| Author | Message | ||
     Pepperk496 |
Court, I've been in the Air Force for 8 years. I have spent 6 of the last 8 years stationed overseas. 5 years at Ramstein Air Base in Kaiserslautern Germany, and after a short stint in North Dakota I shipped back overseas to Incirlik Air Base Turkey. I'm still here in Turkey and today I spoke with the rep. from Exchange New Car Sales (ENCS) which includes Ford, Chevy, Chrysler and HD/Buell. He covers all of Incirlik AB, Izmir AB, Ankara, Bulgaria, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Roughly totaling 3000 active duty Military and as many as 10,000 including family members. It was the first day in 3 weeks without rain, so I went outside to clean my bike up and go for a ride when Mr. Jorge Medina came over and starting talking Buell. I had met Mr. Medina a few times previously but never spoke with him extensively until today. At first I thought he was just going to be a salesman and try to get me to buy a new bike. As we got to talking though, I found myself disappointed with the lack of support for the ENCS / Military sales program. I'm a huge Buell fan. I peddle Buell to everyone I know that is interested in motorcycles. I could talk for days about the past and future of an inspiring company such as Buell. I own 3 Buells and I dont ever see myself leaving the Buell Family. I explained all this to Mr. Medina and he said it was exciting to meet someone that had a passion for the product that he makes a living selling. I asked him about his sales numbers - 3 bikes so far this year (guess who pumped up Buell so much that his friends marched into the ENCS sales office  ). He said he is allocated 3500 bikes from both HD and Buell, but he could never sell more than 10 Buells a year because Buell provides ENCS ZERO support. No product brochures. No videos. No posters. None of the yearly Buell promotional give aways. Nada. I suspect that ENCS receives no support for Buell because the ENCS HD/Buell program is run through HD with no input whatsoever from Buell. I suspect. I really hope this is the case. I realize in the end, this will boil down to a business thing so let me throw out some numbers. There is 60,000 Americans living in the Area of Ramstein AB. We call it the Kaiserslautern Military Community. It is the largest concentration of American anywhere in the world outside of the Mainland USA. US Air Forces Europe currently has more than 43,500 Active Duty members assigned, spread over 80+ bases from the UK to Germany, Italy and Turkey. And those are just Air Force numbers. If you include the Army, Navy and USMC, who by the way, use the same dealers and same ENCS program, the number of active duty military personnel in Europe is close to 100,000. Include the US Pacific Command and all the Asian Bases and Central Command with Iraq and Afghanistan..... we're talking 350,000 troops overseas. Each one of them with the opportunity to purchase a Buell TAX FREE, and with a very, very small "Military" discount ($300-$720). Numbers that only reach 6 figures may be small potatoes in grand scheme of things but consider that the Military is made up of roughly %70 males from age 18-40. Buells target consumer, yes? The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. It seems that Buell is missing out on this one. Americans are starting to look to buy American first again. The Military, as long as I have known it, has always had an affection for American made before anything else. Bases are swarming with the right demographic. The desire is there. I know first hand. I have young troops approach me on a daily basis with questions about "MY BUELL". But, I can only do my part as a proud Buell owner and then point them in right direction. When they arrive at the Exchange New Car Sales office, they are greeted by Salesman with nothing to help convince a potential buyer. Just a black and white piece of paper in the form of a quote, and a website to visit- Buell.com I told Mr. Medina about you. I showed him your book. I told him that if there is anybody that can help him or that can help Buell and the ENCS system, its Court! So what can we do? Can we get these guys some brochures? A tire pressure gauge? Posters? T-shirts? Informational videos that the ENCS dealers can hand out or throw in the DVD player at their office? Something. Anything! Any ideas? | ||
| Thesmaz |
I've noticed the same thing and I'm not happy with the way that it is handled. What makes it worse is that the ENCS sales office here at Aviano ALWAYS has HD stuff to give out. The poster with the supermodel and VROD Muscle, yep, Dark Custom sticker packs, yep, limited edition 105 Anniversary Party leather bound DVD's, yep, TShirts for just walking in an asking about a HD, yep, and the list goes on. Ask about a Buell, crickets, no swag, nothing! I coule be mistaken but isn't ENCS a British run company? I know that their HQ is there which is why 99% of the salesmen are from the British Isles. I do agree though, there has got to be a way to fix this. | ||
| Court |
The answer to your question is going to take a bit of time but let me share a couple quick thoughts. I **think** (I'll be getting more accurate information as I research this) that ENCS is a private firm. If it is. . . it would be incumbent, just like a dealer, for ENCS to get all the promotional stuff. I'm betting that they have a dealer account with HD marketing. Having said that, you have touched on something that has really irked me. I **think** I could sell THOUSANDS of Buells with the proper support. There will be tens of thousands of young American Soldiers returning to the United States in the next 24 months. I've been dreaming about a "We'll have your's waiting" program where Military members can send a copy of their Military I.D., get a certificate for $500 off, and have a Buell waiting for them in New York City (or wherever) the moment they set foot back on home soil. In my business plan, the bike would be waiting (I'd dream of seeing about 25 lined up as troops came off the plane) and on the windscreen would be the service emblem, your name, rank and a "Thank you for your service" in script along the bottom with something that looked like . . . .  1974 - 1976 Tell me how many coupons for orders you think I could sell at Fleet Week in New York City, San Francisco, Virginia Beach or San Diego? I'll do some study and get back to you. In the meantime, have the fellow from ENCS contact me and I'll see if we can, ala the United States Congress, get him some "interim relief" while those smarted and wise reflect . . . By the way . . . you and all those in service to the United States are thought of daily and there are, among the Elves at East Troy, those who have served their country faithfully. I watched a show Khe Sahn last night and can't tell you how thrilled I am to see the way folks welcome our troops home now. Most of all . . THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. Semper Fi, Court By the way the head of ENCS for your area is: Harley-Davidson & Buell Europe, Pacific, Atlantic Marie Acevedo (Pre-Delivery Only) Macevedo@militarycars.com 800-370-2966 | ||
| Pepperk496 |
Court, Funny you mention Marie Acevedo. Mr. Medina stopped short of chastising her, but was sure to let me know that she had been less than useful in this situation. I sent him your contact info, you should be hearing from him shortly. As for your "We'll have yours waiting" program, it sounds like a great idea. I really like the bikes lined up with service emblem and thank you for your service thing! That could be HUGE for Buell as far as marketing goes too. Something like that would surely make the front page of Foxnews! I see a problem though.... ENCS would throw a furious fit if someone else were able to sell to the troops. We jokingly call the entire Military exchange system "THE MAFIA". They have us cornered %100 at every turn, on all corners of the earth. Most of the time they seem to do whats right. They really do offer the best deals you can imagine on EVERYTHING we buy on base. And its all tax free. But like any enormous money making machine, they can be ruthless as all hell when it comes to selling things to the troops. Maybe something like your idea could be pitched to ENCS in an effort to have them step up their poor Buell sales efforts? | ||
| Panhead_dan |
Court, In my opinion this could be the most important thing you have ever done. Please see it through. Win or loose, thanks for trying! Dan | ||
| Indybuell |
I know for one my brother would be interested. He is a Sgt in the USMC, and just recently deployed to Iraq. Semper Fi. | ||
| Crackhead |
how abuot 1 step better. Special color scheams only available if you have been deployed? I would totaly rock out on a white Uly with a orange raceing strip and a CG emblem on the tank. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
I worked at FT Bliss for the AFEX/BX/PX depot for the Army when I was last deployed. From 8-04 to 2-05 I sold motorcycles for the US govt through the purchase program. They have very little product knowledge or materials when it came to bikes. When my Staff SGT found out I sold Harley-Davidson & Buell, I was cross assigned while on med hold. You gotta think outside the box, you have to know your product, you have to find 'the guy' Of course it helps if you are a certified bike nut  | ||
| Ski25r |
Hi all, I ordered my 1125R in November of 2007. According to ENCS, only 10 bikes where available from Buell for them to sell worldwide. I was one of the lucky few to get a guaranteed bike. I was ecstatic. I originally had an April delivery date to the port. I would have received my bike in the UK for the 6-week summer. The factory kept pushing the date back. This was the during the time when Buell was struggling to me stateside demand. I finally received my bike in mid November 2008. ENCS gave me a discount on their end. Buell has not done anything for me, but give me a 2008 bike in the early 2009 release. There is a bunch of details I am leaving out. The details are basically ENCS and Buell having a pissing contest. Unfortunately, I was the only one who got pissed on. Supposedly, the H-D/Buell guys are going to be doing a demo at RAF Mildenhall in March and they are supposed to hook me up with a goody bag. I really want to like Buell as a company, but I think Harleys take it or leave it attitude has rubbed off and is damaging to the customer. In spite of everything, I love the bike and hopefully my buddy will be getting his 09 at Lakenheath next month before he deploys. I think there may be a trend between Buell and ENCS. I hope it get resolved soon. I contemplated whistle blowing, but most of the time it causes more damage. SO I WAIT! Ski | ||
| Court |
Let me make it clear that BUELL (the motorcycle company) has NOTHING to do with this. Harley-Davidon military sales buys the bikes from Buell, creates and administers the program and LIKELY sells ENCS (a private company and dealer) all the bikes THEY ORDER. If you were HD military sales and could sell 100 would you sell only 10? I suspect (I don't know) that ENCS got all the bikes they ordered. I'm a little leary of some of the things I am reading and need to learn more. I do agree that our Servicemen do not appear to being taken care of well of as I would prefer to see. | ||
| Ski25r |
Court, I really appreciate your interest to investigate. Like I posted earlier, there are a ton of details I left out: From ENCS customer service problems – to claims that H-D is not happy with the continuing contract with ENCS due to the Military discounts we receive. When I pointed out to the UK ENCS manager that US dealers have this freedom. I received no answer and he politely changed the subject. I can go on and on. Instances like these are why I make claims about the pissing contest. As the customer I could care less, I just want the product I paid for in cash in a timely, courteous manner. I guess this is why prior military does so well in the civilian sector. We do results, not excuses. Thanks again for looking out for us, Court.  Ski | ||
| Bobsims |
Found this thread by accident and I feel compelled to respond. I've posted about ENCS before -- I bought my XB12X two years ago through ENCS in Germany, and I had a great experience. My salesperson Brian (not one of those mentioned above) was very knowledgeable and passionate about Buells. He gave me a great deal, as well, and gives better service via email than most do face-to-face. I did find that with ENCS, as with any retail franchise, it pays to shop around. Not all ENCS sales staff are created equally. Brian is based in Germany but can deal with any overseas military, anywhere. I'm not affiliated, other than being a very satisfied military customer. Anyone interested in Brian's contact info can PM me. HTH. Bob | ||
| Ski25r |
Bob, Our local sales staff are amazing. The problems I had where at the corporate level. I am trying to stay positive. Hopefully, they work out the bugs or kill them. I am not bothered either way as long as history doesn’t repeat for the next guy. Thanks though ski | ||
| Pepperk496 |
Hey Court, Jorge CCd me on the email he sent you. It was a little disheartening to read his continued misspelling of Buell but he is still interested, as am I, in anything you may have learned about Buell's relationship with ENCS. Anything new? | ||
| Court |
Chris: At this point I've kinda stepped away from the issue. I'm swamped with school and work and, in all candor, the folks at HD who take care of this stuff neither want nor take kindly to "help". Jorge's letter, you are correct, was somewhat disheartening basically saying he didn't want to be writing but was doing so at your urging. I appreciate his reluctance, I know how much these guys like having outside folks meddle in their affairs and they are not entirely wrong. I do feel sorry for the folks at Buell. I think the current programs are doing to Buell sales what HD marketing did to the Buell TT. If I had my hand in it . . . there'd be a Buell Demo Truck at Fleet Week in San Fran, NYC and Virginia Beach. There are about to be several hundred THOUSAND young Americans coming home by August 2010 and I'd make plans to "be their motorcycle company" by having special bikes, events and deals waiting. But . . hey, I am old fashioned and would have announced Daytona more than 48 hours before the race and Homecoming in time to allow folks to attend. A most disappointing effort on the part of Harley-Davidson. |
