5 Reasons I Love & Hate Being A Motorcycle Salesperson
If you love motorcycles, selling them for a living sounds like a dream job. If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life, right?
Mmm… Let’s just say, I loved being a motorcycle salesperson, but it also put me in some really uncomfortable situations that I’m glad I don’t have to deal with anymore.
I’m Adrian, I make videos that help motorcyclists, and here are five things that rock, and five things that suck, about being a motorcycle salesperson.
IT SUCKS #1: Financing
For me, the thing I hated most by far about selling motorcycles was the financing. When a customer can pay in full, things are a lot easier. But when you have to do a finance application with a customer, you learn all about their financial situation, and it can get weird.
I’ll always remember I had a customer who wanted to buy most beautiful, most expensive motorcycle we had. It was a Ducati Streetfighter. He was in his early twenties, he was approved at a high rate for financing, but because of his age, his insurance was going to cost him $5,000 a year, or about $600 a month.
Having seen all of his finances, I knew that if he bought this motorcycle it was going to financially cripple him for the next five years. He would be okay, but he could forget about saving up or ever moving out of his parents.
What do you do when you’re the salesperson and you’re being paid to sell a motorcycle to someone who really wants that exact motorcycle, but at the same time, you know this is going to financially cripple this guy’s future, and at the same time, you have mouths to feed at home? There’s a lot of moral and ethical issues there, and it’s not a fun day at the office.
IT ROCKS #1- Being Paid To Socialize
You’re being paid to sell, but a big part of selling is socializing, and that means sometimes you end up meeting some amazing people. I met a couple who sold their house and almost everything they own so they could ride motorcycles around the world. That was a huge inspiration for my life, and the decisions I’ve made since then.
I also met some customers, who, over a decade since I’ve been at the dealership, we’re still friends, who come to my house and even bought me this shirt two years ago. You’re being paid to meet these people. It’s great.
IT SUCKS #2- Time wasters
I talked to three motorcycle sales people and every single one of them said their biggest frustration was the tire kickers. Tire kickers are time wasters who go into dealerships just to talk about, and be around motorcycles, but will never actually own one.
It turns out there’s some weird science behind why they do it: when we talk about a goal, or about what we’re going to do, or going to be, even if we never actually follow through on it, our brains still release dopamine, a feel good hormone. People like feeling good, so subconsciously, they keep talking about what they’re going to do, instead of actually doing it. The worst part is, scientists realized that all of these little dopamine hits people get from talking about their big plans actually lowers their drive to do the thing they’re talking about.
So not only will they waste twenty minutes of your day, they’ll do it every week for a month, before disappearing altogether.
IT ROCKS #2 – Ushering In The Next Generation
Luckily, you’ll also meet some people who definitely will be buying motorcycles, and a lot of them don’t know anything. And this is great because they’re the next generation of motorcyclists. They have no answers, but they have all of the questions and with just ten minutes of your time you can be a huge huge help to them and they’re usually really appreciative of your time and insight.
From a sales perspective, helping usher in a new generation of motorcyclists every season is great for building relationships, but, as somebody who made hundreds of videos aimed at motorcyclists, trust me, helping new riders like how riders helped me when I was new is a really rewarding and really great feeling.
IT SUCKS #3 – People’s Misconceptions
Unfortunately, you’ll also get a lot of riders who just don’t understand what price motorcycles actually sell for.
Sometimes it’s a customer who bought the same model twenty years ago for $7,000, and now he’s upset it costs 50% more… and he doesn’t realize that when you account for inflation, the motorcycle is actually a better deal today than it was twenty years ago.
Sometimes you’ll have a customer who bought during the pandemic when motorcycle prices exploded, who thinks their motorcycle is worth a lot more than it’s worth today.
Sometimes you’ll get a customer who bought a motorcycle when I started in the industry at the tail end of the recession, and we had to sell bikes at dealer cost just to keep the lights on, and now this person has an underinflated sense of what bikes cost.
In all of these cases it’s tricky because, how do you juggle presenting someone with a reality that contradicts what they think, without coming across as contradictory or argumentative? It’s tough.
IT ROCKS #3 – It Can Be Financially Rewarding
Speaking of money and timing, selling motorcycles can be pretty financially rewarding, if you’re at the right place at the right time. The motorcycle industry is so cyclical. There are boom periods and there are bust periods.
There are also a lot of things outside of your control. Maybe a hot new motorcycle comes out and everyone wants it and you can get a ton of pre-order sales. Pre-orders are basically free money. But sometimes you or your dealership can’t get those units in until after people’s interest has piqued and you can’t fill those sales. If you’re in a small market, or work at a small dealership, it happens more often than you think.
IT SUCKS #4 – Bad Bikes
When a customer is excited about a motorcycle that you genuinely appreciate, selling them a motorcycle isn’t just easy, it’s a fun day at the office. When you believe in the value of what you’re selling to someone, they’re excited, and you’re making it happen for them, so you’re excited, it’s the best.
But what about when a customer wants a motorcycle that you couldn’t care less about, or worse, a motorcycle that you outright dislike or think is unreliable or dangerous? That’s when your morals and ethics really come into play.
Royal Enfield could offer me a million dollar sponsorship for my channel and I wouldn’t take it. It’s not because of the quality control issues that I’ve talked about in a couple videos in the past, I don’t care about that, as long as people are making an informed decision that’s good enough for me.
I wouldn’t take their money because we’ve seen dozens of people share stories and leave comments about chronic recurring rear brake failures on the Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650. Royal Enfield dealers have acknowledged it, but Royal Enfield refuses to do anything about it. I won’t go into detail because I have a video about it, you can check that out and read all of the comments from people for yourself over there.
So let’s say you know that these rear brake failures keep happening at high speeds, and some guy comes with his wife and his kid, and tells you he wants to buy an Interceptor 650, are you going to be able to live with yourself if you sell him one? I can’t do that, and that’s why I don’t sell motorcycles anymore.
IT ROCKS #4 – The rush from making a sale
But let me tell you, when you sell a motorcycle, it feels amazing. When that paperwork is signed and that payment goes through, and the customer is happy and excited, and you made that happen, and you probably already did the math on what your commission is going to be, oh it’s good. If you have targets and you sell a bike, oh it’s good. If it was a lot of work to get this sale done and now it’s finally done, man that’s so sweet.
When you’re selling great, safe motorcycles, cleanly, and fairly, everything about selling a motorcycle feels amazing.
IT SUCKS #5 – Bad Fits
One last thing that sucks though, is that sometimes great motorcycles just aren’t great for the people buying them. I had a customer who had all the money to spend. I didn’t have anything expensive enough for his tastes.
He was about to retire and wanted to get back into motorcycling after a thirty year hiatus, so that he and his wife could spend their retirement riding across the country. You might already know where this is going.
He ended up buying a $30,000 BMW K1600 GTL. It’s an 800 lb motorcycle, until you add rider, passenger, and their cargo, and it quickly becomes a 1,200 lb motorcycle. Guess how many times he dropped that thing before his wife got hurt? Sometimes you can’t stop people from being their own worst enemy, but it’s even worse when other people get hurt because of it.
IT ROCKS #5 – You May Never Work A Day In Your Life
Alright, you know the saying, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” You and me both know that this is not a saying to be taken literally. Anyone who’s worked in sales knows there’s a lot going on behind the scenes, there’s a lot of clienteling, and sure, it’s not laying bricks or pouring concrete, but it’s still work.
The flip side is that if you love bikes, there’s the potential of having a really good time while you’re doing it. I do not regret selling motorcycles. I loved it. I love all the people I met and still keep in contact with. And yeah, I absolutely felt uncomfortable doing it some days when I had to juggle the ethics and the morals of what kind of person do I want to be versus how much money do I need to make to pay me and my dog’s bills in my basement apartment?
If you’re interested in why we’re seeing less and less motorcycle shops and dealers, and the truth which is that it really doesn’t have much to do with sales and demand as it does with these other factors, check out the video I’m linking to right here.
Would you ever consider being a motorcycle sales person? Do you think you’d be a good one? I I’d love to hear what my motorcycle people have to say so please leave me a comment.
I’m Adrian from YouMotorcycle. Thanks for watching, ride safe, but have fun! Peace!
