Triumphrat

Thump Bonnie! · 03-27-2008, 11:53 PM

I live in southern California. Land of 11 1/2 months of great riding. Unfortunately, the RAT groups here can't seem to organize their way out of a wet paper bag! Every dealer site I go to has something "Coming Up" but few, if any events, seem to materialize. The dealers have access to one of the greatest marketing tools in the world, "brand loyal customers", and they waste it! Showing up at a hamburger joint is not an event or run. Regularly meeting on the weekend and taking off for a nice long ride is a run, a two day run is an event! DEALERS: Want to sell more bikes, accesories and service? Sponser regular runs & events! Contact recent buyers, get them out, get them pumped up! Sell it! RIDERS: Tell your local dealer they are missing the boat, tell them to get off their arse! This is the humble opinion of a long time Triumph rider, 3 since 1972. Peace!

idaho_thrux · 03-29-2008, 07:11 PM

Thump, I agree! Same problem up here in Idaho. It has taken them years to get organized, and when they finally did, there was just a teaser and a date on the dealer's website. Three calls to the dealer and no information and worse, no returned calls. They had planned to have an "organizational event" today and then meet up with the local Vintage Club for a ride today. When I showed up at the dealer today at the time the guy in the service dept thought the event was happening, there was almost nobody there. Three or four of us started asking around, and as it ends up, those that had showed up earlier had "gotten restless" and left for the ride already. The time we wasted hanging around and asking questions, put the rest of us so behind that we couldn't catch up with the bigger ride which was set to start about 30 miles away. To say the least, I was very disappointed.

Posting the right information on their website isn't any more difficult than posting here. If someone had spend five minutes, it could have saved us all a lot of time not to mention a lot of frustration. At least I was able to get a solo ride in today.

Well....at least I'll get to see some of the vintage bikes at the local show tomorrow..

cafetbird · 03-29-2008, 07:29 PM

Hey - what is all this "they" stuff, fellas? The Riders Association of Triumph is YOU, not THEM. If you want something planned, get off your arse and do it.

The best resource you have for planning a ride is this forum right HERE. Some of the best rides I have been on started here.

Don't like the way the RAT group is run? Offer to take over the leadership role and do it right.

yonder · 03-29-2008, 09:59 PM

Make it happen, dude.

idaho_thrux · 03-30-2008, 03:13 AM

Cafetbird, while I think what you are saying is good advice in general, I did do something. I posted my feelings here, in the RAT forums, where we all gather (and will be following up with the local leadership). Respectfully, I did get off my "arse" and did my best to participate, however the event was not very well organized and not well communicated. The most successful packs have a strong dealer sponsor, and until that foundation is in place or solidified, they have a hard time getting going.

I didn't post here to vent. I posted here in hopes that someone from the leadership of the local pack would see it and resolve to make sure the next event goes better.

yonder · 03-30-2008, 09:06 AM

Our RAT pack is run by two enthusiasts. I don't know how much, if any, the dealership is involved. I think they just give some patches and such now and then but I don't know. I don't really see what other way they could be involved.

Our RAT pack leaders just use a combination of http://grouprider.com and regular old email to communicate with members. Our sponsoring dealership never even mentioned the RAT pack to me; I found out while poking around on Craigslist and one of the leaders had posted an ad there.

This is totally something that one or two volunteers could organize themselves.

cafetbird · 03-30-2008, 11:09 PM

Idaho - I respect your concern and response. So many folks just want to come in and gripe. Sorry if I misinterpreted your intent.

I have led and participated in RAT groups that have good dealer participation, and also some that had NO dealer participation. While the dealer is great for moral support, from what I have seen, they make little difference in the effectiveness of the Pack. In fact, sometimes, they can interfere with the Pack performance. Many Packs I have seen that were run by a dealer employee, rather than an enthusiast, were run pretty poorly. It needs to be more than a job - leading the Pack seems to work best if it is a passion.

The leader also can't do it alone. The best packs have a few committed members that make it go. Trying to do it alone will quickly lead to burnout. I suggest that you contact your Pack leader and offer to help. They need help with planning rides, communicating events on all the boards and through email/calls, and also as ride leaders and tail gunners on rides.

DavePreston · 03-30-2008, 11:54 PM

I think I am uniquely qualified to answer this question, since a good portion of my job is to coordinate rides for our RAT Pack and the several other clubs we have. Hahing said that, I don't think you will like the answer. So, at the risk of being flamed, here is some food for thought.

First of all, the assumption of many is that putting on rides and events will make for a "loyal" customer. With all due respect - I think that is a species that is extinct due to the Internet and other factors. I am on good terms with a couple of thousand customers, and I am pretty sure that almost none of them shop exclusively at our store. The Internet has made "price whores" of all, or so it seems. My intent is to make it fun for people to come to our store, and to present a lot of opportunities for people to ride their bikes and have fun, and to build a good reputation for our business. At the end of the day, all of that should increase sales, and since I am not selling anything, increased sales is the only ratioale for paying me. All of the activities mentioned take a lot of time, and time is money, so you need a dealer who can look beyond the parking lot, and the bottom line, and choose to invest in the program. That is very hard for a dealer to do, as it is very difficult to make a good dollars and sense case for this. I can do it, but that is one of our secrets! The biggest edge I have is an owner who wants to do this very much, and always has, and is willing to ignore "conventional wisdom" on a lot of topics.

Another problem is size. Motorcycles are a passion, and people like to invest their passion in a small shop where "everyone knows your name." A small shop does not have the resources to devote to this. I agree with you that 5 minutes is not too much to ask, by the way, but still, there is much more to running a Pack than first appears - even with e-mail.

A third problem is finding the right person. Doing all of this stuff appears easy, and most of my friends think I just play around with motorcycles all day. Most days I agree with them, but then, 1.) we designed my job to look that way and b.) nobody wants to hear gripes from the guy who is supposed to be having fun.

Here's a clue. What is the hardest job anyone has in a high school? (I was a teacher for 32 years) Teacher? Very difficult. Coach? Hard. Administrator? Demanding. But - the toughest job to do well is... cheerleader. You have to look nice every day (I try), be nice to everyone all the time, be supportive of the home team, and be "up" 100% of the time. If you are looking for a dealer member who can do this all of the time in addition to what they are supposed to do for the store - you will have a tough search.

So - have a customer do it and support them with a parts discount or other goodies. This can work, but again - it is more work than it appears. Do you give that customer access to your e-mail list? Danger Will Robinson! Do you entrust this customer to represent your store and business 24 - 7 in a manner you approve? For how long?

All clubs run by volunteers, where car or motorcycle or (I presume) knitting, have the same problems. The leadership volunteers, and over a period of time either gets burned out, or has success and gets a set of large egos and eventually turns people off. It is very difficult to prevent this.

Dealers are businesses, and the current climate makes is very difficult to survive. Extra hours and money are just not there for most. It is a business built on passion, and that is a double-edged sword. If I buy a shirt and a button falls off, I take it back and get another. If your motorcycle has a problem, ever, and that problem was caused by a human error - well, you have read the posts as I have.

I do not mean to be negative. I agree that most dealers do a pitiful job of customer support, and I built a nice career on that thought. Still and all, it is a tough row to hoe.
I guess I should also admit to a lot of bias. Part of that bias is irony - if more dealers had programs like ours, my job would not be so special!

In closing, let me say that ours is a large (relatively) business, with three dealerships and 6 brands. We have the only active RAT pack for hundreds of miles, and people pretty much agree that we have the best technicians. Are we perfect? Np. Do we sell the most Triumphs in our area? No. Do I understand what all of this means? Er....no.

mattd00d · 03-31-2008, 12:24 AM

I'd be down to organize some San Diego Rides up in the mountains. I'd like to meet some people to ride with.

Roughcut · 03-31-2008, 12:30 PM

Dave I would like to say nice post and you make some very good points. I hope you don't mind me adding something to this. It takes time to develop a pack, and can be very dishearting in the beginning stages. You have to have some grit and a think skin to stay the course.