Get your motor running

Bill Kato has hit a home run in his career as sales manager at South Seas Cycle Exchange

Bill Kato Title: Sales manager Job: Supervises sales at the Nimitz Highway outlet of South Seas Cycle Exchange, and coordinates the sales with the dealership's finance department

Bill Kato is a big baseball fan, and if you ask him what he likes about his job as sales manager at South Seas Cycle Exchange, he'll explain it to you in baseball terms. Also, when he's not at work, he's active in his son's baseball league, the Kaimuki Little League, of which he is president.

Kato, 53, joined South Seas Cycle about 10 years ago, after working about 15 years for an automotive parts company and five years for a custom upholstery shop. The McKinley High School graduate also worked as a bartender, while attending the University of Hawaii, where he majored in English.

Kato is married to the former Wendy Nakagawa, with whom he three children: Willis, 22; Wilson, 20; and Wilkins, 13, who, he'll proudly tell you, was on the Cal Ripkin World Series Championship team in 2005.

Question: How long have you been working at South Seas Cycle Exchange?

A: Ten years.

Q: What are your duties as sales manager?

A: In general terms, I oversee the sales department. I make sure that we sell the bikes, the ATVs, the scooters ... And I coordinate the sales with our finance department.

Q: How many sales people are there?

A: Right now we're down to four.

Q: You say "down to." Why?

A: We were up to six, but we kind of play that balancing game. We're limited by the physical size of our dealership. We have grown so much in the last 10 years that we've almost outgrown the facilities. So we don't have as many sales people as we'd like, but we tried it with six and it was a challenge. So we haven't replaced a couple of people that left. It was kind of a burden on everybody, so we kind of found a compromise number.

Q: Whom do you report to?

A: I report to the general sales manager, who's in charge of both the finance manager and myself. His name is Ryan Sumiye.

Q: Did you start out as the sales manager there?

A: No. Not by any means. I started out as a salesperson.

Q: How long did you do that?

A: Let's see, how long did I do this craziness? I think I was a salesperson for about year, then I became the assistant sales manager. Then I made sales manager a couple years after that.

Q: So you've been sales manager for six or seven years?

A: Long enough that I don't remember. (Laughter)

Q: What kinds of things are you guys trying to sell?

A: Motorcycles, mopeds, all-terrain vehicles, and personal watercraft and jet boats -- adult toys.

Q: Is there just one brand?

A: Honda, Yamaha, BMW, Harley-Davidson, Kawasaki, Ducati, Triumph ... I think that's all.

Q: Do you personally try to sell also?

A: Oh, I do. I work the floor. I do everything. I'm a hands-on kind of guy. I wouldn't have people do anything I wouldn't do myself. I do everything from greeting the people, selling, filling out the forms. ... I even deliver the bikes.

Q: Do you have any idea of how many motorcycles you might have sold in your entire career?

A: I know it's in the thousands, but I have no idea. I'm sure I could figure it out. I just never sat down.

Q: How are sales going these days?

A: I think, on an average, it's about one a day. You don't sell a bike everyday. But on average. ...

Q: What are your guiding principles as a salesman?

A: The key is you gotta be sincere to people, yeah? You gotta be responsible. You gotta fulfill your promises, make that commitment.

Also, there's no small sale. Every sale is an important sale. Some people have different needs, but I'm going to service everybody based on what their needs are, not on what they pay me.

Q: Are some sales more easy than others?

A: Oh yeah, it's the case as with anything else. You have those guys who come in and throw their money on the table and take the bike. And then there are others who aren't as aware, and we have to educate them about all the facets -- the financing, the product information....

Q: What kind of people mostly buy motorcycles from you?

A: The whole spectrum. There's a stereotype about motorcycle owners. They see these young, reckless kids, but that's not the case. I get all kinds. Males, females -- I think my oldest customer was in his 80s. You get 'em all. In general, though, you get younger people. And a lot of military.

Q: How do you address the safety issue? A lot of people I know think motorcycles and mopeds are overly dangerous.

A: First of all, you need to be properly trained, so that's why we recommend everyone take this motorcycle training course, provided by the University of Hawaii. They teach you how to ride the proper way, the safe way.

And you need to follow common sense. You need to be wearing a helmet. You can't be wearing slippers.

And you just have to be careful of cars, because motorcycles aren't dangerous -- cars are dangerous.

It's dangerous just crossing the street in Honolulu right now because of cars.

Q: What are your hours?

A: I'm here from 8 to 7 Monday through Friday, and then I'm here from 7 to 5 on Saturday, and I come in Sunday mornings from about 9:30 to 1 o'clock. I work long hours, but Ryan works even longer than I do -- and I put in a fair amount of time.

Q: So how do you get anything done around your house?

A: Oh, I do. My wife is understanding. It's the nature of our business. My work isn't hard, physical work. But it requires a lot of time and commitment. There are a lot of little things to do, and you can be successful if you do them -- a lot of follow-up with people, a lot of service.

Q: What do you do when you do have time off?

A: I'm involved with my son's baseball. I go to his games, and I'm active in the league he plays in.

Q: Which league is that?

A: It's called Kaimuki Little League. I'm actually the president of Kaimuki Little League. The district extends from Makapuu to Kapalama Canal, so it covers the greater part of Honolulu.

Q: I heard that a while back that you dressed up in an Elvis costume to go along with the dealership's "King of Motorcycles" sales event.

A: Yeah, we did something like that.

Q: Was that early Elvis or Las Vegas Elvis?

A: That was Las Vegas Elvis, I guess.

Q: Did you have to sing or anything?

A: No. I can't sing at all. I can't carry a tune.

Q: Do you ride a motorcycle yourself?

A: I do.

Q: For your main transportation?

A: It's not my main transportation. I have kids, so I have to drop them off at school and all that.

Q: What kind of motorcycle do you own?

A: I have a Honda Helix, the scooter.

Q: Where do you ride that?

A: I commute when I don't have to take my kids to school and stuff.

Q: What's your favorite part of the job?

Q: It's like playing baseball, yeah? In any kind of selling, it's like baseball: You fail more times than you succeed. As a batter you're going to get more outs than succeed. Selling is the same. But when you succeed, it's a pretty good feeling.

Q: Have you made a lot of friends doing this?

A: Oh, absolutely. But it think that's the nature of any job that has a lot of contact. Any job I've had, I've made a lot of friends. It's a public job, and I meet a lot of people.