Jeremy Prewett, owner of Outpost Motorsports in West Plains, MO, began working in a Polaris dealership right out of high school. After changing careers, he was motivated to get back into the powersports industry. When the opportunity arose, he opened a pre-owned motorcycle and ATV dealership. In his first year of business, he sold about 90% used motorcycles and about 10% ATVs.
“We do have some motorcycles now, but it’s a lot less than we did back in 2015. We were selling close to a couple hundred used Harley’s per year,” Prewett said. Seeing the rise of popularity in side-by-sides, in 2015, he added HISUN vehicles to his dealership.
“The market has completely flipped on its end and a huge part of that is side-by-sides. To me, it seems like people would rather spend their time differently. In the last 20 years, they wanted to go out for a ride with their husband or wife or significant other. Now, they want to hit the trails with the whole family, and you’re able to do that with a UTV instead of a motorcycle. That’s really changed the dynamic of what people are wanting to do with their free time in the powersports industry.”
Focusing his business on the family aspect is one of the many reasons why he chose HISUN.
“Recreational off-roading is very much a community event. It’s time that family and friends can spend together and enjoy the outdoors,” said Thomas Kang, dealer development manager at HISUN. “HISUN is family owned, most of our customer are families, most of our dealers are family-owned businesses. It is important that we offer a full line of vehicles that fit within a family price point. This allows us to work with our partners to develop finance programs that work with family friendly budgets.”
Prewett kept his goals at the forefront when he was ready to add a new OEM to his dealership.
“When we started with HISUN, they had just started in the market,” Prewett said. “We were looking for a way to compete. In our area, there was a dealer who had all the major brands. We were looking for something that we could add to our business that was dependable.
“Every customer we deal with, we know. You’re going to see these people out at the grocery store or at a ball game, so we want to be selling a machine that we can stand behind.”
Upon making a decision to add a new OEM, Prewett met with his HISUN rep, who helped Outpost Motorsports make a plan for success.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Hey Outpost, let’s get you signed up. Let’s get you an order of 10, 15 units and we’ll see how it works,’” Prewett explained. “They took the time to find out about my area, find out what machines I thought would work, talked about what worked at other places, then we came together and had a plan. I didn’t start with 20 or 30. I started with five. Within a year, we were selling a bunch of them. And in the last three years, we’ve been in the top three sales in the nation with HISUN.”
In 2019, Outpost Motorsports was voted the best motorcycle/ATV shop in West Plains.
“We’ve been very fortunate, and I think a good portion of our success is based on who you align your business with, and the arrow always points to HISUN,” Prewett said. “When I walk into a grocery store or into a basketball game and we’ve sold units to 10 people there, I want them to have good stories. I want them to wave at me and say, ‘Hey, I’m loving the machine! Here’s a picture of something we did!’”
According to Prewett, one of the main selling points of HISUN vehicles is their two-year factory warranty. “HISUN encourages success for the dealer; from value to reliability. I’m able to offer that to my community and that’s a really big thing.”
“HISUN offers a full line up of UTVs and ATVs that will help fill gaps for both price and engine displacement on the dealer showroom floor,” said Gabriel Cruz, media development manager at HISUN. “This allows HISUN to grow amongst their business plan without overlapping products. As we grow, we want our dealers to grow with us. Offering new tech support and product videos on a regular basis allows us to pass that knowledge on to our dealer base.”
Being able to bridge the gap between the dealer and the customer created more door swings by improving customer service for Outpost Motorsports.
“My whole goal for my dealership is that I don’t ever want the customer to feel lost in the shuffle. I want to get to know them and find out what they’re using it for. I don’t want someone coming back three months after a purchase saying, ‘I’m always stuck in the mud’ or ‘It won’t do what I want it to do.’ Because when they buy this machine, every time they use it, I want it to be a positive interaction. Their neighbors are going to see it and their relatives are going to ask about it. With HISUN, it’s not about ‘let’s get this unit to your dealership and get it sold.’ It’s more about trying to plan out the next 10 years.”
In order to help dealers plan for their future, HISUN began a marketing program to facilitate advertising.
“HISUN has a cooperative marketing program to help dealers with advertising. We will cover 50% of the advertisement,” Kang said. “There are many avenues of marketing these days: television, radio, social media. The best advice I have is to continue to market and advertise. Find what works best in your market and keep improving it.”
With social media at the forefront of technology, HISUN offers dealers another way to engage with their customers.
“With over 2.37 billion monthly active users on Facebook alone, social media is a giant stage to perform on,” Cruz said. “Through a program like HISUN Connect, we are able to take data we have collected and transform it into information for our dealer partners to leverage. It is our job to find the places where people, brands, media and technology connect. With HISUN Connect, we can implement forward-thinking digital strategies for our dealers. Together, we can build a community of advocates for the HISUN brand, connecting with individuals and establishing their brand as an authoritative source. It’s amazing who you can reach by using proper content and knowing your audience.”
“When you’re building a machine that people are going to like and that comes with what they’re going to want, it’s affordable and it’s going to last, it really makes a difference,” Prewett added.
For more information about HISUN Motors, visit
hisunmotors.com.
