Tony Sprovero first started riding at the age of 14, riding his friends’ bikes without his parents’ knowledge, he told us. Sprovero said he continued to use his friends’ bikes while he was in the Army, but he didn’t buy his own bike, a Honda Shadow 750 Ace, until he turned 21. “A few years later I bought a Harley and I rode mostly American-made bikes until a few years ago when I crossed over into the metric world,” he explained. Nowadays he mainly rides a Suzuki C90, while his wife has a Suzuki C50 – they also ride four wheelers as well, Tony told us.

After a career in information technologies, Sprovero started his dealership, Eastcoast Powersports, in 1999, he said, adding, “It was supposed to be just a cottage business I did on the side but it turned into something much bigger than I ever dreamed,” Tony told us. He continued by saying, “I think I got into the industry at a great time, right before the Jesse James and custom craze.” Up until a few years ago he said he was primarily selling American products, but, in 2005, Sprovero expanded his business into selling metric motorcycles and ATVs. “Now the metric side is the key focus of my business,” he exclaimed.
Sprovero has been the majority owner and general manager of Eastcoast Powersports since its founding in 1999, Tony explained, and through the years, he’s held other positions within the industry, such as serving in a dealer advisory role for an American manufacturer. His day-to-day responsibilities lie mainly on the financial side, he told us. “I also run inventory management and manage our relationships with the manufacturers who supply us. I also handle a lot of the sales and marketing for Eastcoast,” Sprovero added.

Tony said he likes this industry because it is unique and easy going. “There are few industries where you can have fun, meet great people and work in a casual environment,” he explained. Sprovero added, “Most of us are in the business of selling toys. So we get to make people happy on a daily basis. It’s also a flexible industry that’s very family oriented. My job allows me to spend more time with my family.”

Some of his all-time favorite moments of being in this business include winning sales awards from manufacturers and attending popular bike rallies like Sturgis and Daytona, Tony continued. A more recent moment came a couple of months ago when the store sold 70 bikes in one month, he said, adding, “That was the most number of bikes I’ve ever sold in one month.” “The credit crunch is taking its toll on this industry,” he told us, and there are a lot of banks that are buying scared instead of buying smart. “That’s dangerous for those of us in the consumer goods segment. When banks are buying, obviously, there are greater opportunities for dealers and customers,” Sprovero added.

However, despite the economy, there are opportunities to capitalize on, like the fuel crisis, which is helping to drive interest in motorcycles and scooters as people look for vehicles that offer better gas mileage, he explained. “I’m seeing a spike in traffic because of this,” Sprovero stated.
He advised everyone to be frugal and to spend their money wisely. “Focus on customer service and customer attention,” he stated, adding, “I have a big problem with people pulling out of the market because they can’t make it. It makes it harder for all of us. My advice is to make your changes by being budget conscious where you can. Everyone is going to be undercapitalized for a while until things pick up.”

Marilyn Simmons was about 12 years old when her two older brothers first discovered dirt bikes, she recalled. “Our house was the neighborhood focal point for repairs, paint jobs and wheelies,” she explained, and after a few years, Marilyn started to go along to watch her brothers ride in events every weekend throughout the Northeast. Her brother George, riding a Jawa CZ, became well known in the motocross and scrambles circuit, while her other brother, Al, showed off his technical riding skills by winning enduro competitions, Simmons explained. She added, “Now when Al competes in the woods or rides the length of Baja, the only difference is that his wife is riding along with him as a passenger!”

By the time she reached 16, Simmons said it was perfectly logical for her to get her motorcycle license, without having to take any safety classes or maneuverability tests. “I think the inspector was so taken aback that I was a girl that the fact that I could ride around the block was good enough for him,” she laughed. “Although not thrilled with smashed bugs on my face, I did love riding,” Simmons continued, “All the wind and the noise and the ‘power’ from my BSA 175 made me forget my bruised ankle bone from that old clunker kicking me back every time I struggled to kick start it.”
She said she was proud to have finally become ‘one of the guys’ as they took their bikes out on late night runs across the town to the new, upstart restaurant – the one with the big, yellow arches, she told us. “We were so cool,” Marilyn laughed. Simmons continued by saying after a year or so of riding, her mother gave her a bright pink leather jacket, which not only helped traffic see and avoid her, but also firmly established her gender for those inquisitive bystanders during the liberated years of the 1960s.
In addition to street riding, she said she also did a stint in the dirt. “I have a picture of me sitting on a Jawa in 1972 with a walkie-talkie strapped to my helmet,” she explained, adding, “My brother’s dream of making his little sister one of the first great female motocross stars ended after just a couple hours of him yelling into his walkie-talkie at me to take the corners faster, faster! It was useless.”
Her days spent riding, attending races and hanging out in the ‘repair’ garage ended when she went off to graduate school, Simmons told us. After receiving her Master’s Degree in Economics from Cornell, Simmons moved into the corporate life of Chicago and, during that time, she said she also got her pilot’s license. “No more bugs in my face or helmet hair for me!” Marilyn exclaimed.
“Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans … I moved back home to New England and spent a couple years flying with a boyfriend in his P-51 WWII fighter plane,” she continued. During that time Al had been working for a guy in Connecticut who manufactured motorcycle seats and, after Mike Corbin moved to California, Al started his own business, Mustang Seats, with the help of her P-51 friend. She added, “This is where one usually says ‘the rest is history’.”
Back in the 1980s Mustang only had a couple of workers, so over the last 28 years, Marilyn said she’s done everything from boxing seats and driving trucks, to order entry and distributor sales. Her position at Mustang eventually evolved into becoming the marketing director, she told us. Marilyn added, “I found a great job description that I keep on my office door: ‘Directing all those things that help prepare the marketplace and position the company to accomplish its objectives of effectively and efficiently moving goods and services from supplier to purchaser.’” In a nutshell, she said her duties include advertising, public relations, catalogs, customer comments, shows, promotions and Web sites.
Since Mustang strives to create new baseplates and seats whenever OEMs make changes to their vehicles, the company usually has a variety of motorcycles on hand, Marilyn told us. She added, “My favorite rides are on the back roads of New England. These days my full-face helmet prevents a buggy face but I have still not figured out how to prevent ‘helmet hair’.”
“Having spent most of my adult life in this business, I appreciate the long-term relationships I enjoy with so many people in all aspects of the industry – from dealers to magazine reps. and even Mustang’s competitors,” Simmons explained. She said it is incredibly rewarding to hear dealers say how happy they and their customers are with their products. However, mostly Simmons enjoys hearing from the riding public, she continued. “As much as I have been impressed with various products during my life, I have never personally thanked the manufacturer. I am so grateful that our riders and their passengers take the time to visit us at shows, or send me emails describing how Mustang seats have increased their enjoyment of riding,” she explained, and for over a decade Mustang has proudly included these ‘testimonials’ on its Web site, in its catalogs and on the bulletin boards in its cafeteria.
“In describing their riding experiences, however, some people (mostly men) have gone above and beyond Ms. Manners by writing some really personal stories about some really personal areas of their bodies that Mustang has impacted,” Simmons told us. She explained, “Once I even received a hand drawn [picture] from a gentleman who very specifically indicated what part of his ‘seat’ was helped by our seat …”
Obviously the weakened economy is the largest and most lingering threat to the market, because it affects employment and discretionary income, which, in turn, has reduced new bike sales and also accessory sales, Simmons noted. And, like many products made in the U.S., Mustang faces the threat of copycat imports, she continued. “While the outside of our product may be duplicated, imported seats are still far from replicating the quality of our baseplates, nor the ‘inside’ comfort that it’s taken almost three decades for Mustang to perfect,” she explained.
For Mustang, its greatest growth potential is its increasing sales growth thanks to the baby boomer demographics and, despite the recession, Mustang’s export sales have greatly benefited from the weak dollar with increasing sales in Canada, Europe, Australia and South Africa, Simmons divulged. And, she added, on the horizon, areas such as India and China have expanding economies with growing disposable income, which Mustang hopes will become potential new sales opportunities.
For the industry as a whole, the old marketing maxim of ‘customer service’ remains even more vital to reach consumers in this age of the Internet, Simmons explained. “Despite all the high-tech messages reaching consumers, the equally important parallel adage is to never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth,” she said, adding, “For the seat market, specifically, the best sales technique a dealer can use is to display a seat on a floor bike. Seeing an item in a catalog may sell some products but ‘sitting is believing’ when it comes to customers looking for comfortable seats.”