When we sat down with Jay Townley to talk about how today’s cycling retailers can build a bike shop that lasts, we knew it would be difficult to find anyone better positioned for the discussion.
Starting out working in a Minnesota bike shop in 1957 at just thirteen, Jay was part of this industry long before there were computers or POS systems – just a cash register and owners who simply wanted to work on bikes.
Over the course of his career, Jay has worked just about every angle of the bike business. He led dealer education at Schwinn, held VP roles in marketing, purchasing and product safety, ran Giant’s US wholesale operations and now consults across the industry via Human Powered Solutions.
That’s more than six decades of insights that a lot of today’s independent bike retailers have never had the chance to soak up. Speaking of the lay of the land in the industry right now, Jay said; “The level of uncertainty is the highest I’ve ever seen, and that’s creating anxiety.”
There’s never been a better time for some words of wisdom, so we’ve captured the six most compelling moments from the conversation below.
Click to watch the webinar in full now.
1. The culture of sales reps as advisors is over
If you’ve been in the trade long enough, this is a shift you’ve probably seen first-hand. There was a time that sales reps and dealers used to have a very different relationship, built on a mutually beneficial share of information and advice. Jay said:
“The old-time sales rep was an advisor, a counselor. They were welcomed. They had the time to come in and have a cup of tea or a cup of coffee and sit down and give advice. They don’t have that kind of time today – now they put somebody on a telephone or a computer and it’s telemarketing.”
This didn’t just mean they’d walk in and tell you precisely what to buy. In fact, Jay says the best reps were the ones who’d talk their retailers out of a bad buy. It’s not the kind of judgement call you can make as a rep without really getting to know each individual shop, space and customer base.
That this doesn’t happen anymore is evident enough when you look at the scale of the inventory problem experienced by far too many bike shops today.
2. All shops need to service every bike
Referencing a recent article by Rick Vosper, Jay was in complete agreement that one mistake local bike dealers are making is turning away e-bike repairs.
“Dealers should service, should repair all of the electric drive systems that are made for e-bikes. Don’t turn them away. Take everything that comes in.”
This one is about keeping up with the direction the industry is going. A lot of bike shops are seeing a well-run service and repair center become their major revenue driver, but that will start to lag if e-bikes are consistently turned away.
Speaking passionately about ongoing training in the industry, Jay’s advice on this is simple: get online and learn how to service these products. Training is more accessible since things moved from manuals to online courses, and those who invest now will succeed because of it later.
Today’s service departments need to keep pace with what’s actually being sold.
3. Every customer is a potential friend
Another non-negotiable for Jay? Someone in every shop should play the role of greeter. Listen to the webinar in full and you’ll hear Jay describe walking the length of a ten-store dealer’s flagship location, slowly, from front door to back, and never once being acknowledged. The fact he’s paid to point this out to owners tells you it happens way more often that it should.
For local independent stores, this is a huge missed opportunity. When what sets you apart from chains and online marketplaces is your ability to provide the personal, smiling customer service they can’t get elsewhere, you best believe that starts the minute they walk through your doors.
This isn’t a nicety; it’s a data point in the relationship you’re hoping to build with your community.
“Everybody that walks through that door is a potential customer and they are more than that, they’re a friend. And you treat them that way.”
Jay’s solution is a dedicated member of staff to greet every single person who walks in – no one slips through the net.
4. Keep up the communication
When you’ve got everything right, done the deal and sold the bike, is that where things usually end? Securing a loyal customer base is so important for local bike dealers, and it won’t happen without a little work from retailers.
Jay’s advice is to keep yourself in front of your customers, so you’re already in mind the next time they need to make a purchase. This means staying in touch at regular intervals:
“It’s the communication from the time they left the shop to the time they came back, reaching out and touching base. Write a postcard. People appreciate getting, believe it or not, getting personal mail. Take the time to say, hi John, hope the bike’s working out fine. Just checking in to see how you’re doing “
Whether it’s a postcard or a message through your own system, the shift needs to be that the sale isn’t the end of the interaction. See it as the start of a new conversation and be ready to welcome that customer back time and again.
5. A generational shift is taking place
A big structural change Jay has noted is that dealer education programs don’t run the way they used to anymore. That means there’s a whole generation of knowledge being lost as people leave the industry, and new dealers move in.
“We’ve had a generational change where baby boomers are aging out and leaving the bike business. The new dealer that comes in is not getting the education they would get in the past.”
Instead of manufacturer dealer education programs, like the ones Jay worked inside at Schwinn, what’s left is a patchwork of knowledge sources. New owners are piecing together what they can from a handful of distributors and trade associations.
6. The future is data
If you read a few of these takeaways and wondered what the solution is, there was one thing Jay came back to repeatedly during our chat: data.
“Bike shops have to understand the future. And the future is a database.”
Regardless of the size of your operation, everything comes back to building a database of your customers, who they are, what they want, what they buy. Knowing your own shop inside out and knowing it on purpose.
If the reps aren’t advising anymore, go in with your own data. If customer data shows they’re buying e-bikes, learn to service e-bikes. Find out what percentage of customers return, and why.
After sixty years in the industry here’s the one piece of wisdom Jay wants to leave people with:
“You shouldn’t be making decisions today in this era of change and uncertainty without data, knowing your business. Don’t try to hedge the decisions, err on the side of knowledge.”
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