Motorcycle Sales Training™

How is the motorcycle industry different from the auto industry?  In the auto industry, dealership employees are not automobile aficionados, the car business is just how they earn their living.  Many motorcycle industry employees are involved because they personally enjoy motorcycles.  Typical auto dealerships generate a large cash flow and are often some of the most profitable local businesses.  As a result, they are able to recruit capable employees and compensate them well.  The typical motorcycle dealership—although it looks and operates very similarly to an auto dealership—generates far less cash flow.  As a result, the typical motorcycle dealership can not afford to compete with other industries to hire the very best managers and employees. 

Is this a problem?  It doesn’t have to be a problem. 

Starbucks® embraces the fact that most baristas will leave their job at Starbucks after a short time.  So does McDonalds®.  The reason these companies are OK with turnover is the fact that they have developed strong processes to define what happens at a Starbucks or McDonalds.  Little “tribal knowledge” is required of their employees, and the employees are taught that their primary responsibility is to serve the customer and help the customer have a great day.  Whether the cappuccino foam should be heated to 150 degrees or 215 degrees is already predefined.  How long the fires should remain in the boiling oil is also predefined.

It can be the same for a motorcycle dealership’s sales team, with a clearly pre-defined sales process that every employee follows.  Freed from having to hire employees with motorcycle sales “tribal knowledge,” a dealership can focus on hiring employees who are best suited to focus 100% on the customers.  The dealership’s sales process will take care of everything else.

But how can we develop an effective motorcycle sales process?  And where can we get motorcycle sales training?  First of all, the two are not the same.  A motorcycle dealership must “own” its sales process, and few dealerships follow exactly the same sales process.  Just because a company calls themselves a motorcycle sales training company doesn’t mean that they have all the answers for YOUR dealership.  99% of the time the suggestions are just someone else’s opinion about what works and what does not work.  That is not to say ignore the motorcycle sales training companies.  Just the opposite, contact them and learn about them.  Even try their services.  But in the end, your sales process needs to be your sales process.

After you have embraced your own dealership sales process, how can you tell whether your sales team is actually following the process?  That is where the patent-pending Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) is useful.  Pied Piper PSI sends “mystery shoppers” into your dealership; not to give you their opinion; but to factually measure whether or not specific sales behaviors are happening in your dealership.

Go to www.piedpiperpsi.com for more details.

Pied Piper develops and runs sales & marketing programs to maximize performance of dealer networks.

Examples of Pied Piper programs:

• Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®)"Mystery Shopping" to Turn More Shoppers into Buyers™.
  • In-Person
  • Internet/Email
  • Telephone
• Defector Diagnostic Survey™ to Learn to Keep More Customers.
• Retail Effectiveness Monitor® to Measure and Improve the Overall Customer Experience.
• Dealer Health Check™ to Measure, Diagnose and Improve the Overall Sales Effectiveness of Individual Dealerships.
• Dealer Performance Bonus Programs to Increase Manufacturer and Dealer Profitability while Paying for a Better Customer Experience.
• "Spin-to-Win" Sales Incentive Programs with Reloadable Debit Cards to Encourage Effective Salesperson/Dealership Behavior
• Other Examples: Facility Evaluation/Audit Programs to Encourage Facility Improvement and Upgrades, Pied Piper Purchase Funnel™, Lease Return Programs, Vehicle Delivery Programs, Co-op Advertising Programs, Point-of-Sales Kiosk Programs, Brand Image Element Leasing Programs, Best Practices and Management Consulting.

Go to www.piedpipermc.com for more details about Pied Piper Management Company LLC.