Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/231891
uct der es, an 00, ca- erss, to to ere pee're em et." PA ce. ng on on. elp dy of ies Pre-owned/Auction FOCUS PSB m www.PowersportsBusiness.com Powersports Business • December 30, 2013 • 15 AUCTION PAGE 9 CONTINUED FROM We sold some great motorcycles. Some models were absolute sales, others had a reserve. Some were sold as-is. PSB: In looking at lead generation, how many leads did you capture from the event, both online and at the event? KR: We added 300 leads. Again, we didn't make a lot of money on these bikes. Our goal was to create space for the 2014 models. We could have gone through other avenues and lost money on them. Instead, we converted customers. The leads have all been added to the CRM, and we recently did a call campaign where we learned more about those who attended. One customer was in for the auction but didn't see what they wanted, so now that turns into us finding something for him that he does want. So yes, we're still seeing residuals from the auction. PSB: What kind of prices did the bikes sell for at the auction? KR: They were basically what you would find at an auction. For us, it's not the matter of the profit margin. It was about exposing a whole set of different customers to the motorcycling lifestyle. PSB PSB: Looking back, and ahead, are you planning to do another auction? KR: I do think I'll do it again, yes, I do. I also think I'll do it at a different time of the year. It happened to be 103 degrees that day, so at the last minute, I had more huge fans ordered for our un-air-conditioned warehouse. But yeah, I would do it again. PSB: How would you sum up it overall? KR: It was really successful and lot of fun. nds ket nd. tly of by or nd's ucore he PA More than anything it was something different and it gave us exposure. I think sometimes you have to forego a little bit of money to know that … would you rather sell the bikes back into our industry which gains you nothing or would you rather sell them to customers? That was the whole premise behind it. I'd rather give the opportunity to a customer. I'd rather have them swing into my door and with boots on the ground in here, buying incidental things. We were very busy over the two days of the preview and the auction itself. Our other departments had sales those days. It was a very, very good two days. ise not nce ull tos PSB: You guys are partners with four other dealerships. What type of interplay could that lead to with future auctions? enWe uld uct p is ith are erers ket d." ng ger ep onrs, y," to in hat in KR: Who knows, right? Who's to say we couldn't all bring 50 bikes together in one central location? There's a whole lot of opportunity, I think. PSB: I know you reached out other dealers and encouraged them to come if they need to build their own inventory. How did that turn out? KR: We did have a guy from Texas come up. He has an independent shop and bought three bikes from us, and we shipped them back for him. PSB: How easy or difficult was it to formulate the lineup of bikes that were going to auction. Obviously you can't just hold bikes off the sales floor for weeks prior to the auction, can you? KR: Every Monday we would purge the list, because, no, we can't stop customers from buying the motorcycles. While we're in development behind the scenes, the inventory is moving. P09x15-PSB1-Focus.indd 15 12/18/13 11:29 AM