AIMExpo 2014

Sam was the kid who grew up down the road from you who was never, ever allowed to sit on a motorcycle. It was an image thing, not a safety thing, so motorcycles and tattoos were forbidden. So, he’d hide issues of Cycle World under his mattress for late-night perusing. Taking off to college in the late ’80s, he had secured both a motorcycle and a tattoo by the end of his first day on campus. That’s where it started, and he’s currently on motorcycle number 58. Sam began working in retail at a sporting goods store as a kid, selling motorcycles in college, and eventually found his way into a job as a retail sales trainer. He found out about LEMCO (Ed Lemco’s company) in 1999, and Ed brought him on in 2000. Sam became the director of training for Lemco in 2003, running the nine-month long Management Development Programs. With financing support from Mark Tkach and Bill Coulter (RideNow), the three bought the company from Ed in 2005, and named Sam as the new CEO. The name changed one year later to RPM Group (named after one of the training modules, Retail Powersports Management). Sam made an attempt to form alliances with OEMs, a constant source of friction for many dealers. While RPMG continued to add new members, Sam created an exclusive program with Michael Lock and Ducati. This was the first genuine attempt he had seen of an OEM truly wanting to help its dealer base through a private 20-Club group (four of them, actually). Assurant then purchased RPMG in 2007 in an attempt to launch their products through RPMG venues. When Assurant exited the 20-Club business in 2009, leaving Sam a free agent, he decided it was a good opportunity to go independent. Since that time, he’s done work with Triumph, Harley-Davidson, Arctic Cat and Polaris, as well as hundreds of independent dealers. In 2011, Sam started to work on the creation of a training website, and then launched Sam’s Powersports Garage on March 1, 2012. Sam “fuels” the site with his experience in the powersports industry and content from the seven 20-Clubs he currently moderates, as well as the in-dealership training that keeps a guy “real.” Sam has been a columnist for Powersports Business since 2012 and is presenting at the Powersports Business Institute @ AIMExpo for the second time.