Updated September 19, 2024
Have you ever sat down and figured out exactly how much money you were losing year after year? How about your sector of business as a whole?
Here are 9 points on how to sell for any retailer:
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Motorcycle dealers, like many retailers, got lazy with their sales process. They filled the store with models and often clerked rather than sold the product.
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In addition, many dealers hire enthusiasts as salespeople. That often means they identify with someone’s hard luck story: "I can't buy it, so I understand you can't either." As a result, they sell what is cheap rather than what is best or profitable.
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Discounts and price-matching compounded those problems, for many have become a race to unprofitability and the out-of-business sign.
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Cheap credit brought people to their showrooms who couldn’t’ pay during the bubble, but the ones who could buy are still there.
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What are the sales team's conversion rates of people walking in vs. those that buy? People no longer come to any retailer to dream - they want to buy. Your salespeople must help them do that.
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Many still display all the bikes like refrigerators, line after line - it doesn’t spotlight the joy of riding.
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New marketing has to include YouTube videos of people enjoying their bikes and dealer events.
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Do programs exist to attract women riders or first-timers? Dealers could offer to pay for new riders’ classes in a rebate on their vehicle.
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Finally, no matter what product you sell, if you have a bunch of salespeople who continue to bemoan how no one is buying, give them sales training, but if they can’t cut it, replace them - even if its your husband.
In Sum
Motorcycle dealers have got to sell the thrill of a motorcycle, not a cheap piece of metal. In an article, a reporter from Dealer News hit it on the head, "The enthusiasm for motorcycling never went away."
You need people without baggage to sell your merchandise.