Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/687402
SOLUTIONS 38 • June 13, 2016 • Powersports Business www.PowersportsBusiness.com From the emails I received, my last article struck a cord. After over a month to let it sit, coupled with the last round of 20-Clubs and conversations, it requires some more conversa- tion. Per the Motorcycle Industry Council data that shows that the median age of a motorcycle buyer is 47, mil- lennials aren't buying our products, and we're not backfilling the funnel with millennial sales. True statement based on fact. However, it does not tell us that millenni- als aren't coming into our stores — they are. It just says they're not buying. The three main points made in my last installment as to why included: They didn't grow up with these products, plus they had helicopter parents. The price of admission is too high. They want it social, and they want a cause. Although they might not have grown up with these products, they still need to feel cool. And although the price of a motorcycle is per- ceived to be too high, they all have $600 cell phones, fancy jeans and likely spend hundreds per Friday night while out clubbing. Motorcy- cling is amazingly social, and our carbon foot- print/gas mileage argument is unparalleled. I neglected to state last round that millen- nials don't want to own anything. Home own- ership is not a dream for this generation, and according to one mainstream news report, only 70 percent of millennials have a driver's license. They don't want to be locked in to anything long term. So why would we make them? If the impediment to entry is the inability to get out of the product, give them an easy out. Remember the "Guaranteed Buy Back" program on Buell Blasts? I just bought my daughter a new bicycle. Next year when she's outgrown it, I'll get a 60 percent credit toward the next one. I can do that three times at Bicy- cle Village in Colorado. I think they want her to get "hooked" on bicycle riding — and it's working. It doesn't require a lease with actuar- ies and such, just a bit of creative thinking. When the economy tanked in 2008, we used the Gas Mileage Spreadsheet. It showed how much money would be saved by driving a particular motorcycle over the customer's current automobile. You would plug in the miles per gallon of each vehicle, and it would spit out three scenarios, including utilization at 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent and 100 percent. In other words, if you used the motorcycle 25 percent of the time instead of the car, you'd save X dollars in gas. Somewhere around 60 percent utilization, the money saved in gas would offset the pay- ment of the bike — making the bike, essen- tially, free … so said the hangtag. Resurrecting that model today, you'd accomplish two things with this generation: 1. You'd allow them to feel good about saving resources and provide them a foundation to reduce their carbon foot- print. 2. You'd be exposing them to an alter- nate model of money-wise and spend thrifty. Sounds like a "cause" to me, doesn't it? "The Money's in the Metal." Back in 2005, Orlando Harley-Davidson coined the phrase, "The Money's in the Cotton," as their T-shirt sales had us rethinking that paradigm. In that line of thinking, Denver-based Erico Motors- ports has decided to become a lifestyle dealer, who also sells motorcycles. They have con- tracted with Levi's jeans. They sell beard oil at the parts counter and have pulled bikes up to a mezzanine to dedicate the entire floor space to retail clothing and such. The idea is that mil- lennials want a place to hang out and socialize. Let them spend their money on the low-risk items to identify with our world first. If that place and product is provided for them, and they begin wearing all the cool clothes, eventu- ally they will start asking about motorcycles. Growing up I had a T-shirt of Fonzie riding a Triumph motorcycle long before I got my first bike, but one certainly led to the other. Instead of riding classes that are some- what social, why not advertise them as social engagements that are somewhat rider educa- tion? Set them up with a Google group email account, so they can email each other on potential bike choices, future rides and such. Set them up on their own Facebook page, so they can post pics and stay in touch. Push the idea of the social side of our world, with the riding simply being a byprod- uct. It's not to belittle the industry at all; it's all to motivate the spectators. We have seen bike purchase conversions go from 20 percent (nationwide average) to as high as 60 percent. How? Put a salesperson in the class, actually taking the class from beginning to end. This entire thing is cyclical, but it requires letting go of, "The way we've always done it." Ask Circuit City, Blackberry and Blockbuster how that worked out. Change or die. I don't believe our industry is in peril. I believe we are on the cusp of an entirely new way of buying and a new way of looking at motorcycling. With self-driving cars around the corner, peo- ple will look to us for their daily escape. PSB Sam Dantzler is the founder of the training site, Sam's Powersports Garage, and the president of Garage Composites. He can be reached at sam@garagecomposites.com. With millennials, consider the social aspect SAM DANTZLER HEADROOM