Dealer adapts to changing industry, retains long-tenured employees

Sean Coplen hung up his suit in the tech industry and opened Roseville Motorsports of Rocklin, California, in 2002 after having a poor experience at a dealership. His goal was to offer excellent customer service and spend more time with his family. Roseville Motorsports opened as a one-line Yamaha dealership and, between 2015 and 2019, Kawasaki, Polaris, and Suzuki were added to the dealership’s lineup.

Colby Moore joined the Roseville Motorsports team in 2018 and is now the assistant manager. He has worked in a dealership since 2012 and has held multiple managerial positions.

Moore has been around powersports all his life. “When I was a kid, me and my friend would ride his little Honda 50 minibike,” he says. In his early teens, he would visit family in Maine every summer and ride quads.

“I remember being 12 years old and I’d get on my quad that my parents bought me, and I’d be gone for like four hours. I’d go 30 miles to a different town on the railroad tracks and I’d get back and my grandparents would get so mad,” he says. (Maine converted inactive railroad tracks to recreational trails). He started riding on the street after his dad bought him his first street bike at the age of 17.

Shop Talk

Moore is excited to see the new Polaris Ranger XD 1500. “It’s going to be a new hot model coming out just because there’s no other UTV like that on the market right now,” he says. “We’re anxiously awaiting the Yamaha YZ bike to show up on the showroom floor. Other than that, we’re monitoring our flooring costs and trying to move older inventory because, with interest rates higher, it’s been tougher for people to buy. Not only that,” he continues, “but California has been very unfriendly to off-road riders.” And the dealership has seen dirt bike sales drop over the years.

“Parents come in looking for kid’s bikes and employees have to explain where certain units can be ridden and when. It’s quite a shocker for people who haven’t been in the industry,” he shares. “And for people looking to get a new bike, when you tell them that they can’t use it in any state facility because they can’t get registered, people keep their old bike.”

In response, the dealership may take on an electric line in the future. Roseville carried Alta Motors, an electric dirt bike manufacturer, until the company closed in 2018. Because of this, Moore explains that the next electric line will be carefully chosen.

“We don’t want to sell the customer a bike and not be able to help a year later,” he says. “The customer can be somewhat understanding, but they’ll hold the dealership somewhat accountable – which we should be. If we’re selling a product, we need to stand behind it.”

Taking on e-bikes

While the dealership does not currently carry an electric dirt bike line, Roseville Motorsports customers are familiar with electric products on the showroom floor. The dealership took on Specialized Bicycles in October of 2022.

“It was a slow start,” Moore says. “We recently hired our e-bike department manager who is also the lead technician for that department.” The new department manager and technician is a cyclist and former co-owner of a local bicycle shop. His knowledge and experience in the bicycle industry are a necessity for most e-bike customers.

“The customers that are buying these $10,000 to $15,000 bikes know more than most of us do,” Moore says. “We need someone that can match that level of knowledge, otherwise they’ll question buying from the dealership or question if any issues they have can be fixed. It was a slow start with e-bikes because we didn’t have that person, and now that we do, it’s pretty cool to see the department start gaining traction.”

A tenured team

Besides the hire of the latest department manager, most employees have worked at the dealership for over a year, and every employee working in the parts department has worked at the dealership for two or more years. Eight key staff members have been a part of the Roseville team for almost 10 years or more.

“Sean, as an owner, really takes care of us and it shows,” Moore says, explaining that he ensures employees are heard and that concerns are always addressed. “He’s very compassionate, too. When someone feels like they’re being listened to by an owner or a boss, it makes a big difference. And he rewards hard work.”

Promoting Roseville

The dealership staff is usually made up of about 30 employees, two of whom oversee marketing and social media alongside the owner – an unofficial marketing team. “It’s something that we really need because we could really make a bigger impact on social media if we had a full-time marketing team,” Moore says. “But we don’t, and we’ve been very fortunate to have a good group of core customers. Word of mouth works really well because when you provide such a high level of customer service, people tell their friends.”

The dealership also sponsors itself by supporting local organizations and events. “We’re also big in sponsoring Bayside Adventure Sports, a local church group, and their focus is getting kids on bikes. They do an annual ride that we always sponsor.”

Securing customer loyalty

As a dealership established to provide an excellent customer experience, Roseville employees strive to ensure customer satisfaction. “If you have an issue, there’s no resistance. If we mess up or if we do something wrong, we believe in fixing it,” Moore says. “We’re not going to let the customer suffer. We’re really leaning on our return policy too. We have a policy in place that is strict enough when it needs to be, but I would say we probably bend that policy every day.”

Employees have the authority to reimburse a customer if it costs the dealership $50 or less when a manager is not present. “We just want the customer to be happy,” Moore says.

“I’ve been the parts manager and inventory control manager here at Roseville Motorsports for several years and the most important thing I’ve learned is to set your pride aside when you have to and listen to concerns,” he continues. “Especially with customers; you have to make sure they’re happy. Make sure other people are happy, and it makes your job easier.”