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 There’s been a lot of buzz in the industry about attracting millenials and also new riders. As Tory pointed out last month in his back page article, we’ve seen modest declines in unit sales over the last two years, but what is more concerning is the average age of riders continuing to rise; from 32 in 1990 to 47 in 2016. 

Attracting new riders is a tricky topic, and one that many folks in the industry are weighing in on, but lack the expertise and wisdom to fully understand the complexity of the matter. For starters, many haven’t heard the story often shared in this newsletter about the Two Shoe Salesmen. 

To recap, two shoe salesmen from two different companies are traveling abroad exploring new potential markets to break into. They wind up in a third-world country with a population of three million people. They walk off the plane and discover nobody, not one single person in this country is wearing shoes. Neither salesperson can believe their eyes.

The first salesman, who’s so excited he can barely breathe, scrambles to call his boss at the home office. 

 “Boss! You’re never going to believe this! I just stepped off the plane in this country of three million people and discovered no one, and I mean not a single soul is wearing shoes! People are just walking around barefoot, we’ve struck the lottery. How quickly can you send me 50,000 pairs of shoes? We’re gonna be rich!”

The second salesperson is equally as shocked. He fumbles for his cell phone and he too quickly dials his boss. 

“Boss! You gotta get me out of here. There’s three million people here and not one of them, I mean no one is wearing any shoes! How soon can I get home?”

So, which sales person is right? 

If you guessed the 2nd, you’re absolutely correct. Those 3 million people don’t want shoes and don’t see the need for them.  And, they couldn’t afford them even if you did convince them. 

While New York City may be a very competitive market to sell shoes, it’s far more viable of an option than selling to a third-world country.

There may be over 300 million people in the US, but the statistical** reality is less than 5% have any interest in motorcycles and trying to convince someone who’s not interested, to be interested, is about as productive as trying to sell shoes in a third-world country. 

With that said, I’m not saying we can’t grow, we absolutely can. I’m saying it isn’t going to happen targeting non-riders and trying to convert them into riders. If you have no interest in golf, no amount of advertising is going to turn you into a golfer. Same with motorcycles.

Another consistent statistic from the MIC is that the influence of friends and family is the number one driver of new blood into our industry. Rather than ‘spray-and-pray’ marketing, our industry needs to focus on creating better experiences for existing riders, so they will in turn, be excited to share those experiences through social media and invite friends and family. The fancy term for this is called “Experiential Marketing.”

And, guess who loves “Experiences” more than any previous generation? Millennials. Eventbrite produced a report on Millennials which stated 82% of Millennials participated in a variety of live events ranging from festivals and parties to concerts and sporting events, etc. in the last year. And, they can’t get enough, with 72% saying they’d like to increase their “Experiences” in the next year. 

I must admit, I’d never heard of “FOMO” before reading this report, but apparently 69% of Millennials admit to having FEAR OF MISSING OUT. Nothing new, just a new acronym. Desire for gain and fear of loss have always been the two basic human emotions, and we can all relate to the disappointment of missing a fun event our peers experienced. But social media is taking this to a new level.

Here’s some pie in the sky, but interesting math. If we could sell just 3% of the population a bike that would be 9 million unit sales.  As a point of reference, we did about 500,000 in 2015 and have been sliding since. We have to target riders and their friends and family who have an interest, kinda like going to New York to sell shoes. 

To achieve these kinds of numbers we must retain our best customers (the boomers and Gen X’ers) and give them a compelling reason to keep coming to the dealership, while also getting millennials involved. What’s the answer? Experiential Marketing. 

Inviting all of your existing customers into the dealership for a party, and encouraging them to invite their friends and family by offering them a free gift for coming, is a grass roots approach which could truly impact this industry if all dealers got on board. A rising tide raises all ships.

In 2013, Nielsen ran a poll asking what forms of advertising people trusted. The majority (84 percent) said they trusted a recommendation from a friend. 

So, get on board, call us today at 877.242.4472 to plan an Experiential Marketing campaign like a Spring Has Sprung Event. Let’s share our enthusiasm for this great industry with all generations of customers and make our industry healthy for decades to come!

**motorcycle industry council data