Brandon Cerka of Suzuki Marine

This transcript was generated with the help of AI and may contain some errors.

Brandon Cerka (00:00):

Sometimes people throw us in that, well, the other brands are bigger, so they play this way and you just can't do what they can do. And that's completely false. We can do more than what they can do because we don't own boat companies. We're an engine brand only, right?

Kyler Mason (00:16):

Whether you're going to market through dealers, distributors, or some other partner channel, the mediated sale is complex. We call it B2B2X.

John Gough (00:24):

But the leaders in the industry are the ones who are making it look simple. I'm John Gough. And I'm Kyler Mason, and this is Why You Win, presented by Element Three. Our guest today is Brandon Cerka, the executive vice president of sales, marketing and service at Suzuki Marine. Brandon's a lifelong boater. His dad was a Suzuki dealer and he grew up washing boats and he remembers going to the dealer meetings when the iconic tech was introduced when he was a kid. And now he leads those teams that are driving product introduction to the market and creating cool partnerships and staying close to the voice of the customer. You're really going to like this.

Kyler Mason (01:01):

But now we got the new title. EVP. EVP. Sales, marketing and service.

Brandon Cerka (01:06):

Yeah. I like all of them, but I think sales, service and marketing, because when you look at from sales and service, I always say it's on the same coin. And when you flip it up in the air, you can't see what side it's on. So I think that's really important. The only time you notice what it is, is when you catch it in your hand. Sales brings you in, service brings you back. But marketing side is also a blend of both of those. We can do a really good job marketing from the sales side, but if we don't do the same stuff on the service side, it kind of falls on its face. So I think for us, it's been nice because it's a new challenge for me and really making sure everything's brought together. But I think sales service and marketing really kind of ties that all in where it shows how it all goes together.

John Gough (01:49):

Yeah. Sometimes when leaders have phrases like that, you got to use it enough until the people that report to you make fun of you about it. Yeah. So that feels like maybe something that you've said once or twice before. When did you realize that was true for you, that sales and service were the same thing?

Brandon Cerka (02:04):

I mean, I grew up in a dealership. So my father was very service driven. My father passed away a couple years ago, but he was into hot rod years and years ago in the 1960s and '70s. And he's been in a couple of hot rod magazines. So his car is in

John Gough (02:19):

There

Brandon Cerka (02:19):

And everything. But that kind of builds it where he was very into the service, the tech side of it. And so we were raised, and I grew up in the panhandle of Texas, so we did have all four seasons. So we literally had four months of go, go, go summertime and the rest was pretty much fall into winter. And that half of the side was the service side. But my dad always said, when the customer comes in, let's make sure it's right because we don't want them coming back until they come back and pay us to do their winterization. Because if you have to go fix their stuff, you're not making any money at that point. So sales brings you in and then the service brings them back because you did so good on the selling that you took care of them.

Kyler Mason (02:57):

So what jobs did you have growing up?

Brandon Cerka (02:58):

Oh man. Until I was about 18, they were all terrible. My dad always wanted everything clean. I get it. Weed eating and everything. And on chain link fences, when the weeds grow up the fence and that. Oh dude, that was the summer job. It'd be all along the whole fence and we had to go through and pick everyone. Yeah. So that was one of the worst ones I can remember.

Kyler Mason (03:19):

That's miserable. I just did this the other day, but when you go to a chain link fence with a weed eater and you run it and you go up against the fence, it knocks the top of it off and it smacks you in the leg and you start bleeding. So you got to pick it by hand.

Brandon Cerka (03:33):

Yeah, I remember that. I remember, oh, cleaning boats. I will say the best part is I know what elbow grease is because my dad would be, "We clean the boat." We're all done. He's like, "That is not clean." And he would show us and sure enough, he's like, "You got to press a little harder." So it was one of those things that by the time we were in our teens, I mean, it was just normal. We knew the boat would come in, we had to clean it, we had to get it out. And I think that was it. It was more of like, you think about it and I'm like, all these cool things of hard work and just, hey, work until the job is done. But my favorite job, I can't answer that, was when I talked to other people that grew up in a dealership, we have this kind of running joke of, you know what?

(04:11):

I was the best flashlight holder. And they're like, no, I was. And I was like, "Well, how'd you hold it?" Without getting yelled at. That's exactly right. You get yelled at enough, but I was the best. I felt like I was always the best. I knew where to point the flashlight at night or whenever it was to help my dad. And it's so funny because sometimes I'll be doing something at the house with my girls and they'll be holding the flashlight. I'm like, "No, you got to hold it here. I need to see what I'm looking at." And so that stuff. But that was probably my favorite job when I was growing up

John Gough (04:37):

Because

Brandon Cerka (04:38):

All I had to do was hold the flashlight. What's interesting is what really ties all this stuff where I'm at today is my dad was a Suzuki dealer.

(04:45):

So in 86, he started, I think in 87 or 88, he took on Suzuki. And for me, that's all we had. We were an exclusive Suzuki dealer and we didn't really have problems, but I remember all the two-stroke stuff, the Super 6s and the gray '80s, a lot of these engines. And then at that time, that was in the late '80s going into the '90s, and then jet skis into WaveRunners came in. So that was really my thing, the WaveRunner side. And then the changing of the guard was from two stroke to four stroke and also from carburetor to EFI. That really was the game changer of when you really look at how people went about their business, because now all of a sudden you have a four stroke that doesn't burn oil. And then you have a carburetor moving to EFI that you don't have to tweak it anymore.

(05:33):

It works on its own. It was electronic. So there's all this interesting stuff that I got to be a part of that I didn't even realize. And when I took the job in 2012 with Suzuki, I always remember our rep coming in. I was like, "That's the coolest jobs." And so I applied for it. And my boss that hired me, his first question was, "Well, is your dad so-and-so?"

John Gough (05:51):

He would

Brandon Cerka (05:51):

Be like, "What do you know?" It was like, "Is your dad so-and-so?" So they knew who I was. And Gus, that was the EVP that I've been working under for the last couple years. I mean, he remembers me when I was nine or 10 years old.

John Gough (06:01):

So

Brandon Cerka (06:02):

You have all this stuff that's all connected that you don't realize what you have, but it's really interesting. And when we went from two-stroke to four-stroke, I was at the meeting that they introduced that in Las Vegas with my dad. And that was where they used to do the whole family event where you bring everybody. That was kind of our vacations. And that was really cool. And you don't realize until now, and you're like, "I was a part of this that didn't really matter, but it matters totally in the industry we're in."

John Gough (06:26):

Yeah, it matters a ton, right? Because you just told four stories about how that was your whole experience growing up. It was how you spent time with your dad and your siblings. And when these dealerships are running family businesses, that's the whole business, including the vacation.

Brandon Cerka (06:43):

That's what's funny. It's like everything is always based around where you're going, "Hey, we got to go there. We got to go here." And that time, my dad was running the business so he could take two days off.

Kyler Mason (06:53):

So have you ever had a detour outside of the marine industry or has it been straight through?

Brandon Cerka (06:58):

My dad sold in 2006, so I went back and got my master's in education. So did that for a couple years and I was like, "This is not for me." And then I found that position as a district sales manager. So I was on the front side, then I went to the field, worked my way all the way up dealing with dealers, signing up dealers, all that stuff. And then really just kind of grew from there and just worked my way up through the company. And when COVID hit is when I actually moved to California.

John Gough (07:30):

Okay. And then immediately back.

Brandon Cerka (07:31):

It was, I would say about an eighth-month vacation. I got hired as sales development. So essentially, we were still growing. We were still part of the motorcycle side. And

(07:41):

So if you go back, I mean, we got out of the auto business back in 2013. So it was really focused on power sports and marine. So marine, we really, really took off. I mean, it was good. We really have started to make our stride and everything. And there was always kind of this gap between the dealer side and the boat builder side and kind of a bridge in the middle. And so they were like, "Hey, I think we want you to go here." So that's what I did. And I accepted the job in late 2019, and I was going to move to California May 1st of 2020. My wife and I would put the house up for sale. As is up for sale, guess what hits? COVID, right?

John Gough (08:19):

Yeah.

Brandon Cerka (08:20):

So that was a whole crazy thing in itself. But we got really lucky because we sold the house and everything. And then, all right, our next adventure, we're going to Southern California, moving to Brea, California. And a little history on that was my wife grew up in Anaheim, California. So her family was there. So that was kind of that whole thing where we were not so much by ourselves, but we had family over there. And so we're like, okay, well, this is kind of cool so we can go back to where she lives. And we get there and it was crazy because I think we moved Memorial weekend, flying on the plane, everybody had to wear masks. There was 10 people on the plane. It was wild. And then you get to California and that was really locked down. I was living in Texas, you just kind of did your thing with the mask.

(09:02):

There it was complete lockdown. And I always say, people are like, "Well, you did have a good experience." Well, I never got to experience the real California, I guess is the best way to say it because I didn't get to experience all the traffic. I did, but I didn't. By the time I was leaving, I was already done.

Kyler Mason (09:16):

Did you want to?

Brandon Cerka (09:18):

No.

(09:19):

But what it did is at the end I started experiencing, I saw some stuff behind the curtain that I was like, I didn't really like. I didn't grow up that way. I don't know why you pay for stuff when you can do it yourself or collect taxes on it. I don't believe in that, but that's for other people to decide. And so that was in May. So June, we're looking for a house. And so I finally, middle of June, I mean 15, 20 days we're looking. And so I tell them like, "Hey, I found a house." And they were like, "Oh, okay." They weren't even happy about it. And I

John Gough (09:52):

Remember

Brandon Cerka (09:53):

It was our EVP and Gus at the time. And so they come over and they're like, "We need you to sign this NDA." And I was like, "That's it, man. I'm going to hear about the good stuff." You know what I'm saying? I'm in. Oh, I'm going to know the secrets, right? Yeah. About that house though. It wasn't even on my mind. So they slide across and you just like, oh yeah, tell me about this stuff. And they're like, "So we're moving to Florida." I was like, "Oh yeah, yeah, I knew that. Y'all said that. We already knew it was happening, but not immediately." I was like, "Yeah, it's fine. So what about the new stuff?" And

(10:31):

Look, I just moved to the office. I don't know what the new stuff is, but I knew there was something. And they're like, "No, no, no, you don't understand. This is what it's about." And I'm like, "About us moving?" They're like, "Yeah, we're moving in April." And I'm like, "April of what year?" And they're like, "21." And I was like, "Oh." They were like, "You can do whatever you want. We just wanted to tell you before you actually bought the house." And then they were like, "I think probably you might need to go talk to your wife." And I was like, "Oh, I think that's a good idea."

John Gough (10:56):

Thanks for the advice. Yeah,

Brandon Cerka (10:57):

It was great. So I leave and I go tell my wife. And it was just one of those things where we looked at it from an investment standpoint of what do you do? And we actually ended up buying the house because we got a good deal on it. And it was actually a fixer upper inside and it was good because of how I grew up. I could do all that stuff. So that was really good. And then it was that thing of we decided, we did the math and rent was so expensive there that I would've spent way more than actually buying a house and selling it, breaking even on it. You know what I'm saying? So we did that and it just kind of catapulted us where we could move to Florida. So we went in December, found a house here, and then I was the first one to move for the company here.

(11:38):

And April 1st, we split away from motorcycle, separated, and we went marine all on our own. And I think that probably when you look at what really, where is Suzuki at today and how do we get here? Was that pivotal moment, that April 1st, 2021. Because a couple things happened. We separated completely. So when you look at from company standpoints, we were two different companies. So now we were not based on, if they got this, we got that.

(12:09):

That was no longer there. Yes, we're still owned by Suzuki Motor Corporation, but we're two subsidiaries. And if you look at how business works, they don't mix the funds. So it's completely separate. There was a couple things like our warehousing is we still do some of that, which is fine. It just makes more, I guess it works out how we need it to for now. But we separated off and then we were known for, it was called Give Me Six. So you get three years of factory warranty and three years extended protection. I don't know if you've ever heard of that or saw that, but even when I was growing up with the dealership, that was the thing.

(12:42):

Well, we have been looking at it and we realized, hey, our product is great. We don't have the failure rate that I think was being set out there. So we did a lot of calculation. And then we said, "Hey, we're not going to do Give Me Six anymore. We're not going to offer a three-year warranty and a three-year extended protection. We're not going to pay the admin fee anymore. What we want to do is we want to take the admin fee and actually give it if the dealers want to make money on it, let's have them make money to the consumer. So be a profit center for the dealers." So we came up with the idea of doing a five-year warranty just straight across the board.

Kyler Mason (13:17):

Which is still the best in the industry, right?

Brandon Cerka (13:19):

Yeah. We've had it and it's crazy because everybody comes up to it or they're right there or you can pay for it. But ours is a full factory warranty. There is no coverage. There is no deductible. I mean, it's with a recreational pleasure warranty, you get that. So we did that, and that really, I think, stood behind our product as, okay, we have a strong warranty. Then we started getting more dealers and more dealers and more dealers. And everybody talks about, everybody has brick and mortar, all that stuff. But really when you look at it, what is the tier of your dealers? So you have your D, C, B, A. When I was in the field, I guess, is we were going after re-power. That was where we really made our stake in this business is the re-power side. We're known as the Repower Kings, everything.

(14:13):

And so we knew that the boat packaging side, so we had to really go after that. And we've been chipping away at that. And now we're in a point where it's really a big part of our business. But just going after stuff like that and really going after the high-end dealers. Well,

(14:28):

What helped that is a lot of older dealerships were selling out to bigger and bigger dealers. Well, that's great because we already had this dealer, they just bought another one, so we get that. So a lot of these A dealers that were buying multiple dealerships -

Kyler Mason (14:45):

Opening distribution.

Brandon Cerka (14:46):

Exactly.That really opened up a lot of stuff for us because people were like, oh, how'd you do this? We were very fortunate that timing was there. BRP, do you remember? Evinrude said they're going out of the business. So all of that Evinrude business, we probably got, I would say, 50% of it. Really? Yeah. When you look at it, because they owned Alumacraft and we were doing 50% of their business. And it was so much that at the time BRP was like, "Well, if you want to buy four Suzukis, you have to buy one Evinrude." That's what they made them do. And it's interesting because that's a compliment that our product is working, that people want our product. Now all of a sudden you have to get dots on a map even more to do that. And you have to find the segments that you go after and everything.

(15:29):

So

(15:30):

We started doing that. And then all of a sudden in July, I would say, when we got here in July in 2021, it was still building kind of backlog. They were making the rules and regulations, all that stuff. 2021, you still couldn't do anything. It's a year end. Nobody could do anything. They didn't know what to do, but the one thing they could do was go boat. Social distancing at its best. And every single engine brand sold out of. I mean, it was crazy. Our turns were hours in the warehouse when they would come in to leave. I mean, it was unbelievable. Really? I know this is across the board. This is not just Suzuki specific, but I can tell you that it was to the point of where it was the most stressful time because everybody wanted something, you couldn't supply it. So you're getting beat up right and left.

(16:17):

And nobody had any goals. It was like, well, we just need to get it out the door.

Kyler Mason (16:20):

Just more.

Brandon Cerka (16:21):

Yeah. You see what I'm saying? So that was interesting. And I remember I was talking to a dealer and he was like, "Man, I've made more money than I've ever made in my life." He goes, "I've sold more product than I've ever sold in my life, but I'm the unhappiest because I can't get more of it." And you're like, "Okay, but that's what it was. If you want to see what the definition of COVID was, that was

Kyler Mason (16:41):

It." We saw that across the board. We have a lot of outdoor rec relationships and clients and stuff, and just all the demand across the dealerships and the loudest voice and a lot of anger too. Those are crazy times. Back to the 2021 mark, did the five-year warranty happen right at that time? It

Brandon Cerka (16:59):

Did.

Kyler Mason (17:00):

So was there some sort of freedom that you were given in that time that allowed you to make the decision or was it a coincidence of the time?

Brandon Cerka (17:08):

At the time, a couple people moved that retired that they didn't move. So that really helped me wedge privy to some of the information that I probably wasn't being involved in, but I got really involved in because essentially I was the only one there. But they knew I was capable and that really helped me out. And I knew I had to approve, "Hey, this is what I got to do." So they did the calculation. My job actually is to do all the bulletins, announce it and everything, but I had to come up with the design. You hear about these times when somebody does four or five different images and you put them on a wall and you have people come in and -

John Gough (17:41):

A focus group.

Brandon Cerka (17:42):

But you couldn't have a focus group because only certain people were coming in. So I remember we had them hanging on a wall and we had a gold one and a platinum one and a silver one and we had scrolls. But we wanted that shield. A shield always, I always think of the medieval, they always have the shield so you know it's like, I don't know, you think of jousting, right? Defense, protection. Yeah, exactly. And so we were doing that and it was interesting because all of a sudden people started like, okay, I kind of like everything. And it was cool because the original five-year shield was, that was my, I guess I would say my first thing for the company to really put out there and it had to be right. Everybody loved it from the five-year. The design was great because it was very simplistic and it just said five-year limited warranty.

(18:27):

And everybody's like, "Well, why does it have to say limited warranty?" Well, we get backing from three years from SMC and then we cover the other two, but because it switches hands, other than switching hands, it has nothing to do. It's more of, I think, a regulation thing than actually what it is. So did that. And then that was, I guess, right at what, five years ago? And what I think is special about that is we actually just updated the shield, the new look of 2026. And it's crazy because you wouldn't think, oh, you have this and they always stay, but every couple years you got to refresh and they look really clean, but it's kind of cool because it was like, okay, I got to do that first one and now I'm still involved in the second one and it even looks better.

John Gough (19:14):

Well, and to make that kind of bet, to be involved in the business transition with your newfound freedom, you make the bet, and then that kind of moment where we're going to re-up it, we're going to lean back in, that's really clean. Well, and it's not the only kind of bet that you've had the chance to make in this seat. You've led other partnerships and taken on other challenges. What else stands out?

Brandon Cerka (19:40):

So probably my favorite, so I have two favorites I would say, but one, I think during COVID we knew that there's going to be a time and a place that we were not going to sell any more than what we can. The only way you can do that is go outside of the industry. I don't care what anybody says, that's the only way. You have to make it known where everybody else is. And so we actually like, okay, what makes sense? What is it? Well, I can tell you that when we got here, the economic development group came in and we met everybody. So all the professional teams, the Lightning, the Bucs, everybody, you meet them and everything. And I guess right then the Stanley Cup, Tampa Bay just won. So one of those things, but it was like you look at it and a lot of people, it was kind of split.

(20:25):

It was kind of like, well, half the people like the Lightning. And I grew up on football and I'm like, dude, football. And then me being over marketing, it was kind of cool because I could make that final choice of saying, all right, let's look at it from a perspective of if we're going to do it. At the most, football gives you 10 games. Lightning gives you 77 or 82 or whatever it is. I

(20:48):

Mean, it's a lot. There's 40 home games or whatever it

John Gough (20:51):

Is.

Brandon Cerka (20:52):

And so we talked to people that had tickets and stuff and they're like, "Dude, you're just handing them out." You know what I'm saying? So we looked at it and I think we reached out to both. And of course at the time, the lightning, it was crickets. But the cool thing about the Bucs is they had an idea of we've never done this before. And so at the time the account rep was talking and it was cool because it was like, okay, we're talking to somebody from the NFL. And that's a real big thing because right now we take it lightly as we're partner with them, but it was a really big step. We've never even been in this realm. It was like, okay, we just do outboard engines. Yeah, famous people have a boat and they have outboards and sometimes they're Suzuki. And the biggest, I think, thing that we had was we did a thing with Hart and Huntington, Cary Hart, with the motorcycle side.

(21:42):

And then Pastrana, Travis Pastrana was a big Suzuki guy. So I think that was kind of the biggest thing. And then if you look at MotoGP back in the early '90s, Kevin Schwantz, all that. But we haven't had anything that big, especially on the Marine side.

(21:56):

So we started going on this venture and I'll never forget. And they were like, "We think you should be a partner, an outboard motor." V.

Kyler Mason (22:08):

Well, that's

Brandon Cerka (22:10):

What's funny is they were like, "N. Anne. A-N." And I was like, "That's weird." I was like, "What does that mean?" They're like, "Oh, just a partner of we have this. So there could be another engine brand if blah, blah, blah." And I remember saying, "It's either the or it's nothing." And then they're like, "Okay." They came back and they came back and said, "Okay, you can be the official outboard motor of the Tampa Bay Box." And we had to go through this whole process. And it was that thing of this might really happen. So it was 2022. I think we worked on it 2021 and 2022 we started. And it was wild because we had it and it was like, there's all this stuff. You entertain dealers and stuff like that, but we didn't really know like, okay, cool. We got this. How do we use it?

(22:55):

We know we got exposure. People could see it, 60,000 fans, all that stuff's okay. Great.

John Gough (23:01):

One of the gates is named.

Brandon Cerka (23:03):

Well, not yet.

John Gough (23:04):

Okay. No yet. So this is

Brandon Cerka (23:04):

Kind of the beginning. And I'll tell you, I always say every good salesman has a tactic of what they do. And Susan over here is going to tell you yes, no, but I think it was all set up in a way that they do a very clean job at it. And I think we all do. It's, "Hey, this is really cool." So they said, "Oh, in your agreement, you get one suite, a game in a suite." And we're like, "Oh, okay, cool."

Kyler Mason (23:28):

Wait, one game?

Brandon Cerka (23:30):

One game in a suite. That was the original one. That's BS.

(23:33):

We didn't know that. But one game you can have in a suite and you can invite up to, I think it was 20 people. And we're like, oh my gosh. So we were like, "Oh, let's invite." We did all this stuff and had some dealers that we really liked and it was cool. And we were like, "This is the greatest thing. Oh my God." Here was what really the difference was, is that we would bring dealers to the game and we had, I think, four or eight seats. Well, we're sitting at the game and you're in the seat next to me. You can't hear anything. You can't have any discussed business. You know what I'm saying? I was like, "Hey, good to see you, man. Glad you enjoyed." It was more of like, "Hey, I'm glad you came. Nothing else. You didn't get any business done." But we were in the suite.

(24:08):

I was talking to people and really learning about more of their business that I didn't really know and all that stuff. And it turned into where it was like you were already making deals or how can we grow with you? What can we do? Blah, blah, blah. And it was like,

(24:21):

"This is kind of cool." So I remember pulling them aside and saying, "Hey, how do we do this?" So first year we had normal. Second year, we were still the official outboard motor. Well, the next year they were like, "Well, we have some opportunity." And they presented this wild, wild thing that you can have a suite. We'll get you a suite and all this stuff where you can entertain your fans, but we think you guys should be one of the gate people put on the gate. And we were like, "Ha ha, that's hilarious. That will never happen." And it was kind of a running joke for us like that'll never happen. But it turned out to where we looked at dollars and cents. We looked at what kind of ROI. We looked at the exposure of what we're doing and we thought about it. Nobody's ever done this in the marine industry.

Kyler Mason (25:06):

Hang on. Tell us about the way you analyzed the ROI. This is a bet that brands like yours are often scared to make. How did you think about that?

Brandon Cerka (25:15):

So I think you have to look at it two ways. So when I look at ROI, I look at exposure and actual true return on investment. Brand exposure is huge. And where we're fortunate enough is we monitor it from, we're Suzuki. For years and years, anybody that came up to me, even if I have a Suzuki Marine trip, they're like, "Hey man, I like your motorcycle." Well, that was exposure. If I can expose people to the Marine side of Suzuki, what is that worth? Plus with the Bucs thing, everybody loves football. You look at the fans, they're working hard. They work in a factory, they can be a doctor, whatever it is, they can be business owners, but everybody is doing the same thing, cheering and everything and you see that. And so you know that anybody can buy your brand. The other ROIs that we looked at of who do we strategically bring to this?

(26:11):

Because I know if I, for example, if I have a dealer and I bring a dealer in, I can literally monitor from that year to the next year or the next six months and I can see the needle move. You know what I'm saying? So I can see the product they purchased from us, the relationship we have. And sometimes we get thrown in, and I'm not saying Suzuki, but I think sometimes people throw us in that, well, the other brands are bigger, so they play this way and you just can't do what they can do. And that's completely false. I feel we can do more than what they can do because we don't own boat companies. We're an engine brand only. But I always say, why don't you give me a chance? Let me show you what Suzuki can do, AKA Brandon and the team.

(26:58):

Come to a football game with me. Let me show you. So we take them to a football game and it's cool because it's great because you even see their excitement. Nine times out of 10, do you know how many people have left that and said, "Hey man, I'm going to put in 50% of my stuff is going to go to you now."

(27:15):

Just like that. And it's like, yeah, it's not ROI immediately, but you can see where it's going. And now it's great because there are businesses and companies that probably would've never reached out before, but they know that there's a conduit here, we're starting to do bigger business with them. And then now they're like, "Hey, would it be possible if we bring our people?" And it's cool because I don't ever get that side of it and they don't get to see that side. We're always in an office talking. Now we get in a completely neutral field where everybody's just having a good time. So that's where you judge it. The exposure side of how big is it? Everybody sees it. And then really you dial it down to the ROI and how do you get that ROI? So I like both sides of that.

John Gough (27:54):

So the consumer side of it is the exposure side primarily. Yes. And then the ROI is the dealer development, relationship development.

Brandon Cerka (28:02):

Yeah.

John Gough (28:02):

And I think people who don't work in an industry that has these important channel sales that they have to drive and they have to entertain and they have to understand it really court all the time because they are being courted all the time by the other manufacturers as well. And so it's not just like, "Oh, well, I am this because I have brand affinity." There is plenty of that, but there's also like, "What have you done for me lately? And what are you going to do for me next?" And take me to the suite at the football game is not a bad answer to that question.

Brandon Cerka (28:34):

You get to do that. And yes, we're very fortunate that we have it. I don't take that for granted. I use it and I make my team use it for everything, but we're not going to overspend, but we're already paying for it. We have it there. And it's a really cool tool that we have and it's benefited us, I can say tenfold. I remember there was a dealer and actually Callie is one of her favorite dealers too. I mean, we love all of our dealers first off and boat builders. But this one dealer, it was wild because they had four or five locations. And probably one of my funnest stories that I did is that the guy in the field was like, "Hey man, could you come and do a presentation?" And I was like, "Sure." So I flew up there and it was cool.

(29:08):

I did the presentation and they were thinking about taking on Suzuki and all this stuff and that. And so finally did the presentation and we had a good dinner and all that stuff. And then I was like, "Hey." I thought about it and Dealer Week's always here. And so they were coming for Dealer Week. And it just so happened that the people where we were at, their teams were playing here in college.

Kyler Mason (29:32):

Oh.

Brandon Cerka (29:33):

In college, but that was a Saturday game, their favorite team. And then Sunday, the Bucs were playing. So I got to bring them to both games. I went to both games with them. And it was great because I remember when I showed up on Sunday before we even walked in, I mean, I just walked in the suite and he was like, "Hey man, I just want to let you know that we're going to get all signed up and I'm going to change." I think it was a third at the time. So there it is right there. I mean, it was like, that's what it is. And now it's great because we have a very big presence with them And they can call us, they can call Callie. And I think that's the other side is they can call people and talk to people with actual name and not just, "Oh, well, you got to dial this extension to get ahold of someone."

John Gough (30:10):

It's so funny. I think in any industry that you go to, if you spend any time there at all, you'll find people who say, "Oh, well, this is a relationship industry," as if other industries aren't. And I think there are things that you buy that are not relationship buys, but I think industries, certainly the marine has been this way for me too, but you buy from people you like. You buy from people you know, and especially in a business to business kind of relationship that you do have to call someone and you know you're going to have problems with because everybody has problems. You want the person on the other end of the phone to be somebody that you wouldn't mind sitting in a box with for three hours at a football game because they care about your life and your kids and everything else.

Brandon Cerka (30:54):

Yeah, it does. I mean, it's so funny because we say this is a relationship business. I mean the marine industry is, but every day we come to work. I always say we do the same thing every day, but completely different. There's always avenues going on that it's like, "Oh man, this is great. This is smooth sailing." They're like, "Hey, this just happened." You're like, oh man. One of the things in the contract that we did with the Bucs is every one of the recycle bins has to have the Clean Ocean Project sticker on it in the whole stadium. There

Kyler Mason (31:17):

You go. That's cool.

Brandon Cerka (31:18):

And the best part was is Susan got to go around and put all the stickers on them. So there was like 500 of them. But it's funny, I go to the game. It's hilarious. My wife gets so annoyed. A trash can will be in the most random corner that's not even being used. And I'm like, "It doesn't have a sticker on it." She's like, "Come on, dude. It's not even sticking out." I'm like, "Well, I just want to say it." So it's good. Suzuki's done a really good job global-wise of just making sure parts packaging, paper, biodegradable polymer filament that they're putting on engines, the webbing and cardboard, they're doing the biodegradable ink. So yeah, the cardboard there, but the ink is not going into the ground and hurting anything. So I think we've done a really good job. We continue to do that. We have the microplastic collecting device on our 115, 140.

(32:03):

I've really been pushing to say, "Hey, why don't we have this on all of our engines? This makes no sense." So microplastics are like 0.5 millimeter. I mean, they're tiny. So essentially plastics cannot break down to their basic form. Wood can anything but plastic, they keep rubbing, rubbing, rubbing. They just keep going smaller and smaller, but they never disappear. Well, you get out in the water and they just fish eat it, everything eats it. Well, with our engine, it actually sucks up the water and goes all the way through the cooling. And then there we have it where it catches. And what's nice, it has a backflow, so it'll never decrease on power or anything. Microplastics are so small that it's not buckets full. It's minimal, minimal plastics. And you think about it and you're like, "Well, it's not very much." But yeah, I mean, we've sold tens, if not hundreds of thousands of these engines around the world.

(32:52):

They're cleaning up the water. Think about that. It's just not that thing out in the middle of the ocean collecting all the trash. It's our engines doing that. So what's great about this, and I think this is really important, is we actually let the patent go so anyone can put it. If they want to use it on their engine, now they have the right that they can do that. We gave the patent away. We don't own the patent. I mean, we own it, but anybody wants to use it for free, there is no cost to it. They got

Kyler Mason (33:17):

To say it's Suzukis though?

Brandon Cerka (33:19):

Yeah, I think so. I think they, "Hey, Suzuki did this, but it's free. It's on an engine, whatever you want to do." Yeah, that's cool. And that's cool. I mean, anybody can use it. So again, when you think of a multi-billion dollar company, the size of a Suzuki, it's like, "Hey, they did this." You know what I'm saying? On the marine side, and how's that affecting? It's a cool thing. And we promote that in our booth and the water. So we have all that. We have recycle bins everywhere. And the number one question every engine manufacturer gets, what do you have new? And for us, it's always the best question to ask in my opinion, because it keeps us thinking, okay, what do we want to do next? Because

Kyler Mason (34:01):

You always have to be prepared for when you're going into the next season. Exactly. You got, what are we going to say

Brandon Cerka (34:05):

That's new?

(34:06):

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we had a chance to be different and it was like, how do we do it? So I started proposing, I'm like, "Hey, well, we have this really cool matte black color. Why don't we make five inches in it? We make one, but why don't we do five of them?" I think we had two. We had the 115, the 150 and a 250, but it was matte, but it had red on it. And it was cool, but it had chrome. The Suzuki was chrome. And it was cool, like a brush nickel chrome. And you're like, "Okay, cool." But it just was like, that was the thing. People, "Oh, I love the color, but man, not red. I just can't match stuff with it." And I was like, "Well, what can we do? We need something different." And so I was like, "Well, what if we took it and blacked it all out?" I was like, "Look at rims today and did all this stuff." And so we started going down the road, and actually what was cool is that going through names, so that's how we came up with the stealth line.

(34:58):

So we were like the ghost line. We did all of this stuff. And one of the projects I had when I first started was a trademark thing. So I knew how the trademarks work. So we trademark Suzuki Marine Stealth Line. That is trademarked. I don't know if y'all knew that, but it's cool because that's why there's an R on there because we can do that. And the whole idea of the whole engine of the whole color was when somebody walks into a dealership, I want them to say, I want the stealth color. That was it.Because what does that do? It levels the playing fields. There is no name associated with it. It's just the color. And I was like, if I can get the color and people love it, people will go crazy. And we knew we had a hit when we launched it in Miami and people were walking up to it and women were like, wow, that engine' sexy.

(35:41):

And you're like, "What person has ever said it? Outboard engine is sexy, especially a lady." And so you have that. And then there was this high-end magazine, Southern Boating, and it's really high end. And I thought it was cool because they did five things they enjoyed at Miami. And I mean, every time you see it, it's like these fancy yachts and everything. Dude, they were crazy about the stealth line. No

Kyler Mason (36:03):

Way.

Brandon Cerka (36:03):

Suzuki came out and they had the stealth line. It was like -

Kyler Mason (36:06):

Literally just the color?

Brandon Cerka (36:07):

Yeah, just the color, man. And we had a couple models that we added onto that, and we did a couple different features. We changed up some gear ratios and stuff. But essentially, we changed the color to matte, we changed the chrome to black chrome and just kind of blacked it out. And what was interesting, what we've done always in the past that I didn't let happen this time is that the company would be like, "Oh, well, we have it." And somebody would be like, "Hey, can I have one often?" I'd be like, "Yeah, yeah, you can get it." But we had old stock of the old ones. And I said, "Absolutely not. Until we're done with all the old stock out of the warehouse, we will not let these goes." And there was people that were upset about that. I mean, they're like, "I can't believe this.

(36:39):

I'm going to put another engine brand on it. Okay, man, you got to do what you got to do, but I'm not tainting this. This is something really important." Well, what's nice is now all of a sudden people want it everywhere. And it's like now every horsepower

(36:52):

Except for the 90 has it. 90 and 75. You

John Gough (36:55):

Say people, do you mean consumers or the OEMs?

Brandon Cerka (36:58):

Consumers, boat builders. And what's cool about the color, that's why I say, you know it's a color that hits is when boat companies are painting their boats to match your engine. And that's never happened too. So you know that

Kyler Mason (37:11):

Black chrome.You

Brandon Cerka (37:12):

Know what I'm saying? And it's cool because you look at it and they're like, oh man, I have this matte black color that's going to match your engine. I'm not saying it's my color, but they painted it stealth matte black and our engines go on there. And that's my favorite one that I think is just great. And it still continues to grow. I mean, we released the 9.9 in 25, now we're in the smalls. And because of that, we have a couple cool things that we're doing that we'll have at Miami that kind of, it's not stealth, but certain things we're still continuing to update our whole lineup. And I think that's what's important that you get the momentum on one. Because we have to show the factory everything we do, that ROI. We also have to show our factory, SMC, Suzuki Motor Corporation, that it's selling and it's moving.

(37:51):

And they have the numbers. They're like, "Ah, I don't know." But I mean it sold so fast that we're like, "Hey, we got to up production, all this stuff." So now it's like when we do go to the table with something, we say, "Hey, we think this is going to work and this is how." So we build the whole marketing plan to the sales plan to give to them. So that's how some of that forward momentum continues to go. I was

Kyler Mason (38:10):

Just going to ask you how you pull that off because that is just straight marketing. I mean, did you have to jump over any hurdles or how does that work culturally for you to have an idea like that was something that had such an impact but was pretty basic?

Brandon Cerka (38:27):

So from the just normal side, we made it not available. It was one of

Kyler Mason (38:31):

Those

Brandon Cerka (38:31):

Things.

Kyler Mason (38:32):

You started before it was ever even produced, made it not available?

Brandon Cerka (38:35):

So we had it on our English bass boats. And we said, oh, that engine's not available. They only have it for the anglers. And people were like, "Well, I want it." I'm like, "Oh, okay, this is good." So we started doing, we came out with five and we said, "We're only doing five." But I think it was Kelly that came up with it. I was like, "Hey, let's put a survey and say what other stealth models do they want?" And here's what I knew. I knew that if we make it a 250, it's the same power plant, it's the same shape. I know we're going to do a 300. So I already knew this, but I wanted to see what the people would say and the consumers. And let me tell you, it was like 300, 300, 300. So that was cool. We did that.

(39:10):

And if you look, the 300 today is based off the design of the 300 stealth. So it was an easy. We updated our 300 white and black for the stealth. So it kind of grew that way. So really, I didn't think there was any hurdles to it. I think the thing was just, is it going to work? So in our booth, we blacked our booth out. We put gray. We did everything possible. And the one thing that I think drew the most attention was, and we still kind of do it today because it works, but we hired bouncers.

Kyler Mason (39:43):

That's good.

Brandon Cerka (39:44):

Okay. Two people in the front of the booth. Then we hired models to stand around the engines and stuff. And we bought black stanchions and stanchioned off the whole booth and made people stand in a line and we gave them a VIP pass. We made them sign up. And

(40:00):

It was funny because in the middle, I remember it was like a horseshoe of where the engines were. And I was presenting here and Gus was doing the main presentation he passed over to me. And I remember, I think my monitor that I was reading was probably from maybe a couple feet away. That's where one of the motors were. Well, at first, while we're waiting for everybody to get in, it was all open. By the time I start speaking, I mean, people are literally standing next to me. I'll show you a picture on my phone of what it looked like next to me. I'm in the crowd because it was so crazy. Everybody just wanted to get in and see what's going on. And so it was funny because the bouncers were. And they were the nicest guys, but they were tall. I mean, they were big guys and we'd be like, oh, you can let them in.

(40:38):

And oh my God, that person, we'd know them, they'd come in and everybody was around the outside looking what was going on. And I think that brought excitement too. You know what I'm saying? That was the fun part of it. And we did this video that just showed this slow movement of boats in black and white.

(40:56):

We kind of did a countdown. I think we did a countdown, a minute countdown or something. And the funny thing about the minute countdown is it gets to the minute and the guys in the back hit the wrong button, so it freezes. Perfect. So for 10 minutes, I'm like, "What is going on?" So I'm like, "Okay." But finally it starts the video and it recounts 1098. So we start. So video shows and it's just slow. And then all of a sudden it hits and it goes to color and you just see all the engines in action. Because we took all the engines, did a photo shoot, all the graphics, whatever boat it was, pontoon boat, I think it was aluminum boat to fiberglass, to whatever we put was the same exact wrap. Every boat had the same. So all of it looked exactly the same.

(41:36):

There was no difference. So we made that all the same. It was just a really cool hit, and I think we delivered it really well and everybody just loved it. That was a real fun thing, but it was so packed. I couldn't believe how packed it was. That was

Kyler Mason (41:49):

Probably a fun show.

Brandon Cerka (41:49):

It was. It was. That was a fun one. Then you hit that and you're like, okay, what do I have to do next to do this? You know what

Kyler Mason (41:55):

I'm saying? How am I going to top this one? Yeah,

Brandon Cerka (41:57):

Exactly.

Kyler Mason (41:58):

Where will growth come from next? Where are you focused now?

Brandon Cerka (42:01):

I mean, our growth really is building stronger partnerships with our dealers and boat builders. I mean, that's what we focus on. As an engine brand, we have to listen to what they want. We have to remember is that yes, I mean, there is big horsepower out there and we don't have a 600. That's a big engine. So people buy based on how big the engine is. You've probably heard it, the Corvette Camaro Complex. I love a Corvette, but I can't afford it, so I'm going to get a Camaro. And not today, but I'm just saying when you think about it years ago, how it works. So you have some of that where they're a $50,000 buyer, they're not a $600,000 buyer, but they're going to buy that engine because of they have this horsepower. And that's just nature. That is not anything with the brand, I guess.

(42:45):

And so our focus is to say, look, we can go after that and we can chase that, but what is the ROI on that market?

John Gough (42:52):

I

Brandon Cerka (42:53):

Got to focus in where the sales are at, but also know that I will have innovation. Look innovation from digital integration to plug and play, to everything that we have to look at it as when somebody drives a car, they don't think of the engine they have. They think of the whole car. Remember, we're just the engine on the back of the boat. So nine times out of 10 when somebody's selling a boat, we're the afterthought. Oh, that has a five-year warranty on it, or whatever warranty we're offering at that time. But that's kind of the idea. So you have a couple minutes to say, hey, this is what it is. But if you have the look with it, you have that. And then just expanding up or down on what we want to do. Some people want to go fast. Some people want to have, I guess, better gas mileage.

(43:36):

It's a cross. Some people want electric, but that's kind of went away because it's range anxiety and

(43:41):

Nobody wants that many batteries on water. I mean, that really happens. But yeah, I mean, focusing in on making sure our product is always out there somewhere, you're always seeing it and having it. And it doesn't matter for us. We've been really elevating our brand from saying, "Hey, our brand is valuable, but it doesn't have to be the most expensive to be great." And I think we're really pushing on that. And a lot of people are like, "Yeah, I don't see why I want to spend that much money when I can get the same thing." Who

John Gough (44:11):

Are you telling that story to? I

Brandon Cerka (44:12):

Mean, we tell our consumers, we talk about luxury. It's affordable luxury. You know what I'm saying? I mean, that's where it's at. Yes, I want to have it where we know we're going to be in the big boat, the big engine business. We understand that. That's a completely different market. And I got to remember is that I can't market to that clientele to the same people I can on that $60,000, $100,000 buyer. You know what I'm saying? It is two different markets. And if you don't understand that, which we see it a lot in our industry, people fail. They

John Gough (44:43):

Think

Brandon Cerka (44:43):

You can, oh, well, it's this price and everybody's going to buy it. They're not. You got to know what is the economy doing? What is the interest rate doing? What do I have to do? How much margin can I give up to continue to create these sales? Because I know we're in it for the long game, not the short game. Yes, there's certain short things we need, but we know that we have to do that to build that business. You

Kyler Mason (45:05):

Got to maintain market share and you've got to maintain the relationships you have. So that's great to be thinking long-term like that where you can just accept the conditions of the market at the time and make moves like that. That's big.

John Gough (45:18):

How do you all decide where you're going to add new dealers? You

Brandon Cerka (45:21):

Always decide, you look at where the market share's at. You look at county population density. So when I was in Texas, it was Harris County, that's number one. Then you have Galveston and Montgomery. So Galveston is Galveston, Montgomery's north of Harris. So that's the big three. Then you have Fort Worth, that's Tarrant County up there. But you really focus where the water's at and you look, okay, how do I get dealers? Really the thing is that if you can get the 10% is the key. Once you get 10%, it's pretty easy to maintain that and grow from that. But that one to 10 is really hard. So you have to find dealers in there, grow that way. It's kind of like if you want to grow 100% and you only sell 10 engines, you had zero, that's 10. Yeah, you grew a ton, but it's only 10 engines.

(46:14):

You know what I'm saying? So it's really, I guess, the more products you get in there, the more representation you have, it's easier to gain. So years ago, I'd go to the Houston Boat Show when I first started, and we had one of our biggest dealer in Texas, and they're still such a great dealer for us, but they always were just always in our corner pounding that drum. I mean, all the time. And I remember this customer walks by and says, "Oh, I love Suzuki, but there's no dealers anywhere." They were 100% right. So I said, "Okay, well, how far would you be willing to drive?" And they're like, "Oh, 60 minutes. Not 60 miles.

John Gough (46:52):

60

Brandon Cerka (46:52):

Minutes, an hour. That's it. Even if it's 15 miles, an hour, that's it." And I'd go into dealers and just make. I'd talk to them and say like, "Hey, how's it going? What's business doing?" Always had those relationships. And I remember talking to this dealer, he's a big dealer, had three locations, and finally he just got tired of it. He's like, "All right, let's do it." And that was the turning point of when you see it, see it go of now all of a sudden all the dots on the map kind of make sense because they're like, "Oh, I see it." A

Kyler Mason (47:17):

Major dealer. Yeah, a

Brandon Cerka (47:18):

Major dealer. You get that person and then all of a sudden - Just wear them down.

(47:21):

Yeah. Oh yeah, that's all you do. And it's nice, hey man. And we talk the language, you know what I'm saying? So it's not like I'm going in there selling anything. I always went in there with a white flag just to see how they were doing. I never mentioned anything. The only time I'd ever do business with them is I would see them at a boat builder meeting. So during the summer and be like, "Hey, how's everything going? What do the orders look like? I know that I looked at some pricing. I talked about it." And so they would start to look.That's the only time. But other than that, at the boat shows, I'd see them, "Hey man, have a good show. I'll come and check on you." But now we have good dealers, and I think that's what's cool about what we're doing now is that it's not that thing of, oh, well, we don't have dealers.

(47:58):

I always say, "I don't understand why you're not looking at our product. We have the right pricing. We have this. It's in your wheelhouse. Tell me what's going on." And if you listen to them, nine times out of 10, they'll tell you. And then all of a sudden you might never get them, but you know what you can improve on internally. And now with my new position, that really comes in full circle to say, "Hey,

(48:19):

I want to look at it and I don't see anything holding us back. We're going to do this." And it moves on. Yeah.

John Gough (48:24):

So your full life cycle, right? Now that you've got service, it's from the instant that they could potentially even be thinking about an engine to the last one that they'll ever need.

Brandon Cerka (48:34):

Exactly.

(48:35):

Yeah. I mean, we're literally going in a positive direction, and that's what I love. And we have a really good staff. We have a really good team. And it's nice because, and I'll leave it with this, is that I always say you look at a rowboat and when you're rowing, everybody needs to row together or at least lift up your paddle so you're not rowing in your own direction. And that's really what I've tried to focus on is everything of taking all this stuff and getting my team and everybody rowing in the right direction. But first it's like, lift up your paddle and let's see where we can go, because if not, we're going to keep going in circles. But I can say we're not going in circles anymore. We're actually starting to move forward so everybody's on the same page and that's what's exciting about what's going on with us.

(49:17):

Yeah,

John Gough (49:17):

I love it. Yo guys look like you're doing a lot of stuff right. Very cool to see.

Kyler Mason (49:21):

Yeah. Good stuff, man. Thanks a ton.

John Gough (49:23):

Yeah. Why You Win is presented by Element Three, a marketing firm focused on modernizing go-to-market strategies for manufacturers that sell through complex distribution channels. We help leaders solve problems across demand generation, sales channel support, and brand development.

Kyler Mason (49:40):

If you'd like more from myself or John, connect with us on LinkedIn. And for more from Element Three, visit elementthree.com. That's elementthree.com.