Once again, BRP didn't show up for Daytona Bike Week!!

[blackphoenix38]

Must be to cold to ride.......too many people bemoning BRP and their marketing and not out riding.

If all of you are so good at marketing, know exactly what and how it should be done, know all the faults of the Spyder and how to fix it, start a company and show us the results.

Lets face it, we all have out own opinions, and are basing those opinions by never being in the board meatings, never seeing the bottom line, not knowing what cost being at those events incure. I work for a company that went ot every home show for years believing that is where 60% of our sales came from. When I became sales manager I started tracking these shows and the sales that came from them. Each show cost thousands of dollars in entry fees, a massive outlay of cash getting the product to the show and setting it up, then a ton of cost getting the people there to staff it and the overtime paid to them. All of the cash outlay doesn't include the burnout of the people that had to attend all of the shows. When we truley started tracking what sales acualy came from all of those showes was less than 3% of our sales and was a marketing plan that lost us money every year. We now attend a couple of choice shows marketing to a specific clientele and freeing up our people to concentrate on those clientele, and our sales have gone through the roof.
Just the opinion of a sales manager for a small regional company that went from 1.3 million in sales annually in 2009 to over 30 million in sales last year. I was told by a lot of talking heads that our approach was all wrong and was going to cost us are franchise.

BRP is the only one that is putting their future and cash on the line every day using all of the information that is not available to us. Although they will never make everyone here happy, I think they do know what they are doing.

I've actually considered this and had some convos of starting a company much like RUF did with Porsche, but with Spyders and Rykers. Starting capital is always going to be the biggest hurdle. But it's still on my radar.

For Can Am On Road to have zero presence at the top 3 motorcycle meetups in America is inexcusable in my opinion. They will never shake that "old man" "can't ride a real bike" stigma without some really good solid marketing and PR.

 

[GaryBlevins]

I am gonna throw my .02 in as well. Just got back from Daytona, I rode my 2018 RTL down from Va. and back. I saw a few spyders in the area and at the vendor parking lot. I was hoping to see BRP, did not know about the off site location they had. Daytona does seem to be mostly about 2 wheels. Hopefully they will make it to some of the Spyder rallies this summer.

 

[tntnj]

If I am not mistaken, the 2021 and 2022 RTs the colors were limited and most were sold. In New Jersey when I was looking last year to by a Spyder I had a hard time finding a new one and the used 2020 and 2021 RTs at the dealers, they were trying to sell them 2k more then a new one. When I said to the dealer" for the price of a used one I should just buy a new one." I was told I would have at least a 6 month wait for a new one.

 

[Saluda]

I do enjoy seeing BRP show up at shows. Also an opportunity to talk to some of their people direct.

 

[Tango]

I am gonna throw my .02 in as well. Just got back from Daytona, I rode my 2018 RTL down from Va. and back. I saw a few spyders in the area and at the vendor parking lot. I was hoping to see BRP, did not know about the off site location they had. Daytona does seem to be mostly about 2 wheels. Hopefully they will make it to some of the Spyder rallies this summer.

They did not have an off site location. My dealer an hour away invited, on facebook, anyone to take a test ride. I met a couple from S. Carolina that wanted to test ride a bike. I sent them there. The wife texted me a pic of her on an RT. The local Daytona dealer had racks of clothing in the parking lot. That was it! :roflblack: Tom :spyder:

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Must be to cold to ride.......too many people bemoning BRP and their marketing and not out riding.

If all of you are so good at marketing, know exactly what and how it should be done, know all the faults of the Spyder and how to fix it, start a company and show us the results.

Lets face it, we all have out own opinions, and are basing those opinions by never being in the board meatings, never seeing the bottom line, not knowing what cost being at those events incure. I work for a company that went ot every home show for years believing that is where 60% of our sales came from. When I became sales manager I started tracking these shows and the sales that came from them. Each show cost thousands of dollars in entry fees, a massive outlay of cash getting the product to the show and setting it up, then a ton of cost getting the people there to staff it and the overtime paid to them. All of the cash outlay doesn't include the burnout of the people that had to attend all of the shows. When we truley started tracking what sales acualy came from all of those showes was less than 3% of our sales and was a marketing plan that lost us money every year. We now attend a couple of choice shows marketing to a specific clientele and freeing up our people to concentrate on those clientele, and our sales have gone through the roof.
Just the opinion of a sales manager for a small regional company that went from 1.3 million in sales annually in 2009 to over 30 million in sales last year. I was told by a lot of talking heads that our approach was all wrong and was going to cost us are franchise.

BRP is the only one that is putting their future and cash on the line every day using all of the information that is not available to us. Although they will never make everyone here happy, I think they do know what they are doing.

I think you've nailed it!

The issue with marketing is that it is a squishy nebulous science, difficult to measure. In the late 70's I had a small printing business with a cooperative relationship with a friend who published a small regional magazine. Naturally, advertising was the primary source of revenue. One of the advertisers was a custom log home builder. They only had to sell one home as a result of their monthly quarter page ad to pay for the ads for a few years. Leo commented that every other advertiser was actually wasting their money buying ads in his magazine, but he needed the money to live! We came to the conclusion that, "The inability of the advertiser to measure the effectiveness of his advertising was the salvation of the advertising industry!" That has changed with the advent of online tracking and social media, but still..... If more companies were able to critically measure the return from their participation in rallies and shows there'd probably be fewer companies showing up, not more.

Don't underestimate BRP's ability to measure the effectiveness of their marketing ploys. For all we know lack of sufficient return may be why there are no national demo tours on the calendar this year like there was for two years. Those demo tours had to have provided one of the best ways possible to reach the most prospective buyers out there. So why isn't there a 2023 tour on the books? Think about it.

BRP didn't bring out the Spyder, or the Ryker, with a focus on winning over existing 2 wheel riders. They targeted a demographic who weren't hard core 2 wheelers. It has paid off quite well for them.