I was so excited to head to Austin, Texas to work on my presenting skills, help a professional friend, and visit some key business owners on the way. I won’t recount the details of the journey here, as I have already posted the story elsewhere… but the SWAT Camper did not fare well on the journey. The jury is still out on whether the truck needs a head gasket, head, or long block. That said, let’s look at the Powersport angle.
I drove to Texas with contacts at the ready for a visit. The plan was to drive down, do a three-day training intensive, then visit Powersport Dealers and Vendors to evangelize the Powersport Academy message. The majority of the commitments to meet were canceled, but I did manage to make contact while on the road.
As we are getting ready to publish our new access guidelines in the Powersport Academy, it is important to me to check in relationship-wise and make sure we are striving to meet the expectations of the market. Let me be blunt. I designed the Powersport Academy with a certain expectation of participation from the dealer network. That expectation has been greatly unrealized. So that makes an entrepreneur like me think:
Is it the content?
Is it the messaging?
Is it the pricing?
Is it the commitment required?
Is it a lack of awareness?
Let me tell you what I hear in the field. Now before I go all negative and list things out… let me just say that the strides we have made with select dealers have been incredible. Kudos to them for buckling in and applying the training to drive results in Parts and Labor Sales, Customer Retention, and Employee Retention… which all drive profits and stability.
We are so busy now, I don’t think we have the time to sell more
Yep. More than a few times, this has been the response. I am standing in a shop with a 3-week lead time and technicians turning barely 50% against flatrate, complaining that they should receive more compensation. In this situation, the shop is burning dollars, with unhappy customers and a tech staff that is wallowing in poor culture.
This Shop is Doing Great…
I hear this when I visit multi-shop businesses. Typically, the owner is telling me he is happy with the shop I am standing in, but his other shop is in a less proper running order. The kicker is, that they are hanging out at the better shop instead of fixing the other one. Worse… they are funding the poorer performing shop with the proceeds from the better shop. Catastrophic… they have such a mismanaged approach to their capabilities that what they think is running well, is truly a poor example. For instance, a Service Manager is putting out fires instead of planning for excellence.
We are in a staff transition
Newsflash. You own a business and will largely be in a state of staffing transition for your entirety in business. Everywhere I visit, the owner is asking me for referrals to “A Technicians looking for work” or a “Proven Service Manager” to come and fix everything. More than a few times, the offer comes my way — Just give us a number on what it would take for you to come to fix our store. Another newsflash – I have turned these offers down in the past, but the market may be pushing me in another direction.
We just don’t have the cashflow
Sometimes instead of mentioning “Cash”, dealer owners will say… we just don’t turn enough hours to be able to afford the training. This scarcity mindset is the downfall of many. If you never invest in yourself – you will not grow. If you fail to invest in your staff – they will not grow. Lack of growth in today’s marketplace is akin to going backward.
Earlier in 2022, we released a free course to test the waters of this statement. To date, not one student has completed the free course. This puts expense in the excuse category and moves it over to laziness.
I can’t get the staff to do the training
This one. This one… this speaks so distinctly to internal culture. The idea that a business owner would INVEST in staff only to have them refuse to do it, speaks to the relationship of the owner to staff. Even if you think you have a great relationship, if your staff is giving you pushback on things that improve their working conditions and results… something else is wrong.
Here’s the good news
Everything above is fixable. Are you willing to fix it? Would you rather just sell? Well, have you seen recent buy/sell examples? You are better off working through these things.
As I visited shops and dealers two years into our new Covid economy, I saw what we all read about. I saw dealers with used bikes cleaned up and put where new bikes used to park. I saw lines of pre-ordered sold machines and very few available units on the floor. This while the OEMs are cutting staff, blaming the supply chain, and recording profits on their lean operations. So if the Sales Department is converting to a pre-order, volume-restricted model… where is your avenue for community and growth?
You got it. Fixed Operations. Service. Parts. Accessories. Many shops are adopting and spreading the love to other genres. This includes E-Bikes, One Wheels, and Foils… but for sustainability… Service is where it is at. Service has the ability to maintain and build relationships with your customer base and convert them to sales when the market is ready.
When you choose to bypass the opportunity in your Service Department, you make the business decision to kiss your community goodbye. When I visit a shop that has the Service Manager catering to a handful of dealer owner’s favorite customers, I wonder about the hundreds – no, thousands of customers left in the cold. When I see a Parts to Service process that is broken, I see another excuse to send customers to the competition. When I am on-site and listen to Service Writers communicate directly with customers, I can see the disconnect.
Imagine a dealership with restored Service Department culture that worked well with Sales to coordinate the pre-sold deliveries and a customer transition process that transfers the customer seamlessly to Service. Imagine an internal culture that breeds positivity and sees a double-digit increase in your productivity, which translates positively to efficiency. Imagine being a shop that attracts talent, instead of a shop that is trying to bribe talent.
Each shop I visit has a different blend of issues and requires a tweak to the training regimen… but they all would benefit from the coaching. The Powersport Academy and some of our power partners can help…
- Training
- Coaching
- Consulting
- Recruiting
- Lead Management
- CRM Automation
I am realizing it is like trying an intervention on an unwilling addict. Dealer Owners won’t accept or sign up for help until they recognize their own issues. In the meantime, we are making changes to our program to better add value to the few that can commit to excellence.
