Have you ever sat down and figured out exactly how much money you were losing year over year? How about your sector of business as a whole?
I was interviewed on FOX last week by Kelly Wright on the jaw-dropping fact that motorcycle dealers' sales fell nearly 44% in 2009 and 4% below that for the first quarter of 2010. FOX received their tip from the Los Angeles Times story a week earlier, Motorycle Dealers Still Scrambling to Find Customers by Susan Carpenter.
My take on the news?
Here are 9 points how to sell for any retailer:
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1. Motorcycle dealers, like many retailers got lazy with their sales process. They filled the store with models and oftentimes clerked rather than sold the product
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On top of that, many dealers hired enthusiasts as sales people. That often means they identified 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 and for many have become a race to unprofitability and the out of business sign.
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Cheap credit bought 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 buying?. People don't come into any retailer any more to dream - they want to buy. Your sales people must help them do that.
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Many still display all the bikes like they were 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 as well as dealer events.
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Where are their programs 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 the article a reporter from Dealer News hit it on the head, "The enthusiasm for motorcycling never went away."
You can’t wish for 2007 to come again – you need people without baggage to sell your merchandise.