UTMC

Well, in an ideal world, you would spend your days helping people pick out and purchase a consumer product that they enjoy, using your knowledge and insight to guide them to a decision that will meet their needs and bring them lasting pleasure, while bringing sustained cash flow to your employer and building their customer base for future purchases. Your insight and product knowledge will be valued, as prospective buyers respectfully solicit your help with their goals, and you will beam with satisfaction knowing that you had a positive impact in someone’s life.

Please excuse me a sec...
(gets bottle of whiskey from desk drawer, retires to broom closet, SFX: sounds difficult to distinguish between laughing and crying. returns dabbing at eyes)

It’s also possible that you might spend your days waiting for ignorant, arrogant time-wasters to step into your domain so that (if it’s your turn) you can chase them around dodging their insults and trying to get them to give you their social security number and lock them in a room with your F&I monkey. You’ll have to explain, in positive terms, why the bike you’ve been dusting for the last four months is a better choice for their needs than the one they just read about on the internet. You will also need to participate in a never-ending series of motivational goal-setting programs that will help you overcome common objections to staggeringly stupid decisions that your income requires you to encourage, and learn to think of people as automatons vulnerable to a series of scripted suggestions.

One big plus: when things go horribly wrong for the customer, you’re already out of the picture and they will instead nurse a homicidal grudge against the service department, so you’ve got that going for you.

Pattio wrote:One big plus: when things go horribly wrong for the customer, you’re already out of the picture and they will instead nurse a homicidal grudge against the service department, so you’ve got that going for you.

yeah, what he said...

Pattio wrote: (a couple hundred words that frighteningly accurately summarised the first 20 years of my working life) .

you scare me

In my experience, salesmen just want to move units, no matter what. Matters None what the customer wants/needs/fits.

Service, on the other hand, has to deal with it after the sale. I could go into it more, but the gorey details are just too much for the board. That's a conversation overs beers and such. And yes, generally, service catches all the shit. It is a rare occurance that an entire dealership gets along. The inter-departmental B.S. is mind boggling at times, especially since at the core of it all, we're all there for the same thing: Motorcycles and the Sick Fucks who ride them....

12ci wrote:

Pattio wrote: (a couple hundred words that frighteningly accurately summarised the first 20 years of my working life) .

you scare me

But isn't that the sort of experience one seeks hanging out in a group that self-identifies as "terrorists"?



--Jaeger

From a customer's perspective, you never forget a good salesman. The salesman at the dealership I bought the KLR from was one of the most patient people I had ever dealt with. He to this day remembers me by name and always makes a point to come and say hi when he sees me around.

If I ever buy a new bike again, I'd go to the guy that sold me my KLR. Too bad the dealership doesn't carry Triumph.

SomeMook wrote:From a customer's perspective, you never forget a good salesman. The salesman at the dealership I bought the KLR from was one of the most patient people I had ever dealt with. He to this day remembers me by name and always makes a point to come and say hi when he sees me around.

If I ever buy a new bike again, I'd go to the guy that sold me my KLR. Too bad the dealership doesn't carry Triumph.

I don't know, I base my opinion more on what kind of service I get. The local dealership I use has excellent service. That's what keeps me coming back.

The way I look at it, the sale is what is most under my control. If I know what I want and what I'm willing to pay, I could care less how nice the salesman is. As long as I walk out the door at the end of the transaction knowing I got myself the best deal possible.

Now if the service guy wont return my phone calls, cant seem to fix problems I have, or just takes too long to repair an issue, that's what I remember and will determine if I ever walk back inside a dealership.

To me the salesman is just the guy I hand my money to, like a cashier. It's a plus if he's a nice guy you can bullshit with, but not a deal breaker.

The service guy is the one I have to (possibly) deal with long term. How he interacts with me is a deal breaker or maker.

The man speaks the Truth!

The Service ppl are the ones that you (as a motorcycle owner/rider) deal with on a regular basis. Then the Parts Monkey. You deal with the Salesman once. The attitude and efficency of the Service person greatly dictates return trips to said dealership/shop.

Take my current shop, for example: No-one can stand the "Service Manager"... He's a rude, indifferent, opinionated, racist, bigoted old man. He knows next to nothing about the new bikes. Acts like he knows everything. You, as a customer, don't know shit, and will be told so. Our business, in the 2+years I've worked here, has dropped over 60% over the last year.... And I'm sure this is a downward spiral that's been taking place since before I came onboard. On the other hand, if I have a chance to talk to ppl, they come back, and ask for me... To talk to, and to do the work on thier bike. Goes all over the 'manager'... I constantly have ppl asking if I do work @ home. I could easily make 4 times as much $$ @ home than @ work. Problem is facilities, and parts warehousing... That's what a shop is for. This is also why I am working on getting the fuck into 'my own' shop..

damn. i have never bought a bike from a dealer or had work performed by a dealer. i get my parts online.

i am all for supporting the local guy but i am not very profitable to the local guy and i wouldn't give people like me the time of day if i were in the moto sales business.

i buy cheap used bikes, work on them myself, and keep them for a long time.

i only go into dealerships to see whats new. or to see what will be on the used bike market in 5-10 years....