| Author | Message | ||
     Dasbuell |
I am the Director of the local BRAG group. We are having issues with our sponsoring dealer about the Buell promotional items. First the hats... now thew sling bags. We had the Demo fleet at the dealership this weekend and we showed in force to help make it successful. When those that did a demo ride asked for the sling bag as part of the promotion. The dealership acted like we were not supposed to get them, and I got the impression they were wanting to keep them to give out to those that bought a Buell. And only to those that bought a Buell. I need the official program rules to address this situation. A lot of members were getting pissed... I AM... and a dealer employee actually chewed out the Demo volunteers for asking for a sling bag. My guys and gals worked hard and all day long to make the demo successful. The dealership did a crappy job of getting the word out about the demo, and members emailed all the local sport bike clubs to try and get attendance. Had they not, I think the demo would have been a flop! The factory guy that ran the demo fleet told us we did an exceptional job of doing the demo assignments, it was a demo with the least problems he had ever seen. The sales manager told me he was happy it was not warm and calm (it was chilly and windy) otherwise we would have had many more people attending the demo. I could not believe he said that... they paid a chunk for the demo truck to come, and did not want good attendance!!! They also had a lame HD demo ride too. At first they wanted us to ride our own bikes to lead and follow the demo route, until the demo team arrived and told us we were supposed to ride the factory bikes. The dealership was also spastic about the chance any of the demo bikes getting dropped and kept telling us the dealership had to pay for all damages. Like we were gonna act like idiots and wheelie, brakie, and stunt during the demo rides. We had to fight to get the demo route expanded from a 4 mile "around the block" ride to a marginally acceptable 10 mile route. Sorry... venting. I NEED the official rules or whatever for the qualification to receive a sling bag. They kept saying anyone who attended the demo ride was not eligible to receive a sling bag! | ||
| Koz5150 |
Sounds like it is time to find a different dealership. Much like a girlfriend, you can't force them to love you, but you can sure make them miss you.... | ||
| Rex |
My notes say to come in during a particular time period and test ride a buell....when you do , you get the bag. the hat, was come in to the dealer, sign in with them and get a hat....rex | ||
| Court |
The rules are RIGHT THERE on the splash page at Buell.com. I can see the argument (remember the dealer pays for the bag and then gets reimbursed from Buell) that "rides at the Buell demo truck" are excluded. But....it never says that. Frankly, lets be honest. The bags are CHEAP. I'd have hoped the dealer would have carpe'd the 'ol diem to INCREASE rather than erode their relationship with customers and prospects. You have, following my "polite, professional and persistent" guidelines, discussed this with the dealer principal? Court | ||
| Aydenxb9 |
Not only are the bags inexpensive, but the dealer gets reimbursed for the cost of the bags at the end of the promotion with the return of the questionare slips. The only real cost is to Buell Motor Co. I can understand limiting test ride mileage if the bikes were dealer inventory, as it is hard to sell a bike with miles on it without a discount. But to limit the the mileage on the demo truck bikes? The whole point of the dealer demo truck is to be able to give test rides, lots of test rides, longer test rides. | ||
| Rockbiter1 |
Hey , at least your delership is sorta goin alond with the promotion. My dealer refused to do the T-shirt mail in, the hat deal, or the new sling bag. I think they are TRYING to drive away Buell customers, so they can "refocus" on the "important bikes". Makes ya wanna go outside and •••• on thier tires.... | ||
| Glitch |
SMHD&Buell always gets us promo stuff. They are happy with what we do, and they keep us happy by treating us right. Not special, just the way they would want to be treated. When we worked March Badness I & II we used our own bikes for lead and sweep. But, it was by choice, if any of us would have chosen not to, I don't think it would have been that big of a deal. I know it's a lot of work. It takes a lot of energy and organization. So here's to you for pulling it off!  As far as your dealer goes, I'm sorry to hear all that. They can pretty much give you whatever they want to. Cameron and Pete have made sure to give us anything that comes through the Buell promo pipeline...t-shirts, knee pucks, hats... It's up to the dealer, if they don't want to show any appreciation for what you've done, they'll probably be scratching their heads next year when they need help with the demo truck, and can't find any. | ||
| Djkaplan |
You guys did a great job for SMHD&B, btw. I had a blast at the demo ride..., literally. | ||
| Buelliedan |
sounds like your dealers employees are IDIOTS plain and simple. I went to austin Buell on saturday to ask about the bag. they said they didn't have a demo bike available so they didn't know what to do. i said just give me the bag then! they did. Its a nice bag!! | ||
| Dasbuell |
Court... I have talked to them until I am blue in the face. The customer relations employee at the dealership actually had me call all the volunteers together during the demo when a ride was out so he could chew azz for asking about the sling bags. Also for sending those that did come for a demo ride (and independently knew about the sling bag program) to asked about the sling bag in sales. It appeared that we may have assisted in making 2 or 3 sales from the demo ride. I THINK two are from our efforts to get the word out to other sport bike clubs and riders the dealership did not reach out to. Two that would not have shown had members not passed the word to sport bike riders in the area. An effort the dealership did not make after we repeatedly asked for the demo fleet to come SPECIFICALLY for that reason! To get the area sport bike riders to at least try a Buell. Much like a sport bike day Dave does at Appleton HD. The dealership kept acting like all we wanted the demo fleet for was a joy ride on the demo bikes consisting of squiding and stunting! They have a relationship with a local radio station/ local DJ which they paid to advertise the demo ride. He put out there was a HD demo at the dealership. Until we complained about the fact he said nothing about the Buell demo, he finally sometimes added the Buell demo. I asked the dealership why it was not being advertised. I was told "he" is given a script, but he only follows it if he feels like it, and that is why he did not talk about Buell. He is a friend of the owner, and like many of the HOG bunch apparently does not care for the Buell product line. If I paid for radio air time and they did not put out the information I paid for, there would be hell to pay!!! Court... it is like talking to a brick wall. They acted like they were do the Buell demo "as a favor" to the club. We tried to get the importance of the marketing effort of the demo ride across to sales and the customer relations guy... but they don't seem to have a clucking flue! When he chewed ••• of all my people who gave up a day to make this Buell demo work, because they love Buell and want more sales and more members. He crossed the line in my book. I ran out of nice at that instant... and I intend to professionally present the facts to him and asked for an apology to all those that worked their tails off. They can't seem to act professionally towards the club and members... and I call them on it each time it happens... with cold hard facts... and with the professional attitude THEY can't seem to match. Koz5051... We lost our original sponsor when Buell reorganized the sales/dealership to one dealer in an area. We had four choices. Go back to being the KC Mob an unofficial club, go to Columbia, MO, go to Topeka, KS, or Go to Gail's. Our thoughts were pretty much in that order. The dealership has had a terrible reputation for years particularly as it relates to Buell. It is a they love her or they hate her... Yes, really that strong!!! Gail's "acted" like they really wanted to be a Daves kinda dealership that Appleton HD is, but what they say and their actions are two different things. The membership is strong as a group... and many are NOT happy with the way members are being treated! I can't blame them, as it is totally founded!!! I am having second thoughts!!!! | ||
| Thansesxb9rs |
I was one of the voluntiers at the Deomo ride Dasbuell is talking about, not all the employees where that way, I think they got mad because there was more interest in the Buells then the Harleys. One employee actually told me that the Demo ride was not a qualifing ride to receive the sling bag and then the salesman we were talking with said what are you talking about and showed her the promotion sign that was on the bikes that said take a demo ride receive a free sling bag. She got mad at him and said fine do whatever you want I am not getting involved with this, its your problem not mine. I am starting to thing that maybe Buell would be better off with its own stores away from Harley employees that are used to being lazy when it comes to selling bikes, they seem like they have no interest and that they do not know their products. I'm not say all dealers are like this, but you know what I will be buying all of my stuff from Dave at Appleton H-D from now on, and when this dealer bombs the buell product maybe a dealer around here like (Central H-D) that is smaller and likes the Buell product can pick it back up. I am just getting sick of the ya we will do it and then they back out, like their parts guy told me they will not get any Buell parts in until they get their parts area sorted out and can find a place to put Buell parts, what kind of business is this you have the Harley parts all sorted out you can't make room for the Buell Items. At first I thought Topeka H-D was not Buell friendly but I recently went back there and they were the only dealer around Kansas City that had a K&N air filter or a stock airfilter for the XB, and after talking with them they seem like a dealer that is willing to work for Buell customers, I just wish our local dealership would do what it says and try to make the Buell brand succesful for them and for us. But this will never happen as long as they have employees that do not want to even think about Buell, It seems like their younger employees are really enthusiastic about the Buell brand but the older ones are holding them back from making it successfull. Just my two cents. | ||
| Jennie_m |
Demo ride a Buell = Free Sling Bag That is the promotion and that is the way we run it. I also have the Buell Demo Truck coming and you can bet anyone that demos a Buell as well as my volunteers will get a Sling Bag at least while supplies last. When I found out I had my requested date I ordered more bags. This is a no-brainer promo. | ||
| Court |
I've a great deal of thoughts on this. I am going to count to 10 while I build this power plant this afternoon. We'll talk more. I'd certainly welcome any other thoughts, view points and observations. Court | ||
| Along4theride |
I too was involved in the March Badness Demo rides here in Ga. Kudos to you guys who have helped out with a Buell demo ride. It is a LOT of work and a lot of effort to pull it off.  Stone Mountain HD is our sponsoring dealership and they had cases and cases of sling bags for the demo rides. We did 375 demo rides in the 2 days with approx 220 different riders and each and every one of them got a sling bag AND a T-shirt. Not to mention what they gave us- Lodging and meals for 2 days (There were about 12 of us) Shirts, Hats & Knee Pucks It sounds like your Dealership needs to not be so stingy. I watched a sales video one time called 'Give 'em the Pickle' Long story short a regular at a restaurant asked for an extra pickle and was told by the waitress that it would cost 50 cents. The guy was outraged, after all he was a regular. He wrote the owner a letter and said he would NEVER come in again and was going to tell everyone that they charged him for a stupid pickle and recommend no one go there. All the waitress had to do was GIVE HIM THE PICKLE. Do you think saving that 50 cents was worth the business they lost? The Owner didn't. Sounds like the same situation here- They should have just given the freakin' sling bags away. Bad service and disgruntled customers do more damage to a business than giving away a bag could ever do. Maybe you should stop wasting your time with the Manager and write a letter to the Owner and express how you feel regarding the lack of appreciation that was shown to everyone involved. | ||
| Mikej |
Going back to the complain to the same deaf mule does nothing but get you hoarse. | ||
| Dasbuell |
I am trying to determine if someone is trying to blow smoke up our collective azz, or if there is a real and serious commitment to Buell sales and the club. If the former... we will ride and have fun. If the latter... we will assist the dealership in becoming a great Buell shop. I don't think we should waste our time is smoke is being blown. | ||
| Buells Rule! (Dyna in disguise) |
Did I ever tell you about the dealer who sells his sling bags? True tale too. | ||
| Iamike |
This sounds a little like a story that I heard several years ago: An older gentleman, in Seattle I believe, had gone into his bank to make a transaction. As he was walking out to his car in the adjoining ramp he remembered that he hadn't had his parking stub validated. He went back to the teller and asked her to validate the stub for him. She told him that he needed to have a transaction for her to stamp it. Even though he told her that he was just there, she refused to stamp it. He then told her "Fine, I'll give you a transaction!" He closed his savings account, which had over a million dollars in it. Later the bank's president said that they were going to re-evaluate their parking stub validation policy. Maybe some of the horses-••• dealers need a wake up call. | ||
| Captainkirk |
Sling Bag...wasn't that a movie? With Billy Bob...never mind. | ||
| Jon |
UM-HMM | ||
| Steve_mackay |
I helped run Hals HD's Buell demo days last weekend. We gave sling bags to everyone who test rode, and filled out the form. I don't understand why your dealer had such a problem with this. They had extra hats leftover as well, so everyone got a hat too. It was a good time, and the dealership was very positive, and appreciate of the Brew City crew for helping out. Pretty sure we helped sell at least 2 XB12Ss that day. The temps were in the mid 30 to mid 40s all day, windy, and was even snowing on the 1st couple of rides, but turnout was far better than I anticipated for such crappy weather. I think I went on 10-12 demo rides on Saturday. | ||
| Outrider |
Steve...And a fine job you Aaron, Steve and the gals (didn't catch their names) did. The event and comeraderie was enjoyable regardless of the weather. | ||
| Toomanytoys |
When I went to Uke's Harley in Kenosha, I was granted a test ride with no problems, and the salesman was very friendly and helpful, but they didnt' have the sling bag promo. Instead, I got one of those hats that some other guys on here are talking about.  | ||
| Daves |
Only a few miles more and you could've been in Appleton! | ||
| Dasbuell |
Don't tempt us! Do you think you could get your boss to purchase a certain dealership in my town?  Are you going to be at the POT sessions in Dells? There is a chance you might get a chat with the contact/liaison I deal with. Your name came up as a Buell success story during a very animated telephone conversation this evening with that person. I was going... but had to pass because Sharon got layed off and I could not budget the trip. The club secretary is going in my slot. (Message edited by dasbuell on April 27, 2005) | ||
| Dasbuell |
Thank you for all that provided information. | ||
| Daves |
Nope, not going. | ||
| Dasbuell |
How far is it from KC to Appleton? When is your next BRAG meeting? How much is membership? When are club officers elected?  | ||
| Daves |
Ask Sam and Derek! I think it's only about 550 miles Next meeting is May 17th at 6pm, meet here at the dealership and then we will go for a ride and grab a burger. Actually, you guys could all come up for the open house on the 14th and then stay til Tuesday. Dues are 10.00 We don't elect officers, I volunteer them for duty. Elections are, well, too political. | ||
| Koz5150 |
Dictator Dave says, "Ok, here is the way it will be. As of today we are officialy being renamed the Havana Hooligans. First everyone take a drink of this "special" Kool, I mean Buell-aid. The guy with the most orginal non bling bling bike will be president and the accountant of our group. The guy with the most chrome is responsible for washing everybody else's bike after our ride around the lake. Lets ride! Oh yeah, The rider with the fattest chicken stripes is buying dinner. And would sombody tell Koz all that chrome is going to slow him down!" Just Kidding.. Dave you are still the man. |
