This story originally appeared in the September edition of Powersports Business.
Father and daughter duo Mike Venziano and Misty Rhodes own Rich Yamaha in Lockport, Illinois and passionately run their dealership alongside other family members. Veneziano has worked at the dealership for 40 years and was mentored by former owner Richard Ryder.
“Rich’s not related to us, but he’s like a father to my dad,” Rhodes says. When Veneziano was 25, his father died and Ryder took him under his wing.
“I spent 40 years with him and he retired,” Venziano says. We moved on and now what happened between me and Rich is happening between me and Misty.
“Misty is amazing,” he continues. I almost feel bad for myself because she does it so well. She is a very strong woman and is doing very well. “He leads the group in the country.”
Rohdes joined the dealership in 2009 and is now a parts owner. He grew up at Rich’s Yamaha, and Veneziano remembers playing with Cabbage Patch dolls at the dealership while he made sales. When he was old enough, he started cleaning helmets and then worked in the parts department. He moved into sales and marketing and is now the general manager and owner of the division. Rohdes went to college and took CAD (computer-aided design), mechanical engineering, and business classes. “It gave him a background of dirty fingers and how to fix things,” Venziano says. He can stand up to the best parts or even the best mechanics out there and tell them what to do. And he is right.”
The family acted
Venziano and Rohdes manage three mechanics, four people and one salesperson. Veneziano’s sons, Trevor and Brandon Veneziano, work at the dealership, along with his stepson, Lester Rutherford. Veneziano’s other daughter is a nurse, and while she’s not working at the dealership, she alerts them to grammatical errors on the dealership’s social media posts. “So, he’s still involved,” laughs Rhodes.
Being part of a family business is nothing new for Veneziano. “When I was a kid, my parents owned a trucking company,” he says. “We have to work together as a team.” He says he and his two younger brothers worked for the family business. “I feel very lucky to have [my kids] Near me,” he says. “I’m very lucky and blessed to have my family by my side.”
Prepare to expand
And Rohdes plans to work with him until he retires. “My intention is to take over the agency,” he says. “This place isn’t going anywhere. It’s going to be here for a long time. … We’re a small dealership. We have issues, like we’re not integrated, so we can’t make changes to our building and our parking lot, and until “When we decide to make very big changes for ourselves, we have to stick with what we have. We will do these things at the right time.”
Venziano explains that they are ready to expand and own the land and surrounding buildings. “The future will bring him a new building,” he says. The city is draining water through roads and sewers, and this creates convenience. “Misty can sit in an office and watch everyone… Right now, she’s grunting, which is good… I’m not a reflection of her anymore, she’s past me.”
“I was 23 when I decided to dedicate my life to Yamaha Rich,” he laughs. “Now I’m 36.” Misty is the mother of an 11-month-old son, George, and has a daughter on the way. “I want it just like my father,” he says. I have two little boys of my own who will take over for me one day. This is what I hope. “The same bond I have with my father, I want my children to have with me.”
Misty says she’s very lucky because George’s babysitter lives in Veneziano’s apartment complex just a few hundred feet from the dealership, so she can see him during the work day.
Sales and flooring
The owners share that customers are their number one focus. “We work hard to keep our customers happy … it’s a challenge to keep everyone happy, but the customer comes first,” says Veneziano. We sell entertainment here at this store and it’s nice when a happy customer thanks you and we thank them. I don’t know how else to say it.”
You sell them a motorcycle or an ATV and how much fun they have, how happy they are to see you or come back and tell us about their experience. A life they truly enjoy, says Rohdes.
And to keep our customers on the road, the sales team started focusing on selling insurance in the summer of 2024. “F&I is becoming an integral part of our bottom line,” says Veneziano. And the team is developing effective techniques for selling gap insurance.
The sales department is also focused on selling Yamaha e-bikes. The dealership will accept e-bikes in the fall of 2023, and Rhodes says sales are going well. “We have a lot of bike paths around us and it’s growing,” he says. “There are plenty of places to ride around us.” Veneziano, who rides one of the e-bikes on weekends, says Yamaha offers aggressive incentives to existing customers.
While the dealership team focuses on F&I sales, e-bike sales, and final model Yamaha snowmobile sales, Venziano focuses on floor cost management. “We work side by side with them, and they treat us like we’re a Capital One customer whose charge card is late,” he says of some OEMs. “So, paying for your floor plan translates into a huge savings… We’ve been lucky, we clean up our inventory pretty well.”
Misty reflects on her father’s work ethic and the impact it has had on their family. “I really like working with my father,” he says. He did so much for our family. We never fought and he was always there for my brothers and everyone. “I want him to enjoy his life, so I want to work harder so he can take it easy now.”
With their commitment to their customers and each other, the future is bright for Rich’s Yamaha as the owners continue the hard work, passion and customer care that will carry them into the next generation.