Podcast: Synchrony’s Medrano, Broward Motorsports’ Reyes talk financing support
Listen as ‘Weekly Wrap’ highlights trends during National Small Business Week
Powersports lender Synchrony is working closely with dealerships to align financing options with consumer appetite and sales goals.
West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Broward Motorsports of Palm Beach, for one, benefits from offering low-rate financing options through financiers such as Synchrony, Alex Reyes, sales manager at the motorcycle dealership, told Auto Finance News. He said the Synchrony Outdoors credit card provides flexibility for consumers.
Financing appetite has “grown tremendously” in the powersports market, Reyes said. He has more than 15 years’ management experience in the automotive and powersports industries.
“When I started in the business, it was a cash heavy business … [but] financing has become critical,” Reyes said. “If you’re not offering finance for your consumers in general, you’re missing the boat.”
Meanwhile, promotions across the market have been largely steady over the past few months, Synchrony Senior Vice President Susan Medrano, who is also general manager of Synchrony Outdoors, told AFN.
“Our OEM partners are best positioned to know what inventory they have in which units and what they need to move,” she said. “We lean in heavily with them as they’re looking at what kind of promotions they want to run.”
Finding the right incentive mix
Synchrony also helps educate dealers on what financing options and promotions may work best for their customer base that will meet the dealership and manufacturers’ goals, Medrano said.
“For example, 0% for 36 months tends to be for a consumer at the high end of the credit spectrum. That sounds attractive, but when the consumer walks in the door and realizes that they can’t get it because they’re in a lower tier, that can cause friction,” she said.
“We like to spend time with our partners, understanding what it is they’re wanting to do and then layer some education on top of that about why one promotion might be smarter than another depending on what their end goal is.”
Listen to this special episode of the “Weekly Wrap,” podcast, as Synchrony’s Medrano and dealership manager Reyes join Auto Finance News Editor Amanda Harris to discuss financing and sales trends during National Small Business Week, which takes place May 4-10.
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Editor’s note: This transcript has been generated by software and is being presented as is. Some transcription errors may remain.
Amanda Harris 0:18 Hello everyone and welcome to the road map from auto Finance News. Since 1996, the nation’s leading newsletter and automotive lending and leasing. It is Monday, May 5th. And I’m Amanda Harris. Today is a special episode of the Weekly Wrap. Joining me today to discuss trends during national Small Business Week and across the powersports industry are Susan Medrano, Senior vice President and general manager of Synchrony Outdoors and Alex Reyes, sales manager at Broward Motorsports. Thank you both for joining me today. And before we dive in, if you can both tell us a little bit about yourselves and your organization, I’ll hand it over to you all. Alex Reyes 0:48 Thank you. Amanda Harris 0:53 Susan, you wanna kick us off? Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 0:55 Sir, first of all, thank you for having me. What a pleasure to be here celebrating small businesses. So my name is Susan Medrano. Is is Amanda said. I’ve been. I work for Synchrony. I’ve actually been with Synchrony for 25 years in a variety of role. You know, I started when I was three, by the way, but it’s a terrific organization. We just got named as the number two organization on great places to Worklist just a couple of weeks ago. So, you know, I’ve held a variety of different roles, but within the outdoor space, we support our dealer base like Alex’s dealership with Broward Motorsports. And obviously the in consumer and our OEM partners that are, you know, selling the equipment to the dealers who then sell it. To the consumers. Amanda Harris 1:44 Wonderful, Alex. Alex Reyes 1:47 My name is Alex Reyes. I’m in sunny South Florida. I work for an amazing company called Broward Motorsports. We have 6 locations in the South Florida Blueprint Company’s been in business over 20 years. Founder and CEO is Sam neme. Have the privilege to be mentored by him. He’s a power sports legend and the philosophy for Broward Motorsports really aligned with my personal. Philosophy for life and it was, you know, you got a ride.And you got a ride at the core. Is a family driven message. And so I’ve been with the company for over 12 years, starting the financial services and it was just a natural fit.
We’ve got a lot of great things coming up here in the future and I’m glad to be here to join and kind of add the power sports perspective onto things. Glad to be in Susan’s presence as well as well as Amanda. Amanda Harris 2:38 Wonderful. Well. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 2:41
Haha. Amanda Harris 2:42 Always, always great. Well, as we mentioned this week is national Small Business week. So to start, I love to hear each of your thoughts on you know the important role of small businesses today, especially as it pertains to the power sports industry.
I actually want to kick us off there as someone at a small business. Alex Reyes 3:02 Yeah. Well, small businesses I think are the bedrock of the United States, right? The majority of businesses that are employing individuals are small businesses. And you know, in the trenches, small business is really the heart of. A lot of other businesses, and I’m just very privileged to work with different types of people. Whether it’s lenders, different vendors, retail individuals, a lot of people give a negative connotation to retail and it’s like, no, I love retail my days. Amazing. Every single day it’s different. And I truly believe that’s one of the huge benefits of being in a small business. Amanda Harris 3:54 Susan, your thoughts there? Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 3:56 Well, first of all, I couldn’t agree more that with Alex that small businesses are the bedrock of the of the US and you know at the very core of what they are, their families providing for families. And it’s really, I love going out to visit dealers because you. Hear the stories of the dealerships that you know, I’m now running the dealership, but my grandparents started it or my parents started it and I grew up on the dealership floor. And so I think, you know, that’s one of the privileges. That I have with running Synchrony Outdoors is the caretaking of those in creating the partnership to enable them to flourish. So you know, small businesses are just a vital part of the US and their vital parts of families. Amanda Harris 4:44 And you all as synchrony provide, you know, a lot of support there for those small businesses right through financing and and some of the programs you offer. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 4:53 We do we, you know, we do things like we do podcasts to help education for dealers in addition to financing the equipment and providing them the ability to move that equipment out of their dealership into the hands of the consumers who are ultimately the enthusiasts of what they. Purchasing. So we do a lot of education and a lot of partnership. I’m super proud of the relationships that we. Have with our dealer network, so it’s. It’s a privilege to be able to get to lead this business. Amanda Harris 5:26 Yeah, absolutely. And Alex, I would love to hear from you. You know your side of things about your keys to success and how roles like Synchrony you know kind of play into that and support that. Alex Reyes 5:39 Well, I think Susan nailed it on the head The relationship between partners like Synchrony and small businesses like Broward Motorsports is critical. You know, we do get partners that try to come in and educate and teach different values and different methods, but when you have folks like synchrony like Susan Charles, Nick, I can name a ton of individuals that I personally deal with that synchrony. That actually get in the grassroots and say, hey, you know, we just dropped this program. We’re paying a flat on, you know, this loan amount of this, this dollar amount, that’s nice. That’s comforting. I mean, powersports at its root is a community based business in my opinion and I feel like when you have partners like Synchrony really getting grassroots with their relationships with individuals like myself. My finance managers, the GM’s. That’s what makes the difference in in helping a small business like Broward Motorsports. Amanda Harris 6:44 Oh, definitely. And also as a follow up, I would love for you to talk a little bit about, you know how your needs have kind of changed in you know the market and over the years and how those partnerships have been kind of vital you know to to navigate some. Of those changes. Alex Reyes 7:00 Yeah, the needs with financing have grown tremendously. I remember when I started in the business it was a very cash heavy business. Generally speaking, powersport toys are that they’re a toy. They’re a they’re a want, not a need.
You know, you don’t necessarily need to go to work on a side by side, although I’d love that, right. A. Dirt bike for for a kid. You know, they’re they’re starting in motocross and generally this is this is more of a need than a want. And so financing has become critical. If you’re not offering finance for your retail consumers or your consumers in general, you’re kind of behind. You’re missing the boat and the flexibility of different financing that Synchrony has for whether it be different credit profiles, whether it be, you know, parts and accessories.
Their financing book really hits all the pillars, whether folks want to, you know, pay for a financing, repair and service. And they don’t necessarily want to drop, you know, 4500 bucks. You’ve got the synchrony card that steps in. There’s some 0% options, you know, very low fixed rate options as well that provide an outlet and that outlet really, really promotes the small business right, that the route if you present someone a bill and they can’t necessarily afford it or even if they can’t afford it. And they don’t want to come off the money. The fact that Synchrony has that option is amazing. Now, on the second-half of that. Major consuming major product sales. Can am Honda, Yamaha Suzuki. The fact that they have major unit financing in play and they have a spectrum of tiers is amazing. They’ve really hit the point there.
They’ve hit at home. They continue to refine it. They ask questions constantly. They’re looking in the mirror. Hey, what’s this lender doing that we’re not doing? Where are we missing the boat? And I really appreciate that because that that defines a partner, right? Not necessarily a lender. Or an outside vendor that says, hey, here’s my product. I want you to sell it. OK. I haven’t seen you in three years. The whole market has changed and So what Synchrony does is they touch in. They’re there, whether it’s a biweekly phone call or a monthly check in, they are there. And I can tell you as a person in a small business that matters. And that makes the difference. Amanda Harris 9:43 Definitely. And Susan, what are you hearing as far as you know how the needs of you know the the companies that you provide financing for have shifted and if you know financing has become more of a demand over the years. How are you all supporting that? Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 9:58 Well, first of all, I have to say thanks to Alex for the feedback. I mean, one of the most important things and aspects of my job is to listen to the feedback from both our consumers and our partners, whether that’s a dealer or it’s our OEM partners, I. Actually, do take it to heart and work very diligently to solve the problems that we identify or the opportunities I should say to get better. But on the promotional financing side, you know it’s not a lot different than probably five months ago. From the standpoint that we, you know, stand at the ready to support our partners with offering the various financing solutions that they want to, you know our OEM partners are best positioned to know what inventory they have in which units and what they need to move. So we, like to lean in heavily with them as they’re looking at what kind of promotions they want to run. You know, are they trying to run something that, for example, that’s really going to draw consumers into the dealership, but maybe doesn’t isn’t going to be something that consumers take. So for example. A lot of you know, 0% for 36 months tends to be for a consumer at the high end of the credit spectrum. That sounds super attractive, but when the consumer walks in the door and realizes that they can’t get it because maybe they’re in a lower tier, sometimes that can cause some friction. In particular for the finance manager, Alex knows this. Probably super well that. It then puts people like Alex in a position of having to have the conversation of why can’t they have that? And so we like to spend some time with our partners understanding what it is they’re wanting to do and then trying to layer some education on top of that about why one promotion might be smarter than another depending on what their end goal is. Amanda Harris 11:51
OK. I wanna touch a little bit on, you know, you kind of both have set the stage for how important this integration is and having, you know, a lender that can offer you know, a variety of programs, Alex’s point right and meet all those different needs and right.
Now that seems more important than ever. The you know, the market is definitely seeing changes. There’s some volatility right now. You know, there’s just a lot of things kind of happening on the affordability front on demand. And we’ve seen, you know, demand soften a little bit in powersports, actually kind of touched on that a little bit as well. All right, there are more of a want versus a need. So I would love to kind of talk a little bit about just what you both are seeing on the state of the market in general and kind of how you’re navigating that, you know, on both of your. Sides. Alex, you want to start there? Alex Reyes 12:37 I’d love to. Obviously there there’s volatility in the market. The conversation around tariffs is a real conversation, and I think if you shy away from that, the consumer, actually you lose some credibility there. I think if you have real transparent conversations about the uncertainty of what’s going to happen with the product, well, that’s right there. Credibility. You have a sincere conversation about, hey, there’s new legislation coming out.
We’re not necessarily sure what’s going to happen to the cost on products other than they’re going to go up. And so this is the inventory that we have now. So I would greatly take advantage of the decreasing rates that have been happening over the last few months. The rate rates have been a volatile conversation as well, but again, that that straightforward talk of hey, we know this is out there, this is kind of where we can. Fill that need. We have the options. We have several lenders. This is one of the lenders that we would suggest. Best in the short term, you lock something in for 36 months at 0%. Hey, that’s like free money. Definitely is free money. It’s almost like getting paid at this point in time, and so living in the moment and actually speaking to the current events is where we build that credibility and overcome the objections of volatility. Are we over inflated on inventory a bit? Yeah, I think if you said you’re not. You know that that’s not necessarily. True, we are a bit isolated in the Palm Beach market, South Florida market. I feel like the there’s some wealth here, right?
So the market hasn’t been as soft, I guess throughout as it is throughout the country, but still having this open dialogue regardless of the market you’re in of what your financing partners are offering is critical. Personally, we’ve created our own rebate and incentive system throughout the group. And just to highlight that a little bit. Similar to a manufacturer’s rebate, you know, let’s say they’re offering $2000 or promotional rates. If one of our stores has a machine that’s over a certain day or age category, well, hey, why don’t we go ahead and promote and assist our sister stores and so. In the event the machine is over, call it 270 days. That store that you’re assisting and selling. Well, hey, they’re gonna provide an internal rebate. So that’s just some of the successful stuff that we do internally to kind of shift and move some of these machines because the market does change and it is volatile. So that’s kind of how I feel about that. Amanda Harris 15:27 Yeah. No, definitely, Susan. What about you? As far as what you’re hearing from you know, the dealers that you all work with and some of the ways that you all are, you know supporting, you know, dealers during this time? Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 15:39 Well, the first thing I’d say is I’ll say the same thing I tell. My team is breathe because every day that you know in the morning may have a very different situation than the evening. We’re living in a time where the news cycle, it really can dramatically change. In an hour, let alone a day. And so I would start with the foundation of take a deep breath. And breathe through this, because the thing that you should focus on is the things that you can control. And the things you can control are the things that you know Alex really outlined, you know, as you think about the consumer, I think this actually presents a really great opportunity for dealers to kind of help move some of the inventory they already have, taking some of the. Strategies that Alex has laid out there, but also doing things like continuing to focus on service and pulling that customer and giving the customer a reason to come back into the dealership. And you know that can create a sales opportunity whether it’s. You know. Service tends to be one of the more profitable areas of the dealership and can frankly help a dealer that may be struggling to keep the dealership going. Alex Reyes 16:45 Like. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 16:48 And it also just creates that you know, we talked about these being families and family activities. It creates a bond between the consumer and the dealership, so I think that’s really kind of the approach that I’m hearing a lot of from dealers that are truly successful, that they’re leaning a little bit more into those activities to keep.
Consumers engaged with them and staying. Kind of on top of their own inventory and moving that inventory. Amanda Harris 17:16 Yeah, absolutely. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 17:16 But at the end of the day, I think when it comes to the consumer, you know, we all know that the consumer is a little softer today, that there is a little bit of nervousness in the market in terms of making big purchases. That’s been pretty well publicized, but if we breathe through it and stick to what we know how to do, we’re going to be just fine. Amanda Harris 17:36
Great. And then kind of wrap up thoughts, I would love to hear from both of you. Just where you foresee, you know, the power sports market kind of headed, you know, in the next coming months, some things that are top of mind you know for you all Alex at your group as well, just what you’re kind of focused on and and your thoughts on? Where the industry is headed this year would be great. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 17:57 You want me to go first or you want Alex to? Alex Reyes 17:57 Yeah. I I I think. Amanda Harris 18:00 Go ahead, Alex.
Alex Reyes 18:03 I think you know we we say it a lot in our group. There’s three type of people. People let things happen, watch things happen and make things happen. And so we have this mindset of we’re going to make this customer experience centric. You know our profit blinders are off. You know, COVID was a very profit driven period. We are post COVID. It’s a customer period. It’s a purpose driven period. And so. Obviously we’re facing some questionable times, but what we control, like Susan said, is the experience, the education to the customers, the transparency that you have with them, the reputation, the going above and beyond to keep customers. So that’s kind of where we’ve shifted our focus. Maintaining relationships. Improving relationships, cutting expenses. Right. That’s that’s incredibly big in a small business.
Reanalyzing the agenda throughout the entire team. And so when you reanalyze your agenda for your team ’cause, this is a very team centric, right? Our team is in the community. They’re facing the same challenges that are in the market. Our team is an actual consumer base of the store. And so when you realign that focus and you touch base with your team. You’re able to uncover needs to overcome some of these challenges that we’re going to face. And so that’s kind of where we shift the focus and find our solution. Amanda Harris 19:43 Is in less. Thoughts.
Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 19:45 Yeah, you know, I would say that, you know, if you listen to the earnings calls of all of the Oem’s, they’re all focused, hyper focused on inventory and making sure that they’re helping their dealers work through this period of time and bringing that inventory level down I. Don’t see that focus changing in the next couple of months. I mean, I think that’s going to persist throughout the year and if you, you know, look at the back end numbers with things that MTA publishes, for example. Inventory levels are still elevated. I do think that this is a great opportunity to sort of continue to right size some of that. Some have done it faster than others, but it’s that focus is not going to go away. I also think promotional financing is going to remain in place throughout the year, potentially get more aggressive depending on what you know happens in the overall environment. But you know this is. Still a great opportunity for these businesses to do wonderfully well. And as we said at the beginning. Of the call, they’re the bedrock of of the United States, and I am committed to continuing to listen to the feedback and see how we can get better as an organization to help our partners. Like all of our OEM partners and our dealers like Broward Motorsports. Amanda Harris 20:57 Yeah, absolutely. We’ll all be following it closely for sure. How things play out great. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 21:02 Yeah. Amanda Harris 21:03 Well, thank you so much, Susan. Alex for a wonderful, insightful discussion. I really appreciate insights here and I’ll wrap up today’s episode. As always, thank you for joining us on the road map.
We’ve got a lot of great things coming up here in the future and I’m glad to be here to join and kind of add the power sports perspective onto things. Glad to be in Susan’s presence as well as well as Amanda. Amanda Harris 2:38 Wonderful. Well. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 2:41
Haha. Amanda Harris 2:42 Always, always great. Well, as we mentioned this week is national Small Business week. So to start, I love to hear each of your thoughts on you know the important role of small businesses today, especially as it pertains to the power sports industry.
I actually want to kick us off there as someone at a small business. Alex Reyes 3:02 Yeah. Well, small businesses I think are the bedrock of the United States, right? The majority of businesses that are employing individuals are small businesses. And you know, in the trenches, small business is really the heart of. A lot of other businesses, and I’m just very privileged to work with different types of people. Whether it’s lenders, different vendors, retail individuals, a lot of people give a negative connotation to retail and it’s like, no, I love retail my days. Amazing. Every single day it’s different. And I truly believe that’s one of the huge benefits of being in a small business. Amanda Harris 3:54 Susan, your thoughts there? Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 3:56 Well, first of all, I couldn’t agree more that with Alex that small businesses are the bedrock of the of the US and you know at the very core of what they are, their families providing for families. And it’s really, I love going out to visit dealers because you. Hear the stories of the dealerships that you know, I’m now running the dealership, but my grandparents started it or my parents started it and I grew up on the dealership floor. And so I think, you know, that’s one of the privileges. That I have with running Synchrony Outdoors is the caretaking of those in creating the partnership to enable them to flourish. So you know, small businesses are just a vital part of the US and their vital parts of families. Amanda Harris 4:44 And you all as synchrony provide, you know, a lot of support there for those small businesses right through financing and and some of the programs you offer. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 4:53 We do we, you know, we do things like we do podcasts to help education for dealers in addition to financing the equipment and providing them the ability to move that equipment out of their dealership into the hands of the consumers who are ultimately the enthusiasts of what they. Purchasing. So we do a lot of education and a lot of partnership. I’m super proud of the relationships that we. Have with our dealer network, so it’s. It’s a privilege to be able to get to lead this business. Amanda Harris 5:26 Yeah, absolutely. And Alex, I would love to hear from you. You know your side of things about your keys to success and how roles like Synchrony you know kind of play into that and support that. Alex Reyes 5:39 Well, I think Susan nailed it on the head The relationship between partners like Synchrony and small businesses like Broward Motorsports is critical. You know, we do get partners that try to come in and educate and teach different values and different methods, but when you have folks like synchrony like Susan Charles, Nick, I can name a ton of individuals that I personally deal with that synchrony. That actually get in the grassroots and say, hey, you know, we just dropped this program. We’re paying a flat on, you know, this loan amount of this, this dollar amount, that’s nice. That’s comforting. I mean, powersports at its root is a community based business in my opinion and I feel like when you have partners like Synchrony really getting grassroots with their relationships with individuals like myself. My finance managers, the GM’s. That’s what makes the difference in in helping a small business like Broward Motorsports. Amanda Harris 6:44 Oh, definitely. And also as a follow up, I would love for you to talk a little bit about, you know how your needs have kind of changed in you know the market and over the years and how those partnerships have been kind of vital you know to to navigate some. Of those changes. Alex Reyes 7:00 Yeah, the needs with financing have grown tremendously. I remember when I started in the business it was a very cash heavy business. Generally speaking, powersport toys are that they’re a toy. They’re a they’re a want, not a need.
You know, you don’t necessarily need to go to work on a side by side, although I’d love that, right. A. Dirt bike for for a kid. You know, they’re they’re starting in motocross and generally this is this is more of a need than a want. And so financing has become critical. If you’re not offering finance for your retail consumers or your consumers in general, you’re kind of behind. You’re missing the boat and the flexibility of different financing that Synchrony has for whether it be different credit profiles, whether it be, you know, parts and accessories.
Their financing book really hits all the pillars, whether folks want to, you know, pay for a financing, repair and service. And they don’t necessarily want to drop, you know, 4500 bucks. You’ve got the synchrony card that steps in. There’s some 0% options, you know, very low fixed rate options as well that provide an outlet and that outlet really, really promotes the small business right, that the route if you present someone a bill and they can’t necessarily afford it or even if they can’t afford it. And they don’t want to come off the money. The fact that Synchrony has that option is amazing. Now, on the second-half of that. Major consuming major product sales. Can am Honda, Yamaha Suzuki. The fact that they have major unit financing in play and they have a spectrum of tiers is amazing. They’ve really hit the point there.
They’ve hit at home. They continue to refine it. They ask questions constantly. They’re looking in the mirror. Hey, what’s this lender doing that we’re not doing? Where are we missing the boat? And I really appreciate that because that that defines a partner, right? Not necessarily a lender. Or an outside vendor that says, hey, here’s my product. I want you to sell it. OK. I haven’t seen you in three years. The whole market has changed and So what Synchrony does is they touch in. They’re there, whether it’s a biweekly phone call or a monthly check in, they are there. And I can tell you as a person in a small business that matters. And that makes the difference. Amanda Harris 9:43 Definitely. And Susan, what are you hearing as far as you know how the needs of you know the the companies that you provide financing for have shifted and if you know financing has become more of a demand over the years. How are you all supporting that? Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 9:58 Well, first of all, I have to say thanks to Alex for the feedback. I mean, one of the most important things and aspects of my job is to listen to the feedback from both our consumers and our partners, whether that’s a dealer or it’s our OEM partners, I. Actually, do take it to heart and work very diligently to solve the problems that we identify or the opportunities I should say to get better. But on the promotional financing side, you know it’s not a lot different than probably five months ago. From the standpoint that we, you know, stand at the ready to support our partners with offering the various financing solutions that they want to, you know our OEM partners are best positioned to know what inventory they have in which units and what they need to move. So we, like to lean in heavily with them as they’re looking at what kind of promotions they want to run. You know, are they trying to run something that, for example, that’s really going to draw consumers into the dealership, but maybe doesn’t isn’t going to be something that consumers take. So for example. A lot of you know, 0% for 36 months tends to be for a consumer at the high end of the credit spectrum. That sounds super attractive, but when the consumer walks in the door and realizes that they can’t get it because maybe they’re in a lower tier, sometimes that can cause some friction. In particular for the finance manager, Alex knows this. Probably super well that. It then puts people like Alex in a position of having to have the conversation of why can’t they have that? And so we like to spend some time with our partners understanding what it is they’re wanting to do and then trying to layer some education on top of that about why one promotion might be smarter than another depending on what their end goal is. Amanda Harris 11:51
OK. I wanna touch a little bit on, you know, you kind of both have set the stage for how important this integration is and having, you know, a lender that can offer you know, a variety of programs, Alex’s point right and meet all those different needs and right.
Now that seems more important than ever. The you know, the market is definitely seeing changes. There’s some volatility right now. You know, there’s just a lot of things kind of happening on the affordability front on demand. And we’ve seen, you know, demand soften a little bit in powersports, actually kind of touched on that a little bit as well. All right, there are more of a want versus a need. So I would love to kind of talk a little bit about just what you both are seeing on the state of the market in general and kind of how you’re navigating that, you know, on both of your. Sides. Alex, you want to start there? Alex Reyes 12:37 I’d love to. Obviously there there’s volatility in the market. The conversation around tariffs is a real conversation, and I think if you shy away from that, the consumer, actually you lose some credibility there. I think if you have real transparent conversations about the uncertainty of what’s going to happen with the product, well, that’s right there. Credibility. You have a sincere conversation about, hey, there’s new legislation coming out.
We’re not necessarily sure what’s going to happen to the cost on products other than they’re going to go up. And so this is the inventory that we have now. So I would greatly take advantage of the decreasing rates that have been happening over the last few months. The rate rates have been a volatile conversation as well, but again, that that straightforward talk of hey, we know this is out there, this is kind of where we can. Fill that need. We have the options. We have several lenders. This is one of the lenders that we would suggest. Best in the short term, you lock something in for 36 months at 0%. Hey, that’s like free money. Definitely is free money. It’s almost like getting paid at this point in time, and so living in the moment and actually speaking to the current events is where we build that credibility and overcome the objections of volatility. Are we over inflated on inventory a bit? Yeah, I think if you said you’re not. You know that that’s not necessarily. True, we are a bit isolated in the Palm Beach market, South Florida market. I feel like the there’s some wealth here, right?
So the market hasn’t been as soft, I guess throughout as it is throughout the country, but still having this open dialogue regardless of the market you’re in of what your financing partners are offering is critical. Personally, we’ve created our own rebate and incentive system throughout the group. And just to highlight that a little bit. Similar to a manufacturer’s rebate, you know, let’s say they’re offering $2000 or promotional rates. If one of our stores has a machine that’s over a certain day or age category, well, hey, why don’t we go ahead and promote and assist our sister stores and so. In the event the machine is over, call it 270 days. That store that you’re assisting and selling. Well, hey, they’re gonna provide an internal rebate. So that’s just some of the successful stuff that we do internally to kind of shift and move some of these machines because the market does change and it is volatile. So that’s kind of how I feel about that. Amanda Harris 15:27 Yeah. No, definitely, Susan. What about you? As far as what you’re hearing from you know, the dealers that you all work with and some of the ways that you all are, you know supporting, you know, dealers during this time? Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 15:39 Well, the first thing I’d say is I’ll say the same thing I tell. My team is breathe because every day that you know in the morning may have a very different situation than the evening. We’re living in a time where the news cycle, it really can dramatically change. In an hour, let alone a day. And so I would start with the foundation of take a deep breath. And breathe through this, because the thing that you should focus on is the things that you can control. And the things you can control are the things that you know Alex really outlined, you know, as you think about the consumer, I think this actually presents a really great opportunity for dealers to kind of help move some of the inventory they already have, taking some of the. Strategies that Alex has laid out there, but also doing things like continuing to focus on service and pulling that customer and giving the customer a reason to come back into the dealership. And you know that can create a sales opportunity whether it’s. You know. Service tends to be one of the more profitable areas of the dealership and can frankly help a dealer that may be struggling to keep the dealership going. Alex Reyes 16:45 Like. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 16:48 And it also just creates that you know, we talked about these being families and family activities. It creates a bond between the consumer and the dealership, so I think that’s really kind of the approach that I’m hearing a lot of from dealers that are truly successful, that they’re leaning a little bit more into those activities to keep.
Consumers engaged with them and staying. Kind of on top of their own inventory and moving that inventory. Amanda Harris 17:16 Yeah, absolutely. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 17:16 But at the end of the day, I think when it comes to the consumer, you know, we all know that the consumer is a little softer today, that there is a little bit of nervousness in the market in terms of making big purchases. That’s been pretty well publicized, but if we breathe through it and stick to what we know how to do, we’re going to be just fine. Amanda Harris 17:36
Great. And then kind of wrap up thoughts, I would love to hear from both of you. Just where you foresee, you know, the power sports market kind of headed, you know, in the next coming months, some things that are top of mind you know for you all Alex at your group as well, just what you’re kind of focused on and and your thoughts on? Where the industry is headed this year would be great. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 17:57 You want me to go first or you want Alex to? Alex Reyes 17:57 Yeah. I I I think. Amanda Harris 18:00 Go ahead, Alex.
Alex Reyes 18:03 I think you know we we say it a lot in our group. There’s three type of people. People let things happen, watch things happen and make things happen. And so we have this mindset of we’re going to make this customer experience centric. You know our profit blinders are off. You know, COVID was a very profit driven period. We are post COVID. It’s a customer period. It’s a purpose driven period. And so. Obviously we’re facing some questionable times, but what we control, like Susan said, is the experience, the education to the customers, the transparency that you have with them, the reputation, the going above and beyond to keep customers. So that’s kind of where we’ve shifted our focus. Maintaining relationships. Improving relationships, cutting expenses. Right. That’s that’s incredibly big in a small business.
Reanalyzing the agenda throughout the entire team. And so when you reanalyze your agenda for your team ’cause, this is a very team centric, right? Our team is in the community. They’re facing the same challenges that are in the market. Our team is an actual consumer base of the store. And so when you realign that focus and you touch base with your team. You’re able to uncover needs to overcome some of these challenges that we’re going to face. And so that’s kind of where we shift the focus and find our solution. Amanda Harris 19:43 Is in less. Thoughts.
Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 19:45 Yeah, you know, I would say that, you know, if you listen to the earnings calls of all of the Oem’s, they’re all focused, hyper focused on inventory and making sure that they’re helping their dealers work through this period of time and bringing that inventory level down I. Don’t see that focus changing in the next couple of months. I mean, I think that’s going to persist throughout the year and if you, you know, look at the back end numbers with things that MTA publishes, for example. Inventory levels are still elevated. I do think that this is a great opportunity to sort of continue to right size some of that. Some have done it faster than others, but it’s that focus is not going to go away. I also think promotional financing is going to remain in place throughout the year, potentially get more aggressive depending on what you know happens in the overall environment. But you know this is. Still a great opportunity for these businesses to do wonderfully well. And as we said at the beginning. Of the call, they’re the bedrock of of the United States, and I am committed to continuing to listen to the feedback and see how we can get better as an organization to help our partners. Like all of our OEM partners and our dealers like Broward Motorsports. Amanda Harris 20:57 Yeah, absolutely. We’ll all be following it closely for sure. How things play out great. Medrano, Susan (Synchrony) 21:02 Yeah. Amanda Harris 21:03 Well, thank you so much, Susan. Alex for a wonderful, insightful discussion. I really appreciate insights here and I’ll wrap up today’s episode. As always, thank you for joining us on the road map.
