Originally Posted by Sy Reene

I've heard the question before put as "how much do you want to spend?" to which I'll invariably answer along the lines of "want to spend? $1 sounds good"

Originally Posted by Rolla

Clever. Asking a customer if they have a budget ceiling isn't a sales ploy to get them to the brink, it just saves time by avoiding bikes that are out of their range. Once they realize that I'm not their nemesis, they usually end up selling themselves on something more expensive.

But the other thing to remember is that selling bikes is just a small part of the job. It's mostly selling lights, locks, tubes, tires, tools, and helmets. That's where the better margins are.

Originally Posted by Sy Reene

Sounds good, but my preference though would be to start with determining what style of bike makes sense for their intended purpose. .

Originally Posted by Trakhak

Two or three conventional questions will suffice. The test will be face to face, I would guess. Thus, after the first few questions have been answered and a dialogue has elicited the basic details of intended use, you should already be starting to zero in on one or two of the shop's bike models to recommend.

At that point, in my bike store days, I used to say, "let me see what we have in stock that should work for you" and find what was available in the customer's size, there and then. Since bike stores have been very low in bike inventory for many months now, checking stock would e important to increase the likelihood of a sale.

Different shops have different approaches to ascertaining bike fit, so, before the test begins, I suggest asking how and when in the sales presentation they prefer to make that determination.

Originally Posted by veganbikes

Keep in mind you aren't selling whatever you are selling, you are selling yourself. If people like you and think you are honest and truthful and pleasing to be around they will want to buy. If you are disinterested then probably not. You don't need to know every single product but you need to know a little of everything so you can effectively talk about a product. People come at me with "What about this bike?" talking about bikes we don't sell but as long as I can look at components and see what they are doing I can give a semi informed opinion and that is what they want.

Also on the honesty front, it is important but you don't need to be nasty about it at least in person on the internet do whatever it's the internet but in public be nice about it! Don't just say it's a good bike to make a sale, be honest about what it is and isn't. Also don't be afraid to say "Hey I am not not but let me check with a more knowledgeable co-worker or check the manufacturers website or a manual". You aren't showing defeat or stupidity you are showing them you are an upright person and not just B.S.ing them. We get enough B.S. we don't need it when buying a bike.

I don't talk money or cost, budget is used to shut the conversation down if you ask them what they are doing and where they are riding and things like that you can help find them a bike. Once you determine the bike that works best for their riding then you can start to narrow down costs but a lot of people I have seen go "what kind of bike, what's your budget, ok here is a bike" and the conversation is kind of done at that point. Same thing with reading the entire spec list for each bike give them the highlights talk about the features and benefits and have a conversation with them with them talking quite a bit and you listening well.

With E-bike clients keep in mind they already know way more than you do in many cases and there isn't much you can do to combat that aside from studying up and learning what you can but if you can get them out riding they will be in better shape because all of that data means nothing without actually experiencing it in person. However keep in mind they can be quite needy and some can lose you money over time if you aren't careful. Client care at the beginning is important but also crucial after the fact. If they have a good experience and love their bike they will tell people and those people will tell people and you will have loads of customers. I get a lot of "oh yeah ______ sent me" but if they have a bad experience they will tell way more people way more often and sometimes get quite nasty and sometimes you did no wrong or something minor but sometimes it can be justified.

I can also recommend finding G.E.A.R. training and doing that it is still quite relevant in todays bicycle marketplace. There is probably other training as well that maybe your company uses but G.E.A.R. is a good one. You can also think of yourself as the customer and see how you would want to be treated and how you would want to see the store. Shimano offers S-Tec and SRAM has STU and others have various learn and earn platforms which can be handy to learn gear and sometimes other handy stuff.

In terms of your fellow employees always ask your mechanics first don't just assume of them. So often a salesperson will just say yeah we can do that and we can't or not in the time frame given. Under promise and over deliver. However don't do anything illegal or unsafe. You don't ever have to work on a bike that you cannot make safe nor should you.

One final piece of advice talk accessories when selling the bike not when you get to the register it is usually pretty late by then. If you are having a conversation about the bike don't just make it the bike if they say yeah I will be commuting then talk racks and lights and locks, if they are going on long rides bottle cages and cycle computers/GPS...make it a holistic conversation. Also don't discount mechanic labor you generally make more margins on that then you do on a part but if you have done your job as a salesperson they aren't needing discounts and probably won't mention it.

Originally Posted by Seb1987

Thanks for the solid advice . Now I have a much better idea on how to aproach this and I'll be putting into practice what you've said. The owner mentioned, at my job interview, that does he wants me to only sell a bike if the client feels confortable with it. If there is no bike that the client finds confortable then we shouldn't push the sale on them. I looked on SRAM STU and I was able to find them so they must propose a course there .

Originally Posted by Paul Barnard

I suspect one of the most important things to establish right up front is their target price range.