I received an email with an advertisement about a large motorcycle inventory tent sale going on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Louisville. I happened to have time so I went on Friday afternoon. There were tents, and there were bikes under the tents. There were no salesmen at the tents. O.k., I can’t blame them, it is hot out!
I went inside the dealership and walked around for about 30 minutes looking at just about every bike on the floor. Not one single sales person spoke to me or said a single word to me. I am just about ready to leave when one salesman finally asked me how I was doing. I said o.k., and he kept walking!
Now either I look like I don’t have a penny to my name, (mostly true actually, but hey, they don’t know that) or these guys need some serious sales training. I’m no salesman, but I have read enough Zig Ziglar to know that if you don’t even bother to talk to the customers that walk in the door, you probably won’t sell much!
This is in direct contrast to experiences I have had at other motorcycle dealerships such as Harley-Davidson of Bloomington where the sales guys are always ready to “talk bikes” with you whether you are buying that day or not. They know that if they take the time to help you and talk with you and provide you with information, then you are very likely to come back and buy your bike from them when you are ready. Heck, one day one of sales guys at Bloomington practically insisted I take a new Electra Glide Ultra Limited out for a test ride and told me to ride it for as long as I wanted! That kind of customer service pays off. Do you think I won’t remember that guy and that dealership when it comes time for me to buy my next bike? I know when I buy my next bike, it will be from Harley-Davidson of Bloomington because they have earned my business by providing years of good customer service even though I have never bought a single bike from them yet. And even though I have not bought a single bike from them yet, I have already steered others to them that have. I steered those others there because I knew they would get good customer service there.
Come on dealers, get with it, customer service matters!
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