Cowboy Harley-Davidson of Austin GM Billy Davis #448
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Car
Honda XR 80
The Honda XR 80 is a small dirt bike made by Honda, perfect for kids or new riders. It has a simple design, making it easy to handle and ride on trails.
Car
CBR 1000
The CBR 1000 is a fast motorcycle made by Honda. It's designed for speed and is often used in racing.
Brand
Harley Davidson
Harley Davidson is a famous motorcycle brand from America. They make big, powerful bikes that many people love to ride.
Term
insurance
Insurance helps protect you financially if something happens to your car, like an accident or theft. You pay a monthly fee, and if something goes wrong, the insurance company helps cover the costs.
Company
Arlen Ness
Arlen Ness is a brand that makes custom parts for motorcycles, especially known for their unique designs and quality. They help motorcycle enthusiasts personalize their bikes.
Part
forged wheels
Forged wheels are a type of motorcycle wheel made from solid metal, making them stronger and lighter than regular wheels. They help improve how the motorcycle handles.
Part
brake calipers
Brake calipers are parts of a motorcycle that help it stop by squeezing the brake pads against the wheels. Custom calipers can make your bike stop better and look cooler.
Concept
custom motorcycle culture
Custom motorcycle culture is about making motorcycles unique and personal. People in this community enjoy changing their bikes to reflect their style and preferences.
Concept
low rider
A low rider is a vehicle that has been lowered to sit closer to the ground. This style is popular for its cool look and is often seen in car shows and gatherings.
Term
softail
Softail refers to a type of motorcycle that looks like it has a solid back but actually has hidden springs for a smoother ride. It's a popular design for comfort while riding.
Car
Road Glide
The Road Glide is a type of motorcycle made by Harley-Davidson. It's built for long rides and has a special front design that helps with wind protection.
Term
modern bike
A modern bike is a newer motorcycle that has the latest features and technology, making it easier and more enjoyable to ride than older bikes.
Car
Cadillac STS
The Cadillac STS is a fancy car that was made to be comfortable and stylish. It's known for being smooth to drive and has a lot of cool features, which makes it popular among people who like luxury vehicles.
LIVE
What's up everyone and welcome back to the fast side podcast and happy New Year's on
today's episode we're sitting down with Billy the GM of Cowboy Harley Davidson now if you
guys may listen to the podcast you know Cowboy has been supporting this podcast for many
years now and I'm glad to be able to sit down and share Billy's story who has been the GM
of this dealership for almost a year now so before we get to this episode guys please
take a moment to check out our sponsors Arlen S Motorcycles and if you use Fast Life 10
at checkout you're gonna save 10% off I use their products on every bike that I own and
about to do a deep dive with a lot of their new stuff on the new road glad that I'm about
to be ripping the streets on so check them out also Cowboy Harley Davidson down in Austin
Texas you're about to hear more about them in this episode and don't forget if you or
somebody you know has been in an accident Law Tigers is there to help you out check
it out one eight hundred Law Tigers give them a call they're going to get you on the right
path now let's get into this episode with Billy hey guys you ready to let the dogs out
well man it's good to finally sit down you know you took over this dealership in what
February February and it only took like what eight months nine months no eleven months
to get in here to finally yeah sit down and meet you face to face talking the whole time
but yeah glad we finally got to so just so everybody to give them like a some background
basically like where'd you where'd you start like where's the beginning of this journey
that you're on so motorcycles go motorcycles in general go all the way back to seven years
old I remember I got my my first little XR is a nineteen eighty six XR 80 metal gas tank
metal fenders and stuff motor so I've been on a bike bike my entire life and then I started
with Huntington Beach Harley Davidson sorry Riverside Harley okay was my first first gig
with Harley was on there as a sales person that was in August of 2014 was my first year
with Harley from there grew with the grew with the Veracas moved out to that's when they
they purchased Huntington it was a year after that so moved out to Huntington as manager I was
there for exactly one year then was pulled out to Orlando with American Road Group and that's
where I set up shop out there for about nine years and then this you know Texas I had I had
lived here for I lived here for a year my senior year of high school so there was there was a lot
for Cedar Park Cedar Park came out here to play ball a long time ago obviously but I had
there was already some there are some ties here and then I had been talking with with some people
with within this group or affiliated with this group for a while and I think you know working
with working with with Teddy was a was a really big yeah really big motivator to end up jumping
at some point in time and anyways so Harley now for coming up on 12 years and you know for that
12 years we've been in the top 1% for volume yeah selling bikes and that's what would you when
you took this job at Riverside like was there previous sales experience that you had from
other gigs yeah so like it's funny I would say unconsciously subconsciously has been had been
in sales my entire life without really understanding the psychology behind it or or why people make
decisions or the emotional aspect and I did a lot of I did door-to-door right before Harley I was
actually working I moved to California in general to go to school so playing football had been a
long time yeah dream of mine so I went there to go to school play football moved out there by
myself funny part is when I when I moved to California from Arizona I was on my my 48 so I
had a little little sports year and I rode that thing out to California with a backpack and then
I realized when I got there I needed a job so I I started working at a gym so it just it worked
out hours wise that was probably the toughest one of the toughest six months I've ever went through
was waking up at 4 a.m. going to school before the gym going to the gym and then I worked at a LA
fitness as a weekend general manager is what I did there that was a six months and when you're
general managing a place that people come in on their own time to lift weights like what is a job
like that until so it's it's all sales based yeah you're just trying to sell like selling
memberships yeah you wouldn't believe it dude I could never afford it doing that but you'd go
through a pair of dress shoes probably every two weeks walking around in a walking around in hot
hot-ass parking lots and Riverside California waving free passes at people but that was did you
ever like what do they say that like um did you target anything based on like oh they look like
they need to be in the gym oh yeah oh yeah yeah dude yeah that was tough and you know I think the
most difficult part about being so that was in Riverside and the most difficult part about being
in Riverside was I thought I'd go as far as say like the majority of the population at least like
in the area that I was in was Hispanic and you know picking up the few Hispanic words and yeah
this is most the people I talked to was trying to get them in there for a week for free and you know
but it was funny to excel at that job because at first like everyone's a little you know they're
like oh I don't need to go to the gym and then you spend a couple minutes with them and they're
like okay yeah you go to the gym but it's like a secret thing that everybody wants to do but they
you know yeah so anyways that was uh I wrote my you know wrote my little motorcycle back and
forth to that job and I got really really tired of the schedule so I was up for I was up for 18-19
hours a day and I remember I was in the middle of a shift and I stood up at my desk and I walked up
to the operations manager at the front and I was like I'm gonna go home she said what do you mean
I was like I'm just like I'm done doing this yeah I said I just want to go to work be there for my
hours get paid for my hours and go so that was right then I was like I'll never do sales I told
myself right there yeah I would never sell anything ever again and I got on my motorcycle and I started
riding around Riverside California just doing circles around the town and then you know I
didn't know what I was doing I had rode past the Harley dealership probably five times
back and forth and I was like you know what I'm gonna walk in there I walked into a Harley store
and uh I just funny I was wearing dress I was on a motorcycle but I was wearing dress shoes and
dress shirt dress pants and people were looking at me funny when I walked in and that's when I was
I told them what what what I needed to make to feel comfortable and uh the manager that was
interviewing me he said dude you're gonna do so much more than that he told me at the table right
there and my first weekend at that store I sold 11 motorcycles between Friday Saturday and Sunday
and it was just holy shit boom that was it well 2014 is that what she said so that was the Sons of
America craze dinosaur just flying off the shelf it was a good year it was a good year yeah so August
that was the first month that was the first month ever that Riverside Harley was the number one
volume motorcycle dealer in the world it was August of 2014 we sold 200 and 275 motorcycles
different world you know different world that was also the first well you said August so basically
the Rushmore's were announced but they I think they didn't drop like you weren't getting them
till September now so we had the uh that was when I remember they were doing the teasers for the
15 road glide because they had got rid of it for the year yeah do you remember those shirts where
they had the the shark nose going up it was like a Jaws movie cover not I'll do that I wish I had one
so bad it was like the it was the movie cover for the movie Jaws uh-huh but it was a road
glide coming up coming up out of the water to get the girl that was swimming as a it was a really
cool time but anyways yeah that was a that was my introduction to the to the what do you think it was
that other than just good timing that helped you probably excel at that position that early on into
it um again and I it took me a long time to realize that what I was doing was selling I was
really good at really good number one I wasn't afraid to talk to anybody so I would approach
anybody and I would treat every single person that I talked to it's one of my golden rules is
that every I believe from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head that everyone I talked to
is a buyer yeah so I wasn't afraid to talk to people I assumed they were a buyer and then one
thing that I was you know that set me apart I guess is I was really good at telling stories
true stories but stories and I would uh I would tailor them to the person yeah that I was talking
to and those stories were always focused around an experience that I had on the motorcycle that
I'm showing this person and telling that story it always you know psychologically in the back of
that person's mind that they could see imagine themselves doing that right and uh you know I
always had this I love selling baggers or any type of bagger primarily the uh anything with a tour
pack I'd tell this story about how uh we you know we'd be heading out to Vegas and I would feel my
you know feel the bike kind of do a little bob and I'd look back and my lady would be asleep
on the back of the bike and you know head going side to side but anyways you know it it got a
little chuckle yeah every single time and it was it was things things like that and just not being
afraid to not not being afraid to ask they say nine out of ten people never actually get asked
to buy something and it was you know just being that you're getting asked yeah earned in the right
and then dropped on the question I think the other thing that you had mentioned too is a good point
is like just not being afraid to communicate with people I think that's probably like one of the
things that you see the most is when someone's uncomfortable trying to sell you something oh
absolutely you know and there's like there's you you can learn to be better at that I think sure
but I mean as a as a younger guy myself like whenever I would sell you know paint jobs and
things like that to these people that they wanted it they came to me but when we started talking
about price is where they would like I'm going to take advantage of this little guy you know
and the more I learned to communicate my my services and what I do and what I expect and
what I provide and the value the value went up as opposed to you know anything else it was just
the communication part of things that allowed me to make more money doing what I do for a living
I figured that out a long time ago was a lot of times it what you're saying I mean it's
it's important especially being this is my profession or that's your profession of course
what you're saying is important but it's it's really how how you're saying it it's the delivery
it's that that's what really sets the the the good and the great apart is your delivery your
confidence and how you actually say something because man I've said some some outlandish things
with confidence that it shouldn't have but it did so anyways yeah that's a that's a big part of it
is uh you know being able to say it the way you need to so that kind of changed your perspective
of being in sales because you felt like there was something like you enjoyed the cell does that
make sense on the nailed it yeah absolutely nailed it yeah so it's and I tell people all the time
like it's the psychology aspect of it right is it's it's enjoyable once you understand it and
it took it was it was a full year at Riverside Harley um before I finally realized what I was
doing so it I did a whole year there I averaged 20 motorcycles a month and it was one person
that said you know it's not a coincidence that you're at the top every month it was those words
and it was so simple he said you know it's not a coincidence you're at the top every month and at
the time truly thought it was a coincidence and I wasn't always number one I wasn't always number one
but I was always in the top two you know it was consistency yeah and I you know I never that never
changed with yeah was being consistent I think that's uh again that's top three in uh growing in
sales is is being consistent and you know tracking that's that's when I really started
paying attention to things like KPIs and uh you know how many people it took before I was going to
sell a motorcycle and that's all that's things that we do now that's what we track on a daily
basis we track the number of people to walk in the store yeah um we track exactly how many people
they talk to each phone call is tied to a dollar amount so everything and everyone's everyone's
KPIs are key performance indicators reminds me of that movie Moneyball remember that yeah yeah
where it's like the numbers if you lay all the numbers out then you can get results and just
playing the numbers play the numbers yeah and so and again there's people say like there's you can
outweigh skills with KPIs and I say that because people's people's KPIs are are different it might
take one guy he might have to talk to 10 people to sell one motorcycle yeah and he might have that
historical data you know of 10 years where it takes 10 people to sell one bike and you might
have another guy where it only takes five people to sell one motorcycle so you pay attention to
those and that's we use those as as training tools right and you can tell by tracking our biggest
our big three KPIs are invoice to log so how many invoices versus how many information people's
information that we got uh invoice to sit down so how many transactions to how many people sat
down and with the numbers and then invoice to deliveries but the big three that we that we
track and you can train off of those figures right so if somebody you know that guy that takes
10 people to sell one bike okay so he's either not I mean the biggest one they're normally just not
asking right so you're just not asking to sit down which could potentially mean they're not
earning the right to ask to sit down so there's you find where the puzzle is breaking down
within those numbers and it's a really easy well when you're buying a hardly it seems like
you know it's been a long time since I bought a Harley for the first time right so that first
experience I would imagine if I could put myself back in this place was like you're buying into a
culture right and I feel like if you're if for a first buyer you want to feel like you're buying
into a culture from the right shaman sure you know what I mean yeah and so sometimes like going back
to what we were talking about communicative skills that makes you feel better about coming
into this world if you have the right salesman absolutely to help you onto the right you know
the right bike the right this the right everything you know for you to be able to communicate what
you're looking for in a motorcycle and for them to be able to place you in the right direction
yeah you know that's uh or not even know what you're looking for it's funny you say that because
that's uh I can remember very vividly the first Harley that I purchased was that that 48 and uh
I had spent I spent the entire day trying to buy a sport bike the whole yep I'll do it all day long
I was going dealership to dealership I was 18 years old I had had I'd had a sport bike already
had been riding around a little uh a Ducati monster I was riding that thing around for two years
from had a CBR 600 then the monster uh 15 and 16 years old and then when I turned 18 I was like
I'm gonna go buy I'm gonna go buy something so you wanted to buy I was looking at a R1 CBR 1000
like yeah yeah I was ready to go so everywhere that I went it's funny thinking back on this first
and foremost they're like yeah you're gonna you're gonna need a cosigner right so and me 18 years old
was like okay well if I need a cosigner I'm not buying anything and they're like that's how it works
you're not buying anything and I was like okay so anyways uh short version of that I ended up
getting approved at a at a ride now dealership for uh for a CBR 1000 and I was we're ready to make
this happen and uh obviously before we finalize anything we I went and got an insurance quote
my insurance this was uh in Chandler Arizona my insurance per month was $600 on that CBR so
I would have paid more in insurance in the first year than what I was buying the motorcycle for
and I just I couldn't do it yeah couldn't do a percent yeah so anyways after it was three failed
attempts I went three different dealerships same story same result every time I uh I wanted a motorcycle
and I wanted another bike I was adamant I was getting a bike today so I have to realize there
is a Harley Davidson dealership right down the road and uh I walked in there and it's fun I still
needed the cosigner so I actually this is funny I put my mom together she drove I told her I was
buying a car she drove uh four and a half hours and it's funny like my mom she didn't have a
she didn't have a job she didn't have pay subs like she just happened just happened to have
the the bare minimum score that we needed to get in there right so this bike's you know 300 bucks
a month and then uh and I told I was telling him the story about the $600 insurance and uh
he goes dude don't worry about it he said you're not buying a motorcycle you're buying a lifestyle
I was like my insurance was 40 bucks a month so right there dude signed up it sounds cheesy but
it's still true oh it's so that but these are the stories that like I mean they're right there
they are right there and that's uh it's funny because like it is right it's a culture it's a
lifestyle yeah and from that dude from that point on right that was uh my first Harley experience
and I remember I just I remember every every word that was said in that conversation because
and that's we talk about that a lot like especially the first time the first time buyer or I mean
you know there's guys that have been wanting a sportster for 50 years and could never afford it
like we we truly go through those experiences so again just leaning back on the person that
you're talking to and how important it is that they introduce you to the brand the right way
is you know it's key because they they put buying a motorcycle oh let me rephrase that they put
buying your first Harley on a list of one of the the most memorable moments in your life
and I do it's true I mean I have it's it's ingrained in my brain and the conversations and
you know the 40 dollar insurance but I will say I funny to go along with that I I got all the
paperwork signed everything was good and I got on that bike I had been riding all these years
without a motorcycle license and I I rode that bike down the street about a half a mile and I
turned around and I took it back to the dealership and I was like this thing is slow as fuck I was
like can I have that one he's like no dude it's like that's your bike for the next four months
so anyways that's uh yeah that's what yeah that did it for me but it was the uh you know those
conversations you remember and that's a massive 1800 law tigers is the number you need to save in
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law tigers their job is to help you take the proper steps in the unfortunate event of an accident
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across the nation law tigers has been a major supporter of our motorcycles culture and events
and we are excited to have this new partnership here on the fast life podcast remember 1800 law
tigers also check them out www.lawtigers.com Arlen S is a one-stop shop for some of the
baddest custom motorcycle parts in the industry I have had the opportunity to ride with many of
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product catalog to start building your dream motorcycle located in south austin cowley harley
davidson has become a hub for killer events and provides a place for the motorcycle community
to call home cowboy harley has something for you every weekend of the month on the first saturday
they will host the cars and copy style meat and hang then on the second saturday it's ink and iron
a local artist show where tattooers painters pinstripers and all artists are welcome to come
showcase their work and art the third saturday of each month features a bike show with a different
bike category every month offering a 500-hour gift card for the top prize finally the fourth
week of the month will have a thursday night bike night check them out at www.cowboyharleyaustin.com
and give them a follow on instagram at cowboyhd austin i was before i was like really into the
harley world that my whole life was building sport bikes like customizing them and all that stuff and
in the late 2000s um that market it seemed like it killed itself and it didn't help that like
you know a lot of the people that wanted to buy those bikes were younger you know young 20s you
know by the 30s they were usually aging into harleys that was the whole thing back in the day it's
like i'm not old enough for a harley yet that's what we used to always tell ourselves still a thing
but there's and that's what's weird because you hear you hear it being said a lot that harley's
got to figure out how to get the younger market i was like dude there's never been a time in my life
where i feel like i see younger people jumping on harleys like the more at our bike night which
we've been running for years like we have more dudes that are 25 and younger yeah that show up on
low riders low rider sts uh you know street bugs it's cool to see the transition now because i'm
i'm sure you remember when uh when the m8s were first introduced or when they went to the soft
yeah and they moved everything to soft hill platform everyone was like oh my god like we're not doing
this well what are they doing and now it's actually you know it's it's nice you actually you see a
lot of these guys and you know texas hills for example like that whole group of people um
um that age group yeah all on harleys a lot of them now are you know our handful of them are on
m8s and it's just you know it's you nailed it it's it's the first time where they're speaking to the
younger crowd but also you know the people did it right they made that that transition harley's
going to do what harley's going to do but they're they had the platform right yeah yeah i mean the
culture culture just shifted to where it felt like like younger people you know the people that
are exposed to the channels whatever those channels are you know whether it's a stunt culture or
now a racing culture performance i mean if you think about what pushed you into sport bikes
as a younger adult like maybe it was the progression off the dirt bike it was right yeah
used to race dirt bikes well now most of the performance og's in the game were the dirt bike
guys that now transitioned into harley's and skipped the sport bike phase yeah so your thrashians
your unknowns and these guys you know twitch all these guys just said hey we're going to skip the
cbr 1000 yeah and jump in to uh you know harley davidson or v2 in general right v2 in general
so finding a way to i mean sunday sons of energy helped you know what i mean for sure it
gave people some kind of identity that they can kind of chase which i know the world of
masculine motorcyclists don't like to talk about or you know be reminded that they're you know
they're trying to figure out who they are sometimes you know what i mean that's we see it a lot yeah
i get that they come in here cosplaying different styles you know one week they're they look like
they belong on a vikla next week they look like they belong on a you know a dyna yep you know next
week it's like you know the tree i love that guy dude he's buying three different motorcycles i'm
just kidding but yeah no that's uh yeah he nailed it but yeah when the when they did buy it when the
whole thing took place it was a crazy and i think i remember because a lot of the the brands a lot of
so many dynas and so when this happened it it's almost like the softtail the previous softtail
wasn't such a hot item that people were buying as much i mean i was i was at the dealer show
in milwaukee and i i mean again just another moment that very vivid memory when they lowered that
frame from the ceiling did you see that when they think so it was it was at the at the dealer show
it was it was in milwaukee and they lowered the frame down from the ceiling and initially i was like
that's an fxr and i was like dude i was like well it's blown away i was like they made an fxr and
then i got a closer look at it i was like no that's not it i said that's a mono shock and you know
they started this is the new platform and i immediately you know i'm texting my friends i'm
like we're screwed they they got rid of the dyna it's a softtail we're fucked you know and had
started having those conversations and uh yeah it was it was it was scary at first but of course
you know everyone's gonna take these things and and i think you know it's a it's a really good
point right there though is is harley's they truly are without selling sound and cliche like they are
a blank canvas everything about is a blank canvas and the very second that somebody took it and showed
everyone else what's what's possible what's doable with that platform it's it's blown up yeah
blown up so we lost this podcast in january of 18 and then the softtails had just gotten released
or they had just got announced in 17 yeah because at the time they were doing the releases were
happening uh august whatever yeah and so one of our close friends he texted performance he's based
i had out of uh austin here he said you know what screwed i'm gonna buy one so he bought one
and he's like known to be a hard rider one of the best i know on just riding motorcycles and he's
like bro this thing's legit it it it does everything like way better than a dyna could sure and then
all right we said like all right now it's just it's gonna take time for the aftermarket to catch up
to inspire a lot of people to want to buy these things and now we're looking at what we're going
on seven years now that it's like been in existence and now it's like i mean would you say it's a
pretty good contender to like the touring models in any kind of way as far as sales is concerned
um you're so are we talking like the street bob lowrider like specifically maybe more yeah well
like the what replaced the dyna maybe not the the heritage so yeah right so like what replaced the
dyna um yeah i think that's uh it's a hard you were still primarily touring yeah right uh primarily
touring and then you of course there's that that sector which you know harley's always
their version of bringing the younger crowd is a smaller lower cc that that's their idea right
i don't think they had when they when they created this platform they weren't thinking
okay we're gonna be doing wheelies and performance and big builds and stuff they you know they think
the sportsters and the 975s and that's their their entry which when the iron 83 was around that was
my number two selling motorcycle of all time so that was another one when they took that one off
market i was like what do we do but uh it's we do it we do a decent amount but you still have to
like the the core is still well let me let me rephrase that the core is shifted yeah it's shifted
it's shifted younger but it's still you're in that 29 to 36 year old which for the most part
we're still bagger we sell more touring bikes than we do then we do anything but it's it's you know
they're they're not they're not far behind right yeah yeah but that's the uh you know that's another
conversation is that that that 975 and i don't know if you've had much experience with those things
but that bike just uh it hasn't had the it hasn't been given the right shot yet that's a great
play it's a great great platform great great platform great power very maneuverable handles great
it's a really good platform again i think it's more it's it's uh it's uh it's just gonna take
time for aftermarket and riders to pick it up pick it up and and well you got the sportsters been
around for yeah since 57 and i mean there's a huge aftermarket for it right you know where
you know this this newer uh you know the new nightster and stuff which honestly the nightster
has like just about everything you would want i think cruzzy said it best it's the new dyna yeah
it's kind of probably pretty accurate right but until you can find a way to get all the things
those those creature comfort kind of things on this bike and you get the aftermarket whether
it's the saddleman seats and their seats and their bars and you know it's gonna be it's gonna
take a while to get that off the ground you know um for to fill that market you know and it's a it's
a fast bike dude they're fun you know they're fun i i will say i need if that was the bike you bought
for the first time oh it would have been on it forever you know and i would yeah i probably wouldn't
have turned around half a mile away so yeah yeah so when you uh ended up moving you know
to huntington harley davidson like what kind of growth were you seeing within yourself and
within working for harley davidson at the time to where you feel like that was it just because
sales were so good you started to be able to like climb that corporate ladder if you
know i mean so that was my that was my first role as a as a manager within the within the
industry and that was also i've had a very similar challenges my my whole career so i
walked into that building as a 22 year old right huntington b charlie um i walked in the day they
bought that store and you know i walked into i think my my youngest salesperson was 33 years
old i am youngest and then i had a guy that was like 75 and everywhere in between so that you
know the initial looks were what's what's this yeah punk gonna do for right i mean it was it was
just like that it felt like that yeah and you know that was my my first task you know i introduced
i went around went around met everybody and then i pulled all you know the the 10 sales people into
one little room and was telling them how you know how i me and this process and what we do here is
going to make you guys you know this bunny and we're going to bring the culture and we're going
to bring this and i mean i the looks i got were like i've been doing this for 25 years you know and
that's i did i've had that my i've had that my whole career so uh really and it that was it was
i'm not gonna say it wasn't difficult like it was very difficult to even overcome that office
and then i gotta walk out here and tell this guy that's has been selling motorcycles for 25 years
that he's not doing it right and uh you know um challenging times but those were it was it was
being able to stand up deliver the message the way that communicate the way that i know the
message needs to be delivered and this is the craziest part about that that store had sold
five motorcycles this was august 15th of 2015 they had sold five bikes between the first and the
15th of the month we sold an additional 55 between the 16th and the 31st and you know i think we had
that that talk a little bit a lot of it was sure it was it was marketing but the business was already
there i mean i had to be a pretty you know fluid area so they had a that that store had
275 thousand cars per day that were driving by it and uh you know it's it it goes down to the same
thing we're doing today it's it's process it's attitude and it's people and you know that's
first two weeks figure out if you got the right people and it's still been you know my rule ever
since which how many dealerships are within like a 30 mile radius of the honey to beach one because
riverside's about 30 miles away right yeah riverside was about it's about a 45 minute drive um so we
didn't we weren't like super congested yet there was orange county there was l.a harley of anaheim
in folerton i thought that was a funny one yeah there's l.a harley there was uh uh what was in
malibu fuck malibu didn't they just have like a kiosk there they get a t-shirt no no they ended
up having a there was a there was a point there there was a yeah i can't remember but we had malibu
we had there was orange county there was l.a there was quaid uh temecula that was quaid quaid harley um
bar to laid laws it it wasn't necessarily super congested but all the stores had big names
or hadn't been around for a really long time um that was it was difficult you know it was you
know i was with i was with uh the the veracas so we you know we were always we have always priced
higher than everybody else and um you know that was a really big adjusting point was uh you know
these dealerships that had been around for so many years and had a massive customer base and
but again it's uh we ended up we found the right people and uh that store that store
still to this day was the fastest growing harley davidson dealership of all time and at the time
there was that's uh 2015 there was 700 and 780 dealerships i think there's only 540 now there's
780 stores and at the time we were ranked so when i got there in august that store was ranked
i think 570 out of the seven plus stores uh by the end of 2016 we were the number two
volume store in the world so it took god damn so you basically took the market that was passing
by every day and you found a way to capitalize off of that and get them in the dealership process
yeah process and that's uh they had that's you know i don't think mike paul would have done that
if it didn't have the the transactions but uh you know they saw something there and that stores
you know to this day is uh it's a it's a contender but you know yeah yeah it was uh
that was a fun huntington huntington was a good time so every side was a good time they're the
ones that brought you to orlando was the same group no so i had been recruited at that point
in time so i spent a year on riverside a year at huntington beach and it was uh at that point in time
i got contacted by uh um american road group which is the the delis
yeah completely different group and was it was just kind of like another bar rescue kind of
situation where you know we want you to go to orlando and and try to dig this one out or yeah
maybe get on the right path orlando again a good you know good market the the store
were i when i got there was they were at least they were in the top 50 for for sales like they
that's as decent right yeah you're you're doing good in the top 50 um but it was it was under
performing for for what it was um i spent a big motorcycle market massive motorcycle market so i
had actually they originally brought me out there to run east orlando harley which was just a little
srl three four hundred bike store um i think i spent 30 days in that building and we doubled
their volume in in a 30 day span it was they they had sold i think it was 29 bikes the year before
we sold 60 in the first first month we were there first 30 days um and then the gm at the at the
big store uh he said hey i want you to i want you to come over here yeah so that was 30 days
was up at the big store how many dealerships do they have in the orlando market because
good either like other i mean just like like i don't know yeah i don't know how many there
that is probably one of the most saturated yeah so there's uh there was orlando or our store orlando
east orlando south uh space coast seminal uh miracle city treasure coast daytona i mean a
gator bit just it goes on and on and on um yeah so big market very saturated but that place yeah
it was it was similar it needed help they knew there was the the gm at the big at the bigger
store knew that there was there was growth there by the end of that year we were in the top five
and it just it happened happened fast and we stayed there we stayed there for you know nine
years so when you when you're able to kind of get in there and see the writings and literally put
them on the wall yeah um how does that like what does that do for you does that kind of
does it become challenges and and like wanting to like build up stores or is there a part of
you that wants to coast so i it's that's a that's a great question because i feel like
and i had said it it took me probably six years of being in that store for it to for to finally be
on coast right on coast mode and i'm the kind of person where if i'm not standing in the building
i feel like i'm feel like i'm missing something right or something's not being done right
and uh you know we i got that place to that point where i it was going to do its thing
right and that was bad for me that's a bad thing for me you need to chase something yeah
so targets chase something and uh i i that's another probably big motivator of what
brought me to to this part of the world was uh i needed a new challenge but also i think i you
know pretty sure i capped the place out and that wasn't a good you know under yeah as i say i capped
place out yeah that's why i would feel like this you know i've never worked in and i wouldn't
quite call this the corporate environment but just sitting in i'd never had the clock in
like the retail side yeah and i feel like it would you know the hunger would be about chasing
something it would be about you know looking at the sheets and figuring out how to like do better
and and get more people in here and like those kind of like like factors motivate me but if
things were good it's almost like uh that's when i feel like whenever things are going good in my
world i'm like okay what's something's wrong something's really wrong you know like where like
where is where is it my life is never this smooth you know what i mean so i don't know i i i feel
like it would just be a uh it would be good to know that you you have formulas and ideas that
actually applied correctly can actually see some results that that would be very validating yeah
to have stackable and scalable yeah measurements and i again that's a that's a really big thing
here is you know i've i've let's say i've i've been a part of teams now that has done the same
thing with you know some of the you know are now considered some of the biggest dealer groups biggest
dealerships uh in the world yeah and this will be the biggest challenge so far will be this place
but you got the right backing for it the back the back to the backings here the the people
are incredible the team is amazing um the community right it's everything so far has has come together
just like just like we set out for it to do and we're gonna have we'll have we'll have
our you know our challenge as next year um but i think this one's gonna feel the best
well as far as this year is concerned because i feel like you know we were talking before we
turned these cameras on did a lot of markets within power sports are down about i would say
after markets down 30 so i don't know how much that that transfers over into you're a pretty similar
figure yeah it just you know harley harley davidson in general is 20 about right around 28
percent down um and you know it's it's that all correlates
sturges this year man i could not i feel like every five bikes i passed on like a road going
somewhere was a cb ost oh wow like literally that's a good thing i mean i mean there's they're
easily to spot easy to color right and they just you know they got a couple of distinctive things
that you can kind of catch out the corner and notice it but because it's so like stand out like
i noticed them a lot right you know what i mean and i feel like man for this to be down i got
that's an expensive bike and it seems to be flying off the shelf everywhere that bike this is the
bike did the bike did well i i i firmly believe that that's one of the best products that harley's
ever yeah ever made hands down um but you know it's that they also that they turned it up out there
in in sturges i think uh i think that within that 10 days they did like 800 and have you ever been
a part of that whole going up there to that and selling no sadly they're not we'll probably
we'll make a trip out there next i've never even been to sturges okay but i think we're uh
there's a couple of the people from here we're gonna we're planning a trip out let me know
i'll get you some employees and i'll get you to some good uh some good events dude awesome good
parties some good networks that sounds awesome yeah that's that's my i look that's like one of
the things i love the most and i don't know what the word is but i like putting people together
that awesome that uh you know benefit and because of like being in the industry for quite a while
like you you develop just a lot of relationships with people and sometimes that's just like hey man
this is the dude you want to talk to you to go buy a new bike from right but sometimes it's like
hey this is the guy you want to talk to you because this this company buys 20 bikes 30 bikes
a quarter to customize and sell maybe y'all can work something out yeah you know and those are
the kind of things that i like to you know put together you know be the uh the kind of like a
pimp yeah the liaison the liaison yeah but um let me ask this is probably the hardest question
this is something i know a lot of listeners and people out there want to know is you probably
have heard the whole spill about like when it comes to auto groups being involved in
harley davis and dealerships and things like that that i think a lot of when that conversation
comes up it becomes like stealing the soul of motorcycling away from that okay as someone
that is involved with an auto group yeah and what not how would you say how would you combat that
or write that or just how would what would you say to that in general so i i mean i think a number
one it's a i think it's a very it's a fair very fair question and it's a it's a you know i would
love to give that answer um and i think that the answer to that starts at the very very top
which is teddy right um and i you know i don't want to speak for the guy but i would
he's a he's a he's a life stylist right um he does things for the culture specifically
but he's the he's he's as real as it gets he's a writer and that's where i think i think that's
where the story kind of starts and kind kind of ends is the dude's a motorcyclist right he likes
the i don't know if you've ever watched when i say life stylist the guy you know he shows what
he's doing all the time which is you know it's incredible for someone to be able to do that
and you know half the time he's doing something he's he's on his his bike yeah and you don't
really you don't buy Daytona or uh ross meyers right you don't turn like oh yeah you don't get
the Daytona dealership because you want that because you see the you culture you want to be
a part of it and you want to be part of it and that's you know that was kind of a that was a big
move for for him um and you know i don't want to you know go tell him his his stories and stuff
but the guy has a he's got a very very long very long history with motorcycles and uh a very deep
tie to to the culture itself and i would i would go as far to say as as far as owners in the Harley
Davidson and i've experienced a lot of them right i have from the top performing dealer groups that
are doing you know tens of thousands of bikes per year to you know mom and pop shops that sell
one 200 motorcycles a year i've i've met them all um when it comes to owners i don't think that
there is a a single person in this industry that is more about the culture and the brand than
than teddy is and that that part of the reason why i'm here that it starts at the top and it
you know it funnels down and it funnels down right into the people and i think that's uh
you know i i hope that answers that question it's you got a group of of passionate Harley Davidson
enthusiasts riders you know people that have been on bikes their entire life and
you know doing that for other people that side of it watching that happen for other people was
just you know to motivator right yeah and and i just wanted to ask that question to kind of like
you know from all knowledge as well but just i think that's one of the things you hear people
talk about a lot right it's like a selling point in some ways that some are like we're we're we're
mom and pop and we're this and the other um not saying good or bad i'm just saying that's what
gets said but there's the other aspect of kind of like just reality right right in order to run
a dealership in order to sell enough units in order to be able to have a place like this exists
like you have to you have to sell bikes yeah there's also got to be the the business you know
the business side of things yeah you know at the end of the day it's like i think that's the one
thing that i think people forget a lot is that at the end of the day the motorcycle sales is a
business and it has you have to sell bikes and you have to sell merch and you have to sell service
you know and i just i don't think there's anybody that does that better you know of course there's
you know there's this there's the sales there's the business there's the psychology there's you
we previously talked about but i don't think there's you know one thing that sells a motorcycle
more than a motorcyclist or somebody that yeah that that does it yeah and uh you know it starts
to start at the very top yeah so now that makes sense yeah i just you know like you know when
you're sitting down and you've you've kind of worked in all these different uh you know growing
these dealerships and and riding them or just you know keeping them optimized is probably the
best way to word it i just feel like that would be a good thing for people to kind of hear sure
and understand about this world of you know this this this practice of having motorcycle
dealerships it's a it's a business and motorcycles business and motorcycles and i would i would
implore those that uh you know that have their their questions the crazy thing is which again
you're not going to get this everywhere is teddy's here yeah like you know like the guy
he comes in for the events he's shaking people's hands he's he's fully fully involved with his
employees and his customers and that's a hard thing to do yeah and you know the guy the guy
does it and i just i don't see that changing anytime soon so that's a you know it's a i'm very
very lucky yeah to work for this this group now it's exciting then so what do you what do you
what do you think people can look forward to as far as like 2026 with this dealership i'm
i know it's we still have a you know we've got a whole month left of december but my mind already
is is in 2026 and and what we're going to do and things we're going to be a part of
just first and foremost uh march we have the the global global bike night we have the bagger world
cup and moto gp so those are going to be huge and you know for people that participated in our
king of the baggers event in september i anticipate march being bigger um because march is moto gp
march but they're bringing the the harley they're bringing harley the king of the baggers which are
well king of the baggers but it's the bagger world cup yeah so now it's the international
series and we are the only stop in the united states so it's gonna be huge so march is gonna
be big let me forget that could you try again thank you yeah it's gonna be big um right after that
is uh we have plh so peace love and happiness that's just one of the charities that we partner with
so that's john paul digioria gary spellman yeah we'll have their big ride which is in april
and then may we're with texas hills and just you know so everybody knows we're partnered with them
all year long so every weekend we'll be doing something i want to let you know those guys
tell their part but that partnership is going to be something uh massive it's uh it's people and
we talked about it a little bit it's the it's the younger crowd of harley davidson yeah and it's a
group of people that's actually getting out and doing shit right so if you want something to do
pay attention to what we have going on in our our schedule this year and that you know up again
well events all year long one of our big ones is ink and iron that's a it's a local art showcase
that we put on yeah we've had that's the second saturday of every month we've had
tattoo artists barbers we just did a huge barber event uh last weekend um engravers metal workers
welders uh large-scale canvas painters i mean like it's austin so like yeah we brought a little bit
of the austin culture to it but that that event has that event's taken off that's something that uh
you know pretty pretty proud of um but then of course we lead into september we got king of the
baggers again so a lot of stuff this whole the first six months of the year is going to be jam
jam packed with uh with events and fun stuff and you know if you're looking for something to do
we'll have something here every single every single weekend music drinks that kind of thing yeah nice
yeah i'm excited man it's uh it's good to see you know you guys have some plans and you're working
with the community to get things going and i mean look man when you when you support things like what
you know the guys are doing at texas hills it helps it grow and you know it's a synonymous
relationship uh and those things are important man like you know so i appreciate you helping my
buddies out of course yeah and he's been helping this podcast out you you know you guys stayed on
with with us once you guys took over which i appreciate and of course um hate that it took
what do we say 11 months yeah yeah nine months but hey look dude there's a we're gonna be here for a
while yeah and uh you know i think there's i think there's a lot that we'll be able to to do
together yeah tying tying all this in and and like you know i think like i said is it's just
people in the industry that are actually doing shit and uh you know taking this taking this to
the next step because i feel like it's been missed yeah hundred percent well cool man i'll let you
get back to it i know you probably got some uh some stuff going out they need to be managed we
we look busy you need to get managed down there so billy i appreciated uh cowboy harley davidson
you know sponsor so you guys already know about this brand and these guys uh but i really appreciate
you taking the time to do this man so we'll do some more of these it won't be so formal yeah later on
cool wait a dude i appreciate billy and the team over at cowboy harley davidson for taking the time
to do this podcast and all the stuff we've been doing together the last couple of weeks if you
guys follow the youtube or you know my instagram that you probably might have solved it uh harley
davidson decided to partner with me for 2026 you know they're sponsoring the podcast and
that payment for the sponsorship was a road glide so um i'll take it pretty sick i've been riding
around the last couple days i'm pretty stoked to be back on this bike um i got a lot of great
things coming for this and it's it's going to be nice to get back on a modern bike and it's
you know i i still am very very in love with riding the chopper around and i'm very
let's just say i'm i'm really planning to do at least one big trip on that bike
this year but getting out being able to rip the country like i used to on the on road glides and
low rider sts that's something that i need to be able to get out and do i bring more guests to
you guys to get more content to you know share through this channel so your guy's support is
very necessary man you know our patreon is a great place to support this podcast and uh
we're working on things over there i say that a lot it's actually true um i do appreciate everybody
that does check out these episodes so yeah i guess that's all i got right now you guys hopefully
have a great start to the new year and um i guess we'll catch you on the next episode all right peace
About this episode
Billy Davis, the GM of Cowboy Harley-Davidson in Austin, shares his journey in the motorcycle industry, starting from his childhood passion for bikes to his rise in sales management. He discusses his experiences at various Harley dealerships, emphasizing the importance of communication and understanding customer psychology in sales. The episode highlights the evolving culture of Harley-Davidson, the significance of community events, and the dealership's plans for 2026, including partnerships and exciting events. Billy's insights into the motorcycle lifestyle and the challenges of the market make for an engaging conversation.
Original notes
In today's episode, Billy gives us a bit of insight into his path to the General Manager role within the Harley-Davidson dealer world. From ripping the streets of Socal to becoming the guy to turn dealerships around, hear about it in this episode!
Billy's Instgram https://www.instagram.com/billyforeal/
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