motorcycle industry slow for 2016??

Yeah i just wasnt sure if it was just dead in our store or what. Sounds like its slow all over GA.

 

The motorcycle market is pretty flat or slightly up vs last year. It really depends on what segment your talking about though. July is also a big month for vacations so it can be a little slow. If your sales are off and floor traffic down, look at your advertising/marketing campaign. What are your doing? What did you do last year? I can say that oem incentives are not that great this month so expect a nice rebound in August when they come back and also new 17 models will start shipping bringing in more customers. It's months like this that you have to rely on a strong lead follow up system to drive buyers into the dealership. I could go on and on.

The industry is changing and some dealers are changing with it and some are stuck in the same old rut and getting left behind.

 

Ts hit the nail on the head. Many shops are just doing business like they always have but the ones that are actually working at driving customers to the store are doing well. Certainly some markets are better than others and July can be a bit of a dip down during the summer from my experience but you should be busy right now.

 

Absolutely slammed in our service department, currently accepting applications for a full time service tech. Parts is about normal for this time of year (historically) although floor traffic seems a little slow.

Our slow floor traffic times are middle of summer and dead of winter, so this is pretty normal.

 

the dealership that im at now has terrible marketing.. we've been in this same location for years and I have ppl come in a say they didn't even know we were here. we don't have a sign up out front and we are right next to I-75 and don't have a sign up next to the freeway.

and when we have events they only advertise it for a week.

 

same here our marketing is none, the manager refuse to spend some $ on marketing, I have to do my own sale flyers and post it on the web and all over the store, I have a question for you guys. Do you get a lot of people asking for discount on all the parts and accessories? We have all the parts mark at retail or price match with the online stores and the fuckers still want a discount.

 

that's everyone man, they want everything for free. we have ppl complain about price on just about everything. oem parts are the worst. so much mark up in them, ppl just walk off when I tell them the price of some parts.

 

I was looking for a couple spare dzues d-rings. The parts counter guy said he had some OEM yamaha ones.... for $20 a piece.

And I'm usually aware that things won't ever match online pricing when you're in the store, I'm ok with that. but $20, good lord

I have no problem buying locally for things like a quick quart of oil, this or that tool, an occasional apparel item.

 

yeah they are expensive but he could work with you on price. I usually try to help ppl out on oem parts bc they are so expesive.

we online match if we can but if its below our cost we cant.

 

same here! we do as much as we can as long is not below our cost.

 

it just sucks bc im straight commission. if I discount then I don't make money.

 

I'm parts and service only now, since 2009. This area's poor and not much new stuff is selling. Last nite on craigslist I saw every dealer within a 100 miles of me had 2015 stuff listed. My shop work has been pretty steady, can't complain so far this year.

 

Say WHAT? Damn Caleb, that's rough!

 

Knoxville is not dead. They are selling record number of bikes here.

 

yeah brotha it sucks. its stressful.

 

As a racer and a shop manager, historically that's a pretty poor ROI for the shop. Shop's sponsor riders because they want to support what they're doing these days, not because they are hoping to see a major return on the investment.

In my humble opinion of course

 

may be time to look for new work. If you're commission based and the dealership is not helping you/not marketing, then it's in your best interest to do something else.

 

My guys are hr plus commission so its not that bad for then plus they have small shops in town that they buy from us all the time.

 

The north country area is like a tundra. I drove up to Potsdam not too long ago and at one point stopped to get gas . The station had horse hitching posts for the local Amish.

 

yeah I think im going to soon. I cant handle the stress of not making money.
we were hr + commission but that changed.