| Author |
Message |
    
Jammin_joules
| | Posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 - 03:35 am: | 
|
"it seems most of the HD dealerships I have visited don't have sales staff that are knowledgeable about Buells. That is not a unique situation, unfortunately. The guy my son bought his Monster from was a BMW expert, but knew very little about the Ducs and didn't care at all for the Triumphs sitting on the floor by the BMWs and Ducs and was happy to tell you that. He didn't like Buells either, but he doesn't sell them.
I think I have known more about pretty much every car I have ever bought than the salesman did as well. Apparently you don't need to be an enthusiast in order to sell something."
I can vouch for the last statement. We have at least five Buell owners working at the dealership, we race Buells in several diverse forms of racing too. And so far for the 1Q09, we have sold more than half the Buells in the state based on Motor Company reports. And I sold every one of them.
Three of our neighboring H-D dealerships dropped the Buell line before last year. Although not our intent, I believe we helped with their demise. I guess it was too hard to be Buell friendly.
We work hard for those sales and we are proud of our accomplishments. And we appreciate each and every customer; whether they bought an 1125 from us, or merely an air filter or tire.
But let me now vent a bit if only to throw a dose of reality into this thread about business in today's climate.
Some in these boards say Buell should be sold at a stand alone store. Others complain about the cost to change a tire. Others still do not think a 5k maintenance is worth $300.
I am all for self sufficiency and knowing your bike. There is no better mechanic when you are broke down on a mountain road than you!
But if I did not have Harley's to sell also, I could not stay in my job. Nor would I have access to three Master Trained Techs who build and repair high performance Buell race bikes and who Buell MC has sent bikes from other dealers when their techs are not able to correctly diagnose and repair a Buell. True, our Buell business in service is booming. It seems on warm sunny Colorado weekends there are three or four Buells on lifts getting service work. That's great and I try to meet each owner and introduce myself, find out where they bought their bike, ask them if they want to demo an 1125 or new XB12XT while they wait. I see if they have done the whole tire pressure gift thing too. And I tell them about our Buell riding group and dealer events. I also make sure service recognizes the work in growing numbers. And I post the testimonials people write to me about our service or the buying experience; in e-mails or from this board.
But much of this is marketing.
Business is cold and has no mercy.
XB Buells are in some ways similar to a Sportster; no secret there. But they are more different than they are alike. The Loki platform, (aka. 1125) is a whole 'nother ball game. And trouble shooting one an owner has fiddled with, ESpy-twiddled, bolt-on modified or spliced in wired-on can really be a challenge sometimes. And that the bike has not seen a factory service in 15,000 miles and missed three recalls and two firmware upgrades only makes matters worse; longer and sometimes masking underlying issues.
Trouble shooting skills are an art as much as a learned skill. Practice is needed to keep skills honed. I would lake to see a Buell in service every single day. Not because they are unreliable nor to make revenue. But to keep the experienced and to train the new techs on them. Frankly dealers that do half our volume, and whose customers go down the road to save $40 on a tire change, I don't know how they can provide quality service.
A salesman who can't afford two motorcycles, (most come to Harley sales owning a Harley already) and only sells one Buell a month, alternating between Loki and XB; how can he/she keep up with a passionate Buell enthusiast on the level of detail we tend to delve into?
My suggestions:
If a sales person knows too little about a Buell you are interested in, politely ask for the sales manager and ask if they have someone experienced with Buells. Don't have a chip on your shoulder about it either. Give them credit that they may sell too few to train every sales person on the product. Also recognize that they probably aren't making a significant profit on selling Buells for them to attend to the brand unless it gets support from willing customers.
It is a two way street. As Buell enthusiasts, maybe we have to be the bigger person and help them feel good about us as customers. Give the sales and the service managers constructive, and positive feedback on how to improve, or what your expectations are. And please include some appreciation for them to carry Buell or for anything that you experience that warrants good service. There are too few dealers as far as I am concerned. Alienating existing ones may only lesson their ranks, not improve them. |
Mnrider
| | Posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 - 11:26 am: |
|
You are very right Jammin,I need my dealer and if they don't know every thing thats OK.I'm just glad to have a dealer only 50 miles away. |
Ulykan
| | Posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 - 11:38 am: |
|
IMO a bad dealer is not much better than no dealer at all. My dealer is very close to being bad. It took HD/Buell Customer Service to make them fix a problem that they wouldn't even take a second look at. Jammin, I appreciate the fact that your dealership is a good one and hope that one day my dealer is only half as good as yours. |
Skinstains
| | Posted on Sunday, April 12, 2009 - 06:08 pm: |
|
Just wait 'till all of those Harleys that the doctor, lawyer, and indian chiefs bought because they thought they were bikers completely flood the market for 1/2 of what they paid for them. The "I'm a hard-core biker" ship is finally being tugged out of the slip. Admittedly it has been 10 effin years wich is a good run. The people lining up to buy new HD's just arent gonna be there(my opinion and desire)anymore. |
Court
| | Posted on Sunday, April 12, 2009 - 07:06 pm: |
|
Admittedly it has been 10 effin years wich is a good run.
2009
-1987
= 22 years
And some of the most amazing statistics for profits ever logged by a business in America. . . Microsoft can't touch what HD did in that time period. |
Blake
| | Posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 - 01:17 pm: |
|
I have personally done business with no less than seven separate Buell dealerships, purchased new bikes from three, parts and/or service from the others. Each of them did right by me. Were they all exceptional? No, but they were each good enough to keep me as a customer.
Blake (satisfied Buell customer) |
Petereid
| | Posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 - 01:50 pm: |
|
I've been in several in my travels and for the most part I'm happy with them. They may not have what I want in stock but they are very willing to order it. I've been treated very well by the service department of 2 the two dealers I've had service done at. The salesman I bought my XT from was fairly new and made the effort to learn about the bike and wasn't afraid to go ask someone else if he didn't have the answer.
Pete |
Tginnh
| | Posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 - 05:33 pm: |
|
quote:
And some of the most amazing statistics for profits ever logged by a business in America. . . Microsoft can't touch what HD did in that time period.
That's an interesting statement. What's it based upon? |
Court
| | Posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 - 07:58 pm: |
|
>>>>My dealership has not heard about them
67 quarters of INCREASING earnings.
I could be wrong but I owned both Microsoft and Harley-Davidson. Both did well.
Read up on Harley's BUSINESS history and read the book "Well Made in America" for a sense of what they have done. |
Skinstains
| | Posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 - 10:01 pm: |
|
Sorry Court, I was shooting from the hip. I knew it was a lonnng time that I've been trying to avoid these clowns. |
|
