Surrey, British Columbia
Right on track
At the helm of Greater Vancouver Powersports is an ex-motocross racer turned businessman
Name: Mike Skiba
Position/company: Owner and general manager of Greater Vancouver Powersports (GVP) in Surrey, B.C.
Products/services: We sell and service Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP). We sell Can-Am ATVs, Sea-Doos, Sea-Doo boats, Ski-Doo snowmobiles and the new Can-Am Spyder Roadster. We are the only full line Bombardier dealer in the Lower Mainland to sell Sea-Doo Boats and the Can-Am Spyder Roadster. We have three full-time techs and a service writer (servicing all the BRP products), a support person, two sales staff, three staff in parts and accessories, an office manager and a finance person.
A Proud Papa: With a motorsports enthusiast as a father, Ava, who is Mike Skiba’s 10-month-old daughter, is a lucky girl.—photo courtesy Mike Skiba
Past lives: I grew up in Grande Prairie, Alberta, and I’ve been in Surrey since 1996. I was kind of a motocross guy as a kid. My brother and I used to race motocross pretty heavily in Western Canada and then I got injured when I was 18 so I couldn’t ride anymore.
How did you get started? I was going to BCIT and my ex-partner was looking for a working partner at the Polaris dealership in Langley, B.C., so I bought into that and worked there for six years. I learned a lot about the business and then I sold out in 2002. I explored other business opportunities but I missed the people associated with the powersports business, and I decided to get my own dealership going. We opened the doors to Greater Vancouver Powersports on December 1, 2004, in a 5,000-square-foot building—it’s hard to believe we functioned in that small of a space.
What is the shop like? Today, we have a 12,000-square-foot shop, including a 5,000-square-foot showroom and 7,000-square-foot service area with storage. We currently have 12 employees and are growing. What truly makes our shop is our top-notch GVP team of staff. Everyone that works here is passionate about the business. Our parts and accessories team has a reputation of accessorizing our units like no one else.
How would you describe your relationship with your customers? Customer service is paramount to us. We’re fortunate to have a good customer base. This year has brought new challenges—given our growth—to be able to maintain a high level of customer service. We are actively reconfiguring our service department and have hired additional technicians to better meet our customer demand. It’s a work in progress. It’s certainly been a challenge to keep up with the unanticipated fast growth of our dealership. Now it is getting to the point where we’re big enough that I don’t personally know a lot of our customers; I used to know everybody but I’m trying to move myself out of the everyday duties to work on the business instead of in the business. That’s the toughest part for me—it was easier for me to be a sales guy but to be a general manager is a tougher job and it’s a new one for me.
Describe an average day for you: I am usually up and off to the gym by 5:30 a.m. and then I return home to have a quick breakfast with my wife and daughter. I am then off to the shop to help the service guys get some of the product outside—get the service department fired up—and then I go on to the day-to-day stuff. I try to be home around 7 p.m. to tuck my little girl in.
What do you like most about your job? I love the new product. Every year there’s new and exciting things coming out from the manufacturers. I love the excitement that the customers have when they’re picking up their new toys from our shop. We try to get out and ride all of our product we sell so I encourage the staff to ride by giving them demos. We’re pretty excited about the new Can-Am Spyder, a three-wheeled street bike. This is quite the head-turning bike.
How often do you ride? Well, I just had a baby girl (she’s 10 months now) so that has taken a lot of my time but my wife and I are having a lot of fun with her. I’ve ridden about three or four times this year and normally I ride a lot more than that.
Describe your community: Surrey is growing so fast—it’s probably one of the fastest growing communities in Canada. It’s growing like crazy so that has really helped our business. I think, given the economy in general, people are spending more money on fun—whether it is sledding, ATVing or boating—and they are doing it with their families and friends.
What are the best places to ride in your area? People generally have to drive for about an hour to find some ATVing. There is some stuff locally but it just depends on what they’re looking for. Stave Lake, Herrling Island and Larson Hill up the Coquihalla are good for ATVing. For sledding, we ride a lot at Whistler.