Issue #9 September 2023

HARLEY-DAVIDSON OF BALTIMORE!

Balancing The Books In Baltimore

By Robin Hartfiel

How do you make a small fortune in the motorcycle business? Start with a large one! Bad jokes aside, you would think of all people, a CPA would understand being a dealer is a hard way to make an easy living. Sure, there are fringe benefits like riding the latest and greatest toys in the world… but the newest member of the National Powersports Dealer Association Board of Directors didn’t grow up racing motocross or riding to Sturgis every summer (see NPDA sidebar). Donald Meyers, Jr. has had a wild ride to reach the cover of Dealernews this month.

Although he has been an established Dealer for the better part of two decades, Meyers took a circuitous route to powersports success. A self-admitted late bloomer, he didn’t even start riding until after he was already onboard with a dealership. “My first bike was purchased in 1990 — a Kawasaki 750 Ltd. — that I rode solo periodically,” he admits. “I really was not part of the riding community until I joined Harley-Davidson of Baltimore.” So how do you go from being a casual rider with a real career to running a passion-driven dealership?

Blame it on Jim Foster!

“I was employed in public accounting in 1979 and became a CPA in 1983. Joined a CPA firm as a partner in July 2005 and worked at growing our CPA practice… pretty straight forward career path,” according to Meyers. “In 1987 I met James ‘Jim’ Foster, Jr. who was referred to me to review his offer to purchase Harley-Davidson of Baltimore. Ultimately Jim purchased the dealership, and I became his accountant.

“I worked professionally with Jim to grow the business and ultimately relocate the dealership from Baltimore City to

more suitable location in Baltimore County, Maryland. Jim was looking ahead to a succession plan and somewhere during a lunch conversation he announced he had an idea…”why don’t you buy this business?” We discussed the possibility for a while and Jim provided a LOT of insight as to the management demands of the day-to-day business.

“On July 1, 2005, I joined Harley-Davidson of Baltimore as the General Manger with the intention of purchasing the dealership over a period of years. The recession that followed put our buyout plans on hold until we could right-size the business to match the economy. Finally in 2012, Jim and I rearranged the buyout plan whereby I became the Dealer Principal and 100% owner.”

“Counter” Intuitive?

Never having been on the sales floor or worked behind the counter would seem to be counterintuitive to being a successful Dealer Principal. Perhaps it is his financial mindset and outside the industry perspective that helped Meyers see the business in a different light… or maybe he just found his calling in life a little bit later (like getting his first motorcycle)? Regardless of the twists and point of view, the dealership has expanded to include three brands and 30 employees spread over the Royal Enfield/LiveWire/Harley store.

“We currently have 30 employees who serve all three of the brands we represent. Staff are cross-trained to sell and support each brand,” The operative term here is “support.” As a leader you have to be a good listener and a better team builder, according to Meyers.

“My desired leadership style is to work with honest people, build consensus on issues, empower those people, stay out of their way and move forward together to accomplish a goal. For this to work, I have tried to focus on being a better listener. To first seek to understand, before trying to be understood. I focus on the John Maxwell maxim that “leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.”

Did somebody say “influencer?” Meyers was an early adapter of social media. This dealership was early online and early to embrace the pre-owned market circa 2010! “We have expanded our ‘previously enjoyed’ motorcycle inventory in the last year,” Meyers told a trade publication 14 years ago. “And have enjoyed a significant rise in ‘previously enjoyed’ motorcycle sales and financing opportunities.”

“Communication is a big thing right now,” Meyers said at the time. “The world is changing very rapidly, and we must work every day to keep up with those changes. You need to be constantly reaching out to your customers.” The more things change, the more they stay the same. HarleyDavidson of Baltimore stays in constant contact with its customers through social networking sites. They had almost 2,000 friends on their MySpace page and almost 1,000 fans on their Facebook page. So MySpace didn’t exactly pan out, but Harley-Davidson of Baltimore now has more than 23,000 Facebook followers!

The Bottom Line?

You would think that a CPA’s definition of success would be the bottom line? Not so with Meyers. Instead he has a formula of three simple items that add up to his definition of a successful business. “Success is in the eye of the beholder. My dream was to control my own destiny and create an environment where our team can enjoy their job, help customers, enjoy the product, and build long-term relationships.

“I believe to make this happen each of us need to order our personal priorities in the proper order to succeed. We tell everyone who comes to work here that the first 3 priorities should be aligned as follows:

1) God comes first

2) Your Family comes second

3) Your Health comes third

After these three we all have varying priorities depending on our personal circumstances,” concludes Meyers. “This seems to work for our team and we have to support those first three priorities in the decisions we make in operating our dealership.”

Now that is a bottom line that adds up!