t was a natural, a traffic builder and the Engelhart Center, a multi-brand dealer in Madison, Wisconsin, cashed in big. Exciting and innovative, the result of it all was lots of new customers and lots of parts sold. And it was all a clever twist based on those motorcycle TV shows everybody’s been watching for the past few years, only this time it all happened inside the Engelhart Center right there in their showroom, back in their shops and on their website (engelhart.com). The interest and the sales went worldwide.
     Robert Hintz, the GM at Engelhart, says they came up with this concept after seeing so many of those TV shows about “Build Off” this or “Build Off” that. “We wanted to drive some of that traffic our way, too,” he says. “Bring it into our website and our store.” They’ve done both. A brainstorming session came up with a simple and workable plan: they’d “build” and accessorize two bikes themselves, one sportbike and one cruiser. They’d photograph the work in phases as it happened and post it all on the website. Internet surfers and shoppers would get to vote for the build they liked best and at the end of the promo one name would be drawn from a hat. That lucky winner would get to take home the bike he voted for. The other bike would be donated to a charity for an auction/raffle, in this case it was the Dane County YMCA and their Strong Kids Campaign. Everyone came out a winner.
     Suzuki, one of Engelhart’s oldest brands (they started with them in ‘72), quickly came on board co-opting a C50 Boulevard cruiser and a GSX-R600 sportbike. Suzuki kicked in plenty of OE accessories for both bikes, too, beginning the “Build Off” with a roaring start. Engelhart is a major customer at Parts Unlimited, too, “And we thought Parts Unlimited would be a good partner in this, as well,” Robert says. He was right. He spelled out the plan to John Strangfeld, their long-time Parts Unlimited road rep, and he quickly brought in a bevy of aftermarket suppliers, all straight from the Parts Unlimited catalogs. The “Build Off” began the first week in March 2007 and went on for three months, wrapping up on the May 18th.
     There was exposure here for everyone. The Engelhart Center, Suzuki and all those suppliers from Parts Unlimited got plenty of “face time” with the customers. That website was flooded with hits right from the start. The bikes were kept on display in the showroom all through the build, and all of the work was done right at the Engelhart Center. Every week something new was added to both bikes and posted on the website. There were basically four phases to the builds, each one well documented and publicized. “We’d take plenty of pictures as we went,” Robert says, updating the builds on a weekly basis. And here’s the clever part. Along with overall photos of the two bikes as they went through their transformations from stock to not, the website was constructed to include separate photos of all the individual parts installed. Site visitors could click on the part as it was shown on the bike and another window would open pointing out all the features and benefits of that particular piece, its part number and price. “You could click them right into a shopping cart,” says Robert. And it worked. Thousands of votes came in from all over the country and even the world. Lots of new customers came into the store, too, interested to see the bike they’d just voted on in person.
     “And the beauty of it,” Robert says, “is that we really got a lot of new business from this. Our website was boiling hot!” Robert says they’ve sold at least one of everything used on the bikes, and multiples of most of the parts. From a marketing standpoint it’s been a huge success. Donating that second bike for a charity raffle enhanced Engelhart’s standing in the community, too. The Dane County YMCA will raffle that bike off at their annual golf outing at Bishop’s Bay.
Engelhart Center has been in business in Madison since 1972. Starting off with Suzuki, they now handle Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki, as well. It’s a strong sportbike dealership so it’s no surprise that the GSX-R was the bike that got the most votes. “That one just kind of fit our clientele,” Robert says. “We sell a lot of sportbikes here, and there’s a strong sportbike community around Madison.” But the cruiser was plenty popular, too. All of this was a great marketing plan, something easy to do and the result far surpassed all expectations. Don’t be surprised to see The Engelhart Center set up something along these lines again, and don’t be surprised to see other dealerships pick up on this idea and run with it, too. In the age of multi-media and the Internet it works. It’s motorcycle marketing in the 21st century.
     Be sure to check out the full feature on these two bikes in our upcoming August issue of Parts Magazine. We’ll give you the rundown on all of the parts and details, an update on the contest, raffle and more!