Cats demo program?

[mmsports]

This is just to see how every one feels about the demo rides cat did.

This year do to budget cut they will not have a demo ride program. I know as a dealer I loved it and benefited by it in terms of sales. It helped me snow check a lot of my 2006 - 2009 sales. I have about 2 dozen customer right now that want to get on the 2010 and feel the difference. Some times its the only time I can get the doo guy's on the sleds for a day. I wish I would have know about this before I made my order for my 2010 sled the # of sled's I ordered would have been about 10 less.

 

[thump426er]

A couple dealers in Alberta are still running the 2010 ride. Although I dont know if its out of thier own pocket or covered by Cat. Would seem like the right time to keep it going imo, however marketing dept is first to go in times of a money crunch for most companies.

I especially like how they raised the prices by $1600,,, due to budget cuts of course. Was going to snowcheck within the realm of a ~$5 or 600 or so hike in price, but........ bad timing I guess, but there is good change to the M8 it appears. Garbage move to hike the $$ on the thou the same $1600 when there is no change though.

 

[Bigrock33]

Very disappointed that Cat will not have any demo rides for the 2010 models. We are seriously thinking about Cat for my son and have looked at holdovers, but were waiting until we could demo the 2010's. Now, with this news, very likely will not purchase a 2010 Cat. We are going to demo the 2010 Nytro just to see.

 

[aueland]

I know our dealership greatly benefited from those rides. We would have like'd to use co-op dollars to put these on or something. Ridiculous to trim in this area because of what it means to dealers bottom line. It just gives the people a hands on feel of what these sleds can do.
Alex

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

Demo Rides ?

having some 2010's around at dealers in the spring is the best bet to help sell some sleds, real world tryout in real world conditions. What an ignorant way to cut cost..........spending $$ to save pennies. the Sleds cost Thief River very little, they do have to have some cowboy hauling them around, but what the heck else is a dealer rep for...........ok......sorry, they seldom hire reps that can ride a snowmobile, met one in 30 years that knew anything about snowmobiles.

Its always amazing how an advertising exec. can sell a board of directors on degrading low life adds, when the best advertising is a good product,..........you know, give away a million dollars worth of sleds instead of paying a million dollars for adds in some stumble bum magazine.

Gotta remember is a long LONG long ways from Thief River Falls to Roberts.

 

[Stack]

Asking people to snowcheck a sled and spend 11.5-12K on it w/o even hearing a review or being able to feel how it performs will cost a lot of early sales. I love what cat did for 2010, but this is a horriable marketing move. Make the dealer reps actually do something for a change!

 

[thunderrock]

So what are they going to do with Bret Rasmussen? What a waste of a great guy to showcase what a new sled is fully capable of!!! Beside's if you could take what he hears from the people buying the sleds and apply it to the new sleds you might be able to get rid of half your R&D budget.

 

[elkhunter]

Well I voted wrong thought you were talking about the 2010 demo program, I have loved it in the past. It made my decesion in 2005 for sure. If I would have demo my 08 sno pro I may have opted to wait for the 09.

 

[CatndHat]

word of mouth sells too!

I believe that the demo rider sells at least two sleds by telling the experience to others, even if that rider does not buy. The feed back to freinds, and then thier freinds about the performance (if it was a good one) makes the bank to justify the program.
Was good for company public relations, and desired model performance feed back too.
I think the spring demo's added plenty to West U.S. A.C. sales in recent years.
And this year should be a given as not a lot of drastic change needed so
the demo would be same as production Oh and I am not bitter,
this is my up grade year, tired of my old school chassy flogging me into submission.

So will Cat provide demo's near in Jellystone for the sled jam this weekend?

 

[JHG]

Why does everyone bash cat for eliminating the program? They need to cut costs somewhere to stay afloat. I guess they could just cut costs on build materials on our new sleds. You know, follow the skidoo logic with the clutch's and driveshafts on the XP, or cut R & D money like Polaris on the 05, 06 900. Those both worked out well for customers. The dealers always point to Cat to sell the sleds....well they already did, to the dealer. Dealers have "demo" sleds. Our local dealer(well was our local dealer) had "demos" for his mechanic, wife, son and himself but never put a potential customer on them. The local district rep here has "demo" sleds. He is always willing to let people interested in riding the sleds ride them, but he needs the dealers to notify him if they have a customer that wants to ride one b/c he has very little face to face contact with the final customer. Just because Brett isn't rolling through town with a trailer full of sleds anymore doesn't mean that the customer shouldn't be able to ride the sleds before they purchase one. Maybe the dealers son misses a weekend because someone actually buying a sled is riding his demo. Frostbite just bought a new sled, and according to his post he rode dealer demos before he bought his. There are way more demo sleds out there than Brett ever had in his trailer, they just need to be used to sell other sleds rather than prevent certain people from ever having to buy one.

 

[mmsports]

Rides

I am not sure if you can ride them or not. They will be in west this weekend.

 

[Skinner]

Hey Kevin,
I'm glad that they are not demoing sleds this year. I want two and if i road them i would probably buy them!! Saves me a lot of money. I'm an impulse buyer!. But if they do Call me!!!!!

 

[tcpeterson]

That's just to bad. I know i was on the fence last year and after riding the 09's for a day i was sold. I know that my local dealer snowchecked at least 5 sleds after that day alone!

 

[RACINSTATION]

Great post Kevin. I know the demo rides have been a key for us the past 3-5 years. We concentrate on getting Doo and Polaris guys on them. I know that the past 2 years we have had 80% or better of the guys that go on the rides snowcheck. They could save some dollars by allowing us dealers to model the new clothing rather than paying those expensive models!

 

[HMC 399]

Why does everyone bash cat for eliminating the program? They need to cut costs somewhere to stay afloat. I guess they could just cut costs on build materials on our new sleds. You know, follow the skidoo logic with the clutch's and driveshafts on the XP, or cut R & D money like Polaris on the 05, 06 900. Those both worked out well for customers. The dealers always point to Cat to sell the sleds....well they already did, to the dealer. Dealers have "demo" sleds. Our local dealer(well was our local dealer) had "demos" for his mechanic, wife, son and himself but never put a potential customer on them. The local district rep here has "demo" sleds. He is always willing to let people interested in riding the sleds ride them, but he needs the dealers to notify him if they have a customer that wants to ride one b/c he has very little face to face contact with the final customer. Just because Brett isn't rolling through town with a trailer full of sleds anymore doesn't mean that the customer shouldn't be able to ride the sleds before they purchase one. Maybe the dealers son misses a weekend because someone actually buying a sled is riding his demo. Frostbite just bought a new sled, and according to his post he rode dealer demos before he bought his. There are way more demo sleds out there than Brett ever had in his trailer, they just need to be used to sell other sleds rather than prevent certain people from ever having to buy one.

Let me start by saying that I normally agree with most of your posts, but in my opinion your way off on this one.

1. When you are cutting costs in lean times you want to maximize your advertising dollars. In the information age what better way to do it than get them on the snow for the consumers to touch, feel, ride, evaluate etc. Then you go from speculation to real world knowledge, somebody puts post on snowest and you have no b.s advertising to a few thousand potential buyers, word of mouth referrals get generated and dealers sell product. A healthy dealer base creates better long term health for Cat, A healthy cat has more funds to continue R&D and the end result is the consumer wins, the dealer wins, and cat wins. When everyone in business is panicking that is when you need to be proactive in looking forward. Is cat cutting their throats by not supporting their dealers in lean times, He!! yes. Dealers will suffer from this.

2. When can I come ride one of these 2010 demo's your dealer has in his hands. I'm not talking about in nov. I'm talking about now, I have to make my decision now on snow checks to get the best deal so I want to know I'm making a smart 11K decision. An informed buyer is a happy one. P.M. me and I'll fly up, I'm not talking one of those cheesy rides where 100 people fight for 5 minutes of seat time I want at least an hour in the trees, I've always got that in the past and it has helped me make informed decisions thus a much more satisfied buyer. I don't think frosty would have bought a 10 without riding one, why should we?

3. What's wrong with a Brett, or Chris that preceded him, showcasing what a cat really can do. Most people can't ride like them, most people don't even know what a Cat does better than a poo or a doo, but experts like that showcase the product and that sells sleds. These guys aren't the suck up dealer reps. (sorry if that offends or doesn't apply) that can't ride to save their lives that make the sleds look bad every time they crawl aboard, these are guys that show why Cat is better than other brands. I have brought a half dozen guys over from the dark side by stupid little demo's. Most people that buy in april want to know what they are getting in nov. and a cheesy add in snowest isn't enough for me.

4. Poo choked in 05 and 06 because they quit listening to what the consumer wanted, poo acknowledged this and pointed to this as there downfall. These demo rides get direct input from real world situations that give direct feedback to R&D, case in point last years steering post had problems on demo rides, they identified and corrected before production, thus saving money, not costing money, how much does a recall or a lawsuit cost compared to a few real world demo rides? Brett listens to consumers on these rides and that feedback gets back to cat. I hope they aren't going down poo's road, out of the 12 of my group that snow checked the 02 rmk 800 only 1 still rides and if I get him on a 2010 demo ride he'll convert, it got him off a doo and on to a poo in 02. If these sleds are as good as Cat is claiming, show me, I'd love to know why I should sell my sled and upgrade in these difficult times. If doo would have had enough demo's for 08 there is no way they would have let all the problems slide into production.

5. What dealer has one? VOHK, Kevin, big boys, racing station? I know it's going to screw your weekend ride up but can I tag along this weekend or next? I'll cover my gas and oil, I promise not to fall too far behind, I haven't fallen too far behind brett, and I have a good running 09 800 or stock 07 1000 I'll bring to let you ride while I'm on the 2010, afterwards I'll buy you a steak at the place of your choice, yes that goes for you too Kevin. That ought to settle the wife or kid down. If This sled is as good as I think than what does cat really have to lose, getting them on the snow will sell them. I am very fortunate I can afford to buy one this year but I refuse to make an uninformed decision in these difficult times, so no ride =no purchase for this guy.

sorry for the rant but IMHO cats short-sided and hurting the dealers on this on.

oh and I voted yes they help if you couldn't guess

 

[89sandman]

right now why would anyone snowcheck???? you'll be able to buy the same sled in jan. for thousands less, just take a look at what you can pick up an 09 M8 for right now, have seen several places selling them between 8-8,500, a LONG way form the 11k they were just a couple of months ago. heard they went up quite a bit in price, with very little new good luck with that ac...

 

[Nubulin]

Wow,

There are some really po'd people on here. I agree with sandman, there is little incentve to snowcheck when you can get the same price or less next year. I have snow checked two ms and both times could have done better a couple weeks before my first trip.

Good points on the dealer demos. The local owner of my dealership would scratch his head if I wanted to ride "his" demo. Times are tough and these dealers need to rethink their tactics if they want to survive. So many are dinks to deal with. It's cat's job to build a good product and warrenty it, its the dealers job to make the sales happen.

What is the msrp on an m8sp 162 anyway? I am not up for a $1600 price increase when u can buy 09s for 7k with a few miles on them.

 

[snowmobiler]

i can see some newbies wanting to demo.i never have.its part of the rush of buying a new sled.pick the one you want and buy it.now if i could only get at least $2000 tradeinon my mint 12k m1000,id probably go for a 2010.

 

[mmsports]

Snow Check

Why would you snow check? If you want an LE.
Free boss seat up grade or up to 300 cat cash and 2 year warranty.

You can save 300 to 600 on 08-09 M8 and the 09 rebates are only just available in the last month so if you can buy a 2010 m8 cheaper before feb than snow checking then you need a new dealer.

So right now you can buy an 2010 for 300$ less than you should be able to before at least February 2010 plus a 2 year warranty.

right now why would anyone snowcheck???? you'll be able to buy the same sled in jan. for thousands less, just take a look at what you can pick up an 09 M8 for right now, have seen several places selling them between 8-8,500, a LONG way form the 11k they were just a couple of months ago. heard they went up quite a bit in price, with very little new good luck with that ac...

 

[JHG]

HMC,

I agree with what your saying and I also see some use in the Demo program but I have also experienced the program when it came through here last year and it was a joke. The local dealer hooked his mechanic, himself and his kid up with Brett on the ride. The other people involved were friends and family of the above mentioned people. 9 out of the 10 riders were not actual potential customers. A friend of mine was interested in a new sled and showed up to ride one of the demos but there weren't any available. They ended up riding their old sleds and at the end of the day ran into the demo group. They asked to ride one and Brett put my buddy on one for a few minutes but it was just dumb luck that it happened and it wasn't hours of riding in the trees, it was a 5 minute spin through a meadow while Brett ate a snack. My experience with the program is that it was often abused and the actual potential customer seldom got to ride the sleds. Now our old dealers sucked, but I have to believe that this is not the only place that this kind of thing happened.

It sucks that its gone, no doubt, but all I was trying to say is that some of the dealers are going to have to step up and go to the extra mile to put guys on the sleds. You are right, the dealers don't have the sleds yet, but there are sleds out there that you can ride and if you contact your dealer they should know who to talk to to get you on one. If you are serious about wanting to ride a 2010 before you snowcheck and have a somewhat flexible schedule then PM me.

I also agree with the above posts and will be interested to see how many people snowcheck this year. I talked to a guy yesterday that just bought a new 09 M8 for 7300. So my other buddy that snowchecked his for 10,000+ just got hosed on resale.