| Author | Message | ||
     Snub13 |
Oh, PS: Along with the "co-op" idea, there would be a need for a parts staff with some amount of knowledge about all of the "co-opees" products as well. That would/could be as easy as some internet time on the those guys home pages. Of course that begs the question of, how many Buell dealers (sales, parts, service) spend any time (or have even heard of) the Badweb? I bet there are very few. I suggest the Badweb be added to any curriculum from the factory training. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I make it a point to email my service manager and dealership owner links to important trouble shooting and issue threads as well as threads where they are being praised or where concerns are being raised about he dealership. You can't expect them to spend as much time here as we do. It's work for them, it's play for us. I wonder if there could be an arrangement where American Sport Bike could do like grocery and department stores do. When you see the Ralph Lauren display at the department store, the department store didn't put that display together, Ralph Lauren did. The same thing happens at the grocery store. The Lays Chips guy comes in and rotates and replenishes the stock. I know it's a stretch, but we ARE brainstorming. | ||
| Bud |
sales/advertising sell the first buell to someone aftersales the second one. | ||
| Snub13 |
FB stated: "You can't expect them to spend as much time here as we do. It's work for them, it's play for us." Yes I understand and agree. I don't think it would take a whole lot of time to scan for any new or odd problems. If they are surfing at work, what the heck, they're getting paid to do it! They don't have to post or read every thread but there is a lot of knowledge and experience floating around here and some time here would at least get them into our heads a little, so to speak. | ||
| Court |
>>>Court this has been a great thread and a great exchange of ideas thanks for getting the wheels turning! Thank you. This is one of the most civil and beneficial discussions I can recall in a good while and I suspect we'll all benefit from it. I apologize as well for not being a "minute by minute" participant. My "real job" has tossed me a crunch project that's kept be occupied and will for the next several days. I've written a couple of long winded replies, but think this is a time for me to listen.
The contributions here are fabulous. There is no "right or wrong" but I have a snakin' suspicion that Buell owners, given a level chance can describe what "great customer service" looks like. Soon we'll be talking about how to "measure" it. It occurs to me that it's been a week since I gave ya'll a reading assignment. You can do not better, at this stage, than today's special "LEADERSHIP: Focus on Customer Service" in the Wall Street Journal. You still have time to get to the corner and get it and I'll be citing it a couple times before November 17th. You folks are just as smart as I thought you were. Court | ||
| Eboos |
"Hmmm, incentives... How about for us? How about for every person we take into a dealership that buys a bike, "we" (person doing the referral) get either $100 off our next bike purchase - $ can roll over up to (oh, I dunno) 3 years? or $25 off parts/apparrel within a year of referral." Most dealerships have some type of referal program. "a better program would be if Buell would send the salesperson say 50.00-100.00 for each Buell sold, at retail(or close to it), not at give away prices(anyone can do that). They would have to be very diligent on checking to make sure the bikes were not falsely recorded as sold(like to dealership employees,trust me this has happened before) I think that would be a better program to reward salespeople for their performance/results not just knowledge." Ford does that. They have a "spin" program. Basicly, the models that they want to push (usually Explorers, and used to be Tauruses) they would have like an electronic roulette wheel that would decide how much you get. You would win anywhere from $75 to $500, but you would win no matter what. This money came directly from Ford. | ||
| Cochise |
**I apologize in advance if I say anything that has already been said.** SOmetimes a dealer will place a sign in a location at the back, then wonder why sales aren't good for their product. They see that they aren't selling and think, hmmm, Buells don't sell in these parts...Bull-Butter. They aren't pushing them. The problem is: it is hard to change their minds. Why? It's a catch 22, just like trying to sell a membership to a club. People aren't going to buy a membership to a club if the club can't offer them anything, and a club can't offer them anything if there is no money to buy anything to offer. The owner of the Dealership wants to see a Buell sell, but a Buell, unlike a Harley won't sell by itself, it has to be pushed. Dealer thinks, "Well, when some more of these bikes sell, we'll spend some of that money on some Buell POS (Point Of Sale) items. They aren't gonna get those POS items, because they aren't going to push Buells and the Buells collect dust. I have said before...**AND NO OFFENSE TO SALES PEOPLE, I hope to be one in a few months.** Any monkey with an orange and black button-down shirt can sell a Harley, but it takes a lover of Buells to sell a Buell. I am also sorry if the content of this thread was redundant or just kept repeating itself. I am very sleep deprived and I haven't slept in a while.  | ||
| Cyclonedon |
I read all the bad reports about poor Buell dealerships around the country and I think to myself how lucky I am to live in Northern Illinois, right on the Wisconsin state line. I'm surrounded by good Buell dealerships, My dealer in Kenosha, the one in Libertyville and Dave (Appleton HD/Buell is only 2 1/2 hours north so I can always get good quality service on Buells. The factory is only 45 minutes away. But with that said, I've walked into Harly-Davidson/Buell dealers before wearing my Buell hat and the first thing out of the salesman's mouth was "Could I interest you in trading up to a Harley". That is when it's hard to stay cool and calm because I purchased my Buell because I liked it. I was in a Harley dealer two years ago and he had a killer price on a 2004 Sportster and I asked if he would take my 1998 M2 Cyclone trade-in on it and he said that his dealership won't take trade-in of Buells or will they even work on them. Needless to say I left there because of their attitude. Some dealers treat Buell as a step child in their motorcycles, don't try to do anything with them and the results of their sales sure do show this! | ||
| Isham |
I think in order for buells to catch on they need to lower their price or add more goodies for the same price. The choice is simple for most buyers when they read the specs and compare a Buell bike vs. a Yamaha. Steering dampeners, slipper clutch, Muller style power clutch, premiums seats should be standard. These bikes don’t really create the feeling that you’re getting more for your money. When all these things happen buells will sell themselves. Most people don’t walk into Honda for advise on what they should buy, their harts have lead them there for one bike only and they have made up their mind before they walk in. Price is what decides if they'll have to keep their choice. This isn't statistic cal in any way but just pure observation from many men and woman that I have met on bike night that feel passionate toward their motorcycle. | ||
| Espcustoms |
It seems to me that most sales and parts people in HD/Buell dealers are there because of their passion for HDs. And not to stereotype or anything, but HD people generally have the attitude that everything other than an HD is not a "real bike" or that sportbike riders are all squids. Sportbike riders tend to be no different. There's a huge divide in the motorcycling community as a whole. HD people act like they're better than sportbike riders and vice versa. Since most salespeople at an HD dealer ended up there because they were "HD people" there probably very little chance of instilling any passion in them for Buell. It seems tome that the only real answer is to open Buell up to dealers other than HD. Setting all of these restrictions and training requirements for a dealer to carry Buells will only result in even fewer Buell dealers out there. That's not going to help us! What needs to happen is to allow dealers who are really committed to reaching the Buell market sell Buells. That market is NOT going to be walking in to an HD dealer! Obviously, these are generalizations and, luckily for us, there are exceptions like DaveS. But as has already been said, you can't teach passion. HD people are very passionate. Unfortunately, most of the time that means they hate everything other than HD - Buell included! Those people will never be good for Buell no matter how much incentive you give them. | ||
| Nutsnbolt |
So far Ft_'s got it pegged. You know, I honestly for the past 3 years or so didn't even know really what a Buell was. I have been into probably 15-20 DIFFERENT HD shops in the past 5 years from Oregon to California to Nebraska to Iowa to Kentucky,Tennessee and now North Carolina. One standard that I have NOW observed looking back on it all was that I don't really remember even seeing a Buell sign out front and if I did, they either had 1 Buell in there (usually a Blast) and it was more-or-less hidden. Even their accessories or shirts or ANYTHING is in some obscure corner in the HD/T-shirt Boutique. I have been in or around sales since I was a young boy working with my Dad before joining the marines and even second jobs in the Marines were sales and then Management of sales for the past few years and I can see where all the argument is coming from. HD is the worst partner there is for selling Buell's. I was recently in my HD shop to buy some syn. oil and while just browsing around I found the Buell in the Corner and went over to it. Looked at it, sat on it, kicked the tyre, blah blah blah. After about 10 minutes of dinkin' around some salesman finally came up to me and started his shpeel and all that. Come to find out after about 72 seconds of talking to this guy, he had NO IDEA what he was talking about. He was fillin me with such B.S. or whatever he could come up with at the time, and after what seemed like an agonizing time for him, he finally said it.... "you know, Harley's got that Lowered Sportster over there, you oughta look at it or sit on it for a minute." (Side bar here... I was looking at the Blast) Well, I finally had enough of trying to be pushed into something that I'm totally not interested in. Fine, Harley's sell them selves. Agreed. Buell's don't. Agreed. Why? Cochise is right. They aren't pushing them. They need to be pushed right now. You know when I was a recruiter for the Marines they used to say, "there's two kinds of people... those who want to join, and those that just don't realize they want to join." INFORM them. The only way you inform is to be INFORMED first. After a kid enlisted in the Marines, we gave em a T Shirt and some gear to wear around. Mug, or water jug. Whatever. It all said Marines on it. Now it doesn't say Marines on this stuff just to show that you're some tough guy. It's free advertising. Kid joins, he gets gear and not just him but his buddy, too or his mom or dad. Whatever. They walk around wearing their shirt and using their key chain and some other person sees that and it may spark an idea or give them another option they never thought of before. For some kids it's either work at the mill or get out. The marines give them that other chance. But they don't realize it or even think of it till they see it. Same goes with bikes. There's the big 3 Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki. After that you think Kawasaki and if you are lucky, you might think Buell. Because you most people don't associate Buell with Sport. Why? Bad marketing. You buy a bike, you gear him/her out a little bit. They wear their shirts or drink water from their (.41 cent cost) water bottle at work or whatever and that's free advertising. We ALL like free stuff, and we sport it every chance we get!! You go into a HD shop and there are 17 million HD pens with their address and logo and whatever on that pen. you want one, take one. You want 10, you take 10. They know you are gonna take em to work and your kids will use them at school and that name sticks, kids talk to mom and dad or buddies or whatever and that starts the free advertising train a rollin. You know, I'm sure that some dealerships do the free shirt thing, but I haven't found one yet around here do it when you buy a buell. For one, you can't find a shirt!! You buy a Harley, one of the first things they tell you is about the local BRAG group. Cool!! You buy a Buell and they say, Cool, thanks for the business. That's about it, if you are lucky. Let's face it, a large percentage of the Buell owners out here either stumbled upon Buell or knew, for the most part, exactly what Buell they wanted and why. I am a stumbler. I had heard the name before but that's about where it ended. I had gone into the dealership to learn a bit more and I instead got an education on what all the acronyms are on Harley bikes and how to tell if it's a sportster or whatever the other models are. What does Jeep do? They put you in their Jeep club and offer to have you come out with them and learn to 4x4 your jeep a little better. They get together and go on excursions with other Jeepers. (used to have a cj4) Wishlist? okay... Frame pucks standard... Quit using rivets Bring back the race muffler (i was told that they quit making them as of July 2006 by my dealership, that you can't get your hands on them anymore. The only ones left are just that... old ones left.) Start paying attention to people like American Sport Bike and Trojan and start doing a cooperative crossover with them. That's about all I got till i think of something else. Mark | ||
| Deltablue |
Someone asked for my .02 so here it is: The biggest problem I have with Buell is the accessability of parts. I found the bad web while trying to find Buell parts. In recent memory I broke a belt and had to go to 3 dealerships to get the part, it seems no one wants to stock parts for these bikes. I don't need everyone to ride one, I bought it because it is rare, not something you see everyday, I love the fact that you can ride this thing without breaking the bank if you make a mistake, but you will pull your hair out trying to find someone who has the parts in stock. Bike Bandit does a great job for Ducati, I think a little less exclusivity on parts would be helpful to a lot of us, and in no way am I trying to take away from Daves or Al. Just MHO | ||
| Borrowedbike |
I have just lived through the experience of buying a new Buell. It was not pleasant, and it took months. I worked with five dealers. One dealer took over a week to get back to me, when they did two different salespeople gave me different offers that contradicted each other. One dealer swore he lost money at MSRP. (I have the email if you want me to forward or post it!) One dealer pulled a used car stunt and tried to tell me the color I wanted was inferior to the one he had on the floor. Apparently he thought I was too stupid to notice it was a different model of bike as well. I was willing to (and ended up) crossing state lines to seal the deal, and was up front about this. Here's the lesson (In my humble opinion) for Buell / Dealerships. Buell buyers are not Harley buyers. Harley now tailors to the electric start evo crowd, most of whom will look at you funny if you ask what a 1%-er is. This isn't a bad thing, just a shift in the business plan, from “sale of motorcycles” to “sale of image”. Face it that’s what Harley is now, but this is most defiantly not what Buell buyers want. Oh sure we like our drummers with the big twin exhaust sound, and we want American muscle, but we don’t want lazy handling or drum brakes. Harley dealers, (Again this is my opinion) have become lazy and expect the public to want their product so badly they will pay premiums for it and tolerate poor salesmanship. They expect this to hold true for the Buell products as well, simply because they do not know better. Harley has trained the public to pay well over MSRP because the motorcycles are cultural icons. Buells are not (Yet!) so the simply can’t demand the same margin. Want to improve sales? Look at the market demographic. How many of us are males about 40? Mid to upper middle class? Educated? Work over 40 hours a week? Thought so. We want to “try before we buy” as part of the decision making process. We want a fair price, and will work hard to get it. We want honesty and integrity in our sales people. We want educated salespeople, with passion, as stated earlier in this thread. Want to impress this demographic? Give the dealerships some demo bikes. Have the salespeople ride them home every night. When it breaks down, the dealership will feel the pain, and quality issues will get communicated to the factory. Let the public ride and feel these demo machines. A twenty mike demo ride goes a long way in earning a customer of life. Offering a day long rental would result in sales. The only Buell I can rent locally is a Blast. (Sorry Ez / Thumper forum, but it’s not the same experience.) Parts and Accessories? Again look at the bikes themselves and it won’t be hard. The Jackets will sell, but not like HD brand stuff. We want things that make the ride itself better (Again, we are much less interested in the image.) Offer some performance improving parts for the blast. Specifically suspension upgrades and ways to get a few more horsepower. Help the entry level rider grow at a reasonable pace. Offer luggage for the Uly. Hard tin dry boxes, true adventure gear. Look to BMW for hints, and then take what you see and innovate. The GPS was a great idea. Offer jerry cans to extend the range. Offer a fishing pole or rifle holder or bow holder. Hell, a PTO may even sell. (OK, that’s probably pushing it) The XB’s? You’ll sell anything that improves performance, provided it’s the best. Buell is a quality, American made product. Some day it will get recognized as such and sell itself. But to get there the salesforce needs to want to sell them… (Message edited by borrowedbike on October 31, 2006) | ||
| Bigdaddy |
One dealer swore he lost money at MSRP. Was that statement from the dealer or the salesman/woman/person? Thanks. G2 (Message edited by bigdaddy on October 31, 2006) | ||
| Borrowedbike |
Big Daddy, That was the sales manager, and is not an exact quote. The exact quote was: "In our business there is a cost to a bike and a retail price. We sell the Buells at MSRP plus a modest freight and set up fee. If we cant sell them at these prices there is no reason, frankly to be in the Buell business." "Modest" was about a grand. (Message edited by borrowedbike on October 31, 2006) | ||
| Nutsnbolt |
One other thing. When I was in Management back in Nebraska, I was constantly REQUESTING my Sales Rep come in and train my employees on a monthly basis. If not, I would send them to the plant. One day, I was talking to a customer who was looking to purchase a Mattress and Box Spring. (I grew up in the Mattress Business. My dad made beds for a living, so did I.) So, I am doing all that I can to help him.... HE FRIGGIN' SCHOOLED ME!!! That is HARD TO DO. But, he did it! I offered him a job right on the spot! I'm not kidding. I was dead serious. I was going to hire this man and give him free reign to do his best. He turned down my offer but reaccepted it 3 months later. I hired him that day. What's my point? You know, while sending employees to school and what not, you need to keep your eyes and ears open once in a while. Right now, BUELL is the hard product to sell at a HD shop according to Harley. Am I saying that if some joker reads an article on a specific bike and goes crazy at the dealership, to nab him up? NO. But, you gotta strike while the iron is hot, I think. You know, these dealerships aren't selling multiple brands and products here. It's not like it's Best Buy and they are selling TV's and Dryer's and CD's and DVD's and Warranties, and god knows what else. It's motorcycles. Are they easy to comprehend and understand? Not all the time, but it's your ONE and ONLY product. Everything else is an accessory to THAT PRODUCT. Be it a shirt or timing cover. Coming from Management all I can tell you is that who ever made reference to this point I'm about to make was DEAD ON! You need to let the management know of your distain or feeling of inadequate service. He/She is not going to go all Jerry Maguire on you and start kicking chairs or anything. You would be quite surprised to see just how much of a SPONGE they become. This is their life-blood. The last thing they want to see (weather it sells itself or not) is a customer walking out the door with NOTHING. Worse than that, find out it was because of the LACK of ANYTHING that the store did not provide be it support, knowledge, parts, help of any kind. Not to go and sainting the management but, they are usually the VERY LAST to find out something is wrong. They hear employee gripes every day. What the don't hear as often as you would think, is actual complaints that they can do something about. I encourage customers to fill me in on what's really going on. Because as a consumer you it's bad enough having a salesperson follow you around the store, but it would be even worse having his or her manager with them too! So, the management takes it on good graces that he/she has hired the most competent person for the job. When he/she hasn't... they would like to know. If the shop as a whole has a problem they would like to know. But, most of us in polite society find it either embarrassing to critasize others. For some reason we feel like we are going to be the JERK for brining up that THEY are the Jerks. EVERY SINGLE DAY, someone in Management is wondering what they can do to help improve business. How to get into your Wallets. How to make you feel good about opening those wallets. Tell em how they can do it. Look, by doing this one of two things is going to happen. Change.... or No Change... One of them is going to get you to open your wallet. The other is going to get you to open the door. | ||
| Daves |
Nuts, That is how I found Craig, when I was at Waterloo. He had just moved to town, going to college and had stopped in a couple of times. He had a X1 and was very Buell crazy! He even continued a presentation(and did a great job) of a Buell to a customer when I got called away on an urgent phone call. When my now ex boss told me that I was "too old" to be the only Buell guy and to start looking for someone younger to help me I knew just who I wanted to hire. The problem was I didn't know his last name or a phone number or any way of getting in touch with him. I told Elaine that I knew the perfect guy but would have to wait til he came in again to talk to him. A couple days later, Craig stopped in and I offered him the job. The owner came over and all she said was "is this him?" I said yes. She sent him upstairs to fill out the W2 forms and we put him to work right then. We didn't even let him go home to start the next day. Worked out great! Craig did a great job. | ||
| Nutsnbolt |
That's what I'm talkin' about! That's awesome. See when you're passionate about something, you'll find your way to where you're supposed to be. Someone eluded to Passion and the lack of it from the staff at these Dealerships. I just think that they are trying to fit square peg salespeople into a round hole product. What they need to do ( on the sales end ) is find the right person for that job. But, how do you become a Buell NUT? You either own a Buell or wish you wouln't have sold the Buell that you used to have and are waiting to pay off the kid's tuition and get another one. See it's easy to get a sales person excited about selling Harley's. There's a story, there's the household name of Harley. There's the IMAGE. No offense to Queensryche, I love them, hell, I survived the 80's for cripes sake, but is this the right image? Like I said, I could probably be the chapter president for the Queensryche fan club, but you have to make you image about now, not about then. It seems as if Buell in the eyes of the public is always trying to catch up. Granted as Buell enthusiasts we would argue that Buell has done and will probably continue to do cutting edge and pilot ventures to bikes, but I don't think that's the general concensus among NON-BUELLERS. Now, I understand that this is mostly a Save The Music Partnership that Queensryche is passionate about, but Buell shouldn't just stop there. Why stop at Queensryche. Why stop at just MUSIC? Place these products in the hands of the ones who affect the consuming public? Who? I know, lots of ctritisism but what's my solution? Well, it's not perfect but, it's atleast a start to what should be put on in an even larger scale of Brainstorming sessions amongst the higher levels of Buell. So, Who? Well, who are you selling to? I would say 24-56 yr olds? That's a huge market. Granted most models of Buells can be broken down into their respective age brackets. i.e. Firebolts... mid 20's to early 30's city x... 30 somethings. Uly's... 30's to 40's to 50's? Maybe. These are just my guesses. Picture seeing these bikes at NASCAR events. Where? Anywhere, and Everywhere. Do you need product placement in the hands of Actors and Musicians all the time? No. Absolutely not. We associate NASCAR with muscle, speed, corner speed,testosterone and America. Sounds like a winning combination there doesn't it? And I don't even like NASCAR. You're certainly not going to get Nicky Hayden to sit next to Jeff Gordon on his Honda doin a Press Junkit, but what you could get with relative ease is Dennis Hopper ( the voice of the Boomers ) sitting next to Jimmy Johnson or someone like that. Hell, you could try to get the boys from Metallica. Granted they are Triumph guys but they're also already Harley guys also. Look I don't have all the answers or maybe even one good answer but I have enough of a disgruntalment with Buell so far as to lodge a complaint. Maybe I'll go apply at New River HD..... Mark | ||
| Court |
>>>Look I don't have all the answers No one does. Therein lies the wonder of collaboration. I'm learning a great deal. Court
| ||
| Etennuly |
Not ready to respond yet, third Buell motorcycle, third Buell purchase experience....working on it....working on it.... Salesperson / purchase experience ;  to to to to several finally to one . Yep enthused sales people are a must have. Service experience ;  then toto moresomewhere in there you show them what is wrong but they never believe you...so you get clipart{musicboohoo}BadWeb backs you up then you get "we new that". Service managers and writers should have mandatory BadWeb time to keep up with the real world problems. When they get it they're really quite good. Seems to me a little more TV advertisement to get the word out and show off product(don't let Harley guys do it with their stupid sheep). Let the world see and hear these great bikes right in their living rooms on their big screen surround sound theaters. Do it at 2:am when the "R" movie surfers are watching or Sunday am. Buy the cheapest time slots, time not improtant...Buell show is...TVs are on 24-7. Fifteen cheap slots are way better than one prime time. Get in their faces, get in their heads. Sorry I had to be so graphic.  That's my 2.3 cents worth(inflation) | ||
| Madduck |
Sort of a tale of selling ;Buells in the mid 90's. I had picked up my red/white S2 at Weiblers in Bettendorf Iowa. First one sold I think. Not many people there had any interest at all in such a bike, Harley dealer only. Stevie Wiebler and I ran down to his fathers dealership in Peoria and sat around in the parking lot for several hours so Wayne could get a feel for interest by his customers, Every third kid by was fascinated with the bike. Walter Brs in Peoria started selling them and I think has done pretty well. The next weekend I went by Reimans HD in Kewanee, IL so Roger could take a look at it. He took it for a ride and loved it altho it was a little tall for him. We sat outside and watched customers come and go. Not a hint of interest in that bike. Last time Roger ever considered selling buells. Mine may be the only Buell he ever rode. As a dealer you have to gauge your customer interest before investing time and money into a product line. Harley only dealerships will always have a difficult time moving Buells to their existing customer base. If Buell can get some racing success and generate some floor traffic at the remaining Buell dealers the situation will improve. Buell has to bring "new" customers to the dealers to get commitment for support. The ULY seems to be doing the trick in the midwest. Mine draws attention wherever it goes. Lot of "big" people around here that haven't found a motorcycle that really fits em till the ULY. Over the ten years that I have owned and ridden Buell this is the closest I've ever seen to a real upswing in interest and excitement. As one of the Koolaid drinkers I am somewhat encouraged. | ||
| Xbduck |
Give free Buell stuff when dealers order bikes. Then at the end of the year take a count of Buells sold to the public (you already track this) and give the dealer a choice of free Buell or HD stuff. They will probably take the free HD stuff but they must move Buells to get it. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
It would be interesting to know how many "Buell Salesmen" have actually spent much time on one. I like the idea of having them spend some quality time on them away from work vs. the occasional jump on. In the auto industry, the sales guys get to drive demos for at least a night and sometimes for the entire week. When I go to test drive a car and the sales guys says "you have got to drive this one. It is soooooo fun. I took it home for a couple of days and really like the acceleration/handling/smooth transmission/etc." it makes a difference. If I get into the car with the sales guy, and he says "wow, first one of these I've been in" I don't get the same warm fuzzy feeling. I know that VW has a "Company Demo" program. They divide the country into regions and distribute a demo car for the new model to each district a few weeks ahead of the model launch. All of the dealers in that region have a scheduled time to drive the car. Each sales person gets it for a day or two to get the feel of it. The regional manager picks up the car and takes it from one dealer to the next and does a thorough walk around of the car to explain all of it's features. It would be cool if BMC could do the same. How do you think it would change the sales process? I don't think anyone can really get to know a car or bike in an hour or two. A day or two of "paid" experience time with the bike would allow "passion" to develop for the bike. I don't care who you are, you could not ride a Buell for a day or two and not love it. How many completely new models come out? Maybe one every couple of years or so. We aren't looking for a big commitment from the dealer. Pay for your sales person to get seat time on company time and it will pay HUGE dividends on bikes sold. Otherwise, that Blue XB12R that is displayed in front of the men's and women's restroom in that back hallway (YES, I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU, APPLETON HD IN CLARKSVILLE, TN!!!!!!) won't have a sales "advocate" that has ridden it, fallen in love with it's qualities, and is passionately looking to match a great bike with a lucky owner. | ||
| Nutsnbolt |
Ft_bstrd. You are the man. I find it a little rewarding as a man to know that there are still men out there with enough onions to call a dealership OUT! This is what I'm talking about. If you don't tell them they won't know. They are caught in their own little world of bottom line and staying in the black. I say we follow Ft_bstrd's lead.... MAN LAW? man law | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Nuts, I just couldn't believe it! Last I heard, that wasn't part of the showroom floor. This is the very same dealership that has a four by six foot display rack with women's Harley Davidson PANTIES!!!!!!!! DAMN GUYS!!!!! Who the hell is running the P&A department over in the "Lifestyle Section"? How the hell does that space get pulled away from a Buell to sell PANTIES? How many pairs of PANTIES does the dealership have to sell to equal the profit made on ONE Buell? Man Law that PANTIES should NEVER be sold in the same location as Screaming Eagle Kits? But I digress. Back to the constructive comments, please. | ||
| Xbduck |
Would Buell consider a secret shopper program. The only problem I see with this kind of thing would be, how to give it real teeth? I have recently talked with a few previous employee from Shenandoah HD who now work else where. All of them said they left after years of service, they were at the store when it was in Waynesboro VA, said a lot changed when they moved to the bigger store. They said it became about big business and not the people. What did customer service matter if you are the only game in town. I still truly think a good shop that can cover HD warranties with top notch customer service could bankrupt them. One guy said that they would keep track of those who had problems with customer service. The problem with this was not because they wanted to fix them it was to fire them. | ||
| Eboos |
There was probably a 75% markup on those panties. Some dealerships pretty much leave the ordering and merchandising of each department in the hands of the department managers. Some department managers have rather odd ideas of what would sell, and what would attract customers. I personally would not want to be thinking of Harley Davidson while looking at my girlfriend in her panties. Smelling all leathery and leaking oil... yuck!  | ||
| Kuuud |
Just wanted to ad my $.02 and say what a FANTASTIC thread this has been. Lots of great ideas and suggestions. Some which have been tried but they are still good to hear. The NASCAR connection is interesting. I relate it to the Buell/Corvette analogy...A pushrod engine in a high-tech package. Most younger riders have been raised on jap bikes and will be hard to convert. Nascar is mostly made up of people that prefer to drive american cars and trucks. might be an easier sell considering all the cultural factors. I hope BMC is keeping abreast of this thread. Bret | ||
| Court |
This is a very productive and one of the most positive threads I recall in quite some time. I maintain that few folks, particularly those within "the box" are capable of appreciating the needs and wants of Buell owners absent an effective conduit to exchange information. In a perfect world, that's a two-way communication. In an environment fraught with liability it becomes analogous to pushing a beach ball through cold syrup. It's up to us to realize that points are scored for crossing the goal line and there are no frequent flyer miles for simply running the ball about the field with enthusiasm. One of the first challenges to overcome is making certain that what a company **THINKS** is service actually is what the customer perceives as **SERVICE**. Delivering the wrong thing in the wrong fashion only serves to exacerbate things in many cases. I'm still swamped with a little hurry up work project and I am reading that entire section, on Customer Service, from the Wall Street Journal but in the interim, let's try an exercise. Try using the {list function and giving me 5 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS of customer service. I'll start out with:
You get the idea. . talk to me. Court P.S. - Let's try, as we have, to keep this construction and explore improvements. I'm eager to find things Buell CAN DO RIGHT, not what's been done wrong. Focus on the goal. (edited to change "realization" to "relaxation") (Message edited by court on November 01, 2006) | ||
| Naustin |
The Five area's you listed and described, Court, are all anyone ever asks for. If every dealer did those five things just the way you describe them, there would be very few problems. Except for one thing - and that is what has already been mentioned above in regard to "knowing the product." It isn't good enough if they do all 5 of those things backwards and forwards better than Chinese Trapeze Artists if they don't know the difference between an M2 and an S3 - and I mean down to the 3rd decimal point of the fork oil capacity. We don't want lip service. We expect our sales people, technicians, and even the kid at the parts counter to rival the buell design engineers in their knowledge of our bikes - because that's how nuts we are as customers. If I ask the guy behind the parts counter how many teeth are on the rear pulley of an S3 - he should know, not only the American spec, but the European spec, and then he should explain all the different possible ratio's with the different front and rear pulleys, and offer to sell me the pulleys and a recalibration module for my speedo -- all of which he has in-stock in 2 different finishes. If I need a gasket or a belt, or a set of intake seals - they had better have it in stock. It doesn't matter how friendly, responsible, or knowledgeable they are if they don't stock a reasonable inventory of commonly needed maintenance parts, they are wasting my seat time. |
