I guess this is more of a rant since I would LOVE to have a Vic rep respond to it or would LOVE even more to sit down face to face with someone in their marketing department. (I'll ride up on my dime)
I have many, many years riding a Harley as well as a whole bunch of other bikes. I had no interest at all in Victory motorcyles until I wrote a research paper for a college class on police motorcycles and dunced upon Victory Police Motorcycles. Although I felt that some of the site's comparisons were a bit in your face, overall, it did a great job of getting me interested in Victory motorcycles.
Fast forward a month and I'm at my first Victory demo where I am explaining benefits of the bike to the salesman. He tells me that he just doesn't know a lot about the bikes but they ride great and don't seem to ever come in for mechanical problems.
One month later, demo two, a Fuel it demo. A slightly better staff at this dealership and the Fuel It guys running the truck were active as well. All I hear is "we will never get the Harley guy riding these, so we are trying to attract the metric rider." OK.
Demo three was a great dealership. Knew the bikes fairly well but like everyone else, really didn't know what Victory offered in the way of accessories and / or the cost. I pointed out how to use the button on the front of the controls to scroll through the speedo functions. Once again, the overall feel was that Harley guys are out of reach and Victory will pick up the scraps. I brought two guys with me. Both bought a bike. One traded in his Harley. Different Fuel It truck with fewer bikes, all of which were marginally clean. My wife almost ran out of gas on one run.
Demo four, my last one because I bought a bike. Same Fuel It truck, same condition of the bikes. The staff was running around trying to get people on bikes, the demo truck guys were relaxing. Again though, very little knowledge of what is available for the bikes, and the "fear" of Harley.
In contrasts to the dealer avoiding the "H" word, pick up Victory's brochure and it appears to be a picture book of old roads and buildings that Harley would use in their advertising. I'm not sure if there is a single good picture of a rider on the road on a Victory. The reference to Harley in the brochure is overwhelming. "we have 33% more torque than Harley" is all over the place. "More luggage room then Harley." Not a single dealer felt that they could or would compete with Harley but Victorys marketing won't shut up about them. Instead of placing a nice American flag reminder on the bottom of every page and pushing the Made in the U.S.A. button, Victory says little about that fact. All of the great points that Mike Schultz from Victory Police Motorcycles brings up in regards to being benefits of the bikes is lost on the corporate advertising team. They prefer to talk about the split tail gas tank. First off, split tail is a deragatory name for a female. Second, can we sound anymore like Harley? If you want to be Harley, at least come up with something cool. What's next, Chubby Robert gas tanks? Broad Sashay forks?
Other then the store copy, there was not a single accessories catalog available at the five different dealerships I have visited. Every single dealer spoke of the lack of corporate support given to them from Victory in regards to even having a rep stop buy with updates or sales training.
How is it that a successful company (Polaris) can be so scattered in their marketing direction and dealer support with Victory?
I have many, many years riding a Harley as well as a whole bunch of other bikes. I had no interest at all in Victory motorcyles until I wrote a research paper for a college class on police motorcycles and dunced upon Victory Police Motorcycles. Although I felt that some of the site's comparisons were a bit in your face, overall, it did a great job of getting me interested in Victory motorcycles.
Fast forward a month and I'm at my first Victory demo where I am explaining benefits of the bike to the salesman. He tells me that he just doesn't know a lot about the bikes but they ride great and don't seem to ever come in for mechanical problems.
One month later, demo two, a Fuel it demo. A slightly better staff at this dealership and the Fuel It guys running the truck were active as well. All I hear is "we will never get the Harley guy riding these, so we are trying to attract the metric rider." OK.
Demo three was a great dealership. Knew the bikes fairly well but like everyone else, really didn't know what Victory offered in the way of accessories and / or the cost. I pointed out how to use the button on the front of the controls to scroll through the speedo functions. Once again, the overall feel was that Harley guys are out of reach and Victory will pick up the scraps. I brought two guys with me. Both bought a bike. One traded in his Harley. Different Fuel It truck with fewer bikes, all of which were marginally clean. My wife almost ran out of gas on one run.
Demo four, my last one because I bought a bike. Same Fuel It truck, same condition of the bikes. The staff was running around trying to get people on bikes, the demo truck guys were relaxing. Again though, very little knowledge of what is available for the bikes, and the "fear" of Harley.
In contrasts to the dealer avoiding the "H" word, pick up Victory's brochure and it appears to be a picture book of old roads and buildings that Harley would use in their advertising. I'm not sure if there is a single good picture of a rider on the road on a Victory. The reference to Harley in the brochure is overwhelming. "we have 33% more torque than Harley" is all over the place. "More luggage room then Harley." Not a single dealer felt that they could or would compete with Harley but Victorys marketing won't shut up about them. Instead of placing a nice American flag reminder on the bottom of every page and pushing the Made in the U.S.A. button, Victory says little about that fact. All of the great points that Mike Schultz from Victory Police Motorcycles brings up in regards to being benefits of the bikes is lost on the corporate advertising team. They prefer to talk about the split tail gas tank. First off, split tail is a deragatory name for a female. Second, can we sound anymore like Harley? If you want to be Harley, at least come up with something cool. What's next, Chubby Robert gas tanks? Broad Sashay forks?
Other then the store copy, there was not a single accessories catalog available at the five different dealerships I have visited. Every single dealer spoke of the lack of corporate support given to them from Victory in regards to even having a rep stop buy with updates or sales training.
How is it that a successful company (Polaris) can be so scattered in their marketing direction and dealer support with Victory?