leather jackets , vests , gloves , chaps , and helmets for cruiser and V-Twin riders . The full line of products is available to dealers .

INVENTORY AND SUPPLY CHAIN Turn 14 Powersports has secured its vendor supply chain , ensuring a steady flow of products . Inventory continues to grow and the company expects inventory availability to nearly double over the next few months .

DISTRIBUTION AND BRAND EQUITY Turn 14 Distribution is optimizing its distribution channels and protecting brand equity . The company has discontinued direct sales to Amazon . com and reintroduced a Minimum Advertised Price ( MAP ) policy for all its powersports brands . Turn 14 Powersports is also actively addressing the presence of counterfeit ProTaper products in the market .

DMA SUPPORT Turn 14 Distribution has taken steps to support virtually all Dealer Management Systems used by powersports dealers , integrateing its price book with 15 of them . The company is finalizing its initial integration with the Lead- Venture family of companies , allowing dealers to access product catalogs and inventory levels directly within their existing platforms . The company also continues its “ no minimum buy in order ” for powersports dealers .

Turn 14 uses the ACES ( Aftermarket Catalog Exchange Standard ) and PIES ( Product Information Exchange Standard ) in its management systems and all owned brand products and distributed products use this standard in the company ’ s system .

Turn 14 Distribution held a grand-opening at its new headquarters in Keller , Texas , dubbed “ Bikes and BBQ .”

Photo courtesy of Turn 14 Distribution .

RETURNS Turn 14 Distribution has fully implemented its Free and Easy Return Program for powersports retailers . This program allows dealers to return unused , resalable , and normally stocked items for a full credit without restocking fees .

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However , during Covid and after the acquisition , they had an oversupply of products . Dealers were selling everything in sight at the time the order was placed . But then came a slowdown and a mild winter .

“ You know when you turn off your faucet , and there ’ s still water in the hose , and water comes out ? Well , that ’ s what it was like with production ,” Wehr says . “ Demand stopped , but we still had inventory coming . Dealers were heavy to the point they had to sell through some inventory before buying from us . It ’ s starting to go away . We will be in a good position next year as we have some more time to clean out the pipeline .”

The unique problems with Covid have not all gone away , but Wehr and Ozias believe they are starting to see signs that things are returning to seasonal norms .

“ We gained more than we would have gained organically before Covid ,” says Wehr . “ But we didn ’ t keep everyone , and we plateaued at a high level but didn ’ t come back down to where we were . So I do think we got some extra lift there .”

“ Our goal in the company is to set ourselves up for success in the future and really for the long term ,” he continues . “ And that comes with realigning rep territories and getting them focused on the dealers that have the most opportunity for growth , whether that ’ s an outside rep or an inside rep , optimizing inventory , ensuring that we have the hottest items in the warehouse where we need them , focusing on fill rates , getting as much of the order in one shipment from one warehouse , trying to reduce the number of crops , and all those things . We ’ ve been working hard on that for the last several months , and as we continue through this year into ‘ 25 , we can fine-tune the machine a bit more .”

With reps getting new territories and assignments , Hard Drive had to adjust its team .

“ We decided to take that team and move them inside ,” says Troy Ozias , director of field sales . “ We had a team of 20 and consolidated it to a team of 10 . But we expanded the number of dealers for whom they ’ re responsible . With this plan now , we expect to talk with dealers one to three times a month by increasing our sales calls and touch points . So , between our e-mail or social traffic and then our phone traffic , we expect that to elevate .”

Ozias understands that face-to-face communication has some advantages compared to over-the-phone communication . “ But we also know we couldn ’ t reach those at that same level , so we ’ re going to increase our touch points .”

When Arrowhead first came into the mix , they wanted to do everything for everybody in every fashion . But that was not working as well as the executive team would like . So now AEP is enabling WPS to focus on being WPS again .

It ’ s a bird , it ’ s a plane , no , it ’ s the Open Trail training session in Boise for more than 150 WPS sales reps .

“ Arrowhead was looking at more of a global structure where it ’ s under one umbrella ,” says Springsteen . And the first thing the CEO did was put everyone in their own lane and then created accountability for each of those business groups . “ For WPS to be successful , it has to stand on its own . It has to be operated on its own with parent company oversight . But everything we do is dealer-centered .”

Springsteen says WPS can ’ t make decisions from Boise . “ We need to make decisions at the field level . And we do a much better job of understanding what our dealers are going through . What do they need ? How can we help assist ? Then , we pivot that to help them become successful businesses , making more money and prospering in the marketplace .”

Springsteen notes a lot of uncertainty even though the industry is starting to stabilize . “ There ’ s a lot of pressure from the OEMs . There ’ s a lot of economic pressure on our end users . So our responsibility is to become better business partners and help them with profitability and their end users .”

Although Springsteen has only been immersed in powersports briefly , he was close to it for five years with All Balls Racing . “ I think that the bubble is finally behind us . I talked to other industry folks ; some are bullish , and some are a little bearish . My take is that this year will be in the middle ( flat ). It ’ s not going to be a hockey stick . I think what we have to do is focus on being a little selfish . It ’ s good for us because it allows us time to improve and be perfect . This business is reciprocal ; it ’ s going to come back , and it will come back robust . We need to make sure that we ’ re prepared and ready to ride that with our customers .”