When you think about Wisconsin, a few things may come to mind. Known as “America’s Dairyland,” the state is famous for its cheese. It’s also famous for the headquarters of the Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee, not to mention the city’s baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, affectionately named for the brewer. Staying in the Wisconsin sports realm, you may also think of the 2021 NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks and 2011 Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. Of course, the Harley-Davidson Motor Company also calls Wisconsin home.
Nonetheless, Wisconsin’s Northern border makes up part of the Southern shoreline of the biggest Great Lake, Lake Superior. It also makes up part of the Western shoreline of Lake Michigan. Obviously, this makes a perfect setting for people to get into personal watercrafts to get out and enjoy the water. You also have plenty of forests and wildlife areas that allow powersports vehicles to thrive.
About 45 minutes northwest of Green Bay sits Shawano, Wisconsin, and that’s where you will find American Marine & Motorsports. Just under five miles west of Shawano Lake and close to lots of natural land, this powersports dealer is in a prime spot to succeed in the industry, and it’s been doing that for over three decades.
American Marine & Motorsports was founded in 1993 with just eight employees in a building on Shawano Lake. Marine products were the core of its business early on, but when Sales and Powersport Manager Brian Liebe joined the team in 1998, it didn’t take long for him to help the dealership get into the powersports space.
“I pitched the idea to the store owner of expanding into this area,” Liebe explains. “I was relieved as he said, ‘Put the plan together and make it happen!’”
The powersports side of the business began with Honda ATVs, as American Marine & Motorsports was a big Honda marine dealer. The manufacturer’s marine rep for the dealership connected Liebe with a Honda powersports rep, and the powersports business took off at the dealership.
Liebe has since brought other product lines to the dealership as it grew, totaling 38 different OEMs when you factor in all the boats, motors, trailers, docks, and lifts the dealership sells. Nine of the OEMs are powersports specific, including Honda, CF-Moto, Kayo, SSR, Piranha, Hammerhead, Vanderhall, Lifan, and Mokwheel e-bikes.
Today, American Marine & Motorsports operates with 35 employees and a 200,000-square-foot showroom stocked with hundreds of boats and around 150 powersports vehicles. The dealership still has its original location on Shawano Lake, which now has a rental department with just about any small watercraft you can imagine.
According to Liebe, side-by-sides have become the best-selling segment at American Marine & Motorsports. Two-passenger side-by-sides are the top sellers, but four- and six-passenger vehicles also sell quite well.
“Much of that is due to the growing acceptance of these machines being allowed on our public roads,” Liebe comments. “It’s nice when people can go right from their home, drive down the road in their machine, get on a trail system and travel for hundreds of miles.”
Liebe also believes this stems from families wanting to experience the outdoors after the coronavirus pandemic kept everybody inside for a long time. He says the growing size of UTVs and side-by-sides make it easy for families to get out on trails together.
With so much floor space and so many products to carry, a recent challenge American Marine & Motorsports has faced is knowing how much of a certain product to carry. Liebe says this is a two-fold issue. The first issue is uncertainty with the economy. Although this issue isn’t new, it still heavily influences sales.
“Past performance hasn’t given us enough predictable and accurate information to make good, or safe, decisions,” he says. “So, how much to stock and in what models, colors and equipment seems to be more difficult.”
The second issue is dealing with manufacturers. Liebe attributes this to poor feelings about program durations, erratic pricing with surcharges and a general lack of supplier support.
“Many of our suppliers try to load you up with inventory, and when times get tough, often after we’ve stepped up in order size, the retail programs seem to soon fade away and are not there to help the dealers get clean.”
To overcome these challenges, American Marine & Motorsports is trying to carry less inventory without making a big enough cut that it can save its way to a profit. This is because yearly sales numbers are down, but the showroom is full. Liebe says inventory is thankfully not too heavy in any particular segment, and he says the dealership is using cost effective marketing through social media to help move inventory in the slower winter months.
Lots of aspects make American Marine & Motorsports a unique dealership. For one, the aforementioned 200,000-square-foot showroom was previously a shopping center that was converted to fit the dealership’s large and diverse inventory. The variety of inventory can also be considered a unique aspect of the dealership.
However, maybe the most unique aspect of American Marine & Motorsports is its annual Boat/Powersport Show. The 2025 show will mark the 13th for the dealership. It brings between 25 and 30 vendors together – from small mom-and-pop operations to larger organizations – to sell and promote their services. This show also supports several non-profit organizations, including its longtime primary non-profit the Hands Foundation, which provides no cost help to homeless veterans.
“It’s a four-day show, providing free parking, free admission, one free food and drink item, raffle prizes each day on the hour, and products we have discounted heavily throughout the show,” Liebe says. “It’s a very special event and does so much more than focus on us.”
When it comes to driving sales for American Marine & Motorsports, pre-owned sales have been substantial. Additionally, the dealership drives sales by contacting past customers about seeing if they’re ready to trade up. Liebe says this makes it easier to generate new sales.
“We advertise that we’re buying boats and powersport items,” he notes. “We get a decent amount of inventory that way. That, in turn, helps bring people in.”
Liebe also stresses how important it is to develop trust with customers. Vehicle prices are high, and many consumers focus on price to make their purchasing decision. To develop trust, American Marine & Motorsports offers services like free oil changes, first service appointments, store account credits and more in tandem with a vehicle sale.
“Providing store services to me is much better than just dropping the price,” Liebe admits. “That way, we don’t create what I refer to as a ‘race to the bottom’ with dealers around us. When that happens, in my opinion, it creates a precedent for ongoing ‘price wars.’”
Speaking of service, American Marine & Motorsports relies quite heavily on their service department. Liebe says the selling of a vehicle is only the start of the revenue stream for the dealership. Good service is a big part of the dealership’s commitment because customers should know that the dealership is here for them every step of the way.
One way American Marine & Motorsports keeps their service department in tip-top shape is by taking lots of notes on its projects. Liebe says these notes entail every detail that could possibly help fix, diagnose or benefit the dealership with its customer. He also uses lots of notes in his sales work.
“One thing in life that I’ve learned is that you can never have too many notes,” he comments. “When you need to verify certain bits of info within the business or possibly when talking to a customer about their trade-ins or servicing items, good notes are critical to running the business.”
As American Marine & Motorsports presses on into the future, the dealership wants to fill their sales and service jobs. Positions in these two areas have been difficult to fill for a number of years, Liebe says, so retaining staff is of utmost importance.
With his extensive experience at the dealership, Liebe has seen a lot of evolution in the industry. He’s glad American Marine & Motorsports has survived it all and looks forward to the success to come.
“I’m glad we’re still privately owned and have kept a good team together to make it all these years,” says Liebe. “Our store really shines when I look at the fact that we sell ‘fun stuff’ to thousands of people each and every year.”
