[HYPERTOURER]

Hello everyone, a few of you might have read my ownership of the zx14r and hence would know that I spend a while working for the Ducati Dealership in Pune.



I am not naming anyone or the process to get a job in dealerships nor do I have any affiliation with anyone or promoting anyone. Compared to the manpower a traditional two wheeler dealership has any Big bike outlet usually doesn’t even have 10% of that. But the size of the showrooms are similar. The attention given to the customer is very high be it the cuppa coffee or the discussions and explanations, the time spent to make the customer feel special and also the test rides. The sales staff is trained either by higher company officials or training programs online and there are valid certification courses which compulsorily need to be completed. Targets are 1% of what mainstream bike manufacturers fix and incentives are really high. Weekdays you will have all the time to finish pending paperwork, play pubg, order food and eat in peace, but once the weekend is near you have a surge of customers, no offence but we get a lot of window shoppers, people who want to try their hands on the bikes and lot of test rides. Everyone with a valid license is allowed. Discounts are offered only on non moving stocks basically some which sit for around 6 months are pushed out.

The above are points which many will have knowledge about and this is what happens in most dealerships.
So what’s special about working around exotics? They are exotics, Period. Even a z800 is an exotic though its affordable it is not something you will get to experience regularly unless you own one. Every morning when you enter the place of work you have a self-satisfaction that you love doing your job and nothing something that’s forced upon you. Every day the pressing of the starter for the display bikes, getting the TD vehicles out on display is all something words can't express. You just jump at opportunities to take these TD bikes out with customers (this is a norm, the sales advisor is supposed to accompany the customer on another bike on a pre set route which is around 4 kms)


When you have parking like this, nothing else matters.

When you have Managers and Dealer Principals who understand you and support you what more do you need? Working was a breeze, more of a fun activity of the day than actually calling work. Not that there was no stress to complete targets etc. but things go so easy when you love what you do. Every customer who walks in asks for a TD and that’s what everyone wants and we are equally enthusiastic to take people out on rides. TDs for the Monster 821 was a very regular affair because of its price point and every time I had to take someone out for one I jumped on the Multistrada or the Scrambler whichever was available. Let me put in a few words for the Multi and the Scrambler. If any of you have fallen in love with the first generation Karizma or Karizma R then this is its bigger brother. It is so nimble in traffic, will easily zig-zag and is so light-weight on your wrists, will do power wheelies at ease even in the 3rd gear. Have ridden the Multistrada 1200s for around 300 kms during my work at the Dealership wherein I also got the opportunity to ride all the way till Kolhapur and rode back on the Scrambler.


At Kolhapur.

The Scrambler on the other hand is a mini Hypermotard. I know both bikes are way different in their purpose but I have found a lot of similarities in the way both of them ride. Both are tail happy and will fishtail at any given opportunity when you open the throttle as the signal turns green, this I am talking in the scorching Pune heat in the noon when the tarmac is even more soft and sticky. Open it a bit more or when the tyres are warm, the bike will shamelessly powerwheelie with ease and in a controlled manner. If you have a budget of around 4 to 5 lakhs and are not very much into faired motorcycles or inline 4’s then get a used Scrambler, put on a Termignoni exhaust which comes with a race map and it will be the most fun, this side of a proper 600 supersport. Else buy a duke 390! Nothing better at that price point when it comes to fun bikes like these 2.


Dream bike to have when I go for a multi bike garage.

Then comes the weekend rides wherein a select few folks of the dealership and the dealer principal too comes on board to head out to a nearby destination with the owners and few other prospective customers. The TD bikes are taken along and the prospective customers are given a free reign to ride them, this activity more or less seals the deal. Dear Kawasaki please listen, you got to do this if you want to woo more folks to buy your machines.

One more thing that we organise is Friday coffee meets wherein all existing customers are called in to watch a recap of the recent GP or have a chat over coffee, these meets go on till around 9 in the eve after which most folks go out for a drink or food. The showroom is packed with customers, prospects, riding groups and many a time, few journalists. These meets give the SAs and the service crew a very good detail about what existing customers are encountering in their machines, areas of improvement etc. These meets are very casual and cordial wherein I’ve got to know so much about bikes and riding that most of my knowledge about techniques to ride has come from deep discussions during these meet with customers who have done track days and superbike schools. Most of the time, these customers come up to the service station for a check up or service and end up checking out the sales counter for new bikes or TD and even merchandise, it is at these times that a lot is discussed. In fact even upselling has happened and customers who had come for a check up have upgraded to a bigger or different bike in the process.


Friends who became customers and customers who became friends.

When I was working with this dealership, it was less about the money and more about the experience and joy of going about, so if there is someone who is crazy about bikes or cars, this kind of a job will be like a mini graduation for you all. I quit to follow my passion and start something more serious but I have seen quite a few people working very diligently and making wonders financially. If you think you have the capacity to take on customers and convince them to go for what you sell then a sales profession especially when you are in love with these machines no doubt is a very good stepping stone. There are programs where the International manufacturers will take you to their manufacturing plants, sponsor MotoGP tickets and trips or even offer you a good placement depending on your performance. There have been occasions when a company has sponsored their sales or service advisor to take up a racing school or take part in a championship. The only thing that might ever hamper your success story is your own inability to express your strengths. Make whatever best memories you can of what life has to offer you right now.


The first 2 Panigale 959's of India

If anyone has any doubts clarifications you can feel free to PM me.

P.S. I haven’t spoken about this to advertise about any brand nor am I trying to lure anyone to work for anyone. I do not affiliate anymore with the Dealership anymore but I do have a very cordial and good relationship with them. There might be negatives too about working in such environments which I don’t want to discuss here. I personally haven’t had any kind of a bad experience and have thoroughly enjoyed my stint with them.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by HYPERTOURER

Hello everyone, a few of you might have read my ownership of the zx14r and hence would know that I spend a while working for the Ducati Dealership in Pune.

Thanks for sharing your experience of working in a bike dealership. I too used to work in a car dealership, so can relate. Related thread. (Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership)

I am not naming anyone or the process to get a job in dealerships nor do I have any affiliation with anyone or promoting anyone. Compared to the manpower a traditional two wheeler dealership has any Big bike outlet usually doesn’t even have 10% of that. But the size of the showrooms are similar.

Interesting. Unlike premium cars, I would say premium bikes are much more affordable relatively speaking. However, the sales would still be low compared to the mass market brands. Apart from the brand image, do you think a mass-market player like Suzuki would do better vs only the premium manufacturers then selling big bikes? What are the things a potential customer thinks before getting a bike?

The attention given to the customer is very high be it the cuppa coffee or the discussions and explanations, the time spent to make the customer feel special and also the test rides. The sales staff is trained either by higher company officials or training programs online and there are valid certification courses which compulsorily need to be completed.

This is the good part about premium offerings - the sales staff are well trained and the attention to the customer is very good. I can't imagine a Honda Activa salesperson in your shoes!

Targets are 1% of what mainstream bike manufacturers fix and incentives are really high. Weekdays you will have all the time to finish pending paperwork, play pubg, order food and eat in peace, but once the weekend is near you have a surge of customers, no offence but we get a lot of window shoppers, people who want to try their hands on the bikes and lot of test rides.

This is similar to my experience as well. When did you guys have your weekly off? Unfortunately, there is no easy way to figure out who is doing window shopping and who is there to buy. I used to offer TD to all, when possible, in the hopes that if not them, someone they know would end up buying from me.

TDs for the Monster 821 was a very regular affair because of its price point and every time I had to take someone out for one I jumped on the Multistrada or the Scrambler whichever was available. Let me put in a few words for the Multi and the Scrambler. If any of you have fallen in love with the first generation Karizma or Karizma R then this is its bigger brother.

Very unlike a car dealership, I suppose you have to be really passionate about bikes to be a 2-wheeler salesman. We had salespeople who didn't even know how to drive a car coming in the top 5 of the month frequently.

Then comes the weekend rides wherein a select few folks of the dealership and the dealer principal too comes on board to head out to a nearby destination with the owners and few other prospective customers. The TD bikes are taken along and the prospective customers are given a free reign to ride them, this activity more or less seals the deal.

One more thing that we organise is Friday coffee meets wherein all existing customers are called in to watch a recap of the recent GP or have a chat over coffee, these meets go on till around 9 in the eve after which most folks go out for a drink or food. The showroom is packed with customers, prospects, riding groups and many a time, few journalists. These meets give the SAs and the service crew a very good detail about what existing customers are encountering in their machines, areas of improvement etc.

I think this is where the customer service differs amongst 2 and 4 wheelers. Or can I say mass-market and premium? BMW, Merc, etc. are known to regularly conduct drives for potential clients. In fact, I have been on 2 of them and the Merc one was fantastic - they showed us around the plant and we had a go on their artificial off-road obstacle course in an ML350! I think that as a potential customer, seeing and feeling the product I'm interested in is a very pleasant experience.

When I was working with this dealership, it was less about the money and more about the experience and joy of going about, so if there is someone who is crazy about bikes or cars, this kind of a job will be like a mini graduation for you all.

...Make whatever best memories you can of what life has to offer you right now.

Definitely. We are a rare breed. While finances are not what attracted us towards this job, most of the people will be there just to earn money. I'm in no way saying that's a bad idea, but at the end of the day, might as well enjoy what you do even if its work right?

[neil.jericho]

HYPERTOURER, this is another wonderful thread by you. I really enjoyed reading your ownership experience of the ZX14R and this informative behind the scenes look at like in a big bike dealership.

From the other side of the fence, as a customer, my pre-buying experience has been very mixed across big bike dealerships in different cities. Just listing some good and bad experiences to show how wildly it can swing to either extreme, even within the same company. The Bombay experiences are limited to one day with a fellow TBHPian to check out bikes for him by visiting multiple showrooms while those in Bangalore and Cochin are across multiple visits, either solo or with fellow TBHPians. These have been chronicled across different posts over the years on the forum.

- Ducati Bombay was really great. I had told them that I wasnt from Bombay, I wasnt going to buy a bike from their dealership but was interested in the 959. Despite this, they treated me as though I was going to buy the bike from them and it was time very well spent. A full 10 / 10 and I cannot recommend them enough.
- Ducati Bangalore was not really keen on selling the 959 to me while I was in Bangalore. Everytime I would follow up the test rides (and not the other way round, that should have been a sign!), the bike would be somewhere else, "Next week saar" etc. Existing owners might disagree but as a prospective owner, it felt like I needed a letter of recommendation of sorts from one of them, to get Ducati to sell the bike to me
- Ducati Cochin was a lot better and provided test rides until it became time to seal the deal we agreed on. Suddenly the sales manager said that the confirmed discount was off the table and we had to pay full price if we wanted the bike. This to a customer who was sitting with the cheque book and ready to book the bike. I walked out and never looked back!

- Triumph Bombay experience was good.
- Triumph Bangalore presales was excellent. The best that I have experienced so far. Some of the ugly truth's related to the sales (and not service) experience that have emerged from Triumph owners thread have been scary but my personal experience has been very positive and I have recommended them several times to other enthusiasts.
- Triumph Cochin has been good as well. The second best presales experience in Kerala dealerships for me.

- BMW Bombay was not so great to my recollection.
- BMW Bangalore provided me with an eye opening experience. I had gone there after a ride and was fully in my riding gear etc. The sales guy was not very interested and he went off on a call and I had to go find out if he was coming back or not. Meanwhile, a family got out of a luxury German sedan and walked into the showroom and the rest of the sales staff were tripping over themselves to show them the range topping bikes Later on though, once their initial sales dried up a bit, there was a really good sales guy who used to follow up with me over the phone and try to get me to come in for a test ride but I guess once bitten, twice shy.
- BMW Cochin knows how to treat potential customers very well. The best presales experience in Kerala dealerships for me.

- Kawasaki Bombay was good, my friend ended up buying his bike from them in the end.
- Kawasaki Bangalore was one place where you had to literally close your eyes to their arrogance and just buy the bike and get out as quickly as you could. Near zero follow up on test rides, refusal to remove illegal handling charges, take it or leave it attitude etc were well known issues. We even had one sales guy openly tell us that they sell enough bikes without giving test rides to potential buyers like us, so they dont follow up on test ride calls. Why take details in the first place if that is the case? I feel like I need a banging my head against the wall emoji here!
- Kawasaki Cochin was good, the sales guys are pleasant to deal with and are enthusiasts themselves. They stopped contacting me regarding my booking when I asked about Rs 50,000 extra handling charge baked into the ex showroom price. I wont really blame them though, their hands are tied by the decision making of the dealership principals.

- Honda Bangalore is very good. I have been there a couple of times when my friends have taken delivery of their bikes and Honda knows how to treat their customers very well.
- Honda Cochin is again very good. Same feedback as the Bangalore showroom.

I dont mean for this to be showroom bashing post but having worked in B2B sales for 9 years, this sort of wild swing in customer experience (Honda being the exception) is definitely not good for the company. I wonder what more can be done from the company side to ensure a uniform customer experience across cities. It is one thing for a company the size of Maruti to try to lift the overall presales customer experience across hundreds of showrooms but its another thing for a big bike company to do so across say 15 to 30 dealerships.

Would more training courses help in such situations? Or better trained management staff in dealerships? Or a combination of both? It will be interesting to hear from both you and blackwasp, based on your actual experience from the dealership side.

Also, one common feedback I have heard from many fellow enthusiasts and TBHPians, is that many big bike dealership sales people tend to "judge" a walk in based on multiple factors and tend to treat them accordingly. Similar to my BMW Bangalore experience. What can be done practically to help improve the sales experience in such a situation? I understand that not everyone who walks in is a potential buyer but there are many walk ins who are at the early stages of a decision making process and get a raw deal.

[kailashnj]

This is a very informative thread and loved the way you have explained everything. I am well aware of the Sales Target and how some dealers handle customers. I have owned a Kawasaki and Yamaha and know the difference that is there in sale of a Super Bike and a regular bike.

But above all just one question - How do you land a job in Ducati or for that matter any other Superbike showroom.

[Tuisha110HP]

Originally Posted by HYPERTOURER

These meets give the SAs and the service crew a very good detail about what existing customers are encountering in their machines, areas of improvement etc. These meets are very casual and cordial wherein I’ve got to know so much about bikes and riding that most of my knowledge about techniques to ride has come from deep discussions during these meet with customers who have done track days and superbike schools. Most of the time, these customers come up to the service station for a check up or service and end up checking out the sales counter for new bikes or TD and even merchandise, it is at these times that a lot is discussed. In fact even upselling has happened and customers who had come for a check up have upgraded to a bigger or different bike in the process.

Excellent thread Hypertourer. This is a very important point and business tactic that most of the manufacturers or for that matter, dealers take it for granted and ignore. I would very happily come back to a showroom whenever I have my wallet full if I have a nice experience the day I feel the product, start dreaming about it and make my mind to own one.

I got opportunities to attend a few sessions with sales head of both Bajaj and Apollo tyres when they were about to launch new Dominar and Alpha H1 tyres respectively. I gladly pointed out the same thing to them. They have to give some respect to someone who is willing to shell out a couple of lakhs premium for a bike /product. Making a brand of their products much like other premium manufacturers would attract even more customers. I would happily buy a couple of products/accessories, if I am treated well, with respect even though I may not need the products at all. And then spread the word forward.

[HYPERTOURER]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Thanks for sharing your experience of working in a bike dealership. I too used to work in a car dealership, so can relate. Related thread. (Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership)



Definitely. We are a rare breed. While finances are not what attracted us towards this job, most of the people will be there just to earn money. I'm in no way saying that's a bad idea, but at the end of the day, might as well enjoy what you do even if its work right?

I have gone through your thread as well. Definitely takes a lot of passion to not look at the money part when doing such jobs, not that you are paid less but unless you are very close to the top management there is very slow growth in this field.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

HYPERTOURER, this is another wonderful thread by you. I really enjoyed reading your ownership experience of the ZX14R and this informative behind the scenes look at like in a big bike dealership.


Would more training courses help in such situations? Or better trained management staff in dealerships? Or a combination of both? It will be interesting to hear from both you and blackwasp, based on your actual experience from the dealership side.

Also, one common feedback I have heard from many fellow enthusiasts and TBHPians, is that many big bike dealership sales people tend to "judge" a walk in based on multiple factors and tend to treat them accordingly. Similar to my BMW Bangalore experience. What can be done practically to help improve the sales experience in such a situation? I understand that not everyone who walks in is a potential buyer but there are many walk ins who are at the early stages of a decision making process and get a raw deal.

Hello, I have personally faced the judgemental looks when i have walked into multiple outlets on my r15 with friends who have bought bikes. It is fun to see the faces of the SA's when they see me come on the big 14 after they have not given attention to my queries.

No amount of training will suffice. The problem lies in the dealer management. They look at a person's qualifications, linguistics abilities and his past experiences of making sales while hiring. The one thing many of these big bike dealerships miss among their sales persons is passion. I have seen people working for such dealerships who don't know the difference between an inline 4 and an L twin. If any of the big companies are reading this, please tell your dealer principals to hire people with the passion for automobiles, that way your TD bikes are also less abused and well ridden.

Originally Posted by kailashnj

This is a very informative thread and loved the way you have explained everything. I am well aware of the Sales Target and how some dealers handle customers. I have owned a Kawasaki and Yamaha and know the difference that is there in sale of a Super Bike and a regular bike.

But above all just one question - How do you land a job in Ducati or for that matter any other Superbike showroom.

When I joined the Ducati Showroom it was just about to start operations and I knew a few people who worked for the same group through which I got the opportunity to meet the owner and then the rest is history. But if you are seriously looking out for a job then you got to visit them try getting an appointment and sit one to one with the General Manager or HR and if they see potential in you they will get back. Same thing happened with me in Bangalore, I recently visited Tusker Harley for a job interview but I guess they didnt have the vacancies but instead wanted to put me into service, I am waiting for a follow up if there is any opportunity. Between my Stint at Ducati and Starting my Own food business, i also got the opportunity to work as the General Manager for a Yamaha Dealership in Belgaum which closed down a year back due to the great Indian automobile recession.

Originally Posted by Tuisha110HP

Excellent thread Hypertourer. This is a very important point and business tactic that most of the manufacturers or for that matter, dealers take it for granted and ignore. I would very happily come back to a showroom whenever I have my wallet full if I have a nice experience the day I feel the product, start dreaming about it and make my mind to own one.

I got opportunities to attend a few sessions with sales head of both Bajaj and Apollo tyres when they were about to launch new Dominar and Alpha H1 tyres respectively. I gladly pointed out the same thing to them. They have to give some respect to someone who is willing to shell out a couple of lakhs premium for a bike /product. Making a brand of their products much like other premium manufacturers would attract even more customers. I would happily buy a couple of products/accessories, if I am treated well, with respect even though I may not need the products at all. And then spread the word forward.

I can relate to you. These small things cost the dealership money but then every such meet or event we have got at least one person who has signed
the cheque because the whole package and experience is such that you realize when you own a machine from this particular manufacturer you will be pampered.

Mod Note: There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers.
Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use a spell-checker.

[hareshjethwani]

P.S. I haven’t spoken about this to advertise about any brand nor am I trying to lure anyone to work for anyone. I do not affiliate anymore with the Dealership anymore but I do have a very cordial and good relationship with them. There might be negatives too about working in such environments which I don’t want to discuss here. I personally haven’t had any kind of a bad experience and have thoroughly enjoyed my stint with them.

Another great thread. Great insight. Would love to own the Mutlistrada 950 someday.

Also, one common feedback I have heard from many fellow enthusiasts and TBHPians, is that many big bike dealership sales people tend to "judge" a walk in based on multiple factors and tend to treat them accordingly. Similar to my BMW Bangalore experience. What can be done practically to help improve the sales experience in such a situation? I understand that not everyone who walks in is a potential buyer but there are many walk ins who are at the early stages of a decision making process

Neil you should start a showroom/test ride experience thread
Reminds me of the purchase of my Continental GT (Royal Enfield). The worst booking, delivery and service experience. All were at the same place. Will write about it on your thread. Wonder why manufacturers don't take things seriously with their dealers, specially having a seamless and uniform experience across all of them.

[autohead]

I guess that's a dream job for anyone with a passion for automobiles, nothing probably beats selling a Dream and an experience to equally passionate customers.

And certainly it's a great way to spend some part of your career working for your dream job.

But one nagging question which always lingers in my mind is don't the Sales guys giving test drives have any fear when entrusting their lives to customers who can be totally in experienced at handling such high performance machines

I have seen test drive vehicles being abused and driven to limit on un controlled public roads, how do guys really handle that situation is what beats me.

[Ricci]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Interesting. Unlike premium cars, I would say premium bikes are much more affordable relatively speaking. However, the sales would still be low compared to the mass market brands. Apart from the brand image, do you think a mass-market player like Suzuki would do better vs only the premium manufacturers then selling big bikes?

Apart from HD, all the niche brands have lower sales than the Japanese, except for Honda and Yamaha who seem to have no interest selling big bikes (and Suzuki seems keen on joining them). Kawasaki being the only one with no mass market products in India (it is still mass market for say, America and Europe). So Indian dealers always have mass market sales for the bread and butter, the big bikes are only the cake with icing on top, so they don't rely on big bike sales for cash flow. The European brands do - big bike sales fall, their bottomline gets hit hard. They have to be good at selling.

Originally Posted by blackwasp

What are the things a potential customer thinks before getting a bike?

Depends on the class of customer. Very rich folk don't put too much thought into it - they like the vehicle, they buy it. Middle class to upper middle class buyers, consider brand's reputation and history, product reliability and certainty of service spares, even if it is simply a weekend fun toy and not daily commuter, it needs to be worth the value - one of those being, ready to run any given day. A rich customer whose S1000RR doens't start one day, will simply choose from his CBR1000RR or Aprilia and proceed to ride. The middle class customer has only his Ninja 1000 - it doesn't start, his ride plan ends coz his Pulsar/Activa isn't going to keep up.

Originally Posted by blackwasp

This is similar to my experience as well. When did you guys have your weekly off? Unfortunately, there is no easy way to figure out who is doing window shopping and who is there to buy. I used to offer TD to all, when possible, in the hopes that if not them, someone they know would end up buying from me.

The sales guy who sold me the Daytona later confided that he didn't expect that I would buy it, he said he was surprised when I showed up some days later to book the bike.

Originally Posted by HYPERTOURER

Hello everyone, a few of you might have read my ownership of the zx14r and hence would know that I spend a while working for the Ducati Dealership in Pune.

Every day the pressing of the starter for the display bikes, getting the TD vehicles out on display is all something words can't express. You just jump at opportunities to take these TD bikes out with customers (this is a norm, the sales advisor is supposed to accompany the customer on another bike on a pre set route which is around 4 kms)
Every customer who walks in asks for a TD and that’s what everyone wants and we are equally enthusiastic to take people out on rides.

.

I don't know if you were there at the time, and I'm terrible with memorising people's names and faces -but anyway, I have visited the Ducati showroom a few times and once I did take a test ride of the Supersport. That 4 km ride is too short to really get a good understanding of how well it suits one's case, and like with all other dealers I have visited, did ask for a longer rider offering to pay for the fuel too, but never got a call back from anyone. Of course, some privileged customers seem to get a lot longer trials and it seems to be based on personal contacts since not everyone gets a longer ride, which I consider necessary as the prices aren't chump change either. Meanwhile the media guys - they aren't paying customers but they get the royal treatment - long term bikes, multi-day test vehicles and the privilege to thoroughly abuse the bikes doing 15 wheelies and 31 stoppies till the photographer get that perfect shot. Strange how the world works.

While I didn't chase Kawasaki and Suzuki all that much, I did visit BMW several times reiterating my request for a longer test ride, which I never got (I did get a short one, which was longer than the Ducati one at least!), but later I heard of some Triumph owners were invited to ride the S1000RR at Coimbatore, I think - and yes, I saw the pictures so it did happen. That pretty much put me off buying BMW, although I did visit them once since hoping to have a look at the 2020 S1000RR, but that too wasn't there for display.

[imp!]

Originally Posted by Ricci

The sales guy who sold me the Daytona later confided that he didn't expect that I would buy it, he said he was surprised when I showed up some days later to book the bike.

What the hell is wrong with sales people? In this day and age you really can't profile a buyer from appearance of affordability. Sure shot way to lose sales.
I've experienced a great deal of arrogance at Triumph and a very friendly reception at Kawasaki in Bangalore. Pre Covid I was very keen on getting the 2020 Street Triple until the 2020 Z900 came on the Radar. Now I wonder if I'd just not be better off with the Z900 if I do decide the splurge given the current scenario

[HYPERTOURER]

Originally Posted by autohead

I guess that's a dream job for anyone with a passion for automobiles, nothing probably beats selling a Dream and an experience to equally passionate customers.

And certainly it's a great way to spend some part of your career working for your dream job.

But one nagging question which always lingers in my mind is don't the Sales guys giving test drives have any fear when entrusting their lives to customers who can be totally in experienced at handling such high performance machines

I have seen test drive vehicles being abused and driven to limit on un controlled public roads, how do guys really handle that situation is what beats me.

There is a disclaimer form which is signed by the customer that he will be responsible for the damages caused due to any incidents while on TD. I had one customer who dropped the monster while parking it, but he made the booking the very next moment for the bike and we dropped the charges for the broken mirror etc.

Originally Posted by Ricci

Apart from HD, all the niche brands have lower sales than the Japanese, except for Honda and Yamaha who seem to have no interest selling big bikes (and Suzuki seems keen on joining them). Kawasaki being the only one with no mass market products in India (it is still mass market for say, America and Europe). So Indian dealers always have mass market sales for the bread and butter, the big bikes are only the cake with icing on top, so they don't rely on big bike sales for cash flow. The European brands do - big bike sales fall, their bottomline gets hit hard. They have to be good at selling.



I don't know if you were there at the time, and I'm terrible with memorising people's names and faces -but anyway, I have visited the Ducati showroom a few times and once I did take a test ride of the Supersport. That 4 km ride is too short to really get a good understanding of how well it suits one's case, and like with all other dealers I have visited, did ask for a longer rider offering to pay for the fuel too, but never got a call back from anyone. Of course, some privileged customers seem to get a lot longer trials and it seems to be based on personal contacts since not everyone gets a longer ride, which I consider necessary as the prices aren't chump change either. Meanwhile the media guys - they aren't paying customers but they get the royal treatment - long term bikes, multi-day test vehicles and the privilege to thoroughly abuse the bikes doing 15 wheelies and 31 stoppies till the photographer get that perfect shot. Strange how the world works.

I did visit them once since hoping to have a look at the 2020 S1000RR, but that too wasn't there for display.

I left before the Supersport and X diavel were launched. Heard a few bad stories like yours off lately. Contacts at high places do come handy for privileged treatment, happens everywhere. The BMW showroom too is owned by the same group in Pune.

Coming to media guys, they are given a bike which is specifically maintained in top notch condition as a media bike. The services are done prior to them picking the bikes, even new tyres at times. These bikes are always with someone or the other and whenever they come in they are serviced.