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You have it all wrong and you have simplied the situation with your erroneous assumptions. The dealer already had a Triumph sign, one that Triumph made him buy a few years ago as their approved sign. Now Triumph wants him to have a bigger sign, at $7,000. So until the dealer buys a bigger sign, Triumph won't pay the dealer his earned bike sales commission on past sales of Rockets, T100s, etc. And, Triumph won't give him his earned commission on bike sales until he sends an employee to Atlanta to take a Triumph "accessories" seminar. And, Triumph wants the dealer to pre-order and stock in inventory over $3,000 in tee shirts, chrome accessories, etc. If he doesn't do it, then Triumph won't pay the dealer his sales commission (called the "hold back") on past bike sales. That is blackmail. Since this dealer sells over 500 bikes a year, and only 10% of them are Triumph bikes, the question is whether Triumph wants to create so many dis-incentives to a dealer that the dealer drops the Triumph line altogether. Ask any US bike dealer that sells Japanese machines is this hard-handed business practice is used by Honda or Suzuki, and they will all say no. So the issue is not Triumph trying to get its franchise dealerships to invest in Triumph parts and accessories, tee shirts, or bike repair seminars. The issue is the dictatorial style that one local dealer tells me is unique among motorcycle manufacturers - that being Triumph.
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