American Recreation Products will replace dozens of outside reps with an in-house sales force over the next 30 days in a bid to cut costs and reach earnings targets of Sun Capital Securities Group LLC. The move is part of a broader reorganization of the company that places all five of its outdoor brands under a new organization called Boulder Outdoor Specialty Group (BOSG) headed by Kelty President Kenny Ballard. Paul Gagner, president of Sierra Designs, has left the company.
The company's brands include Kelty, Sierra Designs, Slumberjack and Wenger.
In an interview with Sports Executive Weekly, Ballard said he spent much of Monday explaining the changes to employees and the agencies that rep BOSGs five brands.
The changes mark the latest in a series of steps taken since Sun Capital acquired ARPs former parent Kellwood Co. in a hostile takeover a year ago. This summer, Sun Capital spun off ARP from the rest of Kellwood and combined the finance, operations and marketing functions across all of its brands. Slumberjack and Wenger President Geoff OKeeffe departed and the two brands were absorbed by Kelty.
In early October, long-time ARP President George Grabner retired unexpectedly and was replaced by industry outsider Jim Baumann. Now, Ballard said BOSG will also consolidate customer service, sales and product management for all its brands.
Russell Rowell, who headed product management at Kelty, has been named director of product development on the equipment side.
Rowell will oversee all design and development at BOSG, where he will be “honing the product incubation process while maintaining an essential differentiation between brands.”
Melodie Miller, who has overseen a recent revamping of the Sierra Designs apparel line, was named director of product development for apparel.
Allison Snider has been put in charge of customer service, including the dealer service, warranty and repair teams, for all BOSG brands.
The internal sales force will be directed by three current ARP sales managers. Peter Novak, who has been serving as director of sales for Kelty, Kelty K.I.D.S, Wenger and Slumberjack, will oversee sales on the East Coast. Jason McGibbon, formerly director of sales at Sierra Designs, will oversee the companys new dedicated sales force in the West. Josh LeBaron, current sales manager for Slumberjack and Wenger, will be handling sales management for all of BOSG. The trio will be responsible for hiring eight new sales people in as many territories in the next 30 days, when outside reps will hand off the business.
BOSG plans to implement a B2B platform that will allow dealers to view inventory and place orders online 24/7 via the Internet. “We are behind the curve,” Ballard said. “We have not had that B2B platform in our quiver.”
Reps contacted Monday said they were told they would be compensated for any orders placed in the next 30 days for the brands. “It is what it is,” said one. “With this lovely economy, they are doing what any good business would do.”
