Dealership insights
Powersports Desking Challenges: How Edge Performance Sports Handled Them in 2019
The desking challenges a powersports sales manager described in 2019, from multi-unit deals to customers waiting at the desk, and how to desk them well.
Quick answer
The hardest powersports desking challenges are multi-unit deals, reworking each deal to fit the customer, re-keying data between systems, and the minutes a customer spends waiting at the desk. In 2019, Edge Performance Sports sales manager Rob Palomarez described how his store handled each one. Here is what he said, and how to desk a multi-unit deal.
Desking a powersports deal uses the same math as desking a car deal, but the deals themselves are shaped differently. In November 2019, Rob Palomarez, then sales manager at Edge Performance Sports in Ontario, Oregon, described the challenges that difference creates at the desk and how his store handled them.
This piece is about the deals. The companion case study, what helped the Edge Performance Sports sales manager run the desk, is about his job: the people, the information flow and the tools he credited. Both tell a dated story. The quotes are Rob's, word for word, as PSX published them in 2019, and the results are what the dealership reported at the time.
What stays the same as auto desking
Rob came to powersports from the auto business, so he started with what carries over:
"The similarities between the auto industry and Powersports when it comes to what is required to successfully desk deals is obviously just having the information available. It's extremely important. Being able to modify each purchase the way that a consumer would need it to be done in order to close the deal – that's crucial, especially in Powersports."
In other words, the basic skill is the same: have the full picture of the customer, the unit, the trade and the financing in front of you, and be able to change the deal quickly. For a line-by-line comparison of the two industries, see powersports desking vs. automotive desking.
Four desking challenges Rob described
| Challenge | What Rob said in 2019 | What the desk needs |
|---|---|---|
| Several units in one deal | A customer wants "a four-wheeler, but I also want to side-by-side" plus a trailer, and asks what the payment will be | A worksheet that carries more than one unit, each with its own price, fees and paperwork, and shows a combined payment |
| Reworking the deal for each customer | Being able to "modify each purchase the way that a consumer would need it" is "crucial, especially in Powersports" | Fast changes to price, down payment, term and add-ons while the customer is still there |
| Information from other systems | The tool "imports everything from my other systems" | Customer, unit and trade details entered once and reused, not retyped |
| The customer waiting at the desk | The goal is "reducing that time that a consumer is sitting alone at a desk" | A short, predictable gap between "let me run the numbers" and the first pencil |
The rest of this article takes them one at a time, then turns the first one, the hardest, into steps.
Challenge 1: Several units in one deal
This was the difference Rob stressed most:
"The ability to use it for multiple purchases at the exact same time is huge. In the auto industry, you don't generally have people buying multiple units at the exact same time. Fortunately for us, we have a great customer base; it's common for a consumer to say, “Well yeah, I'm going to take a four-wheeler, but I also want to side-by-side and by the way, I need you to figure out what it would be with a trailer and what am I payment's going to look like?” So the ability to do all that in a very short timeframe really allows us to be industry-leading."
He listed what set the desking tool in PSX's CXMAi platform, as it was in 2019, apart for his store: multiple-deal functionality, ease of use and time efficiency.
Challenge 2: Reworking the deal for each customer
Powersports customers often change the deal as they go: add a winch, drop the trailer, put more down, shorten the term. Each change moves the payment. A desk that has to rebuild the worksheet every time loses the customer's attention, and sometimes the customer.
Challenge 3: Information from other systems
Rob put accuracy alongside speed:
"Also, the accuracy of the information and the fact that it imports everything from my other systems makes it a really simple system to use."
Every figure typed twice is a chance for it to change. When the unit's price, the trade's payoff and the customer's details come into the deal from where they already live, the numbers the customer sees match the numbers finance submits.
Challenge 4: The customer waiting at the desk
His point here was about the customer's state of mind:
"It all comes down to reducing that time that a consumer is sitting alone at a desk, twiddling their thumbs or being distracted or having second thoughts."
"The bottom line is that all those things aside and put together, it really does allow my team to go out there and put their best foot forward and make somebody feel comfortable."
And his summary of why it matters in this industry: "People should have fun when they're out there buying toys!"
Dealer-reported (2019): multi-unit desking, ease of use and time savings let Edge's team work multi-unit deals in a very short timeframe and keep customers comfortable. Rob gave no figures, and we have not added any. For practical ways to cut that wait, see our guide on how to shorten deal time at a powersports dealership.
A multi-unit deal is several deals at once
Most pages that mention multi-unit deals treat them as a bigger version of a single-unit deal. They are not. When a customer takes an ATV, a side-by-side and a trailer, the desk is handling three units that can each have their own identity, paperwork and financing rules, and one customer who wants one simple answer.
What that means in practice:
- Each unit has its own identity. Every unit has its own identification number. Federal VIN rules (49 CFR Part 565) list trailers and motorcycles among the vehicles they cover; off-road units may be identified and titled differently, and titling and registration rules vary by state. Get each number right on the worksheet.
- Each unit can have its own fees. Freight, setup, documentation and title fees can apply to each unit, not once per deal.
- Lenders may treat units differently. A lender's program may cover one unit type and not another, or have different terms for a trailer. Check before you promise one payment.
- The disclosures follow the contract. If the units are financed together on one closed-end installment contract, Regulation Z requires the creditor to disclose, among other things, the amount financed, the finance charge, the annual percentage rate, the payment schedule and the total of payments (12 CFR 1026.18), before the transaction is consummated (12 CFR 1026.17). If they are financed on separate contracts, each has its own disclosures. This is general information, not legal advice.
The customer still wants one answer: what will it all cost me a month? Show both. A combined payment answers the question they asked, and a per-unit breakdown lets them drop or swap a unit without starting over.
How to desk a multi-unit powersports deal
- Confirm the full list first. Ask what the customer wants to ride away with, including the trailer, accessories and gear, before you run any numbers.
- Build one line per unit. Give each unit its own price, freight and setup, fees and identification number.
- Add accessories to the unit they belong to. A winch goes with the ATV, a roof with the side-by-side, so a dropped unit takes its add-ons with it.
- Appraise each trade separately. Note each payoff on its own line.
- Check lender eligibility for every unit. Confirm how the lender treats each unit type before you quote a combined payment.
- Present a combined payment and a per-unit view. Show the total, then what each unit adds, so the customer can adjust without a full redesk.
- Change one thing at a time. When the customer asks for a new number, change one input, show the new payment and say what moved it.
- Hand the whole deal to finance in one piece. Every unit, trade and figure should reach the finance office as the customer saw it.
For the full sequence from write-up to F&I, see the powersports desking process steps.
What has changed since 2019
In 2019 the company went by PSXDigital. Today it is PSX Ascend, serving powersports, boat and RV retailers with the PSX Ascend platform. Its live product pages describe an AI-powered powersports CRM that connects customer data, sales workflows and lead follow-up, and AMP, its marketing automation platform, with ALMA, the Automated Lead Management Assistant, for lead engagement.
The current product pages do not describe a desking tool, so this article makes no claim that the 2019 desking features are offered today. If multi-unit desking matters to your store, ask PSX directly what is available now, and use our buyer's checklist for powersports desking software to compare tools.
You can also see the same AI-powered powersports CRM on our sister site, PSXDigital's AI-powered powersports CRM page.