As a long-time road rep and a lifetime enthusiast, Josh Salazar likes hanging out in dealerships. So much so that when it came time to launch his brand of UTV accessories, the entire business plan was built on dealer-direct sales. Now going into year #5 of becoming an overnight success, he has not wavered from that commitment, despite spending even more windshield time personally visiting brick & mortar Mom & Pops than he did when he was a rep… and he wouldn’t have it any other way! Josh joined us in the Dealernews LIVE hot seat at AIMExpo.
“You want to talk about a rocky start! The first three years were nothing normal at all,” says Salazar of the COVID wildcard that coincided with his brand launch. “But yeah, it’s been good, and we’ve done consistent growth year-over-year. It’s been fantastic for us and the business model remains dealer-direct. One of the things that we’ve learned is that we’re the only brand in the space that stays 100% focused on the dealers. We control third party at MSRP to make it simple — it’s dealer only.”
You haven’t been tempted to do a little retail at all on the website? There is no ‘buy it now’ button on your website, and you don’t do retail at events. You are there to support the dealers, not to undercut them, right?
We have had so many offers to do events, but unless it’s with a dealer, that’s exactly it. We want to support the dealers from start to finish!
So the business plan is there, but the product innovation is also there. You went from a clamp or two to now patented and trademarked mirrors and everything in between.
We’ve done that with the mirrors. It would be a big pain if you wanted to put a patent on a mirror itself, because everybody has mirrors. So what we did was a utility patent. We’ve got a clamp that works with all windshields, that fits all roll bars 1.5” to 2”!
That’s the differentiation between the Dirtbag set up and trying to mix and match on your own…
One of the biggest things that we wanted to do is, hey, how will this work for our dealers? What? How will that be a benefit to them? We cut the SKU numbers down so you don’t need three or four different SKUs. You need one. One fits it all. Okay. What else is on the market? Anodized product. Let’s not do anodized. Let’s powdercoat it instead. You know what? Let’s add a pod light mount to it. So we added a pod light mount to it. Well, then dealers asked, “When are you going to do pod lights? You know what? There’s so many out there. If you want an Amazon that’s within your budget, you want an Amazon pod light, get an Amazon pod light. If you want the creme de la creme with Baja Designs, get a Baja Designs. We don’t want to limit anybody in any way whatsoever. We just want to build that solid foundation that people can go on from there.
You have built a solid foundation, literally, from the dirt up. From the ground up you’re there for the dealers, you support them, you innovate for them, then you cut the number of SKUs… and the margin is pretty darn good too!
Absolutely, we’re really big on the KISS rule. So with our whip mounts, our roto packs mounts, our fire extinguisher mounts, one part number fits so many different models. We’re excited because we’re going to be introducing the Pro Fit here in a couple of months. So we’re going to do that too. We made sure it’s compatible with the glass windshields. We made sure it’s compatible with the soft doors. We make sure it’s compatible with the limited editions, but it all works, and you can just kind of build on that. Our line of UTV billet products is forged from 6061 billet aluminum for exceptional strength and durability. Each product is powder-coated to resist fading, ensuring long-lasting performance and a sleek appearance. Whether you need durable UTV mirrors, reliable Rotopax mounts, or robust whip mounts, Dirtbag Brands provides premium accessories to enhance your UTV experience.
You are in the field quite a bit, visiting dealers, asking questions, but also helping them out at the point of retail to make them better businessmen.
I was a rep for many years, and so my foundation is the front line. The parts guy is the front line. Then it goes to the parts manager. So we want to know what they hear. And being in the field allows me to keep my finger on the poles. It’s not what I want, it’s what does the market want? What does the dealer need? They’re going to be even better at parts than we can ever be. So I want to listen to that. And we have an open line of communication with so many of our dealers that actually have input in each sample that we do, what would you change? What you wouldn’t and we really wanted to focus on that, because they’re the ones that are going to sell it. And how can we become more profitable on the parts side? I mean, you got parts sales and service. And so it’s great to talk about some of that. If that means we have to go out and do a presentation to a dealer, let’s go out and do a presentation and give them a reason to buy. One of my core beliefs is that you make money with us, you limit your SKUs, and you’ve got a great quality product!
BECOMING A DEALER
“Dealerships are our priority. We value each and every dealership we work with. If you would like to work with us, you will need to have a physical location. We do not dropships. We support our dealers that have overhead expenses with storefront, sales tax, and employee payroll. This is something we pride ourselves on and believe that without our dealerships, we would not have much of an industry at all. When you download and submit a dealer application to us, you will need to submit a copy of your sales tax or resale certificate, pictures of your storefront both inside and outside, along with the application.
Dirtbag Brands
554 25 Rd #2
Grand Junction, CO 81505
phone: 970-644-5566
