service tips for electric bikes: providing good service and educating the consumer

Service Tips for Electric Bikes: Providing Good Service and

Educating the Consumer

Providing Good Service and Educating the Consumer = Selling more = Making more money

2 bionxinternational.com

Are you ready to jump into it?

bionxinternational.com3

-If you want to be known as THE electric bike store, you probably need to do a little more ….

-It needs serious commitment…



-How do we know what you are selling?

● Name of your store’s main promo = Bicycle

- How do we know you are selling electric bikes?

● Need added promo to build awareness in your store, on your website, advertising, and through your own staff as advocates.



- Do you have demos…..

- A bike or retrofit system at the warehouse won’t work.

- Service is not only after sales service, are you able to fully make them try the $500 to $5000 electric bike they are looking for?

- Do you have rentals so they can try it for 1 full day?

Signage and prominent product display


Web Site


Make sure it shows that you are selling electric bikes!

Web Site


-Google searching tools

● Make sure you have ‘’electric bike’’ mentioned in your Web Site.

-Google advertising

● It offers you possibilities to advertise only in your town. Make sure to advertise with the key words ‘’electric bike’’.

● One unit sold because of Google will usually pay off your expenses.

Staff


-Staff training ● Get 2-3 specialists inside the store● Don’t have only one, customers come 7 days a week.● Get trained on products from competition.● Make sure to know more than the consumers. Many

have done their homework before they walk in your store.

-Staff motivation● Give them $ incentives for each sales - $ or employee contests● Show your staff its importance to your store● Get your staff on the bikes as much as possible so they become ambassadors

Train your staff


- Teach them basic troubleshooting● Example: How does a reed switch work or how to match your charger with the battery…

- Show them that electric bikes aren’t complicated and that they serve a purpose for many new customers

- Offer incentives to staff and ambassadors

- Certification programs offered by BionX.

Battery chemistry basics


- SLA and Ni-Mh are common, cheap and rugged

- Li-On = any rechargeable lithium battery, but there are many type of chemistries (Li-Mn, LiFePO4, Li-Po)

- V x Ah = Wh so you understand why Volts and Amps dance together

Features of your systems


-There are different ways to give assistance: Pedal assist, pedal activated, throttle. Each way has his cost and value. Your customer should know the differences and make their buying decision based on how they intend to use the bike.

- If you are selling a proportional assistance system to someone that is not looking to pedal at all, maybe a different system would do better ….

-Range, weight, energy capacity are key feature that you need to know and understand.

Educate customers on local laws


Some paths don’t allow e-bikes, governors are there for a reason. Some locations have regulations for helmets, bells, minimum age allowed, etc.

Every state (and sometimes city) has its own regulations,

you should know your local rules and the

ones in your state.

Offer test rides all the time!


- Get your staff out on the bikes, get them stoked on the product.

- Conversion kits should be on current bicycles, and stock should be rotated annually.

- When people are waiting for a flat tire repair, send them out for fun; tell them you realize they may not want to buy one, but trying an electric bike is an experience they won’t forget.

Offer tests rides… All the time… On bikes customers would want to ride…


Who wants to try this one instead?


Suppliers usually offers demo programs. Use them!!!!

ONCE THE BIKE IS SOLD, IS IT OVER?


-Could that customer become part of my sales force? Could he or she be an ambassador for electric bikes?

-Small BionX research show us that at least 85% of the BionX are sold by other users. This is probably true of other models.

Keep your customer forever and please him forever!


Find ways to have him back once a year

- A customer that goes back to his dealer for bicycle maintenance is more likely to purchase his next bicycle at the same place…or better yet, teach your customer how to do their own basic bike maintenance.

- Make sure to keep in contact with your customer after the purchase.

- After sales service is very important, be the best at it! That is what will separate you from your competitors!

Battery care


- Send e-mails to your customers during the off season (winter) reminding them to charge their batteries, and offer them battery care tips right from the start.

● Make sure to remind customers in the fall and to mention it in newsletters or on your website so they aren’t unhappy in the spring.

●Explain to them how detrimental it is to let a battery deeply discharge, and how a battery will eventually die even when not used.

●Charge as often as possible.

●Keep away from extreme heat and out of cold when not in use.

Have the proper tools


VOLTMETER

A voltmeter is a minimum when dealing with electric bikes, and can be bought for less than $10.

BIB (Bicycle Interface Box)

Some companies offer diagnostic and customization tools that hook up to your computer. They help you to offer more ‘’service’’ to your customer. Make sure to have those tools!

Importance of the BIB and BBI


Fix the problem without sending it back to the factory! The BBI will tell you step by step what to do.

Importance of the BIB and BBI


Update your software to the last version and reduce the return rate.

Charge them for it in Summer time and offer free promotion in your dead months of the year!

Importance a the BIB and BBI


Increase your service by offering to customize the setting to your customer needs.

Get your customer in and out the same day


Keep spare parts or a loaner bike or parts.

Electric bike users don’t have time and can’t call or come in to the store very often. Make sure to have loaners and take time to troubleshoot and send back defective parts to the manufacturer.

With the defective parts what should I do?


1st Step: RELAXAn electric bicycle is not any more complicated

than any bicycle. It’s different, might require different tools, but you can all troubleshoot an electric bicycle! Use your logic, swap parts and ….save time !!!

2nd Step:

If available plug the system to the computer to see if you can find out and fix it. If not available or if it did not help then it’s time for swapping.

How many parts do you find on a bike?

How many extra parts are on an electric bike? …. About 51- Motor2- Battery3- Console command4- Controller (integrated into motor for Bionx)

5- Charger or Power supply


It’s time for Swapping

There 3 important rules when swapping parts:

1st Rule: have a demo to use for swapping parts.2nd: Try to understand what can be wrong.3rd: Be lazy, change what is easy first.


Example of troubleshooting.

System is not turning on:

1) I have my demo!2) If it’s not turning on it could be:

1) Battery discharge2) Console3) Cabling4) Probably not the motor, but we could unplug it to make sure

1) We could try another battery on the bike. If it works: Bravo … it’s the battery or the charger.

2) If not, we try swapping out the console (plug the one on the demo bike without removing it from the bike)

3) Still not that, we try demo cabling. We still don’t have to remove it from the demo bike.

In about 1 to 10 minutes we have found our problem


Don’t feel like you are alone out there!

All good electric bike companies have toll free

technical support.

If you don’t know … call them, THEY know the product and could really help you troubleshoot faster and get your customer back on the road!


Do I need an electric technician?

How can I fix a motor?How should I replace a cell pack?Do I need to do welding?

Keep in mind that you are a bicycle store, not an electronics store. You should not have to open and fix a motor, change cell packs or weld anything.

Electric bike manufacturers need to adapt their product and service to the respective level of knowledge possible in a bicycle store.


Summary of troubleshooting

1) Have more than one staff member who feels confident with troubleshooting.

2) Have a demo and the tools offer by your supplier.

3) Relax

4) Think of what could be the problem and start swapping parts.

4) Use the technical support offered by your supplier.


Remember


The electric bike market is growing.

Already in 2010, in Europe, sales value in $ were higher for electric bikes than mountain bikes.

Future leaders of the industry are taking their place right now. They are getting to be known for electric bikes. They are learning about it, and soon it will be harder to catch up you’ll be left behind.

It’s important to decide where you want to be in this growing market.

Questions?


service tips for electric bikes: providing good service and educating the consumer

Documents

consumer slide

electric bike store

serious commitment slide

staff training

staff motivation

key words electric bike

good service

sales service