How Progressive Beginner Group Rides Make You More Money: Part 5

We already talked about how your C and D group riders have the most potential for sales and services, and here we’re going to talk about ways to track those sales to help you fine tune your program to make the most money.

“If your average shop employee makes between $15-$20/hourly, and they spend four hours planning and executing a ride, you’ve spent $80/week on that employee to see potentially huge returns,” says Robert Ford of Global Bikes. “You’ve already broken even on a basic tune up and water bottle sale, and we know from experience that if we can get the customers in the stores, they’ll spend money. We’ve given them a reason to come in with these group rides.”

But we’re aiming higher than just breaking even, we want you to see the highest return on your investment. There are a number of ways to dial-in your new rider program to increase your sales.

• Provide the best experience on your beginner group rides — your participants should see you as friendly, open, encouraging and enthusiastic first, and a salesperson last

• Promote your events using Ride Spot to put all the details in one place and then push out to your email list, social media networks, and calendar in the shop

• Track your sales associated with these beginner group rides — from using a custom $0.00 SKU in your point of sale system to a spreadsheet, connect the dots on your events and your revenue

• Set revenue goals based on that data, with the caveat that the ride itself should be a relatively sales free environment

• Do use that sales data to help with merchandising — where you place your helmets, or as a training tool for your staff to share what beginner group riders are most interested in, and actively offering that when you encounter a new rider on the sales floor

• Keeps your staff engaged — if they’re owning the program start to finish, they’ll have a sense of pride in the sales the generate, offer them different incentives beyond their normal pay for meeting or exceeding sales goals tied to group rides

• Keeps your customers returning, each week they have a reason to visit your shop

• Brings new customers in — existing customers will spread the love and via word of mouth you’ll have access to new riders month after month

Brandee Lepak says “Just try it.”

So let’s get out there and try it!

#ClassicRoutes #Events #BeginnerGroupRides