Signature Harley Davidson Revs up for 20-Year Anniversary

PERRYSBURG – Tim Sherman, owner of Signature Harley Davidson, said that there can come a time when
everyone will look in a mirror and decide that their life is ready for a new direction.
“We know owning a Harley Davidson motorcycle is one way to go,” he said.
The Perrysburg business is celebrating 20 years in business at 1176 Professional Drive.
Sherman says one secret to customer satisfaction is the spacious 20,000 square foot facility with a
motorcycle sales floor as well as five service bays, a wide range of parts and accessories and a variety
of Harley-Davidson branded riding gear, clothes and merchandise for the whole family.
“In the past, the stores here were someone’s workshop in a garage set on the back of a dusty lot,” he
said. “The motorcycles would be dusty sitting outside and if a customer came into the shop they brought
that dust in too.”
Sherman says they are always seeking untapped markets for a Harley as the baby-boomer generation begins
to retire their motorcycles for three-wheelers or even opting out of motorcycling completely.
“We are constantly looking for ways to get people in the door to discover the freedom of the road,” said
Sherman, owner of Signature.
“For example, women are investing in a Harley in greater numbers than before,” he said. “We think that is
cool that women feel the freedom they can have out on the road.”
To make new audiences comfortable in their shopping experience they offer social elements in a clean and
high-class environment.
Social elements include not only the chili cookoffs and door prizes but also events like women-only photo
nights, where hair stylists and makeup artists are on hand to help the women create the perfect photo
sitting astride a bike or dressed in Harley Davidson gear.
Other ways to reach new customers is to point to the changing image of a motorcycle owner. Instead of
being considered trouble-makers, he said now vacation related business owners love Harley drivers.
“Owners of motor homes come with everything they need to be on vacation, but motorcycle drivers just
bring their wallets.”
To capture these dollars, he said travel-related businesses are now having events like bike nights and
other social gatherings. Some motels even provide towels to wipe down the cycle, he added.
Finally, customers will meet a Signature Harley Davidson staff focused on the relaxed lifestyle of the
Harley owner.
“The vibe in the showroom is very casual here at Signature Harley Davidson, down to our employees”
Sherman said. “When we hire someone, we tell them this is the last time they will wear a suit. After
that they come in T-shirts.”
Customers coming into his Harley Davidson will see long-term, experienced employees. He said selling
Harleys can be a career now, not a place for misfits.
He said all those employees will tell you the advantage to owning a motorcycle instead of a boat is
simplicity.
“By the time you travel to the boat dock, warm up the engine, wind through the channels to get to the
open lake, all you have to do with a motorcycle is go outside your house, get on the bike and just go,”
Sherman said.
Sherman says the Toledo area is ideal of motorcycle touring.
“Even though Toledo is the forth largest Ohio city, it does not take much to get out of town and into the
country, where a driver can relax and enjoy the countryside.”
Harley Davidson company is also working toward getting future customers’ interest early.
For example, Harley Davidson has invested in Iron-E Bikes.
“Harley bought up an electric bike company and have branded them with the Harley logo and colors,” said
Sherman.
For adults, once he or she is ready to get a motorcycle on the road, Signature offers training to ride a
motorcycle at the Central Avenue store in Toledo.
For $300 a participant can have two evening classes and two days of riding a Harley 500cc provided by
Signature. Once they complete the class, they have the paperwork necessary to have the BMV put the M
designation on their driver’s license.
“Learning to ride a motorcycle is not like driving a boat where you drive in a few circles and then they
say ‘you are a boat driver.’ We can’t say to someone, go ahead and fall down a few times,” Sherman said
with a laugh.
Sherman has been a motorcycle fan since he was very young.
“I remember being a little kid and telling dad I wanted a chopper for Christmas,” he said. “He gave me
model of a camouflage-green helicopter, which was not what I had in mind.”
Motorcycles stayed in his mind in college. While at Ohio State University, a Harley Davidson motorcycle
was his project as part of a marketing class.
His passion for the Harley Davidson motorcycles had him applying for a dealer’s license while still in
college. He continued to work toward being a Harley dealer working for a Columbus Harley dealer until
buying a Genoa-based Harley business and moving it to Perrysburg. Its location off U.S. 20 at Interstate
75 has given him the visibility needed to be successful.